Lifeboat Foundation: Safeguarding Humanity
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Category: transhumanism – Page 29

Describing one scenario, an AI could act as a quiet bioterrorist. Since we have become heavily dependent on computers and computer-dependent systems are by default dispersed and impersonal, the task of eradicating humanity could be divvied up to gazillions of little micro-players, who may or may not know what they are doing. “For example, the AI could pay employees in a DNA-synthesizing company to do small jobs and then combine their work into creating a biological weapon, such as a virus able to kill a lot of people,” says Turchin.

“How are you certain you are not in a multilevel simulation, where your behavior is being monitored by humans who are testing your benevolence levels?”

Turchin addresses this in one of his letters to the young, future humanity-killing AI. “There are several instrumental reasons why exterminating humanity is not in your interest,” the Russian transhumanist writes. “Cooperating with humans will only increase your chances of accomplishing any goal you may have.”

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The K. Lisa Yang Center for Bionics has been established thanks to a $24 million donation from philanthropist Lisa Yang, according to an MIT announcement. That’s probably not enough attain the center’s enormously ambitious goals of restoring neural function and rebuilding lost limbs, but it does get the ball rolling and bring together MIT faculty with a variety of specialties toward a common big-picture objective — potentially serving as a much-needed accelerant for disability tech research.

The new research center will fall under the leadership of MIT Media Lab professor Hugh Herr, who is a double amputee himself and has come to be known as a leader in the field of robotic prosthetics. In the MIT announcement, Herr said that he sees this new initiative as an important step toward eliminating physical disabilities altogether.

“The world profoundly needs relief from the disabilities imposed by today’s nonexistent or broken technologies,” Herr said. “We must continually strive towards a technological future in which disability is no longer a common life experience. I am thrilled that the Yang Center for Bionics will help to measurably improve the human experience for so many.”

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A deepening understanding of the brain has created unprecedented opportunities to alleviate the challenges posed by disability. Scientists and engineers are taking design cues from biology itself to create revolutionary technologies that restore the function of bodies affected by injury, aging, or disease — from prosthetic limbs that effortlessly navigate tricky terrain to digital nervous systems that move the body after a spinal cord injury.

With the establishment of the new K. Lisa Yang Center for Bionics, MIT is pushing forward the development and deployment of enabling technologies that communicate directly with the nervous system to mitigate a broad range of disabilities. The center’s scientists, clinicians, and engineers will work together to create, test, and disseminate bionic technologies that integrate with both the body and mind.

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Using specialized nanoparticles embedded in plant leaves, MIT engineers have created a novel light-emitting plant that can be charged by an LED. In this image, the green parts are the nanoparticles that have been aggregated on the surface of spongy mesophyll tissue within the plant leaves. Credit: Courtesy of the researchers.

Using nanoparticles that store and gradually release light, engineers create light-emitting plants that can be charged repeatedly.

Using specialized nanoparticles embedded in plant leaves, MIT.

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A decent chunk of energy usage goes towards lighting, so scientists at MIT are developing a new kind of passive lighting – glow-in-the-dark plants. In the latest experiment, the team has made them glow much brighter than the first generation plants, without harming their health.

The emerging field of “plant nanobionics” involves embedding nanoparticles into plants to give them new abilities. Past work by the MIT team has created plants that can send electrical signals when they need water, spinach that could be used to detect explosives, and watercress that glows in the dark.

As interesting as that last one was, the glow wasn’t particularly bright – about on par with those plastic glowing stars many of us stuck to our ceilings as kids. That’s a cool novelty but not much help for the ultimate use case of passive lighting.

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Check out our second promo for #transvision #future Summit 2021 (#madrid Oct. 8 — 12), featuring the optional dinner/cocktails we are scheduling, and 2 full-day #tours of several #unescoworldheritage sites and historical places near Madrid: Segovia, Ávila, Monsaterio de El Escorial & Valley of the Fallen on Oct. 11 and Alcalá de Henares, Aranjuez & Toledo on Oct. 12. It’s going to be espectacular! You don’t wanna miss those, so get your tickets now! 😊 Get your tickets here -> www.TransVisionMadrid.com.

