Elon musk

Thursday

Martin Vander Weyer

It’s mavericks like Elon Musk who’ll get us through this crisis

This month’s most significant corporate deal attracted less attention than it might have done in normal times, crowded out by grim news elsewhere. It is the proposed £31 billion merger of O2 and Virgin Media to create a telecoms giant with 46 million customers. Following BT’s 2016 acquisition of the mobile operator EE, further ‘convergence’ in the sector had been expected, but the mid-lockdown timing was spun as a vote of confidence in the UK, described as ‘one of the most attractive markets on Earth’ by José María Alvarez--Pallete, chief executive of Telefónica of Spain, which owns O2. Investment of £10 billion in the new group’s mobile, broadband and television platforms is promised over the next five years.

Thursday

James Adams

When will American schools catch up with the technological revolution?

From our US edition

As 75 million children head back to school for the fall semester, there are concerns among academics, technologists and social scientists that the current American education system is no longer fit for purpose. Such is the pace of the technology revolution that children in kindergarten or middle school today are likely to be educated for a world that will largely have disappeared by the time they graduate. Even those in high school today are going to find a different world where learning about the past or the present has less and less value for the future. Even universities, which have changed little in the past 25 years are confronting a revolution where whole professions, such as accounting or medicine, which have provided a steady income stream are going to be under assault.

education schools

Friday

James Adams

Silicon Valley is your government now

From our US edition

The Federal Trade Commission’s decision to fine Facebook $5 billion for privacy violations is an expensive slap on the wrist that will do little to change anything in what is developing as a titanic struggle between the nation states (governments) and the new market states (technology companies). Across the world, the nation states are struggling to keep pace with technology developments and largely failing. Meanwhile, the nation states are proceeding at breakneck speed to develop a world of their choosing where countries become less and less relevant to the course of our future history. The FTC fined Facebook for a series of ethics and privacy violations and imposed the largest fine in the FTC’s history.

silicon valley

Wednesday

James Adams

Elon Musk’s brain game

From our US edition

When Elon Musk took to the stage at the California Academy of Sciences on Tuesday, he gave the world the first insight into his vision for mapping and ultimately controlling the brain. Three years ago, Musk formed Neuralink which was specifically created to respond to the threat that Musk’ believes is posed by the imminent threat of thinking machines powered by AI. Musk believes that phase of the information revolution could mark the end of humanity as robots outpace humans in intelligence and pace of evolution. His answer is to fully understand exactly how the brain works and, in the process, he believes that the new science will find the cure for many of humanity’s most deadly illnesses such as Parkinson’s, Alzheimer’s and PTSD.

elon musk brain

Wednesday

Libby Emmons

Humanity + wants us to live forever

From our US edition

We are constantly pushing toward the apocalypse. Whether it's Judgment Day, suicidal death cults, or freaking out about how we only have five minutes to reverse climate change, the End of Days looms large in our imaginations. Relatively new to the End Times game are the transhumanists, who hope to defer the end for all time. Transhumanists believe that we can integrate humanity with tech to extend life, or even live forever.Transhumanists want us to evolve into a tech-integrated species. This would allow us to extend human life through deferring and even annulling the physical decay that ends in death. Organ replacement, micro repairs with nanotech, and AI integration would decrease likelihood of death by natural causes.

transhumanism humanity +