Lifeboat Foundation

In 2009, President Obama pledged to “restore science to its rightful place.” He said, “We will not just meet, but we will exceed the level achieved at the height of the space race, through policies that invest in basic and applied research, create new incentives for private innovation, promote breakthroughs in energy and medicine, and improve education in math and science.”

Today, the White House released an Impact Report listing 100 things that Obama has made happen with the support of many people across research, policy, education, and, yes, maker culture. Here’s the full Impact Report. A few examples from the list:

Biometrics using DNA along with other recognition technology brings additional identity protection; however, is it just me or are others understanding the risk with our DNA and other bio info being online given the existing weak infrastructure and under pinning technology. Without a QC secured internet and infrastructure; I would hesitate having my bio/ DNA information online for hackers and terrorists.

Once your identity with the DNA is online; it will be extremely hard to do a reset button on your identity because things like an id number such as a US Social Security number, etc. can be changed; but DNA identity is not that achievable even with CRISPR.

The official Yili Daily reported that from the first of June, residents of the Yili Kazakh Autonomous Prefecture in China’s far northwest must present the police with DNA samples, fingerprints, voice prints and a “three-dimensional image” when applying for travel documents.

Continue reading “Media Reports: Xinjiang Residents Must Present DNA To Obtain Passports” »

The world is in the midst of a new arms race, one designed to deliver hypersonic glider weapons — both conventional and nuclear — to one’s adversaries at lightning speed. The U.S. is leading the race at this point, but Russia and China are going to great lengths to make sure that they develop their own boost-glide technology.

Today, the U.S., Russia and China are developing a new class of hypersonic ballistic glider weapons, which within a decade, may render most of the world’s nuclear arsenals vulnerable to lightning-fast penetration and attack.

Although boost-glide [or hyperglide vehicles (HGVs)] weapons would be launched by ballistic missiles and reach hypersonic speeds of at least Mach 5 or more, they would remain maneuverable and largely untrackable after the initial boost phase of their flight. And unlike an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM), an HGV’s aerodynamics enables it to generate enough “lift” to potentially glide over distances approaching ten thousand kilometers. All before hitting their targets with accuracies down to a few meters.

Continue reading “Russian Hypersonic Glider Weapons Would Easily Penetrate U.S. Defenses, Says Expert” »

Friends have been asking me to write something on space exploration and my campaign policy on it, so here it is just out on TechCrunch:

When people think about rocket ships and space exploration, they often imagine traveling across the Milky Way, landing on mysterious planets and even meeting alien life forms.

In reality, humans’ drive to get off Planet Earth has led to tremendous technological advances in our mundane daily lives — ones we use right here at home on terra firma.

Continue reading “Space exploration will spur transhumanism and mitigate existential risk” »

IARPA’s Christmas List :

• Brain computer interfaces to enhance cognitive processing or increase bandwidth of human-machine interactions.

• Computational social policy.

Continue reading “IARPA Releases Its Shopping List For Spy Technology” »

The question breaks down into two parts:

1. For what public benefit? —and—
2. No, it cannot be achieved in this way

Governments are in the business of regulating certain activities—hopefully in an effort to serve the public good. In the case of business methods and activities, their goal is to maintain an orderly marketplace; one that is fair, safe and conducive to economic growth.

But regulation that lacks a clear purpose or a reasonable detection and enforcement mechanism is folly. Such regulation risks making government seem arbitrary, punitive or ineffective.

«— This is money. It is not a promissory note, a metaphor, an analogy or an abstract representation of money in some account. It is the money itself. Unlike your national currency, it does not require an underlying asset or redemption guarantee.

Continue reading “Can Bitcoin be defeated by legislation?” »

New requirement if you’re a Smartphone device provider and trying to sell in India.

Starting next year, all mobile phones sold across India must include a panic button, local news outlets are reporting. In addition, by 2018, all cell phones need to come with a built-in GPS chip, so a person in trouble can be more easily found.

“Technology is solely meant to make human life better and what better than using it for the security of women,” communications and IT minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said in a statement, according to The Economic Times. “I have taken a decision that from January 1, 2017, no cell phone can be sold without a provision for panic button and from January 1, 2018, mobile sets should have in-built GPS.”

Continue reading “India to require panic buttons on phones” »

Don’t kill the messanger; I’m just sharing.

Yesterday Trump acknowledged the power of technology to help the USA in his future plans.

In a major foreign policy speech, yesterday, Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump said the U.S. needs to make better use of “3D printing, artificial intelligence, and cyberwarfare.”

Continue reading “Trump acknowledges the power of 3D Printing” »

My new Vice Motherboard article on environmentalism and why going green isn’t enough. Only radical technology can restore the world to a pristine condition—and that requires politicians not afraid of the future:

I’m worried that conservatives like Cruz will try to stop new technologies that will change our battle in combating a degrading Earth

But there are people who can save the endangered species on the planet. And they will soon dramatically change the nature of animal protection. Those people may have little to do with wildlife, but their genetics work holds the answer to stable animal population levels in the wild. In as little as five years, we may begin stocking endangered wildlife in places where poachers have hunted animals to extinction. We’ll do this like we stock trout streams in America. Why spend resources in a losing battle to save endangered wildlife from being poached when you can spend the same amount to boost animal population levels ten-fold? Maye even 100-fold. This type of thinking is especially important in our oceans, which we’ve bloody well fished to near death.

Continue reading “If You Care About the Earth, Vote for the Least Religious Presidential Candidate” »