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Elon Musk's 1tn pay deal approved by Tesla shareholders

BBC News

Elon Musk's $1tn pay deal approved by Tesla shareholders Tesla shareholders have approved a record-breaking pay package for boss Elon Musk that could be worth nearly $1tn (£760bn). The unprecedented deal was approved by 75% of Tesla shareholders who cast votes at the firm's annual general meeting on Thursday. The deal requires Musk, who is already the world's richest man, to drastically raise the electric car firm's market value over a period of years. If he meets various targets, he will be rewarded with hundreds of millions of new shares. The scale of the deal is controversial, but the Tesla board argued that Musk might leave the company if it was not approved - and that it could not afford to lose him.


A Dark Ecologist Warns Against Hope

The New Yorker

For years, Paul Kingsnorth was one of the most visible members of the green movement. Then he walked away from it. Now he wants us to walk away from everything else. For Kingsnorth, the Industrial Revolution marked the point of no return, the moment when we decided to play gods and turn our backs on the Earth. In 2014, Paul Kingsnorth was sunk in doubt. He was forty-one and had been on the green movement's front lines since the nineteen-nineties--working for Greenpeace and EarthAction, chaining himself to a bridge, getting tear-gassed outside a G-8 summit.


No, AI isn't going to kill us all, despite what this new book says

New Scientist

No, AI isn't going to kill us all, despite what this new book says In the totality of human existence, there are an awful lot of things for us to worry about. Money troubles, climate change and finding love and happiness rank highly on the list for many people, but for a dedicated few, one concern rises above all else: that artificial intelligence will eventually destroy the human race. Eliezer Yudkowsky at the Machine Intelligence Research Institute (MIRI) in California has been proselytising this cause for a quarter of a century, to a small if dedicated following. Then we entered the ChatGPT era, and his ideas on AI safety were thrust into the mainstream, echoed by tech CEOs and politicians alike. Writing with Nate Soares, also at MIRI, is Yudkowsky's attempt to distil his argument into a simple, easily digestible message that will be picked up across society.


Mind-blowing effects of nature on our brains revealed in new book

New Scientist

Marc Berman is out to start a revolution. I am already a convert to his cause – and you may be too, having read in New Scientist about the extraordinary benefits of a nature walk, the healing power of plants and the magic of urban green spaces. If so, perhaps you will think there is nothing to be gained from a book about Berman's research. Nature and the Mind is for everyone from the adept to the uninitiated – it isn't simply written to educate and entertain, it is a call to action. This is the story of how an anxious boy, warned off studying medicine by his mother, a nurse, and law by his father, a lawyer, enrolled as an undergraduate in engineering and then went on to establish the revolutionary field of environmental neuroscience.


Can amazing tech reboot healthcare? A new book explores the future

New Scientist

Will robots routinely take cheek swabs in the future – and if so, how soon will this happen? Robotic pets that boost well-being. It is hard to predict the future with any certainty, but, as a biomedical reporter, I was curious to read a book that envisions how fast-evolving technology could transform healthcare. In Hacking Humanity: How technology can save your health, and your life, Lara Lewington draws on more than a decade of experience as a technology reporter at the BBC to cover an impressive array of innovations: from medical robots to lab-grown organs and genetic editing to treat certain conditions. "Let me show you the way to a future where we shall be hacking humanity," she writes in the introduction.


Inside OpenAI's empire: A conversation with Karen Hao

MIT Technology Review

These are our subscriber-only events where you get to listen in to conversations between editors and reporters. Now, I'm delighted to say we've got an absolute cracker of an event today. I'm very happy to have our prodigal daughter, Karen Hao, a fabulous AI journalist, here with us to talk about her new book. Hello, Karen, how are you doing? Thank you so much for having me back, Niall.


Book reveals Biden advisors declined to have president take a cognitive test in February 2024: Report

FOX News

Former Biden administration aide Michael LaRosa claimed the White House pressured CNN to not book him after he left the White House, which CNN denied to Fox News Digital. A new book revealed that former President Joe Biden's team chose not to have the president take a cognitive test in February 2024, over concerns that taking the test itself would raise more questions about his age, The New York Times reported Sunday. Authors Tyler Pager, a reporter for The New York Times, Josh Dawsey, a reporter for the Wall Street Journal and Isaac Arnsdorf, a reporter for the Washington Post, wrote the book, titled, "2024: How Trump Retook the White House and the Democrats Lost America," which is set to be released in July. The book, one of several about the tumultuous 2024 presidential election, details that Biden's top aides debated having him complete a cognitive test to quell concerns about his age. The aides were reportedly confident Biden would pass the test.


Nate Silver's New Book, "On the Edge," Reviewed

The New Yorker

Keeping a poker face had never struck me as much of a feat--until I had to keep one. My pulse quickened, my cheeks felt flushed, and my eyes were desperate to dart and size up the pot. What had been a mediocre hand was transformed, after the flop came down, into something spectacular: every card from seven to jack--a straight. All that remained was to play it cool and build up my cash prize. The bets started small, and then grew. The next two cards looked innocuous enough.


Nick Bostrom Made the World Fear AI. Now He Asks: What if It Fixes Everything?

WIRED

Philosopher Nick Bostrom is surprisingly cheerful for someone who has spent so much time worrying about ways that humanity might destroy itself. In photographs he often looks deadly serious, perhaps appropriately haunted by the existential dangers roaming around his brain. When we talk over Zoom, he looks relaxed and is smiling. Bostrom has made it his life's work to ponder far-off technological advancement and existential risks to humanity. With the publication of his last book, Superintelligence: Paths, Dangers, Strategies, in 2014, Bostrom drew public attention to what was then a fringe idea--that AI would advance to a point where it might turn against and delete humanity. To many in and outside of AI research the idea seemed fanciful, but influential figures including Elon Musk cited Bostrom's writing.


Deepak Chopra says success is 'the ability to have love and compassion' in life -- and he's bullish on AI

FOX News

Holistic health expert and bestselling author Deepak Chopra shares a message of hope as his latest book, "Quantum Body," is published: "We have a common identity. Bestselling author and entrepreneur Deepak Chopra may be known the world over as a holistic health and wellness guru -- he's counseled scores of people to lead better, calmer and healthier lives over the decades -- but he also has a lighter side. In an on-camera interview this week just as his new book, "Optimum Body: The New Science of Living a Longer, Healthier, More Vital Life," was published, Chopra poked a little fun at himself when asked how he takes care of personal well-being. "Well, my family doesn't take me seriously, and that's good," he said. "And so," he said, "I don't take myself seriously." Chopra went on about how he personally stays healthy. "I sleep well," he said. And my only purpose is to serve the world. I don't have any personal ambition. And that means no stress, either."