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Generative AI exploded into the mainstream last year. Led by the Elon Musk cofounded OpenAI — the creator of both DALL-E 2, a text-to-image generator, and ChatGPT, an impressive text-generating system — the industry has absolutely exploded, as these generative tools and others, notably the image-generating systems Stable Diffusion and Midjourney, have dazzled investment firms and the broader public alike. "Generative AI is well on the way to becoming not just faster and cheaper, but better in some cases than what humans create by hand," reads a blog post by top investment firm Sequoia Capital, published September 2022. "If we allow ourselves to dream multiple decades out, then it's easy to imagine a future where Generative AI is deeply embedded in how we work, create and play."
Top Stories by Futurism The Best Electric Toothbrushes of 2023Computer Glitch Forced FAA to Ground All Flights Across the USNASA Unveils Plan for Giant Telescope to Spot Life on Alien PlanetsStartup Says It's Started Releasing Chemical Into Atmosphere to Dim SunProfessor Insists That We Actually DON'T Live in a Simulation CNET Is Quietly Publishing Entire Articles Generated By AI Professor Insists That We Actually DON'T Live in a Simulation But despite the hefty amount of investment cash — an estimated $1.37 billion across 78 deals in 2022 alone, according to The New York Times — that VCs are throwing at generative AI companies, not everyone in the field is convinced that these generative machines are really the Earth-shifting force that both creators and investors believe them to be. "The current climate in AI has so many parallels to 2021 web3 it's making me uncomfortable," François Chollet, an influential deep learning researcher at Google and the creator of the deep learning system Keras, wrote in a blistering Twitter threat. "Narratives based on zero data are accepted as self-evident."
In other words, Chollet is arguing that in eerily similar fashion to the blockchain bubble, hype — as opposed to firm data and proven results — is in the industry driving seat. And considering the current state of affairs over in Web3land, if Chollet's right? A failure for VC-predicted returns to materialize could spell some grim consequences for the broader AI industry. "Everyone is expecting as a sure thing 'civilization-altering' impact (and 100x returns on investment) in the next 2-3 years," he continued. "Personally I think there's a bull case and bear case. The bull case is way way more conservative than what the median person on my TL considers as completely self-evident." The bull case, he believes, is that "generative AI becomes a widespread [user experience] paradigm for interacting with most tech products." But Artificial General Intelligence (AGI) — AI that operated at the level of a human or above — remains a "pipe dream." So, startups based on OpenAI tech might not be rendering us humans obsolete quite yet, but they could well find a long-term role within specific niches. The bear case, meanwhile, would be a scenario in which large language models (LLMs) like GPT-3 would find "limited commercial success in SEO, marketing, and copywriting niches" and ultimately prove to be a "complete bubble." (He does offer that image generation would be far more successful LLMs, but would peak "as an XB/y industry" around 2024.)
That all said, Chollet believes the most likely case is somewhere in between. But even so, even Chollet's best case prediction is still way out of alignment with VC enthusiasm, where acolytes are writing checks sized to match their optimism for the tech — OpenAI, for example, is in talks to close an investment deal that would bring the company's value to nearly $30 billion. "It's the new 'mobile' kind of paradigm shift that we've been all waiting for," Niko Bonatsos, an investor at the venture capital firm General Catalyst, told the NYT. "Maybe bigger, too." To investors' credit, the algorithms are cool. Text-to-image-generators are genuinely impressive, and open up broad new creative frontiers for people without Photoshop chops. GPT systems, at the very least, are lots of fun to play around with.
That said, they also have a lot of problems. ChatGPT, for example, isn't always right about the very confident statements it provides, and experts fear that the tech may make it very simple to easily and efficiently generate misinformation. And though industry CEOs are open about the fact that these programs are still in relative infancy, the very real potential for destruction and blurred creative lines that they present is tough to ignore, even when backdropped against a bright — if still mostly imagined — future. And to Chollet's point, it takes more than a product being cool and fun, or even very useful for niche things, to really be a "paradigm shift." VCs may well be taking a much bigger risk than they think they are, both fueling and feeding off of a hype cycle of half-baked products, rather than making measured calls about a situationally promising, though still quite limited, burgeoning market. "The fact that investment is being driven by pure hype, by data-free narratives rather than actual revenue data or first-principles analysis," Chollet's thread concluded. "The circularity of it all — hype drives investment which drives hype which drives investment... narratives backed by nothing somehow end up enshrined as self-evident, common wisdom simply because they get repeated enough times by enough people." "Everyone starts believing the same canon (especially those who bill themselves as contrarians)," he said. More on ChatGPT: There's a Problem With That App That Detects GPT-Written Text: It's Not Very Accurate
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Washington Post 09/1/2023
With upgraded weaponry on the way, Western resolve holding firm, and the Ukrainian army continuing to outmaneuver and outwit Russia’s flailing military, Ukraine’s promised “year of victory” is off to a good start.
If 2023 continues as it began, there is a good chance Ukraine will be able to fulfill President Volodymyr Zelensky’s New Year’s pledge to retake all of Ukraine by the end of the year — or at least enough territory to definitively end Russia’s threat, Western officials and analysts say.
But while Zelensky was rallying Ukrainians to expect victory this year, Russian President Vladimir Putin used his New Year’s speeches to prepare Russians for a drawn-out fight. Russian troops are digging into fortified defensive positions reinforced by at least 100,000 newly mobilized soldiers, and though it seems unlikely that Russia can seize more territory anytime soon, it will also be tougher for Ukraine to make advances in 2023 than it was last year, despite momentum from recent victories, military experts say.
If Kyiv cannot achieve significant breakthroughs against this entrenched, growing Russian force, there is a risk that the war will become a protracted conflict favoring Putin, said Elizabeth
Shackelford of the Chicago Council on Global Affairs. A $45 billion aid package approved by Congress will tide Ukraine over for the year, she said, but with U.S. presidential elections in 2024, the longer-term outlook is harder to predict.
“2023 is really the year,” Shackelford said. “If it doesn’t wrap in 2023, Putin will have a very big upper hand. As it is, Zelensky still has a shot because he still has very strong support.”
“After that,” she added, “all bets are off.”
Developments in the first week of the year suggest the prospects for Ukraine are bright, said Ben Hodges, a former commander of U.S. Army Europe. He ticked off the advantages Ukraine will be able to exploit, from high morale among an army defending its homeland to superior leadership, cohesion and seemingly unwavering Western support.
The widespread rejection by the United States and Europe of Putin’s call for a temporary ceasefire over the Orthodox Christmas holiday delivered a clear, early reminder that Ukraine is not yet under pressure to enter into negotiations that Western officials say would probably be exploited by Moscow as an opportunity to rearm and regroup for further offensives, while tightening its grip on occupied territories.
A New Year’s Day attack deep behind Russian lines on a makeshift Russian barracks in the occupied eastern Ukrainian city of Makiivka killed at least 89 Russian soldiers, according to Moscow — and maybe many more, according to Ukrainian and U.S. officials.
The strike demonstrated not only Ukraine’s superior weaponry, intelligence and surveillance capabilities but also Russia’s persistent tactical missteps. Moscow blamed the attack on newly arrived recruits using cellphones, which gave away their location. U.S. officials, however, said there was some evidence that Russia had also stored ammunition in the barracks, compounding the number of casualties at the site.
