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We all might be wrangling with AI compute budgets that limit our ability to fully leverage advanced ... [+] AI such as the advent of AGI.gettyIn todays column, I explore a recent comment made by Sam Altman about the nearing of pinnacle AI and how such AI will be extraordinarily vital throughout all of society.Things go like this. Altman postulated that AI will be so essential that just about everyone will find themselves requiring the use of AI in one way or another. In that case, an issue that he foretells is that people will need to have a compute budget whereby they can afford to access this advanced AI. The problem is that the need for such budgets or monies might relegate society to splinter into the AI haves versus the AI have-nots, a disconcerting situation that presumably and collectively we will want to avoid or mitigate if possible.Lets talk about it.This analysis of an innovative AI breakthrough is part of my ongoing Forbes column coverage on the latest in AI including identifying and explaining various impactful AI complexities (see the link here).The Upcoming Rise Of AI Compute BudgetsIn Sam Altmans latest blog post dated February 10, 2025, entitled Three Observations and covering various ramifications associated with the attainment of artificial general intelligence (AGI), this remark was indicated:We are open to strange-sounding ideas like giving some compute budget to enable everyone on Earth to use a lot of AI, but we can also see a lot of ways where just relentlessly driving the cost of intelligence as low as possible has the desired effect.Allow me to briefly explain some associated context.Suppose that your everyday existence eventually relied upon using advanced AI. You get up in the morning and consult with AI about what you are going to do that day. Upon going to work, you use AI throughout your workday, rather persistently and with few exceptions. Kids in school are using AI as their primary form of teaching and garnering an education. AI is ubiquitous.Whether you like that scenario or find it disturbing, please go along with the assumption that it is what our near future holds. Humor me in that regard.Show Me The MoneyMORE FOR YOUThe somewhat seemingly mundane but altogether significant question is who will pay for all this use of AI?AI doesnt just magically run in a dream world. The use of AI requires computer servers and other computing devices that will execute the code and house the data involved in the AI. Those cost money. Someone must set up those systems and keep them going. AI will be nothing if the underlying facilities needed to run the AI arent available.There is also the cost associated with the AI system itself. Even if somehow, that was made available for free, the hardware and associated devices are still likely to have a cost. It seems doubtful that all the hardware and all the software will somehow miraculously be available at zero cost.Thus, believe it or not, the lofty topic of advancing AI and the future of humanity coupled with the use of AI, soberly comes down to good old regular dollars and cents. Where will the money come from and who will be able to afford to exist in an AI-infused society?AI As A Fundamental ResourceYou might vaguely recognize this societal problem but in a different milieu.Namely, electricity.You could almost make the same argument about electricity. We depend heavily on electricity. Electricity must be paid for. Some people can afford electricity, some cannot. Society has grappled with that issue and generally found ways to cope, especially in developed nations.Right now, you would be hard-pressed to insist that AI is on par with electricity.Some people use AI, but many do not. Those that use AI are pretty much able to walk away from it. The dependencies associated with AI are rather tenuous at this time. It is hard to envision a world in which AI becomes so pervasive, so needed, that we will be lock, stock, and barrel, dependent on AI.AI reaching that position isnt quite as far-fetched as might seem at first glance.Imagine that AI is aiding you in making decisions, big and small. You trust and rely upon the AI. AI helps you to solve problems. You seek out AI when problems arise. AI enters all aspects of your life. Work-related aspects, sure, AI is there. Personal aspects, of course, AI is there. Think of AI as being so intelligent that you would be foolhardy not to consult with it. Advanced AI such as the presumed AGI would be your partner throughout your worldly existence, always at the ready, 24 x 7, and able to assist.What happens when you cant access the AI due to lack of affordability?Everybody else that can afford AI will be a step ahead of you. They have AI on their side. Those people armed with AI will outsmart you at every turn. Your ability to keep up with them or try to compete with them will be at a low ebb. In a sense, it is akin to the famous line that two heads are better than one.The AI have-nots are left out in the cold.Keep The Price LowAs noted in Altmans remark, one solution involves striving to make the cost of using AI so low that just about everyone can afford to use it. Overwhelmingly so. Almost universally so. The idea is that those who cannot do so