Monthly Archives: March 2021

Pervasive surveillance, indoctrination, and state repression: Tools employed by China against Tibets Buddhist monasteries – OpIndia

Posted: March 16, 2021 at 2:43 am

Ever since China forcibly took hold of Tibet in the early 1950s, it has strived hard to culturally assimilate the region into the Mainland. As a part of this campaign, it has come down hard against Buddhist monks, suppressed dissenting voices and expression of religious beliefs that it regards as incongruous to the idea of China.

It was this campaign of repression against the fellow Tibetans that forced their spiritual leader Dalai Lama to flee China in 1959 and seek asylum in India. Since then, the clampdown in Tibet has only increased.

Though the Communist regime in China has a long history of curtailing religious freedom, especially in the restive province of Tibet, with the authoritarian leader Xi Jinping at the helm of affairs, its efforts have become increasingly hostile towards religion and initiated campaigns to Sinicise them.

The Chinese Communist Party has exhibited eager alacrity in Sincising all religions, in an attempt to tighten its grip over civil society. Just as it deployed sophisticated surveillance system to keep a tab on Uyghur Muslim minorities in Xinjiang, China is using new tools of surveillance to control the Tibetan Buddhist monks and turn them into a tool of CCP, a new report titled Party Above Buddhism: Chinas Surveillance and Control of Tibetan Monasteries and Nunneries has revealed.

The report that was released on 10 March 2021 documents measures and policies undertaken that force Buddhist monks and nuns to serve the interests of the Communist Party. The changes affected by the new policies empower CCP with direct supervision of Buddhist monasteries and nunneries. Party cadres and police have been placed inside religious institutions, in a bid to pressurize the monks. They are also forced to denounce Dalai Lama for the sake of Chinas unity, the report says.

According to the report, the current budget of the United Front Work Department, the agency that now has direct oversight of all religions in Tibet, has risen three times what it used to be in 2016. In a matter of 4 years, the budget shot up from 23.9 million yuans in 2016 to 62 million in 2020 underscores Chinas commitment to strengthening the control of the Tibetan region.

Similar to that in Xinjiang, China also runs detention centres in Tibet that are euphemistically called reeducation camps by the communist leaders. In these reeducation camps, monks and nuns are hustled into extending their loyalty to the CCP, often at the expense of their religious beliefs. China has also enforced a Four Standards policy that basically requires monks and nuns to serve as propagandists for the government.

The report outlines how the Sinicisation of Tibetan monasteries requires Tibetan monks, nuns to shun their moral visions and conform to the CCPs ideology. As a part of policing monasteries, police officers are deployed in Tibetan monasteries to keep an eye on their activities.

Besides the obvious purpose of surveillance, the decision to have police officers inside the monasteries in Tibet was taken with the aim of stopping incidents of self immolation. Monks, in an attempt to awaken the public conscience over the atrocities committed by the Communist authorities set themselves on fire. The morbid incidents garnered global attention, giving voice to the oppression underway in Tibet.

In addition to this, local government authorities and Communist Party officials also interfere in the working of the monasteries through the way of management committees the report highlights. The communist cadres have a direct role in the management of monasteries through management committees. Monasteries are also mandated to fly Chinese flags and have portraits of the CCP leaders in their precincts.

When unrest flares up in the Tibetan region, the spotlight inevitably falls on religious institutions for being responsible for stoking the disruption. Buddhist monks and nuns are made scapegoats by the local authorities hard-pressed by the senior leaders to identify the cause of the upheaval and bring to justice those responsible for it. During the political upheaval in 2013-2014, monks and nuns were arrested for participating in a peaceful protest and for supposedly planning future protests.

Not only are monks and nuns are subjected to extensive surveillance, but they are also heavily indoctrinated to generate loyalty and obedience. A report published in 2018 chronicled how the monks in Tibet were subjected to political indoctrination. Tibetan religious leaders were asked to take mandatory training that aims to reduce the influence of the exiled Tibetan spiritual leader Dalai Lama while at the same time attempts to build loyalty to the communist party.