The same day, Ukraine said it had shot down all 45 of the Iranian-made drones launched to tarnish its New Year’s festivities, a sign that Ukrainian air defenses are growing more adept at thwarting Russia’s onslaught against the country’s infrastructure.
Announcements by France, the United States and Germany that they would provide Ukraine with combat vehicles for the first time came as a significant boost to Ukraine offensive capabilities.
Even the weather has been kind to Ukraine, with recordbreaking warm winter temperatures in Europe crashing energy prices and sparing citizens the pain that many analysts had predicted would erode European support for the Ukraine war effort.
In his announcement of the donation of light tanks, French President Emmanuel Macron, who has been widely criticized in Ukraine for seemingly seeking to appease Putin, pledged to back Ukraine “until victory,” his most unequivocal statement of support so far.
As long as Western support remains strong, Hodges said he is confident that Ukraine can retake all or most Russian-occupied territory this year — including the Crimean Peninsula, which Russia occupied and annexed in 2014.
The peninsula’s supply routes are potentially vulnerable to Ukrainian attacks using U.s.-supplied HIMARS (High Mobility Artillery Rocket System) precision weapons, and Ukraine may be able to force Russia to withdraw from Crimea even before it is able to retake all of the eastern Donbas region where most fighting is now focused, he said.
“I do believe Ukraine has achieved irreversible momentum and basically there is nothing the Russians can do to change that, unless they figure out a way to persuade the West to lose interest,” said Hodges, who is now a senior adviser to the Washington-based Human Rights First group.
“I see a lot of positives and I don’t see any weakening of resolve of the West,” he added.
But the onus is now on Ukraine to remain on the offensive, which is more difficult than defending terrain, said Rob Lee, a former U.S. Marine now with the Foreign Policy Research Institute.
Ukraine’s successes in 2022 were facilitated by Russian mistakes that are less likely to be repeated now that Russian troops are digging in for the long haul, he said. “It’s easier to defend than it is to attack, and the Russians have already set up long defensive positions,” Lee said.
In some ways, Lee said, Ukraine has already won, not only by holding off the initial Russian onslaught but taking back almost half the territory that was snatched by Russia in the first weeks of the war.
“After the first two weeks of the war, it was clear that Russia had failed to achieve its goals,” he said. “Russia’s aims were so ambitious that Ukraine has won just by remaining a sovereign country. But the question now is, can Ukraine achieve what it wants, which is to return at least to the February 24 borders, if not to retake more territory than that.”
“Whether it can do that,” Lee added, “is what is not so clear.”
Much may come down to which side runs out of ammunition first. Western officials have been predicting for months that Russia is at risk of running out of ammunition, and although that hasn’t happened yet, there is continuing evidence that Russian supplies are low.
Ukrainian officials said late last year that the rate of Russian artillery fire along the eastern front is now only one-third of what it was during the summer, when Russian troops were on the offensive. And although Russia has ordered ramped-up manufacturing, it is clear Russian production will not be able to match consumption, said a Western official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive security matters.
The depletion of Russian ammunition supplies, especially for artillery, makes it unlikely Russia will be able to mount any kind of successful offensive operation for some time, despite predictions by the Ukrainian military that Moscow is preparing a major offensive, according to an assessment by the Institute for the Study of War.
But it is also far from clear that the West will be able to keep up with Ukraine’s ammunition needs, especially as offensive operations require greater quantities of materiel, said Dmitri Alperovitch, chairman of the Silverado Policy Accelerator, a Washington-based think tank.
Alperovitch predicted that Ukraine will be able to retake some territory this year but not enough to secure a definitive victory. Putin appears only to be doubling down on his determination to subjugate Ukraine, and although Russia currently lacks the capacity to launch successful offensives, the injection of freshly mobilized manpower strengthens its ability to hold back Ukrainian advances.
“I don’t think this will be the year of the end of the war, unfortunately,” Alperovitch said.
If the front lines do not shift significantly in the coming year, the path ahead becomes murkier.
The Russian and the Ukrainian economies both will be hardpressed to sustain a long war. And it is unclear whether each country can generate enough manpower for a prolonged fight. Ukraine has the advantage for now, with a reserve of millions of military-aged men despite its smaller size, while Russia hauls convicts out of prisons to sustain its presence on the front lines, Hodges said.
No one is predicting that Ukraine will give up or lose outright to Russia, he said. The Ukrainians remain committed to fighting and the troops remain far more motivated than their reluctant Russian adversaries.
But a long war would defer indefinitely Ukraine’s recovery, reconstruction and the return of refugees. The government would have to maintain hundreds of thousands of troops along the estimated 600-mile front line while its economy continues to collapse, going some way toward achieving Putin’s goal of denying Ukraine success as an independent country.
Over time, Ukraine’s offensive capabilities will be drained by the attrition of experienced and well-trained soldiers, potentially eroding the manpower advantage it has enjoyed, Lee said. And Russia would have a chance to rebuild its economy, supply lines and combat capabilities to potentially launch future offensives, as it did after the front lines froze after the separatist war in Donbas in 2014 to 2015.
Meanwhile, Ukraine’s fortunes will become ever more dependent on variables outside its control, such as Western resolve, the availability of Western ammunition — and events in Russia.
“What we don’t know is what will be happening in Moscow by the end of the year. There are some serious power struggles,” Hodges said. Although there is no immediate evidence of any challenge to Putin’s grip, the emergence of significant dissent in Moscow or a mutiny among disgruntled Russian troops could prove decisive, Alperovitch said.
Events in the United States could prove just as significant, Shackelford said. Although Europe’s support is politically important, its military contributions are dwarfed by the vast quantities of arms supplied by Washington, whose future commitment could be in question if Republicans win the White House in 2024.
“If Putin can turn this into a multiyear war of attrition, he will probably be able to wait Ukraine out,” Shackelford said. “It might still drag on for a while, but Ukraine’s shot will really be diminished by that point.”
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DOUGLAS MACMILLAN AND TORY NEWMYER
The Washington Post 09/1/2023 Crypto exchange facing probe over violation of money-laundering rules
Federal prosecutors are examining American hedge funds’ dealings with cryptocurrency exchange Binance as part of a longrunning investigation into potential violations of moneylaundering rules at one of the world’s leading crypto companies.
In subpoenas sent in recent months, the U.S. attorney’s office for the Western District of Washington in Seattle directed investment firms to hand over records of their communications with Binance, according to two people, each of whom reviewed one of the subpoenas and spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss the confidential matter.
The subpoenas, which have not been previously reported, do not necessarily mean authorities are likely to bring charges, legal experts said. Prosecutors are discussing a possible settlement with Binance, and they are weighing whether they have enough evidence to bring indictments against the company, Reuters reported this past month.
In an interview, Binance chief strategy officer Patrick Hillmann said the company is talking to “virtually every regulator across the globe on a daily basis,” but he declined to comment on the status of any U.S. investigation. Joshua Stueve, a Justice Department spokesman, also declined to comment.
