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The Concept of 'Mind Children' A few months ago, an AI researcher from Europe attended a dinner party in Silicon Valley. During one of the many courses, the host addressed his guests, all of whom worked in AI. The researcher paraphrased his message like this: “Isn’t it amazing that we are the last generation of humans who will need to think about procreating biologically? We were lucky enough to be born at a time where we can simply upload our consciousnesses instead.” The Book That Sparked the Conversation The book in question was Hans Moravec’s Mind Children: The Future of Robot and Human Intelligence, which was first published in 1988, and which at the time, according to economist and futurist Robin Hanson of George Mason University, caused a big splash in a small pond – the community of robotics and machine-learning experts to which Moravec belonged. The Data Analysis Moravec’s book is more philosophical treatise than technological manual, but the central idea is that cultural evolution has long since taken over from biological evolution as the most powerful force shaping humanity. The logical extrapolation of this is that the information that encodes our future selves would soon be packed into hardware and software rather than DNA. The Impact Analysis Angela Aristidou, who studies the real-life deployment of AI at University College London, is not surprised that Moravec’s book is enjoying a revival. She says that what in 1988 might have read like science fiction – and still might to most of us – looks eminently realisable to those in the know. The Prediction Hanson shares his conviction that the revolution is inevitable, as soon as AI attains something experts agree to call human-level intelligence. “We are going to generate an explosion of things like us in the future, who will be different from us in many ways,” Hanson says. “To the extent that they have minds somewhat like ours, they are our mind children.”

The Resurgence of Beatlemania The UK is currently experiencing a new wave of Beatlemania, reminiscent of the 1990s revival. This resurgence can be attributed to various factors, including the release of Paul McCartney's solo album 'The Boys of Dungeon Lane' and the announcement of four biopics dedicated to the band's members, set to release in 2028. The Upcoming Biopics Sam Mendes is directing the four biopics, each one focused on a different band member: Paul McCartney (played by Paul Mescal), John Lennon (played by Harris Dickinson), George Harrison (played by Joseph Quinn), and Ringo Starr (played by Barry Keoghan). This significant cultural event is expected to spark renewed conversations about the band's history, rivalries, and partnerships. The Cultural Impact The Beatles have occupied a unique place in the British cultural imagination for over 60 years. Their songs have soundtracked lives, while their friendships, breakups, and tragedies continue to captivate audiences. According to Ian Leslie, author of 'John and Paul: A Love Story in Songs', 'We're only just starting to come to terms with how big a cultural phenomenon they were.' The Future of Beatlemania The upcoming biopics and other Beatles-related projects, such as Christian Schwochow's BBC drama series 'Hamburg Days', are expected to further fuel the current wave of interest. As Simon Reynolds, a cultural critic, noted, 'The Beatles represent the greatest adventure that ever happened in pop music.' With the release of these films, it's likely that Beatlemania will reach new heights, making 2028 a significant cultural moment. The Drumbeat of Content The anticipation for the biopics has already generated significant buzz, with some fans and critics expressing excitement and others, like Pattie Boyd, George Harrison's ex-wife, voicing concerns about not being contacted by the filmmakers. As Ian Leslie noted, 'It'll be like a second wave of Beatlemania... It's absolutely crazy. Theyre a pop band that people were saying, in 1963, would be lucky to last a year. Now 60 years on they'll be the biggest cultural moment of the year. It'll be like Barbenheimer all over again.'

The Threat to Solar Energy Projects The US farm bill, passed by the House, includes a provision that could restrict federal funding for solar energy projects on prime farmland. This move has raised concerns among farmers, environmental groups, and solar industry advocates, who argue that it could hinder farmers' ability to access affordable energy and undermine efforts to promote renewable energy. The Impact on Farmers Farmers like George Hunt, who installed solar panels on his cow barn in Massachusetts, have benefited greatly from solar energy. Hunt received a grant from the Rural Energy for America Program (Reap) to cover a third of the cost, and he was able to pay off the loan with a solar energy credit from the state. However, with the new provision, farmers like Hunt may find it harder to access government help for solar projects. The Data Analysis The solar provision in the farm bill could have significant financial implications for farmers. For example, a study by the Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA) found that local governments are increasingly restricting solar development on farmland. Additionally, the provision could lead to a de facto ban on solar panels made or assembled in countries like China, which accounts for about 80% of solar panel production. The Impact Analysis The farm bill's solar provision has sparked concerns about the impact on rural communities and the environment. Critics argue that the provision is misdirected and could undermine efforts to promote renewable energy and reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The provision could also lead to a loss of farmland and a negative impact on local economies. The Prediction The future of the farm bill and its solar provision is uncertain. The Senate is expected to mark up its own bill in June, and advocates are pushing for changes to the provision. If the provision remains, it could have significant implications for the solar industry and farmers' ability to access affordable energy.

