Lifeboat Foundation

We face complexity, ambiguity, and uncertainty about the future consequences of cryptocurrency use. There are doubts about the positive and negative impacts of the use of cryptocurrencies in the financial systems. In order to address better and deeper the contradictions and the consequences of the use of cryptocurrencies and also informing the key stakeholders about known and unknown emerging issues in new payment systems, we apply two helpful futures studies tools known as the “Future Wheel”, to identify the key factors, and “System Dynamics Conceptual Mapping”, to understand the relationships among such factors. Two key scenarios will be addressed. In on them, systemic feedback loops might be identified such as a) terrorism, the Achilles’ heel of the cryptocurrencies, b) hackers, the barrier against development, and c) information technology security professionals, a gap in the future job market. Also, in the other scenario, systemic feedback loops might be identified such as a) acceleration of technological entrepreneurship enabled by new payment systems, b) decentralization of financial ecosystem with some friction against it, c) blockchain and shift of banking business model, d) easy international payments triggering structural reforms, and e) the decline of the US and the end of dollar dominance in the global economy. In addition to the feedback loops, we can also identify chained links of consequences that impact productivity and economic growth on the one hand, and shift of energy sources and consumption on the other hand.

Watch the full length presentation at Victor V. Motti YouTube Channel

Maybe interesting.

Few subjects in business and technology are causing as much interest and excitement – or fear and distrust – right now as artificial intelligence. Aalto Leaders’ Insight talked with Teemu Roos, Associate Professor at the Department of Computer Science, University of Helsinki, about a few common myths about AI.

Continue reading “5 + 1 Myths about Artificial Intelligence” »

The core of what we do at Nanalyze is to tell our readers all they need to know about investing in emerging technologies. Sometimes that story is much, much bigger, and what we’re really talking about is investing in emerging industries. NewSpace is one example, launching about 15 years ago with the emergence of companies like SpaceX and Virgin Galactic. It’s probably only within the last five years that the NewSpace industry has achieved real liftoff, with dozens of startups doing everything from offering launch services to building satellites to developing business analytics from space-based imagery. While we may one day end up living on Mars, we’re more interested in living a long and fruitful life right here on Mother Earth, despite the specter of cancer and dementia. An entire industry is coalescing around human longevity, promising to beat these age-related diseases and extend our lives to biblical proportions.

We’ve been covering the topic of life extension for more than five years, beginning with a profile on an anti-aging company called Human Longevity Inc, whose founders include billionaire serial entrepreneur Peter Diamandis and J. Craig Venter, a leading genomics expert. More recently, we introduced you to nine companies developing products in regenerative medicine, a broad category that refers to restoring the structure and function of damaged tissues or organs. We also tackled the more controversial topic of young blood transfusions earlier this year, as well as covered the 2019 IPO of Precision BioSciences (DTIL), a gene-editing company that wants to fight disease and re-engineer food.

Harry Potter’s ‘invisibility cloak’ appears closer to reality as Canadian camouflage manufacturer Hyperstealth Biotechnology has applied for patents on its ‘Quantum Stealth’ material.

The ‘inexpensive and paper-thin’ technology works by bending light around a target to either alter its position or make it vanish altogether, leaving only the background visible. It is touted to be able to obscure the positions of heavy artillery, ground troops or even entire buildings from certain viewpoints.

Continue reading “‘Invisibility cloak’ that could hide tanks and troops looks closer to reality” »

Presented by Beyond Limits

Conventional, data-crunching artificial intelligence, which is the foundation of deep learning, isn’t enough on its own; the human-like reasoning of symbolic artificial intelligence is fascinating, but on its own, it isn’t enough either.

The unique hybrid combination of the two — numeric data analytics techniques that include statistical analysis, modeling, and machine learning, plus the explainability (and transparency) of symbolic artificial intelligence — is now termed “cognitive AI.”

Linksys, a division within Belkin International and Foxconn Interconnect Technology, has announced that it is offering a new motion detection service with its mesh Wi-Fi routers. As part of its announcement, the company said that the service will be subscription-based and will only be available (for now) with its Linksys Velop Tri-Band AC2200 routers. The new service is called Linksys Aware.

Mesh routers are designed to be placed in multiple locations in a home or business to ensure that there are no dead spots. Since the signals create a signal mesh, software in the routers detect how the signals are bounced around, creating imprints of individual rooms and what the signals look like. If signals are interrupted, it means that something is physically blocking them, such as a person. If such a blockage is detected, the routers can send a message to an app, also created by Linksys, alerting homeowners to a possible intruder.

Users who want the new service need only install the software on their current routers, along with the app—and then sign up to pay either $2.99 each month or $24.99 for a full year. The company is also offering a 90-day free trial of the service.

I’m excited to share I did an interview on transhumanism with Skyy John of Tipsy Bartender. He’s an actor and one the most famous people in the alcohol business!

We are about to live FOREVER because of new advances in technology and artificial intelligence! I sat down with futurist and transhumanist Zoltan Istvan as he explains how all of this will happen.

Continue reading “Can Artificial Intelligence upgrade the human body? — featuring Zoltan Istvan” »

The US Commerce Department has said it is adding 28 Chinese government organizations and private businesses, including eight tech giants, to its so-called Entity List for acting against American foreign policy interests.

What does that mean? The move effectively bars any US companies from selling technology to the blacklisted firms and organizations without US government approval.

Why? The US says they have been involved in human rights violations against Uighurs and other predominantly Muslim ethnic minorities in the Xinjiang region.

This new breed of city takes various different forms, from government initiatives, to public-private partnerships, to entirely private enterprises. Many are being used to jump-start economies in the developing world, with masterplans carefully calibrated to attract foreign investors and treasuries looking to sink their funds into something concrete. They provide a powerful means for wealthy countries to expand their strategic influence abroad, with the construction of new cities acting as a form of “debt-trap diplomacy”, tying host nations into impossibly burdensome deals. They are billed as a panacea for the world’s urban ills, solving overcrowding, congestion and pollution; yet, more often than not, they turn out to be catalysts for land dispossession, environmental degradation and social inequality.

The feature Kim enjoys most is a small touchscreen display on his kitchen wall that allows him to keep track of his and his wife’s consumption of electricity, water and gas and, most important, compare it against the average statistics for the building. Flicking between the screens of bar charts and graphs, a broad grin spreads across his face: for yet another day running, they are more energy-efficient than all their neighbours.

From their living room window at the top of one of the city’s new residential towers, a panorama of downtown Songdo unfolds. Across an eight-lane highway lies Central Park, a broad swath of trees surrounding an ornamental lake, flanked by rows of glass towers with vaguely jaunty silhouettes. Armies of identikit concrete apartment blocks march into the hazy distance beyond, terminating at a Jack Nicklaus-designed golf course. It looks a lot like many other modern Asian cities, a place of generic towers rising above a car-dominated grid. Public life is mostly confined to the air-conditioned environments of malls and private leisure clubs.

Continue reading “‘The next era of human progress’: what lies behind the global new cities epidemic?” »