The federal probe into Binance is unfolding at a time of deep uncertainty for the crypto industry. The implosion of FTX, a popular trading platform that authorities say was a years-long scheme to defraud investors, has fueled concerns about the freewheeling, largely unregulated online marketplaces where digital assets are bought and sold.
Crypto company failures are becoming more common and interconnected. Celsius, a cryptocurrency platform that collapsed in July, lent heavily to FTX affiliate Alameda Research, which went bankrupt five months later. Binance’s founder and chief executive, Changpeng Zhao, was an early FTX backer, and his decision to sell off a large chunk of the company’s digital tokens helped spark a customer panic and run on bank deposits that FTX could not meet.
As attention turns to Binance, the world’s largest crypto exchange, Zhao is piling on to the criticism of FTX and casting himself as a champion of stricter industry oversight. “Regulators rightfully will scrutinize this industry much, much harder, which is probably a good thing,” Zhao said at a conference in Indonesia in November.
Binance, however, has long frustrated financial regulators and law enforcement agencies, legal experts said. For years, Binance let users buy and sell cryptocurrency on the platform without identifying themselves, making it an easy way for people to launder ill-gotten money, said John Ghose, a former Justice Department prosecutor who specialized in cryptocurrency cases before leaving to join the private sector in 2021.
During his time as a prosecutor, Ghose said, “Binance did not have a reputation of being a responsible exchange.”
Binance’s Hillmann acknowledged that the company had shortcomings in its approach to regulatory compliance in the first few years of its rapid expansion. But more recently, he said, Binance has heavily invested in compliance programs, worked closely with law enforcement and developed new technology for catching criminals on its platform.
“Over the last two years, the company has completely changed its posture,” Hillmann said. “Now that we have those resources, we are easily one of the most proactive parties to identify, freeze and get back funds” that were laundered, he said, adding that he believes overall incidents of criminal activity in crypto are going down.
A report last year by data provider Chainalysis showed that cryptocurrency crime hit an alltime high in 2021, with illicit addresses receiving $14 billion, up from $4.6 billion in 2017, the year Binance was founded. Over the same time period, as crypto adoption boomed, the portion of overall transactions that were illicit shrank considerably, Chainalysis found.
Based on his experience with these types of cases, Ghose said he believes that prosecutors are examining whether Binance violated the Bank Secrecy Act, which requires financial institutions to verify the identities of their customers and report suspicious activity that might be a sign of money laundering, other crimes.
The recent subpoenas could mean prosecutors are scrutinizing Binance’s relationships with U.S. investors, said Ghose, who cautioned that he does not have firsthand knowledge of the Binance investigation.
“The basis of those charges is whether there are U.S. customers,” he said. “If there are U.S. customers, there are charges for avoiding the money laundering requirements.”
‘ Trying to do the right thing’
As part of its response to growing regulatory interest, Binance has embarked on a Washington charm offensive. The company this past fall formed a global advisory board chaired by Max Baucus, the former Democratic senator from Montana and Obama administration ambassador to China; the board also includes former top Obama adviser David Plouffe. Last month, the company joined the Chamber of Digital Commerce, a Washington-based crypto lobbying association.
Baucus and Plouffe did not respond to requests for comment.
Meanwhile, Binance.us, a Palo Alto, Calif.-based trading platform owned by Zhao, hired two outside lobbying firms and launched a political action committee, allowing it to raise funds from its own ranks and distribute the proceeds as campaign contributions, federal records show. It also hired former FBI agent BJ Kang, who directed high-profile probes of insider trading on Wall Street, as its first head of investigations.
A Binance.us spokeswoman said the company has no current plans to make any PAC donations.
Zhao “is trying to do the right thing” by meeting with government leaders, advocating for regulation and offering to bail out other crypto firms facing hardship, said Carlos Gomez, chief investment officer at Belobaba Crypto Asset Fund, which invests on the Binance platform. “He is trying to position himself as a trustworthy person.”
But there are signs that Zhao, a crypto superstar with 8 million Twitter followers, is losing the trust of some customers. Over one 24-hour period in December, investors withdrew $3 billion more from Binance than they deposited, the most net withdrawals in a single day from the exchange since June, according to crypto analytics firm Nansen.
“People are getting scared,” said Carol Alexander, a crypto expert and finance professor at the University of Sussex. “The whales,” or professional traders, “are starting to move out of Binance as regulatory pressure mounts,” she said.
Zhao has said Binance has more than enough reserves to back all user deposits, a fact he said was substantiated by an independent auditor’s review this past month. “Every user could withdraw their assets from Binance and the company will continue to function as normal,” a Binance spokesman said in an email.
Nine days after releasing its assessment, however, Paris-based auditing firm Mazars said in a statement that it was suspending work with crypto companies “due to concerns regarding the way these reports are understood by the public.” Although Binance had referred to its work with Mazars as a “third-party audit,” the auditor said its assessment does not constitute a legally binding assurance or audit opinion.
“Providing an audit opinion or assurance on its review of Binance reserves would significantly increase Mazars’ risk of being sued if it later turns out that Binance doesn’t have enough money to cover customer assets,” said Vivian Fang, an accounting professor at the University of Minnesota.
Regulatory difficulties
One challenge facing U.S. prosecutors will be proving that Binance is even subject to American laws.
Zhao founded Binance in China, but he later moved the company to Japan and then Malta. Since 2020, he has claimed the business has no singular headquarters. Binance Holding Ltd., a shell company that operates several Binance subsidiaries, is based in the Cayman Islands, but Zhao is also connected to dozens of business units around the world, including in the British Virgin Islands, Singapore, Ireland, Liechtenstein and the Seychelles, according to Reuters.
Industry experts attribute part of Binance’s success to its marketing of risky financial products, such as crypto derivatives, which let users place high-leverage bets on speculative digital tokens such as dogecoin. Such products are generally prohibited in the United States, and since 2019, Binance has barred Americans from accessing its main offshore exchange where derivatives can be bought and sold. (Binance.us, the American exchange owned by Zhao, offers a more limited menu of investment options to U.S. residents and says it operates independently from the main Binance exchange.)
Binance’s website lists the United States as one of its “restricted jurisdictions,” along with Cuba, Crimea, Iran, Syria and North Korea.
Some Americans claim they can bypass Binance’s restrictions. In Reddit discussion threads and Youtube videos, crypto traders have shared tips for how to access the site from the United States. One content creator known as Full Value Dan posted a tutorial on “How I Beat Binance KYC” — shorthand for “know your customer” verification laws — which included setting up a shell business in Taiwan and obtaining residency documents from that country.
On the video, Full Value Dan said he used those documents to get approved for trading on Binance despite being a U.S. citizen. He did not respond to a request for comment.
Hillmann, the Binance executive, said the company has tested this and other supposed loopholes for accessing its trading platform and found that they do not work. “There is no ability for any user today in the U.S. to be able to access Binance.com” without committing fraud, Hillmann said.
In interviews with The Washington Post, several large cryptofocused hedge funds in the United States said they either do not use Binance or only have accounts on the more limited Binance.us trading platform. Some said they preferred Coinbase, a publicly traded crypto exchange that provides quarterly financial statements to investors.
