In the first half, Martin Ford, who founded a Silicon Valley-based software development firm, discussed how technology, AI, and robotics are moving toward making many "good jobs" obsolete. While human-like cyborgs interacting with society are still perhaps years away, we're going to increasingly see routine tasks performed by automation and software, and this will put a lot of people out of work, he noted. Though rote manufacturing jobs have been automated for a long time in the US, most work that requires dexterity, visual perception, and intellectual abilities has continued to be performed by humans. Yet, that is starting to change, he said. "The group of jobs that's really reserved for people is getting smaller and smaller...as the machines are getting capable of doing more and more, and that is something I would really expect to accelerate over the next decade or two."
This technological progress will keep moving faster and faster, "and as a result, it's likely to happen before we are ready...and at a very surprising rate," he cautioned. As we enter this new age, the challenge we'll face is learning to adapt our system to this increased level of robotics and automation, and making sure everyone benefits from it, Ford remarked. As far as fears associated with AI becoming smarter than humans, that is still decades away, he added.
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In the latter half, cryptozoologist Ken Gerhard (pictured above) talked about sightings of various cryptids such as Bigfoot, Mothman, and the Loch Ness Monster, as well as his investigations into anomalous events and creatures in the state of Alaska, which he's explored in his History Channel TV series, Missing in Alaska. Like the Bermuda Triangle, Alaska has a geographical triangle where strange disappearances have occurred. This area has seen a number of cases of missing aircraft, such as a military plane carrying 44 people that completely vanished in 1950, and no trace was ever found despite an intensive search, he reported. One theory suggests there could be vortexes or portals in the triangle that have geomagnetic anomalies which are related to the disappearances.
In Alaska, Bigfoot or the Hairy Man has typically been described as similar to the Sasquatch of the Pacific Northwest-- standing 7-8 ft. tall, completely covered in hair, very broad-shouldered, and having no neck, Gerhard cited. Yet, there have also been Alaskan reports of a creature that stands 12-15 ft. tall. A legendary creature called the Kushtaka by the indigenous people of Southeastern Alaska, bears the characteristics of both man and otter, is said to be able to shapeshift, and seeks to lure humans out into the wilderness, he detailed. Gerhard also touched on such subjects as Thunderbirds, Dogman, Project HAARP, Flying Humanoids, and chupacabras.
News segment guests: Mish Shedlock, Christian Wilde, Steve Kates