Lifeboat Foundation: Safeguarding Humanity
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Meet the scientific prophets who claim we are on the verge of creating a new type of human — a human v2.0. At a certain moment in the future computer intelligence will equal the power of the human brain. Some believe this will revolutionise humanity — we would be able to download our minds to computers extending our lives indefinitely. Others fear this will lead to oblivion by giving rise to destructive ultra intelligent machines. One thing they all agree on is that the coming of this moment — and whatever it brings — is inevitable.

Originally published in 2006 by BBC Horizon.

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Yesterday, Tesla Motors released software update 7.1 for the Model S and Model X, an update that allows the electric cars to park themselves while you stand by and watch in awe. Today, CEO Elon Musk made a bold prediction: In 2018, this feature will work anywhere that cars can drive.

Called Summon, the functionality is part of Tesla’s Autopilot self-driving technology. Autopilot was introduced with version 7.0 of Tesla’s software in October 2015, and lets drivers take their hands off the wheel in certain conditions.

Summon, which is currently in beta (it’s not enabled by default, so you have to turn it on at Controls = Settings = Driver Asssistance = Autopilot), takes that functionality a step further, once you arrive home and exit your Model S or Model X.

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At present, scientists study gravitational fields passively. They observe and try to understand existing gravitational fields produced by large inertial masses, such as stars or Earth, without being able to change them as is done, for example, with magnetic fields.

This led Andre Fuzfa from Namur University in Belgium to attempt a revolutionary approach — creating gravitational fields at will from well-controlled magnetic fields and observing how these magnetic fields could bend space-time.

In his study, Fuzfa has proposed, with supporting mathematical proof, a device with which to create detectable gravitational fields.

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This article does bring one interesting question up for the broader population to really ask themselves and that is at what point does an individual truly become a Cyborg v. not? And, how do we know for sure that some of us are not already there given the bionic implants, our daily interactions and addiction to technology. Definitely, something for each person to think about.

Roy Batty was born—sorry, “incepted”—Friday, Jan. 8, 2016. The Blade Runner replicant, played with aggressive melancholy by Rutger Hauer, went on to see attack ships on fire off the shoulder of Orion and watch C-beams glitter in the dark near the Tannhäuser Gate before delivering one of sci-fi’s most moving soliloquies on life, memory, and mortality. And then he was lost, like tears in the rain.

Quibble if you want: Batty was an android, a replicant—not a cyborg. But in Blade Runner he wasn’t one half of the man versus machine binary. He was the complication—the living, breathing proof that a mere assemblage of technology could be, in fact, more human than human. This refusal of a simple division—the belief that sometimes machines could show us humanity, even as humans could become like machines—was a hallmark of Philip K. Dick’s later work, and it’s distilled to its essence in Batty.

So he’s not a cyborg, but he does what the cyborg does: Make us question the boundaries we draw between man and machine. When we think of cyborgs, we often think, well, of Star Trek’s Borg, a pale, fleshy collective bonded to its Giger-esque machinery. Or Darth Vader, clad in black and, again, pale and disfigured. Or, more heroically and telegenically, Robert Downey Jr. as Iron Man, an armored hero with a machine for a heart.

Continue reading “We’re already living in the cyborg future” | >

The real question is what are these? Is it old debris or something else?

Vietnamese military seized three bizarre metal objects that fell from the sky for military investigation. Initial findings showed they are made from Russia and could be part of a failed satellite launch. Similar objects were also found in Turkey and Spain in November 2015.(Photo : World News Times | YouTube)

The Vietnamese military seized three metal balls that fell from the sky on Saturday. The mysterious objects landed in northern Vietnam where witnesses from the Tan Dong and Bao Dap communities heard thunder-like sounds and saw “flying objects” in the sky before the metal balls crash-landed.

The two smaller metal balls weighed 250 grams (about 0.55 pounds) and 6 kilograms (roughly 13 pounds) respectively. Both fell in the Yen Bai province where the smaller one hit a roof of a house while the bigger one landed in a garden of resident Tran Thi Loi.

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As we explore opportunities in space to colonized or even expand business opportunities in space such as mining, and discovering materials that could be brought back to earth to use; it will be important for scientists and researchers to look at ways in how technologies like CRISPR, nanobots, synthetic implants, etc. can assist in mitigating the impacts on humans in space.

A new report commissioned by NASA highlights many of the risks connected with one of the agency’s major goals: putting more humans in space for longer periods of time.

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This is a huge position to take on AI. Very gutsy of Ray.

All technology impacts our individual daily lives one way or another—but perhaps no technology makes us question our collective humanity as much as artificial intelligence.

Ray Kurzweil, inventor and futurist, spoke to an audience during a session last summer about a few of the political and philosophical implications of AI when he was asked, “In a world where AI passes the Turing test, who gets to vote? Does democracy make sense?”

Continue reading “Ray Kurzweil on Giving Future AI the Right to Vote [Video]” | >

Sharing my recent posting that I did on Linkedin Pulse. I will admit that I purposely delayed this article in concerns of creating a panic; however, with the progress that has been occuring across the globe and in some cases accelerated the maturity of this technology; I believe it is time for governments, industries, etc. to start thinking about their own broader strategic plans around Quantum as well as how they will address any impacts.

Quantum Computing is making great progress in so many areas such as chips, network/ Internet, etc. each month. And, many industries such as financials, telecom, tech, and public sector namely defense and space, etc. have made big investments in this technology as well as have developed some interesting partnerships such as Wall Street. Everything looks so promising and exciting for our future when we look at the various ways how Quantum Computing can change our lives around AI, improving the medical technologies, how we interact with devices (wearables, VR, etc.), and even how we travel will advance through this technology. The future looks extremely rosy and bright; right?.

I believe it can be with Quantum; however, in every major shift/ disruption in technology, there is always a transformation progression that has to naturally occur thru stages. And, Quantum is no different; however, the disruption that Quantum will bring is going to be on a much more massive scale than what we have seen in the past. The reason why is Quantum is truly going to impact and improve every area of technology not just in devices, or a platform, AI, VR, etc.; I mean everything in technology will be changed and improved by Quantum over time.

Granted this will not be like a major change overnight like we saw with the iPhone, etc. This initial change will occur over a series of years possibly over the next 7 to 10 years. As each country continues to accelerate in their own efforts to be a fully Quantumized; we need to understand where the potential risks exist and have a good plan for how we plan to address our own risks and challenges during and after this transformation.

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