Lugh

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[–] Lugh@futurology.today 9 points 12 hours ago (2 children)

then prescriptions should be done away with and all drugs should be available.

It used to be the way the world was. The result was huge amounts of addiction (laudanum was 10% opium), and gullible people being peddled snake oil.

[–] Lugh@futurology.today 13 points 13 hours ago (1 children)

The bill, which was passed by the state legislature on April 29 and is expected to be signed by Governor Greg Gianforte, essentially expands on existing Right to Try legislation in the state.

The same people who are denying abortions & medical care to trans people, are all for "freedom" and right to choose when it comes to other people's medical choices?

[–] Lugh@futurology.today 1 points 2 days ago

…in a similar way as with conventional rental cars – which can be hired to transport people to “a range of destinations, including cultural landmarks and urban tourist attractions.”

Baidu, like everyone else, still hasn't got to true Level 5 self-driving. But it doesn't need Level 5 to be offering services like this. If you have mapped out the 100 most popular destinations in a city, and fixed routes between them, then level 4 self-driving like they have now, is all you need.

This isn't the same as a regular rental car you can drive anywhere, but many people would be happy with a car that covers a city's Top 100 spots. How does this differ from a taxi? Seemingly that you rent it for specified time slots, whether you're in the car driving or not.

[–] Lugh@futurology.today 3 points 3 days ago

No mention of which cities, just that they'll be outside China & the US.

 

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.

[–] Lugh@futurology.today 6 points 5 days ago

Yes, Meta are 2nd, I amended the text.

 

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

[–] Lugh@futurology.today 3 points 6 days ago* (last edited 6 days ago)

I'm pretty sure in Trump's addled brain he thinks if the US gets a human on Mars first & plants the US flag, he can claim the whole planet as belonging to the US.

 

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@futurology.today 1 points 1 week ago (1 children)

The accuracy rate will improve, sadly most of the developing word barely recycles anything.

[–] Lugh@futurology.today 6 points 1 week ago (3 children)

Yes, for once taking the jobs humans don't want.

[–] Lugh@futurology.today 12 points 1 week ago (1 children)

Unless they are trained otherwise, AI will pick up all the biases in its training data. So far, as that's the content of the entire internet, I'm not surprised at this outcome. I'd guess AI training is the next battleground for the woke/anti-DEI crowd, so they can preserve these prejudices.

[–] Lugh@futurology.today 7 points 1 week ago (3 children)

It often tends to be forgotten, but solar energy has a twin - renewable lunar energy - harnessing the power of the tides. Not everywhere in the world is suited to it. However, this company says there's enough of it to meet 10% of global electricity demand. Some places are especially well suited,, and they point out Alaska could get 100% of its electricity from tidal power.

[–] Lugh@futurology.today 3 points 2 weeks ago (3 children)

For sure, I find it very useful for those purposes. But I think it says something significant so many people are using it for companionship.

[–] Lugh@futurology.today 4 points 2 weeks ago

This is a tentative result, it's only one patient, and large scale trials would be needed to confirm it. Still, if it is confirmed it's a significant breakthrough. HuidaGene is also working on treatments for Huntington's Disease, Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD among other diseases. It's also working on various Ophthalmology related conditions.

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