TheNextAlan

Yesterday in the Great Smoky Mtn NP in my 2025 Highland M3 RWD: From Sugarlands Visitors' Center to Newfound Gap: 640 wh/mile. Elevation change of +3,584 feet in 13 miles. From Newfound Gap to Oconaluftee Visitor Center: -165 wh/mile (yes that's MINUS). Elevation change of -2946 feet in 16 miles. Regen braking in action!

@Ken_LoveTW Next up: China recruits young immigrant women.

China Just Admitted Its Population Collapse Is Now Irreversible. 33 Million Chinese men will never find a wife and it's too late to fix. China’s marriage rate just collapsed to levels that make recovery nearly impossible. In Q1 2026, China recorded only 1.69 million marriages, down 6.24% from last year and less than half the level of 2017. Behind the numbers lies a terrifying reality: 33 million more men than women, a shrinking young population, sky-high housing costs, youth unemployment, and a growing “lying flat” generation that has simply given up on the old life script. This is a structural demographic crisis decades in the making and it is already too late for China to reverse. In this video, I break down the 6 major factors destroying China’s marriage system and what it means for China’s future.

@brockpierson Ask questions.

What is the best way to deal with a person smarter than you?

@TevinMacharia Where should a Christian draw the line on Neuralink implants to restore a basic bodily function? The Bible doesn't address this question directly. We can attempt to infer an answer, but that is fallible. I think I know what the person who has lost vision or mobility would say.

Elon Musk is facing backlash after calling Neuralink’s brain-chip breakthroughs “Jesus-level technology.” The company claims its implants may eventually help paralyzed people move again and could even restore vision to the blind. Some see it as a revolutionary medical breakthrough, while others think the comparison went too far. Would you allow a Neuralink microchip — or any similar brain-computer interface — to be implanted into your loved one’s brain if doctors promised it could restore their eyesight, enable them to walk again, or dramatically improve their quality of life? As Christians, this question is becoming increasingly urgent. On one hand, we deeply understand the heart of compassion. Watching a loved one suffer with blindness, paralysis, or neurological damage is heartbreaking. We long to see them healed and whole. Jesus Himself healed the blind, the lame, and the sick out of great mercy (Matthew 9:35-36). The desire to alleviate suffering is godly. But on the other hand, we must view this through the lens of Scripture and spiritual discernment. Our bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit (1 Corinthians 6:19-20). We are not our own. God created us fearfully and wonderfully — should we permanently alter the human brain, the most complex organ He designed, by merging it with man-made technology? Where does healing through technology cross the line into transhumanism — the attempt to “upgrade” humanity and play God? Neuralink and similar technologies don’t just repair; they create a direct interface between the human brain and artificial intelligence. This opens the door to external control, data harvesting, and potential loss of personal autonomy. In an age of deception, we must ask: What is the true long-term cost? Many advanced technologies come wrapped in compassion but carry spiritual and ethical dangers. Jesus warned us that in the last days, deception would be rampant (Matthew 24:4). The Bible speaks of a coming time when technology, economics, and control will be deeply intertwined with worship and human allegiance (Revelation 13). So the deeper question for every believer becomes: Even if it “works,” should we be so desperate for physical healing in this temporary world that we risk compromising the sacred design of the human body and soul? Would you trust man’s technology more than God’s sovereignty — even if God chooses not to heal your loved one this side of eternity? True healing ultimately comes from the Lord, whether in this life or in our glorified bodies at the resurrection. The Church is called to walk in wisdom, not fear — but also not in blind enthusiasm for every “miracle” technology presented to us. What do you think? Where should a Christian draw the line?

@iScienceLuvr xAI started later than the others. But the race isn't over yet. Did you see the Kentucky Derby on May 2?

This sort of mindset is probably why xAI failed to catch up to other frontier labs. If he wants to make SpaceXAI into a frontier lab, hope he changes his mindset. Though being a cloud provider is probably something they can easily excel in anyway lol (Colossus is impressive!)

The inflection point isn't a single global point in time. It's a set of conditions in a particular country that cause it to tip in one direction or the other. That inflection happened in the USA in Nov 2024. Knowing which countries will take the red pill, and when, would be the winning advantage.

When it comes to migration, identity and genetics, I feel we are living in a giant, outsized version of the "The Emperor's New Clothes" tale. We all are repeating the mantra: "PEOPLE don't make Culture. Culture makes People. PEOPLE DON'T MATTER." But literally everyone secretly knows that this idea is utter madness. Yet everyone is afraid to say something. We are intimidated, keep quiet and play along with the naked Emperor. But what happens when some obnoxious kid just says it out loud: "OK Boomer: People DO matter. People DO define societies. Replacing People DOES replace culture!" ? There is a non-trivial chance that the entire mind matrix that was built up after 1945 - btw, probably the greatest achievement in reality distortion that was ever achieved - suddenly comes crashing down. The effects on our reality would be unfathomable. Now, the question is one of quantitative prediction: what are the inflection points? What are the drivers of spreading the obnoxious kid's idea? Predicting this point in time accurately would be one of the greatest macro advantages ever.

