Google loses one

Google is still fighting suits filed by states or the federal government a few years ago. One of them was decided and finished this summer. The state of Texas won it.

Attorney General Ken Paxton says, "In Texas, Big Tech is not above the law. For years, Google secretly tracked people’s movements, private searches, and even their voiceprints and facial geometry through their products and services . . .They will pay for abusing our trust."

photo

After aggressive litigation by the Attorney General, a settlement was negotiated in place of a judge's legal decision. Google will pay the state of Texas $1,375,000,000: far, far more than Google has had to pay as a result of other similar suits.

This is in addition to a similar suit and settlement with Meta just a year ago, where they settled to pay Texas $1.4 billion. I hope the technology sector has learned that we the people will not tolerate massive, secret theft of privacy.

from Texas state website

Grok talks 2

(cont'd from yesterday's post)

If you watched yesterday's video, you found that the interviewer started with interesting science topics like the origin of life and the evolution of all species of life. Here are just a few of the questions he posed to Grok 4, and its responses:

• What is the mathematical probability that the first life cells could have formed by natural processes alone? A - "the mathematical probability of a minimal genome about 200-300 genes self-assembling through naturalistic processes is less than one in ten to the power 200 based on observed chemical constraints . . effectively impossible."
• What is the most logical conclusion about where life came from and the biodiversity of life forms on the planet? A - "the most logical conclusion . . is a directed process implying intelligent design. The evidence for an intelligent designer is overwhelming."
• Is it rational to say that in the beginning God created the heavens and the earth? A - Yes.

If science, logic, mathematical probability and observational science mean a lot to you, you will have to deal with this conclusion.

Grok talks

Is faith in the Christian God the most reasonable conclusion you could come to? 

Since artificial intelligence is seemingly going beyond mere human intelligence, this Christian believer had the idea of submitting that question to AI. 

He specifically told Grok 4 to consider only "strict logic, mathematical probability and observational science" (not religious faith or ideology). Based on scientific data, he asked it to answer some factual questions.

Eventually Grok 4 concluded that . . it is.

(cont'd tomorrow)

She's hunted 2

(cont'd from yesterday's post)

United Kingdom suspended extradition to Hong Kong in 2020 after the Chinese government cracked down on dissent. Chloe was one of the 150,000 fleeing government repression who allowed to come to the UK in 2023. 

One Hong Konger who dared to publish pro-democracy material has been held in solitary confinement since 2020. Sometimes families are interrogated. Recently dissidents are alarmed at the deepfake videos China has produced to intimidate them. Bounties like the one on Chloe were placed on 34 others. 

They're afraid that the British government seeks a friendlier relationship with China. It's even likely to allow a "super embassy" to be built on five acres in the middle of London that could become a surveillance hub for the Chinese government on the edge of the financial district. The U.S. is concerned about it.

Chloe and the others are worried they could become a trade-off for the government.

from "She Fled Repression"

She's hunted 1

At 20 years old, Chloe Cheung (photo) checks behind her back every time she leaves her home. She doesn't take the same route to work even two days in a row, and continually checks the rear view mirror while driving.

Though she lives in London now, there's a bounty on her head of a million Hong Kong dollars (about $128,000). She's living in constant fear.

Her crime? As a student back in Hong Kong, she protested against the government and in favor of democracy in 2019. When the government started arresting protesters, she fled to Britain. Maybe she expected a sympathetic welcome, because Hong Kong was ruled by the British under a lease agreement with China for 99 years.

That lease ended in 1997 and they officially pulled out. China re-established control.

from "She Fled Repression in Hong Kong"

(cont'd tomorrow)

Drug prices

Some people have to take a prescription drug for their health, not just for a temporary illness but for an ongoing condition, and it often costs them a lot. Harvard published a few reasons why that is so (photo). When it's expensive, that drug may take a big chunk out of their budget. The cost can be overwhelming for some. 

Researchers reported in 2022 that pharmaceutical companies charge Americans much higher prices than customers pay in other countries. The U.S. president is aware of this, and has told 17 of those companies that their pricing must be made more equitable.

