Category Archives: Singularity

Science Uprising released an extra feature on Tuesday, following Science Uprising 10, in which philosopher Jay Richards discusses what underlies the myths of artificial intelligence:

It isnt a superior grasp of the technology involved that drives some (Stephen Hawking, Elon Musk, and others) to warn that AI will achieve superiority over human beings, drive us out of work, and finally out of existence. Its the hidden premise that humans are just meat machines rather than spiritual beings in a creators image. If that were true, of course it would follow that other, faster machines would likely overtake and replace us.

However it plays out among meat machine philosophers, heres how that sort of thing plays out in everyday life. We are informed at Futurism that CEO brags that fry cook robot will replace obsolete human grunts. True, the food industry is likely to automate very significantly in the next decade but tech writer Frank Landymore was taken aback by the perceived attitude:

One of such mechanized threats takes the form of Flippy, a hamburger flipping robot developed by Miso Robotics. Operated by an AI and cameras, the wage slave Terminator is now back with its next evolution, Flippy 2. Where the original Flippy was limited to burgers, Flippy 2 is now a fry cook killer, deep frying delicious crispy stuff from french fries to onion rings mostly on its own.

And in a new interview, the companys CEO intentionally or not sounded strikingly contemptuous of the human workers the bot will be replacing.

In fairness to Miso Robotics CEO Mike Bell, in the interview with Reuters, he did say,

The task that the humans are most happy to offload are tasks like the fry station. Theyre delighted to have the help so they can do other things, Bell said.

Thats been the pattern all along. In the short film above, Richards comments,

I think a much better prediction to make is that machines are going to do a heck of a lot of things that we thought only we could do but the next 20 or 30 years what we will discover is the fundamental differences between man and machine. our machines will take over a lot of the work we were doing and that will free us up to do only the things that human beings can do. (1:27) What well be able to do 2:35 in the near future is to focus on our comparative advantage as persons rather than machines. (2:40)

In his book, The Human Advantage: The Future of American Work in an Age of Smart Machines (2018), he points out that in the late 19th century, most of the population worked in food production. Later, mechanization freed people up to do a vast variety of different jobs which enabled the much higher standard of living we enjoy today. That includes eating out at fast food places

If things continue as in the past, fast food grunts may themselves own commercialized versions of Flippy 2 and develop small businesses that cater to a variety of special diet needs. Or invent better versions themselves. Or sell or service them.

With any luck, people will increasingly be able to design the jobs they want to do and have the skills for, using new technology.

You may also wish to read: Computer takeover wont happen, say a scientist and a philosopher. Jobst Landgrebe and Barry Smith say that the Singularity advocates are missing something fundamental about computers vs. humans. In their landmark book, they point out that human ways of using language are fundamentally different from those of computers.

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As the Robot Fry Cook Takes Over the Kitchen - Walter Bradley Center for Natural and Artificial Intelligence

The Singularity Image Format (SIF), maintained by Sylabs and the Singularity community, has become the de facto container file format for HPC.

RENO, Nev. (PRWEB) October 06, 2022

Sylabs, the global leader in providing container technology and services for performance-intensive workloads, today announced that it has been selected as a 2022 finalist for HPCwire Readers Choice Awards. These annual awards are a way for colleagues in the HPC industry to recognize the best and brightest innovators within the global HPC community.

Each year, HPCwire asks its readers to reflect on their personal impressions and select their choices for the year's top HPC accomplishments, tools and technology. Editors and distinguished luminaries from the HPC community select the finalists looking for the projects with the most relevance to HPC use cases and applications.

Having been developed and maintained by Sylabs and the Singularity community as an open source project since its inception in 2017, and with strong, unceasing development happening to this day, The Singularity Image Format (SIF) has become the de facto container file format for HPC. It is the most widely used container format across HPC workloads, including integrations from Sylabs, Red Hat (Podman), and Apptainer (with utility extending throughout each of their respective user bases). The format is now supported by Anchores SBOM utilities of Syft and Grype.

"Sylabs is very proud to see the Singularity Image Format (SIF) selected for this honor. It's a testament to the work that our community has been doing and is still doing to support the HPC community at large," said Adam Hughes, CTO for Sylabs. "Sylabs is committed to maintaining SIF as a familiar, HPC developer-focused tool, and on providing a first-class experience for the researchers, scientists, and engineers who are engaged in using it for their performance-intensive workloads. These people rely on Singularity for the flexibility to package their HPC applications and libraries and move them to different systems and hardware environments without breaking. At Sylabs, our priority will always be around enabling the work being done at the speartip of computing so that the people at the high-end can have peace of mind that they will be supported on these giant systems."

To vote for the Singularity Image Format (SIF) in the HPCwire Readers Choice Awards, please visit the following URL: https://www.hpcwire.com/2022-hpcwire-readers-choice-awards-voting-is-open/

About SylabsSylabs is the global leader in providing professional tools and services for high-performance container runtime technology. Sylabs makes high-performance computing more accessible to researchers, scientists, and engineers using Singularity, the most advanced open-source container runtime technology for performance-intensive applications and environments. As the most active contributor to the Singularity ecosystem, through both the community edition and Sylabs enterprise-supported and professional implementations, Sylabs is dedicated to enabling cutting-edge research and facilitating rapid scientific discovery to solve some of humanitys greatest challenges. For more information about Singularity runtime technology, including SingularityCE (Community Edition), Singularity Container Services, SingularityPRO, and Singularity Enterprise, visit https://www.sylabs.io.

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The Singularity Image Format (SIF) Selected as a Finalist in the HPCwire Readers' Choice Awards - PR Web

SIF receives honors as a "Best HPC Programming Tool or Technology" in the Annual HPCwire Awards

RENO, Nev. (PRWEB) October 06, 2022

Sylabs, the global leader in providing container technology and services for performance-intensive workloads, today announced that it has been selected as a 2022 finalist for HPCwire Readers' Choice Awards. These annual awards are a way for colleagues in the HPC industry to recognize the best and brightest innovators within the global HPC community.

