World Futures Fall 2021

"It's dangerous, it's uncomfortable, it's a long journey. You might not come back alive. But it's a glorious adventure, and it'll be an amazing experience," he said. "You might die ... and you probably won't have good food and all these things. It's an arduous and dangerous journey where you may not come back alive, but it's a glorious adventure," Musk said. Another indication that Musk doesn't really value humans.

Gotta' love Musk !

The comments hint at Musk's goal, stated multiple times over the years, that he would like to transform the planet's atmosphere to make it more hospitable to human life. It forms part of his overall goal with SpaceX: reduce spaceflight costs, use it to establish permanent human presences elsewhere in space, and transform humanity into a multi-planetary species. I absolutely love that he thinks about changing another planets atmosphere. For get changing the world, change a different planet. Amazing.

A new survey-based study explains how automation is reshaping the workplace in unexpected ways. Robots can improve efficiency and quality, reduce costs, and even help create more jobs for their human counterparts. But more robots can also reduce the need for managers. What if more robots = a better quality of life. We always seem to go negative. What if we could work less, not more?

The paradoxical result of widespread remote work is that it represents both a centralization and a decentralization of where new technologies are built. That is, even as workers disperse geographically, more of them are doing their work in a single place: the internet. This change is already helping Silicon Valley giants break through logjams like regional housing crises in order to poach talent wherever it lives. The world has never managed hybrid work before. We're going to see a huge issue with culture and connection. How can you be connected and motivated. New slick tools aren't enough. Humans need and require human engagement.

Musk believes government should merely act as "referees" to establish the rules of the game and ensure the right rules are properly enforced. "That's an important rule for government to ensure that the rules are correct and that the incentives are what we actually want them to be for," Elon wants the government out of his way but he is no so wealthy and visible it will be very interesting to watch. He relies on government contracts and relies on NASA to do the work he doesn't want to do.

Princeton researchers have developed a new way to make fuel from cellulose-Earth's most abundant organic compound, found in all plant cells-speeding up a notoriously slow chemical process and in some cases doubling energy yields over comparable methods. Cellulosic biomass has long been seen as a key ingredient in curbing greenhouse gas emissions, providing the feedstock for a renewable and clean-burning transportation fuel. The U.S. Department of Energy has conducted a series of studies showing that at least one billion tons of biomass could be sustainably harvested each year in the United States without disrupting forests or food production to produce biofuels, largely from cellulose.

Travellers will use facial scanners to print and attach a bag tag from a self-serve kiosk and place their bag on the conveyer. They will also use facial scan to pass through the domestic checkpoint in dedicated TSA PreCheck lanes (no need to show a government ID or boarding pass) and at the gate another facial scan will produce a boarding pass. Automation of these services will result in fewer jobs as well as enhanced tracking and identification of passengers.

A Houston-based company called Axiom Space has been most public about its intentions, talking for a few years now about developing the world's "first commercial space station." But this week, two other options emerged for NASA: Nanoracks and Lockheed Martin announced their intent to build a space station called "Starlab," and another team led by Blue Origin and Sierra Space revealed plans to construct an "Orbital Reef." If multiple options become available for space travel the price will be forced down, allowing for more people to travel and experience The Overview Effect. This could result in more influential people aligning with addressing climate change. Microgravity also allows some sections of science to mature much faster, resulting in more breakthrough technologies coming to market faster.

Starlink has set up a wholly-owned subsidiary in India called Starlink Satellite Communications Private, with a a "stretch goal" to deploy 200,000 Starlink user terminals in more than 160,000 rural districts in India by December 2022. Starlink is also in talks with two telecommunications companies in the Philippines, where it also wants to launch its satellite service. This project would result in Internet availability to more people - Starlink wants to introduce its internet to schools in and near to the capital city of New Delhi.

Technologists in the U.S. and China, experts in Japan and researchers within the European Space Agency and the United Kingdom Space Agency are all working to make space-based solar power a reality. Over the past decade, researchers have made impressive advances that increase the likelihood that space solar power (SSP) will be realized during the next decade. "Two of the biggest hurdles to the realization of SSP have always been the cost of launch and the cost of hardware. Add flight rate, and all of a sudden you're looking at numbers always talked about for solar power satellites." The experts believe that solar power satellites at scale could be available within a decade, and envision "a world in the year 2100 where about 20% of electrical power comes from terrestrial nuclear and renewables, with 80% supplied by astroelectricity."

An all-electric plane capable of carrying 100 people may be available within six years, significantly accelerating the timeline for the introduction of a non-kerosene powered commercial airliner. U.S. startup Wright Electric Inc. plans to retrofit electric motors into a BAe 146 regional aircraft, replacing its four jet engines and transforming it into a zero-emissions model. The planes will have a range of about one hour or 460 miles. Zero emissions would be a game-changer for the airline industry, and this timing would make the company first to market. The converted planes would be suited to linking close city pairs such as New York and Boston, Rio de Janeiro and Sao Paulo and many European locations currently served by regional jets.

Article about the Colorado river and the dependence on it for water. 4 nearby states are feeling the effects of less water/falling water levels in the river as a result of climate change. If the decline continues, a remedy is necessary to sustain the people of this area.

"NASA astronaut Megan McArthur created what she called "my best space tacos yet," using some of the newly harvested peppers, some fajita beef and rehydrated tomatoes." They missed the mark not using sustainable fajita beef made from plants or a space cow but 'locally' grown space peppers could become a big hit at Whole Space Foods.

If we can get all that plastic out of the ocean and use it to power the ocean-plastic-grabbing-machines, then this could be huge for the environment! "Honeywell International Inc. says it developed a commercially viable method to melt down low-grade plastic waste and turn it back into oil that's good enough to feed into a refinery."

They are undifferentiated cells capable of being anything. You might know them as stem cells and now a robot can take them up your nose into your brain. "Researchers have developed a stem cell-based microrobot called "cellbot" capable of delivering stem cells to the brain via intranasal passage using a minimally invasive method. The cellbot has the potential to become a key player in the treatment of neurological disorders such as brain cancer, Parkinson's disease and Alzheimer's disease."

FORD is stepping up their game making $F LEAPs for 2023 a great investment! "Based on Ford's 1978 F-100 pickup, the all-electric all-wheel drive F-100 Eluminator has 480 horsepower and features Ford Performance Parts' Eluminator electric crate motor."

I mean, It's a fair question.