Ray Kurzweil argues that technology will help to turn everyone into an entrepreneur either by strong AI equipped virtual assistants guiding people to innovate, or by prudent investing of the virtual assistant in the stock market. Is this the way we are headed or will post scarcity lead to the end of capitalism and the rise of a technocracy, resource based economy, or other type of system?
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Friday, October 14, 2011
Recommended site: Singularity Hub
Singularity Hub is a blog and news network covering the latest in robots, genetics, longevity, artificial intelligence, aging, stem cells, and more.
The singularity is the point in mankind’s future when we will transcend current intellectual and biological limitations and initiate an intelligence and information explosion beyond imagining.
The impossible is becoming possible. The future that you thought would not come in your lifetime is coming sooner than you thought. Singularity Hub is here to tell you about it.
Click to visit the site
The singularity is the point in mankind’s future when we will transcend current intellectual and biological limitations and initiate an intelligence and information explosion beyond imagining.
The impossible is becoming possible. The future that you thought would not come in your lifetime is coming sooner than you thought. Singularity Hub is here to tell you about it.
Click to visit the site
Tuesday, October 11, 2011
Universal charging system developed for EVs
While the thought of building a worldwide infrastructure of charging stations for electric vehicles may seem daunting, you know what would make it even more challenging? If each station had to separately cater to each make of EV on the road - think of how many different styles of mobile phone chargers are currently out there, for instance, and then picture that applying to cars. Fortunately, however, a consortium of automakers has developed the Combined Charging System - it will allow any one vehicle to charge its batteries using a variety of different charging methods.
The system was developed by Germany's Audi, BMW, Daimler, Porsche, and Volkswagen, working in partnership with America's Ford and General Motors.
It consists of a single interface on the vehicle, which is compatible with methods such as one-phase AC-charging, fast three-phase AC-charging, DC-charging at home and ultra-fast DC-charging at public stations. This is intended to make EV development a less complex process, as vehicles won't need to incorporate multiple inlets, nor will their drivers need to seek out specific charging stations. Instead, all electric vehicles will be able to recharge at all stations.
Source
The system was developed by Germany's Audi, BMW, Daimler, Porsche, and Volkswagen, working in partnership with America's Ford and General Motors.
It consists of a single interface on the vehicle, which is compatible with methods such as one-phase AC-charging, fast three-phase AC-charging, DC-charging at home and ultra-fast DC-charging at public stations. This is intended to make EV development a less complex process, as vehicles won't need to incorporate multiple inlets, nor will their drivers need to seek out specific charging stations. Instead, all electric vehicles will be able to recharge at all stations.
Source
Sunday, October 9, 2011
SpaceX's Plans for the Future
Reusability is key to the dramatic cost savings that will enable advancements in human exploration of space. The Dragon spacecraft is a fully reusable and SpaceX is working toward the goal of delivering the world's first fully reusable launch vehicle. Check out the animation for a sneak peek at SpaceX's exciting plans for the future.
Wednesday, October 5, 2011
Quantum computer on the anvil?
Washington: Physicists have moved one step closer to building a quantum computer by creating a tiny "electron superhighway" which they claim could be useful in producing the new computer that will use quantum particles in place of digital transistors found in today's microchips.
A team at Rice University says the tiny device, calleda "quantum spin Hall topological insulator", which acts as an electron superhighway, is one of the building blocks needed to create quantum particles that store and manipulate data.
Today's computers use binary bits of data that are either ones or zeros. Quantum computers would use quantum bits, or "qubits", which can be both ones and zeros at the same time, thanks to the quirks of quantum mechanics.
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A team at Rice University says the tiny device, calleda "quantum spin Hall topological insulator", which acts as an electron superhighway, is one of the building blocks needed to create quantum particles that store and manipulate data.
Today's computers use binary bits of data that are either ones or zeros. Quantum computers would use quantum bits, or "qubits", which can be both ones and zeros at the same time, thanks to the quirks of quantum mechanics.