Each year, HPCwire asks its readers to reflect on their personal impressions and select their choices for the year's top HPC accomplishments, tools and technology. Editors and distinguished luminaries from the HPC community select the finalists looking for the projects with the most relevance to HPC use cases and applications.

Having been developed and maintained by Sylabs and the Singularity community as an open source project since its inception in 2017, and with strong, unceasing development happening to this day, The Singularity Image Format (SIF) has become the de facto container file format for HPC. It is the most widely used container format across HPC workloads, including integrations from Sylabs, Red Hat (Podman), and Apptainer (with utility extending throughout each of their respective user bases). The format is now supported by Anchore's SBOM utilities of Syft and Grype.

"Sylabs is very proud to see the Singularity Image Format (SIF) selected for this honor. It's a testament to the work that our community has been doing and is still doing to support the HPC community at large," said Adam Hughes, CTO for Sylabs. "Sylabs is committed to maintaining SIF as a familiar, HPC developer-focused tool, and on providing a first-class experience for the researchers, scientists, and engineers who are engaged in using it for their performance-intensive workloads. These people rely on Singularity for the flexibility to package their HPC applications and libraries and move them to different systems and hardware environments without breaking. At Sylabs, our priority will always be around enabling the work being done at the speartip of computing so that the people at the high-end can have peace of mind that they will be supported on these giant systems."

To vote for the Singularity Image Format (SIF) in the HPCwire Readers Choice Awards, please visit the following URL: https://www.hpcwire.com/2022-hpcwire-readers-choice-awards-voting-is-open/

About SylabsSylabs is the global leader in providing professional tools and services for high-performance container runtime technology. Sylabs makes high-performance computing more accessible to researchers, scientists, and engineers using Singularity, the most advanced open-source container runtime technology for performance-intensive applications and environments. As the most active contributor to the Singularity ecosystem, through both the community edition and Sylabs' enterprise-supported and professional implementations, Sylabs is dedicated to enabling cutting-edge research and facilitating rapid scientific discovery to solve some of humanity's greatest challenges. For more information about Singularity runtime technology, including SingularityCE (Community Edition), Singularity Container Services, SingularityPRO, and Singularity Enterprise, visit https://www.sylabs.io.

For the original version on PRWeb visit: https://www.prweb.com/releases/2022/10/prweb18941932.htm

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The Singularity Image Format (SIF) Selected as a Finalist in the HPCwire Readers' Choice Awards - Benzinga

Economic security depends on both jobs and stable prices. Together, these two congressionally mandated goals constitute the Feds dual mandate. This mandate is not a choice between two desirable things. It is a balance meant to deliver on a singular goala sustainable and expanding economy that works for everyone. The following is adapted from remarks by the president of the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco at Boise State University on September 29.

Id like to start by talking briefly about the Federal Reserves congressionally mandated goals, which together form what is known as our dual mandate. One part of that mandate is full employment. The other is price stability (see Board of Governors 2022a).

Now, these goals are often characterized as tradeoffs. More of one means less of the other. But for most people, they are deeply intertwined.

I know this from my many years as a policymaker. But I also know it from experience.

I grew up in Ballwin, Missouri, during the Great Inflation of the 1970s. Rapidly rising prices made it hard for working families like mine to afford the things we needed. Eventually, the Federal Reserve raised interest rates and inflation came down. But the abruptness and magnitude of the response caused two painful recessions. Unemployment soared. Jobs became tough to find. And one impossible situation gave way to another.

I didnt know it then, but this experience would teach me an enduring lesson, one that I would carry with me over the course of my career as a policymaker. The lesson is that economic security depends on both jobs and stable prices. Together, these two pillars form the foundation for everything else.

Seen in this light, the Federal Reserve actually has a singular purpose: to keep the economy on a sustainable path by delivering low, stable prices and durable labor market strength.

Today, I am going to discuss this singular purpose and how price stability and full employment work together to support it.

If you travel almost anywhere in the United States these days, youll hear two things about the economy. The first is that the labor market is strong. The second is that inflation is high.

Both of these things are true.

Virtually anyone who wants a job can find one. Unemployment is extremely low and has been so for some time. Job growth continues to run well above 300,000 per month, about 200,000 jobs more than we need to keep pace with new graduates and others entering the labor force (see the Atlanta Fed Jobs Calculator). All of this adds up to about twice as many vacant positions nationwide as there are people wanting to fill them. As any business owner will tell you, this puts considerable pressure on wages and salaries.

So its a great time to be a worker, right?

Well, not so much. Inflation is high, running well over the Feds average 2% target for well over a year now. This can be traced back to a number of factors, but it boils down to a large and persistent imbalance between demand and supply. Demand has been supported by pandemic-related monetary and fiscal relief, robust household savings, and, over the past year, a very strong labor market. At the same time, domestic and global supply have been highly constrained, hit by a series of negative shocks, including the pandemic, the war in Ukraine, and severe labor shortages.

Persistent high inflation across a broad range of goods and services is eroding the purchasing power of earnings, even those that are rising. This erosion is insidiousa gradual, but persistent chipping away of living standards. The picture makes this clear (see Figure 1). Price inflation measured by the consumer price index, or CPI, has been rising far faster than average hourly earnings. Indeed, average real wages, which take account of inflation, have declined by 9% over the past two years. This means that the average worker in the U.S. economy has lost rather than gained ground, all while the labor market remains historically strong.

Figure 1CPI inflation and average hourly earnings

Note: seasonally adjusted data.Source: Federal Reserve Economic Data, Bureau of Labor Statistics.

The story is even starker when we look at prices for basic necessities like food and energy. These prices have been climbing about twice as fast as overall inflation and around three times as fast as average hourly earnings. The toll of this type of inflation falls on everyone, but it does not fall uniformly. It lands hardest on families with low and moderate incomes, who spend, on average, about 75 to 80% of their budgets on necessities, compared to 65% for high-income families (see Council of Economic Advisors and Office of Management and Budget 2021). Inflation also tends to erode the value of fixed-income assets, which are held relatively more by older and less wealthy citizens (see Diwan, Duzhak, and Mertens 2021 and Board of Governors 2022c).