The CEO of one New York investment firm, which manages $2.5 billion in assets, said his company trades on the Binance offshore exchange through corporate entities it owns outside the United States. While Binance strictly prohibits U.S. citizens from trading, “corporations and citizens are very different,” said this executive, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because he worried about raising the profile of his firm with regulators.
Binance has said it complies with all U.S. laws and assists law enforcement agencies with their investigations. But it has not registered Binance.com, its primary offshore exchange, with the Treasury Department’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network, or FINCEN, a baseline requirement for complying with the Bank Secrecy Act, records show.
Because Binance.com does not operate in the United States, the company does not believe it needs to register with the Treasury Department, Hillmann said. A spokesperson for FINCEN declined to comment.
That defense has not worked for others. Last year, three cofounders of BITMEX, another offshore crypto exchange, pleaded guilty to “willful” failure to verify the identities of its customers. According to the indictment, BitMEX had courted thousands of American investors, despite billing itself as a Seychelles-based exchange with no American users.
BITMEX agreed to pay as much as $100 million to settle the charges, and the co-founders were ordered to pay $10 million each. Arthur Hayes, who stepped down from his role as chief executive after the charges were filed, was sentenced to six months of house arrest and two years of probation.
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09/1/2023
Adopting a plant-based diet is one of the best things we can do to champion British farmers and our countryside, while also meeting our emission reduction commitments and supporting public health. LAND USE AND BIODIVERSITY LOSS William Blake famously wrote of England’s green and pleasant land. However, according to the researchers at the Natural History Museum, the UK is one of the world’s most nature-depleted countries, going so far as to say that due to the expansion of agriculture, ‘the UK has led the world in degrading the natural environment’.1 Agriculture is the primary land user in the UK, covering 71% of total UK land area,2 around 17.5 million hectares,3 and animal agriculture accounts for up to 85% of this land, yet provides only 32% of our calories and less than half of our protein.4 To feed the same number of people on a plant-based diet would require just one-sixth of the land, leaving 14.5 million hectares available for alternative uses,5 such as nature restoration and rewilding of habitats as part of carbon sequestration initiatives. A PLANT-BASED UK SUPPORTS OUR FARMERS The science is clear on the environmental impacts of animal agriculture, including its outsized climate impact, and the farming sector is also the most vulnerable to changes in weather systems resulting from climate breakdown. Raised public awareness of these impacts has led to a growing shift in consumer habits towards more plant-based diets. Many farmers are already moving away from rearing animals in favour of growing plants for human consumption to capitalise on this growing demand. A recent farmers’ survey found that 64% of respondents would consider transitioning out of animal agriculture entirely provided financial support was in place.6 As custodians of the countryside, farmers must be supported to adapt and diversify their production to meet these changing demands and better protect our planet. UK’S LEADING ROLE IN PROTECTING OUR PLANET The World Health Organization has called climate change the ‘greatest threat to global health in the 21st century’. The UK must deliver on its commitment to meet the world’s most ambitious climate targets by addressing animal agriculture, which is responsible for at least 16.5% of all man-made GHG emissions,7 and urge other developed economies to follow suit. By continuing with business as usual, this sector alone would account for 49% of the 1.5°C emissions budget by 2030.8 Research indicates that if we all ate plantbased, our food-related GHG emissions would drop by 70%.9 We owe it to our children and grandchildren to act decisively and comprehensively to halt climate breakdown now. SUPPORT BRITISH INNOVATION The UK is well positioned to pioneer the innovation of sustainable alternative protein production. Moving away from the EU’s regulatory framework provides an important opportunity to become a global leader in the development of plant -, cell-and fermentation based proteins. A recent report by UK Research & Innovation (UKRI), estimates a £1bn UK market for plant-based alternatives, with predicted yearly growth for meat alternatives of 30%, dairy-free milk of 48%, and cheese alternatives of 38%, driven mainly by the expansion of start-ups .10 The government commissioned National Food Strategy recently called on the UK government to invest £125 min sustainable protein start-ups.11 A THRIVING UK POPULATION Noncommunicable diseases (NCD) are a significant burden to the NHS and the leading cause of premature mortality in the UK, accounting for around 89% of all deaths.12 NCDs are also largely preventable. Research shows that adopting a plant-based diet is significantly associated with decreased risk of cardiovascular disease (CVD) mortality and lower risk of CVD incidence,13 which is the leading cause of death in the UK. Researchers have concluded that plant-based diets are also “especially potent” in preventing type 2 diabetes and have been associated with much lower rates of hypertension, hyperlipidemia, and cancer.14 An EPIC-Oxford study of 65,411 men and women found that non-meat eaters were 37% less likely to develop diabetes compared with the regular meat eaters.15 A new study by researchers from Oxford Population Health’s Cancer Epidemiology Unit that analysed data from over 472,000 participants found that, when compared with regular meat-eaters, plantbased diets reduced the risk of postmenopausal breast cancer by 18%, prostate cancer by 31%, colorectal cancer in men by 43%, and of developing any type of cancer by 14%.16 BE COMPASSIONATE In the UK’s meat, dairy and egg industries we needlessly kill around 1.2 billion land animals for food each year. For example, in the dairy industry, 2.6 million cows go through unimaginable cruelty all their lives and are eventually killed for meat.17 EU research suggests that between 10% and 20% of dairy cows are pregnant when they are slaughtered.18 Tens of thousands of male calves19 and 29 million male chicks,20 unwanted by the industries they’re born into, are killed each year within days or hours of being born. Adopting a plant-based diet prioritises compassion and prevents this unnecessary suffering. We hope you’ll consider our sincere offer and lead the UK towards a more sustainable and promising future. We look forward to hearing back from you with your response by January 31st.
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Walker Political correspondent
The Guardian 09/1/2023
Nearly a third of teachers who qualified in the last decade have since left the profession, according to a Labour analysis ahead of a week in which the party hopes to shift the political focus on to education.
With the results of strike ballots by teaching unions due in the coming days, Labour hopes to use a Commons vote to push to impose VAT on private school fees, which they say would help pay for new teachers in the state sector.
The party wants to use an opposition day motion on Wednesday to pass a motion – intended to be binding – that would set up a new Commons select committee to look specifically at the issue of VAT on private school fees.
According to a Labour analysis of Department for Education statistics, of just under 270,000 teachers who qualified in England between 2011 and 2020 more than 81,000 have since left the profession, or three in 10 of the total.
More recently, 13% of teachers in England who have qualified since the last general election in December 2019 quit in the subsequent two years, about 3,000 in total.
Three teaching unions representing staff across England and Wales are either balloting members on strike action, while a fourth is considering this. While the disputes are mostly about pay, there is also considerable disquiet about staff shortages, overwork and stress, seen as a key reason for those leaving the profession.
Labour is planning its opposition day motion this week as part of a wider attempt to focus the political spotlight on investment in schools, especially with staffing, and the pledge over VAT, which the party says would raise £1.7bn a year.
The Conservatives argue the policy would simply cause some private schools to close, accusing Keir Starmer of waging a “class war”. But Labour believe the policy will be popular, with Starmer using a recent prime minister’s questions to say it would raise £10m just from Rishi Sunak’s former school, Winchester.
