Machine Learning is being used to place refugees where they'll be most successful

Annie - the name of the technology uses a number of variables such as age, languages spoken, physical ailments and skills to determine the best possible placement for a refugee in the US. The current process largely relies on language for placement decision and can takes days. Annie can do it nearly instantly.

https://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2019/04/how-technology-could-revolutionize-refugee-resettlement/587383/

Key Takeaway

Issues that have historically been highly political in nature will continue to become more technological - as long as the technology is used positively - we'll be able to remove gray areas like opinions on national security and economics, and focus on prosperity.

The USPS is putting self driving trucks on the road on Tuesday

It's a two week program to see how well self-driving trucks will work, and is operated by a San Diego startup called TuSimple.

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-tusimple-autonomous-usps/self-driving-trucks-begin-mail-delivery-test-for-u-s-postal-service-idUSKCN1SR0YB?feedType=RSS&feedName=technologyNews

Key Takeaway

Self driving trucks that aren't owned or designed by Amazon is a great sign of a lack of monopoly on who will own our roadways. More importantly - the USPS putting this into operation as quickly as they are means that Amazon won't be able to just jump in and overtake them completely... Though that may come later anyway.

A not-for-profit is launching a satellite system that will track pollution down to its source

WattTime launched a service on Tuesday that will allow governments to see exactly where air pollution is coming from. This is a huge alternative to the current system where companies self-report their pollution (I don't know much about the current process, so if any of you are experts here, please weigh in).

https://www.vox.com/energy-and-environment/2019/5/7/18530811/global-power-plants-real-time-pollution-data

Key Takeaway

Provided we allow for a system like this to monitor pollution and this isn't killed off by lobbyists, this may completely change the way that we tax businesses for their carbon emissions. The credit system could become obsolete, and replaced by true 1:1 taxes on what a specific power plant or manufacturer produces.

Like the first story this week - this is a great example of how technology has gotten to a point where we don't have to rely on humans to make guesses anymore. We can put these systems in place to get real-time, granular data that allow for real actionable decision making.