The Strategic Retreat: Trump's Iran Policy EvolutionAfter weeks of stop-start negotiations, the US and Iran now reportedly stand on the verge of a deal to end the fighting, with the most immediate consequence being the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz. This development marks a dramatic shift from President Trump's initial maximalist goals, which included regime change, destruction of Iran's nuclear program, and elimination of its regional proxies.The Peace Deal Terms: Ceasefire and NegotiationsThe reported memorandum of understanding, reached with the help of Pakistani and Qatari mediators, would extend the current ceasefire for 60 days, during which negotiations would take place on the two-decades-old dispute over Iran's nuclear program. Iran's closure of the strategically vital waterway—conduit of 20% of the world's crude oil supplies before the war started—has had a baleful effect on the US economy, sending gasoline prices soaring and leading to a shortage of fertilizer that threatens food supplies and prices.From Maximalism to Reality: Strategic ImplicationsThe specter of fudged compromise illustrates how Trump's maximalist goals have shrunk—and in the eyes of some commentators, been defeated. Robert Kagan, a foreign policy fellow at the Brookings Institution, wrote in The Atlantic that "Trump's endgame is surrender," adding that the president "no doubt hopes that he can slip away without Americans noticing the magnitude of this defeat." Despite Trump's initial declarations that only "unconditional surrender" would be acceptable, Iran's military capabilities remain largely intact, with analysts estimating that 70% of their ballistic missiles and 70-80% of drones are still operational.Regional Impact: Shifting Power DynamicsThe evolving situation represents a significant shift in Middle Eastern power dynamics. Contrary to Trump's expectations, the Islamic regime remains intact despite targeted assassinations of its leaders. While Trump publicly proclaims successor leadership figures to be "more reasonable" than before, the regime appears to be more unyielding than ever. Mojtaba Khamenei, who succeeded his father as supreme leader, was recently quoted as predicting that Israel would cease to exist by 2040. The limited military success of Trump's war of choice is now forcing him to address it through the pragmatic type of compromise that he and his rightwing allies once lambasted Obama for.Future Outlook: Trust Deficits and Political ChallengesRobert Litwak, an international relations professor at George Washington University, noted that Trump is being forced to confront a "persistent tension" in US post-cold-war policy between "transformational" approaches meant to topple rogue states and "transactional" agreements intended to change their behavior. "He's in a box because a transformational outcome is not possible," said Litwak. Trump faces significant political challenges in securing support for what essentially amounts to a variant of the JCPOA that he previously opposed. His credibility deficit with Iran, exemplified by his tendency to reverse positions on Truth Social, further complicates negotiations. As Vali Nasr, an international relations professor at Johns Hopkins University, noted: "The reason [Iranians] don't [sign on] is because they don't trust him. It has nothing to do with ideology or fractured leadership or the midterms. It's because of his record."

The Inflation Conundrum For such an uncannily successful politician, Donald Trump exhibits a perplexing political myopia. His most recent own-goal was endorsing Ken Paxton, a state attorney general, against four-term senator John Cornyn in the Republican primary for Senate in Texas. Trump's Inflationary Gambits What truly screams “I want us to lose the midterms” is what Trump is doing about inflation, which is becoming his most vulnerable issue. According to a New York Times/Siena poll of registered voters earlier in May, Trump’s approval on handling the cost of living is underwater by 42 percentage points. The Data Analysis Inflation rose at the fastest pace in three years in April, driven by the Iran war and other factors. The nationwide average price of regular gasoline is hovering around $4.50 a gallon, about $1.30 higher than a year ago. Consumer prices increased 3.8% in the year to April, their highest annual rate in two years. The Impact Analysis People’s attitudes about inflation are difficult to parse. They think less about the alphabet of indices policymakers focus on, such as CPI and PCE, and more about how much the price of eggs and gas have risen since they last remembered. The Prediction This may not be statistically robust, but since George HW Bush lost to Bill Clinton in 1992, there has been only one presidential election in a year with inflation as high as it is today. The incumbent, George W Bush, lost to Barack Obama.

