Feet on the Ground vs. Head in the Clouds

[Randy W]

From @Breakingviews: Alibaba founder Jack Ma is back in China. His rehabilitation appears part of an official campaign to revive business confidence. It highlights Beijing's love-hate relationship with the private sector, says @mak_robyn 

from Reuters on Facebook 
https://www.facebook.com/Reuters/posts/pfbid0295R7jXn96oBhCD9sKG5eCnuAZiyWDG4TqShZAx9z9Prvi1c44Rpq4vs8UqjAwvC2l

Jack Ma is Beijing’s prodigal entrepreneur

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The e-commerce giant's Hong Kong shares briefly rallied 4% on Monday following a report from the South China Morning Post, which is owned by Alibaba, that the once-outspoken billionaire was back in the mainland. Having fallen dramatically afoul of President Xi Jinping after lashing out at financial regulators in a public speech in 2020, Ma, erstwhile patron saint of Chinese tech entrepreneurs, watched the companies he founded disciplined and his influence over them curtailed. Since late 2021 he has been travelling abroad studying agriculture, per the SCMP.

 . . .

However, if officials believe the mere sight of Ma in public will revive business confidence, that hope has a whiff of desperation. Chinese venture capital investments in the first 11 months of 2022 plunged 42% year-on-year, to $73.5 billion, according to data from Preqin. The growth rate of investment in urban fixed assets by private companies is closing on zero, per Refinitiv Datastream.

 

 

[Randy W]

A feet on the ground approach - start with what WORKS, and then develop it into a useful technology. My guess is that the useful technology will NOT involve selling it as a playtoy to us human drivers. Beginning in March . . .

Driverless cars ready for hire in suburban Beijing

Driverless taxis are now available for hire in suburban Beijing, marking a new chapter in intelligent transport.

from China Xinhua News on Facebook
https://www.facebook.com/XinhuaNewsAgency/videos/762452728518472/

 

 

Driverless cars ready for hire in suburban Beijing

Driverless taxis are now available for hire in suburban Beijing, marking a new chapter in intelligent transport.

Posted by China Xinhua News on Tuesday, March 28, 2023

 

Edited March 29, 2023 by Randy W (see edit history)

[Randy W]

A voice of reason

Chinese EV giant BYD says self-driving tech is more valuable for factories than cars

from CNBC

KEY POINTS

• Fully autonomous driving is "basically impossible" and the technology would be better applied to manufacturing, according to Chinese battery and electric car company BYD.
• "There may be many industries and businesses that invest a lot of money on this [tech], and after investing for many years it will prove it leads nowhere," Li Yunfei, a spokesperson for BYD, said in Mandarin, translated by CNBC.

BYD's new luxury brand Yangwang is selling its first model, the U8, for more than 1 million yuan ($160,000).
CNBC | Evelyn Cheng

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"When we think about [self-driving tech] from all aspects, from human psychological safety needs, from ethics, from regulation, from technology — including application in this industry — we haven't figured out [the logic] and we think it is probably a false proposition," Li told reporters on the sidelines of the Shanghai auto show on Tuesday.

"There may be many industries and businesses that invest a lot of money on this [tech], and after investing for many years it will prove it leads nowhere," he said.

 

 

[Randy W]

Opinion: With Tesla stock and margins under pressure, Elon Musk falls back on his favorite fantasy
Tesla CEO insists full autonomy will solve the car maker’s current margin issue and is right around the corner, but investors appear to understand that Musk’s self-driving promises are not to be believed
Published: April 19, 2023 at 10:00 p.m. ET

from MarketWatch

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Of course, rational people know that is not the truth, and Tesla’s stock price fell more as the call ended, with that as basically the only answer to legitimate concerns about the EV maker’s changing margin profile.

Musk has been making ridiculous predictions about the arrival of fully autonomous vehicles for several years now, including the infamous forecast in 2019 that Tesla’s vehicles would be worth more than consumers paid for them because they would morph into a fleet of robotaxis in the near future. While everything that has happened since then continues to show that Tesla’s 2016 Autonomy Day presentation was not on the level, Musk continues to push his favorite fantasy.

