Sunday, November 17, 2019

Vertical Forests










Africa is set to get its first vertical forest pollution-absorbing trees and plants in Egypt's New Administrative Capital, which is under construction in the desert east of Cairo ....... the trio of cube-shaped, seven-storey buildings ........ The buildings will have planted terraces containing 350 trees and 14,000 shrubs of more than 100 different species. One of the three buildings will be a hotel, while the other two will house apartment units........ The planned new capital will eventually host ministries, embassies, residential neighbourhoods and a financial district. It will replace the current capital, Cairo, which suffers from severe overcrowding, traffic congestion and air pollution........ Vertical forests pack thousands of square metres of greenery into just a few hundred square metres of urban space, providing shade and creating habitats for birds and insects ........ The trees, shrubs and plants absorb carbon dioxide, produce oxygen and filter dust from the air......... The concept took off in 2014, with Milan’s Bosco Verticale, a pair of residential 110- and 76 meter tower blocks, designed by Boeri, with around 900 trees and more than 20,000 smaller plants and shrubs........... The trees and plants in Liuzhou Forest City are expected to annually absorb 10,000 tonnes of CO2 and 57 tonnes of pollutants, while producing about 900 tonnes of oxygen.

Friday, November 15, 2019

Apple, Android, And Ancient Greece






Neil Sahota, Andrew Yang And The Creative Destruction Of Jobs By Robots And AI

Neil Sahota argues that, yes, jobs will be destroyed, but many more and higher quality jobs will be created. That jobs will be destroyed is much talked about. But that new jobs will be created is not much talked about. Neil's take is much-needed optimism in an otherwise gloom and doom mood swing.


Thanks To Robots, Humans Are Finally In Demand the most employable people in the future will be those who act like … well, people........ there is one area where A.I. is going to be very slow to surpass human intelligence: The Arts. That’s why we now talk about STEAM. ....... the importance of developing “soft skills” to thrive in a future in which robots can do tedious work once reserved for mankind. “We should be emphasizing problem-solving, leadership, creativity, collaboration, and, of course deploying emotional intelligence” ....... “We created an assembly-line system meant to churn out assembly-line workers” ...... “The bell rings, you move to where the schedule puts you, the bell rings again, you do as you’re told. Everyone gets processed in the same way, and at the end of the line you emerge with a certificate of quality.” ...... Automatons, while adept at taking orders, are not valued for their critical thinking abilities. ........ there are many robots capable of doing repetitive tasks, from stocking warehouses to dispensing prescriptions. ....... So, what can’t robots do? .... They cannot think. They cannot feel, dream, or imagine. And there are many theorists who suggest they never will...........

Unlike during the previous era, the coming automation age will prize human attributes like never before.

........ rather than being a zero-sum scourge upon the workforce, the rise of A.I. promises to tilt the nature of work in wonderfully positive, unprecedented ways....... we’re at the dawn of a new vocational reality. Today’s workforce stands to benefit not by taking orders or fulfilling rote tasks, but by doing what makes us uniquely human. .........

creativity is the most important skill for thriving in the 21st century





Andrew Yang: Yes, Robots Are Stealing Your Job Self-driving trucks will be great for the G.D.P. They’ll be terrible for millions of truck drivers.......... most factory job losses from 2000 to 2010 were caused by automation ........ 88 percent of factory job losses from 2000 to 2010 were caused by automation. ....... Automation doesn’t just affect millions of factory workers and truck drivers. Bookkeepers, journalists, retail and food service workers, office clerks, call center employees and even teachers also face the threat of being replaced by machines.......... 83 percent of jobs paying less than $20 per hour could have substantial parts of their work given over to automation....... Around five million manufacturing jobs have been lost since 2000, with automation being a main factor. Many of those jobs were in Ohio, Michigan, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin and Iowa — states that swung to Donald Trump in 2016. ...... about half of the Michigan workers who left the labor force may have filed for disability and many might never get off it, as the rate at which people come off disability benefits is extremely low. We then saw surges in suicides and drug overdoses to the point where life expectancy has either declined or stayed flat for three years in a row, something that hasn’t happened since the Spanish flu epidemic of 1918......... ....stock market prices don’t mean much to the 78 percent of workers in this country who are living paycheck to paycheck or the 40 percent of workers who are a $400 bill away from financial crisis ........ Human-centered capitalism would ensure that people are more important than money and that markets exist to serve our common goals and values....... four in 10 people in the United States live with unhealthy air or that nearly three in five adults with mental illness do not get treated..........

Our G.D.P. is over $20 trillion, and yet the average American is struggling.

..... A millennial has only a 50-50 chance of doing better than their parents. For someone born in the 1940s, the likelihood was 90 percent. The American dream is dying by the numbers.



For Andrew Yang, New Hampshire is a "homecoming" and a big bet At the very top of every New Hampshire stump speech, presidential candidate Andrew Yang notes his somewhat tenuous connection to the state: "How many of you know I went to high school in New Hampshire?" ..... "When I first showed up here in New Hampshire, I was like, does that count?" Yang chuckled to college students at Plymouth State University. "They were like, 'Oh yeah, that counts.'" ...... While other 2020 contenders have slashed New Hampshire based staff and travel in favor of Iowa, Yang has spent more days campaigning in the Granite State than any other presidential candidate this year, with more than 70 appearances in 2019 alone. He placed a "mid-six figure" television ad buy in the state on Thursday, rolling out two new spots. ........ ....Last month, the political upstart rendered a bold declaration about his campaign to nearly one hundred witnesses in a packed coffeehouse: "If this does not come out of New Hampshire, it dies." ....... Conversations with half a dozen of Yang's high school friends reveal a rebellious teen, albeit the kind that still aces exams and arrives early to Glee Club. "Andy" was "low-key funny," wore a black trench coat, and openly hated school. ...... "James Dean was like a rebel without a cause, right? He didn't give a s***," high school friend and close confidant Fiona Singer says. "He's a rebel with a cause, for sure. The free-thinking kind." ...... Hat sales have raised $1.2 million for the campaign, accounting for approximately 8% of all fundraising revenue........ "To give you an order of magnitude, you're looking at something like 60,000 voters would put you in the top 2 or 3, in all likelihood, in New Hampshire," he said recently at a rally in Boston........ "If we get 60,000 people on board with our message in New Hampshire, then imagine the headlines in February of 2020."