A Lifelong Love Story Born in Apartheid South AfricaIn the white-and-black world of apartheid South Africa, where television was banned as communist propaganda, a small boy fell in love with Arsenal FC. This 65-year-old fan's devotion began in 1969 when he watched the Gunners lose to Swindon Town in a cinema newsreel, starting a 57-year journey that will culminate in the Champions League final in Budapest with his 25-year-old son.The Origins of an Unlikely Football RomanceIt was April 1969, at the author's eighth birthday party, where he first encountered Arsenal through a Pathé News bulletin showing the League Cup final between Arsenal and Swindon. Despite Arsenal losing 3-1 to Third Division Swindon, the young boy was smitten with the "mighty red machine." This initial encounter, despite the defeat, set the foundation for a lifelong allegiance that would span decades and continents.A Double Triumph That Cemented the BondThe author's adoration for Arsenal transformed into true devotion when the club won the league and FA Cup Double in May 1971. Another trip to the movies in downtown Johannesburg showed footage of Charlie George scoring the winning goal against Liverpool at Wembley. The image of the long-haired player spreadeagled on his back, arms stretched out in disbelief on the sun-kissed Wembley turf, entranced the young fan and his friends, who would later emulate the celebration in their suburban gardens.Navigating Football Fandom Under ApartheidLiving in apartheid South Africa, the author faced unique challenges in following his beloved Arsenal. With no live broadcasts and television banned, he relied on delayed news sources:Sunday morning runs to the corner shop to check English football resultsSecond-half commentaries on BBC World Service, with Peter Jones painting vivid pictures with wordsCopies of Shoot! magazine arriving six weeks late, providing detailed analysis and photographsFrom Cinema Screens to Champions League FinalWhen television finally arrived in South Africa in 1978, the author could watch Arsenal matches for the first time. Three successive FA Cup finals at Wembley - including a glorious 3-2 win over Manchester United sandwiched between defeats - solidified his connection to the club. Now, after 57 years of supporting Arsenal from afar, the author and his son will attend the Champions League final in Budapest, representing the culmination of an extraordinary transcontinental football journey.Football as a Refuge and ConnectionFor the author, Arsenal provided more than just entertainment - it was a connection to a world beyond apartheid's constraints. During his time teaching in Soweto in the 1980s, he witnessed how football offered relief from the oppressive regime for his students, some of whom had been tortured by security police. One student, Lucas Radebe, would later become captain of Leeds United as they reached the Champions League semi-finals, demonstrating how football could transcend geographical and political boundaries.A Legacy Passing Through GenerationsThe author's passion for Arsenal has now extended to his 25-year-old son, who shares his devotion to the Gunners. Their joint attendance at the Champions League final represents not just a culmination of the author's 57-year fandom, but also the continuation of a football legacy that has spanned generations and continents. This shared experience in Budapest symbolizes how football passion can bridge generational gaps and create lasting family bonds.

On 29 May 2026, Israeli air strikes and a ground push that crossed the Litani River resulted in at least five civilian deaths in southern Lebanon, while Pentagon‑level talks were scheduled to address the rapidly deteriorating security situation. Israeli Ground Advance Across the Litani River Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced that Israeli forces had moved north of the Litani River, roughly 30 km from the border, marking a significant expansion of the ground offensive. The advance was accompanied by air strikes on towns such as Abbasiyeh and Deir Qanoun al‑Nahr, and evacuation warnings for seven additional southern towns. Casualty Toll and Child Impact Figures Five civilians killed in the latest strikes. Four deaths in Abbasiyeh and one in Deir Qanoun al‑Nahr. UNICEF reported 15 children killed and 62 injured in the past week, averaging 11 child casualties every 24 hours. Lebanese Ministry of Public Health cites 77 children killed or injured in the last seven days. Since March 2, 126 civil‑defence workers have been killed and 310 wounded. Humanitarian Crisis and Regional Stability Risks The intensified bombardment has forced hundreds of thousands of Lebanese to flee their homes, with about 40 hospitals in the south already closed. Aid groups, including Doctors Without Borders, warn they may have to withdraw if security does not improve, compounding the risk of a broader humanitarian catastrophe. Prospects for Pentagon Talks and Conflict Trajectory Lebanese and Israeli delegations are set to meet at the Pentagon, where Lebanon will demand an immediate halt to Israeli attacks. Israeli Brigadier General Amichai Levin and Lebanese officer Georges Rizkallah will represent their sides. The outcome of these talks could influence whether the conflict remains localized or escalates further, especially given U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio's expressed support for Lebanon’s sovereignty.

