World Futures Fall 2021

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."

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.

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.

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.

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.

The state of Massachusetts might become the first to install the first-ever solar-powered roadside sound barrier, Energy News Network reported. It is expected that this innovative pilot project will be able to generate around 800 megawatt-hours of power every single year.

'Practically all types of plastic' can be recycled. Currently, the facility can manage four plastic types, but that number will increase to twelve different types. No packaging is incinerated at Site Zero. The facility is operated with renewable energy. There are also plans to cover the building's large flat roof with solar panels.

The weeding machine is a beast at almost 10,000 pounds. It boasts no fewer than eight independently-aimed 150-watt lasers, typically used for metal cutting, that can fire 20 times per second. They're guided by 12 high-resolution cameras connected to AI systems that can recognize good crops from bad weeds. The Laserweeder drives itself with computer vision, finding the furrows in the fields, positioning itself with GPS, and searching for obstacles with LIDAR. It drives 5 miles/hour and can clear 15-20 acres in a day.

In neuromorphic hardware, calculations are performed by lots of small units that communicate with each other through bursts of activity called spikes and adjust their behavior based on the spikes they receive from others, roughly similar to the biological neural behavior in the brain.

As top federal officials like Janet Yellen, Jerome Powell and Gary Gensler debate how cryptocurrency and the companies involved in it should be regulated, and members of Congress consider 18 bills tied to digital assets, states are quietly enacting their own laws and issuing charters for crypto companies.

The new National Cryptocurrency Enforcement Team (NCET) that the Department of Justice is forming will focus on investigating and prosecuting criminal misuse of cryptocurrency, but DOJ's history of working with federal regulatory agencies on high-profile civil enforcement actions shows that crypto businesses willfully violating regulatory requirements should be wary of the NCET as well.

Is it time to pick up some PSYK, PSY and PSIL ETFs? "Given the strong results, Compass Pathways plans to move ahead with a late-stage clinical trial of psilocybin, likely using the 25-milligram dose, but that detail still needs to be discussed with regulators. The recent trial was a so-called Phase 2B trial, which was intended to figure out the appropriate dose; the next trial, a Phase 3, will test that chosen dose in a larger group." Where do we sign up?

The article discusses emissions at ports around the world and focuses on a measurement of a port's affects on the environment through a measurement called Port Environmental Index (PEI). The PEI consists of standards that will allow the tracking of emissions and effects on the environment for the port over time. The internet of things (IOT) will allow real time monitoring. (alterenate link: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1470160X20308888)

Interesting thesis about climate change and ports. The paper discusses the importance of ports to world trade and national security (specificallyf or the US). The US military has recently become more of an expeditionary force rather than occupational, subsequently ports are becoming more important. However, impending climate change threatens the port operations and infrastructure that need to be understood.

This report focuses on the COVID-19 pandemic impact on the underdeveloped world, and outlines 'six essential solutions to build a safer world.' 'The COVID-19 pandemic has exposed a world that is unequal, divided, and unaccountable. The health emergency ecosystem reflects this broken world. It is not fit for purpose and needs major reform. Hundreds of expert recommendations have been made over the last two decades, new structures have been created, but the level of ambition and action has failed to match the global need. We know what to do. We just cannot seem to do it'

Facebook is working on a new artificial intelligence (AI)-based system that can analyse your lives through first-person videos, recording what they see, do, and hear to assist you with daily tasks. The system is hoping to solve research challenges in 'egocentric perception' (the perception of direction or position of oneself based on visual information). Facebook AI has developed five benchmark challenges centred on first-person visual experience - episodic memory, forecasting, hand and object manipulation, audio-visual "diarization," and social interaction. On the upside, a robotic assistant could be introduced to a person via a series of videos and be able to provide a personalized presence. I would assume that if the robot could have constant access to first-person videos it could continue to learn. On the downside, even more data mining.

This research is not focused on autonomy but on driver aides. This started with 'lane departure warning', which now also includes in some implementations a correction nudge. This work is focused on sudden avoidance manoeuvres by detecting the object and the direction it is travelling. "We can numerically determine what the optimal manoeuvre is and then decide which control principle is the best." Significant improvement in surviving accidents that would often be fatal - 233 run-off lane accidents were analyzed that ended in fatalities or very serious injury, and the team concluded that 80% were avoidable with an autonomous system.