Elon Musk was challenged to fix South Australia’s energy problem in 2017, and just two years on he’s saved Australians millions.
Another important question is the extent to which continued increases in computational capacity are economically viable. The Stanford Index reports a 300,000-fold increase in capacity since 2012. But in the same month that the Report was issued, Jerome Pesenti, Facebook’s AI head, warned that “The rate of progress is not sustainable…If you look at top experiments, each year the cost is going up 10-fold. Right now, an experiment might be in seven figures but it’s not going to go to nine or 10 figures, it’s not possible, nobody can afford that.”
AI has feasted on low-hanging fruit, like search engines and board games. Now comes the hard part — distinguishing causal relationships from coincidences, making high-level decisions in the face of unfamiliar ambiguity, and matching the wisdom and commonsense that humans acquire by living in the real world. These are the capabilities that are needed in complex applications such as driverless vehicles, health care, accounting, law, and engineering.
Despite the hype, AI has had very little measurable effect on the economy. Yes, people spend a lot of time on social media and playing ultra-realistic video games. But does that boost or diminish productivity? Technology in general and AI in particular are supposed to be creating a new New Economy, where algorithms and robots do all our work for us, increasing productivity by unheard-of amounts. The reality has been the opposite. For decades, U.S. productivity grew by about 3% a year. Then, after 1970, it slowed to 1.5% a year, then 1%, now about 0.5%. Perhaps we are spending too much time on our smartphones.
Solar panels may be worse for than environment than we thought, but researchers say there’s still time to change that with a new panel design.
Humans are the cause of many problems because humans follow humans with no solutions. Everyone is talking about coronavirus, but not about ending the virus because they are not solutions driven. Just as Wangari Maathai taught the world to plant trees to fix what humans messed up. We need to also teach the world to plant bees #beekeeping to fix what humans messed up. This does not just mean bees, but other species we are making extinct. We need to be the change not just talk about and protest for change.
Researchers have figured out which plant species bumble bees prefer to include in their diets, providing advice to those wishing to help with bee conservation efforts.
During the summer months of 2015 to 2016, authors captured bumble bees on more than 100 plant species across more than 400 plots in the Plumas National Forest in California — a mountainous, meadowy area with wildlife habitats near running water, where bumble bees are abundant.
Continue reading “If you want to save bumble bees, plant these flowers in your yard” »
C16 Biosciences uses yeast to convert food waste and industrial byproducts into a sustainable alternative.
https://youtube.com/watch?v=4TCg4vsz6Ac
Reeman Dyson, one of the 20th century’s greatest theoretical physicists, died this week aged 96. He is known for popularising the Dyson Sphere – a hypothetical megastructure that could surround an entire star, capturing all of its solar energy.
Tesla Model Y deliveries draw closer and the Cybertruck appeals to police. When is a 600-mile Model S arriving? It’s Musk Reads: Tesla Edition #146.
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A quiet revolution is reshaping the agricultural world, with farmers like Danie Slabbert saying that if we want to save the planet, it’s not so much about what we eat, but how we farm. CNN’s David McKenzie reports.
