Toggle light / dark theme

Against the backdrop of global democratic backsliding and the rise of authoritarianism, Footnote 1 the nature of authoritarian propaganda and public diplomacy has undergone significant changes. In particular, the transformation of the information environment brought about by the global proliferation of social media has created new avenues for authoritarian states to exert influence over democratic publics. Footnote 2 Notable examples include Russia’s intervention in the 2016 U.S. presidential election Footnote 3 and the dissemination of disinformation regarding COVID-19 by Chinese diplomats. Footnote 4 These actions are referred to as “sharp power,” defined as attempts to “pierce, penetrate, or perforate the information environments in the targeted countries” Footnote 5 with the aim of altering public opinion in democratic countries to favour authoritarian regimes. Footnote 6 Unlike soft power, which appeals to cultural and value-based attractions, sharp power operates as a means to destabilize target countries, weaken their commitment to democracy, and enhance the perceived superiority of authoritarian systems using disinformation and economic incentives. Footnote 7

At the core of sharp power lies the narrative, which is a story-based message that appeals to emotions and values, Footnote 8 and by sustaining attention and fostering emotional resonance, narratives often influence audience behaviour more than objective statistical facts or logical arguments. Footnote 9 Given their persuasive power and emotional impact, narratives are a potent tool for shaping people’s attitudes and behaviours. Political actors leverage narratives not only to strengthen their own position but also to undermine the arguments of opposing forces. Footnote 10 In particular, authoritarian governments use favourable narratives both domestically and internationally to reinforce the legitimacy of their regimes and to emphasise the superiority of authoritarian systems over democratic systems, thereby contributing to a global power shift.

Coal ash in the U.S. holds substantial rare earth elements, potentially reducing dependence on imports, with ongoing research and pilot projects working to make extraction economically viable.

Coal ash, the powdery residue left after burning coal for fuel, has accumulated across the United States for decades. New research from the University of Texas at Austin reveals that this vast supply contains enough rare earth elements to significantly strengthen the nation’s reserves without the need for additional mining.

“This really exemplifies the ‘trash to treasure’ mantra,” said co-lead author Bridget Scanlon, a research professor at UT’s Bureau of Economic Geology at the Jackson School of Geosciences. “We’re basically trying to close the cycle and use waste and recover resources in the waste, while at the same time reducing environmental impacts.”

The European Commission is raising $20 billion to construct four “AI gigafactories” as part of Europe’s strategy to catch up with the U.S. and China on artificial intelligence, but some industry experts question whether it makes sense to build them.

The plan for the large public access data centers, unveiled by European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen last month, will face challenges ranging from obtaining chips to finding suitable sites and electricity.

“Even if we would build such a big computing factory in Europe, and even if we would train a model on that infrastructure, once it’s ready, what do we do with it?” said Bertin Martens, of economic think tank Bruegel. It’s a chicken and egg problem. The hope is that new local firms such as France’s Nvidia-backed Mistral startup will grow and use them to create AI models that operate in line with EU AI safety and data protection rules, which are stricter than those in the U.S. or China.

In this episode, Peter answers the hardest questions about AI, Longevity, and our future at an event in El Salvador (Padres y Hijos).

Recorded on February 2025
Views are my own thoughts; not Financial, Medical, or Legal Advice.

Chapters.

00:00 — Navigating Confusion in Leadership and Purpose.
02:00 — The Evolution of Work and Purpose.
03:50 — AI’s Role in Information Credibility.
07:17 — Sustainability and Technology’s Impact on Nature.
09:26 — Building a Future with AI and Longevity.
11:40 — The Economics of Longevity and Accessibility.
15:15 — Reimagining Education for the Future.
19:23 — Overcoming Human Obstacles to Progress.

I send weekly emails with the latest insights and trends on today’s and tomorrow’s exponential technologies. Stay ahead of the curve, and sign up now: https://www.diamandis.com/subscribe.

Connect with Peter:

Mankind is facing a central challenge: It must manage the transition to a sustainable and carbon dioxide-neutral energy economy.

Hydrogen is considered a promising alternative to fossil fuels. It can be produced from water using electricity. If the electricity comes from , it is called green . But it would be even more sustainable if hydrogen could be produced directly with the energy of sunlight.

In nature, light-driven water splitting takes place during photosynthesis in plants. Plants use a complex molecular apparatus for this, the so-called photosystem II. Mimicking its active center is a promising strategy for realizing the sustainable production of hydrogen. A team led by Professor Frank Würthner at the Institute of Organic Chemistry and the Center for Nanosystems Chemistry at Julius-Maximilians-Universität Würzburg (JMU) is working on this.

Howard Bloom, Dr. Ben Goertzel, and Dr. Mihaela Ulieru examine how principles of emergent intelligence in natural systems can inform artificial general intelligence (AGI) development.