This corroding of real wages is more than just painful. It also undermines the basic American promise, which says that if you work hard, you can get ahead. Inflation traps people in an endless loop of running fast and falling behind, unrelated to effort or input.

Eventually, this sense of falling behind starts to affect decisionmaking.

As people struggle to keep up with rising prices, earning money becomes the central factor in determining which jobs they choose.

Now, in some ways this seems fine. We work so we can buy thingsto support ourselves, take care of our families, and give back to our communities. But when wages dominate all other considerations, like the type of job we do or the chance for future mobility, they become a wedgeputting space between what people need today and what they want for their future.

Workers everywhere are facing these choices. I recently heard an example at a gathering of local business leaders. One of them was from a large restaurant group with locations in multiple cities. It offered competitive salaries, health benefits, and lots of opportunities for professional growth. But longtime employees who had been advancing through the ranks and building careers with the organization were suddenly leaving. When the owner asked them why, he learned they were no longer able to afford rent near the city and had to move much farther away. Then gas prices started to rise and commuting so far became unsustainable. So many of them left to take lower-paying fast-food jobs nearer to where they lived. These jobs had fewer benefits and little opportunity for upward mobility. But what choice did they have? They had to manage their short-term budget pressures, even when it meant giving up jobs with brighter long-term prospects.

The effect of these choices, multiplied across large numbers of workers, has an impact on firms. Businesses are experiencing considerable churn in their employee base, often losing workers as fast as they can train them (see the BLS JOLTS report). Their response is predictable: raise wages as much as possible to try and retain staff; divide jobs into simpler tasks that require less training; and accelerate the search for ways to automate or outsource in order to reduce future worker demand. In the meantime, produce less and expand more slowly.

Unfortunately, the distortions from high inflation dont stop there. They also influence longer-term decisionmaking in a way that lingers well after inflation has come down. One of the clearest examples of this long-term impact can be seen in trends in postsecondary schooling. Enrollments in two- and four-year colleges, certification programs, and technical training are all falling (see National Student Clearinghouse Research Center 2022). This is happening for many reasons, but two key factors are affordability and opportunity cost. Postsecondary education is already expensive. But it is even more costly when people have to give up earnings and still pay more for gas, food, and rent. And when firms are avidly bidding up wages to compete for workers, the equation just doesnt add up. And so young people are taking jobs and delaying or opting out of school, as they have done in past tight labor markets (see Aaronson et al. 2019, Blom, Cadena, and Keys 2021, Dellas and Koubi 2003, and Dellas and Sakellaris 2003).

And here again, these individual choices bubble up to firms. Their strategic decisions about where to locate, expand, and invest are shaped by the projected availability of workers, especially skilled ones. As they plan for their future, declining school enrollments will factor into all of these decisions.

In other words, persistently high inflation is painful and its disruptive. It seeps into everything, including investment, production, and growth. Over time, it accumulates into a mountain of misallocations and lost opportunities. And it adds up to a smaller economic pie for all.

And this is why price stability is so crucial. It allows households and businesses to make decisions based on preferences, ideas, drive, and talent and lays the foundation for sustainable growth and durable expansion now and in the future. Price stability is like an asset that pays dividends year after year. And protecting it supports everyone.

But when you have been far away from something for a while, it can seem hard to find your way back. And this is the concern that many have about inflation. People worry that something has been lost, and the only way to regain it is to induce a painful recession like the ones we saw in the 1980s (see Goodfriend and King 2005).

But the circumstances back then were different. Policymakers had two major problems. One was that inflation was high and rising. Another was that inflation had been elevated for more than a decade and had seeped into the psychology of American consumers and businesses. Everyone expected high inflation to continue. So as inflation went up, longer-term inflation expectations went up with it (see Daly 2022 and Erceg and Levin 2003). The Fed had no choice but to rip the Band-Aid off and dramatically slow the economy in order to reset inflation psychology.

Today, we are in a better place. Of course, inflation has been too high for too long, coming in above target for more than a year. But inflation expectations, especially at the longer end, have remained stable and well anchored around the Feds 2% inflation goal. This means that, so far, inflation psychology has not been lost and the public continues to believe the Fed has the tools and the resolve to restore price stability (see, for example, Armantier et al. 2022).

But we cannot take this for granted. The longer inflation remains high, the more likely it is to change peoples expectations and undermine confidence (see Malmendier and Nagel 2016, Jord et al. 2022, and Lansing 2022). And that is a problem we must avoid.

The question, of course, is how?

Navigating the economy toward a more sustainable path necessitates higher interest rates and a downshift in the pace of economic activity and the labor market. But for now, inducing a deep recession does not seem warranted by conditions, nor is it necessary to achieve our goals.

And this is crucial. Decades of research show the heavy toll that deep recessions take on people and families (see, for example, Okun 1973, Hassan and Mertens 2017, and Krueger, Mitman, and Perri 2016). Whole generations of workers feel lasting effects. The impact is striking (see Figure 2). People who enter the labor market during a recession come in on lower rungs of the career ladder and earn wages well below their peers who enter during expansions (see for example, von Wachter 2012, Altonji, Kahn, and Speer 2016, Schwandt and von Wachter 2019, Kahn 2010, and Oreopoulos, von Wachter, and Heisz 2012). Everyone is affected; college graduates, non-college graduates, all genders and races. But those historically less advantaged, including those with less than a high school education and people of color, are especially hard hit (see Duzhak 2021 and Hoynes, Miller, and Schaller 2012). And these effects are not short-lived. They persist throughout an individuals career. The more severe the recession, the greater the potential harm.

Figure 2Changes in annual earnings and income

Note: Drop in earnings for students graduating in a downturn relative to an expansion.Source: Schwandt and von Wachter (2019) and FRBSF staff calculations.

