Drones and Robots

Thursday, Dec. 5, 2013, 9am to 10:30 in the Meeting Room (behind the fireplace)

For our next two meeting, we will explore the use of drones and robots, starting with the military and then migrating to commercial applications. The first meeting will focus on the increasing use of drones in combat and the possibility of autonomous drones that can kill without a human operator.  We will use the following TED Talks to start off the discussion:

• P.W. Singer: Military robots and the future of war
• Daniel Suarez: The kill decision shouldn't belong to a robot

Here is an excerpt from P.W. Singer's book, Wired for War:

When thinking about all this in the context of war, it is easy to see the attraction of building increasing levels of autonomy into military robots. The more autonomy a robot has, the less human operators have to support it. As one Pentagon report put it, “Having a dedicated operator for each robot will not pass the common sense test.” If robots don’t get higher on the autonomy scale, they don’t yield any cost or manpower savings. Moreover, it is incredibly difficult to operate a robot while trying to interpret and use the information it gathers. It can even get dangerous as it’s hard to operate a complex system while maintaining your own situational awareness in battle.

Look Ahead

After tomorrow's meeting, here is the schedule for the rest of the year:

• Nov. 28 - No meeting, Happy Thanksgiving
• Dec. 05 - Drones and Robots, Overview
• Dec. 12 - Drones and Robots, Zoom-In
• Dec. 19 - Open, Plan for next year
• Dec. 26 - No meeting, Merry Christmas

We can start a conversation on what we can do next year. Using the blog as a forum will let everybody participate. Tim has suggested the following:

PROPOSAL FOR “ZOOM-IN” DISCUSSION:

Title : Precursors to an Effective Democracy (aka. A Representative Democracy)

• Freedom of Religion
• Freedom of Speech
• Freedom of the Press
• Electoral System integrity
• Literacy beyond just functional literacy
• Universal Education (i.e. Ability to think and discern)
• Skills training
• Willingness to Compromise (essential to a democracy)
• Sense of Community (E Pluribus Unum)
• Economic System that promotes opportunity for all citizens
• Justice System that is impartial

Propose a discussion to determine:
• The accuracy and completeness of the Title.
• Judge the contemporary “health” of each precursor.
• The essential dependence of each precursor to each another.
• A consensus concerning which combination of precursors needs to be addressed first.
• Formulate an argument for such an effort.

Zoom-In on Tax Reform

Thursday, Nov. 21, 2013, 9am to 10:30 in the Meeting Room (behind the fireplace)

In our last meeting we discussed the need for tax reform, but there are many barriers. The law makers are beholden to moneyed interest for campaign contributions. Lobbiest can weaken laws by adding hidden loopholes. Tax attorneys can help the rich exploit many tax shelters. Congress can cut the budgets of tax enforcement agencies.

Even if we were to pass the laws, close the loopholes and fund tax enforcement, we need international cooperation because of the global nature to the economy. Certainly other developed countries have similar problems and should want to cooperate, but many poor nations are willing to let their national sovereignty by used to setup tax havens. No tax reform will be effective unless the problems of tax havens are addressed.

For our Zoom-In meeting on tax reform, we will take a closer look that offshore tax havens. Here are four videos which will be used as background material for our discussion. As always, anyone is welcome to lead the discussion on any of these videos or any other videos that they find.

• How Tax Shelters Work
• Tax Havens 101 - the High Cost of Going Offshore
• Tax Havens - Investigating International Finance
• It's Time to Tackle Tax Havens

The last video leads to a website which suggests ways to take action against tax havens.

Tax Reform

Thursday, Nov. 14, 2013, 9am to 10:30 in the Meeting Room (behind the fireplace)

Certainly our tax system has been a primary driver of wealth inequality. But until recently, it has been taboo to suggest that we should raise taxes on the wealthy. But times have changed. Listed below are several YouTube videos which try to make the case for a more progressive tax code.

For next week's meeting, we will try something different. Instead of showing a single video followed by discussion, we will have a series of short video/discussion mini-sessions. We will do as many as we can fit in our 90 minute meeting. So here is your chance to lead a mini-session on one of the videos listed below or another video you may have found. You can put your dibs on a video by email or by adding a comment to this blog.

1. Tax the Rich: An Animated Fairy Tale
2. Elizabeth Warren: You Didn't Build That
3. Nick Hanauer: Banned TED Talk on Inequity
4. David Cay Johnston: Moral Argument for Progressive Tax
5. Warren Buffet: Taxes are Too Low for the Wealthy
6. Robert Reich: Tax the Rich

High Health Cost, Part 2

Thursday, Nov. 7, 2013, 9am to 10:30 in the Meeting Room (behind the fireplace)

We will be showing the second half of the movie, Escape Fire. We will have 45 minutes after the movie for discussion. Don't worry if you missed the first half of the movie, the second half stands on its own. For those that want to see the whole movie, I have recommended to movie to be added to the Friday Bain documentary movie schedule. However, it cannot be scheduled before January. For those that want to see the movie now, I think that it is being offered free for Amazon Prime members, HERE, and there is a free one month trial membership.

We will use the issues on the website as guide for the discussion.

1. An Entrenched System
1. Employer-sponsored health insurance premiums are rising 4 times faster than workers’ earnings 
2. In 2007, General Motors & Ford spent $1500 on healthcare for each of their cars. BMW & Honda spent $600 combined.  
3. $1.1billion was spent lobbying Washington on behalf of healthcare between 2009 and 2010.
2. Overmedication
1. Only the U.S. and New Zealand allow pharmaceutical companies to advertise straight to consumers.
2. Soldiers’ use of prescription drugs has tripled in the past five years.
3. In the U.S., the more a drug is marketed to physicians, the more likely it is to be prescribed.
3. Overtreatment
1. Unfortunately, 30% of healthcare costs don’t improve health.
2. Only 1 in 16,000 Americans’ lives were saved or significantly extended by improvements in healthcare technology
3. 187,000 people die from medical error a year. Could this be the 3rd largest killer in the U.S.?
4. Paying more getting less
1. Within 6 years, U.S. healthcare costs are predicted to reach $4.2 trillion, 20% of our GDP.
2. Average cost of healthcare is about $3,000 per person in the Developed World. In the U.S. it’s $8,000.
3. For the first time in the history of our country, life expectancy is going down for many Americans.
5. Preventing Disease
1. 20% of patients account for about 80% of healthcare costs.
2. 75% of healthcare costs are spent on preventable diseases.
3. Fast food is given to U.S. patients in almost 40% of American hospitals.
6. Reimbursement
1. American daily hospital costs are $1,666. 4 times more than the rest of the world.
2. 20-50% of medical scans performed in America were unnecessary.
3. The average cost of 1 cardiac rehab session is $100. The average cost of a medicated stent procedure: $40,000.
7. Treating the whole person
1. In 2008, primary care physicians earned about half as much as specialists.
2. 1 in 5 Americans die from smoking.
3. ½ of Americans with chronic illnesses aren’t receiving optimal care due to short doctor visits.