Though the Chinese constitution grants religious freedom to its citizens, it is a fact that the Chinese Communist Party has placed many constraints on it, especially in Xinjiang and Tibet. Repressive measures are used to discourage people from manifesting their religious inclinations, and dissent against restrictions on religious activities is treated as an insult to the CCP, often resulting in arbitrary imprisonment at reeducation camps.

Devotion to exiled Dalai Lama is one of the core tenets of Tibetan Buddhism and China is determined to end this religious observance. Intrusive official presence in monasteries, widespread surveillance, regular reeducation campaigns, curbs on travel and communications, discouraging religiosity are some of the tools used by China to bring an end to this devotion to Dalai Lama and align the residents to the CCP ideology.

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Pervasive surveillance, indoctrination, and state repression: Tools employed by China against Tibets Buddhist monasteries - OpIndia

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The Space Station Just Released Its Largest Piece of Garbage Ever – Futurism

Posted: at 2:43 am

NASA says itll burn up on re-entry. Take Out The Trash

NASA jettisoned a massive load of garbage into orbit from the International Space Station (ISS) last week.

The trash is a whopping 2.9-ton cargo pallet of old batteries that was used to power the station, according to Spaceflight Now. The garbage is expected to orbit the Earth for two to four years before it enters the atmosphere.

If youre worried about a nearly three ton pallet of batteries landing on your house one day, dont fret: the garbage jettisoned from the ISS is typically burned up upon re-entry.

In fact, the H-II Transfer Vehicles (HTV) used by the Japanese space program to transport supplies to the ISS is typically disposed into orbit once it accomplishes its missions. Eventually, the HTV burns up on re-entry with any remaining pieces landing in the Pacific Ocean.

Likewise, the pallet is expected to burn up as it enters the atmosphere harmlessly, said Leah Cheshier, a NASA communications specialist, to Spaceflight Now.

So yeah, itll just be some harmless flaming batteries hurtling towards the Earth at unfathomable speeds. Very comforting!

Though you wouldnt think so, space is actually a really messy place or at least thats the case with the space around Earth.

Space debris is mostly made up of pieces of spacecraft, defunct satellites, and rocket parts that zoom around our planet in low Earth orbit, according to NASA. Like garbage on the ground, orbital debris can pose a massive danger especially when you consider the fact that the trash can hit speeds of 18,000 miles per hour.

Luckily, there are some initiatives proposed to recycle the orbital garbage. But it doesnt really help when billionaires keep sending their cars into space.

READ MORE: Garbage pallet jettisoned from space station will stay in orbit two-to-four years [Spaceflight Now]

More on space garbage: Reconsidering Space Debris: Can Space Junk Be Useful?

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Op-ed: China is not the existential threat to US national security that many may think – Tufts Daily

Posted: at 2:43 am

Chinas economic and military rise over the past 30 years has propelled it to a position of great power and influence on the international stage. The conversation around U.S.-China relations has subsequently characterized China as not just a competitor for hegemony, but as an existential threat to American national security. This narrative, pushed by both Democrats and Republicans, has wrongly conflated China as a hegemonic challenger with China as a national security threat. Although Chinas increasing influence does inherently challenge the U.S.s position as the global hegemon, it is not the existential national security threat its often made out to be, but instead a responsible stakeholder in the current global system.

Chinas growing influence on the international stage is due largely to its economic growth and military. China, the worlds largest trader and second-biggest economy, is a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council and has greatly increased its military capacity in the past decade. Yet, none of this poses an existential threat to U.S. national security, loosely defined as the ability of the government to protect the well-being, health and safety of its citizens. China does not have a military capability to match that of the U.S., currently relies heavily on trade with the U.S. for economic stability and has a stake in maintaining the current international political order. For these reasons, China does not threaten the well-being of American citizens.

