🚨🚨🚨🚨🚨🚨🚨🚨🚨 SHOCK STAT: Sixty-five percent of the humanoid robot supply chain is in China… welcome to the future… keep reading…
MISSION POSSIBLE —> TOM CRUISE BREATHES UNDERWATER. IS LIQUID OXYGEN THE FUTURE? Tom Cruise trained himself to breathe in Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning—literally. Shooting an intense underwater sequence in a rotating tank, he inhaled his own carbon dioxide, pushing his body to its limits. He could only wear his specially-designed suit for 10 minutes at a time before suffering from hypoxia. The stunt was brutal, but it hints at a bigger question: Could humans one day actually breathe underwater?
—> SCIENTISTS THINK THERE’S A WAY FOR HUMANS TO BREATHE UNDERWATER. Doctors already use liquid ventilation to oxygenate patients' lungs, and deep-sea divers have long dreamed of swapping air tanks for oxygen-rich liquids. The idea? No more decompression sickness. Scientists have tested it on animals, but getting humans to exhale liquid remains the biggest challenge. Even if we solve that, clearing carbon dioxide could still be a deal-breaker.
—> FROM DEEP-SEA DIVING TO SPACE TRAVEL? Beyond deep-sea missions, NASA is exploring liquid suspension for astronauts. If we could be submerged in oxygenated liquid, humans could travel in a liquid pod and sustain gravitational forces more than twenty times Earth—meaning space travel could get way wilder because humans could be transported much faster. 🚀 Meanwhile, nature’s already ahead of us: the diving anole lizard can hold its breath for minutes, using an air bubble like a natural scuba tank.
Sources: Twisted Sifter | Variety | CNN
hello, future. it’s me, kev.
…and this is a dispatch from the digital frontier. It’s time to meet the future NOW — with the latest on markets, tech, and freedom. The day is 49. The year is 2025. The planet is Earth. My name is Kevin Cirilli —> LinkedIn. Spotify. Sign-up to receive the future in your inbox here.
Subscribe to mtf.tv’s meet the future YouTube channel.
Back to the future...
FUTURES
📈 WALL STREET HITS RECORD—AGAIN. S&P 500 Breaks All-Time High: The index crept up 0.2%, barely edging past last month’s record. The Dow added just 10 points, while the Nasdaq ticked up 0.1%.
— Ethan Garcia, senior mtf.tv fellow
QUANTUM // ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE
MUSK VS. ALTMAN—THE AI SHOWDOWN JUST GOT REAL. Elon Musk’s xAI has launched Grok 3, its latest AI model, claiming it outperforms OpenAI’s ChatGPT, Google’s Gemini, and China’s DeepSeek.
Built using a supercluster of 200,000 Nvidia GPUs, Grok 3 will first be available to X Premium+ subscribers, along with a new DeepSearch feature that acts like an AI-powered research engine. Musk calls it “scary smart.”
—> GROK 3 VS. CHATGPT—WHAT’S THE DIFFERENCE? If you’ve used ChatGPT (GPT-4o), you know it’s designed to be safe, neutral, and polished, often avoiding controversial topics. Grok 3, on the other hand, leans into "maximal truth-seeking", meaning it’s built to give blunt, unfiltered responses—even if they’re controversial.
Grok also introduces “Big Brain” mode, designed to tackle complex reasoning, coding, and math problems. While ChatGPT feels like a polished assistant, Grok 3 is Musk’s attempt at an AI that "tells it like it is"—whether you like it or not.
—> MUSK VS. ALTMAN—THE BILLIONAIRE BEEF: Musk co-founded OpenAI in 2015 but split from the company in 2018, accusing it of straying from its original nonprofit mission. He recently tried (and failed) to buy OpenAI’s nonprofit parent for $97.4 billion, claiming Sam Altman had made the company “too corporate.” Meanwhile, OpenAI is chasing a $300 billion valuation, dwarfing Musk’s xAI, which is currently seeking a $75 billion raise.
—> THE DEEPSEEK FACTOR: Chinese AI startup DeepSeek rattled the industry by developing a model that competes with OpenAI but at a fraction of the cost. The U.S. ban on Nvidia AI chips to China was expected to slow Chinese AI development—but DeepSeek’s breakthrough suggests otherwise. Musk’s xAI doubled its GPU cluster to keep up, showing that AI’s next frontier is a battle of scale and resources.
Grok 3 is just the beginning—Musk plans to open-source older versions, and a voice assistant is in the works. But can Grok’s “truth-seeking” AI really dethrone OpenAI? The AI arms race is just getting started.
Sources: CNBC, Bloomberg, TechCrunch.
CRYPTO
ARGENTINA LAUNCHES FRAUD INVESTIGATION INTO MILEI’S CRYPTO SCANDAL. Argentina’s courts have opened a fraud investigation into President Javier Milei after his promotion of $LIBRA, a little-known cryptocurrency, triggered a financial firestorm. Late Friday, Milei endorsed the token on X (formerly Twitter), touting it as a way to fund small businesses.
