Socialism 2

(cont'd from yesterday's post)

The Danish economist in yesterday's video clarified "Danish socialism" for us and we can learn from it. We hear in the U.S. that Denmark is socialist; but he, both a citizen and a professional, says that Denmark is not socialist. 

What does he mean by that?

First he confirms that his country does have two key features that socialists like: high taxes and high government spending. The Danes pay "oodles of taxes in return for oodles of benefits." 

Then he identifies two anti-socialist features of his country: strong protection of private property rights (the little guy in the image below is trying to protect his home from the heavy hand of government), and very little red tape to hold you back if you want to start a business.

image

Except for the first two features above, he says, Denmark is a "full-on, free market, capitalist country."

(cont'd tomorrow)

Socialism 1

Is Denmark a socialist country?

No apocalypse

(cont'd from yesterday's post)

But the apocalypse has not happened in any of the 51 years since Ehrlich and other scientists predicted it. He thought global population would overwhelm the capacity of the world to produce food, and then hundreds of millions would die of starvation. 

He was right in this . . the number of people was growing (though the rate of growth has been slowing ever since). About the time of his predictions and the first Earth Day, global population was 3.5 billion. Today it's over 7 billion. 

He was wrong in this . . the earth had much more capacity to produce food (and other resources) than he or anyone else knew. Famines did not engulf the world. In fact, a billion people have risen out of extreme poverty in the last thirty years. Human beings, increasingly free to innovate, did this.

So here's what we can say about apocalyptic predictions: it's very hard to predict the future. Take apocalyptic predictions - even from scientists - with a healthy skepticism.

Apocalyptic

 You've probably heard the claim that "The world is going to end in 12 years if we don't address climate change!" Politicians don't necessarily limit themselves to being accurate, certainly not any more than other people. 

 Apocalyptic climate predictions have always swirled around Earth Day (started in 1970). Author Paul Ehrlich (The Population Bomb, 1968) made one of the most famously inaccurate of them all:

"The battle to feed all of humanity is over. In the 1970s hundreds of millions of people will starve to death in spite of any crash programs embarked upon now."

His claims seemed plausible at the time. He was considered a "qualified scientist," often quoted and interviewed on television.

But that was 51 years ago. 

(cont'd tomorrow)

AI & pizza 2

(cont'd from yesterday's post)

One potential problem with a highly automated restaurant? A meal cooked for you by a robot just doesn't sound great. Not as good, say, as a meal cooked for you by your mom.

So Zume's CEO (in yesterday's video) is careful to firmly emphasize the human side of her AI-automated pizzeria. "Food really has to come from the heart! Food is made with love!" She assures us that when it comes to cooking, "There are so many places where human beings are much better than robots!" She wants the "human steps to flow seamlessly into the robotic steps."

photo

Robots are used because there are benefits. It's faster (dough is pressed into a crust in 9 seconds). The pizzas are more consistently perfect. And, so importantly, an algorithm orders the final baking of your pizza in the delivery truck oven the last four minutes before it gets to your door. So it's good and hot.

Jay Richards says that this AI wave of innovation is just getting started, and we'll get used to it like we have with all previous waves of innovation.

AI & pizza

Artificial intelligence is changing how business is done, as you very well know. Even the pizza business. How does AI apply to the pizza business? Glad you asked.

Zume Pizza uses robots to make, bake, and deliver:

"When a customer places an order from Zume’s app, Doughbot starts preparing their specific order by turning a dough ball into a pizza crust in a mere 9 seconds. Robots Giorgio and Pepe take over from there by applying the sauce to the crust and pass the pie on to Marta, a robot who spreads the sauce to the corners of the crust. Humans step back in to put the toppings on, a task that is challenging to automate due to the different textures and sizes toppings come in. Then robots Bruno and Vincenzo put the pies in and out of the oven respectively." More technology bakes the pizza on its way to the customer.

Here is Zume's founder and CEO:



(cont'd tomorrow)

Resurrection

Many people have a philosophy of life that could be summed up this way, "The universe is against me." 

It's not a new outlook. Ancient Greek myth said that the titan Prometheus stole fire from the gods to help mankind, but paid a heavy price. Zeus designed a punishment for him to last til the end of time. No good deed goes unpunished because the universe is against us.

It's the fatalist myth. You grab all the pleasures you can, you suffer, then you die alone, and the cold universe wins. Human beings are naturally and rightly repelled by this outlook. But they also wonder: is it true?

Ancient myths painted a grim picture of an uncaring universe (which atheism affirms).