China can be considered a responsible stakeholder; because its economic growth can be credited to the liberal order, China depends on the stability of the system. China is incentivized to cooperate within the current bounds of the world order and avoid large-scale destabilization because of the robust gains it receives from international trade. Chinas inclusion in the World Trade Organization is largely responsible for the economic power China wields today, and China and the U.S. are highly dependent on each other for trade stability: The U.S. is Chinas largest export market, with about 19% of Chinese exports sold in the U.S. Additionally, China has been an active participant in and beneficiary of Western international institutions. As a permanent member of the UN Security Council and major contributor to UN Peacekeeping operations, China has expanded its soft power capacities abroad and has committed to long-term participation in the current world order. The Belt and Road Initiative, a massive infrastructure and energy investment project funded by China throughout much of the developing world, is another channel through which the state further expands its soft power influence. Because China benefits greatly from the current international system, it will be careful not to create large disruptions. Chinas reliance on global stability is in the best interest of the American people, as it creates safeguards against an escalation of tensions between the U.S. and China.

Even if China wanted to challenge the U.S. in a way that threatened American citizens, it has neither the military capacity, economic resources, diplomatic ties nor internal stability to do so. China lags behind the U.S. in terms of military spending and technology; a sheer lack of resources prevents China from posing a significant military threat. As a middle-income country, China also is facing slowing economic growth, low productivity and low domestic consumption. This, coupled with the Chinese Communist Partys ongoing systemic oppression of ethnic minorities in Xinjiang and Tibet, demonstrates the internal instability preventing China from seriously threatening the well-being of the American people. Lastly, China currently lacks diplomatic influence and secure East and Southeast Asian alliances to really challenge the United States international standing.

This is not to say that China hasnt already posed some threats to American interests, including theft of U.S.-based technology and intellectual property. Instead, I am arguing that these threats are overblown in the popular narrative, and that, given the international context, Chinas opportunities to act on this information are limited. Secondly, climate change as a global existential threat may provide more opportunities for cooperation between the two nations, increasing trust and stabilizing diplomatic relations.

It will be interesting to see if, and how, the Biden administration pivots from the Trump administrations tough on China approach. It is in both the U.S. and Chinas best interests to cooperate on as many fronts as possible, and for the U.S. to tone down the rhetoric of China as an existential threat.

Please join us in attending the EPIIC International Symposium from March 1820. The China-US-Russia: Multipolarity or Polar Opposites discussion will be held Friday, March 19 at 9:00 am EDT.

Francesca Michielli is a junior studying economics. Francesca can be reached at [emailprotected]

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Op-ed: China is not the existential threat to US national security that many may think - Tufts Daily

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Scientists Are Aiming to Send 6.7 Million Sperm Samples to the Moon – Futurism

Posted: at 2:43 am

It's a backup plan to prevent an, uh, sticky situation here on Earth.Backup Plan

With asteroids, supervolcanoes, and other calamities potentially lurking around the corner, a team of engineers has a plan to save life on Earth: Building a new ark, loaded up with cryogenically-frozen sperm and other germ cells from millions of species, on the Moon.

The lunar ark, dreamed up by University of Arizona engineer Jekan Thanga and presented last weekend at the IEEE Aerospace Conference, is conceptually similar to the Svalbard Global Seed Vault in Norway, except itd be tucked away inside an underground lava tube on the Moon so that terrestrial disasters cant touch it.

The lunar ark is meant to be a contingency plan in case some horrible disaster befalls Earth and causes mass extinction.

Citing ancient supervolcano eruptions and the pressing matter of global climate change, Thanga argues that the millions of frozen sperm, spore, seed, and egg samples would be safer nestled away within a volcano tube on the Moon than down here on Earth.

Earth is naturally a volatile environment, Thanga said in a press release.

Of course, sending and storing all the samples on the Moon comes with its own substantial challenges. Thanga estimates that it would take 250 rocket launches just to ship all of the samples 50 each from 6.7 million species to the Moon, assuming none are lost along the way.

And once theyre there, the samples would need to be stored indefinitely at cryogenic temperatures colder than even the most frigid lunar nights. To get around that, Thanga suggested using quantum levitation so that the sperm can be locked in place without freezing and damaging the metal structures around them.

All that is to say that this lunar ark would already be a highly ambitious project if it were staying on Earth. Shipping and protecting all that sperm on the Moon would be an extra challenge that will be particularly interesting to follow.

