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The Future Observatory

Posted by Andres Agostini in 3D printing, asteroid/comet impacts, automation, big data, biological, bionic, bioprinting, biotech/medical, bitcoin, business, chemistry, climatology, complex systems, computing, cosmology, counterterrorism, cybercrime/malcode, cyborgs, defense, driverless cars, drones, economics, education, energy, engineering, entertainment, environmental, ethics, events, evolution, existential risks, exoskeleton, finance, food, futurism, genetics, geopolitics, government, habitats, hardware, homo sapiens, human trajectories, humor, information science, innovation, law, law enforcement, life extension, lifeboat, media & arts, military, nanotechnology, neuroscience, nuclear energy, nuclear weapons, open access, open source, particle physics, philosophy, policy, polls, posthumanism, privacy, rants, robotics/AI, science, scientific freedom, security, singularity, space, space travel, supercomputing, surveillance, sustainability, time travel, transhumanism, transparency, transportation, water

FEBRUARY 05/2014 UPDATES [LIST]. By Mr. Andres Agostini at www.Future-Observatory.blogspot.com
lba
Do autistic brains create more information at rest or do they have weaker connectivity — or both?
http://www.kurzweilai.net/do-autistic-brains-create-more-inf…ty-or-both

‘Electronic tongue’ identifies brands of beer with 81.9% accuracy
http://www.kurzweilai.net/electronic-tongue-identifies-brand…9-accuracy

Bodily maps of emotions
http://www.kurzweilai.net/bodily-maps-of-emotions

Antibiotic ‘smart bomb’ can target specific strains of bacteria
http://www.kurzweilai.net/antibiotic-smart-bomb-can-target-s…f-bacteria

Trends and Predictions: How the Future Looks Like for Web Design in 2014

Trends and Predictions: How the Future Looks Like for Web Design in 2014

Credit cards of the future: 4 exciting trends
http://www.nasdaq.com/article/credit-cards-of-the-future-4-e…z2sMsGbooH

The 5 foods best-suited for 3D printing
http://www.fooddive.com/news/the-5-foods-best-suited-for-3d-printing/222556/

Nature is Not Human-Centric
http://www.futuristspeaker.com/2014/01/nature-is-not-human-centric/

Your Brain Is Fine-Tuning Its Wiring Throughout Your Life
http://myscienceacademy.org/2014/02/03/your-brain-is-fine-tu…9896376047]&action_type_map=[%22og.likes%22]&action_ref_map=[]

The World’s Smallest Engine Runs on a Single Atom
http://www.popularmechanics.com/technology/engineering/extre…m-16451781

Guest column: Constituent care — Are government contact centers ready for the generational flood?
http://fedscoop.com/guest-column-constituent-care-government…SY.twitter

Searching for Life on Earth-Like Planets May Be a Mistake, Need to Consider Superhabitable Planets

Searching for Life on Earth-Like Planets May Be a Mistake, Need to Consider Superhabitable Planets

Survey says more attention being paid to data privacy, but still a ways to go
http://www.networkworld.com/news/2014/013114-survey-says-mor…ign=buffer

Quantum engineers make a major step towards a scalable quantum computer
http://www.kurzweilai.net/quantum-engineers-make-a-major-ste…m-computer

Was There A Beginning Of Time And Will There Be An End Of Time?
http://www.messagetoeagle.com/timeslowingdown.php?utm_source…vEN9LTSmHd

DHS has become the epicenter for government cybersecurity
http://www.gsnmagazine.com/node/32882?c=cyber_security

THE FUTURE OF THE MIND: Official Trailer
http://knopfdoubleday.com/book/89414/the-future-of-the-mind/

What the Internet of Things Will Mean for CIOs
http://www.cio.com/article/747634/What_the_Internet_of_Things_Will_Mean_for_CIOs

Why predictive maintenance is more relevant today than ever before
http://www.simafore.com/blog/bid/204618/Why-predictive-maint…ver-before

Stanford scientists put free text-analysis tool on the web
http://engineering.stanford.edu/research-profile/stanford-sc…s-tool-web

Dangerous ideas: About that Princeton Facebook study — wrong, but not entirely crazy
http://which-50.com/post/75339864941/dangerous-ideas-about-t…book-study

