Author Archive

Google Smart Reply: Rise of the Machines

Written by Victorino Matus

Although it was launched last year, Google Smart Reply didn’t come to my attention until this past May. At the bottom of an email, I noticed three boxed selections containing built-in responses. They were fairly similar to what I would’ve typed out: “Thanks!” or “Sounds good.” or “Got it.”

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How two bodies stayed mummified for 75 years in a Swiss glacier

Written by Sarah B. Puschmann

Last week, during a routine inspection tour, a ski-lift technician for the Swiss adventure resort Glacier 3000 found what he thought was a collection of black rocks near the Tsanfleuron glacier in the western Bernese Alps, reported The New York Times. Upon close inspection, though, he discovered that the rocks were, in fact, mummified bodies.

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The totalitarianism of the environmentalists

Written by Marian L. Tupy

Al Gore: 21st-century doomsayer.

Late last year, I gave a talk about human progress to an audience of college students in Ottawa, Canada. I went through the usual multitude of indicators – rising life expectancy, literacy and per capita incomes; declining infant mortality, malnutrition and cancer death rates – to show that the world was becoming a much better place for an ever growing share of its population.

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Tesla Battery, Subsidy and Sustainability Fantasies

Written by Paul Driessen

The first justification was that internal combustion engines polluted too much. But emissions steadily declined, and today’s cars emit about 3{154653b9ea5f83bbbf00f55de12e21cba2da5b4b158a426ee0e27ae0c1b44117} of what their predecessors did. Then it was oil imports: electric vehicles (EVs) would reduce foreign dependency and balance of trade deficits. Bountiful oil and natural gas supplies from America’s hydraulic fracturing revolution finally eliminated that as an argument.

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The future of jobs: Automation technologies, robotics, and artificial intelligence

Written by J.P. Gownder

Recently, McDonald’s shares hit an all-time high, buoyed by Wall Street’s expectations that investments in automation technologies will drive business value: As part of its “Experience of the Future” initiative, McDonald’s announced plans to roll out digital ordering kiosks that will replace cashiers in 2,500 of its locations.

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