"Then Jesus burst the tomb. He didn’t lay in anguish for countless centuries, tormented by the highest god. He climbed the cross freely at the one true God’s request, as an act of love for a Father. And, in a crucial truth, for men. Unlike Prometheus, he wasn’t rebelling against the order of the Cosmos. He was restoring it. While the elements of earth and the emptiness of space might not be our friends, the spirit that made them is. The mind that kindled the fire of the Big Bang wanted to share it with us. He doesn’t envy our knowledge or fear our progress.

"He wants us, in fact, to progress much further than we'd imagined. And He wants us to unite ourselves to Him, by becoming His sons - instead of slaves, as Zeus demanded."

Doubting Thomas, becoming convinced of Christ's resurrection
Churchmouse Campanologist
John 20:19-31

Good Friday

It's Good Friday - the day Christians celebrate the meaning of the sacrifice of Jesus Christ. Both man and God, He was the "sacrificial lamb" who "takes away the sin of the world" (John 1:29).

Crescendo

A pro-life story that happened long ago:

No ignorance

(cont'd from yesterday's post)

Sean McDowell thinks that sheltering his Christian students from opposing views would be a big mistake. So he doesn't do that.

Here's what his students do for his classes:

• read articles by skeptics
• watch videos that challenge their beliefs
• read The God Delusion by Richard Dawkins
• go to Berkeley campus for atheist lectures

"If we want young people to have a vibrant and lasting faith, we must expose them to opposing viewpoints early in their intellectual development. And we must present those views fairly and accurately."

Sean says, "Don't you think you should have some good reasons why this [Christianity] is true?"

No snowflakes

Sean MacDowell has a double master's degree in theology and philosophy from Talbot Theological Seminary as well as a Ph.D. in worldview studies. Just so you know--he's a committed Christian who has put in the academic work and has some credibility.

But he lives in the real world, not in the proverbial "ivory tower." Decades ago, Christians were not challenged much on their view of the world. Today we are challenged on our life choices and on points of faith all the time, and Sean likes to address those challenges.


Parents often try to shelter their kids from opposing viewpoints. But that's a mistake.

"[O]ver-protecting kids encourages them to wonder whether there actually are good arguments against the faith. And when they do encounter evidence against Christianity, which is inevitable today, many wonder — what else have you not told me? Are you too insecure in your own faith to speak truth?

"Overprotection undermines trust. And as a result, many kids lose confidence in their faith."

(cont'd tomorrow)

AI merge 2

(cont'd from last Thursday's post)

Elon Musk totally believes that artificial intelligence which is smarter than any human will come within his lifetime. He thinks we must merge with AI and he's put money behind that idea.

So he co-founded Neuralink to develop "ultra high bandwidth brain-machine interfaces to connect humans and computers." Because AI must be US, not OTHER.

(Brain-machine interface is not a brand new idea. Go here for ideas that are being tried.)

FH success

Falcon Heavy launched yesterday for just the second time ever, a success in every way. Or, as they like to say at SpaceX, it was a "nominal" launch that worked just as planned.

Two Falcon 9 side boosters landed safely back on earth eight minutes later and will be used again in the future. The central core booster landed safely on a drone ship in the Atlantic. 

FH placed a satellite into orbit for its first commercial customer, Arabsat:

"Falcon Heavy is the most powerful operational rocket in the world by a factor of two. With the ability to lift into orbit nearly 64 metric tons (141,000 lb)---a mass greater than a 737 jetliner loaded with passengers, crew, luggage and fuel--Falcon Heavy can lift more than twice the payload of the next closest operational vehicle, the Delta IV Heavy, at one-third the cost."

AI merge

(cont'd from yesterday's post)

According to Elon Musk, the average person won't begin to consider AI a threat to humans until he or she sees "killer robots walking down the street." But in his opinion, that will be far too late. 



A prime example of AI: 

Deep Mind is Google's on-going project to create "digital super intelligence," "vastly smarter than any human on earth and ultimately smarter than all humans on earth combined." It has "administrative access to Google's servers . . it could take complete control of the whole Google system which means it could do anything . . " including interact with all your data. 

His recommendation? "If you can't beat 'em, join 'em . .  It's incredibly important that AI not be other. It must be us . . I'm afraid we're either going to have to merge with AI or be left behind."

He admits that he could be wrong about this and says he's open to anyone coming up with a solution that's better.

AI fear

Artificial intelligence (AI) is the capacity of a computer to imitate intelligent behavior. It already exists in applications all around us. 

It obviously has a beneficial effect on the standard of life that we enjoy. But some consider it a slippery slope toward serious danger to humans, and even, in the extreme, a dictator of human society. 

That's the view of Elon Musk. But he has an idea how to mitigate that danger. It's not just an idea for him - he's already invested money into the idea.


(cont'd tomorrow)

Garbage tower 2

(cont'd from yesterday's post)

"On a recent day, trucks rumbled up a steep dirt road to the top of the garbage pile, where crows blotted out the sun and wind kicked up fumes from moldy vegetables and feces discarded in saggy plastic bags.

