Lifeboat Foundation: Safeguarding Humanity
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The steering wheel as we know it doesn’t have a bright future — in fact, it might disappear altogether as self-driving cars hit the road. Jaguar Land Rover, however, has an idea as to how it might survive. The British automaker has unveiled a concept steering wheel, Sayer, that’s designed for an era where cars normally drive themselves and personal ownership is a thing of the past. The wheel would have its own AI system, and would follow you from car to car — you’d just hook it in to bring your experience with you.

The AI would largely serve as a concierge. It would link you to an on-demand service club, whether or not you own your car, and would help you get a ride when and where you need it. If there’s a must-attend meeting, for example, you could tell the wheel while it’s still in your living room and it would figure out when a car needs to arrive and tell you when you might want to take control.

Sayer (named after influential designer Malcolm Sayer) will be a core feature on an upcoming concept car, the Future-Type.

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The tiny Netherlands has become an agricultural powerhouse—the second largest global exporter of food by dollar value after the U.S.—with only a fraction of the land available to other countries. How has it achieved this? By using the world’s most efficient agricultural technologies.

Harvesting.

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Neuroscientists have used the application of sophisticated mathematics to peer into the structure of our brains. What they’ve discovered is that the brain contains multi-dimensional geometrical structures and spaces within the networks of our brains that operate in 11 dimensions.

We’re used to seeing the world in 3 dimensions, but this recent study is opening up new research into the brain and how we perceive reality.

Algebraic topology, popularly known as “rubber-sheet geometry”, is used to study different kinds of hole structures, and scientists say the research has significant implications for our understanding of the brain.

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The robots are coming.

Actually, they’re already here. Machines are learning to do tasks they’ve never done before, from locating and retrieving goods from a shelf to driving cars to performing surgery. In manufacturing environments, robots can place an object with millimeter precision over and over, lift hundreds of pounds without getting tired, and repeat the same action constantly for hundreds of hours.

But let’s not give robots all the glory just yet. A lot of things that are easy for humans are still hard or impossible for robots. A three-year-old child, for example, can differentiate between a dog and a cat, or intuitively scoot over when said dog or cat jumps into its play space. A computer can’t do either of these simple actions.

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During the recent Longevity and Cryopreservation Summit in Madrid, LEAF board member Paul Spiegel discussed the social ramifications of increased lifespans thanks to emerging technologies. He spoke of the need for society to adapt to deal with longer lives. We invite you to watch the talk he gave and also to read an interview providing deeper insight on the necessary changes in the pension system.

But first, a few words about Paul. Paul graduated cum laude from the University of California, Berkeley in 1979 and from Boalt Hall School of Law in 1983. He has attended Harvard Law School, the University of Paris, Sorbonne, and International Christian University in Tokyo.

Trained in international business law, he worked on Wall Street, on Montgomery Street, and in Tokyo before entering private practice in IP, business, and entertainment law in San Francisco.

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Alison Sommer graduated from Carleton with a degree in Asian Studies, and now works as an academic technologist at Macalester College. She believes that awareness is the first step to improving problems within mental health care, and will be speaking about anxiety disorders and panic attacks based on her own constantly evolving understanding of her anxiety disorder, OCD. Alison’s greatest loves are her family, hockey and Star Wars.

My first goal here today is not to have a panic attack right on stage. I have an anxiety disorder called Obsessive Compulsive Disorder or OCD. Obsessive Compulsive…I have a form of Obsessive Compulsive Disorder that causes me to become anxious or frightened when something wrong or unexpected happens. Like if somebody sits at my seat at the table.

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Research led by The University of Western Australia has discovered a new, simple and less expensive way of growing human stem cells.

Using hydrogel, a gel with a gradient that can be used to mimic the of human body tissues, the researchers were able to generate positive outcomes for the growth of stem cells.

Dr Yu Suk Choi from UWA’s School of Human Sciences at The University of Western Australia led the international collaboration which also included researchers from the University of California, San Diego (USA) and Max Planck Institute for Medical Research (Germany).

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Quantum computers based on the twisting pathways of moving particles have so far lived only in theory – the particles they would rely on might not even exist.

But with the exciting discovery of electrons ‘swirling’ down a wire, the hunt is over for exactly the particles such quantum devices have been waiting for. Now the work of turning these theoretical computers into reality could soon be underway.

Researchers from the University of Sydney and Microsoft have observed electrons forming a kind of matter called a quasiparticle under conditions that saw them behave as theoretical objects called Majorana fermions.

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‘In my lifetime, the singularity will happen,’ Alison Lowndes, head of AI developer relations at technology company Nvidia, tells Metro.co.uk at the AI Summit.

‘But why does everyone think they’d be hostile?

Robots ‘will reach human intelligence by 2029 and life as we know it will end in 2045’.

This isn’t the prediction of a conspiracy theorist, a blind dead woman or an octopus but of Google’s chief of engineering, Ray Kurzweil.

Continue reading “End of humanity as we know it’s ‘coming in 2045’ and Google is preparing for it” | >