Avoiding this kind of harsh recession will not be easy, but we must try.

And weve done it before. The expansion that started in the 1990s is a notable example (see Blinder 2022). After the Fed tightened policy to keep prices stable, growth slowed but no recession ensued. And a decade of sustained growth followed.

No doubt, the job will be harder this time. We are facing a myriad of risks. Ongoing battles with COVID globally, the war in Ukraine, and impending recession in Europe, all while central banks across the globe are tightening monetary policy to combat high and rising prices (see Obstfeld 2022). These risks, combined with stubbornly persistent supply chain issues, ongoing strength in the labor market, and robust consumer spending, narrow the path for a smooth landing. But they do not close it (see Bauer and Mertens 2022 and Bok et al. 2022).

Resolute to our goals, the Fed has raised the benchmark interest rate rapidly this year, and projects additional increases will be needed (see Board of Governors 2022b). These are necessary and appropriate adjustments, taken to put the economy back on a solid footing.

We are already starting to see the effectshousing markets are cooling, the labor market is easing, and projections of future growth are softening. Of course, the full impact of our policies will unfold over time, given likely lags in the effects of monetary policy (see, for example, Greenspan 2004 and Barnichon and Matthes 2018). So, we will need to remain attentive to the data, and recognize the signs that enough has been done or more is needed. History tells us that the costs of errors are high. Too little could allow inflation expectations to drift, requiring even more difficult policy actions in the future. And too much could end in overtightening and an unnecessary and painful downturn. Successful policy will require vigorous analysis, extreme data dependence, and a resolute commitment to delivering on our mandate.

The enduring lesson of my childhood is that people need both jobs and stable prices. That is why the dual mandate is not a choice between two desirable things. It is a balance meant to deliver on a singular goala sustainable and expanding economy that works for everyone.

That is the foundation of economic security. And that is what the Federal Reserve is working to achieve.

Thank you.

Mary C. Daly is president and chief executive officer of the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco.

Aaronson, Stephanie R., Mary C. Daly, William Wascher, David W. Wilcox. 2019. Okun Revisited: Who Benefits Most from a Strong Economy? Brookings Papers on Economic Activity (Spring), pp. 333-404.

Altonji, Joseph G., Lisa B. Kahn, and Jamin D. Speer. 2016. Cashier or Consultant? Entry Labor Market Conditions, Field of Study, and Career Success. Journal of Labor Economics 34(S1), pp. S361-S401.

Armantier, Olivier, Argia Sbordone, Giorgio Topa, Wilbert Van der Klaauw, and John C. Williams. 2022. A New Approach to Assess Inflation Expectations Anchoring Using Strategic Surveys. Journal of Monetary Economics 129(S), pp. S82-S101.

Barnichon, Regis, and Christian Matthes. 2018. Functional Approximation of Impulse Responses. Journal of Monetary Economics 99, pp. 41-55.

Bauer, Michael D., and Thomas M. Mertens. 2022. Current Recession Risk According to the Yield Curve. FRBSF Economic Letter 2022-11 (May 9).

Blinder, Alan. 2022. Landings Hard and Soft: The Fed, 19652020. Slides from presentation to Markus Academy, Bendheim Center for Finance, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ, February 11.

Blom, Erica, Brian C. Cadena, and Benjamin J. Keys. 2021. Investment over the Business Cycle: Insights from College Major Choice. Journal of Labor Economics 39(4) pp. 1,043-1,082.

Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System. 2022a. Statement on Longer-Run Goals and Monetary Policy Strategy. Adopted effective January 24, 2012; as reaffirmed January 25, 2022.

Board of Governors, 2022b. FOMC Projections materials, accessible version. September 21.

Board of Governors, 2022c. Distributional Financial Accounts (DFAs).

Bok, Brandyn, Nicolas Petrosky-Nadeau, Robert G. Valletta, and Mary Yilma. 2022. Finding a Soft Landing along the Beveridge Curve. FRBSF Economic Letter 2022-24 (August 29).

Council of Economic Advisors and Office of Management and Budget. 2021. The Cost of Living in America: Helping Families Move Ahead. Report, August 11.

Daly, Mary C. 2022. This Time Is Different Because We Are. FRBSF Economic Letter 2022-05 (February 28).

Dellas, Harris, and Vally Koubi. 2003. Business Cycles and Schooling. European Journal of Political Economy 19(4), pp. 843-859.

Dellas, Harris, and Plutarchos Sakellaris. 2003. On the Cyclicality of Schooling: Theory and Evidence. Oxford Economic Papers 55(1), pp. 148-172.

Diwan, Renuka, Evgeniya A. Duzhak, and Thomas M. Mertens. 2021 Effects of Asset Valuations on U.S. Wealth Distribution. FRBSF Economic Letter 2021-24 (August 30).

Duzhak, Evgeniya A. 2021. How Do Business Cycles Affect Worker Groups Differently? FRBSF Economic Letter 2021-25 (September 7).

Erceg, Christopher J., and Andrew T. Levin. 2003. Imperfect Credibility and Inflation Persistence. Journal of Monetary Economics 50(4), pp. 915-944.

Goodfriend, Marvin, and Robert G. King. 2005. The Incredible Volcker Disinflation. Journal of Monetary Economics 52(5), pp. 981-1,015.

Greenspan, Alan. 2004. Risk and Uncertainty in Monetary Policy. American Economic Review 94(2), pp. 33-40.

Hassan, Tarek A., and Thomas M. Mertens. 2017. The Social Cost of Near-Rational Investment. American Economic Review 107(4), pp. 1,059-1,103.

Hoynes, Hilary, Douglas L. Miller, and Jessamyn Schaller. 2012. Who Suffers during Recessions? Journal of Economic Perspectives 26(3), pp. 27-48.

Jord, scar, Celeste Liu, Fernanda Nechio, and Fabin Rivera-Reyes. 2022. Wage Growth When Inflation Is High. FRBSF Economic Letter 2022-25 (September 6).

