🚜 CALIFORNIA FARMERS FIGHT FOR ROBOT RIGHTS — FARM-BOTS BANNED. Driverless tractors are transforming farms in 20+ states — but not in California, where outdated laws still ban autonomous ag tech, even though the state helped invent it.
—> ⚖️ THE BLOCK: Under a 1970s-era regulation, farming equipment must have a human “stationed” at the controls. That language never anticipated today’s driver-optional, AI-powered machinery. The result? California farmers are banned from using the very technology already deployed in 20+ states and four continents.
—> ⚖️ DOUBLE STANDARD? In 2023, California regulators approved autonomous cars for commercial use in cities. Yet farmers are still barred from using slow-moving autonomous tractors in wide-open fields.
—> 📉 THE STAKES: More than 88,000 farm jobs are expected to go unfilled every year for the next decade. The average U.S. farmer is nearly 60. Without automation, the next generation may walk away from agriculture entirely.
—> 🕰️ A FUTURE ON HOLD: Despite promising to form a task force, California’s advisory committee on autonomous farming has only met three times in three years—and issued no recommendations.
Source: NBC Bay Area
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 148. The year is 2025. The planet is Earth.
The planet has complete 40.55 percent its annual orbit around the sun star.
My name is Kevin Cirilli —> LinkedIn. Spotify. Sign-up to receive the future in your inbox here.
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Back to the future...
SIGN OF THE TIMES: AI Cheating Is So Out of Hand In America’s Schools That the Blue Books Are Coming Back, via Gizmodo.com.
HALF-EMPTY: J.D. Vance calls AI a ‘communist technology,’ via MarketWatch… HALF-FULL: Pope Leo XIV: AI has ‘immense potential,’ via Vox.
FUTURES
📉 MARKETS DIP—BUT NVIDIA DELIVERS A MASSIVE AI WIN: Stocks slipped Wednesday ahead of Nvidia’s earnings—but after hours, the AI titan blew past expectations and reignited the rally.
—> 📊 THE DROP: S&P 500 fell 0.6%, Dow down 244 points, Nasdaq slid 0.5%—all after a hot run that brought indexes within 4% of all-time highs.
—> 🤖 THE MAIN EVENT: Nvidia crushed Q1 earnings. Revenue surged 69%, with data center sales — home of its AI chips—up 73% to $39.1B. The stock jumped in extended trading.
—> 🧠 WHY IT MATTERS: Nvidia isn’t just another tech stock — it’s the heart of the AI boom. Its performance sends signals across the entire market.
Source: AP, CNBC
CRYPTO
🔐 BITCOIN'S DARK SIDE: THE RISE OF “WRENCH ATTACKS.” We’ve been reporting about a brash of attacks in the crypto world… from teens… to NYC wrench attacks.. A man in NYC says he was tortured for weeks — just to hand over his crypto keys. It's the latest in a wave of wrench attacks targeting wealthy bitcoin holders.
—> 🛠️ WHAT’S A WRENCH ATTACK? Crypto for now is largely hacker-proof — until someone hits you with a wrench. That’s the name for physical attacks used to force victims to give up passwords. And they’re growing.
—> 🧊 WHY COLD WALLETS AREN’T ENOUGH: Offline storage can block hackers. But not kidnappers. Self-custody makes crypto secure—and makes holders more vulnerable.
Source: ABC News
SPACE
🪐 VENUS' BLIND SPOT: WHERE DANGEROUS ASTEROIDS HIDE: A new study finds that Venus is co-orbiting with at least 20 asteroids invisible from Earth—and while none are on a collision course now, their orbits could become unstable within 150 years.
—> ☀️ WHY WE CAN’T SEE THEM: These asteroids move in sync with Venus, tucked behind the Sun’s glare—making them nearly impossible to detect with Earth-based telescopes. That’s created a cosmic blind spot right next door.
