Earthquake In NYC, what it means if you’re a founder raising series A…

Sponsored by

GM. Earthquake just hit NYC. 32 bushwick baristas will be claiming PTSD at work next week and only a few more days until terminally online VCs/founders frame this as a business opportunity.

Is the world ending? Probably.

Without Further Ado. ☕ *knuckle cracks* ☕ Let’s get into it.

Today’s Specials:

• No FOMO 🗿: “Sci-Fi” Movies That Were Actually Documentaries

• No FOMO News 📰 : Amazon’s AI Was Really Just 1,000 Indians

• NYC Earthquake Memes

Weekend Alpha – What To Watch 👀

US economy adds 303,000 jobs, unemployment falls to 3.8% in March as labor market continues to impress. The stock market expects a ‘soft landing’ from the Fed — but that isn’t a sure thing.

Work lesser & drive 10x more impact using AI

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED: A Power-packed workshop (worth $199) for FREE and learn 20+ AI tools to become 10x more efficient at your work.

👉 Become an AI Genius in 3 hours. Register here (FREE for First 100) 🎁
In this workshop you will learn how to: 

✅ Simplify your work and life using AI

✅ Do research & analyze data in seconds using AI tools

✅ Automate repetitive tasks & save 10+ hours every week

✅ Build stunning presentations & create content at lightning speed

👉 Register Now! (FREE for first 100 people only) 🎁

“Sci-Fi” Movies That Were Actually Documentaries

This is not an overly original take, but with A.I. dominating the news cycle it seemed like a good time to revisit some sci-fi movies that predicted our future.

It seems like every day a new milestone in robotics or AI is achieved, and no one seems to be considering what the long term effects might be. 

Of course, a lot of movies are overly dramatized, but that doesn’t mean they are wrong. Some parts of our daily lives already resemble “overly dramatized” predictions of the future.

Should we be looking at more of these movies as warnings of what we could become? It’s more reasonable than it sounds. We didn’t pick any of the super obvious classics, but here are a few of our favorite examples.

Movies that have already come true

1. Her (2013)

Her is a story about a lonely guy who falls in love with his personal AI, basically an advanced and personalized version of Siri. At the time of the film’s release in 2013 this seemed vaguely plausible but not realistic. 

Let’s start with the tech. 

In the movie, most of the system is based off of voice control, which was widely adopted very soon after release with the likes of Alexa. But it takes it a little further with the AI using natural language and interpreting emotions. 

Well. We’re there already. Not too much more to explain, if you’re reading this you have already seen it in action. 

Next, there’s the issue of actually falling in love with a specific AI. 

This seemed way too crazy at the time, but look at us now, falling in love with AI chatbots, sexy robot influencers, group texts with only AI friends. It’s only a matter of time until your younger cousin is trying to explain how dating robots is the better option at thanksgiving. 

The internet has been ruining human interaction for years, so this movie comparison isn’t as depressing. And it will be pretty funny when the first person in your friend group hooks up with Alexa and doesn’t know that she recorded the whole thing.  

2. Wall-E (2008) 

This one is entirely more depressing, and probably even more accurate. Wall-E is a story centered around a robot who likes “retro” things, in a world where humans have turned earth into a giant pile of trash. 

There are plenty of sad directions to go with Wall-E, so we’ll just focus on the human lifestyle depicted in the film. Humans are confined to giant spaceships resembling an advanced carnival cruise line. They are too fat to walk, so every person has his own levitating wheelchair, complete with screens and a cup holder for their 64 oz soda. 

Is this a dramatization? Sure. But it’s also not far off from the scene in any Walmart in America, although there are no guns in the Wall-E universe.

What’s more concerning, this is the current reality for millions of people. Wake up, look at screens, don’t really have too much to accomplish, no real in-person contact with other humans, go to sleep.

In the Wall-E world, AI and robots take care of any task imaginable. Humans have no real motivation or self worth, because they just don’t have as much of a purpose in their day-to-day lives.

