News this week from a NASA sponsored study on the possibility of civilization collapse and how it might happen. The study was led by applied mathematician Safa Motesharrei and looked at five factors leading to historical collapses of past civilizations such as the Roman empire: population, climate, water, agriculture, and energy.

They say in every utopia there is a subclass for whom it is a dystopia. In mainstream futuristic media, the story often overlooks the economy unless it offers a political statement supporting their view and/or damning the opposition’s take on things. But the future is beginning to look a bit strange. On one side, the ability to provide ample resources in the first world has some questioning if poverty can even exist in countries like the US, Canada, and the original EU member states such as Britain, France and Germany. An article I recall from some time ago asked the question, “Can you be considered poor if you have a flatscreen TV in your home?”

Over the weekend, I was listening to This Week in Law's episode from January 31: Deep blue vs The Universe. They started the episode on the topic of the Singularity and James Miller  and Stan Liebowitz discussed how we might know the Singularity has been achieved. Each had a different view on how far into the future this event might occur and what capabilities that intelligence should possess to be considered "intelligent." Both viewpoints were informative, but I found Dr. Liebowitz' statements extremely interesting in how he felt a contrast between an artificial intelligence and a human should be used to identify when the artificial process has reached or surpassed a comparable human capability. Dr Liebowitz shared this thought:

@24:25 - I see things computers can do that people can't, but things people can do that computers can't is what we're talking about.