—> 🛰️ HOW WE’RE TRACKING ASTEROIDS: NASA, ESA, and others routinely monitor near-Earth objects, but this Venus zone is tricky. Researchers used orbital simulations spanning 36,000 years to show how small gravitational shifts could push some of these rocks into Earth’s path.
—> ⚠️ WHAT HAPPENS IF THEY VEER OFF COURSE: Some of these asteroids are over 1,000 feet wide—enough to flatten cities. If one were to shift toward Earth, we might only get 2–4 weeks of warning. That’s not enough time to respond with current deflection tech.
—> 🚀 THE NEXT STEP: The upcoming Vera Rubin Observatory could catch glimpses during rare viewing windows. But scientists say a space mission near Venus may be our only shot at fully mapping this hidden population before it matters.
QUANTUM // ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE
🧠 SCIENTISTS ARE RACING TO MAP CONSCIOUSNESS — BEFORE AI CLAIMS IT. At Sussex University, researchers are using a strobe-light machine called the Dreamachine to study how the human brain constructs reality—part of a global push to understand what consciousness really is, and whether machines could ever have it.
—> 🧪 THE SCIENCE: The Dreamachine induces vivid internal imagery with eyes closed—offering clues into how brain activity creates conscious experience. The project is one of many breaking the mystery of consciousness into measurable parts like electrical patterns and blood flow.
—> 🤖 AI'S CONSCIOUSNESS DEBATE: Some scientists now say large language models might already be conscious—or that it’s a real possibility soon. Others, like Prof. Anil Seth, say that's wishful thinking. Intelligence doesn’t equal self-awareness.
—> 🧬 ALTERNATIVE PATH: LIVING MACHINES? One lab in Australia built a “brain in a dish”—nerve cells trained to play Pong. Some believe consciousness might emerge not from code, but from synthetic biological systems like these.
—> ⚠️ WHY IT MATTERS: If we don’t understand how consciousness works, we can’t know if AI has it. Worse—humans may start treating AI like it’s conscious even when it’s not. That shift could distort ethics, relationships, and how we allocate care.
Source: BBC.
MTF EVENTS // SPECIAL CONTENT
MEET THE FUTURE AT SPACE REG BOOTCAMP!!! The Association of Commercial Space Professionals and Q Station have joined forces to offer the Third Annual Space Regulatory Bootcamp in Albuquerque, NM June 10-11th. Spend two intense days learning to navigate the intricacies of the regulations that are slowing your business down.
Leave with practical skills, meaningful connections, and with a regulatory roadmap for your business. From fundraising to government contracting and export controls, our instructors will be hands-on with teaching skills and answering your questions. Tickets and agenda available here: https://acsp.space/abq25bootcamp/ Use our code: ACSPFRIEND to get 10% off your ticket.
ONE MORE THING
🚨 WHITE-COLLAR BLOODBATH? OR CLICK-BAIT? Axios CEO Jim VandeHei has a breathless piece up today in which he writes that AI could wipe out 50% of entry-level white-collar jobs. (This from the guy who got us all hooked on BlackBerries…) But let’s get real — this isn’t a peak behind the curtain, it’s hand-wringing masquerading as insight.
—> FACT CHECK: The actual data from the OECD and Stanford’s Institute for Human-Centered AI shows most generative AI augments jobs more than replaces them. Especially in law, coding, and finance — roles VandeHei claims are doomed.
—> WHAT’S MISSING? Historical context. We’ve heard this before with the PC, the internet, even Excel. Each wave displaced some jobs — but created more, often in new sectors.
—> WHY IT’S TIME TO MEET THE FUTURE: While VandeHei stokes fear, MTF explains how to adapt — faster. Our coverage shows how AI is speeding up science, redesigning cities, reinventing medicine. And yes — how to prepare for workplace shifts with agency, not anxiety.
📍It’s time for public intelligence, not panic.
📍It’s time for more signal, less noise.
It’s time to MEET THE FUTURE.
:)
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.
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