“It is not hard to understand modern art. If it hangs on a wall it’s a painting, and if you can walk around it it’s a sculpture.”–Tom Stoppard
The future tech news continues to be dominated by artificial intelligence, autonomous vehicles, and space commerce. Some of it is exciting, some of it is disturbing and some of it–well, I’m not sure what to think. When you read about an A.I. generated paiting fetching big bucks at auction, you just have to scratch your head.
While you’re reading about all this week’s future-related news, don’t forget that you can subscribe to Seeking Delphi™ podcasts on iTunes, PlayerFM, or YouTube (audio with slide show) and you can also follow us on Twitter and Facebook.
Portrait of Edmund Bellamy, produced by A.I.
Artficial Intelligence–An A.I. generated painting has sold for $432,000 at auction. Is this why A.I. developers get paid so much? Christie’s had estimated a value of between $7,000 and $10,000–which on the surface of it seems excessive in itself. Apparently, some people have more money than they know what to do with.
Automation/Robotics–A Swiss firm will build a factory in China that will use robots to build more robots. You’d think there would be enough surplus labor available in China that it would be the last place to need such.
Automomous vehicles–Will self-driving cars be the solution to urban congestion? The New York Times reports that a major urban planning guru is suggesting the opposite–it will make it worse.
–For better or for worse, Tesla continues to go full speed ahead toward self-driving vehicles. A new software update will add several new capabilities to its autopilot feature.
Musk’s moon base. When will the condos go on sale?
Space Commerce–It wouldn’t be News of The Future This Week without at least two Elon Musk companies making headlines. Musk tweeted over the weekend that SpaceX will have a moon base operational by 2025.
— What would you do with a fiber so strong that a cubic centimeter of it could haul 160 elephants? Maybe build a space elevator. The Chinese team of researchers who developed such a material are thinking just that.
–Robots building robots may seem a bit odd in China, but in space it makes sense. Relativity Space, a company backed by Mark Cuban, is developing a 3-D printer that will spit out robots–and other needed devices–for space colonies on the moon, Mars or asteroids. They don’t expect an actual market until sometime in the 2020’s at the earliest.
Seeking Delphi™ podcasts are available on iTunes, PlayerFM, or YouTube (audio with slide show) and you can also follow us on Twitter and Facebook
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