DragonI

• Sheryl Sandberg, Facebook ?
• Tim Cook, Apple ?
• Elon Musk, Tesla and SpaceX

Elon Musk Deletes Facebook Pages for SpaceX and Tesla

Elon Musk just deleted the Facebook pages for his companies SpaceX and Tesla in the wake of backlash against the social media company this week. And it’s a really bad sign for Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg.

gizmodo.com|Matt Novak

Around 11:45am Eastern time Elon Musk sarcastically replied to a tweet about deleting Facebook:

Tesla Sends Hundreds of Batteries to Puerto Rico

Much of the island's 3.4 million American citizens are currently without power and disconnected from modes of communication.

www.ecowatch.com

Tesla is sending its Powerwall system to Puerto Rico as the island deals with widespread power loss in the wake of Hurricane Maria.

According to Electrek, the company has been quietly shipping hundreds of battery packs to be paired with solar panels to Puerto Rico ever since the storm cleared.

Fortune reported that Tesla employees are currently on the U.S. territory installing the batteries and repairing solar systems, as well as coordinating efforts with local organizations.

Tesla CEO Elon Musk has also personally donated $250,000 to the relief effort, Electrek noted.

Putin says the nation that leads in AI ‘will be the ruler of the world’

The Russian president warned that artificial intelligence offers ‘colossal opportunities’ as well as dangers

www.theverge.com|James Vincent

“Artificial intelligence is the future, not only for Russia, but for all humankind, It comes with colossal opportunities, but also threats that are difficult to predict. Whoever becomes the leader in this sphere will become the ruler of the world.”

— Vladimir Putin

China, Russia, soon all countries w strong computer science. Competition for AI superiority at national level most likely cause of WW3 imo.

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) September 4, 2017

The US’s autonomous warship, the Sea Hunter built by Vigor Industrial, was launched in 2016 and, while still in development, is intended to have offensive capabilities including anti-submarine ordnance. Under the surface, Boeing’s autonomous submarine systems built on the Echo Voyager platform are also being considered for long-range deep-sea military use.

Elon Musk will leave Trump councils if U.S. withdraws from Paris agreement

Elon Musk says that he'll have "no choice" but to withdraw from the advisory councils he's currently serving for President Trump, should Trump decide to step..

techcrunch.com|Darrell Etherington

Don't know which way Paris will go, but I've done all I can to advise directly to POTUS, through others in WH & via councils, that we remain

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) May 31, 2017 1:34 PM

Will have no choice but to depart councils in that case

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) May 31, 2017 1:38 PM

I spoke directly with The President three weeks ago about Paris. Many others have too. Cautiously optimistic of a positive decision.

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) May 22, 2017

Elon Musk’s Billion-Dollar Crusade to Stop the A.I. Apocalypse

Elon Musk is famous for his futuristic gambles, but Silicon Valley’s latest rush to embrace artificial intelligence scares him. And he thinks you should be frightened too.

www.vanityfair.com|Maureen Dowd

“For a meaningful partial-brain interface, I think we’re roughly four or five years away.”

“With artificial intelligence, we are summoning the demon. You know all those stories where there’s the guy with the pentagram and the holy water and he’s like, yeah, he’s sure he can control the demon? Doesn’t work out.”

“It’s great when the emperor is Marcus Aurelius. It’s not so great when the emperor is Caligula.”

“Elon wants all the toys that Larry has. They’re like these two superpowers. They’re friends, but there’s a lot of tension in their relationship.” A rivalry of this kind might be best summed up by a line from the vainglorious head of the fictional tech behemoth Hooli, on HBO’s Silicon Valley: “I don’t want to live in a world where someone  else makes the world a better place better than we do.”

“Full-on A.I. is on the order of magnitude of extraterrestrials landing,” Thiel said. “There are some very deeply tricky questions around this . . . . If you really push on how do we make A.I. safe, I don’t think people have any clue. We don’t even know what A.I. is. It’s very hard to know how it would be controllable.”

He went on: “There’s some sense in which the A.I. question encapsulates all of people’s hopes and fears about the computer age. I think people’s intuitions do just really break down when they’re pushed to these limits because we’ve never dealt with entities that are smarter than humans on this planet.”

Tesla converted an entire island to solar with new microgrid product developed by SolarCity

The island of Ta’u in American Samoa has been using diesel generators and burning over 100,000 gallons of fuel per year in order to supply its nearly 600 residents with electricity.

electrek.co

The company deployed a 1.4-megawatt solar array and a 6-megawatt hour energy storage system with 60 Tesla Powerpacks. The system is what is called a microgrid and it’s now the island’s main source of energy.

“Ta’u is not a postcard from the future, it’s a snapshot of what is possible right now. Renewable power is an economical, practical solution for a growing number of locations and energy needs, and islands that have traditionally relied on fossil fuels can easily transition to microgrids powered by solar and storage today.”