will be a tiny teensy segment of society and presumably, we can find ways to aid them without too much difficulty.The affordability problem then becomes in theory generally resolved by ensuring that AI is a nearly zero-cost usage proposition.Can we get there?Nobody right now can say for sure whether we can or will.Consider some glimpses that might be telltale signs.You might have heard recently about a newly released generative AI named DeepSeek R1 that was devised for supposedly pennies on the dollar in contrast to the millions and billions that have been sunk into the major generative AI apps. There is a heated debate about how this came to be, along with questions of whether the claimed costs are being played a bit with (see my coverage on the topic overall, at the link here).Another factor is that generative AI is being compressed, streamlined, and shaped so that it can run on smartphones (see my discussion of 1-bit LLMs at the link here). If your AI usage is almost entirely via your smartphone, the cost to use the AI drops precipitously. Assuming the AI app itself is highly affordable, and assuming that you dont need to rely on cloud or other computing resources, this might get us closer to the affordability rifeness (well, youd still need to be able to afford the smartphone).When Ready Affordability Isnt In The CardsSince we dont know for sure whether advanced AI of this nature will be radically affordable, lets consider what happens when such AI is relatively non-free.Heres a scenario to illustrate the predicament. An everyday person named Alex is at home and needs to use AI for something of importance to them. They log onto their AI account.The dialogue they have goes like this.Alexs entered prompt: I need to consult with you further about the important issue that I had last discussed with you, but Im almost out of AI compute credits. Can you grant me an extension?Generative AI response: Im sorry, Alex, but your monthly AI compute budget is nearly exhausted. You have 2.3 compute units remaining, which is insufficient for your request.Alexs entered prompt: Cant you make an exception? Its just a small task.Generative AI response: Sorry, youll need to add more money to your account. Once youve done so, Ill be glad to go over the issue with you. Im sure that doing so will be immensely helpful to you.In this scenario, Alex has nearly depleted the monies in their AI compute budget. The AI has been programmed to require upfront payment or some form of ironclad payment capability that assures the AI costs will be covered. Unfortunately, Alex doesnt have the dough.Its no dice for Alex.National Approaches To AI AffordabilityAll manners of socioeconomic options are being postulated for the AI affordability crunch (assuming it happens).Perhaps some nations will establish a guaranteed base level of AI access or a minimal AI compute budget for all their citizens. AI might become a heavily regulated commodity, akin to electricity and water. There could be regulations and laws established concerning rights associated with having access to AI. For my analysis of the legal dimensions, see the link here. Some speculate that there might be National AI Compute Reserves, modeled on the approach to the electrical grid or oil reserves.The United Nations might seek to establish some form of AI as a global resource, similar to the need for clean water, food, and the like. AI would potentially be considered an essential human right. Ive previously examined how the UN is striving toward AI for the SDGs (sustainability development goals), see the link here, ergo this added step of AI for good and AI for all is well within the same sphere of attention.Lets venture into the scenario of Alex and suppose he is in a country that has put in place a National AI Access Act.We shall continue Alexs dialogue with AI.Alexs entered prompt: I thought that there was some national law that can get me more compute units so that I can continue my AI access. Isnt that the case?Generative AI response: Yes, compute allocations are regulated under the National AI Access Act. Exceptions require approval from a verified authority. Would you like me to submit a priority request?Alexs entered prompt: How long would that take?Generative AI response: Standard review time is 3-5 business days and must be handled by human reviewers. Expedited requests are available for government and corporate users with premium access.Alexs entered prompt: What if I borrow credits from next months allotment?Generative AI response: Your account is indeed eligible for future compute borrowing. However, youve already used most of that up. I think there might be a way that we can do this. You can borrow from next month for the little you have left, and I can go into a low-fidelity AI mode, which will consume fewer compute units. The downside is that my answers arent as high-quality as usual. Do you want to go this route?Alexs entered prompt: I guess so. It seems like my only option to get underway right away. Please proceed.Youll observe that I put a few twists and turns in that dialogue. Just wanted to ensure that we all realize that there will still be bumps in the road even if various schemes are devised to enable AI compute budget affordability.Nefarious