The Wolf with Cold Feet on Capitalism. Betting Against Elon Musk, Moonbase Alfalfa and more!

Grüezi!?I’m Adrian Monck, and welcome to this LinkedIn newsletter featuring seven things that caught my attention this week.

Also this edition – “You say tomato, I say Cucamelon?!” – the fruits of the future. Let the train take your holiday strain. And Pacino vs De Niro or Your Body vs Heat!

Sharing is caring –?Please share this newsletter!

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1???The Wolf with Cold Feet on Capitalism

Not this wolf. An actual Wolf.

Yes Martin Wolf, the Rōshi?of writers on late capitalism. He has twelve reflections on the world that are worth your time but I’ve distilled them here:

• Globalisation is not dead and the globalisation of services is only just beginning. Our interconnected world remains vulnerable to unpredictable shocks. Global co-operation is essential, but barely visible. Economics has lost its ascendancy to politics.
• The divide between the West and Russia and China now runs deep, although the West remains economically and militarily powerful. Western democratic institutions are fragile and vulnerable, and enthusiasm for its leadership is ebbing. Asia is becoming the heart of the world economy.
• Damaging climate change is now impossible to prevent. Technology transformation continues unabated. Inflation has returned – turmoil will follow.

???One of the world’s top investors, Ray Dalio, on what to expect next.

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2?? Betting Against Elon Musk

The big-talking billionaire predicts Artificial General Intelligence (AGI) by 2029.

Is the billionaire’s bold prediction backed by anything bigger than bravado? Not so fast said science writer Gary Marcus who challenged Musk to a $100k bet that this would NOT happen.

Marcus’s essay is a great read but he ends with a couple of basic things current Artificial Intelligence (AI) won’t be doing by 2029:

• AI will not be able to watch a movie or read a novel and tell you what is?going on – characters, conflicts, plot, etc.
• AI will not be able to cook in an arbitrary kitchen.

And a couple of complicated things:

• “AI will not be able to reliably construct bug-free code of more than 10,000 lines from natural language specification or by interactions with a non-expert user.
• “AI will not be able to take arbitrary proofs from the mathematical literature written in natural language and convert them into a symbolic form suitable for symbolic verification.”

Will 2029 see a full self driving car that can take you door to door? Don’t bet on that either.

???Weighing the risks and rewards of edge AI technology.

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3?? Moonbase Alfalfa?

Space farming just came a little closer, as scientists grow plants in moon dust.

??Back on Earth, the UN has a plan to end the food crisis.

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4?? Fruit and Veg of the Future!

Remember, potatoes were a novelty once!

???But if current trends persist, you’ll probably eat less meat.

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5?? Train in Not so Vain

Sit smug in your low-carbon carriage – vacation by rail this summer!

??Other good news: China is beating its climate targets.

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6???Heat – Climate Change is Al Pacino, Your Body is De Niro

And we all know how that worked out.

???Climate change is causing more and more Americans to relocate.

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7?? Drink Coffee, Live Forever

Am I deluding myself, as I chug my third triple ristretto of the morning? No!

Because in a world of darkness, science has shone a glorious light on the humble cup of coffee. However, you should only drink espresso and if you put sugar in it we can’t be friends.

???Caffeinated reading for all on our?book club podcast.

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If you enjoy this newsletter – please recommend it!

Best,

Adrian

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