Read more
Wednesday, September 28, 2011
In switch, cable operators want to go "a la carte"
* Operators want to give consumers choice to lower costs
* Programmers will resist attempts to unbundle programs
* Sports rights and retransmission fees are biggest costs
By Yinka Adegoke
NEW YORK, Sept 27 (Reuters) - U.S. cable operators are privately working on a plan to force programmers to unbundle their networks and allow customers to subscribe to channels on an individual basis.
The plan represents a complete reversal from cable operators' long-held opposition to what is known as "a la carte" programming. Over the last decade, the cable industry battled ferociously with regulators to protect the right to bundle programming, arguing it offered customers the best value.
But executives now say the change is a necessary response to shifting dynamics such as higher carriage costs and using the Web to watch programs, as well as a weak economic recovery that has forced many consumers to cancel cable television subscriptions.
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* Programmers will resist attempts to unbundle programs
* Sports rights and retransmission fees are biggest costs
By Yinka Adegoke
NEW YORK, Sept 27 (Reuters) - U.S. cable operators are privately working on a plan to force programmers to unbundle their networks and allow customers to subscribe to channels on an individual basis.
The plan represents a complete reversal from cable operators' long-held opposition to what is known as "a la carte" programming. Over the last decade, the cable industry battled ferociously with regulators to protect the right to bundle programming, arguing it offered customers the best value.
But executives now say the change is a necessary response to shifting dynamics such as higher carriage costs and using the Web to watch programs, as well as a weak economic recovery that has forced many consumers to cancel cable television subscriptions.
More
Sunday, September 25, 2011
Women in Saudi Arabia to vote and run in elections
Women in Saudi Arabia are to be given the right to vote and run in future municipal elections, King Abdullah has announced.
He said they would also have the right to be appointed to the consultative Shura Council.
The move was welcomed by activists who have called for greater rights for women in the kingdom, which enforces a strict version of Sunni Islamic law.
The changes will occur after municipal polls on Thursday, the king said.
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He said they would also have the right to be appointed to the consultative Shura Council.
The move was welcomed by activists who have called for greater rights for women in the kingdom, which enforces a strict version of Sunni Islamic law.
The changes will occur after municipal polls on Thursday, the king said.
Read more
Baffling CERN Results Show Neutrinos Moving Faster Than the Speed of Light
Don’t go throwing out your physics texts just yet, but there’s some strange and unprecedented news brewing at CERN today that could potentially undo large parts of the Standard Model, and it has nothing to do with particle collisions at the LHC or elusive god particles. Physicists running routine neutrino experiments between CERN’s Geneva HQ and the Gran Sasso laboratory in Italy 455 miles away have found that their neutrinos seem to be traveling faster than the speed of light. That’s right: faster than the fastest known speed in the universe. It's certainly not something we could have predicted when putting together our latest FYI, which investigates whether anything can move faster than light.
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Saturday, September 24, 2011
Palestine: 'After 63 years' suffering – enough, enough,' says Abbas
It was the United Nations that determined the fate of the Palestinian people more than six decades ago – and on Friday it was the UN that heard an impassioned plea to change the destiny of Palestine once more.
It came from Mahmoud Abbas, who was 12 years old when the UN general assembly of November 1947 voted to partition Palestine into two states, one Jewish and one Arab.
Abbas's predecessors, the Palestinian leaders of that earlier generation, famously rejected the partition plan – which envisaged a state on 44% of the land. So the Palestinian president came back to the same body on Friday, asking the UN to bless a Palestinian state on a terrain about half that size.
He did it with a flourish, holding up the formal letter of application he had submitted that hour to the UN secretary general, asking for full membership of the United Nations – a gesture that brought sustained applause from some delegates, impassive silence from others, including the United States and, inevitably, Israel.
"It is a moment of truth and my people are waiting to hear the answer of the world," Abbas said. "After 63 years of suffering: enough, enough, enough."
Read more
It came from Mahmoud Abbas, who was 12 years old when the UN general assembly of November 1947 voted to partition Palestine into two states, one Jewish and one Arab.
Abbas's predecessors, the Palestinian leaders of that earlier generation, famously rejected the partition plan – which envisaged a state on 44% of the land. So the Palestinian president came back to the same body on Friday, asking the UN to bless a Palestinian state on a terrain about half that size.