The LeadFrench football has cultivated a talent reservoir so extensive that former defender Thomas Meunier suggested the nation could field three World Cup‑winning teams simultaneously. This depth stems from a systematic academy network launched in the 1970s, a multicultural player base, and a culture that treats football as a national pastime from infancy.The Academy Revolution Behind France’s Talent DepthFrustrated by decades of under‑achievement, the French Football Federation (FFF) partnered with the government in the early 1970s to create the Centres de Formation, most famously INF Clairefontaine. Sixteen regional centres opened, the first in 1974 at Vichy, recruiting talent from across metropolitan France and overseas departments. The programme emphasized free access to facilities, education, and staying rooted in family environments, fostering both technical skill and personal development.Hidden Value: The Worth of Uncapped French PlayersTransfermarkt data shows that players omitted from the 26‑man squad would collectively rank among the world’s top five national teams in market value, surpassing Portugal, Brazil, the Netherlands and Argentina. Key figures include:Lucas Chevalier – €30 millionPierre Kalulu – €32 millionJeremy Jacquet – €55 millionLeny Yoro – €50 millionAdrien Truffert – €25 millionBoubacar Kamara – €40 millionEduardo Camavinga – €50 millionDilani Bakwa – €28 millionSenny Mayulu – €40 millionKhephren Thuram – €40 millionMousa Diaby – €28 millionJunior Kroupi – €40 millionTotal estimated value: €418 million (average €38 million per player).Historical Turning Points That Shaped Les BleusEarly 1970s – Georges Boulogne advocates national academies; government backs the initiative.1984 – France wins the European Championship and Olympic gold, signaling the first payoff.1990 & 1994 – Failure to qualify for two World Cups highlights growing pains.1998 – “Black‑Blanc‑Beur” squad wins the World Cup on home soil, validating the development model.2006 – Runner‑up finish, confirming sustained competitiveness.2018 – Second World Cup triumph, powered by academy graduates.2022 – Another final appearance, underscoring depth.Why This Depth Matters for the 2026 World CupWith a pool that could theoretically field three elite line‑ups, France enjoys strategic flexibility: rotating squads to manage fatigue, tailoring tactics to opponents, and mitigating injury risks. As Bernard Lama notes, the blend of home‑grown talent and players of overseas heritage provides “music and sports” that enrich the national team’s character and resilience.Looking Ahead: The Next Generation and Global InfluenceClairefontaine now focuses on younger age groups while clubs assume responsibility for older prospects. Scouts like Stéphane Nado emphasize hard work, structure, and player‑centred education as the formula for continued success. If France maintains this pipeline, its model may become the benchmark for other nations seeking to replicate a deep, export‑ready talent pool.

The Rise of Recursive Self-Improvement in AIThe word "recursion" is the latest buzzword in AI circles. Two separate startups have taken on the name, and many more have started referencing recursive self-improvement (RSI) in their roadmaps. Like AGI before it, RSI has become a three-letter byword for a cataclysmic AI takeoff – even if there's still a little disagreement about what it exactly means.In basic terms, RSI refers to an AI system that can continuously upgrade itself. Once AI systems can manage the upgrade cycle better than humans, the process can become a closed loop, limited only by the compute power they can access, and humans are no longer necessary or even helpful.Scary or not, that's a vision that a lot of AI labs are eager to chase.Key Players Pursuing Recursive SystemsEarlier this month, well-known AI researcher Richard Socher launched the aptly named Recursive Superintelligence with RSI as an explicit goal. "Our main focus is to build truly recursive, self-improving superintelligence at scale," Socher told TechCrunch at launch, "which means that the entire process of ideation, implementation, and validation of research ideas would be automatic."A number of other prominent researchers are already chasing that same goal, hoping for a breakthrough that will make recursive self-improvement possible.One of the most prominent is Andrej Karpathy, a legendary figure from Tesla and OpenAI, who is using agent swarms to train LLMs on simple tasks for a project he calls Auto-Research. Karpathy has been unusually open about the project, tweeting about milestones regularly and making the building blocks available through a public GitHub repo. So far, the work has mostly been confined to making minor improvements on a GPT-2 scale model — as Karpathy noted in March, "It's not novel, ground-breaking 'research' (yet)" — but it's been enough to convince lots of other researchers to follow the RSI dream. And with Karpathy now working on pre-training at Anthropic, he will have plenty of opportunity to apply the idea at a larger scale.Adaption — founded by Cohere and Google alum Sara Hooker — recently launched a similar tool called AutoScientist in an effort to automate frontier training. Like Karpathy's auto-researchers, the system trains agents to make incremental improvements — but for Adaption, the goal is to make it easier to train a full-scale frontier model. If those same researchers start to push the frontier forward, the