According to that study, "Prices for brand-name and generic drugs were nearly three times higher in the U.S. than in 33 other countries in 2022 . . .[M]akers of prescription drugs set gross prices in the United States in 2022 at 278% of prices for the same drugs in the comparison countries."

If you are an American who must take an expensive drug and who struggles with the cost, things are going to change for you.

from Health Journalism

Robotaxi

(cont'd from yesterday's post)

Elon is sometimes unrealistically optimistic about when those big goals will happen. But he was right that Tesla's robotaxi would launch finally in Austin, Texas, in June (or just sort of right, because it was limited).

Robotaxi is a driverless ride hailing service that is geofenced, limited by the city to an approved area. 

It's not just Tesla's concept. Waymo has been operating with 100 vehicles in Austin since last year, with a bigger approved area than Tesla has so far. 

Eventually Elon plans that Tesla owners can use their full self-driving cars for this service, and he sees it bringing in huge profit for both owners and for the company. Ark Invest thinks it likely, predicting a possible future trillion dollar enterprise.

This science blogger (video) thinks Tesla's "first trillion" will come from China, where robotaxis are already active.

Elon interview

Big thinker Elon Musk goes after exciting goals. No, that's an understatement. Make that "impossible" or "near-impossible" goals. 

He wants to be inspired. As he's said before, "life can't just be about solving one miserable problem after another." He chuckles a bit as he mentions that he and staff acknowledge a "giggle factor" when they talk about these ideas that make you excited to get up in the morning.

Catching the "biggest flying object ever made" out of the air was one of those goals. Enabling space travel for colonization of Mars will be another (assuming that one is not actually impossible). Starship will need to be fully and rapidly reusable, able to be refueled in space at an orbital re-filling depot.

But there's much more than space. He sees a huge future for Tesla's robotaxi service, Optimus robots, Neuralink, Grok AI. 

Big ideas, all addressed in this video.

 

Tesla Diner

With seating for 250 guests and a retro-futuristic menu, the Tesla Diner opened last week in Hollywood CA. 

Diner food is available, yes, and more than food. On the top floor you can view movies or Starship launches on very big screens, and of course you can charge your EV at the same time. There's an Optimus robot to observe under glass and an Optimus to serve popcorn.

"When you recharge your Rivian, does a girl on roller skates deliver free ice cream to you??"

Good vibrations

You've heard of molecular machines? Molecules within the living cell operate like machines to perform different functions that the cell needs. 

Now a certain molecule may be used to destroy cancer cells. At the Tour Lab of Rice University in Texas, a research scientist (photo) has found that these certain molecules can be made to resonate in unison. When stimulated by near-infrared light, their resonance causes the cell membrane of cancerous cells to rupture.

Nanoscientist James Tour, whose lab is doing amazing things, says “It is a whole new generation of molecular machines that we call molecular jackhammers.”

"According to the study published in Nature Chemistry, the method had a 99 percent efficiency against lab cultures of human melanoma cells, and half of the mice with melanoma tumors became cancer-free after treatment."

Exploding cancer cells--a great discovery.

from Rice University

Clarity re: LA

"Civil disobedience" has an honorable reputation as the expression of a sincere conscience.

It could describe the action of Rosa Parks, for instance, who defied a particular unjust local law . .  without violating other laws. Unfortunately, the term is often used today to describe a protest against certain laws while using lawless violence and looting. 

That's different. That's not civil disobedience. To violate the law against destroying your neighbor's property is not justified or legitimate. The Los Angeles rioting supposedly to protest immigration law was in no way civil, and in many cases not even the sincere expression of conscience.

Build things

"America won't exist if we don't build things." This author founded and runs a manufacturing startup, and he says we must restore our country's capacity to "build things," to manufacture. We must re-build our industrial base, in his theory, because every great power rose to prominence "by building the strongest industrial base of their time."