Labour says it has estimated that there are 350,000 qualified teachers not currently teaching in the state sector, and that money from the VAT policy could pay for 6,500 extra teachers, as well as training for existing staff. Bridget Phillipson, the shadow education secretary, said: “This dangerous exodus of new teaching recruits could result in even greater teacher vacancies in years to come and ultimately to lower standards in our schools.
“A decade of Conservative neglect of our schools is already forcing experienced teachers from the classroom – for more recently qualified teachers to be leaving the profession is a worrying double whammy.
“Labour believes excellence is for everyone: that is why we will end tax breaks for private schools and use the money to recruit 6,500 new teachers.” The tactic of trying to make an opposition day motion binding is a common recent tactic used by Labour to force the government to make its MPs vote down an issue, rather than ignoring the process.
A Labour source said: Conservative MPs voting against our motion are voting against higher standards in state schools for the majority of children in our country.” A government spokesperson said the number of teachers “remains high”, with 24,000 more working in state schools than in 2010.
They said: “We are also making the highest pay awards in a generation – 5% for experienced teachers and more for those early in their careers, including an up to 8.9% increase to starting salary.”
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UK house prices are on track to drop 8% this year after declining for four months in a row, one of the nation’s biggest mortgage lenders said.
Halifax said its measure of property prices fell 1.5% last month after a 2.4% decline in November. The figures are similar to a reading from Nationwide Building Society, which last week reported the longest slump in prices since 2008. –
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Recording your voice at a high quality for YouTube broadcasting requires a few key pieces of equipment:
A good quality microphone: You'll want to use a microphone that can capture your voice clearly and accurately, without picking up too much background noise. Some popular options for YouTube voice recording include the Blue Yeti and the Rode NT-USB.
A digital audio workstation (DAW): This is software that you can use to record, edit, and produce your audio. Some popular DAWs for voice recording include Audacity (which is free) and Adobe Audition.
Pop filter: A pop filter helps to reduce the "popping" sound that can occur when you say certain consonants, like "p" or "b". This can help to improve the overall quality of your recording.
To set up your recording environment, you'll want to find a quiet room with good acoustics. This means that the room should not have too much echo or reverb, which can make your voice sound muffled or unclear. You should also try to minimize background noise as much as possible.
Once you have your equipment and your recording environment set up, you can start recording your voice. Follow the instructions for your microphone and DAW to set up the recording, and then speak clearly and naturally into the microphone. You can then use your DAW to edit and produce the audio as needed.
I hope that helps! Let me know if you have any other questions.
joyandfree99@gmail.com Do i need an audio mixer ? It depends on your specific needs and setup. An audio mixer can be a useful tool for recording and producing audio, as it allows you to adjust the levels of different audio sources (such as your microphone and any background music or sound effects) independently. This can be helpful if you want to create a more polished, professional-sounding recording.
However, if you are just starting out and don't have a lot of experience with audio production, you may not need an audio mixer right away. Many digital audio workstations (DAWs) include basic mixing functionality, so you can use your DAW to adjust the levels of different audio tracks. You can also use a software plugin or an external hardware processor (such as a compressor or equalizer) to shape the sound of your recording.
In general, an audio mixer can be a useful addition to your recording setup if you have the budget and are looking to create more advanced, professional-quality audio. However, if you are just looking to record your voice for YouTube, you may be able to get by with just a microphone and a DAW.
joyandfree99@gmail.com Could the DAWs software Audacity include the mixing function > Yes, Audacity is a digital audio workstation (DAW) that includes basic audio mixing capabilities. With Audacity, you can adjust the levels of different audio tracks independently, as well as apply effects such as equalization, compression, and reverb.
To mix audio tracks in Audacity, you can use the track mixer panel, which is located in the lower left corner of the Audacity window. The track mixer allows you to adjust the volume and panning of each track, as well as solo or mute individual tracks. You can also use the effect menu to apply various effects to your audio tracks.
Keep in mind that Audacity is a basic DAW, so its mixing capabilities may be more limited compared to more advanced software like Adobe Audition or Pro Tools. However, it is still a powerful tool that can be used to create high-quality audio recordings, and it is a good choice for those who are just starting out with audio production.
joyandfree99@gmail.com Pls explain in details how a mixer can help record a quality audio An audio mixer is a device that allows you to adjust the levels of different audio sources independently, as well as apply effects such as equalization, compression, and reverb. It can be a useful tool for recording and producing audio, as it allows you to fine-tune the balance of your audio tracks and shape the overall sound of your recording.
Here's how a mixer can help you record a high-quality audio:
Adjusting levels: With a mixer, you can adjust the volume of each audio source (such as a microphone or a music track) independently, allowing you to balance the levels of different tracks and create a cohesive audio mix.
Applying effects: A mixer can also be used to apply various audio effects, such as equalization (EQ), compression, and reverb, to different tracks. This can help you shape the sound of your recording and make it more polished and professional-sounding.
Reducing noise: A mixer can also help to reduce background noise in your recording by allowing you to adjust the levels of different tracks and isolate specific sounds. This can be especially helpful if you are recording in a noisy environment.
Adding external hardware: Some mixers also have built-in effects processors or allow you to connect external hardware processors (such as compressors or equalizers) to further shape the sound of your recording.
Keep in mind that you can also achieve many of these same effects using a digital audio workstation (DAW) and software plugins, so whether or not you need a mixer will depend on your specific recording setup and needs.
joyandfree99@gmail.com Could you raise some examples of an EQ adjustment ? Equalization, or EQ, is the process of adjusting the balance of frequencies in an audio signal. By boosting or cutting specific frequency ranges, you can shape the sound of your audio and make it more pleasing to listen to. Here are a few examples of how you might use EQ to adjust the sound of an audio recording:
Boosting the bass: If you want to give your audio a "punchier" sound, you can boost the bass frequencies (usually in the range of 80-200 Hz). This can be especially helpful for making vocals or instruments like bass guitar and kick drum stand out in a mix.
Cutting the mid-range: If you want to reduce the "mud" in a mix (i.e., the cluttered, muddled sound that can occur when too many mid-range frequencies are present), you can cut the mid-range frequencies (usually in the range of 500-2,000 Hz). This can help to clarify the sound and make individual instruments or vocals more distinguishable.
Boosting the highs: If you want to add "sparkle" to your audio, you can boost the high frequencies (usually in the range of 4,000-20,000 Hz). This can make vocals sound brighter and more present, and can give instruments like cymbals and electric guitar a more "crisp" sound.
Cutting the lows: If you want to reduce the amount of rumble or low-frequency noise in your audio, you can cut the low frequencies (usually below 80 Hz). This can be especially helpful if you are recording in a noisy environment or if you want to remove unwanted bass frequencies from a track.
These are just a few examples of how you can use EQ to adjust the sound of an audio recording. There are many other techniques you can use, and the specific frequencies you choose to boost or cut will depend on the type of audio you are working with and your desired results.
joyandfree99@gmail.com pls explain compression, and reverb Compression and reverb are two common audio effects that are used in recording and production. Here's a brief explanation of each:
Compression: Compression is a technique that reduces the dynamic range of an audio signal, making the loudest parts quieter and the quietest parts louder. This can help to even out the levels of a recording and make it sound more cohesive. A compressor typically has three main controls: threshold, ratio, and makeup gain. The threshold determines the level at which the compressor starts to kick in, the ratio determines how much the signal is compressed above the threshold, and the makeup gain is used to compensate for the overall level change caused by the compression.