 

Another quote from earlier this week - 
“I’m going to start something which I call ‘Truth GPT’ or a maximum truth-seeking AI that tries to understand the nature of the universe,” Mr. Musk said in an interview on Fox News Channel’s Tucker Carlson Tonight late on Monday.  

 

 

 

 

[Randy W]

The SCMP compares ChatGPT against a "flesh-and-bones" reporter.

Will ChatGPT replace reporters? We asked AI to write for the Post
The education and legal fields are just some of the sectors feeling the impact since the arrival of artificial intelligence chatbot tools. Will journalism be the next industry to be disrupted by the likes of ChatGPT? The Post gave it a task to test it out.

 

[Randy W]

Tesla CEO Elon Musk praises Shanghai employees for meeting him near midnight after blasting the U.S. ‘laptop class’ on working from home

from Fortune via Yahoo News 

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Near the end of his short trip to China, Elon Musk made a late Wednesday night stop at Tesla’s Shanghai Gigafactory to say a few words to his staff.

Tesla’s CEO had kind words for the hundred employees who stayed at the factory until midnight to greet him. “Thank you for being here late at night,” he said, according to a video posted on Tesla’s social media account. "It's been incredibly impressive how you have been able to overcome so many difficulties and so many challenges," he continued.

“It warms my heart," he said. “There’s so much positive energy.”

Musk’s midnight trip is the latest instance of the Tesla CEO praising the work ethic of his Shanghai employees. Tesla’s China factory is a key part of the company’s supply chain, producing over half of Tesla’s cars in 2022.

 . . .

“People should get off their goddamn moral high horse with the work-from-home bullshit,” he said in an interview with CNBC in May. He argued that professional workers, who he called the “laptop class”, were “asking everyone else to not work from home while they do.”

 . . .

Musk left China on Thursday, ending a short trip that began on Tuesday. The Tesla CEO had several meetings with senior Chinese officials, including the country’s foreign and commerce ministers. Musk also met with the CEO of Contemporary Amperex Technology, the market leader in EV battery manufacturing.

He told Chinese officials that U.S. and Chinese interests were connected, and that Tesla wanted to expand further in the country, according to Chinese government statements.

 

 

[Randy W]

The Tesla Roadster Tricked Enthusiasts Into Loving EVs — Jason Cammisa Revelations Ep. 30

This is the story of the Tesla Roadster — and thus, the beginnings of Tesla, which has grown to be the most valuable automaker in history.

 

[Randy W]

On 3/29/2023 at 3:17 PM, Randy W said:

A feet on the ground approach - start with what WORKS, and then develop it into a useful technology. My guess is that the useful technology will NOT involve selling it as a playtoy to us human drivers. Beginning in March . . .

Driverless cars ready for hire in suburban Beijing

Driverless taxis are now available for hire in suburban Beijing, marking a new chapter in intelligent transport.

from China Xinhua News on Facebook
https://www.facebook.com/XinhuaNewsAgency/videos/762452728518472/

 

 

 

 

A larger fleet of driverless taxis will soon be available for hire in the capital city as the Office of the Beijing High-Level Autonomous Driving Demonstration Zone has decided to launch the commercial operation of autonomous vehicles and expand their serviceable area.
On Friday, authorities in Beijing made a policy decision to allow eligible companies to operate driverless taxis without safety supervisors on board and charge passengers for the rides, marking a definite step in commercialization of intelligent transportation.
Self-driving taxis were rolled out on a trial basis in the capital in March following a series of road tests, which were conducted with safety supervisors on board.

from China Pictorial on Facebook 
https://www.facebook.com/ChinaPic/posts/pfbid02ynjxNEgjijsa6Dkz7fvF7iWCkJ7v4Hm6U2VMwSJ6kUi49bYwZ96wpCk23u1cfxANl

 

[Randy W]

On 3/28/2023 at 6:22 PM, Randy W said:

From @Breakingviews: Alibaba founder Jack Ma is back in China. His rehabilitation appears part of an official campaign to revive business confidence. It highlights Beijing's love-hate relationship with the private sector, says @mak_robyn 

from Reuters on Facebook 
https://www.facebook.com/Reuters/posts/pfbid0295R7jXn96oBhCD9sKG5eCnuAZiyWDG4TqShZAx9z9Prvi1c44Rpq4vs8UqjAwvC2l

Jack Ma is Beijing’s prodigal entrepreneur

 

Jack Ma was once Asia’s richest person—but he’s lost more than half of his $61 billion fortune in the past 3 years
Beijing cracked down on the companies Ma founded after he publicly criticized Chinese regulators.

from Fortune

Just three years ago, Ma was the richest person in Asia, having amassed a fortune that peaked at $61.7 billion.

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Today, his net worth stands at just over $30 billion—with his wealth plummeting by around $4 billion in the past week alone.

The 58-year-old—who failed his college entrance exam twice and was rejected for a plethora of jobs before setting up e-commerce giant Alibaba from his apartment in 1999—has a fortune that’s tied to Alibaba and its online payment service Ant Group.

The two companies have been at the center of probes carried out by the Chinese authorities in recent years, which came after Ma openly criticized China’s financial regulators for being too risk-averse and accused the country’s banks of operating with a “pawnshop mentality.”

The intense pressure from Beijing on Alibaba and Ma himself saw the last-minute cancellation of Ant Group’s record-breaking $34.5 billion IPO, Ma giving up control of the fintech giant, and Alibaba being slapped with a $2.8 billion antitrust fine.

Last week, China’s financial regulators said they were wrapping up their investigation into Ant, and handed the fintech firm a fine close to $1 billion for breaching regulations relating to consumer protection and corporate governance. It was one of the largest penalties ever imposed on an internet company in China, according to news agency Reuters.

Bloomberg reported on Tuesday that Ma’s 9.9% stake in Ant is now estimated to be worth $4 billion less than it was a year ago, with the firm’s valuation dropping from $315 billion ahead of its IPO to around $78.5 billion.

Had the company’s mammoth public debut gone ahead, Ma’s net worth would have been boosted by billions of dollars, propelling him up the ranking of the world’s wealthiest people. Alibaba itself enjoyed the world’s largest ever IPO in 2014, shattering records when it raised $25 billion on its initial listing in New York.

Beijing’s clampdown has had the opposite effect, however, with the companies Ma founded reportedly losing $850 billion to the regulatory crackdown.

Ma is ‘alive’ and ‘happy’

Since finding himself embroiled in controversy in China, Ma has reverted to his pre-Alibaba career of teaching.

The billionaire has taken on two temporary teaching posts—a summer position at the University of Tokyo and a three-year honorary professorship at the University of Hong Kong. He taught his first class on innovation and entrepreneurship in the Japanese capital last month.

Ma’s appearance at the university sparked interest, after his confrontation with China’s government led to his disappearance from public view. His going off radar prompted rumors that he had been placed under house arrest, with some even questioning whether he was still alive.

 

Edited July 14, 2023 by Randy W (see edit history)

[Randy W]

Meanwhile, WAY up in the clouds . . .

Elon Musk on Friday said the purpose of his new artificial intelligence company, xAI, will be to "understand the universe."

from Reuters on Facebook 
https://www.facebook.com/Reuters/posts/pfbid02N4bECzYU37J9bRoJUHqWG9GnoExoEVCjC9WwVoFzpDv8Ec7RP46XQgoMbmf537zkl

 

[Randy W]

Elon Musk has indicated his desire to transform X, the microblogging site formerly known as Twitter, into an “everything app”.

from AL Jazeera English on Facebook 
https://www.facebook.com/aljazeera/posts/pfbid02kZE5wQst1HiKW38wnCDhHWwe2fmSyCsJmBKDvrLMMSHuq5WJ9vZ11dv1G6k1LfQAl

 

 

What is Elon Musk’s ‘everything app’ and what can it learn from China?
Musk’s plans for social media platform X could take cues from China’s super app WeChat.

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WeChat was successful in China for a variety of reasons, but key among them was the timing of the launch.