The project was funded by the American Samoa Economic Development Authority, the Environmental Protection Agency, and the Department of Interior, and is expected to allow the island to save significantly on energy costs.

Tesla is using the project as an example of what microgrids can do for communities in remote areas. The company is also invested in similar smaller projects in Africa through the startup Off Grid Electric.

SpaceX plans worldwide satellite Internet with low latency, gigabit speed

SpaceX designing low-Earth orbit satellites to dramatically reduce latency.

arstechnica.com

Musk has been working on the satellite Internet project for at least two years, and SpaceX received $1 billion in funding from Google and Fidelity Investments in January 2015 to support satellite manufacturing and space transport.

SpaceX wants to launch 4,425 satellites into low-Earth orbits, with altitudes ranging from 715 miles to 823 miles. By contrast, the existing HughesNet satellite network has an altitude of 22,000 miles.

SpaceX’s plan for low orbits would greatly reduce latency. As we’ve previously written, current satellite Internet systems suffer from high latency, meaning that data packets must travel great distances between Earth and satellites, resulting in noticeable delays for Internet users.

SpaceX expects its own latencies to be between 25 and 35ms, similar to the latencies measured for wired Internet services. Current satellite ISPs have latencies of 600ms or more, according to FCC measurements.

Elon Musk wants to sell people solar roofs that look great. Here's his much anticipated design

After hinting for weeks about a groundbreaking design to lure more customers to solar energy, billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk on Friday showcased a line of high-design roof tiles that generate power from the sun without the clunky panels sold by most companies.

www.latimes.com|Los Angeles Times

“It needs to be beautiful, affordable, and seamlessly integrated. If all of those things are true, why would you go any other direction?”, Elon Musk

Using a special coating, the tiles appearance changes based on the viewing angle. The coating basically becomes transparent when seen directly but from the angle of the street, it looks like an average slate shingle or terra cotta style and it essentially camouflages the underlying solar cells. Musk said that they are working with 3M on the coating.

The presentation also highlighted the fact that the tiles are hydrographically printed, making each one a “special snowflake.” This will allow two houses side-by-side to have the same style without a cookie cutter sameness pervading the neighborhood.

Musk said the company would roll out the solar shingles by summer, starting in California, the largest U.S. solar market.

On Tuesday, Elon Musk is expected to outline a plan to send human colonists to Mars.

Colonizing Mars certainly won't be easy, and if it ever happens, that probably won't be until the mid-2020s or 2030s. But if Musk has his way, he'll set up a permanent home for humanity on Mars, and that opens up some intriguing legal questions.

Mars belongs to everybody, according to the Outer Space Treaty, which the United States signed back in 1967. The treaty says nobody can own a celestial body. How might that affect Musk's plans?

Although Musk's hypothetical colony wouldn't legally be an American colony, it would still be subject to American laws. That's because even if the Mars mission launches from Kazakhstan or French Guiana, SpaceX is an American company and the colonists would be traveling on an American ship.

Maritime laws provide a good example of the type of legal system we could expect on the red planet. Like international waters, nobody can own Mars, so instead each ship needs to follow the rules of the country whose flag it flies under. And, just like sailors, Mars explorers are still expected to abide by those rules even when they're off the ship.

Currently, if you want to launch a rocket into space, you have to ask the government for permission. Then, depending on your activities in space, you have to apply for a second license to do specific things. For example, if you're launching a telecom satellite, you'll want to talk to the FCC.

However, as of yet "there is no license specifically for dealing with the legal implications of space colonization," says von der Dunk. In fact, it's not even clear which office would be in charge of giving out those licenses. NASA? The FAA? A whole new branch of the government?

We're supposed to avoid contaminating the celestial bodies that we explore, according to the Outer Space Treaty. Not only does that mean 'don't spread trash all over the solar system,' but it's generally interpreted to mean 'keep your microbes to yourself,' too.

...

"The U.S. licensing process should make sure that the activities of Elon Musk and others do not violate key principles of planetary protection," says von der Dunk. "The U.S. has the power to make those binding of Elon Musk and whoever flies under his flag."

Interviewer: Do you think people that want to be useful today should get PhDs?

Elon: Mostly not.

Elon: ...  People sometimes think technology just automatically gets better every year but actually it doesn't. It only gets better if smart people work like crazy to make it better. That's how any technology actually gets better. By itself, technology, if people don't work at it, actually will decline. Look at the history of civilizations,many civilizations. Look at, say, ancient Egypt, where they were able to build these incredible pyramids and then they basically forgot how to build pyramids. And even hieroglyphics. They forgot how to read hieroglyphics. Or if you look at Rome and how they were able to build these incredible roadways and aqueducts and indoor plumbing, they forgot how to do all of those things. There are many such examples in history. So I think we should always bear in mind that entropy is not on your side.