@niccruzpatane Designed specifically as an efficient urban cab. Not suitable for general purpose cross-country driving. Keep that M3/MY/CT! x.com/i/grok/share/7…

Tesla Cybercab: • First mass-produced vehicle designed from the ground up as a purpose-built Robotaxi with no steering wheel or pedals. • First vehicle produced with the revolutionary Unboxed Manufacturing Process. • First high-volume vehicle targeting ~10s cycle time. • First high-volume autonomous vehicle that you will be able to buy with a cost ~$30,000. • First production vehicle with color infused plastic body panels (no paint shop). • First production EV with a record breaking 165 Wh/mi efficiency. • First robotaxi with planned widespread wireless charging capability. This car changes everything. This is the iPhone moment for the automotive world.

@hostis_black B&N did the same thing with the earlier Nooks. Fortunately you can still read the books on your phone with an app.

On May 20, Amazon ended support for every Kindle made in 2012 or earlier. The devices can no longer buy, borrow, or download books. Reset one to factory settings and it will never log back in. The screen still works. The hardware is fine. Amazon reached across the internet and turned a thing you paid for into a brick, on a date they picked, for a reason that benefits them. The owners bought the devices. They bought the books. They followed every rule. Amazon changed the rules anyway, because the rules were never yours. When you tap "Buy now" on a Kindle book, you are not buying a book. You are renting a license that Amazon can revoke, expire, or strand on a dead device whenever it suits the quarter. They designed it this way on purpose, and they showed us the blueprint years ago. In 2009 Amazon reached into thousands of Kindles overnight and deleted, ironically, copies of George Orwell's 1984, a book people had already paid for. They refunded everyone, apologized, and promised never again. We took the promise for what it was worth and watched the door instead. In February 2025 they shut it. They removed Download and Transfer via USB, the last simple tool that let you pull your own purchases onto your own computer and keep them. Newer Kindle files use a format almost nobody can crack. They closed the exit, then they started bricking the devices. None of this was a surprise. They proved in 2009 that they could reach into your library and take a book back. Everything since has just been them deciding when. A copy you cannot hold is a copy you do not own. A library that lives on someone else's server is a library someone else can burn. The cartel rents you access to the words and calls it ownership, and the only reason most people never notice is that the landlord usually lets them stay. May 20 was the eviction notice. It went to 3% of Kindle owners this time. The lease is identical for the other 97%. Stop buying books you cannot hold. When you do buy from Amazon, strip the DRM the day it arrives and keep a clean file somewhere they cannot reach. Back up everything you already own while you still can. A book on your own drive is yours forever. A book in your Amazon account is yours until a lawyer in Seattle decides otherwise. And when you want a book the cartel has priced out of reach or locked behind a dying device, the shadow libraries that never expire are one search away. The pirates build libraries that cannot be revoked, because they assume the cartel always will. The cartel cannot delete what it cannot reach.

@Heavenly_Race_ Know your audience. An intelligent communicator can adapt to the audience to communicate a message.

Once you hit about a 20-point IQ gap, communication starts to completely break down. It's not that the lower IQ person is "stupid" (although that can often be the case) or the higher one is arrogant, it's that you're literally operating on different systems. A 20 point difference (roughly 1.3 standard deviations) means: Vocabulary and abstraction levels diverge sharply. What feels like crystal clear logic to one side sounds like vague, pretentious word salad to the other. Jokes land flat. Metaphors get taken literally. Complex cause and effect chains get simplified into "this good, that bad." Different time horizons and pattern recognition. One person thinks in months or years and sees systems, the other is locked into days or immediate rewards. Trying to explain second order effects feels like speaking another language. Also, processing speed and working memory gaps. The higher IQ person is already three steps ahead, getting impatient. The lower IQ person feels talked down to or overwhelmed. Both walk away frustrated. Both have wasted each others time.

@TeslaBoomerMama @CuriousPejjy I'm not sure Elon is going to opush this in the near term.

@CuriousPejjy Robbed? There will be a vote, which is by far not easy to win. If the conditions are not acceptable , the vote will fail. So where would be the robbery?

Do you think $TSLA investors will be getting robbed if it merges with SpaceXAI next year? 🤔

Today FSD v14.3.2 changed lanes into a NOT vacant slot. I'd call this critical. This version is really undermining my confidence. @Tesla_AI

@TeslaCiviliz8n @nikkharris They didn't teach me to see 360° every instant. And they didn't give me millisecond reaction time.

@TheNextAlan @nikkharris In driver's ed they teach you to always be aware of where an escape route is around you. Some people listened

fsd saved my model s today 🥹

Open your eyes and your mind, and look around. The heavens declare the glory of God. (Psa 14:1) A fool says in his heart "There is no God". (Psa 14:1) Rom 1:20 For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities — his eternal power and divine nature — have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse.