He did it with a flourish, holding up the formal letter of application he had submitted that hour to the UN secretary general, asking for full membership of the United Nations – a gesture that brought sustained applause from some delegates, impassive silence from others, including the United States and, inevitably, Israel.
"It is a moment of truth and my people are waiting to hear the answer of the world," Abbas said. "After 63 years of suffering: enough, enough, enough."
Read more
Wednesday, September 14, 2011
NASA's New Heavy-Lift Rocket - Animated Look
Deep space manned exploration just moved a little closer to reality with the announcement of that development is beginning on the new Space Launch System (SLS). The first developmental flight is targeted for end of 2017.
Sunday, September 4, 2011
Monday, August 29, 2011
Internet-Based Political Movement Aims To Put Presidential Ticket On Ballots For The 2012 Election
The response to the recent debt ceiling fiasco underscores how Americans are increasingly pessimistic about the U.S. government. Though many feel we are stuck with a two-party system after numerous attempts to elect a viable alternative candidate have failed, a new Internet-based political movement is emerging. The goal? To put a presidential nomination on the 2012 ballot derived completely from open voting on the Internet. Called Americans Elect, the nonpartisan, nonprofit organization isn’t a traditional new political party, although it must register as one. Instead, it’s a way to nominate candidates in a more democratic fashion. So far, the group has submitted the required number of signatures to put a nomination on the ballot in eight states and has plans to be on 18 by year’s end. Democratic representation is an old idea that modern technology is reinventing, and the movement has the potential to change American politics forever…and that means 2012 will be an even wackier election year than it is already shaping up to be.
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Thursday, August 18, 2011
IBM produces first 'brain chips'
IBM has developed a microprocessor which it claims comes closer than ever to replicating the human brain.
The system is capable of "rewiring" its connections as it encounters new information, similar to the way biological synapses work.
Researchers believe that that by replicating that feature, the technology could start to learn.
Cognitive computers may eventually be used for understanding human behaviour as well as environmental monitoring.
Dharmendra Modha, IBM's project leader, explained that they were trying to recreate aspects of the mind such as emotion, perception, sensation and cognition by "reverse engineering the brain."
Read more
The system is capable of "rewiring" its connections as it encounters new information, similar to the way biological synapses work.
Researchers believe that that by replicating that feature, the technology could start to learn.
Cognitive computers may eventually be used for understanding human behaviour as well as environmental monitoring.
Dharmendra Modha, IBM's project leader, explained that they were trying to recreate aspects of the mind such as emotion, perception, sensation and cognition by "reverse engineering the brain."
Read more
Sunday, August 14, 2011
Friday, August 5, 2011
Colony on Mars? SpaceX Preps for Red Planet Living
At this point, the idea of a settlement on Mars is mainly limited to Hollywood movies like "Total Recall," but if Elon Musk, CEO of Space Exploration Technologies (SpaceX) has his way, a trip to Mars will be as commonplace as a trip to Europe in just several decades.
At this point, SpaceX is focusing its efforts on commercial spaceflights to the International Space Station, the first of which will hopefully take place in December, Musk said today during an appearance at the AIAA propulsion conference. But in the coming years, Musk has high hopes for commercial journeys—and settlements—on places like the Moon and Mars.
"Ultimately, the thing that is super important in the grand scale of history is—are we on a path to becoming a multi-planet species or not? If we’re not, that’s not a very bright future. We’ll just be hanging out on Earth until some eventual calamity claims us," Musk said.
Read more
At this point, SpaceX is focusing its efforts on commercial spaceflights to the International Space Station, the first of which will hopefully take place in December, Musk said today during an appearance at the AIAA propulsion conference. But in the coming years, Musk has high hopes for commercial journeys—and settlements—on places like the Moon and Mars.
"Ultimately, the thing that is super important in the grand scale of history is—are we on a path to becoming a multi-planet species or not? If we’re not, that’s not a very bright future. We’ll just be hanging out on Earth until some eventual calamity claims us," Musk said.
Read more
Friday, July 29, 2011
Biographer predicts News Corp. will oust Murdochs within 60 days
Rupert Murdoch's biographer and Vanity Fair scribe Michael Wolff predicts that both Rupert Murdoch and his son James will be out of power at News Corp within sixty days, according to a Retuers report.