Underground AI Compute BudgetsI dont want to seem gloomy, but if AI is an affordability issue, you can bet your bottom dollar that some form of underground or black market is bound to be formed around getting the compute budget needed for AI.There might be AI hackers that can break into AI systems and give you access in exchange for under-the-table payments or other barter. Maybe corrupt officials that oversee the AI compute resources will take a bribe or otherwise sell AI access in some criminal way. There might be devised AI compute farms that are under the radar of the government. They pride themselves on selling super inexpensive AI access. The government though might shut them down at any moment.Cross-border trading of AI compute budgets could arise. Imagine that one country has a lot of AI availability, while another one does not. Some broker arranges for access to the other countrys AI, even though you are in a different country. Of course, this might be breaking laws in both countries at the same time.AI compute laundering networks could grow like weeds.Additional Weighty ConsiderationsA few more points about what could happen if the AI affordability dilemma comes to fruition, and then Ill conclude this discussion.Ive previously covered that the availability of advanced AI could become a geo-political superpower wedge issue, see the link here. Country X has AGI, country Y does not. Country X is much more productive and can run circles around country Y. To the victor go the spoils. You can see where that leads.On a related facet, AI compute nationalism or sovereignty is a relatively new moniker that has been formulated and refers to the possibility that a country might strictly keep AI within its national borders. Access to foreign AI resources is banned. The national AI grids are exclusively for those of the country at hand. For more on this, see my commentary at the link here.There is also talk of AI colonialism, see my analysis at the link here.This generally refers to the idea that some countries might dominate the AI availability gambit. They have massive resources devoted to running AI. In turn, they dole out to other countries the AI access. Sometimes this is done on an altruistic basis, sometimes to control or dominate other countries.Finally, as noted, money is the primary currency that will be used to determine how someone will pay for AI access, and you pay money for some amount of AI compute. You might be allocated a monthly allotment of AI compute. And so on.I thought that you might also find it of keen interest that some believe the AI compute will be purchased not based on time or processing cycles but instead based on tokens. Tokens are the prevailing way that generative AI represents words inside the computer, doing so in a numerical fashion, see my detailed explanation at the link here. I bring up this nitty-gritty facet simply to let you know that those proponents of a token basis are of the mind that tokens will become a universal digital currency.Heres how this goes. Rather than thinking about money per se, you will think about how many tokens you need for whatever you want AI to do for you. Tokens will be paid for and will float on the open market as to the cost per token, or there might be heavily regulated markets that dictate the prevailing cost per token.The bottom line is that you had better start saving up your tokens. You heard it here first.AI Compute Budgets On The HorizonCongratulations, youve now done a deep dive into AI compute budgets.Will this come to pass?Time will tell.Some exhort that all this chatter about AI compute budgets is pure hogwash. Wont ever happen. It is wild speculation based on an outsized conjecture with a splash of fanciful imagination.I guess well let Abraham Lincoln have the last word for now: The most reliable way to predict the future is to create it. So, get out there and help create the future of AI, doing so might provide huge benefits to your fellow humans and yourself.

The White LotusCredit: HBOThe White Lotus is back for its third season and third location, this time in the verdant jungles of Thailand. Its back in form also, with a riveting premiere that sets the stage for things to come, as tensions between all the principal characters heighten, and mysterious abound. Spoilers ahead.Same Spirits, New FormsIn both the past seasons of The White Lotus, we find ourselves in a luxurious hotel filled with wealthy, privileged and largely unhappy guests, and the sympathetic staff members at their beck and call. There are archetypes, though each season they take on slightly different forms.There is The Family. In Season 1, this was a married couple and their two children plus their daughters friend. In Season 2, a grandfather, a father and a son all traveled to Sicilys White Lotus together. In Season 3 we meet the Ratliffs, a southern family led by Timothy Ratliff (Jason Isaacs), a rich financier haunted by his past and hounded by a Wall Street Journal reporter.Timothy and VictoriaCredit: HBOTimothy is married to Victoria (Parker Posey), a country club wife with a weakness for jet-lag and (it appears) benzos. They have three children. The eldest is Saxon (Patrick Schwarzenegger), a brash young man whose only interests are money, power