Kahn, Lisa B. 2010. The Long-Term Labor Market Consequences of Graduating from College in a Bad Economy. Labour Economics 17(2), pp. 303-316.

Krueger, Dirk, Kurt Mitman, and Fabrizio Perri. 2016. On the Distribution of the Welfare Losses of Large Recessions. NBER Working Paper 22458, July.

Lansing, Kevin J. 2022. Untangling Persistent Versus Transitory Shocks to Inflation. FRBSF Economic Letter 2022-13 (May 23).

Malmendier, Ulrike, and Stefan Nagel. 2016. Learning from Inflation Experiences. Quarterly Journal of Economics 131(1), pp. 53-87.

National Student Clearinghouse Research Center. 2022. Term Enrollment Estimates, Spring 2022.

Obstfeld, Maurice. 2022. Uncoordinated Monetary Policies Risk a Historic Global Slowdown. Realtime Economics Issues Watch, Peterson Institute for International Economics blog, September 12.

Okun, Arthur M., William Fellner, and Alan Greenspan. 1973. Upward Mobility in a High-Pressure Economy. Brookings Papers on Economic Activity 1973(1), pp. 207-261.

Oreopoulos, Philip, Till von Wachter, and Andrew Heisz. 2012. The Short- and Long-Term Career Effects of Graduating in a Recession. American Economic Journal: Applied Economics 4(1), pp. 1-29.

Schwandt, Hannes, and Till von Wachter. 2019. Unlucky Cohorts: Estimating the Long-Term Effects of Entering the Labor Market in a Recession in Large Cross-Sectional Data Sets. Journal of Labor Economics 37(S1), pp. S161-S198.

von Wachter, Till. 2012. Job Displacements in Recessions: An Overview of Long-Term Consequences and Policy Options. Chapter 2 in Reconnecting to Work: Policies to Mitigate Long-Term Unemployment and Its Consequences, editor Lauren D. Appelbaum. Kalamazoo, MI: W. E. Upjohn Institute for Employment Research, pp. 17-36.

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The Singularity of the Dual Mandate - Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco

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Fond out more about what the Quirk Singularity Doomsday Theory is in My Hero Academia.

Published on October 1, 2022 Keenan McCall

Home Guides What Is the Quirk Singularity Doomsday Theory in My Hero Academia? Explained

If youre nearing the latter portion of the My Hero Academia series, then a question has probably started to worm its way into your head with each passing episode and chapter: What is the Quirk Singularity Doomsday Theory in My Hero Academia, and why are so many characters bringing it up with increasing regularity? Fortunately for you, we were left wondering the same thing. After doing some research, these are the key facts we found that we think every fan should know about.

At its core, the Quirk Singularity Doomsday Theory in My Hero Academia is a sort of looming threat that is being caused by the constant evolution of Quirks.

First hypothesized by the doctor Garaki Kyudai, this theory posits that each successive generation of Quirks will lead to new mutations that make Quirks more powerful and harder to control. This, in turn, will lead to a snowball effect, wherein Quirks will eventually become too powerful and complex for people to successfully manage, leading to widespread destruction and the potential end of the world.

As the series has gone on, this theory has proven valid and largely accurate. By the point in the series where Deku and his classmates are in their prime, Quirks are already seeing dangerous mutations that have the potential to cause widespread devastation if not properly controlled. Shigarakis Quirks is an especially potent example, with it being hard to control and capable of widespread destruction.

As for whether or not anything can be done to stop the Quirk Singularity Doomsday in My Hero Academia, its still yet to be seen.

Garaki Kyudai teamed up with All for One because his ability to control multiple quirks offered the opportunity for a solution. If human beings could be altered and modified to withstand multiple quirks, then it could be possible to augment the population in order to stop the Quirk Singularity.

It was to this end that Kyudai started his human experimentation and began creating Nomu; partially to create minions for All for One, but also with the end goal of testing how to better alter All for Ones body to house multiple evolved Quirks without issue.

This explains why Shigaraki was experimented on and given All for Ones quirks. Using their research from across countless years, All for One and Kyudai sought to create a fresh vessel for All for One to inhabit that could properly house the stronger quirks of future generations. As the later chapters of the manga show though, this method was flawed, with Shigarakis body forced to mutate drastically in order to accommodate for the evolved Quirks in his body.

As such, its unclear when or how this dilemma will be overcome. well be following the series closely, though, and will update this guide accordingly should any new information be made available.

Hopefully this provided some insight into what the Quirk Singularity Doomsday Theory is in My Hero Academia. For more on the series, check out any of the related articles down below. Weve also got plenty of other My Hero content to peruse, including our impressions of the Season 5 OVAs and a quiz to see which character youre most like.

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What Is the Quirk Singularity Doomsday Theory in My Hero Academia? Explained - Twinfinite

In Tekedia Mini-MBA Week 4, I made this video to introduce the week. This week, we are focusing on Exponential Technologies and Singularity. Learners, enjoy the week. I can promise you that this lecture is superb, delivered by a US think tank. This is Tekedia Institute, we are transforming careers, elevating minds with knowledge.

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Tekedia Mini-MBA (Sep 12 Dec 3 2022) has started; registration continues. Register here. Cost is N60,000 or $140 for the 12-week program.Beat early bird for free books and other bonuses.

Ndubuisi Ekekwe, PhD, Chairman of FASMICRO Group, is the Lead Faculty in Tekedia Mini-MBA. He writes regularly in the Harvard Business Review. Email: [emailprotected]

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Introduction to week 4 of Tekedia Mini-MBA: Exponential Technologies and Singularity - Tekedia

Despite decades of research, the human brain remains largely a mystery to science. A new $500 million project to create the most comprehensive map of it ever could help change that.

Our brains are among the most complex objects in the known universe. Deciphering how they work could bring tremendous benefits, from finding ways to treat brain diseases and neurological disorders to inspiring new forms of machine intelligence.

