An Advanced Society, Especially a Balkanized Advanced Society!
(Nonlinear Psychology 101, Illustrated Lesson 1.1)
By Mr. Andres Agostini
Via @ClubOfINFO
Jacque Fresco’s futurist book, Designing the Future which serves as something of an introduction the revolutionary Venus Project, is a manifesto for redesigning civilization itself.
Jacque makes a call for a renewed modernism: “The application of scientific principles, for better or worse, accounts for every single advance that has improved people’s lives.” However, the real aim of the Venus Project is the abolition of money, which is described by Jacque as nothing but a source of debt, servitude and other injustice.
The book elaborates an anti-war and one-world vision that is very difficult to oppose. Indeed, its statements reflect some of the most enlightened views in the world today, with its staunch opposition to nationalism. Conflict, Fresco states, “is now totally unacceptable and dangerous because of war’s extreme human and environmental costs.” Even more appealing is Fresco’s encouragement that we treat the world as an “interrelated system with all its people as one family.” This amounts to an open-borders and anti-militarist position that I think reflects the aspirations of some of the most desperate and mistreated people on Earth and could lead to a profound reduction of hostility for all (p. 4–5).
Jacque writes that we need “new outlooks and approaches” and we should “direct the future”. This is a call for everyone to get involved – not just the elite. He challenges us to think how we might organize the world, if it were up to us. Personally, I do not feel qualified to organize the world, although I do think we can all say what we don’t think should happen. The solution, Jacque writes, must be “free of bias and nationalism”, which translates to an acknowledgment that Nineteenth Century nation-states are well beyond their best-before date.
In recognizing that nation-states are obsolete, Jacque warns we should still avoid generating “bad feelings” (p. 6–7). Jacque forewarns that what he is advocating is a “difficult project requiring input from many disciplines”. This recognition of the academic side of what he is advocating makes me bring in another respected theorist, Immanuel Wallerstein, whose work has focused on “reconceptualizing” the world to understand things like nation-states and vast global inequalities as production relations.
In a way, I am fully onboard with what Jacque is advocating already. If we could reconceptualize global society at a more popular level, rather than purely at an academic level, our task would be somewhat similar to the popularization of science attempted by such people as Carl Sagan. Nations, within the global social system, are only fleeting entities. If we could get people to accept that interpretation of society, we would accomplish what Jacque Fresco is talking about, but it is hard. I consider my own anti-statist essays as a contribution in that direction, and I would encourage other commentators to do their part, using whatever rhetoric or teaching methods they think best.
Jacque puts forward the idea that the scientific method should be rigorously applied to avert some of the biggest killers in modern life, e.g. car crashes (p. 15–17). This is a fairly convincing case, and one that I think has not been advocated yet by any other theorist, so Jacque deserves a lot of credit for it. The way to achieve it would probably involve integrating the local authorities with scientific advisory boards and ethics committees. This would have the added benefit of creating nice jobs for a lot of the students who tend to be thrown into positions that do not let them fulfil their true potential. One could argue that there are already plenty of science committees influencing governments, but it is not unreasonable to advocate there should be more, and at more local levels.
Matching what many intellectuals have pointed out, Jacque says “technology is moving forward but our societies are still based on concepts and methods devised centuries ago”, calling out the “obsolete values” that still shape many countries (the US not least of all) (p. 9). Another grievance mentioned is the corporate takeover of government, as protested against by the #Occupy movements. There are, today, “common threats that transcend national boundaries”, e.g. hunger, natural disasters of the kind that UN agencies are already attempting to combat (p. 10).
One of Jacque’s ideas resembles extropy, as articulated by Kevin Kelly. He states, “The history of civilization is the story of change from the simple to the more complex” (p. 13–14). Change is the “only constant”, the biggest enemy of which is the people in power who have trade advantages over others and strong reasons to maintain the status quo.
The best side of Jacque’s book is found in the compelling images of future architecture and design solutions that would reflect an economy geared towards human needs rather than profit. At least some of these principles will almost certainly become a reality in the future (p. 29–44, 48–52). However, Jacque’s ideas can be attacked from many angles, and these make it hard to accept the abolition of money that is really the core of his thesis:
“A much higher standard of living for everyone all over the world can be achieved when the entire Earth’s resources are connected, organized, monitored, and used efficiently for everyone’s benefit as a total global system – not just for a relatively small number of people.”
