What I Read This Week...
You can't trust Congress's budget estimates, Elon Musk announces the first Neuralink implant, and children who transitioned from one gender to another are de-transitioning
Caught my eye…
In 2021 and 2022, Congress passed several subsidies that made Obamacare significantly cheaper and more accessible on the basis that it would cost just $64Bn over three years. But the cost for this year alone is expected to reach $70Bn. Other open-ended subsidies like the pandemic Medicaid expansion cost more than six times Congress’s original $50 billion estimate, and the COVID Employee Retention Tax Credit, initially estimated at $55Bn, may cost upwards of $470Bn. You can’t trust Congress’s budget estimates.
Elon Musk announced that his company Neuralink has implanted its first brain device into a human patient. The device, which uses extremely thin wires that connect to a part of the brain responsible for the intent of movement, is designed to treat neurological disorders and help victims of serious back injuries regain movement. Longer-term, the company envisions that the device will be used to enhance human intelligence to keep up with advances in AI.
A small but growing number of children who transitioned from one gender to another now regret their decision and are de-transitioning back to their original gender. Studies show that ~80% of cases of childhood gender dysphoria resolve themselves by puberty and ~30% of people on hormone therapy discontinue its use within four years. Nonetheless, many clinicians are encouraging procedures with irreversible consequences for fertility without first attempting to resolve underlying psychological issues that may be unrelated to gender identity.
Other Reading…
Elon Musk Cannot Keep Tesla Pay Package Worth More Than $55 Billion, Judge Rules (AP)
‘The Joe Rogan Experience’ Will No Longer Be Exclusive to Spotify (CNN)
Meta’s Powerful AI Language Model Has Leaked Online - What Happens Now? (The Verge)
Amazon Scraps Deal to Buy Maker of Roomba Amid Regulatory Scrutiny (NY Times)
Billionaire Peter Thiel Backs Doping-Friendly Olympics Rival (Forbes)
WHO announced that the growth in cancer is due to old people ... Unwelcome news: The WHO’s International Agency for Research on Cancer projects that the world will see more than 35 million new cancer cases by 2050, a nearly 80 percent increase from the estimated 20 million cases globally in 2022. The increase is partly due to expected population growth, but it’s also because the WHO thinks elderly people will make up a greater share of the total and people worldwide will continue to smoke and drink and breathe polluted air ..... https://www.politico.com/newsletters/future-pulse/2024/02/02/a-cancer-reality-check-00139250
Remember "GDP is defined by the following formula: GDP = Consumption + Investment + Government Spending + Net Exports" so just based on this formula, the government can increase the GDP by spending more .... regardless of what this does to deficit ... https://www.britannica.com/money/what-is-gdp