Personal Banking and the Data-Driven Approach
http://www.analyticbridge.com/profiles/blogs/personal-bankin…e=activity

20 Lessons Enterprise CIOs Can Learn from Supercomputing
http://www.datanami.com/datanami/2012-11-12/20_lesso…uting.html

Big data misused to justify vaccination
http://www.datasciencecentral.com/profiles/blogs/big-data-mi…accination

First Single-Molecule LED
http://spectrum.ieee.org/tech-talk/semiconductors/nanotechno…lecule-led

Employment in Renewable Energy Sector Reaches 5.7 Million Globally
http://www.irena.org/News/Description.aspx?NType=A&mnu=cat&P…ews_ID=351

The World Has Deep Areas of Expertise. We Need Agility and Context
http://bigthink.com/big-think-edge/the-world-has-deep-areas-…nk+Main%29

Marc Andreessen Has A Great Answer For Why Bitcoin Matters
http://www.businessinsider.com/marc-andreessen-on-why-bitcoi…2014-1

Motorola Patents Electronic Telepathy
http://hplusmagazine.com/2014/01/14/electronic-telepathy/

New Solar Cells Get the Blues in a Good Way

Energy Update: New Solar Cells Get the Blues in a Good Way

A window to the future of research
http://www.mpg.de/7865824/Science_Tunnel

Surface map of a brown dwarf
http://www.mpg.de/7870755/surface-map-brown-dwarf

The future of oil supply
http://rsta.royalsocietypublishing.org/site/2014/2006.xhtml

The Human enhancement and the future of work project
http://royalsociety.org/policy/projects/human-enhancement/workshop-report/

Whole-genome sequence of a flatfish provides insights into ZW sex chromosome evolution and adaptation to a benthic lifestyle
http://www.nature.com/ng/journal/vaop/ncurrent/full/ng.2890.html

Scientists reading fewer papers for first time in 35 years
http://www.nature.com/news/scientists-reading-fewer-papers-f…rs-1.14658

Elsevier opens its papers to text-mining
http://www.nature.com/news/elsevier-opens-its-papers-to-text-mining-1.14659

Top UK university pledges reform to ‘change the culture’ of its animal research

Top UK university pledges reform to ‘change the culture’ of its animal research

Challenging Israel

Challenging Israel

Pruning Synapses Improves Brain Connections
http://www.the-scientist.com/?articles.view/articleNo/39055/…nnections/

Science Cartoonist Doesn’t Draw “Funny Style”
http://www.the-scientist.com/?articles.view/articleNo/39033/…ny-Style-/

Opinion: The Burden of Proof
http://www.the-scientist.com/?articles.view/articleNo/39053/…-of-Proof/

The Dilemma of Space Debris
http://www.americanscientist.org/issues/feature/2014/1/the-d…ace-debris

Flights of Fancy in Avian Evolution
http://www.americanscientist.org/issues/feature/2014/1/fligh…-evolution

How to Fight Back Against Antibiotic Resistance
http://www.americanscientist.org/issues/feature/2014/1/how-t…resistance

Ocean Acidification: The Other Climate Change Issue
http://www.americanscientist.org/issues/feature/2014/1/ocean…ange-issue

QUOTATION: “…The flattening of the world is going to be hugely disruptive to both traditional and developed societies. The weak will fall further behind faster. The traditional will feel the force of modernization much more profoundly. The new will get turned into old quicker. The developed will be challenged by the underdeveloped much more profoundly. I worry, because so much political stability is built on economic stability, and economic stability is not going to be a feature of the flat world. Add it all up and you can see that the disruptions and going to come faster and harder. No one is immune ─ not me, not you, not Microsoft. WE ARE ENTERING AN ERA OF CREATIVE DESTRUCTION ON STEROIDS. Dealing with flatism is going to be a challenge of a whole new dimension even if your country has a strategy. But if you don’t have a strategy at all, well, again, you’ve warned…”

RECOMMENDED BOOK: The Living Company: Growth, Learning and Longevity in Business by Arie De Geus
ISBN-13: 978–1857881851