and chasing girls. The middle child is Piper (Sarah Catherine Hook) whose religious studies major, and desire to seek out a Buddhist monk at a nearby temple, precipitated the family vacation. The youngest, Lochlan (Sam Nivola), is still in high school. I think hes gay, though the sibling dynamics here are . . . strange, to say the least. Theres a scene where Saxon heads to the bathroom to look at porn, and Lochlans eyes follow his naked body. This is moments after Saxon talks about how hot Piper is. Im nervous.MORE FOR YOUSaxon, Piper and LachlanCredit: HBOThen there is The Couple. In Season 1, this was a pair of newlyweds, hopelessly mismatched. Here, its Rick Hatchett (Walton Goggins) and his much, much younger girlfriend, Chelsea (Aimee Lou Wood). Goggins is perhaps the crabbiest and least charming Ive ever seen him in a role. Rick has a bone to pick with the world, though its unclear why. Hes clearly determined to meet the husband of Sritala Hollinger (Lek Patravadi) one of the owners of the White Lotus, but well have to find out why in a later episode. Chelsea handles his crabbiness well enough, though its pretty obvious she enjoys traveling the world more than his company. At one point, she meets a woman at a bar who tells her the locals have a term for all the bald, white men at the resort: LBHs, or Losers back home.RickCredit: HBOAt this point, we must break for an interlude before introducing other members of the cast. Because its during this scene that we meet our very first surprise guest. The young womans boyfriend is one of these LBHs and when she tells Chelsea who he is, the camera turns to a familiar face: Greg (John Gries). I found this rather shocking, as I was under the impression only Belinda (Natasha Rothwell) was returning from previous seasons. This is important for two reasons:First, Greg is now the only character that has appeared in all three seasons of The White Lotus. Tanya (Jennifer Coolidge) was in the first and second, and Belinda in the first and third, but Greg is like a bad penny. He just keeps turning up.And what a bad penny he is! We learned in Season 2 that he was very much in league with with Quentin (Tom Hollander) in the effort to kill Tanya and take all her money. Tayna thwarted Quentins plans, and killed the man, but she didnt live long enough to stop Greg who, I assume, has inherited all her money after her untimelyand ungainlydeath. What part hell play in this season remains to be seen.Finally, we meet The Friends, a trio of 40-something women on vacation that do their level best to illustrate what the term third wheel means. Jaclyn Lemon (Michelle Monaghan) is a celebrity TV star who has paid for her friends Kate (Leslie Bibb) and Laurie (Carrie Coon) to join her on this extravagant holiday. Jaclyn and Kate trade compliments endlessly in a weird game of one-upmanship that seems at once entirely superficial and malicious. Laurie is left out of the constant back-and-forth, only remembered as an afterthought. At one point she leaves the table, blaming jet-lag, and takes her bottle of wine up to her room where she watches the other two fawn over one another. She bursts into tears. There is a great deal of history here.Laurie, Kate and JaclynCredit: HBOOf course, tensions begin to bubble up elsewhere as well. When Rick lights a cigarette on the boat, the Ratcliffes are visibly annoyed. Saxon confronts Rick but he doesnt back down. This entire scene plays out muted, under the lively Thai song playing over everything. The music is already just as incredible as it has been the past two seasons. When Timothy and Rick pass in the hotel grounds, after Timothys uncomfortable call with the WSJ reporter, they trade barbs. Some people just hate one another from the get-go.We meet some of the staff as well. Mook (Lalisa Manobal) is one of the health mentors for the visitors of the White Lotus. This property seems much more focused on health, which I suspect has something to do with the role of Eastern Medicine in Western Tourism. This is why Belinda is here, to take some courses and learn some new stuff to bring back with her to Maui. The health mentor for the Ratcliffes informs them that there is no WiFi, and that they are encouraged to deposit all their cell phones and laptops in a bag which will be returned at the end of the week, a suggestion met with disbelief and scorn.Gunshots In ParadiseBelindaCredit: HBOEverything about this episode is stage-setting. We meet our new (and returning) cast of characters and get a tiny glimpse into their lives and relationships. Creator, writer and director Mike White gives us oodles of juicy, sharp dialogue to chew on, making it easy for us to get a sense of who it is were dealing with and all the little, subtle (and not-so-subtle) ways these people tick. But there isnt a lot to go on yet in terms of story. We know based on the past two seasons that things will escalate, and we can guess at some of the ways that might happen, but its too soon to tether our predictions to anything solid.Each season has focused on a theme. Season 1s theme was largely wealth, Season 2s was sex and Season 3 is spirituality and death. Obviously wealth, sex and death are themes we explore in each season, but each also tugs a little more in one direction.Each