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Lugh@futurology.todayOPMto Futurology@futurology.today•Women 3x More Likely to Lose Job to AI Than Men, UN Study FindsEnglish4·12 days agoTo add to the confusion when you click on the link to the report, it talks about generative AI, so it is not talking about AI as a whole. One of the biggest categories of jobs that will disappear is driving jobs and delivery jobs, thanks to self-driving tech. I’m guessing that these jobs are overwhelmingly male dominated.
Lugh@futurology.todayOPMto Futurology@futurology.today•LLM AIs are more persuasive than incentivized human persuaders.English1·14 days agoThere’s good news too. It says the AI can persuade people who hold false beliefs. Maybe it can school people who’ve been led into delusion bubbles by misinformation?
Lugh@futurology.todayOPMto Futurology@futurology.today•What comes after the smartphone? Smart glasses, AI companions, and brain chips—a tour of the possible future beyond smartphones.English1·14 days agoI thought voice might take off more, though Alexa and Siri are popular. Maybe it just isn’t efficient enough for large amounts of information.
Lugh@futurology.todayOPMto Futurology@futurology.today•Almost 75% of Google's revenue comes from search, and it's likely about to be obliterated.English2·15 days agoYes, unethical practices seem baked in now with Big Tech, and Big Tech aspirants. I’m gratified to see open source AI keep up with the Big Tech offerings. At least it means there will be widespread alternatives. I hope it hobbles any one company from being as big as Google.
Lugh@futurology.todayOPMto Futurology@futurology.today•Almost 75% of Google's revenue comes from search, and it's likely about to be obliterated.English41·15 days agoGoogle recently held its big annual product announcement event - I/O 2025 - and it got lots of upbeat coverage. There were dozens of new product upgrades across Android, Search, Gmail, etc. Of course, the big focus was AI.
Google seemed to be lagging in AI but has caught up to speed lately with its models topping various AI leaderboards. Not surprising, Google has deep wells of computing power and talent to compete in AI.
However, behind the scenes, all is not so rosy. Almost 75% of Google’s revenue comes from search, and it’s about to be obliterated. As anyone who has gotten used to using ChatGPT, Claude, or DeepSeek instead of Google Search will tell you - AI is miles better. Google is about to transform old Search into an AI Search like ChatGPT, Claude, DeepSeek, and all the other AIs, but the problem is their days of 90% market domination in this new medium don’t seem repeatable.
Google are about to be replaced as the dominant means of internet search - but just how much, and how fast?
Lugh@futurology.todayMto Futurology@futurology.today•An escalator to nowhere: Science fiction lives and dies in spaceEnglish1·15 days agoGreat article. I’m glad ‘Star Trek’ still looms so large in the public imagination; it’s given us a really hopeful template for the future.
Lugh@futurology.todayOPMto Futurology@futurology.today•Possible sign of life in deep space faces new doubtsEnglish3·16 days agoThis topic fascinates me. There are more space telescopes from Europe, the US and China due to launch, that will have even greater capability for biosignature detection than now. I wonder how soon the day will come when one of these findings will be regarded as definitive proof?
Lugh@futurology.todayto Global News@lemmy.zip•Kneecap’s Mo Chara Is on Trial for Opposing Genocide in Gaza17·17 days agoI don’t like or support Hezbollah, but the added irony here is that Northern Ireland (where Mo Chara is from) is festooned with British-supporting terrorist flags from groups like the UDF & UDA; pro-British terrorist groups active during The Troubles.
Lugh@futurology.todayOPMto Futurology@futurology.today•Experts say the US's $175 billion 'golden dome' missile defense idea is a fantasy that is impossible to make work.English21·18 days agoBoth the US & Russia have claimed Mach 20 with the HTV-2 (DARPA’s Falcon Project) & Avangard respectively. China’s DF-ZF HGV reportedly reaches Mach 5–10.
If this golden dome goes ahead, I suspect/guess the ensuing counter-developments will mean true Mach 20 will be achievable within a ten year time frame for all three countries.
