| Photo by National Cancer Institute on Unsplash
Part II of “Affordable Back-to-Basics AI” (ABBAI) Series
Two events happened today, January 8, 2024, that indirectly dramatized this column’s contention that President Biden ought to persuade government agencies and Corporate America to support what it calls the “Affordable Back-to-Basics Artificial Intelligence” (ABBAI).
In the first event, CNN anchor Sara Sidner caught this columnist’s attention when she ended the 1100H EST hour of CNN News Central with a poignant announcement. Her voice cracked several times as she told viewers of her being diagnosed with stage-3 breast cancer.
Sara asked viewers to “take a second to recall the names of eight women you love and know in your life.” She said “statistically,” one of those eight would end up getting breast cancer, and she was now “that one in eight in my friend group.”
The CNN news anchor also reminded her viewers to tell the eight beloved women on their list to undergo periodic mammograms.
Ms. Sidner is right. One of this columnist’s eight sisters developed breast cancer, and it led not only to surgical removal of her reproductive organs a few years after her successful mastectomy. But she survived both operations with help from post-operational sessions of radiation and chemotherapy,
The second event, in support of the ABBAI proposal, is the current Peregrine Mission One. It is dubbed as the Peregrine Lunar Lander flight #01. that Astrobotic Technology built. The firm has been selected as a part of NASA’s Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS), launched by United Launch Alliance aboard a Vulcan Centaur on its maiden flight.
CNN, BBC, and other mainstream news firms say that the private U.S. Moon mission has encountered technical problems.
The Astrobotic company behind the project reports that its Peregrine spacecraft is experiencing an “anomaly” that stops it from pointing its solar panels stably at the Sun. The Murphy’s Law has apparently derailed the lunar mission.
This means that the Peregrine spacecraft cannot now charge its batteries. Ergo, the mission’s plan to land on the moon is in danger of being aborted.
“Colonizing the Moon, Mars, and other space missions can wait for the next century while humanity achieves first in the next five years the “Biden Cancer Moonshot” and different back-to-basics needs of people not only in North America but in the entire planet.”
Both dramatic events may recall the “Cancer Moonshot,” launched in 2016 by then-Vice President Biden. In February 2022, President Biden and First Lady Dr. Jill Biden relaunched the “Biden Cancer Moonshot” to mobilize a national effort to end cancer as American families know and experience it. But apparently, the American public is lukewarm to the First Couple’s cancer advocacy.
On November 13, 2022, this column mentioned the “Biden Cancer Moonshot.” It was the main focus of the article President Biden Can Launch a Socioeconomic Version of the “Cancer Moonshot” at this link. It was Part XXXI of this column’s “Florida, the State of the Future” Series.
Perhaps Sara Sidner, NASA, and its Commercial Lunar Payload Services (Program), as may be led by United Launch Alliance, should now devote more time and resources to batting for the “Biden Cancer Moonshot.” As this column said in Part II of this series, we must urge President Biden to ensure “Artificial Intelligence” becomes an affordable tool to help provide the back-to-basics needs of society.
Devoting more of America’s and the world’s resources to fighting cancer and other diseases and pandemics. Also, it is crucial to end homelessness, produce more food, and do more reforestation (as trees provide the most accessible and affordable way to combat global warming). And other socioeconomic back-to-basics needs.
Colonizing the Moon, Mars, and other space missions can wait for the next century while humanity achieves first in the next five years the “Biden Cancer Moonshot” and different back-to-basics needs of people not only in North America but in the entire planet. What say you, American voters?
