Perspective Agents: July 31
Notes on new religions, expertise aging down, bubble cities, and more
MY RECENT ESSAY
Creative automation changes the narrative that only mundane jobs will be displaced by AI. Two weeks since writing The Robots Have Landed, OpenAI is ready to sell DALL-E to its first million customers. Best Dalle2 Pics is a good place to see a new genre in development.
EDGE NEWS + VIEWS
A reminder that we will discover/rediscover A LOT in the near future. Two weeks into sharing data, the James Webb Space Telescope is reshaping astronomy
As unthinkables pile up, startup rationale will extend into unusual places. For example, check this startup thesis on religion.
Related, but not really. Dogs playing god. This new study suggests they can read our minds.
Another spiritual dimension to explore: Scientists discovered that a single, specific molecule in the brain is responsible for coloring our memories, good or bad.
The perspective shift is accelerating in medicine. MIT engineers developed stickers that can see inside the body. The ultrasound adhesives produce clear images of the heart, lungs, and other internal organs.
In a major leap forward, Deep Mind deciphered the structure of every protein known to science. The AI will pave the way for new medicines and technologies to tackle global challenges, including famine or pollution.
A genetics study from the University of Oxford found more evidence that alcohol accelerates biological aging.
On the flip side, scientists are developing countermeasures to aging. The latest: scientists cloned mice from freeze-dried skin cells, opening the door to biopreservation.
Some other scientists also discovered a potential cure for baldness.
Behind bioengineering marvels. We’re fast approaching a point when decoding a human genome could cost $100 — about as much as the average American’s weekly grocery store run.
Expertise aging down. Check this: “She just got accepted to medical school. She’s 13.”
From the extraordinarily ambitious or deeply dystopian file. Saudi Arabia plans to build a gigantic megastructure that contains a city for 9 million people. It’s a 500-meter-high, 200-meter-wide, car-free, carbon-neutral bubble. It boasts total sustainability and a temperate, regulated microclimate.
Is this the ultimate in high-density living or science fiction fantasy? An insight behind what drives innovation. Is ambition a form of anxiety disorder?
A different slant on anxiety-producers from Axios: Facebook's TikTok-like redesign marks the sunset of social networking.
Related: Rand wrote a primer on the growing risk of disinformation and deep fakes flowing through social networks.
One more reason to turn off the news. Do it for the kids.
Should we also tell them to turn off games? This study of 39,000 video gamers has found "little to no evidence" that time spent playing impacts wellbeing.
A cautionary case for solving tech ills. Medium was billed as a place for better dialogue through better content. A take on why it failed.
Media was billed as a place for writers to “come for the tools, stay for the network.” For most writers, the mission turned out to be a false promise. A warning from those thinking deeply about the human impact of future tech. The metaverse is going to suck for privacy
An effect on declining institutional belief and trust. A rise of “Rage Giving.”
3D-printed houses are set to cause a shift in the 21st-century real estate market. You can buy them now.
Rethinking our food systems is no longer optional.
Climate change is stressing power grids all over the country/. Get your supplies ready.
Despite absurd odds, someone in Illinois won a cool mega-million billion Friday. One lottery player outsmarted the system to become a winner 14 times.
We’re all just trying to figure it out. A guide on how to take things less personally. Something to keep in mind as new things no longer make sense to us.
FINAL THOUGHT
McLuhan was famous for sensing how deeply dominant technologies impact users on a subconscious level (his translation: The Medium is the Message).
The era of television as dominant media was based on projection. It created a vast market for fantasy and myth-building. The era of computing is said to put us into a categorically different place. McLuhan called it “perfect memory, total and exact.”
We’re in transition from fantasy (where we believe in realities projected to us) to memory (where we define realities guided by computing advances). This might explain growing mistrust over what is projected or told to us.
In other words, those from the McLuhan school believe the fantasy-industrial complex is breaking down.
Here’s a case study worth thinking about it. Why did people ever buy what Victoria’s Secret was selling? And why did people tune out? If the fantasy-industrial complex — exemplified by Victory Secret — is fading, what’s a cultural translation of “perfect memory?”
The question is bigger than you might think.
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