Japan's Robo-Healthcare

                Japan is old. In fact, it is currently the oldest country in the world. 27.7% of Japan's population is over the age of 65, and that number is increasing. It is estimated that by the year 2050 - 40% of the population will be over the age of 65. Comparatively, the U.S. has a population of 15.6% over the age of 65. This has left Japan facing major problems, not least of which is: who is going to take care of all of our old people? Japan's answer? Robots.
                Within the next seven years it is projected that Japan will have a shortfall of 380,000 caregivers. In response, Japan's Ministry of Economy has requested ¥1.1 billion to support companies which produce these caregiver robots. The article below is a detailing of how the news reports that the elderly are very happy with their robot assistants, but calls into question the validity of these reports, posing the question: will our elderly really accept assistance from robots? The article concludes by calling for surveys of the population to find out if the elderly will accept robots.
                 I found this article troubling. I had heard of this problem and solution before in Japan, but (probably due to my age) I had never considered that people would have a problem with robot assistance. After reading this, I found myself reminiscing about all the times I've had to help my grandparents with the most simplistic technological tasks such as entering a wifi password or programing their DVR. However, it seems as though Japan has put most (if not all) of their eggs in to the Robo-basket, so tough luck for grandma and grandpa.



https://www.japantimes.co.jp/community/2018/10/14/voices/elderly-disabled-people-japan-want-robots-look/#.W9FQjPZRdPY
http://worldpopulationreview.com/countries/japan-population/
https://www.census.gov/quickfacts/fact/table/US/PST045217

Genghis Khan: The Eco Friendly World Conqueror

          I recently listened to a series of audio book regarding Genghis Khan and the territorial conquest of the Mongols. One of the points that really stuck with me was the claim that from about 1200-1380, the Mongol conquest killed so many people, and wiped out so many civilizations, that they effectively lowered the carbon foot print of the earth. I decided my blog for this week should be a follow up of this point.
          It seems that the legacy of Genghis saw a direct death toll of around 40 million people in the 13th and 14th centuries. A study conducted by Carnegie Institution's Department of Global Energy reported that this death toll equated to a reduction of "700 million tons of carbon dioxide, which is the amount emitted annually by worldwide gasoline demand today". The effect of wiping out civilizations on a conquest for global domination resulted in large swaths of land being made readily available for trees and vegetation to return, and thus resulted in the first ever "successful man-made global cooling".


 https://www.livescience.com/11739-wars-plagues-carbon-climate.html

https://www.theguardian.com/theguardian/2011/jan/26/genghis-khan-eco-warrior

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-1350272/Genghis-Khan-killed-people-forests-grew-carbon-levels-dropped.html

Is China Interfering With U.S. Elections?

Is China trying to interfere with the United States' elections? Vice President Pence seems to think so. Pence's accusation is that in another escalation of the economic trade war between the U.S. and China, China has now begun an attempt to change the outcome of the U.S. upcoming elections. Saying that "what the Russians are doing pales in comparison to what China is doing across this country." However, much of this seems to be speculation as Pence has offered no hard evidence and is relying on quoting things that were told to him by our intelligence community. The article goes on to indicate that whatever intelligence which does indicate this action by China remains classified.

https://www.npr.org/2018/10/04/654424183/vice-president-pence-accuses-china-of-trying-to-interfere-in-u-s-elections