Renewables are Today’s Answer to the Model T/ The Big AI and Robotics Concept Flying Under the Radar/ Ozempic's Profound Business and Societal Impact
Massimo Portincaso
Founder & CEO at Arsenale Bioyards, Industrial Romantic and Antidisciplinarian Stoic
It has been a complex week, first with a bad cold and then my son’s moving out to attend university (writing today from Munich, where he moved to). That has left me with no time and no energy to pull together a meaningful intro for this week's Antidisciplinarian.
I’ll be back next week, with a dedicated post about deep tech in Europe. In the meanwhile, enjoy this week’s collection of articles.
P.S. This article by Noah Smith on the need to prepare for a possible Taiwan-China war, and this article on the consequences of GPL-1 (featured below as well) by Scott Galloway really got me thinking. I have not completely processed the two, to be able to write and comment, but wanted to share both, as they made me realize some profound implications about what is going on.
Solar Panels and Wind Turbines Are Today’s Answer to the Model T
The IEA’s recent Net Zero Roadmap report compares “mass manufactured” renewable energy technologies like solar panels and EVs to “innovative technologies of the past” such as “US aircraft produced during the Second World War, the Ford Model T from 1910 to 1920 and gas turbine generators from 1970 to 1980.”
Battery and photovoltaic technologies emerge as “clear winners over their historical counterparts.” Battery costs have dropped almost 20% a year on average — US aircraft costs declined by nearly 15% per year and Model T’s by 10% over the period studied. “Solar cost reductions [aren’t] far behind.” Mass manufactured climate tech is “already on the path of innovations that substantially changed the way that people moved (and fought) 80 to 100 years ago.”
News items:
DNA traces found in a 6-million-year-old turtle shell “could… have important implications for the emerging field of molecular paleontology.”
Paleontologist Edwin Cadena, co-author of the study detailing the find, says, “Many generations have grown up with the idea of extracting and bringing back to life extinct organisms. However, that is not the real purpose of molecular paleontology. Instead, its goal is to trace, document, and understand how complex biomolecules such as DNA and proteins can be preserved in fossils.”
The Big AI and Robotics Concept That Has Attracted Both Walmart and Softbank
Softbank’s 2016 purchase of ARM paid off in “a $15B+ gain” when the AI chip firm recently went public. But the “VC giant’s… other big AI investment” in warehouse automation maker Symbiotic has largely flown under the radar — until now.
Softbank and Symbiotic recently announced a JV called GreenBox that promises to “unlock [a] significant new addressable [$500B] market.” GreenBox could be the supply chain equivalent of cloud computing, delivering “AI-powered logistics and warehousing” as a service and putting it within reach of “smaller companies… that could never afford the multi-million dollar required investment” in robotics and automation technology.
TD Cowen MD Joseph Giordano says, “I’ve seen a lot of robotics tech, and I’ve never seen anything like it in my life. Compared to what it replaces, it’s like day and night.”
If GreenBox’s “fusion of real estate and technology” works, “it might even mute the memory of Softbank’s disastrous…investment in WeWork.”
News items:
A new “tiny, self-driving robot powered only by surrounding light or radio waves” may provide a better solution for “catching gas leaks or tracking warehouse inventory” than insects strapped with sensors or eye-burning laser-powered RoboFlys.
Taking “inspiration from ‘intermittent computing, which breaks complex programs into small steps,” study co-lead author Kyle Johnson says MilliMobile’s “reduced… size and weight take only a small amount of energy to move.”
Ozempic For Weight Loss Is Disrupting Companies Business Model
Ozempic, WeGovy, and other GLP-1 drugs are making headlines for reducing waistlines. They’re also potentially cutting into some businesses’s bottom lines. For example, diminishing consumer appetites could bite into Slim Jim maker Conagra’s portion sizes “if that’s the way preferences evolve.”
Popular “fads” like the Atkins Diet and Olestra have prompted “snack companies” and food manufacturing giants like General Mills to change their products before. But recent findings on GLP-1 treatments are “eye-opening.” A recent survey found that 40% of GLP-1-using respondents said they were eating out less, and “70% said they’re eating less overall.”
Recommended by LinkedIn
Are GLP-1s just another “new miracle drug” impacting consumer’s eating habits that will eventually fade away? Gary Stibel, CEO at New England Consulting Group, says, “Companies will overreact. The smart money will take action, but act slowly.”
News items:
A new desalination system developed by engineers at MIT and in China could passively “turn seawater into drinking water” with a device “inspired by the ocean and powered by the sun.”
According to study co-author Lenan Zhang: “For the first time, it is possible for [potable] water, produced by sunlight, to be even cheaper than tap water.”
Microsoft CTO Kevin Scott on How AI and Art Will Coexist in the Future
Microsoft CTO Kevin Scott recently sat down with Decoder’s Nilay Patel to discuss the future of AI and “Bing’s quest to beat Google” in search. Scott also weighed in on “rumors about Microsoft developing its own AI chips” to reduce its reliance on Nvidia’s H100 GPUs.
Scott has extensively pondered AI’s relationship to art and content and sees existing and future iterations of LLMs (such as GPT-5 and GPT-6) as “creative partners” rather than as autonomous creators.
“I don’t think it would be particularly interesting to me as a reader to consume a novel worth of content that was 100% generated by an AI, with no human touch whatsoever,” Scott said.
News items:
Disney Research recently debuted an “adorable robot [that] packs an enormous amount of expression into its child-size body.” What makes it special? The way it walks.
Disney research scientist Morgan Pope says, ”Most roboticists are focused on getting their bipedal robots to reliably walk. At Disney, that might not be enough — our robots may have to strut, prance, sneak, trot, or meander to convey the emotion that we need them to.”
How AI Can Fight Inequality
Bllomberg’s Azeem Azhar interviews Emad Mostaque, “the controversial founder and CEO of Stability AI.” Azhar has recently faced ”serious criticism,” but “he remains at the helm of Stability AI and is an important force in the expanding AI universe.”
Accusations by Stability AI co-founder Cyrus Hodes that Mostaque tricked him “into selling his 15% stake [now worth over $500M] for $100” arrived shortly after Azhar’s interview. Instead, Azhar and Mostaque focus on how open source GenAI “is the best path to reducing global inequality.”
News items:
The Gates Foundation is working to ensure “that everyone — and not just people who are well-off — benefits from AI” by supporting innovators in low and middle income countries (LMICs).
B.A. applied social sciences | Aiducation Evangelist | Digital Pioneer | Community Enthusiast
1yIncredible! Renewable energy is becoming as revolutionary as the Model T. Embracing a sustainable future. Comment: What steps are you taking to ensure scalability and accessibility of these renewables?
Exploring solar and renewable energy solutions is essential for a sustainable future. Your engagement in this field is commendable. Keep driving progress in clean energy technologies!