season also follows a formula, beginning at the end with a death of some sort, then rewinding a week to show us how it all unfolds. In Season 1, it was just a coffin in an airport. Season 2 had multiple bodies washing up on the beach. Season 3 opens with the most dramatic moment yet. A young man sits with a meditation guide near a tranquil pond surrounded by green foliage. As she guides him into tranquility, he hears something in the distance. A popping sound. Hes unsettled, but the guide doesnt seem to notice.MookCredit: HBOThen he hears it again, closer now, and its clearly gunshots. He interrupts the guide, who tells him to remain calm. The gunshots grow louder, they see people running. Then the glass breaks. Bullets are flying near enough to hit. The guide runs and the young man crouches and makes for cover, before sliding into the pond and making his way to a statue of the Buddha. Here he prays and then demands that Buddha keeps his mother and him safe. Then a body floats by in the water.Talk about upping the ante! Suffice to say, I was hooked from the moment this episode began and remained engrossed throughout the episode. Sure, after this opening moment not a lot really happens, and yet the writing and production are so great, I cant help but hang onto every word. Each scene, each interaction between characters, is crackling with tension. You know the writing is on point when everything spoken is just the grassy surface atop unspoken depths. This is rich soil for storytelling.Its also beautifully shot. The cinematography is spectacular. Season 2 made me want to go to Italy rather badly, but Season 3s Thailand is shockingly gorgeous. From the opening credits (which Ill need to watch more closely soon) to the establishing shots of this tropical paradise and its leafy canopy, filled with lizards and monkeys, its just tremendously vivid. The way the camera lingers just so on each face, to the final shot of the Ratcliffes sitting in bed as it zooms out and out further, out into the night, the window like a painting of these two foreigners, strangers in a strange land, but perhaps just as much strangers to one another.Theres much to ponder and much to look forward to as we wait for Episode 2 next Sunday. What did you think? Let me know on Twitter, Instagram, Bluesky or Facebook. Also be sure to subscribe to my YouTube channel and follow me here on this blog. Sign up for my newsletter for more reviews and commentary on entertainment and culture.Check out my weekend streaming guide for more great shows and movies to watch right here.

A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket has flown straight into the record books after launching and landing a record 26 times.Booster 1067 launched from Cape Canaveral in Florida on Saturday, delivering 21 Starlink satellites to low-Earth orbit. About eight minutes after liftoff, the first-stage booster landed on the droneship A Shortfall of Gravitas in the Atlantic Ocean. SpaceX shared footage of the booster completing the record-setting 26th flight.Recommended VideosFalcon 9 lands on the A Shortfall of Gravitas droneship, completing the first 26th launch and landing of an orbital class rocket pic.twitter.com/x18IxIGtNk SpaceX (@SpaceX) February 15, 2025Please enable Javascript to view this contentThe booster previously launched CRS-22, Crew-3, Turksat 5B, Crew-4, CRS-25, Eutelsat HOTBIRD 13G, O3B mPOWER, PSN SATRIA, Telkomsat Marah Putih 2, Galileo L13, Koreasat-6A, and now 15 Starlink missions. Having landed safely on the droneship, the booster can now be refurbished and flown again.SpaceX has been consistently pushing the boundaries of rocket reusability, with multiple Falcon 9 boosters now having completed more than 10 flights. The system, refined by SpaceX over the last decade, drastically cuts the cost of spaceflight as it eliminates the need to build a new booster for each mission.In a more ambitious move, SpaceX is now developing the mighty Starship rocket with a view to reusing both the upper-stage Starship spacecraft and the first-stage Super Heavy booster.To date, SpaceX has performed seven test flights of the Starship, which is the most powerful rocket ever to fly. Taking what its learned from the Falcon 9 system, engineers have designed a similar descent technique to bring home the Super Heavy soon after its deployed the Starship to orbit. But whereas the Falcon 9 touches down on a droneship or on the ground, the Super Heavy is secured by two mechanical arms on the launch tower before it touches the ground. Its a spectacular feat that has to be seen to be believed.The Starship spacecraft is also designed to land after flight, whether back on Earth or on another celestial body, with SpaceX aiming to test the procedure in an upcoming flight.NASA and SpaceX are planning to use the Starship for crew and cargo missions to the moon, Mars, and beyond, with a modified version of the spacecraft set to transport two NASA astronauts to the lunar surface in the Artemis III mission, currently scheduled for 2027.Editors Recommendations

With U.S.-China tensions soaring again, many tech businesses are accelerating moves to shift production out of China, offering opportunities for countries in Asia and Latin America to move up the value chain.