Lugh@futurology.todayOPMto Futurology@futurology.today•Samsung and US researchers say a new technology called thermoelectric cooling can make refrigerators 70% more energy efficient, & could enable them to power themselves from their ambient environmentEnglish6·19 days agoI’m calling bullshit.
Their findings were published in the peer-reviewed journal, Nature.
Lugh@futurology.todayOPMto Futurology@futurology.today•Samsung and US researchers say a new technology called thermoelectric cooling can make refrigerators 70% more energy efficient, & could enable them to power themselves from their ambient environmentEnglish62·19 days agowithout refrigerant
Yes, they say this does away with the need for compressors or refrigerants.
“This cools by using electrons to move heat through specialized semiconductor materials, eliminating the need for moving parts or challenging coolant liquids.”
Lugh@futurology.todayOPMto Futurology@futurology.today•Almost half the 16-21 year olds surveyed in Britain wish the internet didn't exist, and 70% say social media makes them feel bad about themselves.English13·20 days ago79% of 16-21 year olds say technology companies should be required by law to build robust privacy safeguards into technology and platforms used by children and teenagers.
This is another illustration of the huge divide between Big Tech and everyone else. Big Tech wants total freedom from regulation with no accountability for any damage or costs to others they cause. The general population overwhelmingly feels the opposite. Thanks to their ability to line politician’s pockets, it’s Big Tech who usually wins out.
In Britain’s case, desperate to get a trade deal with the US, it’s been dangling the offer of even less regulation on tech & AI.
Lugh@futurology.todayto Autonomous Vehicles@futurology.today•Tesla's robotaxi fleet will be powered by 'plenty of teleoperation'English3·23 days ago‘Tele ops’ stands for teleoperations, meaning that Tesla employees will be able to remotely access Tesla’s vehicles and operate them in some capacity.
Alternative headline - ‘Tesla behind industry leaders, again.’
Lugh@futurology.todayOPto Autonomous Vehicles@futurology.today•China builds world’s largest autonomous mining trucks operation.English2·24 days agoIt’s depressing that this is to dig more fossil fuels out of the ground.
Lugh@futurology.todayMto Futurology@futurology.today•The US state of Montana is to allow people to buy experimental drugs and treatments, that haven't yet been FDA approved.English8·25 days agothen prescriptions should be done away with and all drugs should be available.
It used to be the way the world was. The result was huge amounts of addiction (laudanum was 10% opium), and gullible people being peddled snake oil.
Lugh@futurology.todayMto Futurology@futurology.today•The US state of Montana is to allow people to buy experimental drugs and treatments, that haven't yet been FDA approved.English12·25 days agoThe bill, which was passed by the state legislature on April 29 and is expected to be signed by Governor Greg Gianforte, essentially expands on existing Right to Try legislation in the state.
The same people who are denying abortions & medical care to trans people, are all for “freedom” and right to choose when it comes to other people’s medical choices?
Lugh@futurology.todayOPMto Futurology@futurology.today•In a world first, Baidu's Apollo Go who already run robotaxis, say they will expand into self-driving rental cars later this year.English1·27 days ago…in a similar way as with conventional rental cars – which can be hired to transport people to “a range of destinations, including cultural landmarks and urban tourist attractions.”
Baidu, like everyone else, still hasn’t got to true Level 5 self-driving. But it doesn’t need Level 5 to be offering services like this. If you have mapped out the 100 most popular destinations in a city, and fixed routes between them, then level 4 self-driving like they have now, is all you need.
This isn’t the same as a regular rental car you can drive anywhere, but many people would be happy with a car that covers a city’s Top 100 spots. How does this differ from a taxi? Seemingly that you rent it for specified time slots, whether you’re in the car driving or not.
Lugh@futurology.todayOPto Autonomous Vehicles@futurology.today•Uber invests $100M in WeRide to fuel robotaxi expansion across 15 more citiesEnglish3·28 days agoNo mention of which cities, just that they’ll be outside China & the US.
In fairness to them, if you are a government or economic body, trying to plan for these events, then you do need to get granular and look at things from specifics like demographics, age groups, gender and so on.