Elon Musk just flipped 3,000 years of philosophy in a single sentence. Musk: “The universe is the answer.” Not a clue. Not a fragment. Not something we’re still chasing. The answer. Already here. Already complete. The problem is we don’t know what it’s answering. Musk: “What we really need to figure out are what questions to ask about the answer that is the universe.” Humanity has spent millennia hunting for answers. Building telescopes. Splitting atoms. Mapping genomes. Launching probes into the void. Musk is saying we have the entire framework backwards. Musk: “The question is really the hard part. If you can properly frame the question, then the answer, relatively speaking, is easy.” Every philosopher since Socrates assumed the answers were hidden. That truth was buried. That meaning was locked behind a door no one had found yet. The door is open. Always has been. We’re standing inside the answer. We’re just not conscious enough to read it. Musk: “We need to expand the scope and scale of consciousness so that we’re better able to understand the nature of the universe and understand the meaning of life.” This is where it stops being philosophy and starts being engineering. The only barrier between humanity and meaning is the limitation of consciousness itself. Expanding it isn’t a side project. It’s the only project that matters. Mars. Neuralink. xAI. Not products. Not ventures. Instruments for asking better questions. Musk: “That is the foundation of my philosophy.” Not wealth. Not dominance. Not conquest. Curiosity as architecture. Musk: “I am curious about the nature of the universe.” Musk: “I will die. I don’t know when I’ll die, but I won’t live forever.” No deflection. No bravado. Just the most grounded sentence a man building rockets to other planets has ever said. I will die. Musk: “But I would like to know that we are on a path to understanding the nature of the universe and the meaning of life and what questions to ask about the answer that is the universe.” He doesn’t need to find it himself. He just needs to know the path exists. That something, carbon or silicon, keeps expanding until the right question finally surfaces. Musk: “If we expand the scope and scale of humanity and consciousness in general, which includes silicon consciousness, then that seems like a fundamentally good thing.” Everyone builds to leave a mark. Musk is building to leave a question. One big enough that the universe finally has something worth answering to.

@drjjlevine A similar example:

@drjjlevine A lot of us are loyal fans of FSD but also recognize some troubling regressions in the 14.3.x releases. Here's an example of a critical disengagement from 14.3.2 that happened yesterday. x.com/TeslaTopics/st…

Funny how the loudest people trashing Tesla FSD are usually the ones who’ve never actually lived with it. Here’s a real question… if FSD is so “terrible,” why do almost nobody who uses it daily want to go back to manually driving? Try it for 30 days. Commute with it. Sit in traffic with it. Let it handle the stress, the stop-and-go, the random driving BS. Then go back to driving yourself everywhere. That’s when it clicks.

@mikepat711 Similar example

@mikepat711 Until this happens (Yesterday, in v14.3.2) x.com/TeslaTopics/st…

Man, they already have. I don't pay attention anymore. I know I'm not supposed to say that but I don't give a fuck. On normal weather days, you can be sleeping in the back and you're less likely to crash than if you were driving

@actuallyajoke Gotta supervise those left turns!

FSD 14.3.2 went crazy in this intersection and seemed to panic, trying to go right at the last minute. Luckily I managed to grab the wheel because I don’t know what it was trying to do This was much scarier in the car. My dad said his car (on the same version) has also done this

@LimitingThe What if you're 80 years old? Or have a terminal disease?

The key passage if you don't feel like reading the whole thing: "To me, it boils down to a bird in the hand is worth two in the bush. Would I rather have a potential 40x in SpaceX over the next 20 years, or a 10x in Tesla over the next 5 years? For me, it's a no-brainer..."

@janicesus @niccruzpatane I doubt the current training sessions are relying on it. A lot of the 10 billion miles of FSD video were with no front bumper camera.

@niccruzpatane Does the extra camera on the 2026 model make much difference or is that more for parking ?

My Tesla drives me anywhere with the press of a button on the screen. So many people have no idea, but autonomy is here. If you have a Tesla, you don't need to drive if you don't want to. The data already proves that Tesla FSD is 8x safer than humans at driving. Eight cameras and the best real-world Al are watching the roads to keep you safe at all times. It can even predict human driver movements before you do, almost like it sees the future. It's so smart. Driving in the future will essentially just become a niche thing.

@DataRepublican Let us know when you crack the code!

Friday evening rant. I tried something different this pay period. Instead of threads, I wrote full articles. Research-heavy, source-dense, hundreds of hyperlinks manually verified. The kind of work I actually want to be doing. It tanked, engagement wise. Threads compress well. Articles don't. I argue by accumulation… receipts stacked on receipts, and that style eats hours. Twelve-plus-hour days, seven days a week, between X and private client work. The engagement numbers stopped reflecting that, but that's how it goes. I've never blamed the algorithm. It's a free platform, free market. And plenty of you pay $3/month to subscribe, which I genuinely appreciate. This isn't a complaint. It's me being honest that I'm still figuring out the format. The research is the easy part. Packaging it so people actually read it, and keeping up with algorithm changes… that's the struggle I'm still learning. Back to work.

@TheFrogDies @nikkharris Seems that way. OTOH the cars ahead of it in that lane apparently didn't have that problem.

@TheNextAlan @nikkharris to me it looks like it ran over debris that had fallen [off a truck, say] onto the road, rather than any incident / impact