In 2011, China only had 485 million internet users in a population of 1.3 billion people due to limited infrastructure and a large rural populous. The country also had limited credit card penetration, with many people relying heavily on cash. The highest denomination at the time was 100 renminbi, worth roughly $13.

Enter WeChat and similar rival apps that allowed users to access payment services and other features on their mobile phones. Chinese users could suddenly “leapfrog” the era of desktop broadband straight into smartphones and apps, said Kendra Schaeffer, Head of Tech Policy Research at Trivium China.

“[WeChat] filled a social economic contextual need. Simply picking that up and replicating it here isn’t necessarily going to work,” Schaeffer told Al Jazeera, referring to the chances of success for an “everything app” in the United States given the country’s very different internet landscape.

The US internet ecosystem in 2023 is much larger and more fragmented than China’s in 2011.

 

 

[Randy W]

On attempting to put SOMEONE ELSE's head in the clouds, there's this - 

TERRIBLE THINGS HAPPENED TO MONKEYS AFTER GETTING NEURALINK IMPLANTS, ACCORDING TO VETERINARY RECORDS
THIS IS HORRIFYING.

from Futurism/Neoscope

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Earlier this month, Elon Musk claimed on X-formerly-Twitter that the monkeys who died during Neuralink trials were "terminal" cases "close to death already," making it clear that none of them perished as a result of the biotech company's brain implants.

Documents viewed as part of a new investigation by Wired, however, as well as testimony from a former employee, contradict Musk's claims entirely — and the details are as upsetting as they are damning, adding to a mounting case against the safety of Neuralink's devices.

And the timing couldn't be more exigent either, with Neuralink announcing on Wednesday that it's recruiting subjects for human trials.

Here's the harrowing casualty report, per veterinary records obtained by Wired from the California National Primate Research Center (CNPRC) at UC Davis, the site of the Neuralink primate research. Up to a dozen monkeys suffered grisly fates after receiving a Neuralink implant, including brain swelling and partial paralysis.

 

 

 

[Randy W]

 . . . and now - his Head is in the SAND

He was speakling DIRECTLY to several of the advertisers who were in the audience.

“What it’s going to do is it’s going to kill the company, and the whole world will know the advertisers killed the company,” Musk said at the New York Times DealBook conference on Wednesday. “Go f—- yourself.”

Edited November 30, 2023 by Randy W (see edit history)

[Randy W]

Security Risks Exposed after Berlin Researchers Uncover 'Elon Mode' in Teslas During Live Stream

 

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In a recent live stream event, a group of cybersecurity researchers from Technische Universität Berlin, under their doctoral program, demonstrated a successful hack into Tesla's Autopilot system, revealing security vulnerabilities in the vehicles. This hack, which closely mirrors their previous exploit in 2023, not only granted them access to the car's internal hardware but also confirmed that "Elon mode" is still available in recent firmware updates.

All About the Hack
Utilizing equipment costing roughly $600, the researchers induced a brief but critical 2-second voltage drop of 560 millivolts on Tesla’s ARM64-based Autopilot circuit board. This strategic interference allowed them to gain root access, extract cryptographic keys, and access vital system components. They recovered previously deleted data, including a video with GPS coordinates. This same technique also unlocked the elusive "Elon mode,” we’ve heard about before.

“Elon mode," first discovered by @greentheonly in June 2023, enables Tesla vehicles to operate in full self-driving mode without driver input or monitoring. The TU Berlin team suggests that exploiting this mode could also allow users to enable some premium features free of charge and disabling certain safety features.

 

 

 

[Randy W]

New technology - from Shutter Bulky on Facebook

https://www.facebook.com/groups/811703519221774/permalink/2150993248626121/?mibextid=Nif5oz

Back when people were sure, the Auto-Mobile was just a fad that would never take off. After all, there was no infrastructure to support it.  Then our great grandparents got off their ass and did something about it. Instead of crying, it couldn't be done, and all they had was model T's to get it done. What's our excuse? 🙄

 

Edited January 11 by Randy W (see edit history)