But a critical starting point is coming up with a parts list. While everyone knows that brains are primarily made up of neurons, there are a dazzling array of different types of these cells. Thats not to mention the various kinds of glial cells that make up the connective tissue of the brain and play a crucial supporting role.

Thats why the National Institutes of Healths BRAIN Initiative has just announced $500 million in funding over five years for an effort to characterize and map neuronal and other types of cells across the entire human brain. The project will be spearheaded by the Allen Institute in Seattle, but involves collaborations across 17 other institutions in the US, Europe, and Japan.

These awards will enable researchers to explore the multifaceted characteristics of the more than 200 billion neurons and non-neuronal cells in the human brain at unprecedented detail and scale, John Ngai, director of the NIH BRAIN Initiative, said in a statement.

The BRAIN initiative was launched in 2014 by former president Barack Obama to revolutionize our understanding of the human brain. The new project builds on a previous effort to identify and map more than 100 cell types across the motor cortex of a mouse, and will borrow many of the tools and techniques developed for that effort.

These include approaches like single-cell transcriptomics, which make it possible to measure the gene expression of individual cells, and spatial transcriptomics, which make it possible to map gene expression over large sections of tissue and localize gene activity to specific regions.

A group from the Salk Institute in San Diego will also focus specifically on how the brain changes as we get older by measuring changes in gene expression over timeknown as epigenetic changesin brain samples from people of varying ages.

It will be an ambitious task, though. The human brain is 1,000 times larger than a mouse brain and far more complex, so scaling these techniques up wont be a simple process. If they succeed, the resulting cell atlas will become a powerful and freely-accessible resource for neuroscientists all over the world.

I really do view this as like the Human Genome Project. We have the ability now to define cells like we were able to define genes, Ed Lein, who is leading the Allen Institutes contribution, told STAT. This is the foundation to start to understand a lot of other aspects of biology and disease.

These projects are part of a new round of funding dubbed BRAIN 2.0 that was launched at the start of this year. Alongside the scaling up of efforts to map out different kinds of brain cells, $36 million will go towards an initiative called the Armamentarium for Precision Brain Cell Access, which will use data on brain cell types to develop new tools designed to target them for study and potentially treatment.

And theres more funding to come. Early next year, the NIH will dole out another $30 million to projects seeking to take the next step in mapping out the brain, moving on from the parts list to working out the wiring diagrams that govern how different cells and regions are connected.

With the project expected to generate petabytes of data, its likely to be years before scientists are able to make full use of this new resource. But it could prove to be a critical piece of the puzzle as we try and unravel the mysteries of the human brain.

Image Credit: Allen Institute

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A $500 Million International Project Will Create the Most Detailed Map of the Brain Ever - Singularity Hub

Coastal urban centers around the world are urgently looking for new, sustainable water sources as their local supplies become less reliable. In the US, the issue is especially pressing in California, which is coping with a record-setting, multi-decadal drought.

California Gov. Gavin Newsom recently released a $8 billion plan for coping with a shrinking water supply. Along with water conservation, storage, and recycling, it includes desalination of more seawater.

Ocean desalination, which turns salt water into fresh, clean water, has an intuitive appeal as a water supply strategy for coastal cities. The raw supply of salt water is virtually unlimited and reliable.

Ocean desalination is already a major water source in Israel and the United Arab Emirates. Cities in the Middle East, Australia, Mediterranean Europe, the US Southwest, and Australia also rely on it. There are more than 20 ocean desalination plants operating in California, plus a few in Florida. Many more plants across the US remove salt from brackish (salty) water sources such as groundwater inland, especially in Texas.

Nonetheless, current evidence shows that even in coastal cities, ocean desalination may not be the best or even among the best options to address water shortfalls. Here are the main issues that communities evaluating this option should consider.

Scalable technologies for removing salt from water have improved steadily over the past few decades. This is especially true for treating brackish groundwater, which is less salty than seawater.

But desalination still can have major environmental impacts. Fish can be killed when they are trapped against screens that protect desalination plants intake valves, and small organisms such as bacteria and plankton can be sucked into the plants and killed when they pass through the treatment system. In May 2022, the California Coastal Commission unanimously rejected a proposed $1.4 billion ocean desalination plant in Huntington Beach, partly because of its potential effect on sea life.

Desalination plants discharge brine and wastewater, which can also kill nearby aquatic life if the process is not done properly. And generating the large quantity of energy that the plants consume has its own environmental impacts until it can be done carbon-free, which is still years off in most cases.

Cost is another major hurdle. In most areas, the cost of ocean desalination is projected to remain considerably higher than the cost of feasible alternatives such as conservation for the next several decades, the timeline that utilities use when planning new investments. My colleagues and I found this in our research comparing water supply alternatives for Huntington Beach, even though we made favorable assumptions about ocean desalination costs.

Cost breakthroughs on major, market-ready technology in the near to medium term are unlikely. And desalination costs may increase in response to rising energy prices, which represent up to half the cost of removing salt from water.

Moreover, capital cost projections for desalination plants often greatly understate these facilities true cost. For example, the final cost ($1 billion) to build the ocean desalination plant in Carlsbad, California, which opened in late 2015, was four times higher than the original projection.

Our center has also explored whether piping in desalinated ocean water is a viable option for small, typically rural areas with public water systems or private wells that have run dry or are close to giving out. In diverse parts of California where this has happened, such as Porterville in the Central Valley and Montecito along the coast, the state is paying over $1 per gallon to truck in small supplies of bottled and vended water. Thats much higher than even the most expensive desalinated seawater.

As of Sept. 13, 2022, much of the U.S. West was in drought and projected to remain dry through at least the end of the year. Image Credit: U.S. Drought Monitor

In these cases, we have found that the relative economics and even the environmental impact may pencil out, but the politics and management of new pipelines do not. This is because water supply is typically governed locally, and many local areas beyond those benefiting would need to agree to a new pipeline from the coast.

More broadly, we find that proponents of these projects do not proactively pursue strategies that would make water access more equitable, such as designing utility rate structures that shield low-income households from higher costs, providing financial aid to small communities, or consolidating water systems.