Reverb: Reverb is an effect that simulates the sound of an audio signal being reflected off of surfaces in a particular space. It is often used to give a sense of depth and space to an audio recording. A reverb effect typically has controls for the wet/dry mix (the balance between the dry, unprocessed signal and the wet, reverberant signal), the decay time (how long the reverb tails last), and the type of space being simulated (such as a small room or a large concert hall).
Compression and reverb are just a couple of the many audio effects that are available for use in recording and production. Other common effects include delay, chorus, and flanging. These effects can be used to enhance the sound of an audio recording and give it more character and depth.
Define your target audience: Identify who your ideal customers are and create targeted ads to reach them.
Create a business page: Set up a business page on Facebook and regularly post updates about your service, including special offers and promotions.
Use eye-catching visuals: Use high-quality images and videos to make your posts more appealing and attract more attention.
Use Facebook Ads: Facebook Ads allow you to target specific demographics and interests, and they can be a cost-effective way to promote your service.
Utilize Facebook groups: Join relevant groups and participate in discussions to promote your service to a targeted audience.
Use Facebook Messenger: Use Facebook Messenger to communicate with potential customers and provide excellent customer service.
By following these best practices, you can effectively promote your service on Facebook and reach a wider audience.
Use relevant keywords: Include relevant keywords in your website's content, page titles, and meta descriptions. This will help Google understand what your website is about and improve its ranking for those keywords.
Improve your website's loading speed: Google gives preference to websites that load faster, so it is important to optimize your website's loading speed. This can be done by reducing the size of images, minifying CSS and JavaScript files, and using a content delivery network (CDN).
Make your website mobile-friendly: With more and more users accessing the internet from their smartphones, it is important to make sure your website is mobile-friendly. Google has a mobile-first index, which means that the mobile version of your website is used to rank your pages in search results.
Use header tags: Header tags (H1, H2, etc.) help Google understand the structure of your content and give it a higher ranking.
Use internal linking: Internal linking helps Google understand the relationship between your pages and can improve your website's overall ranking.
Create high-quality content: Google values websites that provide useful and high-quality content. Make sure to regularly publish fresh, unique, and engaging content on your website.
Get high-quality backlinks: Backlinks from other high-quality websites can improve your website's ranking in Google search results.
Use social media: Promote your website and content on social media platforms to drive traffic and improve your search ranking.
By following these best practices, you can improve your website's ranking in Google search results and attract more qualified traffic to your website.
Pls advise the best practice to promote our service on Instagram
There are a few best practices for promoting your service on Instagram:
Use relevant hashtags: Using relevant hashtags can help your content get discovered by users searching for those tags.
Use Instagram Stories: Instagram Stories are a great way to showcase your service in action and give your followers a behind-the-scenes look at your business.
Use Instagram ads: Instagram ads allow you to target specific users and can be a highly effective way to promote your service.
Collaborate with influencers: Collaborating with influencers who have a large following and are relevant to your business can help you reach a new audience.
Use Instagram’s IGTV feature: IGTV allows you to create longer-form videos, which can be a great way to showcase your service in more detail.
Engage with your followers: Responding to comments and DM’s and engaging with your followers can help build a community around your business and increase brand awareness.
Use Instagram’s shopping feature: If you have an e-commerce store, you can use Instagram’s shopping feature to directly link to your products from your Instagram posts.
I hope these tips are helpful! Let me know if you have any other questions.
joyandfree99@gmail.com Pls advise the best practice to promote our service on Twitter Here are a few best practices for promoting your service on Twitter:
Use relevant hashtags: Using relevant hashtags can help your content get discovered by users searching for those tags.
Use Twitter advertising: Twitter advertising allows you to target specific users and can be a highly effective way to promote your service.
Engage with your followers: Responding to tweets and DM’s and engaging with your followers can help build a community around your business and increase brand awareness.
Use Twitter’s Moments feature: Moments allows you to create a collection of tweets around a specific theme or event, which can be a great way to showcase your service.
Collaborate with influencers: Collaborating with influencers who have a large following and are relevant to your business can help you reach a new audience.
Use Twitter polls: Twitter polls are a fun way to engage with your followers and can also be a good way to gather feedback about your service.
Share user-generated content: Sharing content created by your customers or clients can be a great way to showcase your service and build social proof.
I hope these tips are helpful! Let me know if you have any other questions.
joyandfree99@gmail.com Pls advise the best practice to promote our service on Whatsapp Here are a few best practices for promoting your service on WhatsApp:
Share relevant content: Share content that is relevant to your service and will be of interest to your target audience.
Use WhatsApp groups: WhatsApp groups can be a great way to share information about your service with a large number of people at once.
Use WhatsApp for customer service: WhatsApp can be a convenient way for customers to contact you with questions or concerns about your service.
Share special offers: Share special offers or discounts on your service to encourage people to try it out.
Use WhatsApp broadcast lists: Broadcast lists allow you to send a message to multiple contacts at once without creating a group. This can be a good way to promote your service to a larger audience.
Use WhatsApp Web: WhatsApp Web allows you to use WhatsApp on your computer, which can be convenient for managing customer interactions and promoting your service.
I hope these tips are helpful! Let me know if you have any other questions.
joyandfree99@gmail.com Pls advise the best practice to promote our service on Linkedin Here are a few best practices for promoting your service on LinkedIn:
Create a company page: A company page is a great way to showcase your service and give potential customers more information about your business.
Share relevant content: Share content that is relevant to your service and will be of interest to your target audience.
Use LinkedIn advertising: LinkedIn advertising allows you to target specific users and can be a highly effective way to promote your service.
Engage with your followers: Responding to comments and messages and engaging with your followers can help build a community around your business and increase brand awareness.
Use LinkedIn Groups: LinkedIn Groups are communities of professionals with a common interest. Joining and actively participating in relevant groups can help you connect with potential customers and promote your service.
Share user-generated content: Sharing content created by your customers or clients can be a great way to showcase your service and build social proof.
I hope these tips are helpful! Let me know if you have any other questions.
joyandfree99@gmail.com Pls advise the best practice to promote our service on Whatsapp Business API Here are a few best practices for promoting your service using WhatsApp Business API:
Use automated messages: Automated messages can help you save time and improve efficiency by sending personalized messages to customers based on their interactions with your business.
Use templates: WhatsApp Business API allows you to create templates for common messages that you can reuse. This can help you save time and ensure that you are providing consistent information to your customers.
Segment your audience: Segmenting your audience based on factors such as location, interests, or purchase history can help you send more relevant messages and improve the effectiveness of your promotions.
Use quick replies: Quick replies are predefined responses that you can use to quickly respond to common customer queries. This can help you save time and improve the efficiency of your customer service.
Use labels: Labels allow you to organize and manage your conversations more effectively. You can use labels to categorize conversations based on topics such as "sales" or "customer service," which can help you more easily find and respond to important messages.
