World Futures Fall 2021

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 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'

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.

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?

Wow, check out the picture of the Meat 3-D printer on this article. "The "meat" is 3D printed, and the mimicry is extraordinary. The molecules of difference that create the flavour of beef, as distinct from that of lamb, are few but extremely powerful. This is certainly the closest synthetic approximation yet."

Go to 11:30 - it's in my scenario!

Article explains that even though 'greener" decisions are being made, the increase in wealth and subsequent demand negates most green efforts just due to volume. For example, we make more fuel efficient cars than we did 20 or 30 years ago, but we are producing 2x as many

The Treasury Department is moving to rein in a new class of cryptocurrencies whose popularity as a payment method is skyrocketing, citing a need to head off potential risks to consumers and to the financial system. So-called stablecoins - payment tokens that differ from other cryptocurrencies because their value is often pegged to the U.S. dollar - are drawing scrutiny because they have already been used in trillions of dollars' worth of lightning-fast transactions and could transform the way Americans pay for things. Treasury and other regulators want to ensure that they're reliable, even during financial panics.

As crypto evolves into a mainstream consumer product, complaints to the CFPB about the sector have already exceeded 1,700 this year, compared with 982 all of last year and 488 in 2019. With the industry's growth have come calls for regulatory checks. Many in the regulatory community believe the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is gearing up to launch enforcement actions against cryptocurrency firms. But that could revive a debate about the limits of CFPB power.

U.S. cryptocurrency markets and related platforms will "not end well" if they stay outside the purview of regulators, according to Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman Gary Gensler.

New York's attorney general ordered two unlicensed cryptocurrency lending platforms to cease operating in the state as authorities continue to clamp down on crypto firms over fraud concerns.

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.

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.