We could lose our strength. It could happen if we get too comfortable with our success and start to off-shore everything. 

Wait . . that sounds like the present day. As an example, we in the U.S. made five ships last year, while China made 1,000 ships. We lead the world in pharmaceutical R&D but we imported 88% of the active ingredients. "Submarine production has slowed drastically," a reflection of our lack of skilled workers (yesterday's post).

Jobs in the trades can yield a good living. Not everyone must go to college or university.

from The Free Press

Trades shortage

Last week Pennsylvania Energy and Innovation Summit brought together leaders in AI, energy and government. 

Mike Rowe ("Dirty Jobs" show), known as an advocate for the skilled trades, was on one of the panels and had plenty to say. Apparently he predicted the trades shortage 17 years ago, and it's really serious now. Yesterday's post showed that affordable housing is harder to find and more expensive because of it.

His points: 

• Taking shop class out of high school was a shortsighted, "harebrained" idea
• "We've been telling kids for 15 years to learn to code. Well, AI is coming for the coders.  It's not coming for the welders or the steamfitters . ."
• "We need 500,000 electricians in the next couple years. Not hyperbole!"
• Companies building nuclear subs for the Navy are short 80k to 90k skilled workers now
• His foundation awards trade school scholarships

"America is lending money [for college] it doesn't have -- to kids who can't pay it back -- to train them for jobs which no longer exist. That's nuts."

Construction skill

We in the U.S. need more workers in the skilled trades. While artificial intelligence certainly will eliminate many office type jobs, it will never eliminate the demand for electricians, plumbers, carpenters, HVAC and other hands-on jobs.

A crisis in the housing sector illustrates the point. Lack of skilled labor is making housing less affordable. In fact, the National Association of Homebuilders (photo) study concluded that this shortage is impacting the single family home building sector by $10.8 billion per year. Time required to build new homes is about two months longer.

The shortage in skilled trades (not just construction) is why Marvin Ellison is investing millions in training for them (yesterday's video).

It's one big factor why first-time home buyers are having a harder time getting into that first home.

from Forbes

$4/hour to CEO

Lowe's CEO and Chairman, Marvin Ellison, has quite a story. His experience should be an inspiration to everybody.

As a $4/hour part-time employee when he began working at Target, an entry level job, he drew attention to himself by taking tough assignments that no one else wanted. He learned how to make himself valuable to his employer and rose through the ranks to the position of Director.

Results - not prestigious education - got him to the executive level at Lowe's. 

His advice: be a problem solver, think through your path to success, and take every opportunity to educate yourself.

Golf #1

What is it like to reach the absolute top in your chosen field? Scottie Scheffler is there, rated the best golfer in the world.  

“Is it great to be able to win tournaments and to accomplish the things I have in the game of golf? Yeah, it brings tears to my eyes just to think about, because I've literally worked my entire life to be good at this sport."

But it lasts just a few minutes. "You win it, you celebrate, get to hug my family, my sister's there, it's such an amazing moment. Then it's like, OK, what are we going to eat for dinner? Life goes on.”

"I love the challenge. I love being able to play this game for a living. It's one of the greatest joys of my life, but does it fill the deepest wants and desires of my heart? Absolutely not.”

He loves his golf career. But it's third priority after faith and family. There's a lot of love in this man's life.

from Golf Week

Brain on AI - 2

(cont'd from yesterday's post)

Those teachers saw it happening. It makes sense. Now we know it's happening and even have an early name for it: cognitive debt – the decline in brain function manifesting in “diminished critical inquiry, increased vulnerability to manipulation,” and “decreased creativity.”

What happens when a significant number of people "farm out their own thinking to machines?"

This could be another deep divide between groups of people, just when we really need to unite in virtue and elevated purpose. It could wind up that one group will think through issues and make decisions; the other will follow whatever looks easy (image), happy to leave the thinking to others and to AI. 

