Lugh

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The new pope's choice of name was deliberate; he chose it to honor Pope Leo XIII who was Pope from 1878 - 1903. Leo XIII is famous for taking a left-wing stance on workers' rights in response to the Industrial Revolution, and calling for state pensions, social security, and other reforms rooted in social democracy.

It will be interesting to see what Pope Leo XIV calls for. Universal Basic Income? It wouldn't surprise me. The day is soon coming that humans won't be able to economically compete with ultra-cheap AI/robot-employee staffed businesses.

Some people scoff at the notion of the Catholic Church concerning itself with such things. If they do, they're underestimating the Church's vast soft power. Vatican City might be the world's smallest state, but the Catholic Church is arguably the preeminent global superpower when it comes to soft power.

There are 1.4 billion Catholics, and if the church decides to support UBI, it will have a vast reach to sway politicians in 100+ countries on almost every continent.

 

In an interview this week, Mark Zuckerberg said most Americans have only 3 friends, but they'd like 15. Never fear, he has a solution to how to get 5 times more friends. Meta will create AI friends for you. As it will own them, as befits the world's second largest advertising company, their primary purpose will really be to sell you stuff.

Even in an episode of 'Black Mirror', this vision of the future would rank as one of the bleaker dystopian hellscapes. It says something about how out of touch Big Tech has become with the lives of ordinary people, it never even occurred to Mark Zuckerberg how appalling this sounds to most people.

 

Switching Chinese factory jobs to America has been in the news a lot lately. Many people have pointed out it doesn't make much sense. Do Americans really want sweatshop-wage jobs making sneakers?

Another reason it doesn't make sense is that China is dumping those jobs anyway - replacing the humans with robots. The numbers are startling. If the trends of the last ten years continue, China will be creating 1 million industrial robots by 2029. By 2032, it will be creating more industrial robots, than there were new human jobs in the US in 2024. Robots may even be adopted on an s-curve, and be adopted in far higher numbers sooner.

Where is this heading? Will the robots keep the aging Chinese population economically afloat? Will using humans in factories instead of robots in the US be seen as a noble alternative to the socialism of UBI?

Source: Rise of China's Robotics Industry: from Manufacturing Arms to Embodied AI

 

NASA's plans are up in the air once again. The latest plans, yet to be approved by Congress, seek to ditch the SLS/Artemis plans for the Moon, and instead focus on sending people to Mars. That suits SpaceX's agenda, and would send NASA's money their way.

This will make it certain the first human base on the Moon will be Chinese. That is planned for the early 2030's and in recent days the Chinese have spoken more about its location. They are mapping the lunar south pole for water, but still haven't found the ideal spot, but that the 2026 Chang'e-7 mission might narrow it down further.

[–] Lugh 17 points 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago) (2 children)

With upcoming space telescopes in the 2030s, there should be a few capable of analyzing exoplanet atmospheres. Exciting to think we may be soon able to deduce the presence of carbon-based life in another planetary system.

[–] Lugh 2 points 3 months ago (2 children)

Yeah, I wonder how far they can extend the magnetic fields that power them? Even if it is relatively short range, they look really cheap to make, so you could have thousands of them with sensors to scan localized areas.

[–] Lugh 2 points 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago) (2 children)

I get that capacitators are only good for seconds at a time, but given their other advantages, I wonder why people don't build batteries with them, where hundreds or thousands of cells are individual capacitators that get used in sequence.

[–] Lugh 4 points 3 months ago

Another team has done the same in Denmark. I wonder how soon we will see these at consumer level for residential buildings?

https://www.euronews.com/next/2025/03/26/solar-panel-windows-that-could-turn-whole-buildings-into-power-plants-smash-electricity-re

[–] Lugh 2 points 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago)

This is better than nothing. Though a lot of the threats that are building, like conflict with Russia, seem like they will need more.

[–] Lugh 2 points 3 months ago (1 children)

Yes, their interpretation of Swiss Re is open to debate. That said, I suspect self-driving cars are already safer per kilometer than human driven cars.

Also, they'll only keep getting better, while human abilities plateau.

https://www.euronews.com/next/2024/06/20/self-driving-cars-are-generally-safer-than-human-driven-ones-research-shows

[–] Lugh 10 points 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago) (1 children)

Lariocidin is produced by a type of bacteria called Paenibacillus, which the researchers retrieved from a soil sample collected from a Hamilton backyard.

It's amazing how random this discovery was. Makes you wonder at all the rest that is still undiscovered in nature.

[–] Lugh 2 points 3 months ago (3 children)

In fairness to Waymo, Swiss Re (who are unlikely to be easily fooled) also back up these claims.

https://futuretransport-news.com/waymo-and-swiss-re-analyse-safety-benefits-of-autonomous-vehicles/

[–] Lugh 2 points 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago)

1X is in Norway. Norwegians are notoriously solitary and hate small talk. Of all people it would be interesting to see how they react to domestic humanoid robots. Perhaps they will like them more than most.

[–] Lugh 2 points 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago)

Wrong. The World Bank says 13% of Indians live in extreme poverty & 97% of the population have wired electricity. Also, surely the way to be richer and more developed is investing in high tech growth industries like advanced space tech?

[–] Lugh 1 points 3 months ago

Its the ISRO (Indian Space Research Organisation) who've said this, and they've a pretty good track record of achieving stated goals.

[–] Lugh 2 points 3 months ago

It is interesting that they have successfully tested the magnetic micro-algae in tightly confined and viscous environments. Those are the same conditions they would find in living tissue and blood vessels.

Still, this is just a proof-of-concept. I wonder if any useful treatments for illness ever come from it.

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