Regards,

Mr. Andres Agostini
href=“www.Future-Observatory.blogspot.com”>www.Future-Observatory.blogspot.com
href=“www.TheProfessionalFuturist.blogspot.com”>www.TheProfessionalFuturist.blogspot.com
href=“www.ThisSuccess.wordprocessor.com”>www.ThisSuccess.wordprocessor.com
href=“www.xeeme.com/AAgostini”>www.xeeme.com/AAgostini

The Future Observatory

Posted by Andres Agostini in 3D printing, automation, big data, biological, bionic, bioprinting, biotech/medical, bitcoin, business, chemistry, climatology, complex systems, computing, cosmology, cyborgs, defense, driverless cars, drones, economics, education, energy, engineering, environmental, ethics, existential risks, exoskeleton, finance, food, fun, futurism, general relativity, genetics, geopolitics, government, habitats, hardware, health, human trajectories, humor, information science, innovation, law enforcement, life extension, lifeboat, media & arts, military, mobile phones, nanotechnology, neuroscience, open access, philosophy, physics, policy, posthumanism, privacy, robotics/AI, science, scientific freedom, security, singularity, space, space travel, supercomputing, surveillance, sustainability, time travel, transhumanism, transparency, transportation

FEBRUARY 03/2014 UPDATES. By Mr.Andres Agostini at www.Future-Observatory.blogspot.com
lba
Maps showing which parts of the world would be flooded if all the world’s ice melted
http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2013/09/rising-seas/if-ice-melted-map

3-D printing takes shape
http://www.mckinsey.com/insights/manufacturing/3-d_printing_…k-oth-1401

40 more maps that explain the world
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/worldviews/wp/2014/01/13…the-world/

The Future of Space-Age Management
http://lnkd.in/bYP2nDC

Race Is On to Find Life Under Antarctic Ice
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2012/12/121218-antar…vironment/

Google sets up artificial intelligence ethics board to curb the rise of the robots
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2548355/Googl…obots.html

WORLD HUNGER: A CRISIS NOW AND A CATASTROPHE IN 2050?
http://www.economistinsights.com/sustainability-resources/ev…he%20World

40 charts that explain the world
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2014/01/15/4…the-world/

Assignment Remix: Intern-preneurs and Building Bold Thinking
http://www.pbs.org/mediashift/2014/01/assignment-remix-entre…ship-work/

The 3rd Citizen Cyberscience Summit: Feb 20 — 22, 2014
http://cybersciencesummit.org/

Waypoint 2 Space Trains Passengers For Commercial Launches
http://www.forbes.com/sites/alexknapp/2014/01/29/waypoint-2-…-launches/

Megacity Tips from Europe’s Highest Town as Davos Debates Future
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-01-26/megacity-ti…uture.html

Student-built satellite sends data from space
http://phys.org/news/2014-01-student-built-satellite-space.html

How the Dream Chaser was built
http://phys.org/news/2014-01-video-chaser-built.html

How Is Business Intelligence Being Used Differently in Asia?
http://www.idgconnect.com/blog-abstract/5387/how-is-business…ently-asia

Stumbling Blocks That Faceplant Security Analytics Programs
http://www.darkreading.com/stumbling-blocks-that-faceplant-security/240165754

Bio-printing human parts will spark ethical, regulatory debate
http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/9245834/Bio_printing_…ory_debate

Bioprinting human organs and tissue: Get ready for the great 3D printer debate
http://www.zdnet.com/bioprinting-human-organs-and-tissue-get…000025730/

China Emerges Tanzania’s Major Investor
http://www.ventures-africa.com/2014/01/china-emerges-as-tanz…um=twitter

How We Increased Productivity on the Shop Floor
http://boss.blogs.nytimes.com/2014/01/27/how-we-increased-pr…iness&_r=1

Eve Online virtual war ‘costs $300,000′ in damage
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-25944837?ocid=socialflow_twitter#

Millions experiencing Arctic chill, new snow
http://www.cbsnews.com/videos/millions-experiencing-arctic-chill-new-snow/

Google Still Wins by Selling Motorola for Cheap
http://www.wired.com/business/2014/01/google-moto/?cid=co17808934

There’s a giant robot directing traffic in Congo
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/innovations/wp/2014/01/3…-in-congo/

The Link Between Viral Content And Emotional Intelligence
http://www.fastcompany.com/3025474/leadership-now/the-link-b…Company%29