system could quickly spiral into something very much like RSI.Disarray founder Doris Xin drew more specific RSI interest when her self-trained machine learning agent took home 28 medals in a recent Kaggle competition, beating out many human-trained agents. As she sees it, the major challenge is reliability."I would argue, given infinite compute and infinite time horizon, we are already there," Xin told me. "I want to make an argument that this is not a creative endeavor, really. It's just a lot of meat-and-potatoes engineering."The Current State of Self-Improving AIThere's also plenty of evidence that the AI industry isn't very close to recursive systems in any meaningful way — and is still grappling with talking to a wary public about its progress. So Google CEO Sundar Pichai basically admitted in a recent podcast interview."It's a continuum, and we are all definitely making progress," Pichai said. "But in the way people describe RSI, that would represent a next level of acceleration and would have a lot of implications, but we aren't quite there yet."But the continuum includes an awful lot of self-improving AI systems.In January, one of Anthropic's lead programmers for Claude Code estimated that "close to 100%" of his team's code was written by the tool — a frank admission that Claude Code was literally writing itself.Just because engineers are using an AI tool doesn't mean the tool can replace them — but Anthropic seems to be getting close to replacing engineers too. In a recent survey tied to the Mythos preview, five out of 18 Anthropic engineers believed that, with harness improvements, this version of Mythos could soon substitute for an L4 engineer — a midlevel programmer who can take on involved projects without supervision.Still, there were some of the same weaknesses you might expect."Some of Claude's major reported weaknesses compared to an L4 include: self-managing week-long ambiguous tasks, understanding org priorities, taste, verification, instruction-following, and epistemics," the report reads.In other words, its weaknesses are everything involved with self-direction, which is the cornerstone for RSI. But sure, for everything else, Claude is ready to step right in.Expert Perspectives on RSI TimelinesJust like the AGI term before it, the AI industry also can't tell us how far away it is from showcasing a meaningful recursive system. When Georgetown's Center for Security and Emerging Technology assembled a group of experts to study RSI last year, the group found a major split in assessments — some expecting an imminent "superintelligence" style explosion while others expected slower progress and an eventual plateau. But all agreed that recursion made the future especially difficult to predict.Helen Toner, director of CSET and a former board member at OpenAI, told TechCrunch that simply using AI tools to do AI research isn't enough to qualify as RSI. "They're just using AI for as much as they can," Toner told TechCrunch. "And I think that is different from the classic definition of RSI, which is really that there are no humans needed."Toner pointed to a recent post by METR's Ajeya Cotra, which distinguishes different milestones on the path to the AI research takeover. One step, which Cotra calls "adequacy," would come when the system can still perform research after all humans are removed — even if the resulting research isn't as valuable or efficient. "Parity" comes when an AI-only system is as good at research as a human-only system. "Supremacy," the final stage, comes when an AI-only system outperforms a collaborative system between humans and AI.Ultimately, Cotra concludes that AI is very close to the adequacy threshold of being able to produce some work on its own — similar to the incremental changes made by Karpathy's Auto-Research system. "I wouldn't be totally shocked if you told me this milestone had already passed, and I expect it to happen in the next couple years," Cotra wrote.She was less clear on when parity will come, but once it does, she thinks it would "massively accelerate the pace of AI progress, leading to AI research supremacy within another year."The Challenges Ahead for Recursive AIWith so much of AI built on scaling laws, there's a strong tendency to think RSI will follow the same curve. Toner thinks that many of those pursuing AI research and development via RSI "think of it as a pretty smooth ladder, where you can just keep scaling up."But even if AI researchers are able to make incremental improvements like Karpathy's auto-researchers, there will be larger challenges in handing off the whole process of research. Toner put it in terms of the history of computing, which has seen human beings handing off more and more of the process while still directing things from the top."We went from machine languages to assembly language and compiled languages; you're getting further and further from the guts of the computer," Toner said. "But the human is still, in some intuitive sense, running the show."Moving beyond that paradigm will take significant challenges, both in engineering and alignment. But even with the massive investments happening, there's no infinite compute available — and the basic trade-off between human labor and machine intelligence will be hard to overcome.The Future of Recursive Self-ImprovementAs for a total recursive AI system of apocalyptic visions? The only thing researchers essentially agree on is that, like AGI, it's not here yet.