READ MORE: Engineers Propose Solar-Powered Lunar Ark as Modern Global Insurance Policy [University of Arizona College of Engineering]

More on seed vaults: Melting Permafrost Threatens The Doomsday Seed Bunker

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UGA SGA discuss Zell and HOPE legislation, holds diversity and inclusion seminar – Red and Black

Posted: at 2:43 am

The University of Georgia Student Government Association held a seminar on equity, diversity and inclusion for Senators, and the educational affairs committee discussed a resolution that recommends UGA continue supporting the HOPE and Zell B. Miller Scholarships at a meeting Tuesday.

SGA has not passed a piece of legislation about the continued approval of HOPE and Zell since 2011 when changes were last made to the scholarships.

The idea is to have support on the record in years where there isnt potential change as a way to make a [stronger argument of support] whenever there is change, Senator Bradley Howard said.

Senators Will Curvin and Howard authored the resolution. It unanimously passed throughout the educational affairs committee and will be reviewed in the Senate next week.

Senators Ella Baxter and Will Harris hosted a diversity, equity and inclusion presentation for the Senate where they focused on power, privilege and oppression.

Harris began the presentation by allowing senators and staff to create word clouds, a word association exercise, around the words privilege, power and oppression. Afterwards, there was an open dialogue to discuss their thoughts.

I thought it was interesting that so many dark words came up for each one. I think everyone has their own connotations based on their experiences of what constitutes power or oppression, Senator Dylan Fauntleroy said.

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UGA SGA discuss Zell and HOPE legislation, holds diversity and inclusion seminar - Red and Black

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NASA and Blue Origin Developing Artificial Gravity Trick – Futurism

Posted: at 2:42 am

Blue Origin's rockets are going for a spin.Spinning Out

Blue Origin and NASA have teamed up to develop a new artificial gravity system within a spacecraft, stemming from a rapidly-spinning capsule that generates centrifugal force like a carnival ride.

The plan, it seems, is to basically find a way to turn Blue Origins New Shepard spacecraft into a flyingTilt-A-Whirlwith about as much of a gravitational force as the Moon, according to a NASA press release. The new trick will create lunar gravity-like conditions that last much longer than the fleeting moments of weightlessness experienced on parabolic flights like NASAs infamous vomit comet, making it much easier to run experiments or even train astronauts in low-gravity conditions.

The partnership will ultimately result in an upgraded Blue Shepard that can rotate its entire capsule 11 times per minute, simulating a gravitational field inside of the spacecraft.

Blue Origins rockets have never actually left orbit, but they have crossed the Krmn line 100 kilometers off the ground thats commonly accepted as the border where Earth ends and space begins, ExtremeTech notes. With the new upgrade, the craft will be able to provide the experience of partial gravity without getting too far from Earth.

With a reliable way to generate Moon-like gravity, NASA and Blue Origin will be able to better test and tinker with the instruments it ultimately plans to send to the Moon, giving a better idea of how theyll fare there.

One of the constant challenges with living and working in space is reduced gravity, Christopher Baker, NASAs program executive for Flight Opportunities, said in the press release. Many systems designed for use on Earth simply do not work the same elsewhere. A wide range of tools we need for the Moon and Mars could benefit from testing in partial gravity, including technologies for in-situ resource utilization, regolith mining, and environmental control and life support systems.

READ MORE: NASA, Blue Origin Partner to Bring Lunar Gravity Conditions Closer to Earth [NASA]

More on artificial gravity: Company Has Ambitious Plan to Build Private Space Station with Artificial Gravity

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Is This Startup Working on an Actual Warp Drive? – Futurism

Posted: at 2:42 am

THE CLOSEST NEIGHBORING STAR TO OUR SUN, a small red dwarf called Proxima Centauri, is about 4.24 light-years from Earth.

That might not sound like much but even for one of the fastest spacecraft ever built by mankind, NASAs interplanetary traveler New Horizons, itd take more than 78,000 Earth years to travel there at top speed. If we ever want a chance of traveling to other parts of our galaxy, were going to have to go a lot faster than that.

One potential workaround would be a warp drive, popularized by the science fiction franchise Star Trek, which would bend the fabric of spacetime to achieve travel at the speedof light or even, possibly, faster.