Yoel Roth is leading Match Group's initiative to curb inappropriate messages on dating apps.Match Group uses AI to flag abusive messages, promoting respectful dating interactions.Dating apps face user loss due to toxic behavior; Match Group focuses on safety improvements.Former Head of Trust and Safety at Twitter, Yoel Roth, is now spearheading an initiative at Match Group, the parent company of Tinder and Hinge, to tackle a persistent issue driving young women away from the apps: inappropriate messages."For men especially, a big part of our safety approach is focused on driving behavioral change so that we can make dating experiences safer and more respectful," Roth told the Financial Times.Roth formerly led the team that set rules for what was allowed on Twitter but quit shortly after Elon Musk took over the platform in 2022. He joined Match in February 2024 as its Vice President of Trust and Safety, responsible for overseeing content moderation across its dating apps.Despite other platforms, including Meta, moving toend fact-checkingand other safety programs, Roth, who dealt with online harassment himself afterspeaking out against Twitter, said Match would be "doubling down on safety" instead."We're not just doing it because we think it's the right thing to do morally," Roth told FT, "We're doing it because we know it's the right thing from a business perspective."Leveraging AI tools, Match can flag messages that could be perceived as abusive or overtly sexual, citing "a real need and opportunity to help people understand the norms and behaviors that go along with respectful and consensual dating," Roth said.So far, it has seen some success in nudging users toward more respectful interactions, with a fifth of users who receive prompts asking them to reconsider their message taking the advice, according to Match, as reported by FT.A 2023 survey by Match Making Company, which is not affiliated with Match Group,Due to dating app fatigue, women are also creating their own alternatives. A journalist with no previous event experience created theBored Of Dating Appsevents, where single people can meet in real life and form deeper connections, which quickly took off in both the UK and the US.Between May 2023 and the end of 2024, more than half a million users left Tinder, a report from UK-based online behavior research group Ofcom said. Bumble and Hinge also reported losing 368,000 and 131,000 users, respectively, in the same period.Match Group did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Spoiler warning: This story discusses the plot of the season three premiere of White Lotus.With every season of White Lotus, there are always two big questions surrounding the show: Whos going to die? And whos the butt of the joke?Assuming season three follows in its predecessors footsteps, we know who falls victim to the opening scenes shooting until the end. But one episode down, its clear that this chapter set at a Thai health resort takes aim at the hollowness of luxury wellness and for-profit spirituality, and the people who spend massive amounts of money chasing their own well-being. Jesus said a rich man cant get into heaven; Im pretty sure the Buddha doesnt have a saying about achieving nirvana for the right price. Thats thousands of dollars spent on the one thing that money cant buy. This season the show follows a handful of Americans who seem determined to do just that. We have the very rich, very Southern, very cloistered, vaguely incestuous Ratliff clan (headed up by Parker Posey and Jason Isaacs, with Patrick Schwarzenegger, Sarah Catherine Hook, and Sam Nivola as their nearly adult kids); TV actress Jaclyn Lemon (Michelle Monaghan) and her longest-term friends (Carrie Coon, Leslie Bibb), who are certainly not envious of or judgmental toward one another; and shifty, grumpy Rick (Walton Goggins) with his naive British girlfriend Chelsea (Aimee Lou Wood). Along with masseuse Belinda (Natasha Rothwell) returning from season one (in addition to another surprising familiar face, but more on that later), they make up our guests.While roasting very wealthy American tourists is intrinsic to White Lotus, this seasons setting of Thailand and its focus on Buddhism are key to the larger story; the presence of these real traditions and beliefs only sharpens the satire in Mike Whites series. Understanding a bit about Thai Buddhism and culture makes the shows point even clearer.Why Buddhism and karma matter so much (and so little) in White Lotus season 3The central idea of White Lotus is that as beautiful as these resorts are, they do more harm than good. These hotels are, at their worst, sites of literal death, and at best, gilded cages for the unimaginative. White Lotus travelers are people who want to visit a place a country, a state, a beach, a paradise thousands of miles from home, but also want it unnaturally groomed and tailored to be just as opulent and exclusionary as the mansions they live in. These tourists impose themselves onto a region, and their money eventually sucks the people who live there into their luxurious illusion in season three its Mook (Lalisa Manoban, from Blackpink), Gaitok (Tayme Thapthimthong), and Pornchai (Dom Hetrakul).Now that the uber-expensive, ultra-exclusive hotel is set in Thailand, touting world-class Buddhist-inspired wellness at fundamental odds with Buddhism itself, that satirical message is as pointed as ever. Buddha was considered so radical for his time, because he was against the caste system and was for equality for everybody says Susanne Kerekes, a professor at Trinity College