Scientists Create Map of Solar System’s Asteroids
http://www.sci-news.com/space/science-map-solar-system-asteroids-01731.html

Hackers, spies, threats and the US spies’ budget
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-25933791

Sparking innovation
http://www.hsph.harvard.edu/news/magazine/sparking-innovation/

NASA Instruments on European Comet Spacecraft Begin Countdown
http://iipdigital.usembassy.gov/st/english/inbrief/2014/01/2…z2s912yA9p

Media Relations: Why The Economist Thinks We Have It Wrong
http://socialmediatoday.com/ginidietrich/2120391/media-relat…ite_tweets

How Your Internal Organs Could Power Implanted Devices
http://www.popularmechanics.com/science/health/med-tech/how-…6??src=rss

7 Takeaways From Google’s Sale Of Motorola To Lenovo
http://www.forbes.com/sites/haydnshaughnessy/2014/01/30/7-ta…ium=social

Mad for mapping: 6 projects that change the way you see data. What lessons can geography teach your business?
http://www.itworld.com/slideshow/128479/mad-mapping-6-projec…ata-382783

Trendspotting: 6 mapping trends that are good for business
http://m.itworld.com/big-data/382674/trendspotting-how-mappi…695409%3D1

Google’s New A.I. Ethics Board Might Save Humanity From Extinction
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/01/29/google-ai_n_4683343…=FullStory

Russian Coders, Ukrainian Cybercriminal, Mexican Smugglers, And The Largest Cybercrime In History
http://www.ibtimes.com/russian-coders-ukrainian-cybercrimina…ry-1547854

African banks investigated for cybercrime complicity
http://www.cfoworld.com/technology/80728/african-banks-inves…ccS6U.dpuf

Will the Next Industrial Revolution Be Bigger than the First? Will Geospatial Technology be Part of It?
http://geospatial-solutions.com/will-the-next-industrial-rev…art-of-it/

New Patent Mapping System Helps Find Innovation Pathways
http://www.news.gatech.edu/2014/01/14/new-patent-mapping-sys…n-pathways

America’s Most Promising Companies: The Top 25 Of 2014
http://www.forbes.com/sites/jjcolao/2014/01/22/americas-most…5-of-2014/

Solving the Mobile Device Dilemma: InZero Systems offers 2-Tablets-in-1
http://www.prlog.org/12276372-solving-the-mobile-device-dile…-in-1.html

What We Talk About When We Talk About Economies Of Scale In Tech

What We Talk About When We Talk About Economies Of Scale In Tech

Emerging markets: Locus of extremity | The Economist
http://www.economist.com/news/finance-and-economics/21595485…-extremity

Climate change research is globally skewed
http://news.ku.dk/all_news/2014/01/climate-change-research-is-globally-skewed/

Towards the circular economy: Accelerating the scale-up across global supply chains
http://reports.weforum.org/toward-the-circular-economy-accel…ly-chains/

QUOTATION: “…Our world tomorrow will be utterly different, in ways we cannot even conceive…”

RECOMMENDED BOOK: Why Most Things Fail: Evolution, Extinction and Economics by Paul Ormerod
ISBN-13: 978–0470089194

Regards,

Mr. Andres Agostini
href=“www.Future-Observatory.blogspot.com”>www.Future-Observatory.blogspot.com
href=“www.ThisSuccess.wordprocessor.com”>www.ThisSuccess.wordprocessor.com
href=“www.xeeme.com/AAgostini”>www.xeeme.com/AAgostini

Future Observatory

Posted by Andres Agostini in 3D printing, automation, big data, biological, bionic, bioprinting, biotech/medical, bitcoin, business, chemistry, climatology, complex systems, computing, cosmology, counterterrorism, defense, driverless cars, drones, economics, education, energy, engineering, environmental, ethics, existential risks, finance, food, futurism, general relativity, genetics, geopolitics, government, hardware, health, human trajectories, information science, innovation, law, life extension, lifeboat, media & arts, mobile phones, nanotechnology, neuroscience, nuclear energy, nuclear weapons, particle physics, philosophy, physics, policy, polls, posthumanism, privacy, robotics/AI, science, scientific freedom, security, singularity, space, space travel, supercomputing, surveillance, sustainability, transparency, transportation

