Lifeboat Foundation: Safeguarding Humanity
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Decentralized last mile communication using mobile mesh networks

Globally decentralized protocols like Bittorrent, Bitcoin and Tor provide users a remarkable level of censorship resistance, privacy and communication freedom. But highly centralized local communication networks can block, throttle and log users of these protocols and work with governments and private firms to surveil and harass users. Centralized communication networks historically tend toward rent-seeking behavior, do a poor job at serving last-mile communities, and are fragile during natural and manmade disasters. This talk will review decentralized alternatives for local communication and demonstrate a new open source solution called TxTenna for sending offline Bitcoin transactions over a mobile mesh network.

Institute of Cryptoanarchy.

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Under current US safety rules, a motor vehicle must have traditional controls, like a steering wheel, mirrors, and foot pedals, before it is allowed to operate on public roads. But that could all change under a new plan released on Thursday by the Department of Transportation that’s intended to open the floodgates for fully driverless cars.

The department, through the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, “intends to reconsider the necessity and appropriateness of its current safety standards” as applied to autonomous vehicles, the 80-page document reads. In particular, regulators say they will look to change those safety standards “to accommodate automated vehicle technologies and the possibility of setting exceptions to certain standards — that are relevant only when human drivers are present.”

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When listening to world science festival’s latest episode on youtube, Pondering the Imponderables: The Biggest Questions of Cosmology, I found myself to be most in line with George F.R. Ellis’ line of thinking overall.

Big Bang cosmology, chemical and biological evolutionary theory, and associated sciences have been extraordinarily successful in revealing and enabling us to understand the development of the.

Cosmology is today a precision science with masses of high quality data every increasing our understanding of the physical universe, but paradoxically theoretical cosmology is simultaneously.

Continue reading “On the Nature of Causality in Complex Systems, George F.R. Ellis” | >

The Singularity is Near.

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For fifteen years, I’ve assumed that the Matrix Sequels were irredeemable failures. But looking back on them with fresh eyes reveals a pair of films that are exhilarating, interesting, and sometimes hilarious. In this video I try to make sense of these two movies, and what they have to say about free will and the systems that control society.

Continue reading “On Finally Understanding The Matrix Sequels” | >

Len Blavatnik, the Ukrainian-born and Russian-raised billionaire businessman with a net worth of $17.9 billion, says he has given away $500 million to charity so far, mostly to world-renowned universities like Oxford, Harvard, Stanford and Yale. When asked why he favors donating to higher education institutions, he explains shrewdly that for him, conducting philanthropy is like running a business.

Len Blavatnik, who made his first billions in Russia, credits much of his success to his academic parents and to his education. He’s given hundreds of millions to universities mostly in America and England.

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The funding, awarded by the UK Government’s Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy’s Regulators’ Pioneer Fund, will be used to pioneer new ways of regulating the autonomous and smart shipping industries to help them deliver innovative new technologies to the traditional maritime sector.

The global autonomous shipping industry is predicted to grow into a $136 billion behemoth by 2030, with UK businesses already playing a key role. The funding will see the creation of the Maritime Autonomy Regulation Lab, where regulators from the MCA and DfT can work with academia and support industry to promote on-water testing and flagship projects and help the UK grow its presence in the global marketplace.

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I can imagine the meeting: A dozen engineers are gathered around a conference table to discuss automobile safety. How can we protect people during a car crash? We have already added seat belts and crumple zones to cars. Is there anything else we can include? One attendee reluctantly raises their hand with a suggestion: “How about we add an explosive in the steering wheel?”

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New Delhi, Oct 6: There are many unsung and forgotten heroes that India has in abundance. One such man whose 125th birth anniversary falls today is Meghnad Saha who was not only nominated for the Nobel Prize in Physics more than once but was also elected to the first Lok Sabha in 1952 as an independent candidate defeating the Congress nominee Prabhu Dayal Himatsingka. But more interestingly he was the chairperson of Calender Reforms Committee set up in 1952.

No one can forget the role of Planning Commission of India in the growth trajectory of the country which was actually conceived by Subhash Chandra Bose at the Haripura Congress in 1938. Bose as a president proposed it as National Planning Committee in which Saha had shown very keen interest.

Also Read Denis Mukwege, Nadia Murad awarded 2018 Nobel Peace Prize.

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