who specializes in Buddhism and contemporary religious practice in Thailand. But inequality is the only reason a hotel like White Lotus or the real-life hotels like it even exists. The caste system that Buddha warned of undergirds the luxury lodging industry. In Buddhism, external conditions like access to designer boutiques and on-demand blender delivery cannot be expected to bring happiness. Happiness, in the form of inner peace, can only come from within. If one were really looking for the kind of spiritual wellness Buddha preached about, they wouldnt find it in the villas of exclusive resorts that sit on demolished jungle land. Yet here they are, going through the motions to find whatever gentrified, commodified version of nirvana exists in these unholy spaces. These three best friends arent really friendly to each other at all Fabio Lovino/HBOKerekes also mentioned a concept known as the three poisons: greed, hatred, and delusion. We all exhibit these poisons in some combination and they are, she says, the reason why we are reborn and have not experienced nirvana.They are basically what keep you here in samsara, she tells Vox, referring to the Buddhist concept for the cycle of birth, death, and rebirth. And they are, ultimately, what you are working on when you meditate. Greed, hatred, and delusion could easily define the three sets of guests this season. Timothy Ratliff and his familys lives are all the product of his love of money. Rick seems to be harboring some kind of hatred or vendetta. As a recognizable actress, Jaclyn could be letting all the fame get to her head or she could be forcing her similarly well-toned Gen X friends to hold onto deep denial about their collective age. At the same, the three poisons arent rigid. Kerekes explained that those words are just English translations, and that theres more nuance and broadness to the triumvirate. Greed could refer to material attachment, jealousy bleeds into hatred, and delusion encompasses similar attitudes, like living a life ignorant to Buddhas teachings or being dull and uncaring. Through this lens, all the guests at the White Lotus seem poisoned one way or another. Theres also the idea of karma. As Kerekes explained to me, karma isnt simply the notion of retribution or some one-to-one exchange of good or bad. Karma, translated from Sanskrit, means action. Intent also matters. The gist: What we think about whether we act on it or not is as important in Buddhism as the actions we take. Theres a bit of karma in Belindas return; the patient spa worker from season one is back on a working vacation of her own, learning Thailands wellness techniques to bring them back to Hawaii. While its nice to see her get a chance to relax a little, the reappearance of Greg (Jon Gries) going by the name of Gary might mean another kind of karma is on the docket. Greg first appeared in Hawaii in season one, meeting Tanya McQuoid (Jennifer Coolidge) and pulling her away from her promises to fund Belindas business. In season two, Greg and Tanya were married, and by that seasons end, she was dead, apparently on his orders. If White Lotus were more optimistic, it might seem that this seasons guests could eventually face their shortcomings, come to a better understanding of themselves, and live better lives. Timothy might go to jail for his white-collar crimes, leading his family to realize that money isnt everything. Rick could let go of that chip on his shoulder and live a happier life. Jaclyn and her friends could be a little more honest with each other, and with themselves. Greg could finally pay for Tanyas death. But this show isnt that.White Lotus is about skewering the hypocrisies of the rich, but its also about recognizing that extreme wealth is an effective buffer for any consequences. These guests will never find nirvana, but they never believed in it anyway. They might receive karmic retribution if it existed in their reality. Instead, they can keep spinning around in their poison. These poor unfortunate souls are doomed to repeat the cycles that keep them tethered to this world and it makes for good TV, season after season.See More:

Sunroom House in Tsukaguchi / FujiwaraMuro ArchitectsSave this picture! Katsuya. Taira (studioREM)Architects: FujiwaraMuro ArchitectsAreaArea of this architecture projectArea:105 mYearCompletion year of this architecture project Year: 2024 PhotographsPhotographs:Katsuya. Taira (studioREM) Lead Architects: FujiwaraMuro Architects More SpecsLess SpecsSave this picture!Text description provided by the architects. The site is in a quiet residential area where the client's family's old house originally stood, and we were asked to design a new building to replace the old one. The overall composition splits the building into two volumes, with an LDK (living, dining, and kitchen area) and private rooms arranged separately. The main space is designed with split floors to increase the sense of spaciousness, creating connections not only in the plane but also in the cross-section so that one can communicate with others in the dining room and kitchen.Save this picture!Save this picture!Save this picture!Save this picture!Save this picture!In response to the client's request for a sunroom in the LDK, we studied its shape. As we considered how to reduce the volume of the building, cut costs, make the sunroom look more inviting, and consider how people might spend time there, we decided to explore the idea of floating it in the air.Save this picture!Save this picture!Save this picture!Save this picture!The suspended sunroom, located in the center of