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

lba
Cancer Researchers Identify New Drug to Inhibit Breast Cancer

Cancer Researchers Identify New Drug to Inhibit Breast 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

MIT and Harvard release working papers on open online courses
http://www.kurzweilai.net/mit-and-harvard-release-working-pa…-282009765

13 Quotes That Show Why Libertarian Tech Billionaire Peter Thiel Is A Scary Genius
http://www.businessinsider.com/peter-thiel-quotes-2014-1?op=1#ixzz2rr4DD75T

Quantum cloud simulates magnetic monopole
http://www.nature.com/news/quantum-cloud-simulates-magnetic-monopole-1.14612

North Korea possesses two-thirds of the world’s rare earths
http://www.impactlab.net/2014/01/24/north-korea-possesses-tw…re-earths/

Recent discovery of quantum vibrations in microtubules inside brain neurons corroborates controversial theory of consciousness
http://www.impactlab.net/2014/01/21/recent-discovery-of-quan…ciousness/

The internet population in China hit 618 million in 2013 with 81% connected via mobile internet
http://www.impactlab.net/2014/01/20/the-internet-population-…-internet/

The Bitcoin ATM Has a Dirty Secret: It Needs a Chaperone
http://www.wired.com/wiredenterprise/2014/01/bitcoin_atm/

Can Science Save Modern Art?
http://www.fastcodesign.com/3025595/asides/can-science-save-modern-art

Welcome to the 2020s (Future Timeline Events 2020–2029)

2070–2079 timeline
http://www.futuretimeline.net/21stcentury/2070-2079.htm

Lemur Studio Design develops mine detector in a shoe
http://www.gizmag.com/lemur-studio-saveonelife/30569/

CERN experiment produces first beam of antihydrogen atoms for hyperfine study
http://phys.org/news/2014-01-cern-antihydrogen-atoms-hyperfine.html

Architects build the jellyfish house around a floating pool

wiel arets architects build the jellyfish house around a floating pool

Monitoring Drugs Flowing in the Bloodstream
http://www.mdtmag.com/news/2014/01/monitoring-drugs-flowing-bloodstream

$1.7 million personal submarine lets you ‘fly’ underwater
http://www.cbsnews.com/news/17-million-personal-submarine-le…nderwater/

Computing with silicon neurons: Scientists use artificial nerve cells to classify different types of data
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2014/01/140128094539.htm

10 technology trends to watch in 2014
http://www.cbsnews.com/news/10-technology-trends-to-watch-2014/

The year ahead: Hot ICT tech trends in 2014
http://www.marsdd.com/2014/01/28/year-ahead-hot-ict-tech-trends-2014/

5 Futuristic Trends That Will Shape Business And Culture Today
http://www.fastcoexist.com/3025012/futurist-forum/5-futurist…ture-today

Stephen Hawking says there is no such thing as black holes, Einstein spinning in his grave
http://www.express.co.uk/news/science-technology/455880/Step…-his-grave

Google’s Ray Kurzweil predicts how the world will change
http://jimidisu.com/?p=6013

Celebrating water cooperation: Red Sea to Dead Sea
http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/opinion/2014/01/celebrating…03800.html

7 Trends For 2014
http://blogs.sap.com/innovation/innovation/seven-trends-2014-01242649

8 Quick Ways to Unlock Your Creative Potential
https://www.openforum.com/articles/8-quick-ways-to-unlock-yo…strecent-3

Exploring Mars Habitability – Opportunity Updates Our Understanding of Our Planetary Neighbour

Exploring Mars Habitability – Opportunity Updates Our Understanding of Our Planetary Neighbour

DAILY QUOTE: By Michael Anissimov utters, “…One of the biggest flaws in the common conception of the future is that the future is something that happens to us, not something we create…”

RECOMMENDED BOOK:

Radical Evolution: The Promise and Peril of Enhancing Our Minds, Our Bodies — and What It Means to Be Human by Joel Garreau
ISBN-13: 978–0767915038

Regards,

Mr. Andres Agostini
www.ThisSuccess.wordpress.com
href=“www.xeeme.com/AAgostini”>www.xeeme.com/AAgostini

By Emily Siner — VPR

Thanks to new research out of MIT, you might one day be able to subtly manipulate your picture to make it more memorable — meaning that people should be more likely to remember your face.