—> PORTNOY REACTS: The post sent prices soaring—until he abruptly deleted it hours later, causing a market collapse that wiped out billions. Investors, including Barstool Sports’ Dave Portnoy, called it “the biggest rug pull of all time.”
—> Political & Market Fallout: The scandal has fueled calls for Milei’s impeachment from opposition leaders, while the government insists he had no direct involvement. Meanwhile, Argentina’s stock market plummeted 5.6% on Monday—its worst drop since July—deepening the country’s economic instability. ⚖️
—> Global Fallout: Crypto leaders are pointing fingers, with some calling the Libra saga a travesty and proof that the industry lacks a moral compass. As Milei scrambles to contain the damage, he’s also heading to Washington this week to attend CPAC and to meet Trump, hoping to secure U.S. backing for an IMF bailout and trade exemptions. 💰
Sources: Reuters, BBC, Bloomberg.
SPACE
HELP WANTED: NASA NEEDS A MOON RESCUE PLAN—PAYS $45K 🌕🚀 Stranded on the Moon? NASA wants your help designing a way to transport an injured astronaut across the lunar surface—no rover, no problem. The agency is offering $45,000 in prizes for the best DIY lunar rescue solution.
—> THE MISSION: Develop a device that can carry an incapacitated astronaut across the Moon’s harsh terrain, ensuring a safe return to base. Think stretcher meets sci-fi survival tech. 🏗️
—> WHO CAN APPLY? Engineers, space nerds, garage inventors—if you’ve got ideas, NASA wants to see them. The top design gets a $20,000 reward, with additional cash prizes for other promising concepts. 💰
—> WHY IT MATTERS: With NASA’s Artemis program sending humans back to the Moon, astronaut safety is a top priority. A rescue system could mean the difference between survival and a permanent lunar retirement.
DEADLINE: Submissions close March 4. No prior experience escaping the Moon required. 🌙🔧
Source: Daily Galaxy.
GEOPOLITICS
CHINA DITCHING EVs FOR HUMANOID ROBOTS? DID XI BACK THE WRONG HORSE? China went all-in on EVs, but now its biggest tech players are making a hard pivot—humanoid robots. With U.S. companies ditching China and tariffs crushing exports, Xi’s electric dream isn’t paying off. Now, ex-EV giants are pouring billions into robots, desperate to stay ahead in the global tech war.
—> DEEPSEEK SHOCKED THE SYSTEM: DeepSeek’s AI model rivaled OpenAI’s best—despite using fewer resources. That sent Washington into overdrive: new chip bans, state-level DeepSeek blacklists, and whispers of more restrictions coming. China’s response? Double down on humanoids.
—> CHINA’S EV GAMBLE FLAMED OUT—NOW IT WANTS ROBOTS. China once crushed the EV race, with 53% of cars sold being electric or hybrid. 🚀
—> HUMANOIDS: CHINA’S NEXT TECH WEAPON? With 65% of the humanoid supply chain in China, this could be the next U.S.-China battleground. But can these bots escape the same fate as China’s struggling EVs?
—> CHIP WAR: THE KILL SWITCH? For now, humanoids don’t need as much AI firepower as chatbots. But as they evolve, they’ll rely on high-performance chips—chips that the U.S. is locking down. If Washington tightens the screws, China’s robot revolution could stall before it even starts. 🤖💥
Source: MIT Technology Review; Fox News; Business Insider.
ONE MORE THING
The NBA’s Tech Summit just hit its 25-year mark, and what started as a niche gathering in 2000 has become the hottest ticket of All-Star Weekend. This year? A full-circle moment—back in the Bay Area, where it all began, but now with AI-powered robots and streaming titans taking center stage.
—> BOTS & BALLERS—Commissioner Adam Silver shared the stage with Physical AI robots capable of transforming how players train, strategize, and recover. Boston Dynamics’ Spot robot dogs even launched T-shirts into the crowd. Because why wouldn’t robots have a hype team? 🤖🏀
—> STREAM WARS—The first-ever Tech Summit featured a young Mark Cuban predicting streaming dominance. This year, Netflix, Apple, Amazon, YouTube, ESPN, and NBC Sports took the mic. Because, well, he was right. 📺
—> LEGENDS & LEADERS—NBA stars Victor Wembanyama, Jalen Brunson, and Sabrina Ionescu joined the convo, alongside NBPA exec Andre Iguodala and even Gen. Martin Dempsey, former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs. Plus, Bob Costas sat down with Steve Kerr for the ultimate old-school-meets-new-school chat. 🎙️
Back in 2000, no one knew if the summit would even last. Now, it’s a Silicon Valley-style think tank for the future of sports. And as for what it’ll look like in 2050? Even Adam Silver doesn’t have a clue—other than, probably more robots. 🚀
Source: NBA.
With gratitude,
Kev
ABOUT mtf.tv’s meet the future: mtf.tv’s meet the future is a cutting-edge platform focused on addressing key challenges at the intersection of national security, technology, and business. With a mission to embrace freedom to meet the future’s challenges and opportunities, mtf.tv offers forward-thinking media offerings and forums.
Share this post