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Mar 13, 2017
Tesla is so sure its cars are safe you’ll say goodbye to a lot more than just steering wheels
Posted by Shailesh Prasad in categories: Elon Musk, robotics/AI, transportation
In the self-driving future envisioned by Tesla CEO Elon Musk, car owners might be saying “goodbye” to a whole lot more than steering wheels.
Musk is so sure of the safety features bundled into Tesla vehicles that his company has begun offering some customers a lifetime insurance and maintenance package at the time of purchase.
No more monthly insurance bills. No more unexpected repair costs.
Mar 13, 2017
BMW and LEGO collaborated to create the concept hoverbike of our dreams
Posted by Shailesh Prasad in categories: futurism, transportation
LEGO and BMW teamed up to create a model set for one of the automaker’s most popular motorcycles – BMW R 1200 GS Adventure.
Lego Technic engineers used the same 603 pieces from the model to construct a concept hoverbike. Then, their colleagues at BMW, impressed by the design, built a life-sized replica of the futuristic bike.
Mar 13, 2017
DeepCoder builds programs using code it finds lying around
Posted by Shailesh Prasad in categories: robotics/AI, security
Like all great programmers I get most of my code from StackOverflow questions. Can’t figure out how to add authentication to Flask? Easy. Want to shut down sendmail? Boom. Now, thanks to all the code on the Internet, a robot can be as smart as a $180,000 coder.
The system, called DeepCoder, basically searches a corpus of code to build a project that works to spec. It’s been used to complete programming competitions and could be pointed at a larger set of data to build more complex products.
From the paper:
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Mar 13, 2017
Scientists Have Finally Figured out How Cancer Spreads Through the Bloodstream
Posted by Shane Hinshaw in category: biotech/medical
In Brief In a new report, scientists detail that have have observed how cancer cells spread from the initial tumor to the bloodstream. This development could allow us to better understand cancer and, thus, how to fight it.
In what could be a major step forward in our understanding of how cancer moves around the body, researchers have observed the spread of cancer cells from the initial tumour to the bloodstream.
The findings suggest that secondary growths called metastases ‘punch’ their way through the walls of small blood vessels by targeting a molecule known as Death Receptor 6 (no, really, that’s what it’s called). This then sets off a self-destruct process in the blood vessels, allowing the cancer to spread.
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Mar 13, 2017
Uber’s Artificial Intelligence Research Guru Steps Down
Posted by Alireza Mokri in category: robotics/AI
Uber Technologies’ Gary Marcus said he is stepping down from his post as head of AI Labs, four months after the unit was created.
Gary Marcus, head of the recently launched AI Labs, said in a Facebook post on Wednesday that he is stepping down and will serve as a special advisor to AI Labs.
The ride-hailing app created AI Labs last year and also acquired Geometric Intelligence to form the initial AI Labs team.
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Mar 13, 2017
Goldcorp partners with IBM to hunt for exploration targets at Red Lake
Posted by Alireza Mokri in categories: robotics/AI, supercomputing
Goldcorp (NYSE: GG, TSX: G) is teaming up with one of the world’s largest computer companies to help it find more gold at its storied Red Lake mine in Ontario.
Vancouver-based Goldcorp announced on March 3 it is bringing IBM Watson technology to Canadian mining for the first time. Named after IBM’s founder, Thomas J. Watson, Watson is a supercomputer that combines artificial intelligence with analytical software. According to WhatIs, IBM Watson replicates the human ability to answer questions by accessing 90 servers with a combines data storage of 200 million pages of information. Yet it can squeeze into a space that would fit 10 refrigerators. The supercomputer memorized the “urban dictionary” in 2013.
While the High Grade Zone (HGZ) has been the backbone of the Red Lake operation, with an average gold grade over two ounces per tonne, HGZ is expected to be depleted by 2020. Thus the need for more exploration to keep the mine going.
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Mar 13, 2017
Google’s DeepMind talks with National Grid to apply AI to energy use
Posted by Alireza Mokri in category: robotics/AI
The Google-owned star British artificial intelligence company DeepMind is in talks with the National Grid about a potential partnership, with the possibility of using the technology to make the supply of energy across the UK more efficient.
“There’s huge potential for predictive machine learning technology to help energy systems reduce their environmental impact,” said a spokesperson for the company.
Mar 13, 2017
New Burger Robot Will Take Command of the Grill in 50 Fast Food Restaurants
Posted by Alireza Mokri in categories: food, robotics/AI
A big fan of robo-burgers 😊.
Would your burger taste as delicious if it was made by a robot?
You’ll soon be able to find out at CaliBurger restaurants in the US and worldwide.
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Mar 13, 2017
The future looks too grim to wish for a longer life
Posted by Nicola Bagalà in categories: existential risks, life extension
Is the future going to be so bad that longer, healthier lives will be undesirable? No, probably not.
The future looks grim? That’s quite an interesting claim, and I wonder whether there is any evidence to support it. In fact, I think there’s plenty of evidence to believe the opposite, i.e. that the future will be bright indeed. However, I can’t promise the future will certainly be bright. I am no madame clearvoyant, but neither are doomsday prophets. We can all only speculate, no matter how ‘sure’ pessimists may say they are about the horrible dystopian future that allegedly awaits us. I’m soon going to present the evidence of the bright future I believe in, but before I do, I would like to point out a few problems in the reasoning of the professional catastrophists who say that life won’t be worth living and there’s thus no point in extending it anyway.
First, we need to take into account that the quality of human life has been improving, not worsening, throughout history. Granted, there still are things that are not optimal, but there used to be many more. Sure, it sucks that your pet-peeve politician has been appointed president of your country (any reference to recent historical events is entirely coincidental), and it sucks that poverty and famine haven’t yet been entirely eradicated, but none of these implies that things will get worse. There’s a limit to how long a president can be such, and poverty and famine are disappearing all over the world. It takes time for changes to take place, and the fact the world isn’t perfect yet doesn’t mean it will never be. Especially people who are still chronologically young should appreciate the fact that by the time they’re 80 or 90, a long time will have passed, and the world will certainly have changed in the meanwhile.
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