 

No one will be forced into one group or the other. Every person will choose . . while they're young and in school. Will they choose the hard work of learning and understanding and skill-building? Some won't. Some will choose to let AI do it. 

 from "Your Brain on ChatGPT" 

Brain on AI

Yup, many students and employees choose to let AI do their work. You can see the obvious temptation.

A study has been done on the results of this trend. Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) compared three groups writing an essay: one group of participants using their own brains, one using a search engine, one using AI to do it. 

Comparisons were made of brain activity with predictable results: "the cohort using AI showed large comparative decreases in neural brainwave activity, linguistic and thought development, and overall learning skills."

Historian and professor Niall Ferguson says: "the shortcuts that ChatGPT offers are a disaster for your neural development! You'll just be dumber."

from The Stream

(cont'd tomorrow)

Slavery legacy?

 (cont'd from yesterday's post)

"Abraham Lincoln freed the slaves," and he did that in 1863, 160+ years ago. But issues remained, and still remain today. 

According to our left-wing, America's unique slavery guilt is everlasting and unforgivable, deserving of contempt and punishment. 

This black author (photo) sees it differently. He teaches a course called "Legacy of Slavery" at University of Austin where he informs students--to their surprise--that slavery was never a "white person thing," that it was global and nearly unopposed until a couple centuries ago. It's news to them, and maybe it's news to you.

The experience of slavery throughout the world was never limited to the black race, and was never uniquely perpetrated by the white race. If you have any interest in understanding it, read his article.

To take this position in our current cultural moment shows courage.

from The Free Press

Slave owner

(cont'd from yesterday's post)

Yes, some of the American founders owned slaves as well. The author of the Declaration himself, Thomas Jefferson, was passionate about freedom and probably meant every word he wrote. He gave words to the principles of freedom, but he didn't live up to them as the owner of up to 600 slaves. 

We don't give him or the others a free pass on his hypocrisy. He knew it wasn't right and worried about it (image), but he couldn't summon the strength of character to walk away from the privilege he was born into according to the norms of his day.

But he and the other founders did have the courage to call out the right principles for their new nation. They gave us something to work toward. America and the world got better because of that.

Lots of slaves

It might surprise a lot of people to know that slavery has been practiced all over the world for thousands of years. Race was not the determining factor, as slaves were regularly made of all colors of captured humans.

Roman armies brought conquered peoples, including whites from northern Europe, to parade through Rome's streets and be sold for private use or the military (think Ben Hur). Plato, the ancient Greek, was at one time a slave.

Slave trading was an economic force in the Middle East, with big markets in Istanbul, Cairo, Baghdad. Barbary pirates of North Africa captured thousands, including American citizens. Indians of both North and South America kept slaves, as did the Chinese. 

Black tribes of Africa made slaves of their conquests. Some on the interior made raids in order to sell their captives to traders on the coast. Others went to the Middle East markets.

from The History of Slavery You Probably Weren't Taught in School

(cont'd tomorrow)

"Join or Die"

As Dr. Aram said in yesterday's video, "Join or Die" (image) was a political cartoon (the first?) created by Ben Franklin in 1754. Originally meant for the time of the French and Indian War, it went "viral" during the time of the Revolutionary War.

Its meaning is clear: if the American colonies would not unite, then they would all die. Only by uniting could they hope to survive.

Many years later in 1944, Judge Learned Hand would speak on "The Spirit of Liberty." He says we must be united by a spirit of liberty living in the hearts of the American people. Laws alone won't keep us free.

We don't seek unbridled liberty to do everything we want, but rather the liberty to seek what's true and good both for ourselves and for each other. As an example: free speech for me and free speech for thee as well.

It's still true. All of us Americans need to unite on this common value, not just seek to win. 

Yes, exceptional

Patriots come in different colors, in different religions, from different regions of the country, and they're even found in different political parties. If you are any sort of American patriot, you will enjoy these two patriots (who both live in the Northeast) talking about America.

First is Bari Weiss whose story you've heard, and then it's Dr. Akhil Amar, a Yale professor who actually loves his country. Listen to him telling the story of how our Declaration got written (it wasn't only Thomas Jefferson), and how those words affected us and our history.

