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Category: law – Page 55

In the third episode of the Healthy Longevity webinar series, we hear from Dr Aubrey de Grey, Chief Science Officer of the SENS Research Foundation as he joins Prof Brian Kennedy for a science-backed and inspirational conversation on regenerative medicine and the implications of a population that lives longer and in good health.

Register for upcoming webinar episodes here: https://bit.ly/3jhe0SB.

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Disclaimer: The opinions and advice expressed in this webinar are those of the speakers and do not represent the views and opinions of the organizers and National University of Singapore or any of its subsidiaries or affiliates. The information provided in this webinar is for general information purposes only as part of a general discussion on public health. The information is not intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnoses or treatment; and cannot be relied on in place of consultation with your licensed healthcare provider.

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All of the proceedings of this webinar, including the presentation of scientific papers, are intended for limited publication only, and all property rights in the material presented, including common-law copyright, are expressly reserved to the speaker or NUS. No statement or presentation made is to be regarded as dedicated to the public domain. Any sound reproduction, transcript or other use of the material presented at this course without the permission of the speaker or NUS is prohibited to the full extent of common-law copyright in such material.

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R-sharing. Hmmm… would you trust the AI to drive for you?

At the end of November, Tesla (NASDAQ: TSLA) released its Vehicle Safety Report for Q3 2020, which shows that its vehicles using Autopilot are almost 10 times safer than other vehicles on United States roads. While the California manufacturer has directed massive efforts towards achieving Level 5 autonomy, the development of autonomous driving in Europe is at best slow-moving.

Recently, though, researchers in Germany are suggesting that this should change, and for good reason. The researchers indicate that, if Tesla Autopilot were installed on all cars in the Germany now, they would be able to avoid hundreds of thousands of car accidents.

“Legislative procedures that provide legal support for autonomous driving are progressing slowly,” criticizes Ferdinand Dudenhöffer, director of the Center for Automotive Research (CAR) in Duisburg.

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Scrutiny of the tech industry has ballooned in the nation’s capital in recent years, but until now federal regulators have passed little meaningful legislation or other penalties targeting the companies for perceived transgressions. Consumer advocates and legal experts say the DOJ broadside is an early sign that could be changing.

It could put more pressure on Congress to pass legislation addressing the tech industry.

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This is interesting. So Mars won’t be under earth-based laws?

Interesting… 😃

SpaceX’s Elon Musk has revealed that they will not abide by international law on Mars.

Instead, the company plans to define its own set of ‘self-governing principles’ for the first Martian settlement.

The company made the low-key announcement by slipping it into the terms and conditions of their new Starlink satellite broadband service.

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“For services provided on Mars, or in transit to Mars via Starship or other colonisation spacecraft, the parties recognise Mars as a free planet and that no Earth-based government has authority or sovereignty over Martian activities,” the governing law section states.

“Accordingly, disputes will be settled through self-governing principles, established in good faith, at the time of Martian settlement.”

Space systems engineer Erwan Beauvois said SpaceX’s position was reminiscent of a declaration put forward by the Earthlight Foundation, a non-profit organisation committed to preparing for the expansion of humanity beyond Earth.

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Researchers are now calling for a set of guidelines, similar to those used in animal research, to guide the humane use of brain organoids and other experiments that could achieve consciousness. In June, the US National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine began a study with the aim of outlining the potential legal and ethical issues associated with brain organoids and human-animal chimaeras.

A handful of experiments are raising questions about whether clumps of cells and disembodied brains could be sentient, and how scientists would know if they were.

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U.S. company can keep hosting vast coronavirus-related project but must protect French citizens’ health data from American government, court rules.

A French court has ruled that Microsoft Corp. can continue hosting a government-run project aggregating citizens’ anonymous health data to use for AI-based research, but must guarantee no data will be sent to the U.S. or be shared with American intelligence authorities.

The ruling, handed down last week, contradicts the stance of France’s data protection authority, which told the court this month that any U.S. cloud provider could be forced to comply with U.S. surveillance laws and should therefore not be allowed to host sensitive health data. The regulator’s opinion could provide clues for other companies handling such data, legal experts say.

Companies are wrestling with tricky decisions about moving their data from the European Union to the U.S., following a court decision this summer that required personal data transferred there to include special guarantees against surveillance by the American government.

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In a newly published policy paper, a pair of Canadian scientists warn that the United States is angling to establish itself as the de facto gatekeeper of the moon and other celestial bodies.

Earlier this year, NASA published a new set of rules for lunar mining and other space activities, dubbing the voluntary guidelines the “Artemis Accords.”

Aaron Boley and Michael Byers, authors of the new Science paper, argue that the Artemis Accords are part of a concerted effort by the U.S. and NASA to set a legal precedent for space-based resource extraction.

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A short story.

A very short story with a long ending.

“What did you do in the Great Cyberwar daddy?”

What can I say? The answer is pretty much what everyone else did, which is try and s urvive. In other words, nothing. The first we all knew about it was when the electricity went off, and did not come back on again. Then other utilities, water, gas and phones. Then the Net itself went down and everyone was in the dark both literally and figuratively. All of that within the space of a few hours. For some it happened overnight and they awoke to a broken world. Most cars still ran, for a while, although GPS was also out. Self driving cars didn’t. When the fuel ran out the gas stations were not pumping (no electricity), the supermarkets along with everyone else could not buy or sell because the payment systems were offline. Within 24 hours looting broke out on a global scale from the richest nations to the poorest and martial law became the new norm.

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