Lifeboat Foundation

On March 11, 2011, a 9.1-magnitude earthquake triggered a powerful tsunami, generating waves higher than 125 feet that ravaged the coast of Japan, particularly the Tohoku region of Honshu, the largest and most populous island in the country.nnNearly 16,000 people were killed, hundreds of thousands displaced, and millions left without electricity and water. Railways and roads were destroyed, and 383,000 buildings damaged—including a nuclear power plant that suffered a meltdown of three reactors, prompting widespread evacuations.nnIn lessons for today’s businesses deeply hit by pandemic and seismic culture shifts, it’s important to recognize that many of the Japanese companies in the Tohoku region continue to operate today, despite facing serious financial setbacks from the disaster. How did these businesses manage not only to survive, but thrive?nnOne reason, says Harvard Business School professor Hirotaka Takeuchi, was their dedication to responding to the needs of employees and the community first, all with the moral purpose of serving the common good. Less important for these companies, he says, was pursuing layoffs and other cost-cutting measures in the face of a crippled economy.nn

As demonstrated after the 2011 earthquake and tsunami, Japanese businesses have a unique capability for long-term survival. Hirotaka Takeuchi explains their strategy of investing in community over profits during turbulent times.

Jacinta González isn’t a scientist or technologist but her experience of surveillance technology is as eye-opening as any expert’s.

Gates has been among the foremost leaders on vaccine production over the last two decades, spending $4 billion on the global vaccine development effort known as Gavi. And for months, the billionaire has expressed profound worries that while rich countries may fare okay at surviving the coronavirus, that the pandemic will devastate poor countries that can’t afford to administer the treatment, whenever it arrives.

Pay more attention to what Gates is doing overseas than what he’s saying about the United States.

They can make 3,000 calls a day without getting tired or temperamental and even blocking their number won’t stop them getting through. And there’s little point swearing at them.

The terrorist or psychopath of the future, however, will have not just the Internet or drones—called “slaughterbots” in this video from the Future of Life Institute—but also synthetic biology, nanotechnology, and advanced AI systems at their disposal. These tools make wreaking havoc across international borders trivial, which raises the question: Will emerging technologies make the state system obsolete? It’s hard to see why not. What justifies the existence of the state, English philosopher Thomas Hobbes argued, is a “social contract.” People give up certain freedoms in exchange for state-provided security, whereby the state acts as a neutral “referee” that can intervene when people get into disputes, punish people who steal and murder, and enforce contracts signed by parties with competing interests.

The trouble is that if anyone anywhere can attack anyone anywhere else, then states will become—and are becoming—unable to satisfy their primary duty as referee.

Continue reading “Omniviolence Is Coming and the World Isn’t Ready” »

South China Sea claimants and other developing countries seeking ways to counter major powers, says report.

Meet the scariest creature you’ll probably ever encounter, as alongside the Indian Ocean you will find the giant beast known as the Coconut Crab. This is quite a strange finding, as it is both obscure, terrifying, and fascinating all in one. In order to study more about the invertebrate, Mark Laidre from Dartmouth College actually ended up spending two whole months at Chagos where he inspected the strange beings to see what else they could possibly find out about them. That’s where he came to realize that upon opening large coconuts with their claws these creatures end up exerting a.

An aerial combat simulation between an F-16 pilot and an artificial intelligence algorithm is part of the government-sponsored “Alpha Dog Trials” on Aug. 20.

These guys have a great idea…but In true Zuckerberg style how does one steal and supercharge the idea. With food having salmonella, people need to grow more food at home. What technology can be created that uses technology to help people in urban settings grow their own food. This will help many in a post covid world, and the food should be safer, and also may promote nutrition. nnAmerican farmers also are having trouble, and would see the loss in demand. Global food production needs to increase. Japan offered to boost the continent of Africa’s rice production through cooperation. The same cooperation needs to be done with American farmers to boost Africa’s food production. Technology would be used to partner American farmers with African village cooperatives. The farmers and cooperatives would work together and share profits. This way the American farmer has revenue coming from two markets and continents. The same model can also be used in Mexico to prevent immigration. This way American farmers would also have revenue coming from Central and South America, however people who normally would be farm workers would be partners, and make more than they would having to cross borders dangerously, to make less money. This model can both reduce poverty, as well and insure food security. The capital for investment would have to come from many sources. Crowdfunding is one that can be good as the money can be paid back with profit. This way a crowd fund investment would gain better returns than interest rates. The next of course would be USAID. A project can be developed, in which USAID provides American farmers with start up capital. They manage the project pay back the loans, while sharing profits. Agreements can be developed for certain periods of time, After which the American farmer turns the project over to the cooperatives…just thinking out of the box it is a bit crazy. The farmers would be like a new Peace Corps thing. #VillageEconomics nnPortfolio company #ApolloAgriculture was recently featured in a Forbes article highlighting their machine-learning and automated-operations technology that helps small-scale farmers access everything they need to maximize their profitability. #impactinvesting #agtech

Between 2011 and 2014, engineer and Stanford grad Eli Pollak worked in agricultural technology in the U.S. for a company called the Climate Corporation. The enterprise where he was one of the early employees (which in 2013 was acquired by Monsanto for over $1 billion) worked on providing customized recommendations to increase production of large scale commercial farmers. What caught Pollak’s eye during his tenure at the company, however, was that some countries were planting way more seeds, but producing dramatically less agricultural products than the U.S.

This prompted Pollak to team up with Climate Corporation colleague Earl St Sauver, and Benjamin Ngenga (who himself grew up on a farm) to start Apollo Agriculture, a Kenyan ag-tech company which uses machine learning and automated operations technology to help small-scale farmers access everything they need to maximize their profitability.

Continue reading “Meet The Agritech Entrepreneurs Who Just Raised $6 Million To Help Farmers In Kenya Grow Their Business” »