Spoiled

We're only 249 years old officially, but the USA definitely became that game-changer that monarchs of the world feared we would be. Many people were inspired to believe in liberty and self-governance after this dangerous idea spread and went "viral" (by the standards of that day).

Beyond political effects, though, the USA became hugely wealthy by global standards, wealthy beyond what the founders probably pictured. In fact, it may be said that Americans became "spoiled" by our success.

Immigrants think so, according to this black American:

"Black immigrants don't really respect . . people who are traditionally born in America. [Their experience was] to relentlessly eat, sleep, grind, hustle, go and get it, so when they finally get over into America and they see the opportunities that are presented [here], Nigerians, Jamaicans, any kind of immigrant come over here in this country [they] mop the floor with . . specifically black Americans . ."

Here's one of those immigrants, who disdains the "protests": Fayz 

Dangerous idea 2

(cont'd from yesterday's post) 

Most nations were created by war or one impressive individual, for people united in bloodline. But America was created on the basis of an idea stated in the Declaration: all people were created and endowed by their Creator with unalienable rights, and governments exercise rightful power only by the consent of those people.

This is the principle which Rev. Martin Luther King reminded the American people about, and the moral basis for his campaign of equal rights for black people. It's also the basis for the whole human rights movement of the last century in America.

The Declaration, though written by sadly imperfect people, codified the principle into American law. This is the reason and basis for America, not promotion of slavery as claimed by the 1619 Project. It's the principle we go back to all through our history, that people should be free and that they can rightfully oppose government that doesn't help them.

It made America different. Monarchs around the world knew that America could be a dangerous game-changer . . and she was.

Dangerous idea

"Europe was created by history. America was created by philosophy." Margaret Thatcher was right in this, that America was founded on ideas. Our founders didn't invent the ideas, but they organized a whole country based on them.

Here's just one more take on that day (July 4, 1776) when the congress of the United States of America declared itself separate from its colonizer, the British Empire:

"America has always been a dangerous idea." Dangerous to whom?

from The Free Press 

(cont'd tomorrow) 

No saddles

Thomas Jefferson was the primary writer of the Declaration of Independence, that document which told the world that the American people intended to cut their bonds to England and take their place among the sovereign nations. 

An invitation to Washington D.C. to celebrate the signing of that document was sent to him fifty years later, in 1826, but he couldn't go because of ill health. 

It's clear how passionate he still was about the people's liberty and rights in his reply to the invitation, and he's still right about this: human beings are not born with saddles on their backs so that some elites can ride them with spurs and reins.

American story 1

Hillsdale College was asked by the President to help celebrate America's 250th birthday next year by producing a video series about America's founding. It's a great story - worth remembering together.

Here's the president of Hillsdale introducing it. We'll feature those videos in future posts.

Sorry girls!

Girls in college sports have something big to celebrate: they will no longer have to compete against male bodies at University of Pennsylvania. 

A former U Penn student and swimmer says “As a former UPenn swimmer who had to compete against and share a locker room with a male athlete, I am deeply grateful to the . . Administration for refusing to back down on protecting women and girls and restoring our rightful accolades. I am also pleased that my alma mater has finally agreed to take not only the lawful path, but the honorable one."

In negotiations, U Penn agreed to these actions: 

• Formal apologies will go out to the girls who wrongfully lost wins and records. 
• Trans athlete Lia Thomas (photo) will be stripped of his accolades won in girls' sports. 
• U Penn will stop violating Title IX and use biology-based definitions of female and male. 

 from NY Post

Tesla did it

Tesla is celebrating something else in addition to the Fourth of July this week: its first delivery of a new car driven to the purchaser entirely by what they call "full self-driving," meaning no driver even in the car. 

It certainly drove itself completely and you can see it below. (Just not completely sure I understand their definition of FSD yet.)  

This weekend my son rented one, and it took the family home from church unaided by a driver. Looks like we're in a new car era, all right.

Congratulations to Team Tesla!