Update on Exponential Technologies Around the World

Dam-Building Robots, BMW and Tesla’s Add-on Pricing, Driverless Uber Rides and More

One of the things I'd like to talk to you about is, in fact, the future being brought to us by exponential technologies, the latest innovations and advances, science and research that are bringing to us incredible innovations that are going to impact virtually every aspect of life on our planet. China is building a dam that's 590 feet tall. It'll generate 5 billion kilowatt hours of electricity every year. That's a half a billion more than the Hoover Dam. And it's being built entirely by robots. No human labor. A 3D digital model shows how much material is needed. A robot gathers the material, takes it to the right spot, and the robots do all the paving and rolling to finish each layer with no human workers. The project is expected to be completed faster with no errors. Robots working 24/7. They'll have the job done in just two years. It took five years to build the Hoover Dam and 96 people died during construction from drowning, being hit by falling material or injured when rock was dynamited. With no humans involved, safety goes up, costs go down, and the time to completion is accelerated. Robots are putting a lot of people out of work.

Driverless Uber and Lyft Rides in China

Two cities in China have approved ride hailing services like Uber and Lyft. What's the big deal? These cars don't have anybody driving them or anybody sitting where the driver ought to be sitting. An automobile that is truly autonomous. Each of these cities are going to have five of these cars. They're going to operate in a five square mile area, and you'll be able to get in an automobile that literally has no one behind the wheel. In fact, it doesn't even have a wheel.

The Growing Need for EV Chargers

Meanwhile, the Biden administration wants 40% of all new car sales to be electric vehicles by the end of the decade. Now, to power them all, we're going to need a million chargers. Right now, there are only 46,000 chargers all across the country and most of them are in California. Big problem. A survey of charging stations in San Francisco found that 23% of them don't work. Broken screens, connection failures, damaged plugs. 60% of the drivers who own electric vehicles say they've encountered non-functioning chargers. Let me ask you this: When's the last time you had a problem finding a gas station or finding a gas pump at a gas station that worked? We've got a long way to go with electric vehicle adoption if we don't get the chargers up and running and wide availability, that's going to be a real cog that gets in the way of adoption. So this innovative technology is pretty cool, but it's going to be a while before we really get it up to par.

BMW and Tesla’s Subscription Services for Luxury Add-Ons

Meanwhile, BMW is doing something unique and I'm not sure you're going to like it. BMW, like a lot of luxury vehicles, offers car seats that are heated. Press a button, your seat warms up. And that's really terrific if it's cold outside. But BMW is now charging $18 a month for that button to operate. They're not doing this in the United States yet, but they are doing it in England, Germany, New Zealand, South Korea and South Africa. They plan on introducing this in the US soon. In other words, you're going to have a monthly subscription fee for your car, kind of like you do for Netflix. We're going to have to wait and see if consumers in the US go for it or not. By the way, BMW is not alone in this idea. Tesla's mileage depends on what you pay for the car. In other words, all of the Tesla’s have a certain range, but the range you actually get is based on the software, not the car itself. Pay more. The car will go further, pay less, and you'll have to charge it more often. This kind of a trend might become more and more common as automakers look to increase their profits while reducing the base price of the automobiles.

Using Math to Protect Your Personal Data

You know, one of the big fears that people have is that your data will get hacked. How easy is it for hackers to access your personal information? Well, now researchers at NEST, that's the National Institute of Standards and Technology, these researchers have approved the use of mathematical equations that just might protect data from hackers. And if so, you'll see it on your electronic systems before the end of the decade.

New Ways to Grow Crops in Salty Seawater

Researchers are trying to grow rice, wheat and corn in seawater. Seaweed has the same genes as rice, wheat and corn. But in rice, wheat and corn, those genes are dormant. If these researchers can activate those genes, we could be growing crops in the ocean. This would be a huge step to eliminating famine and food shortage on a global basis. The innovations being created in the field of exponential technologies. I talk about all of it in my book, The Truth about Your Future.