It is interesting how frequently wrong rational assessments of the future are compared with remote viewing predictions. Back in the early 1970s, when I was a member of the MIT-Secretary of Defense Study Group on innovation, technology and the Future, and the Smithsonian Institution Discussions Group on Innovation, Technology, and the Future, one of the major discussions was how humanity would deal with over-population and lack of resources that would result. We barely mentioned climate change. As this fact-based article describes over-population is not, in fact, going to be a major issue, and climate change is an oncoming disaster.
A subway in Seoul, South Korea. The country’s population is projected to halve by 2100. Credit: AFP / Getty
Last week, the UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs released the World Population Prospects, the international body’s annual report on the current and future state of global population.
That’s two years earlier than the UN was predicting peak population as recently as 2022, and considerably earlier than forecasts from just a few years before, when population wasn’t expected to peak until the 22nd century.
10.3 billion, of course, is some 2 billion more people than the planet currently holds, so population growth isn’t stopping anytime soon, but it is slowing down rapidly. Women on average now have one less child than […]
CHARLOTTE GRAHAM-McLAY, ELAINE KURTENBACH, DAVID McHUGH and HALELUYA HADERO, Reporters - HuffPost / Associate Press
Stephan:
You may have been affected by this technological havoc Friday, or you may not even know it occurred. I am publishing this report because it illustrates how vulnerable the world is to the electronic networks. This is the second vulnerability of 21st century civilizations. The first is the spewing of misinformation and AI generated fake information. The United States, as well as other nations, is not dealing appropriately with either weakness, and it is changing human societies all over the world.
A traveler checks flight information at Ronald Regan Washington National Airport on July 19, 2024 in Washington, DC. Credit: Nathan Howard / Getty
NEW YORK, NEW YORK — A faulty software update caused technological havoc worldwide on Friday, grounding flights, knocking down some financial companies and news outlets, and disrupting hospitals, small businesses and government offices.
The trouble was sparked by an update issued by cybersecurity firm CrowdStrike and only affected its customers running Microsoft Windows, the world’s most popular operating system for personal computers. It was not the result of hacking or a cyberattack, according to CrowdStrike, which apologized and said a fix was on the way.
Businesses and governments worldwide experienced hourslong disruptions — their computer monitors glowing blue with error messages — and they scrambled to deal with the fallout. CrowdStrike’s CEO said some of their systems will require time-consuming manual fixes.
Thousands of flights were canceled and tens of thousands were delayed, leading to long lines […]
I can’t upload all the images. So please click through and look at them. As you do, realize this is how psychologically damaged a large segment of American voters in the MAGAt (formerly Republican) Party have become.
The big picture: Convention attendees have been paying tribute to former President Trump, who appeared at the event with his large, white bandage on his right ear in his first appearance since Saturday’s rally shooting.
This is already out of date because of Elon Musk’s commitment to donate $45 million a month to Trump. But I am running it to make what I think is the important relevant point. I have been telling you for decades now that America’s growing wealth inequality plus the legalization of political bribery as a result of the Supreme Court’s Citizens United and the Snynder v. United States decisions has resulted in billionaires and millionaires on both sides of politics bribing politicians to get what they want. Our democracy is being shredded as a result. We need to convert to publicly funded elections, and we need to have Congress pass laws outlawing political bribery at any level.
The US presidential election has seen a wave of unprecedented events, but one constant has been donor money pouring into campaign coffers.
Since surviving an assassination attempt on Saturday, former President Donald Trump has received a cascade of money, capped by billionaire Elon Musk’s pledge to donate $45 million a month to a super political action committee that aims to pay for Trump’s ground game in battleground states.
Despite a disastrous performance at the first presidential debate that caused murmurs that he should step aside to mount to a chorus, President Joe Biden raised $38 million from the day of the debate to the end of June for his campaign and party. Democratic mega donors also rallied to support him. Hedge fund manager George Soros donated $5 million to Future Forward PAC, the main super PAC backing Biden the day after the debate. Former Google chief executive officer Eric Schmidt and real estate developer Herbert Simon made six-figure donations to Biden’s campaign and the Democratic Party in recent weeks.
However, others, like Netflix Inc.’s Reed Hastings, say they’ll withhold funds unless there’s […]
ROBERT REICH , the Carmel P. Friesen Professor of Public Policy at the Goldman School of Public Policy at the University of California, Berkeley, and a Senior Fellow at the Blum Center for Developing Economies -
Stephan:
Elon Musk and Peter Thiel are explicitly trying end democracy in the United States. They have been joined by other billionaires, but they are the main villains in this naked attempt to end our democracy. What can you do. If you are on X delete and stop. If you own a Tesla, sell it. These men are villains who seek to change and degrade your life and the lives of your children forever, make no mistake about that.
Elon Musk (left) and Peter Thiel Credit: AP / Adobe Stock, graphic by Truthdig
Elon Musk and entrepreneur and investor David Sacks reportedly held a secret billionaire dinner party in Hollywood last month. Its purpose: to defeat Joe Biden and reinstall Donald Trump in the White House. The guest list included Peter Thiel, Rupert Murdoch, Michael Milken, Travis Kalanick, and Steven Mnuchin, Trump’s Treasury secretary.
Meanwhile, Musk is turning up the volume and frequency of his anti-Biden harangues on his X platform.
Since January, Musk has posted about Biden at least seven times a month, attacking the president for everything from his age to his policies on immigration and health. Last month, Musk posted on X that Biden “obviously barely knows what’s going on” and that “He is just a tragic front for a far left political machine.”
So far this year, Musk has posted more than 20 times in favor of Trump, arguing that he’s a victim of media and prosecutorial bias in the