According to the research article: “One ubiquitous fact about people is that we cannot avoid evaluating the faces we see in daily life … In this flash judgment of a face, an underlying decision is happening in the brain — should I remember this face or not? Even after seeing a picture for only half a second we can often remember it.”

Read more

By

153913542“Creative” machines are already here. There are composition programs that write original music, data analysis programs that produce original news reports, and artistic robots that create original paintings. Leave the composition program running after breakfast, and you’ll have 5,000 chorales by lunch. Immediately after the last NFL game of the week, the analysis program will prepare 300 unique football reports and recaps for you per second. The painting robot can even mix its own paints and wash its own brushes.

But what about fiction? David Cope, the music professor who created Emmy, the composition program that can create 5,000 original music pieces in a morning, says in an email, “I believe that without a doubt computer programs will write novels. Even great novels. It seems to me that we would be selling human creativity short if we didn’t believe that to be true.” That represents quite an endorsement of human ingenuity: We are creative enough to make machines that can relieve us of the need to be creative. However, Joe Procopio of Automated Insights, which provided Yahoo Sports with more than 50 million fantasy football recaps and reports during the 2012 NFL season, takes a more guarded view. “I’m very skeptical of the possibility of machines being able to generate viable fiction in the near term,” he cautions in an email before adding, “But I’m sure it can be done.”

Read more

‘The Hobbit’ and ‘Ender’s Game’ are making 3D printing Hollywood’s smartest new marketing tool

December 4, 2013 8:16 AM

Ricardo Bilton

Hollywood, despite being ancient and entrenched, is embracing 3D printing in a big way.

To help market The Hobbit: Desolation of Smaug, Warner Bros. will offer fans digital blueprints of “The Key to Erebor,” a key item from the series, which fans can 3D print on their own or send to a company like Shapeways to print for them.

And the Hobbit is not alone. With Ender’s Game, released last month, Hollywood tapped 3D printing company Sandboxr to make 3D-printed replicas of the film’s ships, which fans could tweak and customize to their liking.

Read more

Raymond Wong
Monday, November 25, 2013

We don’t usually write much about buyouts here at DVICE. Buyouts usually go something like this: big company pays a crap-ton of money for smaller company and then we never hear from the smaller company again. Whoopty doo.

But Apple’s latest buyout of PrimeSense for $360 million is worth some discussion because the company’s tech could become part of the building blocks for the living room of the future. That, or we could be looking at some serious Minority Report-type tablets or Macs.

PrimeSense was the company behind the 3D depth camera tech in the original Kinect (Microsoft has since moved on with its own in-house tech for the Xbox One’s Kinect). Microsoft talked the big talk in 2010, and the hacks were a nice distraction, but ultimately, Kinect’s primitive technology only managed to make us look like silly fools dancing around to Dance Central in front of our TVs.

Read more

Each new technology revolutionizes how we approach life and what we do in it. Take my new Kindle Fire HD for example. Before, I simply picked up a book – whether it be hardback or paperback – and start reading. Usually if there was a busy day ahead of me, each time I picked up a book I’d simply read a chapter, bookmark it – a lot of the cases being “dog ears,” unfortunately – and place it to the side, ready for another chapter to be read for another time.

This was a relatively comfortable motion of life that I adhered to. I read a lot. Though of course there were the slight annoyances that could be made known, but were fortunately tolerable. For example, if you don’t have a real bookmark, you then have to ruin the pages by flapping down a top corner of the page you were last reading from. That was a slight nuisance. Another example being, given I had a busy day and thus in need of scheduling, the fact that I had no clue as to how long it would take me to read the chapter, then placed me in a unfortunate position of not knowing how my day will be handled. At times, though rare, I couldn’t even finish a chapter because it was taking too long and I had to get things done.

