Futurology

Rumbling away throughout 2024 was EU threats to take action against Twitter/X for abandoning fact-checking. The EU's Digital Services Act (DSA) is clear on its requirements - so that conflict will escalate. If X won't change, presumably ultimately it will be banned from the EU.

Meta have decided they'd rather keep EU market access. Today they announced the removal of fact-checking, but only for Americans. Europeans can still benefit from the higher standards the Digital Services Act guarantees.

The next 10 years will see the power of mis/disinformation accelerate with AI. Meta itself seems to be embracing this trend by purposefully integrating fake AI profiles into its networks. From now on it looks like the main battle-ground to deal with this is going to be the EU.

It's hard to keep count of all the humanoid robots in development, but there seems to be about 20 different models. However, Samsung has more manufacturing heft than most, so its entry may be more significant.

It's announced a majority stake in Korean firm Rainbow Robotics, which was first spun off from a Korean academic institution. Rainbow have been around for a while, and their flagship humanoid model is the RB-Y1. It's wheeled, which marks it out from others, but that might be an advantage, as it simplifies the engineering of movement and locomotion. In terms of tasks and work with its arms it looks as capable as any other in development, and ahead of many.

Robot training in 2025 just got easier - the two leading training models are now open-sourced. This will level the playing field, but also give advantages to people like Samsung. Their expertise is in selling commercial products - maybe that is the breakthrough humanoid robotics needs now?

I am creating several scenarios for the sessions I faciliate. I would love to run this one here!

IMAGINE: In 2125, AI and robotics have advanced to create perfect android replicas of deceased loved ones. These replicas not only look and sound like the original person but also behave, emote, and adapt with startling realism, drawing from extensive digital and personal archives. Families embrace them for comfort, while others view them as unsettling echoes of the past. Society is divided on whether these androids are a gift of connection or a distortion of human life.

If you had the chance to bring back a loved one as an AI, would you?

Blue Origin is just about to launch its reusable heavy-lift 'New Glenn' rocket in a few days. Are we about to see a version of Aesop's tale of 'The Hare & the Tortoise' play out, with SpaceX playing the role of the hare?

This Sabine Hossenfelder video does a good job of laying out the argument - Jeff Bezos’ Space Plans Make More Sense Than Elon Musk's.

In summary, Blue Origin's plans are built around space stations in near earth orbit, while SpaceX's plans are for Mars colonization. It's far more likely Blue Origin's plans can be realized in the 2030s and 2040s. Apart from China, no one else will have a space station by around 2030 when the ISS goes - there will be no other choice but to look to commercial providers.

Blue Origin's plans for space stations designed as O'Neill cylinders with artificial gravity are the obvious next step on from ISS-type space stations.