Lugh

joined 2 years ago
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"We will do one of two things: we will reform the way the IEA operates or we will withdraw,” Energy Secretary Chris Wright said during an interview Tuesday. “My strong preference is to reform it. ………….. The agency has predicted that global oil demand will plateau this decade as electric-vehicle fleets expand and other measures are adopted to reduce emissions and combat climate change. “That’s just total nonsense,” Wright said"

The US provides about 18% of the IEA funding, so that would be missed. On the other hand, what choice does the IEA have but to say goodbye? Otherwise it's just spreading deliberate lies and misinformation for the fossil fuel industry. What use is it then to the rest of the world?

The irony here is that IEA has a long history of under-estimating the transition to renewables. As far back as twenty years, every single year solar & wind energy adoption has far outpaced its projections.

Going by its past record, its already being too conservative in its future projections, and change will happen far quicker than it says.

US Threatens to Abandon IEA Over Green-Leaning Energy Forecasts

 

"employing 1,000 robots at its plant.……..operated at full capacity in two-shift rotations since June 2024. One thousand people work each shift."

Humans plateau in their capabilities, robots don't. The AI that gives them their abilities gets inexorably better and better.

Car manufacturing employs 3 million people in the EU, and 1 million in the US. Xiaomi’s car factory can't make it any clearer what the future is going to be - soon most of this work can be done by robots.

When will our public discourse reflect this? Most politicians talk as if none of this is happening.

China's Xiaomi takes on Tesla, armed with 1,000 EV factory robots

 

Quite apart from the blatant corruption, if SpaceX's biggest problem is that its rockets keep exploding, how is an AI that you have deliberately designed to give wrong answers supposed to fix things?

Thanks to gutting NASA and science budgets, space is another area where the US will soon cede the top spot to China. They have fully developed plans for a lunar base, deep space exploration, and will likely be the next to have humans on the Moon.

BTW - to anyone who tries to argue this isn't outright corruption, via diverting and siphoning taxpayers money, I have NFTs and memecoins for a bridge in Brooklyn I'd like to interest you in.

SpaceX to invest $2 billion in Musk's xAI startup, WSJ reports

 

If you tend towards conspiracy theory-type thinking, you might wonder if the Chinese government is directing its AI sector to use open-source AI to undermine US AI efforts. If they aren't, is it just a coincidence that this is what is happening?

Two things seem inevitable to me if the trend of Chinese open-source AI equalling Western efforts keeps up. A) - It will eventually bankrupt the Western AI companies and their investors, as the hundreds of billions poured into them will never be realized in profits. B) The 21st century will be built on Chinese AI, as it will be what most of the world uses.

The former seems more dramatic in the short term, but the latter is what will be more significant in the long term.

Moonshot AI just released Kimi K2: China is not so behind in Agentic AI either it would seem.

[–] Lugh 9 points 5 months ago (12 children)

I suspect from now on we will see more and more strikes and protests like these. I'd guess by 2030 or so they will be a widespread global phenomenon. By that point, self-driving cars will rapidly be replacing most driving jobs too.

Most of us instinctively feel sympathy with the striking workers - deep down we know AI/robots will be coming for our jobs one day too.

But there's a paradox here. AI tends towards what economists call zero marginal cost, in plain language - near free.

What if AI Doctors as good as humans were nearly free & every human on the planet had access to their expertise. Surely, that is something to go on strike for - not against.

[–] Lugh 1 points 5 months ago

Yep, destined to one day be a future RomCom meet cute cliché.

[–] Lugh 2 points 5 months ago

If you could easily identity all the ruthless sociopaths, there would be some people who'd think that was a great hiring tool for their businesses.

[–] Lugh -4 points 5 months ago (2 children)

I would be interested to hear your reasoning and facts to support this assertion.

[–] Lugh 3 points 5 months ago (1 children)

I wonder when someone is going to figure how to speed up domestication via gene editing. There's a huge untapped market for exotic pets that could be house trained.

[–] Lugh 3 points 5 months ago

He won’t be able to just take control of the Fed without Congress,

Perhaps, but they've abdicated responsibility on everything else so far. I understand that people have hope the normal times will resume, but autocracy has a trajectory. So far, almost nothing has stopped it in the US.

[–] Lugh 2 points 5 months ago (3 children)

The amount of precise manipulation needed to do something as simple as repair the feeder mechanism on a welder,

If robots can build cars, I'd guess they can manage that.

[–] Lugh 5 points 5 months ago (18 children)

They day will come when robots can do all the maintenance they need on each other.

[–] Lugh 22 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago) (2 children)

The EU’s Digital Services Act (DSA) makes Big Tech (like Meta, Google) reveal how they track users, moderate content, and handle disinformation. Most of these companies hate the law and are lobbying against it in Brussels—but except for Twitter (now X), they’re at least trying to follow it for EU users.

Meanwhile, US politics may push Big Tech to resist these rules more aggressively, especially since they have strong influence over the current US government.

AI will be the next big tech divide: The US will likely have little regulation, while the EU will take a much stronger approach to regulating. Growing tensions—over trade, military threats, and tech policies—are driving the US and EU apart, and this split will continue for at least four more years.

[–] Lugh 2 points 5 months ago (1 children)

The article says the difference is that the human drivers are "on call" self-employed contractors. Therefore not a 'cost' when not being used.

[–] Lugh 5 points 5 months ago (4 children)

The Russian propaganda seems much more effective with the right-wing people. Is that an AI thing, or are they more susceptible for other reasons?

[–] Lugh 4 points 5 months ago (2 children)

I'm sick of hearing Musk's plans for it, those will never pan out. But humans are probably destined to leave Earth and spread out someday - that I still think will happen, and is worth considering.

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