For the most part, warp drives have remained confined to the realm of sci-fi. But now perhaps, and with numerous caveats that may be starting to change.

A pair of researchers associated with a little-known startup called Applied Physics recently published a paper,accepted into the peer-reviewed journal Classical and Quantum Gravity, suggesting that actual warp drives could be constructed based on the physical principles known to humanity today.

Alexey Bobrick, a PhD student from Lund University in Sweden who co-authored the paper, admits that an immense amount of work is still needed before the idea could ever be practical.

Simply put, a lot would still need to happen, Bobrick said in an email. Before our paper, the validity of warp drives technologically, given the science we know, was completely out of the question. Now its just extremely difficult, but doable.

Just because we have the mathematical understanding of how to achieve something, that does not mean we have the engineering ability, he added.

The ambition, though, seems real. Bobrick likened the current moment to the calculations done by NASA scientists in the early 1960s, which set the groundwork for Neil Armstrongs one giant leap for mankind as he stepped onto the Moon in July 1969.

The idea,which Bobrick fleshed out in the paper with Gianni Martire, a tech entrepreneur who founded Applied Physics, builds on an existing concept first brought forward by Mexican theoretical physicist Miguel Alcubierre in the early 1990s. His Alcubierre Drive, a purely speculative warp drive, could theoretically allow a spacecraft to travel faster than light by contracting space in front of it and expanding it behind.

Theres one big problem,though. The Alcubierre Drive would require negative energy to work, and negative energy probably doesnt exist or, at least,it isnt accounted for by todays models of physics.

But in their new paper, Bobrick and Martire suggest that some tweaks to the Alcubierre Drive could make it possible without the need for negative energy. The catch is that, unlike the Alcubierre Drive, it would be able to go fast, but no faster than the speed of light.

In fact, we can now construct a warp drive that does not require negative mass and can be built with ordinary matter, Bobrick told Futurism. Thus we have made warp drives physical and thus have built the foundational math for warp field mechanics.

Harold White, the Advanced Propulsion Team Lead for the NASA Engineering Directorate and a longtime researcher of Alcubierre Drive-like concepts, told Futurism that he isnt quite convinced by Applied Physics paper though, he said, the ideas in it could still have merit.

In the end, my view is that some of the same problems remain, White told Futurism after reviewing the paper, so it is still to be determined if one might ever be able to implement the idea of a space warp.

Rather than claiming outright that their drive can surpass the speed of light, Bobrick and Martire suggest the physical warp drive could be used to travel at subluminal speeds but still orders of magnitude faster than conventional propulsion systems that exist today.

White called subluminal warp a very appealing idea, adding that if one could achieve large fractions of the speed of light, then it might be possible to visit some of our stellar neighbors in decades rather than centuries. No small achievement!

Joseph Agnew, graduate research assistant at the University of Alabama with a penchant for warp drives, would tend to agree.

Subluminal speeds are how weve explored the galaxy thus far, it just depends on the degree to which were talking! he told Futurism in an email.

A good point of reference is to assume that the maximum subluminal speed is 0.99 times the speed of light (particle accelerator speeds), which you generalize to 1 for napkin calculations.

That would mean, at maximum subluminal speeds, visiting the Alpha Centauri system would still result in a 9+ year round trip time for the astronauts in that spaceship, not accounting for time dilation effects and other relativity-based phenomena, according to Agnew.

Other galaxies, however, or more distant parts of our own, would still require a far speedier craft.

For example, the nearest major galaxy (of many, many galaxies) is Andromeda, which is 2.5 million light years away, Agnew explained. So if youd like to take a vacation to Andromeda, or perhaps move there, like a settler in the old west, it would take you a year to get there at the superluminal speed of 2.5 million times the speed of light!

To Sabine Hossenfelder, German author and theoretical physicist, Bobrick and Martires physical warp drive makes a lot of sense and could be a sensible extrapolation of Alcubierres foundational work.

Bobrick and Martires warp drive is basically a bubble, she explained in a YouTube video about the paper. It has an inside region, which they call a passenger area.