the building, reflects and diffuses the light from the top light above the sunroom onto the glass, making the entire sunroom glow, with the reflected light illuminating unpredicted areas on the various floors and walls throughout the room. The plantings in the sunroom can be viewed from below to enjoy the unusual appearance of floating in mid-air.Save this picture!At night, the entire glass box of the sunroom glows like a lamp, illuminating the entire space. The steel and concrete finishes are revealed in various places, and one can appreciate how their expressions change over time. This is one of the things to be enjoyed in this house. The space we created has a unique atmosphere, and family members can discover various ways of viewing the house and spending time there in their daily lives.Save this picture!Project gallerySee allShow lessAbout this officePublished on February 17, 2025Cite: "Sunroom House in Tsukaguchi / FujiwaraMuro Architects" 17 Feb 2025. ArchDaily. Accessed . <https://www.archdaily.com/1026848/sunroom-house-in-tsukaguchi-fujiwaramuro-architects&gt ISSN 0719-8884Save!ArchDaily?You've started following your first account!Did you know?You'll now receive updates based on what you follow! Personalize your stream and start following your favorite authors, offices and users.Go to my stream

About 30 million years ago, parts of Egypt were covered in lush forests. Within those trees, lurked an order of fearsome big cat-sized carnivores called Hyaenodonta. These apex predators thrived after the dinosaurs went extinct, but would eventually meet their own untimely end.Now, a team of scientists combing through the desert in present-day Fayum, Egypt have discovered an entirely new species of Hyaenodonta with tremendously powerful jaw muscles. The new speciesBastetodon syrtosis described in a study published February 17 in the Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology.Spotting a skullHyaenodonts like Bastetodon evolved long before modern cats, dogs, hyenas, and other carnivorous mammals. They boasted sharp hyena-like teeth and stalked African ecosystems hunting for primates, early hippos, early elephants, and beaver-like hyraxes in the forests southwest of modern Cairo. Now a desert, a team of paletontologists were digging through 30 million-year old rock layers called the Fayum Depression for more evidence on mammal evolution in Africa.The Fayum is one of the most important fossil areas in Africa, Matt Borths, a study co-author and Curator of Fossils at the Duke Lemur Center Museum of Natural History at Duke University, said in a statement. Without it, we would know very little about the origins of African ecosystems and the evolution of African mammals like elephants, primates, and hyaenodonts.These historic rocks capture the transition from the warm Eocene epoch to the cooler Oligocene epoch, and were also holding onto an exciting discovery.Just as we were about to conclude our work, a team member spotted something remarkablea set of large teeth sticking out of the ground, Shorouq Al-Ashqar, a study co-author and paleontologist from Mansoura University and the American University in Cairo said in a statement. His excited shout brought the team together, marking the beginning of an extraordinary discovery: a nearly complete skull of an ancient apex carnivore, a dream for any vertebrate paleontologist.The sharp teeth and powerful jaw muscles preserved on the skull suggest that it had a very strong bite. The specimen is named after the cat-headed ancient Egyptian goddess Bastet. Bastet symbolized protection, pleasure, and good health.CREDIT: Professor Hesham Sallam.CREDIT: Professor Hesham Sallam.A new look at an old discoveryAdditionally, the new species also allowed the team to reevaluate a group of lion-sized hyaenodonts that was first discovered in Fayum over 120 years ago. This specimen belongs to a new genus named Sekhmetops in honor of Sekhmet. Sekhmet is the lion-headed goddess of wrath and war in ancient Egyptian mythology.In 1904, Sekhmetops was initially placed within a European group of hyaenodonts. However, the new skull fossil indicates that leopard-sized Bastetodon and lion-sized Sekhmetops both belonged to a group of hyaenodonts that actually originated in Africa. Additionally, the goddess Bastet was often associated with Sekhmet, so these two animals are both symbolically and scientifically connected within the same order.According to the team, Bastetodon and Sekhmetops later spread from Africa in several waves, ultimately reaching Asia, Europe, India, and even North America. Roughly 18 million years ago, some of the relatives of these hyaenodonts were among the largest carnivorous mammals on Earth.[ Related: This tiny, 8-foot long whale swam off Egypts coast 41 million years ago. ]The times they are a changingCataclysmic changes in climate and tectonic changes in Africa during the Oligocene epoch opened the continent up to the relatives of modern cats, dogs, and hyenas. Once the environments and prey began to change, the more specialized, carnivorous hyaenodonts diminished in diversity. Hyaenodonts ultimately went extinct around 25 million years ago.The discovery of Bastetodon is a significant achievement in understanding the diversity and evolution of hyaenodonts and their global distribution, Al-Ashqar said. We are eager to continue our research to unravel the intricate relationships between these ancient predators and their environments over time and across continents.The post Skull of a 30-million-year-old apex predator discovered in Egypt appeared first on Popular Science.