The truly sad part of this latest example of techno-utopianism is that there really is a lot that can or should be done in terms of building...just not new stuff.

The US and the West in general is starting to understand the inherent issues with offshoring most of its manufacturing to China and other countries. Where is the focus, money and work going to change this problem?

I'm in the midst of attending a Climate Tech conference in Silicon Valley - what is particularly interesting is the dichotomy between 2 pavilions of expo exhibitors: the "Grand Ballroom" is replete with big fancy convention setups by huge companies either greenwashing and/or selling climate/ESG/DEI services vs. the other hall which is literally half empty; 2/3rds of the 1/2 occupied is rows of side by side 6 foot tables of climate tech startups, the other 1/3 is basically 3 groupings of also 6 foot tables but aggregated by the specific fund behind them. Going through the non-funded startups: out of 50? 60? maybe 3 were battery tech. Another 1 was tidal. Another 3 or so related to solar. Overall less than 10 were technical - engineering of some type. The rest were software and/or marketing of various flavors from AI analysis of <insert climate related theme> to incentive programs like credit card frequent flyer mile earning but for actual tree planting etc to stuff that is just plain a bad idea and/or literally unscalable: biochar.

I'll go through the "funded" startups today, but I would be highly surprised if the ratio is any different.