Short Quiz – Electric Vehicles and Artificial Intelligence + a Treasure Hunt

[johnkarls]

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Section A -- General

1. Did the “Original Proposal” of Elon Musk by Walter Isaacson posit that it "should frame nicely such public-policy issues as electric vehicles and artificial intelligence”?

2. Did Yours Truly “get more than he bargained for” by proposing a biography containing, as it turned out, 95 chapters?

3. Extra-credit Q – How many of our 57 public-policy recommendations to decision makers (summarized in viewforum.php?f=23&sid=683bd1b8fdc710f324a6c9efc3fd0478) are touched upon in Elon Musk by Walter Isaacson?

4. Second extra-credit Q – in addition to electronic vehicles and artificial intelligence and public-policy issues you identified in answering Q-3, are there any other public-policy issues in Elon Musk by Walter Isaacson that deserve our attention?


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Section B -- Electric Vehicles – Global Warming (aka Climate Change)

1. Whenever we have focused on Global Warming (aka Climate Change), have we always asked for a show of hands by anyone favoring invading the world’s largest carbon polluter (China) to force it to adopt uneconomic fuel sources such as wind & solar which have always been much more expensive than oil/gas/coal?

2. Is it true than nobody has ever raised her/his hand?

3. Is it true that the 2015 Paris Climate Accord does NOT require China to do anything about its carbon emissions until the far-distant future?

4. Is it true that the 2015 PCA’s predecessor, the 1997 Kyoto Protocol did the same thing?

5. Are wind and solar still so uneconomic that they require massive subsidies such as those ADDED in the so-called “Inflation Reduction Act signed into law 8/16/2022?

6. Did the IRA of 2022 contain anything of significance other than massive new subsidies for wind and solar?

7. Was the title “Inflation Reduction Act” a hoax because it employed the cynical “Washington DC Cesspool” game of providing for incredible deficit spending for the first three years?

8. In other words, the meager revenue raisers were permanent and the massive wind/solar subsidies were scheduled to terminate after 3 years, secure in the knowledge that Congress never lets such things expire but extends them when the time comes?

9. In other words, 10 years of revenue raisers to “offset” 3 years of subsidies in order to LIE TO THE AMERICAN PUBLIC that the bill was deficit reducing rather than deficit increasing?

10. Are there only two energy sources that are less expensive than oil/gas/coal so that it would not be necessary to invade China militarily to force it reduce its carbon emissions?

11. Is one of them hydro which is severely limited by the world’s severe paucity of dammable rivers?

12. Is the other nuclear?

13. Will electric vehicles help with global warming (aka climate change) IN THE DISTANT FUTURE WHEN THE ELECTRICITY IS GENERATED BY NUCLEAR ENERGY?

14. Are electric vehicles currently AN ENVIRONMENTAL DISASTER?

15. Is this because any economist “worth his salt” will tell you that on a “with and without basis,” the amount of electricity used by electric vehicles IS LESS THAN the amount of electricity in the nation’s grid generated by COAL-FIRED ELECTRIC-GENERATION PLANTS???

16. In other words, that if all the electric vehicles were outlawed immediately, it would be possible to shut down SOME of the nation’s coal-fired electric-generation plants?

17. Are electric vehicles, to put it bluntly, simply a way for IDIOTS to “virtue signal”???


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Section C -- Artificial Intelligence

1. Is so-called “artificial intelligence” really nothing more than a continuing increase in the ability of computers to process information?

2. Is it true that only human beings are actually able to think?

3. Is one of the biggest uproars over recent computer capabilities the 4-month Hollywood Actors’ Strike last year?

4. Is it true that Hollywood has for decades been able to create cartoons featuring characters that move and have voices, even if the voices were provided by actual actors?

5. So what is so remarkable that Hollywood’s cartoon capabilities have now been enlarged to create what until recently were called “holograms” that looked real and were able to move?

6. And what is so remarkable that Hollywood can recreate a human voice?

7. So what is so remarkable about Hollywood creating NEW HUMPHREY BOGART MOVIES featuring a “hologram” that looks and acts and sounds just like Bogie??? Leading to the 4-month strike by actors worried that they could be replaced by look- and act-alike AI replicas of themselves?

8. Is Hollywood’s use of artificial intelligence the only use of enhanced computer capabilities?

9. Was one of the four main areas of focus at last month’s Davos World Economic Forum Jan 15-19 – Artificial Intelligence (AI) as a Driving Force for the Economy and Society?

10. Does the ability to create “authentic” videos have courtroom implications involving the ability (or lack thereof) to prove whether the videos are in fact “authentic” or fake?

11. Did Elon Musk propose 12 months ago that AI development be “paused” for 6 months so that “risks to society” could be evaluated?

12. Was Elon Musk roundly criticized by his competitors because he was “late to the game” and was merely proposing a “pause” so that he could catch up?

13. Does Elon Musk have the “inside track” on “AI for Cars: Tesla 2022-2023” (the title of Chapter 93 of Elon Musk by Walter Isaacson)?

14. Does Elon Musk have the “inside track” vis-à-vis “X” (formerly Twitter) as explained in Chapter 94 of Elon Musk by Walter Isaacson entitled “AI for Humans: X.AI, 2023”?