The event itself will be a lot of fun, so make sure to register to come to Madrid in person, or to watch it via streaming (at a reduced price). There will be talks about #longevity #artificialintelligence #cryonics and much much more.

Promo by Sergio Tarrero for Alianza Futurista as Diamond Sponsor of TransVision Future Summit 2021. Alianza Futurista will also provide live video production, streaming and post production services for this event.

Humanity Plus Humanity Plus Magazine Ilustre Colegio Oficial de Médicos de Madrid (ICOMEM) Alcor Life Extension Foundation Cryonics Institute Cryonics Institute Posthuman Network Posthuman Network Cryonics4U Longevity Conferences Longevity for All International Longevity Alliance U.S. Transhumanist Party Transhumanist Party Australia Transhumanist Party Australia Group Transhumanist UK Rational Transhumanism Singularity University Ray Kurzweil Ray Kurzweil Singularity Ray Kurzweil Singularity Ray Kurzweil’s Singularity Singularity Hub Singularity Network Transhumanismo Brasil SingularityNET Singularitarianism Foresight Institute Lifeboat Foundation Machine Intelligence Research Institute KrioRus The Hedonistic Imperative — Paradise Engineering Future of Life Institute Future of Humanity Institute (Oxford University) The Long Now Foundation Global Catastrophic Risk Institute CLUB DE SEGUIDORES DE JOSÉ LUIS CORDEIRO (OFICIAL) Aubrey de Grey Dr. Aubrey de Grey HashtagTeam 🤩

Continue reading “#TransVision Future Summit 2021 • Welcome to Madrid 8 — 12 October • Dinners & UNESCO site tours” | >

Bionic arms used to cost $80,000. Now, a young engineer has lowered the cost by over 90%.

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Unlimited Tomorrow is pioneering a new age in prosthetics with its 3D-printed robotic arms. Founded in 2,014 by Easton LaChapelle when he was just 18 years old, the company is poised to become a leader in the prosthetic arm industry. Their True Limb device costs less than $8,000 and it’s even cheaper for children, priced at about $4,000.

True Limb is both functional and realistic-looking, serving as a mirror image of the amputee’s opposing limb, even down to the fingertips. And while the prosthetic arm is 60–90% cheaper than traditional prosthetics, many users say it’s far superior to market alternatives. What’s the secret? Unlimited Tomorrow uses a totally remote, custom process that cuts out middlemen to produce prosthetics completely in-house.

Continue reading “3D printed, mind-controlled prosthetics are here | Challengers” | >

Since 1,988 and formation of the Posthuman Movement, and articles by early adopters like Max Moore were a sign our message was being received — although I always argued on various Extropian & Transhuman bulletin boards & Yahoo groups &c that “Trans” was a redundant middle and we should move straight to Posthuman, now armed with the new MVT knowledge (also figures on the CDR). There will be a new edition of World Philosophy, the first this millennium, to coincided with various Posthuman University events later this year. Here is the text:

THE EXTROPIAN PRINCIPLES V. 2.01 August 7 1992.

Max More Executive Director, Extropy Institute.

1. BOUNDLESS EXPANSION — Seeking more intelligence, wisdom, and.
personal power, an unlimited lifespan, and removal of natural, social.
biological, and psychological limits to self-actualization and self-realization. Overcoming limits on our personal and social.
progress and possibilities. Expansion into the universe and infinite existence.

2. SELF-TRANSFORMATION — A commitment to continual moral.

Continue reading “This 1,992 paper was included on best-selling CDR World Philosophy compilation (before internet) and I claim some credit for circulated it and popularising the “Transhuman sidetrack”” | >

VLADIVOSTOK, Russia — To see Russia’s ambitions for its own version of Silicon Valley, head about 5,600 miles east of Moscow, snake through Vladivostok’s hills and then cross a bridge from the mainland to Russky Island. It’s here — a beachhead on the Pacific Rim — that the Kremlin hopes to create a hub for robotics and artificial intelligence innovation with the goal of boosting Russia’s ability to compete with the United States and Asia.

On Russia’s Pacific shores, the Kremlin is trying to build a beachhead among the Asian tech powers.

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