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Nov 8, 2014
Battery-Free Chip For the ‘Internet of Things’ That’s the Size of an Ant
Posted by Seb in category: electronics
Written By: Jason Dorrier — Singularity Hub
As a concept, the Internet of Things has been around for awhile. In theory, as chips get smaller and cheaper, we should be able to embed them in everyday items. Appliances, lighting, doors, climate control—all these things (and many more) get a chip and an internet connection. They can send data and receive commands.
In short, a world of dumb, inanimate objects wakes up to do our bidding.
Continue reading “Battery-Free Chip For the ‘Internet of Things’ That’s the Size of an Ant” »
Nov 7, 2014
Plant Engineered to Supercharge Photosynthesis with Hopes of Increasing Crop Yields
Posted by Seb in categories: biological, environmental
Written By: David J. Hill — Singularity Hub
While computers scientists find new ways to supercharge computers, a team of plant scientists have demonstrated that they can supercharge a plant.
Hoping to speed up plant photosynthesis, researchers from the US and UK have successfully upgraded a carbon-fixing enzyme vital to photosynthesis in a tobacco plant with two enzymes from cyanobacteria, which function at a faster rate. If photosynthesis can be performed more efficiently, plants would grow larger and crops could have higher yields, possibly as high as 60% according to computer models.
Nov 6, 2014
FM-2030: What is the Future of Democracy? Part 1
Posted by Johnny Boston in categories: futurism, lifeboat, philosophy, science
The audio in this archive file was compiled from a 1984 meeting of futurists, transhumanists & progressives. The main topic of the meeting was the most appropriate ways to engage or advance these philosophies within government. For example, one significant point of discussion centered around whether running for office was an effective way to drive change.
The excerpts in this archive file collect many of futurist FM 2030’s thoughts over the course of the discussion.
About FM 2030: FM 2030 was at various points in his life, an Iranian Olympic basketball player, a diplomat, a university teacher, and a corporate consultant. He developed his views on transhumanism in the 1960s and evolved them over the next thirty-something years. He was placed in cryonic suspension July 8th, 2000.
Nov 6, 2014
Big Brother Is Feeling You: The Global Impact Of AI-Driven Mental Health Care
Posted by Seb in category: robotics/AI
Written By: Steven Kotler — Singularity Hub
Big Brother is feeling you—literally.
A few months back, I wrote about Ellie, the world’s first AI-psychologist. Developed by DARPA and researchers at USC’s Institute for Creative Technologies, Ellie is a diagnostic tool capable of reading 60 non-verbal cues a second—everything from eye-gaze to face tilt to voice tone—in the hopes of identifying the early warning signs of depressions and (part of the long term goal) stemming the rising tide of soldier suicide.
Continue reading “Big Brother Is Feeling You: The Global Impact Of AI-Driven Mental Health Care” »
FUTURISM UPDATE (November 06, 2014)
THE ATLANTIC: The Military Is Building Brain Chips to Treat PTSD http://lnkd.in/dYbe4q7
WASHINGTON POST: Verizon, AT&T tracking their users with ‘supercookies’ http://lnkd.in/dCcqG7T
LOS ANGELES TIMES: Virgin Galactic pilot defied the odds to survive crash http://lnkd.in/daPd5Yi
Nov 5, 2014
Futuristic Chinese Megastructure Would Include Soaring Towers, Massive Skyways, Urban Farms
Posted by Seb in category: architecture
Written By: Jason Dorrier — Singularity Hub
Many of the world’s cities are hundreds, even thousands of years old. They evolved from the bottom up as populations changed and demanded change. A new road here, new building there. The result is striking and wild—a kind of physical history.
But what if you could start New York or London from scratch?
Nov 5, 2014
The Exponential Nature of Ebola
Posted by Otto E. Rössler in categories: biological, existential risks
The Exponential Nature of Ebola
Otto E. Rossler
Institute for Physical and Theoretical Chemistry, University of Tubingen, Auf der Morgenstelle 8, 72076 Tubingen, Germany
Inscribed on the UN Building:
Human beings are members of a whole,
In creation of one essence and soul;
If one member is afflicted with pain,
Other members uneasy will remain;
If you have no sympathy for human pain,
The name of human you cannot retain.
(Saadi, 1210–1292)
Nov 5, 2014
Downwards-slanted light-paths engraved onto upwards-rotating horizontal cylinder: Model of the bottom of the Einstein-rocketship
Posted by Otto E. Rössler in category: physics
This new analogical model explains (graphically represents) the behavior of horizontal light paths in the equivalence principle, and by implication in gravitation. It entails global constancy of the speed of light c in gravitation.
(I thank Frank Kuske and Ali Sanayei for a discussion yesterday in the lecture hall.)
FUTURISM UPDATE (November 05, 2014)
BBC: Virgin Galactic crash: Pilots’ actions analysed. SpaceShipTwo broke apart just seconds after igniting its rocket engine for a test outing above California on Friday. http://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-29895140
MIT TECHNOLOGY REVIEW: “Dark Web” Version of Facebook Shows a New Way to Secure the Web. A new way to access Facebook securely and anonymously via the “dark Web” could provide a model for other sites. http://lnkd.in/dKgNqPS
LOS ANGELES TIMES: Virgin Galactic crash: Copilot who died unlocked lever early, NTSB says http://lnkd.in/dRAeMHf
