🩺🤖 A FLORIDA DOCTOR JUST REMOVED CANCER FROM A PATIENT IN AFRICA — 7,000 MILES AWAY — USING A ROBOT. It’s the first FDA-approved test of robotic telesurgery across continents. And it could change how health care works everywhere.
—> 🕹️ THE TECH: Dr. Vipul Patel sat in Orlando, Florida, and used a robot to perform prostate cancer surgery on a man in Angola. The connection ran through fiber-optic cables. A backup team stood by in case anything went wrong — it didn’t.
—> 🌎 THE BIG IDEA: If this works at scale, it means doctors could help patients in remote areas — from across the country or across the world. Even ambulances could connect to top surgeons during emergencies.
—> 🚨 THE QUESTIONS: Who’s in charge if something fails? How do we train doctors for this? And what happens when your surgeon doesn’t even need to be in the hospital — or on the same continent?
Source: ABC News.
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 169. The year is 2025. The planet is Earth. The planet has complete 46.3 percent of its 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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FUTURES
🧠👶SAM ALTMAN: “MY KIDS WILL NEVER BE SMARTER THAN AI.” In the first episode of OpenAI’s new podcast, CEO Sam Altman made a bold prediction: his own children — including the newborn he welcomed in February — will grow up in a world where artificial intelligence is permanently smarter than them.
—> 🎙️WHAT HE SAID:
“My kids will never be smarter than AI… They will grow up vastly more capable than we grew up, and able to do things that we cannot imagine, and they’ll be really good at using AI,” Altman said.
He added:
“I don’t think my kids will ever be bothered by the fact that they’re not smarter than AI.”
—> 🤖AI AS A PARENTING TOOL: Altman says he’s already leaning on AI as a new parent, using ChatGPT “constantly” in the first few weeks after his son was born. From baby care basics to big parenting decisions, he’s part of a generation turning to AI not just for work — but for raising kids.
—> ⚠️THE CATCH: Altman also warned that the tech isn’t perfect — and that people may be placing too much trust in tools like ChatGPT, which are known to “hallucinate” or confidently give false answers.
“It should be the tech that you don’t trust that much,” he said.
He also acknowledged future risks: AI dependency, blurred boundaries, and parasocial relationships with machines. Still, he believes the benefits will outweigh the costs.
—> 🧬THE BIG PICTURE: Altman has long argued that AI will reshape childhood, education, relationships, and society itself. Now, as a new father, he’s living through that shift in real time — raising kids in a world where intelligence isn’t just human anymore.
Source: OpenAI podcasting
SPACE
☀️🚨 BREAKING: THE SUN IS FIRING OFF FLARES — AND EARTH IS FEELING IT. On June 17, the most powerful solar flare of the year — an X1.2-class eruption — blasted from sunspot region 4114, knocking out radio signals across the Pacific, including Hawaii.
It’s the second major flare in a week. Earlier, a separate eruption caused radio blackouts across North America. And scientists say more may be on the way.
—> 📈 THE CYCLE: The Sun is nearing its peak in an 11-year solar cycle known as “solar maximum.” That means more sunspots, more eruptions, and more space weather that can mess with Earth’s tech — from GPS to power grids to satellites.
—> 📡 THE BLACKOUTS: NOAA confirmed the June 17 flare caused shortwave radio outages across the Pacific region. Pilots, ham radio operators, and emergency crews using frequencies below 25 MHz experienced signal loss and communications disruption.
—> ⚠️ WHAT’S NEXT: Sunspot 4114 is still Earth-facing — and unstable. That means more flares (and possibly CMEs — the kind that can trigger auroras or geomagnetic storms) could erupt in the coming days.
These flares don't just disrupt radio — the biggest ones can fry satellites, jam GPS, and even overload power grids. Space weather scientists are watching closely.
Sources: Follow updates at NOAA Space Weather Prediction Center and NASA’s solar cycle blog.
QUANTUM // ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE
🙏🤖 POPE LEO WARNS AI COULD THREATEN HUMAN DIGNITY. Pope Leo XIV — the first American pontiff — used his first major address to call out artificial intelligence as a defining moral issue of our time.
—> 📍WHERE HE SAID IT: Speaking to the College of Cardinals at the Vatican just two days into his papacy, Pope Leo XIV made AI the centerpiece of his early vision — linking it to past industrial revolutions that reshaped society, labor, and power.
—> 🗣️WHAT THE POPE SAID:
“Today, the Church offers its trove of social teaching to respond to another industrial revolution and to innovations in the field of artificial intelligence that pose challenges to human dignity, justice and labor.”
He also explained why he chose the name Leo:
“My namesake Leo XIII stood up for the rights of factory workers during the Gilded Age... This is our generation’s version of that moment.”
—> 🕰️HISTORICAL CONTEXT: Pope Leo XIII, who reigned during the late 1800s, became known as “The Pope of the Workers” for defending laborers during the rise of industrial capitalism. His 1891 encyclical Rerum Novarum laid the groundwork for modern Catholic social teaching — calling for living wages, union rights, and protections against economic exploitation.
By invoking him, Leo XIV is drawing a direct line between the exploitation of labor in the Gilded Age and the unchecked power of AI today.
—> 🤖THE TECH CLASH: Leo XIV is continuing Vatican calls for strong global AI regulation, challenging tech companies that prefer voluntary ethics. Microsoft, Meta, Google, and Anthropic have all courted Vatican approval.
—> ⚖️WHY IT MATTERS: This isn’t just a church issue. The Vatican still holds major sway over global politics. Pope Leo’s stance could shape public policy, AI governance debates — and the ethical framework of tomorrow’s machines.
Source: Wall Street Journal
MENTAL HEALTH
🍄 NEW STUDY: PSYCHEDELIC USAGE FOR CANCER PATIENTS MIGHT TREAT DEPRESSION? The psychedelic compound isn’t just “trippy”—it may be a breakthrough therapy for emotional suffering in people battling cancer.
—> 💊 THE FINDING: In a phase 2 trial published in Cancer, over 50% of patients saw a major drop in depression symptoms after just one guided dose of psilocybin plus therapy. Nearly all showed lasting relief, and some even experienced reduced anxiety.
—> 🧬 THE IMPACT: Depression affects 1 in 4 people with cancer. Traditional antidepressants can take weeks to work and often don’t stick. But psilocybin acted fast—and the effects held for months, sometimes years, with just one session.
—> ⚖️ THE SHIFT: The FDA already calls psilocybin a “breakthrough therapy” for major depression. If larger trials confirm the results, it could reshape how we treat emotional health in serious illness—merging psychedelics with traditional care.
Source: People, ScienceDaily, Live Science
ONE MORE THING
💔🌿CANNABIS USERS MAY FACE HIGHER HEART RISKS THAN COCAINE USERS, ACCORDING TO A MASSIVE NEW STUDY. The data: 432 million people, 24 studies, and a shocking link between cannabis and deadly heart problems.
—> 📈 THE RISKS: Cannabis users have a 29% higher chance of heart attack, a 20% higher risk of stroke, and are more than twice as likely to die from heart disease, compared to non-users. These risks remained even after accounting for other drugs — including tobacco and cocaine.
—> 🧪 THE SHIFT: Today’s cannabis is stronger than ever, packed with higher levels of THC and often consumed through vapes, concentrates, or edibles. One study showed weekly users were 5X more likely to suffer a stroke. In young adults, the risk of heart attack jumped by 36%.
With gratitude,
Kev
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