What We're Reading

In addition to charts I uploaded (which there are many more but I'm short on time, it being a holiday) here are a few of my weekend email reads I found interesting. Enjoy - and Happy Easter.

1. Variant sees commercial and industrial lending to continue to fall.  No, not a good thing.
2. The top 20 reasons start ups fail.  Visual Capitalist
3. Think renewables will gain usage over coal and crude oil?  You may be surprised.  McKinsey
4. Domo origato mr roboto Visual Capitalist
5. Here we go again as banks ramp up and push home equity loans (because we didn't learn the last time).  WSJ
6. Brookings says technology actually has not made up more productive (say what?)
7. The richest and poorest countries in the world. Visual Capitalist

Today’s factories are highly automated and use amazing robotic machines to do the work of thousands of men. These factory machines don’t look like the robots in the movies. They are a very specialized breed called CNCs, which stands for Computer Numerical Control machines. These sophisticated machine tools are operated by computer programs.

But these aren’t new toys, by any means. CNCs have been around since the early 1970s when computer-controlled systems were introduced.

The first modern-day industrial robot, the Unimate, was put into use by General Motors in 1961. The Unimate was a 4,000-pound robotic arm that attached to a giant steel drum and did things like pour liquid metal into die casts, weld auto bodies, and lift 500-pound car bodies.

The Unimate performed tasks that humans often found dangerous or boring, and did them with speed and exacting detail. The robot never called in sick, asked for a raise, or went on strike. Plus, it worked 24 hours a day. As you can imagine, robo

As highlighted here previously, China is clearly not the only country exploring the wonderful world of 3D printing and it's application to housing.  Sadly the loser will be the average construction worker.

The Institute for Advanced Architecture of Catalonia in Barcelona is working on a set of robots that will soon be able to build complex structures by extruding layers of concrete, a process that might be a bit slow but that will allow strange, unique shapes to be formed using concepts popularized by plastic 3D printers.

The team, led by Sasa Jokic and Petr Novikov, has created small robots, called Minibuilders that perform various tasks. The Foundation Robot lays down a structure base while the Grip Robot sits at the top of the foundation and runs around it, laying down a bead of cement and instantly curing it so it can maintain its upwards motion. Finally a Vacuum Robot clings to the side of the object and lays down perpendicular sw

Eerie or creeped out is a good way to explain how you'll feel watching this video on how much robots have replaced the worker but it's estimated that nearly 50% of jobs out there could be replaced by automation over the next few decades.  50% MORE!  Bottom line:  Force your kid to stay in school, no matter what it takes.