Mankind faces machine domination; Individualism in overdrive; Inactivity seen as another killer; Why rich Indians live in decrepit areas; US drought expanding

1 Skype founder warns of machine domination (Sydney Morning Herald) One of the founding engineers of Skype has a warning to the human race: fasten your seatbelts, as machines are becoming so intelligent that they could pose an existential threat. Jaan Tallinn argues human-driven technological progress has largely replaced evolution as the dominant force shaping our future. Machines are becoming smarter than we are, but Tallinn warns that if we are not careful this could lead to a "sudden global ecological catastrophe".  This sounds like science fiction stuff, but consider the breadth of domains where computers have already caught up to - and then dominated - humans.

 We have already programmed computers to be better than us at classic games like chess, better drivers (Google's driverless car being just one example), better at voice and face recognition and, as IBM's Watson computer proved, even better at the game Jeopardy. The US military is experimenting with robot fighter pilots, while the majority of trading on the stock market is done by computers in what is known as algorithmic trading.

"My core main message is actually that this thing is not science fiction, this thing is not apocalyptic religion - this thing is something that needs serious consideration," said Tallinn, who argues we are witnessing an "intelligence explosion" - with neuroscience advancing in leaps and bounds to the point where scientists could replicate the human brain by the middle of this century. The event when machines surpass human levels of intelligence and ability has been dubbed "the singularity".

2 Individualism in overdrive (The New York Times) Selfishness run amok is a national disease (and, to judge by Greece, Italy and a few other European countries, an international epidemic). Too many people behave as if they live in a civic vacuum, no broader implications to their individual behavior. Sometimes it’s more consequential: perfectly (or at least mostly) healthy people bilking the government. Over the last four decades, the number of Americans drawing Social Security disability insurance has more or less tripled, by some estimates. That well outpaces population growth and reflects not just a liberalization of the requirements to apply for such insurance but the readiness of some people who don’t truly need it to finesse the criteria nonetheless.

I’m ceaselessly surprised by how many older people of means push back against necessary changes to Social Security and Medicare. Some of them are grandparents, maybe even doting ones. And there’s a crucial disconnect between their impulse to safeguard their slice of the American pie and the concern they should feel for the crumbs their grandchildren may be left with. A few of them are surviving members of the “greatest generation,” which we justly lionize for its sacrifices. Where are our sacrifices today? Our investments in the greater good?

A person has advised, not to pay for airport parking if the accrued tickets from leaving your car on the street won’t be as expensive. Sure, you’re unlawfully hogging a space someone else might make legal use of; maybe you’re thwarting street sweepers, too. Not your problem. A conscience is for chumps.

3 Italian town thinks differently (The Guardian) It is not often that a town council resolution cites Socrates and Spinoza. Then again, not many town councils are like that of tiny Corigliano d'Otranto – population 5,889 – tucked away in the heel of Italy. It could have something to do with the fact that Corigliano is in the so-called Grecìa Salentina, a stronghold of Italy's ethnic Greek minority, which has been there since long before Plato put pen to papyrus. It certainly has a lot to do with the town's centre-left mayor, Ada Fiore, being a philosophy teacher. At all events, Corigliano is bent on turning itself into Italy's most philosophical town.

Resolution No 72, which cited the aforementioned thinkers, created the new post of municipal philosopher, stipulating that the first holder of the office, Graziella Lupo, would be available for consultation at the town hall "between 15.00 and 19.00 on Fridays". Under Fiore's mayorship, the council has put up ceramic plaques with quotations from the likes of Saint Augustine. It has given out postcards for distribution in bars and shops that ask existential questions, such as "Why were you born?"

4 ‘Drug kingpins used HSBC’ (BBC) HSBC provided a conduit for "drug kingpins and rogue nations", according to a US Senate committee investigating money laundering claims at the bank. Its report said suspicious funds from countries including Mexico, Iran and Syria had passed through the bank. The president and chief executive of HSBC Bank USA, Irene Dorner, apologised to the committee for the behaviour which she said deeply regretted. Earlier, HSBC's head of compliance, David Bagley, resigned at the hearing. The bank also said it was in the process of closing 20,000 accounts in the Cayman Islands as a result of the investigation.

5 Inactivity seen as another ‘killer’ (BBC) A lack of exercise is now causing as many deaths as smoking across the world, a study suggests. The report, published in the Lancet to coincide with the build-up to the Olympics, estimates that about a third of adults are not doing enough physical activity, causing 5.3m deaths a year. That equates to about one in 10 deaths from diseases such as heart disease, diabetes and breast and colon cancer. Researchers said the problem was now so bad it should be treated as a pandemic.

6 Intel warns of slowing economy (BBC) The world's largest maker of computer chips, Intel, says the weak economy will mean its next profits will miss forecasts. The company's second-quarter net income was $2.83bn, 4.3% below that made in the second quarter of last year. Operating expenses rose faster than its revenue, which rose 3.6% to $13.5bn. The company makes chips for 80% of the world's personal computers but has a far smaller presence in tablet computers like Apple's iPad, or in the fast-growing smartphone sector. Tablet computer sales are rising far more quickly than those of PCs.

7 Why wealthy Indians live in decrepit areas (The Wall Street journal) Walking around the posh neighborhoods of south Mumbai, you might be forgiven for thinking that the wealthy residents don’t care much for sidewalks, public parks or flyovers. Take neighborhoods like Breach Candy and Cumballa Hill, home to some of India’s richest people such as the industrialist Mukesh Ambani. Yet the sidewalks, in the rare places where they exist, are chipped, uneven and often broken, commandeered by vendors, or so filthy as to be unusable. The monsoon rains just add to the muck and the mire.

Why does the opulence of the homes in these fancy areas not translate into public infrastructure of comparable quality? In the West at least, there’s a clear correlation between per capita incomes and the quality of public goods that residents can expect. Wealthy residents here don’t seem to have much of a stake in their neighborhoods and therefore, aside from a sense of civic virtue, no real incentive to pressure municipal authorities for improvements. Most of these people move about in chauffeur-driven luxury cars or SUVs that glide over the pothole-ridden roads, with sophisticated climate control systems that filter out the noxious air to which pedestrians and those traveling in two-wheelers or black and yellow taxis are subjected. Nor do they demand access to public parks, as they belong to exclusive private clubs.

But the infrastructure that does matter to these wealthy residents functions much better in their neighborhoods than in other parts of town. Many people in Mumbai and other Indian cities contend with daily power cuts and water shortages, yet these problems are almost unheard of in areas like Malabar Hill, Cumballa Hill and Breach Candy. The natural inference is that wealthy residents make sure that the things they care about, the things that affect them directly, work.

8 US drought expanding (Johannesburg Times) Hot, dry weather for the next two weeks will continue to stress corn and soybean crops in the western and northern US Midwest, while rainfall in the east will provide some relief to the struggling soybean, an agricultural meteorologist said on Tuesday. "The rains will be too late for corn but it will help soybeans. The drought is spreading into the western and northwestern crop belt, leading to further stress and more crop losses. The expanding drought, now considered the worst in over a half century, punished the US corn crop last week. The US Department of Agriculture in its weekly crop progress report on Monday, said just 31%  of the corn crop was in good to excellent shape, down from 40% a week earlier and below analysts' average estimate of 35%. Soybean conditions fell to 34% from 40% in the good to excellent category, below estimates for 35%.