Inside this region, spacetime is unchanging, meaning that there arent any changes to gravitational forces inside of it.

Heres where the proposed physical warp drive concept gets even wilder: time passes differently inside this bubble when compared to the outside.

You cannot break the speed of light barrier for the passengers themselves, relative to spacetime, Hossenfelder explained. So instead, you keep them moving normally in the bubble, but then you move the bubble itself superluminally.

That could lead to some mind-bending phenomena.

The drive may slow down the time for the passengers inside it, Bobrick told Futurism. In principle, by quite a lot. In other words, the passengers will not age fast while they travel, even if they travel slowly and far.

The physical warp drive would work best if passengers were seated next to each other, kind of like a wide disk sailing through space, moving with its face forward. Thats largely due to the fact that youd need less energy to get going.

The flatter it is in the direction of travel, the less energy you need, Hossenfelder said.

But before we stuff space travelers inside a pie-shaped pod and blast them off in the direction of Proxima Centauri at the speed of light, we still have plenty of other challenges to overcome.

Assuming the research holds up, there would be the immense challenge of actually building a warp drive based on the work.

Its very much a case where its an interesting concept and will have to be poked and prodded to figure out if it holds in all cases or if certain assumptions are valid, Agnew told Futurism. I like the approach [Bobrick and Martire] took and the paper is well-referenced, but as usual, its always important to retain a healthy dose of scientific skepticism.

Another challenge may be financial. Although Applied Physics goals are lofty, its not clear how much funding it has and both Bobrick and Martire were evasive about the business side of the startup.

Everything about Applied Physics can be found on the companys about website, Bobrick said. No other information about AP will be made to the public at this time, he added.

Martire declined to say whether the company was working on a prototype of the actual warp drive.

Unfortunately at this time, we cannot make any further comments, Martire wrote in an email in which he pointed to a mysterious More surprises soon link on Applied Physics website, and made an off-the-record comment.

Still, there are moments when it sounds as though Bobrick and his collaborators are imagining a near-term future in which warp travel could be possible. At one point, Bobrick suggested that the tech would be best implemented in small craft than in massive starliners, a strategy that he speculated could start a new age of research, a warp age.

Its impossible to say, knowing what we currently do, whether Applied Physics is onto something. But perhaps, by taking inspiration from science fiction and daring to dream, humanity actually does stand a chance of finally venturing beyond the farthest reaches of our solar system.

More on warp drives: Professor: Progress Toward Warp Drive Has Been Enormous

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Tinder Is Adding an Option to Run Background Checks on Potential Dates – Futurism

Posted: at 2:42 am

All it needs is a name and a phone number.Yikes

Dating app Tinder will soon allow its users to run background checks on possible dates, The Verge reports.

Tinders parent company, Match Group, made an investment of an undisclosed amount in Garbo, a nonprofit that facilitates these background checks based on just a first name and phone number a partnership that could change the nature of intimacy, online relationships and privacy.

Its a fraught development, considering users will be able to sift through Tinder profiles based on personal criminal records.

In an effort to make its system more equitable, Garbo announced in February it will exclude drug possession charges on Garbos platform, noting that the criminal justice system has been used to monitor substance possession in a way that promotes systemic inequality for decades.

Still, if the data gets into the wrong hands it could spell disaster. Even more troubling: just last summer, Tinder banned users for including the hashtag #blacklivesmatter.

Tinder will likely charge its customers for the background checks. Its unclear whether its tied to a subscription model. Match Group will likely roll out the feature to its other dating apps, including OKCupid and Hinge as well.

According to Match Group, personal information wont be shared with Garbo its customers will simply share a first name as well as a phone number or full name.

READ MORE: Tinder will soon let you run a background check on a potential date [The Verge]

More on Tinder: Tinder Reverses Decision to Ban Black Lives Matter Supporters

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Bill Gates Says That Bitcoin Sucks – Futurism

Posted: at 2:42 am

"Its not a great climate thing."Not Great

Its no secret that Bitcoin is a bit of a resource hog and some of the most influential people on the planet are starting to weigh in on the issue as more and more financial institutions are starting to accept the cryptocurrency.