Wolff says that the recent phone-hacking and police bribery scandals that have roiled the company put the family's dominance at the company in doubt and may bring it entirely to an end. "To restore credibility and to restore trust to this company," he said, "the newspapers have to go and the Murdochs have to go."
He claims that the Murdoch name is now "toxic" and that if the company retains members of the Australian media dynasty at its helm, News Corp will face "a lifetime of litigation."
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Wolff says that the recent phone-hacking and police bribery scandals that have roiled the company put the family's dominance at the company in doubt and may bring it entirely to an end. "To restore credibility and to restore trust to this company," he said, "the newspapers have to go and the Murdochs have to go."
He claims that the Murdoch name is now "toxic" and that if the company retains members of the Australian media dynasty at its helm, News Corp will face "a lifetime of litigation."
Read more
Higgs boson particle near discovery
Scientists at the European Organisation for Nuclear Research (Cern) expect to discover – or disprove - the existence of a key particle in Big Bang theory by 2012.
Cern director Rolf Heuer says the latest findings from the world's most powerful particle accelerator, the Large Hadron Collider, have been enough to convince the centre that progress is being made in their hunt for the most sought-after of particles – the Higgs boson.
"I would say we can settle the question, the Shakespearean question - 'to be or not to be' - end of next year," he told reporters at a major conference in Grenoble, France on Monday attended by around 700 leading particle physicists.
Sometimes referred to as the “God particle”, the Higgs boson is the linchpin of the Standard Model of particle physics theory on the Big Bang. It is believed to give mass to other objects and creatures in the universe.
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Cern director Rolf Heuer says the latest findings from the world's most powerful particle accelerator, the Large Hadron Collider, have been enough to convince the centre that progress is being made in their hunt for the most sought-after of particles – the Higgs boson.
"I would say we can settle the question, the Shakespearean question - 'to be or not to be' - end of next year," he told reporters at a major conference in Grenoble, France on Monday attended by around 700 leading particle physicists.
Sometimes referred to as the “God particle”, the Higgs boson is the linchpin of the Standard Model of particle physics theory on the Big Bang. It is believed to give mass to other objects and creatures in the universe.
Read more
Monday, July 11, 2011
Terrafugia Transition brings flying cars one step closer to reality
It’s the year 2011, and we aren’t commuting in our personal flying cars, which means we are at least 11 years behind everyone’s prediction. Well Terrafugia is trying to change that with a flying car called the Transition. The Transition is basically a plane that folds up into a car-sized vehicle, which allows you to drive and fly in the same vehicle.
The Transition has been in development for quite some time now, but it has been lacking one key feature: legality. Today’s announcement from Terrafugia states that the company has received exemption from certain National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) laws. The two exemptions focus on the tires and the windshield of the Transition. The NHTSA requires that all vehicles that travel on a highway have a windshield that is made out of laminated safety glass, but in order to keep the weight low the Transition needs a polycarbonate windshield. The company claims that not only would a glass windshield be too heavy, but it could also crack and cause a loss of visibility while flying. The Transition’s tires also received an exemption, even though they are highway-rated for speed and weight, but they do not fit into the NHTSA’s definition of “multi-purpose” tires.
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Saturday, June 25, 2011
Genetic revolution: Human Genome Project finally offers help against diseases
When the long-awaited Human Genome Project succeeded in 2003, mapping all the DNA, genes and chromosomes that operate the human body, it was hailed as a medical miracle, compared in scientific significance to the Apollo moon landings.
But the glow quickly faded. Progress has been slower and setbacks greater than expected, prompting some to say the whole idea is overblown, and research dollars could be better spent on other ways of fighting disease.
That’s about to change.
Researchers in South Florida and across the nation now are working on advances they say could soon create an explosion of new ways to prevent, detect, treat and someday even cure scores of intractable diseases.
Read more
But the glow quickly faded. Progress has been slower and setbacks greater than expected, prompting some to say the whole idea is overblown, and research dollars could be better spent on other ways of fighting disease.
That’s about to change.
