This robot has an estimated cost of $150,000 if produced at scale. Even at that price such an automaton would pay for itself in just a few years.

This is going to happen faster than you think it will. Amazon isn't sinking millions into AI and robotics because they think the payoff is more than 20 years out. They already have a new robot that will "free up workers" (to go find new jobs).

These things are going to put millions on unemployment.

Combine the advances in robotics with the advances in AI. Most jobs will be replaced by these automatons within 20 years. The rest of the jobs will be replaced within 10 years after, as they AIs exceed human capabilities across the board.

A self-improving, self-maintaining robotic entity that can absorb information instantly, learn instantly, never needs rest, vacation, maternity leave, sick leave, etc.

It's inevitable really, and we should, as a species, be taking steps to prepare for it. When this starts happening it's going to happen fast, far faster than any previous technological innovation or revolution.

There are ideological differences on things like taxes, spending, etc. and then there are ideologies of hate.

There is nothing wrong with supporting conservative ideologies like low taxes and smaller government (even if I generally disagree with the policies that spring from that). There is something wrong with supporting someone who supports ignorance, bigotry, misogyny, racism, etc.

That doesn't lead to fascism or extremism. Supporting people who hold these views does, regardless of where they fall politically.

Not much if they continue to vote for and support men like this.

If you support those who hold these beliefs, then you are complicit.

He wasn't apologizing. That's exactly what republicans think of woman as.

It isn't gloom and doom when it is based in fact.

What we know: Human society as it is today is not sustainable.

What are we doing about it: Very little.

What's the problem: We continue to kick the can down the road and we are very rapidly running out of road.

This isn't just about climate destabilization either. That's just one of many serious issues that we will be facing this century. There will be technological advances over the next 30 to 40 years that will completely upend our society, and they won't be happening slowly either. If we are not prepared to deal with them, the consequences will be severe.

Commas save lives.

$100 a month? Where do you live where electricity is that cheap?

Where I live the average electric bill (before the recent price increases) is around $230 a month. I got my system 4 years ago, and combined with the SREC payments I'll hit breakeven in a few more months.

You're also making the assumption that prices won't rise over that time period.

Solar doesn't make sense everywhere, but a large segment of the US receives enough solar energy to make it worthwhile.

Smile.

https://imgur.com/a/QrhVg6C

Looking to Florida for mental health and homelessness solutions is like looking to Jefferey Dahmer for recipe suggestions.

Oil, like every other commodity, is traded on international markets and gets sold to the highest bidder. There is no way to "keep US oil for the US" short of the US government nationalizing the oil industry and forcing the cessation of exports.

The repercussions of such an action would be economically catastrophic. If you think prices are high now, wait until all of our trade partners jack prices through the roof as a result of a massive oil spike due to the US ceasing exports. It will drive already desperate countries to make concessions to places like Russia and Iran. It would not be pretty.

The US does not exist in a vacuum. Taking drastic unilateral action without seriously examining the consequences is not wise.

In NH we had people on the ballot that were registered in MULTIPLE parties. Candidates were listed as both republican and democrat, or libertarian and democrat.

You'd think that would be illegal.

There was also a state amendment (introduced by republicans of course) that would allow the legislature to have free reign when it comes to elections. One sentence in the middle of a block of text, a block of text that otherwise appears innocuous.

At the end, they added a note saying that our right to vote wouldn't be affected. And there's the rub. It doesn't matter if you have a right to vote when other people are controlling what you can vote for, or can throw out an election if they don't like the results.

Not that it matters either way. Once the Moore decision happens they won't need a state amendment to pull that kind of crap.

No /s needed. Even if the democrats manage to hold off fascism this election it's just delaying the inevitable. The SCOTUS NC Moore case is being decided in December, and when (not if) it goes the Republicans way we elections will become little more than theater.

The American fall is already underway. All that remains to be seen is how fast and how badly we're going to crash and burn.