Welcome to my round-up of what I see as recent causes for some optimism, as found in the media and sometimes among the think-tanks or on podcasts. I also add occasional links to debunking of alarmism, and to more general opinion articles which muse on the curious divisions between optimists and pessimists.
* EOS reports on the “Machine Learning That Helps See into a Volcano’s Depths”. A “This Volcano Is About to Erupt” AI might be quite handy, if such a thing can be made reliable. Though I guess there are not many testing opportunities that involve real eruptions.
* GMO “Vitamin A enhanced Golden Rice distributed for planting”, for the first time in the Philippines.
* A record 1,750 humpback whales have recently been observed off the coast of Japan. Elsewhere scientists have recorded over 600 humpback whale calls including some never heard before such as curious ‘gunfire’ sounds.
* In the UK, a “New trial to banish loud engines and exhausts on Britain’s noisiest streets”. The context here is that boy-racers will deliberately tune their cars to produce extremely loud revs and also sharp ‘backfires’ that sound like guns being fired.
* Also in the UK, a “New subsidy control system will support UK jobs, boost the economy”. This means that… “every [taxpayer] subsidy must deliver strong benefits for local communities” and will also be tested for value-for-money. Albeit by civil-servants, rather than a board of savvy and disinterested local businesses.
* Also in the UK, niche hyperlocal news providers are mooting a £100m national fund to support independent hyperlocal reporting. Sounds like a good idea, though of course the local corporate journalists are being sniffy about possible competitors.
* The Amazon Kindle will support EPUB in late 2022. Although this is not quite the good news that it seems, as… “Amazon is converting the uploaded .EPUB to .KF8 (.AZW3)” [i.e. the early version of the Kindle’s .MOBI]. So it’s not much use then, and nothing you can’t do manually in Calibre or ePubor.
* Computerworld magazine has a useful brief survey of “the new workplace” in terms of the tools that the pandemic created. These are another ‘silver lining’ from the pandemic, if such things can be kept flexible and testable. And ideally don’t become just a new unthinking ‘office orthodoxy’, with a lot of misguided hippy-dippy beliefs stringing along behind (i.e. “plants clean the air” etc).
* Spiked! magazine notes that… “A recent survey found that the number of Americans moving from their home regions is at its highest level on record”, and that people are flocking to conservative states and cities (Texas, Arizona, Nevada, Houston and Dallas are cited) while the crazily ‘woke’ coastal cities are barely growing. Such that the… “chances of Democrats winning over the growing regions [of the U.S.] now seem slim. … Once the ultimate swing state, Florida, at least for now, has turned solidly red. Texas seems content to stay on a conservative path while Democrats in Arizona, Florida and other Sun Belt states could be facing extinction”.
* An article in The Critic notes that across the U.S…. “there is currently ongoing legislation in 39 states that opposes historical revisionism and activist scholarship and pedagogy, all powered by parental movements. Conservatives, after three decades of [free] market dogma, have resorted to a tried and tested method, returning local power to the parents.” And that’s then an entry-point for activist parents into a wider platform: school choice; promote real excellence and talent; defend American values; empower parents further; and question grade and accreditation inflation (i.e. you need a degree and many other certificates just to dig a ditch).
* Conservatives are writing books for kids. “Conservative Children’s Book Tops Amazon Charts” has some recent details, and there’s also an earlier article on two books by Matthew Mehan of Hillsdale College.
* GBNews on the doom inherent in doom-addiction… “if young people … spend their lives terrified about the future, then we’re all doomed.”
* You may have vaguely heard that the world’s supply of laughing-gas is gasping its last? Nope. There are ongoing supply hiccups, but trade journal Gasworld reports this week that the second half of 2022 looks a bit better for the helium sucking crowd. As supplies ramp up to meet demand… “we could very well look back on Q1/Q2 as the peak of Helium Shortage #4”.
* “AI helps scientists design novel plastic-eating enzyme” which it is said… “can break down plastic in as little as 24 hours at temperatures between 30 and 50 degrees celsius. The [University of Texas] team believes production and usage of the AI-designed enzyme can be scaled up to industrial levels”.
* “Breakthrough success of study using virtual reality to treat mental health problems”, being trialled in Manchester, UK. This involves… “psychological therapy being automated in virtual reality. With the user guided by a virtual coach, there is no need for a real-life therapist, meaning the treatment can reach many more patients.”
* Wales Online reports a “Chronic back pain breakthrough: Toxin discovered in venomous sea anemones ‘could end’ misery for millions”. Sounds good, but simply lowering the very high price of long-lasting 12-hour ‘overnight’ Iboprofen might also be a very good move. And allowing people to buy three packs at the store, rather than the two they’re limited to here in the UK.
* Israel is building a wall of lasers capable of shooting down… “drones, mortars, rockets and anti-tank missiles”. It’s part of the nation’s growing defence-in-depth capability against the airborne terrorist attacks constantly being launched against its civilians. But the new capability is not quite there yet as… “the entire system, including the ground system, would be ready in ‘about a year’.”
* In the U.S., local newspapers report… “Eagle population soars across Ohio”. A state which, as some will know, is not usually known for its mountains and inaccessible eyries.
* And finally, as the grass sprouts in the May rains, tech giant NVIDIA reports that “Scythe Rolls Out Autonomous Lawnmower With Cutting Edge Tech”… “Scythe is among an emerging class of startups offering robots as a service, or RaaS, in which customers pay according to usage.” Hopefully it will be intelligent enough to avoid things like hedgehogs.
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2020 : Tracking Optimism 