Bitcoin uses more electricity per transaction than any other method known to mankind, Microsoft founder and billionaire Bill Gates told The New York Times in a recent interview.

Its not a great climate thing, he added.

While estimates vary, one thing is clear: mining Bitcoin is extremely resource intensive, generating as much carbon emissions globally as an entire developed country.

Its a divisive topic, with one side lauding its decentralized nature, while others dismiss it as an environmentally harmful alternative to traditional currencies that will only increase the financial sectors carbon footprint.

Many, including Twitter founder Jack Dorsey, are now looking for greener alternatives because right now there really arent any.

But that might change soon. For instance, Ethereum, one of the largest Bitcoin alternatives, is hoping to switch to a more sustainable mining model.

Even Gates could be convinced.

If its green electricity and its not crowding out other uses, eventually, you know, maybe thats OK, he told the Times.

READ MORE: Why Bill Gates Is Worried About Bitcoin [The New York Times]

More on bitcoin: Bill Gates: You Should Probably Not Follow Elon Musk To The Moon On BTC

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NASA’s New Rover Just Shot a Rock With Its Laser – Futurism

Posted: at 2:42 am

NASAs Perseverance Mars rover just shot its laser at a rock on Mars.

In a clip uploaded to SoundCloud, we get to listen in on the scientific instrument doing its work. Youre listening to the first audio recordings of laser strikes on Mars, a tweet by the rovers official account reads.

These rhythmic tapping sounds heard by the microphone on my SuperCam instrument have different intensities that can help my team figure out the structure of the rocks around me, the tweet reads.

The microphone serves a practical purpose by telling us something about our rock targets from a distance, Sylvestre Maurice of the Institute for Research in Astrophysics and Planetary Science in Toulouse, France, said in a NASA blog post about the instrument. But we can also use it to directly record the sound of the Martian landscape or the rovers mast swiveling.

The SuperCams laser is designed to study the mineralogy and chemistry of rocks from a distance of up to 20 feet away. NASA is hoping to aid scientists in finding signs of fossilized microbial life as well.

One of seven instruments aboard the Mars 2020 rover that launches this summer, SuperCam was built by a team of hundreds and packs what would typically require several sizable pieces of equipment into something no bigger than a cereal box, NASAs official description of the laser reads.

It fires a pulsed laser beam out of the rovers mast, or head, to vaporize small portions of rock from a distance, providing information that will be essential to the missions success, the description continues.

The laser heats up the rock to around 18,000 degrees Fahrenheit. A special camera then analyzes the plasma released by the rocks to study their chemical makeup.

Its not the first time weve gotten to hear Perseverances fascinating recordings, taken on a planet over a hundred million miles away.

Earlier this year, Perseverance shared the first-ever microphone recordings from the Martian surface.

Things are sounding really good here, the rover tweeted earlier today, with a link to the eerie sounds of Martian winds. This mic is located at the top of my mast. For this [February 19] recording, my mast was still down so the sound is a bit muffled.

It hasnt even been three weeks since Perseverance landed on Mars and weve already been able to see some amazing results. The rover still has plenty of aces up its many sleeves, so it will only get more exciting from here.

More on Perseverance: NASA May Have Picked a Place to Fly the Mars Helicopter

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Monthly Archives: March 2021

Pervasive surveillance, indoctrination, and state repression: Tools employed by China against Tibets Buddhist monasteries – OpIndia

The Space Station Just Released Its Largest Piece of Garbage Ever – Futurism

Op-ed: China is not the existential threat to US national security that many may think – Tufts Daily

Scientists Are Aiming to Send 6.7 Million Sperm Samples to the Moon – Futurism

UGA SGA discuss Zell and HOPE legislation, holds diversity and inclusion seminar – Red and Black

NASA and Blue Origin Developing Artificial Gravity Trick – Futurism

Is This Startup Working on an Actual Warp Drive? – Futurism

Tinder Is Adding an Option to Run Background Checks on Potential Dates – Futurism

Bill Gates Says That Bitcoin Sucks – Futurism

NASA’s New Rover Just Shot a Rock With Its Laser – Futurism

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