Lifeboat Foundation

The DeLorean could soon be going back into production thanks to a new law that exempts small volume car manufacturers from the safety requirements applied to most new car makers. Also, I’m going to attempt to write this article without any Back to the Future jokes.

The law only applies to “replica” vehicles, that is, cars that resemble the body of another vehicle produced at least 25 years ago. Think stuff like the Shelby Cobra or the ‘65 Mustang — or the venerable DeLorean.

The DeLorean Motor Company, which acquired what was left of the original manufacturer 30 years ago, currently focuses on repairing and restoring all the DeLorean vehicles that are floating around the world. But now, with this specialty legislation, the company can use its millions of factory parts (and some that have been recreated from the original blueprints) to build new, 2017 model year DeLoreans complete with a crate engine from an outside supplier.

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Hmmm; we’re definitely not at the end of the golden age of innovation. In fact, once Quantum technology has evolved to the point where it is available to the broader public; we will see a new explosion of new innovation occur as a result.

This is the first of two excerpts from “The Rise and Fall of American Growth: The U.S. Standard of Living Since the Civil War,” published this month by Princeton University Press. The second will explain the implications of all this for the next quarter century.

Can future innovations match the great inventions of the past? Will artificial intelligence, robots, 3D printing and other offspring of the digital revolution do for economic growth what the second industrial revolution did between 1920 and 1970? The techno-optimist school of economics says yes. I disagree.

Continue reading “Why the golden age of growth is behind us” »

AR for improving operations in Biopharma.

In the management of biopharma operations, “oversight” may merge with “overwrite.” That is, the visual experiences of on-site personnel may become enhanced with virtual overlays.

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Interesting & a perplexing viewpoint by this author on “Singularity” and AI in general. First, I believe folks have varying views on the word “Singularity.” This author believes it is when machines become smarter than humans. In my case; I see Singularity is when humans and machines become connected to all things; not necessarily when a machine becomes smarter than myself. Also, the author definitely is not open to exploring all the possibilities around AI; thank goodness all innovators do not have this same mindset.

Human-like robots are popping up everywhere. From the factory floor to product packaging and delivery. From restaurants to the battlefield. From patient care to camel racing. And countless other places. The driverless cars we talked about in this column only a few years ago can be seen on the road today. Our electronic devices are not only talking to us, they’re beginning to understand what we need without even having to ask.

All of this has led to rampant speculation about when the so-called “singularity” is going to happen. When machines become “smarter” than humans. Sorry to disappoint, but the ultimate brain isn’t a future generation of IBM’s Watson or some super-distributed artificial intelligence network like the fictional Skynet portrayed in the Terminator movies.

Continue reading “The coming leap in human intelligence” »

This AI race is not really just about which company is better at Go.

“There has been, and there is, a lot of progress in state-of-the-art artificial intelligence,” Bostrom says. “[Google’s] underlying technology is very much continuous with what has been under development for the last several years.”

But if you look at this another way, it’s exactly why Google’s triumph is so exciting—and perhaps a little frightening. Even Bostrom says it’s a good excuse to stop and take a look at how far this technology has come and where it’s going. Researchers once thought AI would struggle to crack Go for at least another decade. Now, it’s headed to places that once seemed unreachable. Or, at least, there are many people—with much power and money at their disposal—who are intent on reaching those places.

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Interesting article. As I have mentioned before; there will be new positions created.

NEWS ANALYSIS: The day is coming when some people have so many virtual assistants they will need a virtual manager to direct their “virtual staff.” But how many virtual assistants are too many?

The availability and use of digital virtual assistants—software-based artificial intelligence services that do things for you—is about to explode.

Continue reading “Why Your Digital Virtual Assistants Will Need a Virtual Manager” »

First, this study is very biased and flawed. Secondly, have the tech companies considered all of the resistance that we’re all going to face with the provider and payer communities plus their lobbyists when we try to promote medical AI, nanobots, etc.

I have seen some resistance mounted by some providers, some pharma, etc. against CRISPR. And, I believe this type of resistance is only going to hurt patients as well as many cancer survivors with a genetic predisposition to cancer, and other genetic mutations.

A study of mobile health apps’ impact on health care costs represents a limited but crucial step for assessing digital medicine.

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Sam Harris says the subjective experience of life is just as valid as neuroscience.

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Great #VR experience and crazy @MMOneProject rides tested by Palmer Luckey. #Oculus #OculusRift

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