Lifeboat Foundation

By Miranda Prynne, — The Telegraph

The development of artificial intelligence — thrown into spotlight this week after Google spent hundreds of millions on new technology — could mean computers take over human jobs at a faster rate than new roles can be created, experts have warned Artificial intelligence could lead to mass unemployment if computers develop the capacity to take over human work, experts warned days after it emerged that Google had beat competitors to buy a firm specialising in this kind of technology.

Dr Stuart Armstrong, from the Future of Humanity Institute at the University of Oxford, gave the stark warning after it emerged that Google had paid £400m for the British artificial intelligence firm DeepMind.

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JANUARY/31/2014 UPDATES:

Neanderthal Genes Linked to Human Health
http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052702303743604579350653841134542

Attitudes about Aging: A Global Perspective.
In a Rapidly Graying World, Japanese Are Worried, Americans Aren’t
http://www.pewglobal.org/2014/01/30/attitudes-about-aging-a-global-perspective/

27 Dimensions! Physicists See Photons in New Light
http://news.yahoo.com/27-dimensions-physicists-see-photons-light-115226866.html

Scientists use fruit flies to detect cancer
http://www.gizmag.com/fruit-flies-detect-cancer/30665/

Continue reading “The Future Observatory” »

by Miriam Kramer — Space.com

Do you want to fly on a suborbital space plane? What about a rocket launch all they way into orbit? A new commercial spaceflight training company wants to help you develop the right stuff for flying to space.
Waypoint 2 Space — a Houston-based company aimed at helping commercial astronauts train for spaceflight — just received Federal Aviation Administration safety approval for their plan to train would-be astronauts. Officials with the company hope to start training commercial spaceflyers for private trips to space in spring of this year. People holding tickets aboard a private spacecraft or space fans interested in learning how to fly to space are eligible to purchase a training package.

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Wall Street Journal

Edible meat from a petri dish is just one of the many innovations from Singularity University in Silicon Valley. The WSJ’s Deborah Kan talks with Singularity CEO Rob Nail about his goal of affecting a billion people within 10 years.

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www.FUTURE-OBSERVATORY.blogspot.com JANUARY/30/2014 HEADLINES. By Mr. Andres Agostini

Cancer Researchers Identify New Drug to Inhibit Breast Cancer
http://guardianlv.com/2014/01/cancer-researchers-identify-ne…st-cancer/

Russia, US to join forces against space threats
http://voiceofrussia.com/news/2014_01_29/Russia-US-to-join-f…eats-1145/

The rise of artificial intelligence
http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/digital-life/digital-life-ne…317g3.html

Continue reading “Future Observatory” »

By Andrew Couts — Digital Trends


We here at Digital Trends are big fans of 3D printing. Like so many others, we see it as one of the most potentially disruptive technologies currently on the market – something that could substantially change the way we shop, work, and create. Problem is, at the moment, consumer-level 3D printers are mostly an expensive way to make cheap plastic trinkets.

Of course, that will soon change – perhaps sooner than you think. This week, newly launched startup MarkForged announced the world’s first 3D printer capable of printing objects in carbon fiber, the super-strong and lightweight material. Dubbed the Mark One, the 3D printer also prints in fiberglass, nylon, and PLA (the common plastic filament used by many 3D printers).

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By Thomas Halleck — International Business Times

So what is Google getting for its half a billion? A company that’s very good at making computers that think and act as humans do. DeepMind has not yet developed any commercial products. Its main asset appears to be its personnel, including dozens of experts in machine learning, a branch of AI that attempts to teach computers to think like humans. It’s best-known project was a computer system it taught to master Atari video games.

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Cameron Scott — Singularity Hub

It seems that nearly every day, scientists connect another medical condition to atypical gut bacteria populations. Researchers have claimed that gut bacteria play a role not just in digestive health but even in basic brain function and mental health.

Certain bacteria are so clearly good for us that several companies are looking to market pills filled not with chemical drugs, but with bacteria.

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By James Hayes, Piers Bizony, Chris Edwards — Engineering and Technology Magazine

The history of human invention often seems precariously unplanned, yet the questing human mind remains bent on finding meaning in and for our grand schemes, however compelling the evidence for innovation via accident and randomness. Surely, human invention must be heading somewhere’- otherwise, what does it all mean?

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