In most places, several other supply options can and should be pursued in tandem before ocean desalination. All of these steps will provide more water at a lower cost.

The first and relatively cheapest way to address water shortages is by using less. Finding ways to get people to use less water could reduce existing demand by 30-50 percent in many urban areas that have already begun conservation efforts.

Second, recycling or reusing treated wastewater is often less expensive than desalination. Technology and regulations in this area are advancing, and this is already making large investments in recycling possible in many arid regions.

Third, storage capacity for enhanced capture of stormwater, even in areas where it rains infrequently, can be doubled or quadrupled in regions like Los Angeles and parts of Australia, at one-third to one-half of the cost per unit of desalinated water.

Even cleaning up polluted local groundwater supplies and purchasing water from nearby agricultural users, although these are costly and politically difficult strategies, may be prudent to consider before ocean desalination.

The feasibility of desalination as a local supply option will hopefully change by midcentury as water scarcity problems mount because of climate change. For the medium term, however, ocean desalination is still likely to play a small role if it figures at all in holistic water strategies for coastal urban areas.

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

Image Credit: James Grellier / Wikimedia Commons

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There Are Cheaper, More Sustainable Ways Than Desalination to Meet Our Water Needs - Singularity Hub

It is no secret that 3D printing has been making great waves in recent years in the medical sector. One arena in which the technologies have been especially useful is for making prostheses as it allows for lighter, more customized solutions for users. One notable example is the TrueLimb prosthetic from our startup of the month, Unlimited Tomorrow. The company uses 3D printing to create high-quality, low-cost bionic prosthetic arms with the goal of being accessible to all who need them. As such, they have also partnered with The Singularity Group in order to raise money to help amputee victims of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. We spoke with Jennifer Barbic, the Vice President of Marketing, to learn more about their TrueLimb prostheses, why they turned to 3D printing and their current projects.

My name is Jennifer Barbic. I am Vice President of Marketing for Unlimited Tomorrow. We produce a 3D printing bionic prosthetic arm called TrueLimb. As for Unlimited Tomorrow, to understand our company you must first understand our founder. Growing up in a small town in Colorado, Unlimited Tomorrows Founder and CEO, Easton LaChappelle, was a child who loved to tinker. He loved taking things apart to understand how they worked, building with legos, and experimenting with motors and gadgets. As a teenager he started experimenting with building robotic arms, first creating one that was wirelessly controlled, and eventually creating one using 3D printing, a new technology that fascinated Easton. That 3D printed arm wound up winning 2nd place in engineering at the International Science Fair. As a result, Easton had the opportunity to meet former President Barack Obama, speak to international audiences including delivering a TedTalk, and pursue an internship at NASA. Even during this exciting time in Eastons life, his mind kept coming back to a little girl he had met at the Colorado State Science Fair a few years prior.

The Unlimited Tomorrow team including Jennifer Barbic (photo credits: Unlimited Tomorrow)

While Easton was showcasing his invention, he noticed one little girl closely examining the robotic arm, even more so than any other visitor. As he stepped over to talk to her, he noticed that the girl had an upper limb difference and was wearing a prosthesis. As he started talking to her and her parents, he was astounded by what they shared. The device that the girl was wearing was very heavy and uncomfortable, it did not match the size of her sound limb, and it had very minimal functionality. When they shared that the device had cost more than their annual salary, Easton was truly floored. The wheels started turning in Eastons head after that conversation, and they never stopped. The girl had made such an impression on Easton that while he was interning at NASA, he continued to stay up late at night working on his robotic arm technology, thinking that there had to be a better solution for the challenges the girl and her family had faced.

That one chance meeting had altered his view of what technology could do, and made him realize what he was truly passionate about. Upon returning home from his internship, the phone rang one day and shockingly it was author, coach, speaker, and philanthropist, Tony Robbins, asking to speak with Easton. Tony had seen Eastons TedTalk and wanted to help him pursue his passion. He offered to help him found a company so that he could continue to build robotic arms. Easton agreed and together they founded Unlimited Tomorrow when Easton was just 18 years old. That drive is the core of our company.

At Unlimited Tomorrow our first responsibility is to the individuals with limb differences we serve. We believe in pushing boundaries in order to improve prosthetic accessibility. We challenge ourselves to use all available technology and resources to make the highest quality, lowest cost prosthetic arms in the world.

The TrueLimb has been designed to overcome many of the limitations of traditional prosthetics (photo credits: Unlimited Tomorrow)

The TrueLimb prosthetic arm was developed over eight years to solve common challenges that individuals with upper limb loss and limb differences face. Those challenges include devices that are too heavy, sizing that does not match the user, and affordability. Many individuals prefer a bionic arm with a natural skin tone look, but options with that look have historically been limited. Batteries that power bionic arms often do not last throughout the day, and chargers can be proprietary and expensive. Sensors used to activate devices are often unreliable and sometimes impacted by moisture and sweat. People struggle with repairs taking a long time and costing a lot. Many individuals report issues with the learning curve of using a new device.

By contrast, TrueLimb weighs just 1-1.5lbs from socket to fingertip (with most others weight around 3-5+ lbs). In addition, it is incredibly durable for everyday use and is personalized to be the same size as the users opposing limb. It is easy to put on and take off and its socket is adjustable, and breathable. TrueLimb comes in hundreds of skin tones and colors for users to choose from, can be charged with a standard USB-C charger, and offers multi-day battery life. TrueLimb has six easy-to-remember, functional grips designed to help with everyday tasks. TrueLimbs sensor technology, TrueSense, is not impacted by sweat or moisture and does not require direct skin contact to activate. 30+ sensors line the socket of each TrueLimb, vs. two in most traditional devices, which increases device activation and control.

