⤴⤵ Up Wing/Down Wing #44

A curated selection of pro-progress and anti-progress news items from the week that was

In case you missed it ...

✨ DeepSeek and tariffs fail to undermine the AI investment boom (so far) (Tuesday)

☀ The continuing case for an American Golden Age (Wednesday)

🤖 Superintelligence and national security: My chat (+transcript) with AI expert Dan Hendrycks (Thursday)

✨✝ The AI Pope (Friday)

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⤴ Up Wing Things

🏗️ Outer-space manufacturing takes off. California-based startup Astral Materials is pioneering in-space manufacturing with plans to grow high-value materials — like crystals for semiconductors and pharmaceuticals — in orbit using a compact, high-temperature furnace. The microgravity environment enables purer production than Earth allows. This could lead to potential breakthroughs in electronics and medicine. As launch costs fall and return systems improve, companies like Astral, Space Forge, and Varda Space Industries are turning space into a viable industrial zone. Experts predict this emerging market could grow to $100 billion by 2035, reshaping how we think about manufacturing and space-based economies. (Wired)

👁️ Altman’s Orbs may be the future of human verification. World, a startup co-founded by OpenAI’s Sam Altman, has launched in the US with a bold mission: verify who’s human online:

The company’s basic pitch is this: The internet is about to be overrun with swarms of realistic A.I. bots that will make it nearly impossible to tell whether we’re interacting with real humans on social networks, dating sites, gaming platforms and other online spaces.

To solve this problem, World has created a program called World ID — you can think of it as Clear or TSA PreCheck for the internet — that will allow users to verify their humanity online.

The company’s World ID system scans users’ irises via a glowing “Orb,” generating a unique identifier stored on their devices. In return, users receive Worldcoin, a cryptocurrency. With AI bots set to flood the internet, World pitches itself as a safeguard for digital authenticity. Over 12 million people globally have already had their eyes scanned. (NYT)

✈️ DoD’s hypersonic vehicle completes second test flight. The Pentagon recently announced a major milestone in hypersonic technology with the second successful test flight of the reusable Stratolaunch Talon-A vehicle. The March flight exceeded Mach 5 and safely returned to base, supporting the DoD’s MACH-TB program, which aims to accelerate the development of advanced hypersonic systems. This marks the US’s return to reusable hypersonic flight since the 1960s. The tests gathered critical data, with Northrop Grumman contributing cutting-edge navigation tech. Officials say these reusable test flights will help reduce turnaround times and drive innovation in national defense capabilities. (The Debrief)

☢️ Illinois senate bill would permit nuclear reactors. Illinois lawmakers are considering lifting the state’s decades-old ban on building large nuclear reactors through Senate Bill 1527, which has bipartisan support. Advocates argue that expanding nuclear energy is essential to meet the growing power demands driven by AI, data centers, and advanced manufacturing. They highlight nuclear’s 24/7 reliability and low carbon emissions. Companion legislation also aims to reclassify small modular reactors as renewable energy facilities. (WJOL)