I hope these tips are helpful! Let me know if you have any other questions.
joyandfree99@gmail.com Pls advise the best practice to promote our service on Instagram API Here are a few best practices for promoting your service using Instagram API:
Use relevant hashtags: Using relevant hashtags can help your content get discovered by users searching for those tags.
Use Instagram’s shopping feature: If you have an e-commerce store, you can use Instagram’s shopping feature to directly link to your products from your Instagram posts.
Collaborate with influencers: Collaborating with influencers who have a large following and are relevant to your business can help you reach a new audience.
Use Instagram’s IGTV feature: IGTV allows you to create longer-form videos, which can be a great way to showcase your service in more detail.
Engage with your followers: Responding to comments and DM’s and engaging with your followers can help build a community around your business and increase brand awareness.
Use Instagram ads: Instagram ads allow you to target specific users and can be a highly effective way to promote your service.
Use Instagram Stories: Instagram Stories are a great way to showcase your service in action and give your followers a behind-the-scenes look at your business.
I hope these tips are helpful! Let me know if you have any other questions.
joyandfree99@gmail.com Pls advise the best practice to promote our service on Youtube API Here are a few best practices for promoting your service using YouTube API:
Create a channel: A YouTube channel is a great way to showcase your service and give potential customers more information about your business.
Use relevant keywords: Including relevant keywords in your titles, descriptions, and tags can help your videos get discovered by users searching for those terms.
Engage with your audience: Responding to comments and engaging with your audience can help build a community around your business and increase brand awareness.
Use annotations and end screens: Annotations and end screens can be used to direct viewers to other videos or your channel page, which can help increase the visibility of your content.
Collaborate with other creators: Collaborating with other creators who have a large following and are relevant to your business can help you reach a new audience.
Use YouTube advertising: YouTube advertising allows you to target specific users and can be a highly effective way to promote your service.
I hope these tips are helpful! Let me know if you have any other questions.
joyandfree99@gmail.com Pls advise the best practice to promote our service on Youtube Here are a few best practices for promoting your service on YouTube:
Create a channel: A YouTube channel is a great way to showcase your service and give potential customers more information about your business.
Use relevant keywords: Including relevant keywords in your titles, descriptions, and tags can help your videos get discovered by users searching for those terms.
Engage with your audience: Responding to comments and engaging with your audience can help build a community around your business and increase brand awareness.
Use annotations and end screens: Annotations and end screens can be used to direct viewers to other videos or your channel page, which can help increase the visibility of your content.
Collaborate with other creators: Collaborating with other creators who have a large following and are relevant to your business can help you reach a new audience.
Use YouTube advertising: YouTube advertising allows you to target specific users and can be a highly effective way to promote your service.
I hope these tips are helpful! Let me know if you have any other questions.
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https://medium.com/dailyjs/the-deepest-reason-why-modern-javascript-frameworks-exist-933b86ebc445
By Paul Sutter published 1 day ago In quantum physics, particles exist in many states at once until you measure them. Can reality really work that way?
(opens in new tab) (opens in new tab)
(opens in new tab) (opens in new tab) (opens in new tab) Comments (7) Does reality exist when we're not looking? (Image credit: Getty) The standard interpretation of quantum mechanics places a lot of emphasis on the act of measurement. Before measurement, quantum systems exist in many states at once. After measurement, the system "collapses" into a specific value, so it's natural to ask what's really going on when measurements don't take place. There isn't a clear answer, and different ideas can go in some really wild directions.
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One of the first lessons that physicists learned when they started examining subatomic systems in the early 20th century was that we do not live in a deterministic universe. In other words, we cannot precisely predict the outcome of every experiment.
For example, if you shoot a beam of electrons through a magnetic field, half of the electrons will curve in one direction while the other half will curve in the opposite direction. While we can build mathematical descriptions of where the electrons go as a group, we cannot say which direction each electron will take until we actually perform the experiment.
Sponsored Links Most iPhone Users Didn't Know This Simple Trick To Block Ads (Do It Now) Safe Mobile Tips Learn More In quantum mechanics, this is known as superposition. For any experiment that can result in many random outcomes, before we make a measurement, the system is said to be in a superposition of all possible states simultaneously. When we make a measurement, the system "collapses" into a single state that we observe.
0 seconds of 3 minutes, 36 seconds PLAY SOUND The tools of quantum mechanics are there to make some sense out of this chaos. Instead of giving precise predictions for how a system will evolve, quantum mechanics tells us how superposition (which represents all the various outcomes) will evolve. When we make a measurement, quantum mechanics tells us the probabilities of getting one outcome over another.
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And that's it. Standard quantum mechanics is silent as to how this superposition actually works and how measurement does the job of collapsing the superposition into a single result.
Schrödinger's cat
If we take this line of thinking to its logical conclusion, then measurement is the most important act in the universe. It transforms fuzzy probabilities into concrete results and changes an exotic quantum system into verifiable results that we can interpret with our senses.
But what does that mean for quantum systems when we're not measuring them? What does the universe really look like? Does everything exist but we are simply unaware of it, or does it not really have a defined state until measurement takes place?
Ironically, Erwin Schrödinger, one of the founders of quantum theory (it's his equation that tells us how the superposition will evolve in time), railed against this line of thinking. He developed his famous cat-in-a-box thought experiment, now known as Schrödinger's cat, to show how ridiculous quantum mechanics was.
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Here's a highly simplified version. Put a (live) cat in a box. Also put in the box some sort of radioactive element that is tied to the release of a poisonous gas. It doesn't matter how you do it; the point is to introduce some ingredient of quantum uncertainty into the situation. If you wait awhile, you won't know for sure if the element has decayed, so you won't know if the poison has been released and thus if the cat is alive or dead.
In a strict reading of quantum mechanics, the cat is neither alive nor dead at this stage; it exists in a quantum superposition of both alive and dead. Only when we open the box will we know for sure, and it's also the act of opening the box that allows that superposition to collapse and the cat to (suddenly) exist in one state or the other.
Schrödinger used this argument to express his astonishment that this could be a coherent theory of the universe. Are we really to believe that until we open the box that the cat doesn't really "exist" — at least in the normal sense that things are always definitely alive or dead, not both at the same time? To Schrödinger, this was too far, and he quit working on quantum mechanics shortly thereafter.
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Decoherence
One response to this bizarre state of affairs is to point out that the macroscopic world does not obey quantum mechanics. After all, quantum theory was developed to explain the subatomic world. Before we had experiments that revealed how atoms worked, we had no need for superposition, probabilities, measurement or anything else quantum-related. We just had normal physics.
So it doesn't make sense to apply quantum rules where they don't belong. Niels Bohr, another founder of quantum mechanics, proposed the idea of 'decoherence" to explain why subatomic systems obey quantum mechanics but macroscopic systems do not.
In this view, what we understand as quantum mechanics is true and complete for subatomic systems. In other words, things like superposition really do happen for tiny particles. But something like a cat in a box is most definitely not a subatomic system; the cat is made of trillions of individual particles, all constantly wiggling, colliding and jostling.
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Every time two of those particles bump into each other and interact, we can use quantum mechanics to understand what goes on. But once a thousand, or a billion, or trillions upon trillions of particles enter the mix, quantum mechanics loses its meaning — or "decoheres" — and regular macroscopic physics takes its place.