Join us at the Beneficial AGI Summit & Unconference 2025 (May 26–28 in Istanbul) to learn more about these topics and collaborate on addressing the critical challenges of developing beneficial AGI. Register now to watch online or attend in-person: https://bgisummit.io/

/ 22517.global_brain.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Howard_ • A Cultural Legend Tackles the Benefic… 00:00 Intro 01:20 Howard Bloom’s Online Journey and the Global Brain 04:33 Ben Goertzel’s Perspective on the Global Brain 09:07 The Evolution of Intelligence and AI 12:42 Challenges and Philosophies in AI Development 17:56 Human Values and AI: A Complex Relationship 24:18 The Role of Compassion in AI and Human Evolution 29:31 Tribalism and Ethical Reasoning in AI 30:16 Emergence of AI Values 31:26 Self-Organization and Compassion in AI 32:21 Ethical Theories and AI Attractors 34:33 Future Economy and AI Impact 34:48 AI and Human Economy Transformation 35:44 Cosmic Ambitions and AI 37:15 Competition Among AIs 38:00 Vision of Beneficial AGI 38:20 Path to Human-Level AGI 42:32 Emergence and Cooperation in AI 46:17 Singularity and Human Nature 50:09 Punctuated Equilibrium in AI Development 52:27 Engineering the Future of Intelligence 54:22 Closing Thoughts on AI and the Future #AGI #AI #BGI — SingularityNET was founded by Dr. Ben Goertzel with the mission of creating a decentralized, democratic, inclusive and beneficial Artificial General Intelligence (AGI). According to Dr. Goertzel, AGI should be independent of any central entity, open to anyone and not restricted to the narrow goals of a single corporation or even a single country. The SingularityNET team includes seasoned engineers, scientists, researchers, entrepreneurs, and marketers. The core platform and AI teams are further complemented by specialized teams devoted to application areas such as finance, robotics, biomedical AI, media, arts and entertainment. Website: https://singularitynet.io X: https://twitter.com/SingularityNET Linkedin: / singularitynet Instagram: / singularitynet.io Discord: / discord Telegram: https://t.me/singularitynet WhatsApp: https://whatsapp.com/channel/0029VaM8… Warpcast: https://warpcast.com/singularitynet Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/singularityn… Github: https://github.com/singnet.
• A Cultural Legend Tackles the Benefic…

00:00 Intro.
01:20 Howard Bloom’s Online Journey and the Global Brain.
04:33 Ben Goertzel’s Perspective on the Global Brain.
09:07 The Evolution of Intelligence and AI
12:42 Challenges and Philosophies in AI Development.
17:56 Human Values and AI: A Complex Relationship.
24:18 The Role of Compassion in AI and Human Evolution.
29:31 Tribalism and Ethical Reasoning in AI
30:16 Emergence of AI Values.
31:26 Self-Organization and Compassion in AI
32:21 Ethical Theories and AI Attractors.
34:33 Future Economy and AI Impact.
34:48 AI and Human Economy Transformation.
35:44 Cosmic Ambitions and AI
37:15 Competition Among AIs.
38:00 Vision of Beneficial AGI
38:20 Path to Human-Level AGI
42:32 Emergence and Cooperation in AI
46:17 Singularity and Human Nature.
50:09 Punctuated Equilibrium in AI Development.
52:27 Engineering the Future of Intelligence.
54:22 Closing Thoughts on AI and the Future.

#AGI #AI #BGI

SingularityNET was founded by Dr. Ben Goertzel with the mission of creating a decentralized, democratic, inclusive and beneficial Artificial General Intelligence (AGI). According to Dr. Goertzel, AGI should be independent of any central entity, open to anyone and not restricted to the narrow goals of a single corporation or even a single country. The SingularityNET team includes seasoned engineers, scientists, researchers, entrepreneurs, and marketers. The core platform and AI teams are further complemented by specialized teams devoted to application areas such as finance, robotics, biomedical AI, media, arts and entertainment.

Steelmaking, for example, is considered a hard-to-abate sector due to the extremely high temperatures necessary that can only be reached by burning fuel. However, analyses suggest that the industry could reach net zero by 2050 with a combination of carbon capture, low-carbon fuels and more efficient steel use. In the short-to medium-term, low-carbon fuels present our best opportunity to press ahead with decarbonizing such hard-to-abate industries.

Complementary fuels

Switching to lower-carbon fuels is among the most economically, politically, and technologically feasible approaches to slowing carbon emissions. It offers a lower-carbon future for newly built infrastructure in East and Southeast Asia, which could otherwise become stranded assets with serious socio-economic consequences.

In a megascience-scale collaboration with French researchers from College de France and the University of Montpellier, Skoltech scientists have shown a much-publicized problem with next-generation lithium-ion batteries to have been induced by the very experiments that sought to investigate it. Published in Nature Materials, the team’s findings suggest that the issue of lithium-rich cathode material deterioration should be approached from a different angle, giving hope for more efficient lithium-ion batteries that would store some 30% more energy.

Efficient energy storage is critical for the transition to a low-carbon economy, whether in grid-scale applications, electric vehicles, or portable devices. Lithium-ion batteries remain the best-developed electrochemical storage technology and promise further improvements. In particular, next-generation batteries with so-called lithium-rich cathodes could store about one-third more energy than their state-of-the-art counterparts with cathodes made of lithium nickel manganese cobalt oxide, or NMC.

A key challenge hindering the commercialization of lithium-rich batteries is voltage fade and capacity drop. As the battery is repeatedly charged and discharged in the course of normal use, its cathode material undergoes degradation of unclear nature, causing gradual voltage and capacity loss. The problem is known to be associated with the reduction and oxidation of the in NMC, but the precise nature of this redox process is not understood. This theoretical gap undermines the attempts to overcome voltage fade and bring next-generation batteries to the market.

Microsoft will invest $290 million over the next two years in South Africa on AI and cloud infrastructure, vice chair and president Brad Smith announced.

At an event with South African President Cyril Ramaphosa in Johannesburg Thursday, Smith said the investment will help the country’s “ambition to become a globally competitive AI economy.”

It has built massive datacenters in the past three years in Johannesburg and Cape Town, a $1.1 billion investment.