"Down below, Faiyaz Khan, the owner of a dairy plot, said this patch of land was once dense forest, perfect for his buffalo. He wondered what his future would hold.

“The height of the dump keeps increasing and my health keeps decreasing,” said Mr. Khan.

"Something as simple as installing trash cans around Delhi has not been done, partly because garbage collection is not guaranteed and many residents are used to simply flinging trash onto the ground.

“You don’t know whether the public will even use them,” said Mr. Annepu, founder of a waste management non-profit. Cultural change doesn't come easy.

photo

Garbage tower 1

India's garbage problem has not been solved since the last time we took a look at it.
There have been attempts to solve it. Prime Minister Modi's party started "Clean India Mission" in 2014. People who don't separate their trash for recycling are subject to fines. One company is making mulch out of the trash.

But there are multiple hurdles to overcome. Designating new dumps faces opposition from residents. "A few hundred thousand ragpickers" live in nearby slums, picking plastic out of the dumps to sell, and they may not vote for politicians who threaten their livelihood.

photo

Four official dumps in the Delhi metro contain about 80 billion pounds. They're getting so big that air traffic controllers may have to start steering planes around them.

During a monsoon rain, part of the dump crashed and two people were killed.

(cont'd tomorrow)

Prices up/down

Economics professor Mark Perry writes a popular blog (Carpe Diem) where he frequently posts charts and graphs he authors using economic data. His most popular, which Bloomberg calls the "Chart of the Century," has been referenced and tweeted many times:

image

Someone commented on Twitter: 

"Blue lines = prices subject to free market forces. Red lines = prices subject to regulatory capture by government . . . Conclusion: remind me why socialism is so great again."

Hospital services, college tuition, housing . . governments are very involved, prices go up.

TV's, toys, cars, software, cell phone service, furnishings, clothing . . free global markets, governments less involved, prices stay the same or go down.

Prenatal gender

Berkeley professor Judith Butler is known for claiming that "male" and "female" are nothing but social constructs, i.e. society acts as if gender is a thing, but it really only exists in people's minds. She's received honors for this, like the Mellon Prize ($1,500,000).

But . . what about studies that show true, empirical differences between male and female brains? Followers of the Butler mindset claim that adults and children who show these differences have simply been programmed by society.

Now there is a new study on the question of whether gender is real. American researchers performed MRI's on the brains of babies before their birth. Results showed striking differences between the brains of prenatal males and females.

What do you think - will this politically incorrect challenge be covered by all the news networks any time soon?

Reported in Psychology Today, where you'll find all the details

H-1 update 3

(cont'd from yesterday's post)

Virgin Hyperloop One seems on its way to success in India as well. The State of Maharashtra has given it some official sounding terms, and there's a project to run a hyperloop from Pune to Mumbai.



CEO Jay Walder thinks India has a lot to gain when they get this project done. Population density is a key indicator for a hyperloop transport project, and India has plenty of population density. 

Drive time from Mumbai, India's most populous city, to Pune is about three hours. The hyperloop would make it in 30 minutes. Below is a photo of traffic between the two cities:

photo

H-1 update 2

(cont'd from yesterday's post)

Virgin Hyperloop One (H-1) uses magnetic levitation. One set of magnets lifts the passenger pod off its track, while the other set propels the pod forward. The low pressure vacuum-sealed environment within the tube provides very little resistance, enabling the pod's high velocity.

DP World, which operates in forty countries, is Virgin Hyperloop One's largest investor. Its CEO, Mr. Bin Sulayem, is H-1's Chairman of the Board.

Government permits and regulations will be a hurdle to overcome in every locality that sponsors this innovative new transport system. Getting governments to participate with and support making hyperloop a reality will be essential.

An important step toward that goal has been reached in the U.S. by Elaine Chao, Secretary of Transportation. Just this month she announced the "Non-Traditional and Emerging Transportation Technology Council" to propel the process forward on the national level.

"Hyperloop is a new mode of transportation that is built for the 21st century,” said Jay Walder, CEO of Virgin Hyperloop One. “We want to be the company that spearheads the next giant leap forward in transportation here in the United States but we know we can’t do it alone. We applaud the DOT for their support of this technology.”

(cont'd tomorrow)

H-1 update 1

The hyperloop idea has roots in the past, but Elon Musk made it exciting in 2012. He publicized his vision and promoted public competitions for prototype designs.

A hyperloop system's obvious advantage is its speed. It is ground transport that moves potentially at air speed, maybe as fast as 600+ mph. 

Several startups formed to pursue making hyperloop a reality. One of them took the lead in getting investment funds and making progress: Virgin Hyperloop One.

Here is a good summary of where the concept stands now:

(cont'd tomorrow)