The download: the story of OpenAI and making Magnesium
But a pair of recent books both attempt to get their arms around it. Two recent books have attempted to understand it. The Optimist, Sam Altman, OpenAI and the Race to Invent the Future by Wall Street Journal writer Keach Hagey focuses more on Altman’s personal life from his childhood to the present to tell the OpenAI story. Both portray Altman as a deeply flawed but brilliantly effective creature of Silicon Valley, someone who is able to always get what he wants by manipulating other people. This startup wants to produce more climate-friendly steel in the US.
The latest news:
A Californian company named Magrathea has just switched on a new electrode that can produce magnesium metal from seawater.
The full review. The technology has the potential to produce the material, which is used in vehicles and defense applications, with net-zero greenhouse-gas emissions.
Why it matters:
Today, China dominates production of magnesium, and the most common method generates a lot of the emissions that cause climate change. Magrathea’s process could provide a new source of magnesium and help clean up industries such as automotive manufacturing. Read the full story.
–Casey Crownhart