In this view, a single electron — but not a cat — in a box can exist in an exotic superposition.
However, this story does have limitations. Most important, we have no known mechanism for translating quantum mechanics into macroscopic physics, and we can't point to a specific scale or situation where the switch takes place. So, even though it sounds good on paper, this model of decoherence doesn't have a lot of firm backing.
So does reality exist when we're not looking? The ultimate answer is that it appears to be a matter of interpretation.
Paul Sutter Paul Sutter Astrophysicist Paul M. Sutter is a research professor in astrophysics at SUNY Stony Brook University and the Flatiron Institute in New York City. He regularly appears on TV and podcasts, including "Ask a Spaceman." He is the author of two books, "Your Place in the Universe" and "How to Die in Space," and is a regular contributor to Space.com, Live Science, and more. Paul received his PhD in Physics from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in 2011, and spent three years at the Paris Institute of Astrophysics, followed by a research fellowship in Trieste, Italy
The tech trends to watch for in 2023
CHRIS VELAZCO AND TATUM HUNTER What tech trends are you predicting?
Send us a note or drop us an email at yourhelpdesk@washpost.com.
The Washington Post
04/1/2023
Elon Musk’s takeover of Twitter. FTX’S spectacular collapse. Smartphones talking to satellites, and an AI that might be, but probably isn’t, sentient.
2022 was a deeply strange year for technology. So what about 2023?
We’ll begin to find out soon. As one of the world’s largest tech trade shows, CES — formerly known as the Consumer Electronics Show — is best known for ostentatious displays of innovation and winding corridors of gadgets from around the world. And once you peel back the layers of spectacle, you get a glimpse of the ways our relationships with the tech in our lives could change.
What CES is not, though, is a perfect crystal ball for the near future. (If it were, you would have been able to stroll into a dealership and put down a deposit on a flying car already.)
“CES is a great way to understand the health of ecosystems and tease out underlying trends,” said Avi Greengart, lead analyst at research firm Techsponential. “You’re unlikely to see the next big thing” there.
To help you sift through the noise, here’s our short guide to what you have to celebrate — or stomach — in 2023.
Between continued skepticism and trouble at Meta, it’s not hard to think the future is a bit bleak for the metaverse — but rumors of its demise might be premature.
In a recent survey of 9,000 consumers, the professional services firm Accenture found that 55 percent of respondents said they wanted to become “active users” of the metaverse. And of those meta-optimists, 90 percent wanted to make that leap within the next year, said Kevan Yalowitz, Accenture’s global software and platforms lead.
In the meantime, other companies are busy. HTC — which produced the Vive line of VR headsets — is openly teasing a portable product designed to compete with Meta’s popular Quest 2. Other competitors, including Sharp and Canon, are getting ready to show off prototypes and experiences that could give people more ways and reasons to dive into virtual spaces. And, after years of anticipation, this may be the year Apple finally releases a wearable screen.
None of that necessarily means you’ll find yourself moving through sprawling, immersive, interoperable worlds any sooner — just that people aren’t going to stop talking about it anytime soon.
Thanks to a unifying standard called Matter, 2022 was supposed to be the year in which connected home gadgets — smart lightbulbs, video doorbells, fancy thermostats — all started playing together seamlessly. Buy any of those things,
the idea went, and you could control them with any voice assistant or platform you wanted.
Then, Matter’s release was delayed for a few months.
Since the standard’s release in October, the first Matter-compatible products have started trickling into the wild, but it seems that getting the most out of them can be tricky. CES, though, will give us the first big wave of smart-home products that can be controlled from Google Home, the iphone’s Home app, Smart
Things on the Samsung phone or all of the above.
But the push for interoperability may not end there. Apple — which has long used its proprietary Lightning charging system for iphones and some ipads — has said it will comply with a European Union requirement for USB- C charging for many small electronics. The company is expected to make the switch in time for next year’s iphone upgrade, which means we may soon be able to carry One Charger To
Rule Them All.
CES also is well known for the many gorgeous — and sometimes ludicrous — new televisions on display, but the movies you will watch on them have to come from somewhere. In 2023, the streaming services many of us rely on could start to look different.
After a year of streaming-media drama, including the implosion of CNN Plus and word of an impending HBO Max/discovery Plus mash-up, Accenture’s Yalowitz said players are being forced to “rethink” their business models.
That could mean that your streaming subscription of choice adds a lower monthly fee propped up by ads or that more of your favorite shows could migrate as media companies continue to duke it out for content rights. And (according to Accenture research, anyway) what many people want is a one-stop shop for all their entertainment — which kind of sounds like the cable bundles many moved away from in the first place.
In the meantime, “you’re absolutely going to see winners and losers emerge,” Yalowitz added, though he wouldn’t name the companies he expected to do poorly.
At a conference known for its flashy gadgets, it is easy for not-so-sexy cybersecurity companies to fade into the background. But in a world where consumers increasingly are exposed to digital crime, these companies could have some of the biggest impact — and not a moment too soon.
Anything that is connected to the internet — train systems, electric vehicles, home security cameras — becomes a potential pathway for cyberattacks. Our friends at the Identify Theft Resource Center expect the new year to bring even more cases of attackers harvesting personally identifiable information to create fake accounts under real names or gain control of existing accounts.
This year, companies from around the world will flaunt their safety solutions, reminding eager techies that the industry’s biggest cybersecurity challenges still lie ahead. And, hopefully, they practice what they preach. Some of the outfits in which people have put their faith to help keep them secure online, including Lastpass, have turned out to be more vulnerable than expected, too.
Be honest: Did you pay an app called Lensa to make you some Magic Avatars? Or spend a few minutes talking to CHATGPT? If so, well, you had a lot of company.
For a few weeks, it seemed that the launch of these “generative” AI tools were all anyone was talking about. While some of the initial novelty may have worn off, you can expect to see more such tools emerge soon.
In early December, Openai — the company behind CHATGPT — confirmed investments in a handful of Ai-focused companies, and it plans to nurture more through an incubator program in a bid to “reimagine products and industries.” Meanwhile, AI image generators such as Midjourney and Stable Diffusion get more sophisticated with each update.
But to what extent should such tools be steered — or curbed — by regulation? ( The European Union is slowly working through this question.) How might they be used for good or for ill? If the rise of these tools in 2022 forced us to see how far “creative” AI has come, 2023 will be the first year we collectively chew on how far it should go.
Minding your home. Entertaining your children. Mowing your lawn. Delivering your food. There seems to be a robot for everything, and it feels like most of them will be spending a few days in Las Vegas this week.
Granted, not all of them are meant to serve you face-to-face, and many are unlikely to wind up on sale at a big-box store near you. Some are meant for purely industrial use. Others have been trained to excel at exceedingly specific tasks. (One is purported to be good at harvesting ripe green bell peppers.)
Between companies developing robots for home use and ones making robots to (directly or indirectly) cater to you, it is possible that in 2023, your life will be touched by more machines, even if you don’t recognize that it’s happening. If it’s any consolation, though, robotics experts told us last year that a more sophisticated breed of “social” robots — the kind with which we may be able to build real, fruitful connections — probably won’t go mainstream for a while.
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