Lifeboat Foundation

In Brief:

• As part of a strategy to prepare for the Singularity, Japanese telecom multinational SoftBank spent $31 billion to acquire microprocessing company ARM.
• This hypothetical day in the future when machine intelligence surpasses that of humanity may not be the doomsday it is portrayed as in much of pop culture.

CenturyLink is buying Level 3 in a transaction valued at $34 billion; the combined company will boast 450,000 route miles of fiber.

The laws of thermodynamics are some of the most important principles in modern physics, because they define how three fundamental physical quantities — temperature, energy, and entropy — behave under various circumstances.

But now physicists say they’ve found a loophole in one of these laws, and it could create scenarios in which entropy — or disorder — actually decreases with time.

Thanks to modern physics, almost everything in the Universe can be explained according to two theories: general relativity for the big stuff like stars, galaxies, and the Universe itself; and quantum mechanics, for behaviours on the atomic scale.

Continue reading “Physicists might have found a way to break the Second Law of Thermodynamics” »

“In his final months on the job, US Secretary of Transportation Anthony Foxx has been vocal about the pressing need to repair America’s broken infrastructure, and all the ways in which technology will fundamentally change the way we move.”

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And how to keep secrets.

First impressions count, but they’re notoriously subjective. Now computers have learned to make snap judgments just like humans do.

My new interview on Engadget, which goes over a lot of transhumanist and political policy terrain:

Zoltan Istvan wants to create a movement, not a moment.

When it comes to the placement of interior lighting, much of the thought involved tends to relate to reaching nearby outlets. But the latest lights Toronto-based Nanoleaf may end up providing creative individuals one extra element to puzzle over. The Nanoleaf Aurora Smarter Kit is designed to be a modular lighting solution, featuring WiFi-controlled, color-adjustable, triangular panels that snap together like Lego.

Food is one of life’s absolute necessities and one that people take great pleasure from, so it’s no surprise that the future of food is one of those topics that always draws significant interest. So what will we be tucking into in the year 2036? A plate of bugs with a side order of seaweed? A glass of milky liquid? Cajun Swedish fusion cuisine? Or will it be a world of shortages where we munch on government issue Soylent Green and try not to think about where it came from? Take your places at table and join us as we take a look at what mealtimes in the future might look like.