Lifeboat Foundation

Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory says collaboration project with IBM “could change how we do science”.

One of the brains behind Google’s Go-winning software says a similar learning approach makes it as good as a human expert at Texas hold ‘em poker.

Autonomous cars compete in driving algorithms on Formula E tracks.

” “There is going to be a boom for design companies, because there’s going to be so much information people have to work through quickly,” said Diane B. Greene, the head of Google Compute Engine, one of the companies hoping to steer an A.I. boom. “Just teaching companies how to use A.I. will be a big business.” ”

Read more

The Go-playing program teaches itself to replicate something very much like human intuition, an advance that promises far-reaching consequences.

Nanoengineers at the University of California San Diego have developed tiny molecular robots (pictured) that could help to extend the life of delicate circuits and wearable technology.

Back in 2014, we told you about Rise, a film about a robot insurgency that was the subject of a Kickstarter campaign. The result of the $38,000 raised is this proof of concept video, which definitely looks good enough to deserve a full feature.

Rise comes from director David Karlak and writers Marcus Dunstan and Patrick Melton (Feast). It’s one of those classic robot revolution stories. Of course, in this case you find yourself in the awkward position of rooting for the failure of humans, but that’s sometimes how these things shake out. Plus, it’s always easier to side with Anton Yelchin than Rufus Sewell.

This is clearly a pitch for some studio to give them money to make a full thing, and it’s one of the most successful of that genre I’ve ever seen. There’s clearly a story in mind and Karlak’s vision looks great in these five minutes.

Continue reading “This Wonderful Short About a Robot War Deserves to Be a Full-Length Film” »

My new article for TechCrunch on capitalism and the robot revolution:

Economic experts are trying to figure out a question that just two decades ago seemed ridiculous: If 90 percent of human jobs are replaced by robots in the next 50 years — something now considered plausible — is capitalism still the ideal economic system to champion? No one is certain about the answer, but the question is making everyone nervous — and forcing people to dig deep inside themselves to discover the kind of future they want.

After America beat Russia in the Cold War, most of the world generally considered capitalism to be the hands-down best system on which to base economies and democracies. For decades, few doubted capitalism’s merit, which was made stronger by thriving globalization and a skyrocketing world net worth. In 1989 — when the Berlin Wall fell — the world had only 198 billionaires. Now, according to Forbes, there are 1,826 of them in 2016.

Continue reading “Will capitalism survive the robot revolution?” »

Synthetic biology involves creating or re-engineering microbes or other organisms to perform specific tasks, like fighting obesity, monitoring chemical threats or creating biofuels. Essentially, biologists program single-celled organisms like bacteria and yeast much the same way one would program and control a robot.

But 10 years ago, it was extremely challenging to take a DNA sequence designed on a computer and turn it into a polymer that could implement its task in a specific host, say a mouse or human cell. Now, thanks to a multitude of innovations across computing, engineering, biology and other fields, researchers can type out any DNA sequence they want, email it to a synthesis company, and receive their completed DNA construct in a week. You can build entire chromosomes and entire genomes of bacteria in this way.

Continue reading “Magic Microbes: The Navy’s Next Defense?” »