So back to my Kindle Fire, these slight annoyances as an avid reader have been completely expropriated! Most MOBI-formatted books are well organized and easily readable. So when I’m reading, the Kindle Fire allows me to simply tap the top right corner and instantly bookmarks the page I’m reading. No “dog ears,” no unnecessary pieces of paper needing to be bought to be used as one. If I’m curious as to how long the chapter I’m reading will take, I simply tap the bottom left corner and it not only gives me the # of minutes left in reading the chapter, but the number of hours it’ll take for me to read the entire book. It detects my reading pattern via its sensors and calculates an estimation of how long each page is read, each chapter, the entire book. I also quite enjoy the fact that it provides a % of how much the book I’ve read so far.

This changes a lot for me as a reader. And really, while I’ve labeled them as slight annoyances, thinking back, I’m not sure how I could’ve tolerated such things. Then again, my love for reading always dominated my desire for perfection. But before the Kindle, there were still such a thing as digital books, which were formatted as PDFs (Portable Document Format). I’ve got a LOT of PDFs on my laptop! But then PDFs are incapable of creating bookmarks, and they weren’t exactly mobile-oriented like a normal hardback/paperback book was. That was an even greater nuisance to reading than normal books provided.

Kindle, however, destroyed those annoyances. Completely. It’s really easy to carry around. It doesn’t take up much space at all. It carries thousands of books, and much more when accessing its cloud server. Its battery life is top notch. It detects and learns your reading pattern. It connects to your online accounts. It integrates itself into your life in mere minutes!

When it comes to a reader, it changes everything. And that is revolutionary!

The article above was originally published as a blog post on The Proactionary Transhumanist.

This poem had originally appeared on Transhumanity.

Opt Not for Death

A cosmist’s cosmological comet is in correlation
with the connotational confrontation of dreams,
Dreams that are only dreamt by the dreary of death,
Death only dreamt when no dreams are left.
For what is left than the dichotomy of life and naught,
foretold by the whispers of our ancestors’ ancestors? Continue reading “H+ Poetry: A Cosmist’s Tale” | >

longevitize2013 med

Containing more than 160 essays from over 40 contributors, this edited volume of essays on the science, philosophy and politics of longevity considers the project of ending aging and abolishing involuntary death-by-disease from a variety of viewpoints: scientific, technological, philosophical, pragmatic, artistic. In it you will find not only information on the ways in which science and medicine are bringing about the potential to reverse aging and defeat death within many of our own lifetimes, as well as the ways that you can increase your own longevity today in order to be there for tomorrow’s promise, but also a glimpse at the art, philosophy and politics of longevity as well – areas that will become increasingly important as we realize that advocacy, lobbying and activism can play as large a part in the hastening of progress in indefinite lifespans as science and technology can.

The collection is edited by Franco Cortese. Its contributing authors include William H. Andrews, Ph.D., Rachel Armstrong, Ph.D., Jonathan Betchtel, Yaniv Chen, Clyde DeSouza, Freija van Diujne, Ph.D., John Ellis, Ph.D., Linda Gamble, Roen Horn, the International Longevity Alliance (ILA), Zoltan Istvan, David Kekich (President & C.E.O of Maximum Life Foundation), Randal A. Koene, Ph.D., Maria Konovalenko, M.Sc. (Program Coordinator for the Science for Life Extension Foundation), Marios Kyriazis, MD, M.Sc MIBiol, CBiol (Founder of the ELPIs Foundation for Indefinite Lifespans and the medical advisor for the British Longevity Society), John R. Leonard (Director of Japan Longevity Alliance), Alex Lightman, Movement for Indefinite Life Extension (MILE), Josh Mitteldorf, Ph.D., Tom Mooney (Executive Director of the Coalition to Extend Life), Max More, Ph.D. , B.J. Murphy, Joern Pallensen, Dick Pelletier, Hank Pellissier (Founder of Brighter Brains Institute), Giulio Prisco, Marc Ransford, Jameson Rohrer, Martine Rothblatt, Ph.D., MBA, JD., Peter Rothman (editor-in-chief of H+ Magazine), Giovanni Santostasi, Ph.D (Director of Immortal Life Magazine, Eric Schulke, Jason Silva , R.U. Sirius, Ilia Stambler, Ph.D (activist at the International Longevity Alliance), G. Stolyarov II (editor-in-chief of The Rational Argumentator), Winslow Strong, Jason Sussberg, Violetta Karkucinska, David Westmorland, Peter Wicks, Ph.D, and Jason Xu (director of Longevity Party China and Longevity Party Taiwan).

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