Researchers in South Florida and across the nation now are working on advances they say could soon create an explosion of new ways to prevent, detect, treat and someday even cure scores of intractable diseases.
Read more
Friday, June 10, 2011
Iceland's Citizens Are Writing Its New Constitution Online
In the 18th century, if you wanted to draft a democratic constitution you crowded a handful of men into a room and hashed out the finer points of policy and philosophy until you had a document that was declared the law of the land. Same for the 19th and 20th centuries. But nowadays, the Internet--that great democratizer--is bringing a new kind of power to the people. Icelandic authorities overhauling that county’s constitution post-financial meltdown is tapping the power of the Web to allow citizens to give their two cents on how a new governing document should look.
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Sunday, May 22, 2011
To Keep Innovating, We Need to Rethink the CPU
And even beyond the preservation of Moore's Law or market relevance, the need for companies pushing CPU design forward is important for the future of science. Take for example, this New Yorker piece on quantum computing and the leading mind behind it, David Deutsch. It's big idea is that if we build a working quantum computer, it could theoretically process more numbers than there are believed particles in the universe.
What's that good for? It could prime factorize absurdly large numbers in a matter of seconds. And it could prove the validity the Many Worlds Interpretation. The theory essentially supposes that there is a different universe for every possible permutation of anything in the universe. One scientist, Peter Shor, developed an algorithm for quantum computers that would potentially support this theory, if we ever had a quantum computer powerful enough to run it on.
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Monday, April 25, 2011
Sending Humans to Mars
SpaceX will send humans to Mars within 10 to 20 years, according to an interview with its CEO in the Wall Street Journal. Elon Musk says his company will send people to space within three years, and he wants to colonize other planets next.
“I want SpaceX to help make life multi-planetary,” he said. “We’re going all the way to Mars, I think. Best case, 10 years, worst case, 15 to 20 years.”
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“I want SpaceX to help make life multi-planetary,” he said. “We’re going all the way to Mars, I think. Best case, 10 years, worst case, 15 to 20 years.”
Read more
Thursday, April 7, 2011
SpaceX sets launch date for world's most powerful rocket
SpaceX, the American space transport company founded by PayPal and Tesla Motors co-founder Elon Musk that is responsible for the Dragon space capsule and Falcon 1 and Falcon 9 rockets, has announced a late 2013 or 2014 launch date for the world’s most powerful rocket, the Falcon Heavy. Overshadowed by only the Saturn V moon rocket that was decommissioned after the Apollo program, the Falcon Heavy will be able to carry payloads of 53 metric tons (117,000 pounds or 53,070 kg) into orbit, which is more than the maximum take-off weight of a Boeing 737-200 loaded with 136 passengers, luggage and fuel.
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Richard Branson's extreme submarine
CNN interview here.
Their submersible, designed by Graham Hawkes, is one of the more interesting parts of the journey. Shaped more like a dolphin than a traditional submarine, the Virgin Oceanic craft has an operating depth of 37,000 feet--about seven miles--which means it has to be able to withstand outrageous pressure, 1,500 times that of an airplane. Constructed of carbon fiber and titanium (with a quartz dome), the craft is currently undergoing tests--at that depth, the smallest crack would result in certain death for the pilots, both due to the immense pressure (13 million pounds) and the simple fact that there exist no other vehicles capable of a rescue mission. The sub travels at a maximum of three knots, and can dive at 350 feet per minute, so a dive to the bottom of the Mariana trench and back would take around five hours.
Read more
Their submersible, designed by Graham Hawkes, is one of the more interesting parts of the journey. Shaped more like a dolphin than a traditional submarine, the Virgin Oceanic craft has an operating depth of 37,000 feet--about seven miles--which means it has to be able to withstand outrageous pressure, 1,500 times that of an airplane. Constructed of carbon fiber and titanium (with a quartz dome), the craft is currently undergoing tests--at that depth, the smallest crack would result in certain death for the pilots, both due to the immense pressure (13 million pounds) and the simple fact that there exist no other vehicles capable of a rescue mission. The sub travels at a maximum of three knots, and can dive at 350 feet per minute, so a dive to the bottom of the Mariana trench and back would take around five hours.
Read more
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