Not Boring by Packy McCormick - Weekly Dose of Optimism #79
Weekly Dose of Optimism #79Nuclear Loan, Decarbonization, Magrathea, Neuralink, VX-548, GooGooGaG.aiHi friends 👋, Happy Friday and welcome back to our 79th Weekly Dose of Optimism. Meta is BACK — the stock rose 15% in extended trading yesterday, after the company reported 25% revenue growth and its first ever dividend. It’s now trading at 5x its November ‘22 low. You may be asking yourself, “why is Dan leading off the Weekly Dose with a gushing review of Meta?” Well, it turns out that I think a front-footed Zuck is good for the world. Let’s even put aside that he’s pledged a significant portion of his personal wealth toward “curing all diseases.” Zuck just knows how to invest in the frontier at scale — he’s proven it with mobile, AR/VR, and AI (among other things.) Very few other operators have the capabilities, control, and ambition to continue investing tens of billions of dollars in long payback projects. Sue me: I think Zuck is good for the world. Let’s get to it. Today’s Not Boring is brought to you by… Alto Join the hundreds of Not Boring readers who are already exploring Alto Marketplace this year. With Alto, you’ve got options. Its self-directed IRA platform lets you invest in a range of alternative assets across private equity, venture capital, real assets like farmland and fine wine, cryptocurrency, private startup angel deals, and more. Better yet, investing in alts with dollars earmarked for retirement means you can make long-term and tax-advantaged decisions. Here are the top three reasons why Alto is a no-brainer:
Plus, you can now also check out the new Alto Marketplace – the premier destination for discoverability-driven securities investing. As we start off the New Year, make a good decision and learn more about Alto. (Of course, IRA rules and regulations apply, and you should seek advice from a tax professional when making investments. Alternative asset investments are inherently risky and are intended for sophisticated investors.) (1) Biden to Offer $1.5 Billion Loan to Restart Michigan Nuclear Power Plant Ari Natter for Bloomberg
Did Age of Miracles do it again or did Age of Miracles do it again? Uncle Joe must’ve really enjoyed Season 1, because this is about the most pro-nuclear thing a president has done since the 1970s! The Biden administration plans to lend $1.5 billion to restart Holtec’s Palisades nuclear plant in Michigan, which originally closed for financial reasons. One power plant isn’t going to really move the needle on achieving the Biden Admin’s climate goals, but it is a strong signal that the administration is supporting the nuclear industry. Like any deal like this there’s a bunch of local, state, and federal politicking going on behind the scenes — how many jobs will this produce, will this get bipartisan support, etc., etc., — but overall, this initiative reflects Biden’s broader strategy of maintaining nuclear energy's role in the U.S. energy mix. (2) Decarbonization: Stocks and flows, abundance and scarcity, net zero From Nat Bullard Speaking of clean energy, Nat Bullard just published his annual 200-slide presentation on Decarbonization. The impressive deck covers “the state of decarbonization told with climate, capital markets, technology, and sector data.” You should go through all 200-slides (will take 10 mins), but sharing some summary points below:
Bullard captures the point of his presentation, saying, “A coherent view of the future begins with the clearest possible view of the present.” We couldn’t agree more. David Deutsch’s Principle of Optimism: “All evils are caused by insufficient knowledge.” (2a) US Department of Defense forms $28M partnership with Magrathea
Packy here. One of the challenges to decarbonization is mining and refining all of raw materials we’ll need to make batteries, solar panels, and nuclear reactors. Some people believe we’ll simply run out of resources. They’re wrong. As demand increases, entrepreneurs are incentivized to come up with new ways to find, mine, and refine. Companies like Earth AI are creating more effective ways to discover and test deposits. We’re beginning to mine the 3,400 kilotons of lithium in the Salton Sea, enough to support batteries for 375 million electric vehicles. And yesterday, a startup called Magrathea announced a $28 million partnership with the DoD to produce carbon neutral magnesium from seawater and brines. Magrathea’s website says: “We’re developing generational upgrades to magnesium production technology that radically reduces cost and environmental impact.” That’s Techno-Industrial language, and another example of my belief that the best climate companies are techno-industrials in a green disguise. One of my most optimistic take is that “climate change is a very real challenge with very real negative impacts on people and the planet. But climate change is solvable, and by solving it, we unlock the next phase of civilization’s growth.” Magrathea is another piece of evidence that not only are all problems solvable, by solving them, we end up in a better spot than we were before. (3) What to know about Elon Musk's Neuralink, which put an implant into a human brain
This story is still very much developing — all we have to go is a post from Elon Musk on X — but it may be the most important story of the year. According to Musk, Neuralink has conducted its first surgical test of a brain implant, the patient is recovering well, and the initial results are promising. Neuralink first received FDA approval for this trial last May and said it wanted to enlist people with quadriplegia or ALS for the initial trial run. The goal of Neuralink is enable direct communication between the human brain and external devices, potentially enhancing cognitive abilities and treating neurological disorders. It’s starting with helping to treat these neurological disorders first — there are fewer ethical concerns and the therapies have more defined solution states — but it’s not hard to imagine a world in which we’re all walking around with a Neuralink implanted in our brains that hooks us up directly to an AGI supercomputer. The Singularity has never seemed so real. (4) Experimental Drug Cuts Off Pain at the Source, Company Says Gina Kolata for the New York Times
Vertex Pharmaceuticals has developed a drug, VX-548, which relieves moderate to severe pain without the addiction risks associated with opioids. VX-548 targets peripheral nerves, blocking pain signals before reaching the brain. Early clinical trials have shown significant pain reduction in patients undergoing common surgeries. VX-548 is potential breakthrough in pain treatment, given its efficacy and non-additive qualities. The company plans to submit the drug for the FDA approval process soon — and given the opioid crisis in the U.S., that approval can’t come soon enough. (5) This AI learnt language by seeing the world through a baby’s eyes Elizabeth Gibney for Nature
Call it Googoogag.ai cause this AI model was trained by a baby. The model, which was trained on a baby's headcam recordings, learned to recognize words by associating them with images. The findings challenge traditional beliefs about innate language knowledge. The study, which includes only 61 hours of footage, showed that the AI could match words like “crib” and “ball” to images with surprising accuracy, suggesting that language learning might largely be about forming sensory associations. Importantly, this finding contradicts theories proposed by linguists like Noam Chomsky, who argue that language acquisition requires specialized mechanisms beyond general learning processes. As the old saying goes, you can’t teach and old dog new tricks but you can teach an AI by strapping a headcam to a baby. …And that’s all for this week. If you have some time this weekend, check out Alto. We’ll be back in your inbox on Tuesday. Thanks for reading, Dan + Packy |
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