Interviewer: One thing I really like about you is you are unusually fearless and willing to go in the face of other people telling you something is crazy. And I know a lot of pretty crazy people. You still stand out. Where does that come from or how do you think about making a decision when everyone tells you, "This is a crazy idea?" Where do you get the internal strength to do that?

Elon: Well, first of all I'd say I actually think I feel fear quite strongly. So it's not as though I just have the absence of fear. I feel it quite strongly. There are just times when something is important enough that you believe in it enough that you do it in spite of fear.

Interviewer: So, speaking of important things.

Elon: It's like, people shouldn't think, well, "I feel fear about this and therefore I shouldn't do it," it's normal to feel fear. Like, you'd have to have something mentally wrong with you if you don't feel fear.

Interviewer: So, you just feel it and let the importance of it drive you to do it anyway?

Elon: Yeah. You know, actually something that can be helpful is fatalism, to some degree. If you just accept the probabilities, then that diminishes fear. When starting SpaceX, I thought the odds of success were less than 10% and I just accepted that actually probably I would just lose everything. But that maybe would make some progress. If we could just move the ball forward, even if we died, maybe some other company could pick up the baton and keep moving it forward, so we'd still do some good. Yeah, same with Tesla. I thought the odds of a car company succeeding were extremely low.

Elon: Yeah, a really talented team and they're working hard. OpenAI is structured as a 501(c)(3) non-profit. But many non-profits do not have a sense of urgency. It's fine, they don't have to have a sense of urgency, but OpenAI does because I think people really believe in the mission. I think it's important. And it's about minimizing the risk of existential harm in the future. And so I think it's going well. I'm pretty impressed with what people are doing and the talent level. And obviously, we're always looking for great people to join in the mission.

Cybersecurity expert explains why Tesla's cars are some of the toughest to hack

The same can't be said of many of the other major car manufacturers.

www.techinsider.io|Paul Szoldra

"Tesla is on the path to be the most secure car," David Kennedy, the CEO of TrustedSec, told Tech Insider. "I don’t think that they’re there yet, but I think they’re definitely striving for it."

As a white hat hacker who works with three major auto manufacturers, Kennedy has a better view than most into how cars can be exploited or manipulated remotely. He told TI that car hacking is rather trivial for many models, since most use an old technology that never had security in mind.

But that's not true for Tesla, which considers itself a technology company first, car company second.

Security researchers can score anywhere from $100 to $10,000 if they find a bug in one of Tesla's cars, its app, or websites. According to the BugCrowd website, at least 135 bugs have been found so far.

Among hacks that were reported and quickly fixed: The ability to perform any action an owner could do through the touchscreen or app, which includes unlocking doors, or starting and stopping the car. That's a sharp contrast from how Nissan reacted when its own app was found with similar issues. Instead of fixing it, the company shut it down.

"Tesla is essentially running some of the core security principles we want to see in a car, but," Kennedy said. "If I hacked the main server infrastructure, I could take all of the Teslas off the road."

Elon Musk provides new details on his “mind blowing” mission to Mars

In an exclusive interview, Musk said he hopes to land people on the Red Planet in 2025.

www.washingtonpost.com

“Essentially what we’re saying is we’re establishing a cargo route to Mars,” he said. “It’s a regular cargo route. You can count on it. It’s going happen every 26 months. Like a train leaving the station. And if scientists around the world know that they can count on that, and it’s going to be inexpensive, relatively speaking compared to anything in the past, then they will plan accordingly and come up with a lot of great experiments.”

SpaceX's 2018 trip would use what the company calls its Dragon spacecraft boosted into space by Falcon Heavy, a massive rocket powered by 27 first-stage engines. When it flies for the first time later this year, it would become the “most powerful operational rocket in the world by a factor of two,” SpaceX says on its website. Falcon Heavy would have more than 5 million pounds of thrust at liftoff, or about the equivalent of 18 747 airplanes.

Then in 2022, Musk said he hoped to launch what the company now sometimes refers to as the Mars Colonial Transporter, designed to bring a colony to Mars.

“But I do want to emphasize this is not about sending a few people to Mars,” he continued. “It’s about having an architecture that would enable the creation of a self-sustaining city on Mars with the objective of being a multi-planet species and a true space-faring civilization and one day being out there among the stars.”

He said he hadn’t yet figured out who would be among the first to go, or how they would be chosen. But he said they would be pioneers willing to take the risk. "Hopefully there’s enough people who are like that who are willing to go build the foundation, at great risk, for a Martian city.

“It’s dangerous and probably people will die—and they’ll know that,” he continued. “And then they’ll pave the way, and ultimately it will be very safe to go to Mars, and it will very comfortable. But that will be many years in the future.”