Lifeboat Foundation

The market is definitely there. But, it needs to be able to do a minimum amount of practical things, in about this order: 1. it needs to be able to cook even the most basic of meals, being unable to cook for themselves is usually the main reason someone has to go into a nursing home; 2. being able to clean your average kitchen and bathroom; 3. being able to do basic yard tasks, operating a lawnmower and a snowblower. Those would be the most important, after those get mastered have it equipped to do more niche tasks and entertainment features.

As to when, we have clumsy humanoid robots right now, and AI will supposedly reach human level around 2029. It will just be a task of merging those two between now and then, and getting that robot down to a reasonable cost, which i think would be in the neighborhood of a brand new SUV.

As artificial intelligence advances, we humans will form relationships with our robot helpers and caregivers.

Continue reading “Your future companion in your old age could be a robot” »

Have you ever imagined what it would take to wipe of all life from Earth? It turns out that another mass extinction is highly improbable.

Neuron. 2017 Oct 11;96:285–297. doi: 10.1016/j.neuron.2017.07.029.

Kim HJ, Taylor JP.

Nanobots that patrol our bodies, killer immune cells hunting and destroying cancer cells, biological scissors that cut out defective genes: these are just some of technologies that Cambridge researchers are developing which are set to revolutionise medicine in the future.

In a new film to coincide with the recent launch of the Cambridge Academy of Therapeutic Sciences, researchers discuss some of the most exciting developments in medical research and set out their vision for the next 50 years.

Telomerase replenishes telomeres, extending the cell’s lifespan. Researchers hope that telomerase enhancement will rejuvenate our organs.

Senolytics have been a hot topic lately. Here’s a primer.

Senolytics reverse aging by killing senescent cells. Researchers have found seven senolytics and are testing them in clinical trials.

The future of military success will now be owned by those who conceive, design, build and operate combinations of information-based technologies to deliver new combat power. Caution, bureaucratic inertia, vested interest and institutional preference for evolution won’t work: this will only leave room for competitors to steal decisive advantage in the most challenging of competitions on Earth.

Unless the private and public sectors start sharing ideas, the UK will be left behind in the new arms race says former Joint Forces Command chief Richard Barrons.

There’s good cell death and then there’s the bad kind.

Programmed cell death goes haywire and causes cancer and many inflammation-related diseases, such as arthritis, atherosclerosis, and diabetes.

Sending satellites into space is going to continue to get cheaper since SpaceX proved it could reliably launch refurbished rockets. This is going to open up space exploration to more entities allowing for the continued democratization of space. Other technological advances could make a global space centered sharing economy a real possibility.

The rise of the internet and the ubiquity of mobile computing devices have changed everything from travel and shopping to politics – think Uber, Amazon, and Twitter.