According to our estimation results, growth rates in fudai domains/villages were approximately 10–16 percentage points lower than those of their counterparts. This is a substantial difference in growth rates for pre-industrial societies. Based on Maddison’s Historical Statistics, the GDP growth rate of China between 1600 and 1820—a time span which largely overlaps with the Edo Period (1600–1868)—was 72% while that of France in the same period was 89%. The difference in GDP growth rates between China and France across 220 years is merely 11 percentage points. Therefore, the difference caused by the insider-outsider distinction in Edo Japan is as large as the economic divergence between China and France in 1600–1820.

In 2023, hundreds of AI luminaries signed an open letter warning that artificial intelligence poses a serious risk of human extinction. Since then, the AI race has only intensified. Companies and countries are rushing to build machines that will be smarter than any person. And the world is devastatingly unprepared for what would come next.
For decades, two signatories of that letter—Eliezer Yudkowsky and Nate Soares—have studied how smarter-than-human intelligences will think, behave, and pursue their objectives. Their research says that sufficiently smart AIs will develop goals of their own that put them in conflict with us—and that if it comes to conflict, an artificial superintelligence would crush us. The contest wouldn’t even be close.
How could a machine superintelligence wipe out our entire species? Why would it want to? Would it want anything at all? In this urgent book, Yudkowsky and Soares walk through the theory and the evidence, present one possible extinction scenario, and explain what it would take for humanity to survive.
The world is racing to build something truly new under the sun. And if anyone builds it, everyone dies.

At least 57 people have died during a massive surge of migrants attempting to enter the Spanish exclave of Ceuta from Morocco. An estimated 50,000 people attempted the crossing this week, although Spanish authorities said most returned to Morocco by Friday evening.

For travelers who enjoy quiet surroundings, thoughtful rest, and time spent meaningfully.

Not for fast itineraries or entertainment.

But for those who wish to pause, listen, and be present.

L’Assemblée nationale française a approuvé mercredi un projet de loi autorisant les adultes atteints d’une maladie incurable à recevoir des médicaments létaux, point d’orgue de plusieurs années de débats sur les soins de fin de vie.
Mais ce vote, qui s’est soldé par 291 voix contre 241 à l’Assemblée nationale, ne signifie pas que le projet de loi entre immédiatement en vigueur. Ses opposants affirment qu’ils demanderont un contrôle de constitutionnalité afin de déterminer s’il est conforme à la Constitution française.

Les patients souhaitant mettre fin à leurs jours devraient être âgés d’au moins 18 ans et être soit de nationalité française, soit résidents légaux en France.

Selon diverses estimations, l’aide à mourir est accessible à environ 300 millions de personnes dans le monde.