• “TODAY’S BUSINESS CYCLE IS AT AN INFLECTION POINT that happens maybe once every 125 years, last being the Industrial Revolution, with railroads, electricity and internal combustion which took GDP from .6% to 3% growth. Now, with cost of intelligence collapsing faster than any technology in human history – software costs dropping over 90% and task reliability increasing 500% last year alone – platforms are converging simultaneously and exponentially: Blockchain, Robotics, Energy Storage, and AI. The question isn’t whether the future arrives, it’s here. The issue for big businesses and investors is whether we’re positioned for it, or watching from the sidelines.”  [PETER DIAMANDIS]   DCG is now accepting Client Advisory Board engagements.

 

  • MID-DAY ‘POWER NAPS’ GENERALLY BENEFIT IMPROVEMENTS TO MOOD, ALERTNESS AND MEMORY, however longer-term impacts differ widely according to multiple studies over the past couple decades, including (1) adding years to lifespan by slowing the rate at which brains shrink with age; (2) a 37% lower risk of dying from heart disease (a Harvard study); (3) higher risk of developing diabetes, cardiovascular trouble, or Alzheimer; (4) impacting phases of the 90-minute circadian sleep cycle which can cause wake-up feeling groggy and/or struggle falling asleep at night.  While coffee is a popular antidote to mid-day drowsiness, another study found Power Naps to be conclusively more effective at improving alertness and memory, with a NASA study concluding that a 26-minute nap enhanced pilots’ physiological awareness & performance. All agree that ‘timing’ is critical and risk of adverse effects increases from taking naps longer than an hour.  [ECONOMIST]

 

  • AMERICA’S ‘VICE ECONOMY’ HAS TAKEN A FURTHER STEP AWAY from our Founder’s vision. Ben Franklin feared that “only a virtuous people are capable of freedom”; John Adams said that “our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people, inadequate to govern any other.” And today, impacts from the three fastest growing sectors, in terms of GDP growth, have been accompanied by increasingly unhealthy impacts: (1) Legalized THC causes increased schizophrenia, laziness & impaired driving; (2) Ubiquitous pornography normalizes sexual aggression which disrupts many romantic relationships; and (3) Legalized app gambling causes increased debt, bankruptcy, corruption & suicide. Newest entry to the gambling vice is legal betting on anything, anywhere in America, after a federal court ruled that bets can be taken on results of U.S. Elections, with CNN is now promoting a web-based platform to “integrate ‘prediction markets’ into it’s global newsroom, with graphics put on air and links to the Kalshi betting platform (where recent betting included whether or not the U.S. would invade Venezuela).   [WASHINGTON EXAMINER] 

 

  • “THE DISCOVERY OF BLOATED AND FRAUDULENT VOTER ROLLS in several mostly Democrat-run states, due to state dereliction, incompetence, or corruption has prompted the Justice Department to sue to compel their disclosure… A congressional bill proposed by Republicans – the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility Act (SAVE) – would establish national standards, such as voter ID and proof of citizenship. This, of course, is being objected to by Democrats, whose proposed bill facilitate power grabs (which failed to pass in 2019 or 2021) by attempting to nationalize ballot harvesting, ban any State from requiring any form of ID, allow felons and 16-year-olds to vote, and greatly expand mail-in balloting received up to ten days post elections, along with other tactics ripe for fraud.”  [PATRIOT POST]

 

THOUGHTS FOR THE WEEK

           

  • Children’s violence toward their parents – incidents of hitting, kicking or throwing objects – occurs quite frequently for one-in-three kids between ages 11 – 13, and nearly one-in-seven ages 12 – 24. Latest research at University of Zurich involving over 1,500 participants found mostly isolated incidents in the midst of parent-child conflicts, where family patterns of physical punishment & verbal aggressiveness were then modeled by the kids, versus families with supportive & constructive structure where parents showed consistent interest and offered emotional support. [REAL CLEAR SCIENCE]

 

  • “Synthetic smut will soon be flooding the internet, as big AI firms, struggling to justify their sky-high valuations, are going after the $100 billion yearly revenues. But AI is more revolutionary than evolutionary, because it can produce ‘customized’ porn on demand, limited only to imagination and some restrictions in some countries. AI video generators now cut production time for a two-minute clip from days to hours, replacing amateur actors & models – who now make money directly from fans on subscription platforms.” A brave new world. [ECONOMIST]

 

  • The Academic Echo Chamber which stifles debate and silences critics. From hoax papers to race mobs, today’s cultural revolution is very closely mirroring that of China’s. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uZhflaToy1E