Technology is making you stupid! ● In some parts of the US, you have a better chance of being shot on the street than if you go to war ● What do you think about space mining? ● NASA wants to invest in asteroids

Technology is making you stupid!

It’s not that researchers from the University of Bath, UK, have come to discover warm water. Everyone knows that if you stay up all day, shooting ducks and spaceships in computer games, or burn gas for hours on social networks, then you should not hope for the Nobel Prize. Please, if you are younger, you may not even hope to pass the class, which is not an exaggeration, but a fact in itself.

The difference is that those specialists I mentioned also did some tests in this sense, maybe those who have red phones and keyboards from pressing so many buttons will also catch it. And, those Englishmen say, there are two pieces of news. As always, one good and one bad. The good news is that technology can help you get rid of boredom. A fact proven by them in connection with the pandemic and locking people in their homes. Since it’s boring to watch the walls, and you can’t clean them even five times a day, social networks turned out to be a saving solution.

The bad, really bad part is that deep-seated boredom is the engine of innovation, and that’s what technology blocks. As they say, if you have a lot of free time, ideas start to come to your head. If not, then no. In this way, they demonstrated by interviewing several volunteers that certain people find their problems somewhat more productive. Some read, others began to learn new crafts, others came up with business ideas, etc.

Most, however, preferred to get rid of boredom in the ways presented at first. And they, as they say, are useless neither for society nor for themselves, because they only suppress their creativity and lose their potential. In order for it to be long, this technology is also like an addiction. It can be helpful in small doses, but if you become addicted, it’s like you’ve waved the flag. Like I said, it’s not like explorers discovered warm water, but now you have scientific proof of its existence.

In some parts of the US, you have a better chance of being shot on the street than if you go to war

The problem is big if the Americans even did a study on this after all. And how could they, as of 2020 firearms have become the leading cause of death among American children, teenagers and young adults?

A team of sociologists from Brown University and the University of Pennsylvania presented more than eloquent statistics in the journal of the American Medical Association Open Network. For example, in some American cities, as the name suggests, the risk of being shot is greater than if the country sends you to war in Afghanistan or Iraq.

So in cities like Chicago or Philadelphia, the risk of getting a party with a firearm is 3.23 times higher and 1.9 times higher, respectively, than if you served 15 months in a theater of war similar to those mentioned. It is obvious that it is not the same everywhere. In notorious areas of Los Angeles or New York, you still have a 70% and 91%, respectively, better chance of not waking up dead.

In general, sociologists say, the rise in armed attacks has deep social causes. Lack of perspective, alcohol or drug use, vagrancy, mental illness, etc. Well, here, they say, you have to work if you hope to reduce the above-mentioned figures. It is interesting that the study does not say anything about the free sale of weapons, ammunition and alcohol to the population, sometimes in bundles. But no, we are not sociologists to express our opinion either.

What do you think about space mining?

This question may not have been for you, but feel free to leave your thoughts in the comments section. The idea is that a team of Australian researchers actually had this dilemma and decided to publish it in a specialized journal, namely Sustainability.

In short, given that since the awareness of pollution and its impact, mining has become a cinderella industry. So these experts conducted a survey to find out what the general public thinks about mining in different areas: in Antarctica, in the oceans, on the moon or on asteroids? And they didn’t just stop at Australia, they conducted an online survey in 27 developed countries with around 5,000 people participating.

As expected, the world opposes mining on Earth because of pollution. The reluctance to mine the moon turned out to be less predictable. Some of the interviewees believe that it is not necessary to dust the Moon with such actions. Thus, the generally accepted option remained the option with asteroids.

Nobody cares about pollution there anyway, and you have nothing to destroy. On the contrary, you reduce the risk of a possible blow. The really bad part is that both lunar and asteroid mining are just ideas, and no one is going to do anything like that anytime soon. There would be some plans, but it is unlikely that we will see them anytime soon.

In any case, it’s good to know what the world thinks, because otherwise the Americans, the Chinese, or who knows what other nation wouldn’t start mining in space, only to wake up on Earth with some online petition to shut them up and stop them. their initiative.

NASA wants to invest in asteroids

Please, not exactly in asteroids, but in observing them. Speaking of petitions and asteroids, NASA scientists are hoping to get $1.2 billion from Congress after more than 5,000 people petitioned the government to invest in the so-called NEO Surveyor.

What is NEO Surveyor? Nothing at the moment. But according to the plan, it wants to become a revolutionary satellite capable of detecting asteroids and other celestial bodies that pass through our solar system, especially those that are about to cross paths with Earth.

As it turns out, the NEO satellite will be our most effective tool for detecting potential hazards in space. And it will be everywhere in everything we have now because it will be able to identify the heat signature of said bodies. Hence, increasing efficiency.

Now, if Congress gives the green light to the money, it doesn’t mean that NEO will start operating next year. It’s far away. The folks at NASA say they’re optimistic they won’t let it go until 2028. Let’s stay healthy!

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