Why Playgrounds Aren’t Just for Kids, Seaweed Mining, and a Tech Billionaire Interviews His Own AI Clone

Happy May! In this week’s edition of the newsletter, you’ll learn about some promising new research into mining precious metals trapped in seaweed, a desperately needed solution for power hungry AI startups, how Daniel Radcliffe reinvented himself after Harry Potter, why playgrounds aren’t just for kids anymore and lessons from Reid Hoffman’s fascinatingly creepy experiment interviewing an AI clone version of himself.

In bonus stories, you’ll read about a cleverly useless design from Nike for a poncho that converts into a tent, how organ transplant patients might change their personalities and even their sexual orientations after surgery and why next year we might see a category for stunt work at the Oscars. Enjoy this week’s stories!

Stay curious,

Can Seaweed Mining Become the Next Billion Dollar Industry?

A tiny branch of the US Department of Energy focused on high-risk projects just awarded $5 million dollars to three startup ventures that are each independently “investigating whether seaweed can serve as a practical source of critical materials, such as platinum and rhodium, as well as rare earth elements, including neodymium, lanthanum, yttrium, and dysprosium.” 

Aside from protecting coastlines, sheltering marine life and even serving as a food source for humans … scientists think seaweed may also be quite good at capturing and storing these precious minerals. The interesting thing is that in order for this to make financial sense, these researchers need to find a way to extract the minerals WITHOUT destroying the seaweed in the process. 

This makes it different from many other forms of mining that leave land barren or destroyed afterwards. In fact, environmental advocates hope that this sort of mining, if it works, could eventually replace more destructive types and help protect the Earth in the long run.

Lessons from Daniel Radcliffe’s Journey to Leave Harry Potter Behind and Reinvent Himself

If you were cast into the role of a lifetime at the age of 11 and went on to play one of the most beloved bespectacled characters in modern movie (or book) history, what would you do when the series was over? Plenty of child stars struggle to leave the past behind, choosing to either escape the spotlight altogether or trying and failing to recreate their success. Daniel Radcliffe is different. 

In this profile piece about his journey to be seen as more than just the boy wizard from JK Rowling’s book series, you might just find some useful insights about what it takes to reinvent yourself at any age. It is the reinvention that often makes people fascinating.

So if you happen to be in a moment of your life right now where you’re trying to figure out what to do next, consider this beautiful thought … if the actor who grew up playing Harry Potter can break out of how people see him and become more than that, you can too.

Playgrounds and Swing Sets Aren’t Just for Kids Anymore

Here’s a radical thought that really shouldn’t be: what if playgrounds were designed for teenagers instead of younger kids? At the Anna C. Verna Playground in Philadelphia’s FDR Park, that’s exactly what they did and it’s getting rave reviews and lots of usage so far.

The idea is an intriguing one because it challenges our perceptions of how spaces should be used. Great urban design should work for as many people as possible. It’s also why I love this idea of designing a playground to remind people of all ages about the importance of play.

Too many playgrounds are built as places for parents and caregivers to watch their kids play. Not enough are designed to let adults play alongside those kids. Or on their own. When we can, it not only has a positive impact on our lives, but it also makes our communities nicer places to live, too.

AI Startups Are Too Power Hungry, But Scientists Are Working on A Solution

In aviation, most people know that a huge portion of the costs in that industry come from paying for fuel. Recent projections are that it will account for more than 30% of the overall expenses for most airlines. When it comes to AI startups, investors and industry watchers are starting to get a similar picture of just how big of an impact the energy costs are likely to have on that growing sector. 

An article from the MIT Tech Review suggested that using AI to generate just one image uses as much power as charging your phone. The harsh financial reality of these surging expenses are already driving some AI startups out of business and likely many more in the coming months. 

Assuming this continues in the same direction as aviation, the new reality for AI startups will be huge barriers to entry that prevent new startups from being able to effectively compete or scale … which leaves the future of AI to just a few big players like Microsoft, Google and Meta/Facebook.

Luckily, there are many scientists working on a “recipe book” to make AI less power hungry. The future of AI startups may depend on their success.

Reid Hoffman Interviews an AI Cloned Version of Himself to See How Good It Really Is

When you are a notoriously geeky tech billionaire, having an AI clone of yourself built and trained on all your books and public videos and then interviewing yourself probably seems like a good idea. Netflix founder Reid Hoffman just did that and started by asking his clone to summarize one of his books in the fictional Star Trek language of Klingon.

It’s a bit of fun to introduce a wildly controversial idea: realistic AI clone is nearly indistinguishable from the real person it was trained on.

As you watch this interview, you’ll have to admit the depiction is pretty realistic. In the conversation, Reid does briefly tackle the big question about the ethics of this technology while simultaneously dismissing it as relatively unimportant in his case because he’s “doing it collaboratively.”

Is permission enough here? What happens if others get their hands on his clone and use it in their own ways which may not be so innocent? And is the idea that an AI clone of any of us can actually be controlled an illusion in itself? This raises so many questions, which may not be answered fully for a decade or longer.    

Even More Non-Obvious Stories …

Every week I always curate more stories than I’m able to explore in detail. Instead of skipping those stories, I started to share them in this section so you can skim the headlines and click on any that spark your interest:

How are these stories curated?

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This Non-Obvious Insights Newsletter is curated by Rohit Bhargava.

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