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Dec 25, 2013

AI Day Will Replace Christmas as the Most Important Holiday in Less Than 25 Years

Posted by in categories: human trajectories, posthumanism, robotics/AI, singularity

Visionary; Philosopher; Author of bestselling novel ‘The Transhumanist Wager’

For a few billion people around the world, Christmas is the most important and relished holiday of the year. It’s the day with the most gift-giving, the most family get-togethers, the most religious activities, and the most colorful fairy tales that children and adults almost universally embrace with sacred fervor. For many nations, no other day comes close to being as special. For this reason, it seems almost unimaginable that another day — especially an unknown one looming on the horizon — will soon unseat Christmas as the most important day in the world. Nonetheless, for humanity, the course is set. The birth of an artificial intelligence equal or greater than that of human intelligence is coming. It’s called AI Day. And once it arrives, it will rapidly usher in a new age.

For decades, the concept of a man-made intelligence matching or surpassing our own — technically called AGI (artificial general intelligence) or Strong AI — has been steeped in science fiction. Upon hearing the term AI, many people immediately think of the sentient computer HAL in Stanley Kubrick’s masterpiece film 2001: A Space Odyssey. However, what most people fail to grasp is that once AI becomes self-aware and joins with the internet, it could grow its intelligence thousands of times in just mere days, perhaps hours. Frankly, it could quickly surpass all measurements of intelligence that humans are even capable of monitoring and recognizing.

“I think that Ray Kurzweil’s estimate that we will achieve human-level Artificial General Intelligence by around 2029 is a reasonable guesstimate,” says Dr. Ben Goertzel.

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Dec 25, 2013

From eatery to meetup, entrepreneurs increasingly accepting ‘bitcoins’ in India

Posted by in categories: bitcoin, business
By Indu Nandakumar, ET Bureau
BANGALORE: Tarun Thadani, the proprietor of a vintage-themed pizza outlet in the posh Worli area of MumbaiWhile bitcoin gains in popularity in India, entrepreneurs and investors say they are concerned about the RBI’s stance on the digital currency. (AFP), thinks he is making history. On Saturday, his restaurant Kolonial announced that its patrons can pay in bitcoins instead of rupees, thus laying claim to the title of being India’s first eatery to accept the new-age currency. “Right now, people are a bit sceptical about bitcoins, but it’s going to become big. I am testing the waters,” said Thadani, 30, who is a bitcoin owner and a host to several bitcoin meetups at Kolonial.

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Dec 25, 2013

The Happiest Thought of Einstein’s Life is even Happier (A Christmas Carol)

Posted by in categories: existential risks, particle physics

The Happiest Thought of Einstein’s Life is even Happier (A Christmas Carol)

Otto E. Rossler, Faculty of Science, University of Tübingen, Auf der Morgenstelle 8, 72076 Tübingen, Germany

Abstract

Einstein’s happiest thought as he always said – weightlessness in free fall and hence usefulness of an imaginary rocketship for understanding gravity – has further implications if you look at it with the full attention of a child. Beside clock rate, size and mass and charge are miraculously transformed along, as every PET san confirms.

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Dec 23, 2013

It’s the 10th Anniversary of Battlestar Galactica. And it’s more relevant than ever.

Posted by in categories: existential risks, human trajectories, robotics/AI

By — Slate

Tricia Helfer, center, as humanoid Cylon model Number Six in Battlestar Galactica.

Ten years ago this month, a reimagined version of the ’70s science fiction series Battlestar Galactica began as a three-hour miniseries on the Sci-Fi Channel. (This was before the “Syfy” nonsense.) The critically acclaimed show ended up running for four seasons. Many articles and books have already been written about the enduring relevance of Battlestar Galactica’s religious and political themes—at least one of which, the dilemmas associated with a secretive national security state, is just as timely today as it was during the Bush administration.

But another key element of the show—the long-term societal risks associated with the development of intelligent machines—is even more relevant today than it was in 2003.

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Dec 23, 2013

Mustang 3D-prints engine… Wait, what?

Posted by in categories: 3D printing, business, transportation
By Staff — Emirates 24|7
“One day, millions of car parts could be printed as quickly as newspapers and as easily as pushing a button on theoffice copy machine, saving months of development time and millions of dollars,” so starts a media statement Emirates 24|7 just received from Ford.
It got us interested, so we continued reading…

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Dec 23, 2013

Building Bitcoin use in South Florida and beyond

Posted by in categories: bitcoin, economics

By Lance Dixon [email protected]

The U.S. Senate has deemed it legitimate. Detractors dismiss it as unstable and a vehicle for criminal trade. China has  A twenty-five bitcoin token. The digital currency, which carries the unofficial ticker symbol of BTC, was unveiled in 2009 by an unidentified programmer, or group of programmers, under the name of Satoshi Nakamoto. Supply is capped at 21 million Bitcoins and managed by a software algorithm embedded into the digital currency’s design, rather than a monetary authority such as a central bank. banned new deposits on its largest exchange.

Bitcoin, the international digital payment system and currency and one of the hottest technology and finance topics this past year, could become a widespread vehicle for trade, believe the leaders of a Miami group. To further that view, Miami International Bitcoin will be partcipating in the North American Bitcoin Conference slated for Miami Beach in January.

“The thing that’s really exciting about Bitcoin is that, here in South Florida, we have a half billion people to the south of us who do not have access to a banking system that works well, capital markets, credit — things that we take for granted,” said Charles Evans, business professor at Florida Atlantic University and one of the founders of Miami International Bitcoin.

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Dec 23, 2013

Singapore Government Decides Not to Interfere With Bitcoin

Posted by in categories: bitcoin, business, economics, geopolitics, government

for Tech in Asia

Bitcoin

The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS), the country’s central bank, has decided not to intervene on whether businesses can accept Bitcoin as a means of transacting goods and services.

“Whether or not businesses accept bitcoins in exchange for their goods and services is a commercial decision in which MAS does not intervene,” it told Singapore-based Bitcoin trading platform Coin Republic in an email.

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Dec 23, 2013

Infinity Point Will Arrive by 2035 Latest

Posted by in categories: human trajectories, posthumanism, singularity, transhumanism

By: Eray Ozkural - h+

Computing-efficency

During writing a paper for the 100 Year Starship Symposium, I wished to convince the starship designers that they should acknowledge the dynamics of high-technology economy, which may be crucial for interstellar missions. Thus motivated, I have made a new calculation regarding infinity point, also known as the singularity. According to this most recent revision of the theory of infinity point, it turns out that we should expect Infinity Point by 2035 in the worst case. Here is how and why.

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Dec 22, 2013

Ohio training students for civilian drone jobs

Posted by in categories: drones, education

CINCINNATI (AP) — Some Ohio schools are preparing students for a boom in the drone industry once the federal government, as is expected, allows civilian unmanned aircraft to fly in U.S. airspace.

The Federal Aviation Administration estimates as many as 7,500 commercial drones could be flying in national airspace within a few years, and has until 2015 to present a plan for safely integrating drones into U.S. airspace.

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Dec 22, 2013

D.C. businesses starting to accept Bitcoin

Posted by in categories: bitcoin, business

By — The Washington Post

In May, brothers Guiseppe and Mario Lanzone started a Peruvian food business in Washington, hoping to cash in on the District’s enchantment with food trucks.

Today, the two are betting on another trend: a virtual currency called Bitcoin. The Lanzones decided a few weeks ago they would be accepting Bitcoin, announcing the change in a tweet to their 800 followers.

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