Photo Credits: Unlimited Tomorrow

Currently, we use 3D printing, 3D scanning, 3D modeling, smart algorithms, and a fully digital workflow in the creation of our prostheses. 3D printing helped to solve the biggest challenge of all when it comes to prosthetic arms weight. Through 3D printing, we have been able to produce a device that is a fraction of the weight of other devices, but also incredibly durable. The combination of 3D scanning and 3D printing allows us to create a prosthetic arm that is fully personalized for each user, with next to no waste. Additionally, the fact that our process is fully digital enables us to expand accessibility to advanced prosthetic technology.

The process is also simple and convenient. It starts by asking the user to answer a few questions and schedule a one-on-one consultation with our clinical team. Next, we ship a 3D scanner so they can scan their residual limbs, with these we create a set of check sockets. The check sockets are shipped and once again users need an evaluation with our clinical team to assess the comfort and fit, this can be repeated until the perfect comfortable fit is achieved. The final step is to 3D print, assemble and test the personalized TrueLimb.

Sure!We havepartnered with Singularity Group to raise $1M tocreate and deliver functional prosthetic limbs to 100 amputee victims of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. We are actively working with Ukrainians who have been impacted during the war, and are about to deliver the first TrueLimb to a Ukrainian user.

As the war continues, more and more Ukrainian citizens are being injured. Including those who are losing limbs. And we know that Unlimited Tomorrows use of advanced technologies and a fully remote process allows the company to immediately help amputees in Ukraine or anyone in a conflict zone. You can learn more about the project and donate by visiting the gofundme link HERE or watching the video below.

At Unlimited Tomorrow we believe in technology withpurpose.Without newly available 3D printing, 3D scanning, 3D modeling, and smart algorithm technologies, TrueLimb would not exist. If you or someone you know has an upper limb difference, we would love to connect and share how we have harnessed technology to make an impact. You can learn more by visiting our website HERE and we invite you to follow us on our socials!

What do you think of Unlimited Tomorrow and its TrueLimb prostheses? Let us know in a comment below or on ourLinkedIn,Facebook, andTwitterpages! Dont forget to sign up for our free weeklyNewsletter here, the latest 3D printing news straight to your inbox! You can also find all our videos on ourYouTubechannel.

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#3DStartup: Unlimited Tomorrow and its 3D Printed Bionic Prosthetic Arm - 3Dnatives

Premier news source specializing in pataphysics, The Onion, has taken time from its busy schedule of predicting nefarious events to come and debunking the commonly held myth that girls just want to have fun to defend one of the many rights held within the Ninth Amendment the right to laughter. Theres probably also some free speech sprinkled in for good measure. And Criminal Law. You really should just look at it yourself.

The Onions journalists have garnered a sterling reputation for accurately forecasting future events. One such coup was The Onions scoop revealing that a former president kept nuclear secrets strewn around his beach homes basement three years before it even happened.

The Onion files this brief to protect its continued ability to create fiction that may ultimately merge into reality. As the globes premier parodists, The Onions writers also have a self-serving interest in preventing political authorities from imprisoning humorists. This brief is submitted in the interest of at least mitigating their future punishment.

Whom else but The Onion could finesse a robust defense of free speech and parody, all while making what might be a sly comparison of the judicial system to Rokos Basilisk? Please dont click that. Dear God, unless you plan on ushering in the technological singularity, please dont click that. You have been warned.

It doesnt take long into the brief to realize that The Onions amicus is no laughing matter. They open with the case of the 6th Circuit giving the okay for police to arrest and jail a man because he threw big meanie words at them on Facebook. In doing so, The Onion plainly states that the court threatened their entire business model. For everyone who had a fictional newspaper teaching 1Ls standing doctrine on their bingo card, please mark it.

This, much like Chidi processing the nuances of Jeremy Bearimy, broke me. The Onion, with a flair of pedagogy that shall never again be seen in Florida now that theyve gone and banned dictionaries for being too woke, gives a succinct and nuanced legal defense of the old adage that you cant explain jokes without ruining them.

[T]he Sixth Circuits ruling imperils an ancient form of discourse. The courts decision suggests that parodists are in the clear only if they pop the balloon in advance by warning their audience that their parody is not true. But some forms of comedy dont work unless the comedian is able to tell the joke with a straight face. Parody is the quintessential example. Parodists intentionally inhabit the rhetorical form of their target in order to exaggerate or implode itand by doing so demonstrate the targets illogic or absurdity.

Put simply, for parody to work, it has to plausibly mimic the original. The Sixth Circuits decision in this case would condition the First Amendments protection for parody upon a requirement that parodists explicitly say, up-front, that their work is nothing more than an elaborate fiction. But that would strip parody of the very thing that makes it function.

The Onion cannot stand idly by in the face of a ruling that threatens to disembowel a form of rhetoric that has existed for millennia, that is particularly potent in the realm of political debate, and that, purely incidentally, forms the basis of The Onions writers paychecks.

First, appreciate the simplicity of the prose. Second, thank The Onion for this picture in your head. Imagine this brief making it to the Supreme Court and, after being picked up and read by Clarence Thomas, the man finally has a textual basis for developing a sense of humor. Im just kidding! I hear the man is actually very funny you should hear his bit about coke cans.

The brief is nothing less than brilliant. The Associated Press catches a stray for literally no reason, theres an insightful bit of philology on the origins of parody and lets be real, you need something legal adjacent to waste time with on your screen as you bill three months worth of time to about 20 documents. You are welcome.

Read the brief here.

Chris Williams became a social media manager and assistant editor for Above the Law in June 2021. Prior to joining the staff, he moonlighted as a minor Memelord in the Facebook groupLaw School Memes for Edgy T14s. He endured Missouri long enough to graduate from Washington University in St. Louis School of Law. He is a former boatbuilder who cannot swim,a published author on critical race theory, philosophy, and humor, and has a love for cycling that occasionally annoys his peers. You can reach him by email atcwilliams@abovethelaw.comand by tweet at@WritesForRent.

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First As Parody, Then As Free Speech: The Onion Goes To The Supreme Court. It's About As Awesome As You'd Suspect. - Above the Law