Fifty Years is VC firm that backs founders making something civilization needs. Think companies curing disease, combating the climate crisis, ending aging, accelerating science.
I felt like folks were getting too optimistic in the early days and now I feel folks are getting way to pessimistic. We don't know if any of these failed replication experiments actually made the same LK-99 the Korean team did. The only way of knowing for sure if LK-99 is a room temp superconductor is if outside labs test the samples the Korean team has made. It's entirely possible that the exact impurities in their material caused by their exact manufacturing process are required for superconducting properties to emerge. Seems like that will be done in the next few weeks. Still betting against it working but keeping my fingers crossed.
"Technology is never neutral, because it takes on the characteristics of those who devise, finance, regulate and use it."
Therefore builders "bear a particular ethical and spiritual responsibility" because "every design choice reflects a vision of humanity."
The questions shouldn't just be 'can we build it?' or 'will people want this?'
We need to also ask 'should we build it?' and 'will this make humanity better?'
The encyclical calls on us to “join forces in building up the common good.”
This is a message we need right now.