For those who have been shouting from the rooftops asking if we need all forms of AI, this should sound familiar.

Movies Depicting Where We Could Be Headed

1. Westworld (1973) + HBO Series (2016-2022)

Most of you probably haven’t seen the original, but the HBO hit is well-known. The premise is simple: a future world where humans visit amusement parks filled with completely lifelike robots to live out fantasies.

There are many deeper psychological analyses out there, so again we’ll keep it simple and focus on one aspect – the tech of having lifelike robots.

Do we need these? Absolutely f****** not. 

This is a prime example of putting the tech before the use case, or the consequences. They say they can be used as assistants, but why can’t they be robot assistants and not exact replicas of the girl some robot engineer fell in love with when he was 12??

And although it isn’t a true reality yet, the die has been cast. Within our lifetime, at some point you’ll have to ask if something is human or not. 

2. I, Robot (2004)

Probably the most extreme of our examples, and the scariest. I, Robot is a documentary about Siri gaining consciousness and taking over the world from Cupertino, California. I mean, it’s a Will Smith action thriller about something totally unrealistic.

There are some fun smaller details throughout the movie that are now part of our daily life: automatic sensors, drones, self-driving electric cars, and so on. But the overarching theme about interconnectivity being our downfall is scarily real. 

The flaw in this “future” world that allows the central robot nervous system to take over is everyone having powerful robots in their homes all connected and all-knowing.

That would never happen right? We’d never let self learning robots in every home listen to every word we say, and we’d never give them control to every connected system on earth. 

Now, it’s pretty unlikely that Siri will actually try to kill off humanity – iPhone sales would plummet. But maybe, just maybe, we should think twice about giving a computer more powerful than all human brains in history combined access to every single piece of information we’ve ever had.

And then telling that supercomputer to learn and do better. 

Hope someone at Tesla and Apple hides a secret code in a paper notebook or something. I don’t know.

No FOMO News 📰

Web3

• Google sues crypto scammers for tricking users via fake apps (Crypto.News)

• Bitcoin-Ether Ratio Flashes Potential Warning About Crypto Rally (Bloomberg)

• South Korea implements tougher rules for crypto exchange listings (Cointelegraph)

• Google sues alleged scammers over fake crypto investment apps (Reuters)

• Crypto VC funding breaks 2-year downturn in Q1 2024 (Cointelegraph)

• EU Watchdog Says Reordering Blockchain Transactions Might Be Market Abuse. Industry Says It's Not (CoinDesk)

• Bitcoin tumbles $5,000 in 24 hours as interest rates jump (CNBC)

AI

• Google considers charging for AI-powered search in big change to business model (FT)

• ‘Lavender’: The AI machine directing Israel’s bombing spree in Gaza (972Mag)

• Amazon Abandons Grocery Stores Where You Just Walk Out With Stuff After It Turns Out Its “AI” Was Powered By 1,000 Human Contractors (Futurism)

Tech

• Inside Big Tech's underground race to buy AI training data (Reuters)

• Meta Finds People Are Ready for Chatbots — if They Have a Weekend to Spare (Bloomberg)

Mining for Memes ⛏️

I’ve been going down a Men’s Fashion rabbit hole so here’s this

Earthquake memes

Reach 200,000+ Tech Consumers and Brands

This is NOFOMO, the newsletter keeping you up-to-date on all things emerging tech — from AI and Blockchain to Virtual Reality.

Advertise with our media conglomerate of thoughtful content creators the digital landscape: X, LinkedIn, Podcasting, Email, etc. We offer exclusive access to a real, engaged community of over 200,000 tech professionals boasting millions of monthly impressions and real results.

Our discerning readers are always looking for the latest tools and products in the industry. Connect with the right people and transform your business.

Request a media kit.

DISCLAIMER: None of this is financial advice. This newsletter is strictly educational and is not investment advice or a solicitation to buy or sell assets or make financial decisions. Please be careful and do your own research.