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May 14, 2014

White Swan Update by Andres Agostini, Countermeassuring Every Unthinkable Black Swan, at http://lifeboat.com/blog/2014/04/white-swan

Posted by in categories: business, complex systems, education, futurism

White Swan Update by Andres Agostini, Countermeassuring Every Unthinkable Black Swan, at https://lifeboat.com/blog/2014/04/white-swan

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Employee Sharing – The New Employee-Employer Relationship https://www.linkedin.com/today/post/article/20140512185957&#…lationship

MIT uses nanotech to hit cancer with one-two punch http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/9248241

Continue reading “White Swan Update by Andres Agostini, Countermeassuring Every Unthinkable Black Swan, at http://lifeboat.com/blog/2014/04/white-swan” »

May 14, 2014

Are you ready for contact with extraterrestrial intelligence?

Posted by in categories: first contact, human trajectories, space, space travel

Kurzweil Accelerating Intelligence

Some SETI (search for extraterrestrial intelligence) scientists are considering “Active SETI” to detect possible extraterrestrial civilizations.

Psychologist Gabriel G. de la Torre, professor at the University of Cádiz (Spain) questions this idea, based on results* from a survey taken by students, which revealed a general level of ignorance about the cosmos and the influence of religion on these matters.

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May 14, 2014

NASA Spacesuit Design With Sci-Fi Flair Prepares For Mars Missions

Posted by in categories: engineering, space, space travel

Written By: Jason Dorrier — Singularity Hub

Electroluminescent wiring and patches form the suit’s flashiest components—recalling the visual effects of suits worn in Tron, if not the fit. NASA says such lighted features might serve to more easily identify crew members.

NASA may have decommissioned the Space Shuttle, but it’s not the end of space exploration for the iconic agency which wants to send humans back to the Moon and on to Mars within the next few decades. And they’ll need something to wear up there—something tailored for the next generation of space travel.

The agency first introduced its Z-series prototype spacesuits back in 2012.

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May 14, 2014

New Museum Uses Algorithms To Visualize How 9/11 Still Shapes The World

Posted by in categories: big data, human trajectories, information science

Shaunacy Ferro — Fast Company


Time line

The terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, forever changed the course of world history. More than a decade later, the scope of their impact is still evolving. American troops are still stationed in Afghanistan. Ground Zero workers are still filing for compensation for 9/11-related illnesses.

How exactly to incorporate this unfolding aftermath of the event is one of the major challenges facing the National September 11 Memorial Museum, which opens to the public on May 21. Local Projects, the studio behind the museum’s exhibit design (and the designers of the Ground Zero memorial’s thoughtful naming scheme), approached the task algorithmically.

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May 14, 2014

Finding the crossroads of politics and technology — @HJBentham

Posted by in categories: computing, education, futurism, internet, lifeboat, media & arts, rants
Visit ClubOfINFO

- @ClubOfINFO — Rather than location, education or privilege, having something to offer seems to now be the only determining factor for a writer or activist to be published and gain a voice internationally.

As a student, I initially chose postgraduate study as a route to publishing nonfiction and becoming a political scientist, but I never accessed the necessary funding to start this. After graduating from Lancaster University in 2012 and not being able to become the academic I wanted to be, I have found that postgraduate study is unnecessary to become a nonfiction author or even a political theorist.
There are many alternative media options, especially thanks to the internet. So, since March 2013, I have had work published in well over 40 different publications and the number is growing.

Continue reading “Finding the crossroads of politics and technology — @HJBentham” »

May 13, 2014

NASA is considering recycling plastic for 3D printing on the International Space Station

Posted by in category: 3D printing

By — GigOm
A mock up of the SpiderFab system. Courtesy of Tethers Unlimited
When NASA sends a 3D printer to the International Space Station, it will dramatically improve the crew’s ability to fix unforeseen problems like broken parts and supply shortages. It will also reduce how much mass needs to be carried into space; instead of having a spare copy of everything, astronauts can just print parts as they are needed.

NASA is considering taking that reduction in material one step further by putting a plastic recycler on the ISS. The Made in Space printer that will board the ISS later this year prints in ABS plastic, which is the same type used in Legos and other common items. A recycler would allow the ISS crew to turn broken parts and other unneeded items back into the raw material on which the printer relies.

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May 13, 2014

BitBeat: The Emerging Venture-Capitalist Vision for Bitcoin

Posted by in category: bitcoin

By Paul Vigna and Michael J. Casey — The Wall Street Journal

When payment processor Bitpay announced the biggest-ever funding round for a bitcoin company earlier Tuesday it was was Richard Branson’s presence in the investment group that drew the most attention.

But while the Virgin Group chairman’s remarks about Bitpay leading a “currency revolution” were lapped up by bitcoin enthuisasts, we thought the comments from some of the lesser known investors were as, if not more, illuminating. They helped frame what might be called the emerging venture-capitalist vision for bitcoin: That its promise lies in disrupting an antiquated, inefficient and expensive global payments system more than as a revolutionary challenger to traditional currencies.

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May 13, 2014

The Transhuman Olympics: Where Entertainment Meets Innovation

Posted by in categories: biotech/medical, evolution, futurism, transhumanism

Since the first modern Olympic Games bowed in Athens in 1896, humanity has gradually integrated the developments of science and technology into the realm of competitive sport.

The various attempts to slow the utilization of advanced materials, pharmaceuticals, biotechnology, and robotics is akin to keeping certain gender or ethnic groups out of the games. Not just discrimination, but impeding the flow of progress.

transhuman olympicsIf the ultimate goal of world-level competition is advancement of human physical ability, then athletes, coaches, physicians, and biotech engineers should be able to choose the very best tactics and strategies to achieve that goal.

A Transhuman Olympics would be wildly entertaining, but would also spur the development of biotechnology at a pace that public and private science could never keep up with. While the ethics of such an event might be hotly contested, the benefits to humankind would be lasting and far reaching.

Continue reading “The Transhuman Olympics: Where Entertainment Meets Innovation” »

May 12, 2014

White Swan Update by Andres Agostini, Countermeassuring Every Unthinkable Black Swan, at http://lifeboat.com/blog/2014/04/white-swan

Posted by in categories: economics, education, futurism

White Swan Update by Andres Agostini, Countermeassuring Every Unthinkable Black Swan, at https://lifeboat.com/blog/2014/04/white-swan

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Anti-aging gene also enhances cognition http://www.kurzweilai.net/anti-aging-gene-also-enhances-cognition

Astronomers find Sun’s sibling star http://www.kurzweilai.net/astronomers-find-suns-sibling-star

Continue reading “White Swan Update by Andres Agostini, Countermeassuring Every Unthinkable Black Swan, at http://lifeboat.com/blog/2014/04/white-swan” »

May 11, 2014

White Swan Update by Andres Agostini, Countermeassuring Every Unthinkable Black Swan, at http://lifeboat.com/blog/2014/04/white-swan

Posted by in categories: business, complex systems, economics, futurism

White Swan Update by Andres Agostini, Countermeassuring Every Unthinkable Black Swan, at https://lifeboat.com/blog/2014/04/white-swan

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Why Algorithms Are The Next Star Designers http://www.fastcodesign.com/3029756/why-algorithms-are-the-next-star-designers

Michio Kaku on Alien Brains http://www.sciencegymnasium.com/2014/04/michio-kaku-on-alien-brains.html

Continue reading “White Swan Update by Andres Agostini, Countermeassuring Every Unthinkable Black Swan, at http://lifeboat.com/blog/2014/04/white-swan” »