World Futures Fall 2021

The Pew Research Center survey finds that publics offer mixed views about the use of robots to automate jobs. Across the 20 publics, a median of 48% say such automation has mostly been a good thing, while 42% say it has been a bad thing.

The third edition of NASA's "International Space Station Benefits for Humanity" book now is available. The new edition fills more than 200 pages with the many benefits of conducting research on the orbiting microgravity laboratory and includes new assessments of the economic value - as well as greater detail about the scientific value - of the International Space Station. Really this is NASA defending it's spending.

In October 2021 the UN passed a resolution recognising access to ahalthy and sustainable environment as a universal right. It talks about the history in getting to this point. In most cases, people are suffering due to no fault of their own. This is considered a start to motivate governments to take action

Article about the less fortunate suffering at the hands of big business as climate crisis severly impacts the environments where people live. It talks about basic life support needs that are more difficult to come by as a result of climate change.

Interesting article in that it takes the perspective of the worker and the effects of climate change. It asks questions about getting to zero emissions and the effects of doing so. The call is for a smooth transition--one wth minimal disruption, and the idea is that people have a right to such a transition

Article talks about the general increase in anger/unhappiness in the country today. More people seem to be upset with the way things are going and letting it be known. A lot of it seems resistance to change or feeling of helplessness as things change to from what was once familiar.

Saudi Arabia announces it will be emission free by 2060 (notably the "how" is not in the detals. More and more countries are pledging zero emissions in the future, so the key will be whether they adhere to their promises or if these pledges are simply to follow along with tthe crowd now.

Automation is seen as the big drive of change in sea ports of the future. With so many benefits being realized as a result of automation, it seems inevitable. Not only will we see automation but more connectivity of ports with other systems.

Short article that says that ports will need to grow in coming years (next 3 decades) to accomodate growing world trade. A fourfold increase would be considerably more volume than we presently see. The article says that the cost of expanding port capacity will exceed required rising sea level adaptation.

Article talks about a possible Iranian hack of US maritime accounts. With so much reliance on ports, and an estimated increased reliance in the future, more attention needs to be brought to cyber security, especially as ports become more automated. How secure will the ports have to be? With continued reliance on trade, the security of the ports become a critical aspect of national security.

"We've seen everyone trying to get space tourism going ... we need some of the world's greatest brains and minds fixed on trying to repair this planet, not trying to find the next place to go and live." Is it ethical to spend all this money on the future of space when we could be fixing the earth? Short sighted if you ask me and we may need an escape plan...

Despite its humanistic, universalizing pretensions, however, NewSpace does not benefit humankind as such but rather a specific set of wealthy entrepreneurs, many of them originating in Silicon Valley, who strategically deploy humanist tropes to engender enthusiasm for their activities. We describe this complex as 'capitalistkind'. Moreover, the arrival of capitalism in space is fueled by the expansionary logic of capital accumulation. Outer space serves as a spatial fix, allowing capital to transcend its inherent terrestrial limitations. In this way, the ultimate spatial fix is perhaps (outer) space itself. We are seeing a big back lash for the billionaire space race. People don't understand why we're spending all this money for space when we have so many problems on earth.

On race day, it is not drivers that will make the difference -- but about 40,000 lines of code programmed by each team. "If people get used to seeing cars like these going 300 kilometers per hour... and they don't crash," said Savaresi, they may eventually think that such cars are safe "at 50 kilometers per hour."

It reversed age-related inflammation in the body and the brains of older mice, and changed the chemistry of their brain's hippocampus - the region involved in learning and memory - to resemble that of younger mice. The transplant also led to improvements in the older mice's memory, learning and anxiety levels, all of which are affected negatively with age.

DRIVER-TREATMENT-POLITICS-POLLUTION The original 1948 statute (Ch. 758; P.L. 845), the Water Pollution Control Act, authorized the Surgeon General of the Public Health Service, in cooperation with other Federal, state and local entities, to prepare comprehensive programs for eliminating or reducing the pollution of interstate waters and tributaries and improving the sanitary condition of surface and underground waters. During the development of such plans, due regard was to be given to improvements necessary to conserve waters for public water supplies, propagation of fish and aquatic life, recreational purposes, and agricultural and industrial uses. The original statute also authorized the Federal Works Administrator to assist states, municipalities, and interstate agencies in constructing treatment plants to prevent discharges of inadequately treated sewage and other wastes into interstate waters or tributaries.

You wonder if it's the pandemic that is really the driver for people to seek companionship via virtual connections, or is it the start of a trend. The article talks about elderly people being taken advantage of in many of the cases. It also mentions that it's not just some rogue criminal but in some case organizations that are behind these scams.

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.