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Dec 19, 2015

Google’s artificial intelligence bot thinks the purpose of life is ‘to live forever’

Posted by in categories: life extension, robotics/AI

This week, Google released a research paper chronicling one of its latest forays into artificial intelligence.

Researchers at the company programmed an advanced type of “chatbot” that learns how to respond in conversations based on examples from a training set of dialogue.

And the bot doesn’t just answer by spitting out canned answers in response to certain words; it can form new answers from new questions.

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Dec 19, 2015

Why Basic Income?

Posted by in categories: economics, employment, robotics/AI

Basic Income (10 Reasons)
https://goo.gl/PJ7bbh

Lies You’ve Been Told about Work.
https://goo.gl/3u7Vld

Continue reading “Why Basic Income?” »

Dec 19, 2015

**Future Is Near**

Posted by in categories: futurism, transportation

This Audi Parks Itself, and Comes When You Call!

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Dec 19, 2015

No Man’s Sky game promises universe of 18 quintillion planets

Posted by in categories: entertainment, space

Due for release in June 2016, No Man’s Sky will allow you to visit and explore a virtual universe of trillions of planets, each one a unique world.

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Dec 19, 2015

This Canadian made a replica of the #StarWars robot from the #forceawakens

Posted by in category: robotics/AI

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Dec 19, 2015

7 Genes That Might Help You Reach 100

Posted by in categories: biotech/medical, health, life extension

Healthy living isn’t meaningless, but while all of us can make positive lifestyle modifications, genes play a massive role in longevity — or there would be no species variation. We’re still discovering exactly which genes provide a longevity boost and what they do, but we now know 7 variants could help give you an advantage.

The search for a longevity gene

Previous efforts to search out a ‘longevity gene’ have been largely unsuccessful, so researchers led by Stuart Kim at Stanford decided to focus on ‘bad’ gene variants this time — or more crucially a lack of them. They analysed 800 people over 100 and 5000 people over 90 and found that while many variants are common in the average person, possession of fewer ‘bad’ versions of 5 crucial genes was indeed associated with longevity. Many long-lived individuals are able to avoid chronic disease despite harmful lifestyle choices like smoking, and this could be one of the explanations. These confirmed 5 add to 2 already associated with longer lifespans.

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Dec 18, 2015

‘Nature Doesn’t Care What You Find Beautiful’

Posted by in category: quantum physics

German quantum gravity expert Sabine Hossenfelder is fighting in the battle over theoretical physics, a clash between those looking for evidence and those looking to move forward faster.

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Dec 18, 2015

The 3 biggest misconceptions about artificial intelligence, according to Facebook’s expert

Posted by in category: robotics/AI

Facebook’s Yann LeCun:

Myth #1: “Advanced robots will have feelings”. Most AIs will be specialized and have no emotions.
Myth #2: “Robots will develop emotions spontaneously”. AI will only have emotions if they’re programmed with them.
Myth #3: “Robot emotions will be similar to human emotions”. There is no reason for AIs to have self-preservation instincts or jealousy.

LeCun adds: “unless we build these emotions into them. I don’t see why we would want to do that.”

Continue reading “The 3 biggest misconceptions about artificial intelligence, according to Facebook’s expert” »

Dec 18, 2015

Nanodevices at one-hundredth the cost

Posted by in categories: business, electronics, mobile phones

Microelectromechanical systems—or MEMS—were a $12 billion business in 2014. But that market is dominated by just a handful of devices, such as the accelerometers that reorient the screens of most smartphones.

That’s because manufacturing MEMS has traditionally required sophisticated semiconductor fabrication facilities, which cost tens of millions of dollars to build. Potentially useful MEMS have languished in development because they don’t have markets large enough to justify the initial capital investment in production.

Two recent papers from researchers at MIT’s Microsystems Technologies Laboratories offer hope that that might change. In one, the researchers show that a MEMS-based gas sensor manufactured with a desktop device performs at least as well as commercial sensors built at conventional production facilities.

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Dec 18, 2015

China wants to begin manned deep space missions

Posted by in categories: economics, energy, engineering, materials, neuroscience, robotics/AI, space

China wants to be the leading force in manned space exploration, and is exploring sending people to the far side of the moon, Mars, asteroids, and further into deep space.

Becoming the second largest economy in the world and an emerging superpower of its own, China wishes to add deep space exploration into its achievement portfolio. Besides the ongoing moon exploration, its scientists are considering going deeper into the solar system, including Mars, asteroids, and even manned deep-space mission. Liu Jizhong, director of the lunar exploration program and space engineering center, pointed out that China has to be more pioneering, tackling problems such as high speed deep space exploration, energy and power generation, space robot development, and more. He also said that China must cooperate with others as space exploration is an undertaking shared by the entire human species.

China currently intends to explore the far side of the moon, something that has never been done before. It would require a relay satellite for communication and navigation on Lagrange point, where the satellite could orbit within the combined gravitational pull of the Earth-moon system, as said by Zhang Lihua of China Spacesat Co. While China believes that robots are critical to the mission, it also believes that these trips must be manned in order to effectively leverage human decision-making. China also says they are designing footed robots to explore asteroids and better understand their material composition.

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