The problem with the above is that it is advocating globalization as it already exists, but neglecting a very fundamental element of that globalization: financial globalization. It is harder to believe that we can connect the entire world together solely in terms of resources than that we can connect it together financially. It is likely that going back to resource-based disparity rather than money disparity would lead to a more localized and therefore tribal existence with states becoming more possessive over natural resources. This would not be consistent with globalization as we have seen it thus far.
Jacque expresses the view that rather than laws and ethical people (as envisaged since as far back as Aristotle), we only need “a way of intelligently managing the Earth’s resources for everyone’s wellbeing” (p. 18–21). He is of the school of thought that “when we look at things scientifically, there is more than enough food and material goods on Earth to take care of all people’s needs – if managed correctly” (p. 19). This is also a view articulated by Ramez Naam in The Infinite Resource (2013), and that I have responded to in the past. The only problem is, it isn’t true. There are almost no distinguished scientists and scientific bodies who have stated that there are enough resources as we currently understand them to support the expanding population. There are even some prominent scientific bodies like the Club of Rome and various committees warning about our dwindling resources, constantly stating the exact opposite of what Jacque and Ramez have stated.
As much as I agree with what Jacque is trying to accomplish, it is patently false to say that looking “at things scientifically” is the same as using the scientific method, or that the scientific methods leads to redistributing resources to support everyone. Most scientists would disagree with what Jacque is saying. However, I am not arguing that they are right. I am arguing that we need to learn to tolerate how radical the idea of supporting everyone on the planet through the intelligent application of emerging technologies is, and how hazardous it could actually be. If we take the leap, we must wholeheartedly take any burdens and possible hazards into account as we do so. Humanity must know the risks, and not be persuaded to walk blithely towards something that still has so many unknowns.
Jacque lays out his case for abolishing all money. He gives 14 succinct grievances against the monetary economy that has been the norm for quite a few centuries. Most of these 14 points reiterate the same basic grievance that money enables people to be super-rich and others laden with debt, because… the rich people control it. However, in repeating these grievances against money and giving each of them more credit than they deserve, Jacque neglects the good points about money. It is still the only thing a lot of poor people have, and is the only way they can get their next meal.
It is not the unfair distribution of money, but the unfair distribution of resources, which keeps people and states poor or powerless. The rich are not rich because they have more money in their pockets, but because they physically control the resources that make money. They own keys to the factories and stockpiles. Rich states physically possess and control the world’s mineral wealth, and the labs where high-tech products are designed and tested. They use money merely as a way of throwing scraps to poor people where it would have been too inconvenient to give shares of their resources. So, if anything, money exists as a tool of remuneration to poor people, and would actually be a necessary component in any scheme to create more equality.
I, unlike Jacque, am what most people would call poor. If my money became worthless tomorrow, I would not be grateful. In fact, I would have few means of survival, and would wander the world begging for actual food and other resources from people and providers who are fortunate to possess a stockpile of resources. These providers in turn would wander the world begging for supplies, and other essentials they require to stay active. Therefore, the vacuum left by abolishing money would be more oppressive than any amount of debt, and it would also consume a lot more time and energy for everyone.
Not only would the abolition advocated by Jacque make life a lot more difficult for most poor people and businesses, but it would lead to the loss of a very basic source of dignity for the poor – the only medium with which they could actually buy and share resources. No matter how detrimental monetary greed can be, a poor man or business will always be grateful he can carry a wad of money around. He can’t pick up and carry a resource. One would hope that Jacque would at least try to overcome this terrible paradox of what is going to take the place of that money in a poor person’s hand, but he doesn’t. What is advocated instead is idealistic at best, and leaves one feeling hungry for the pizza that is probably never going to be delivered to your door by a drone if we really do get rid of money.
In fact, the form of remuneration posited by Jacque relies on “distribution centers” from which anyone can order an unlimited quantity of anything to their very door due to the unlimited capacity of the technology of the future (p. 76–78). If such a thing is inevitable from existing engineering trends, then we should be in awe of that technology, and not the Venus Project.
Something similar to the above occurs when Jacque states “Machines of the future are capable of self-replication and improvement, and can repair themselves and update their own circuitry.” Once again, this makes me ask, why then advocate Resource-Based Economy, if in the end we are always going to stand in awe of the machines and get unlimited free pizzas delivered to our doors anyway?
In a Resource-Based Economy, it is established there is no money, no credits, no debt, and no servitude. Here, “all of the world’s resources are held as the common heritage of all of Earth’s people” (p. 21). Unfortunately, the thing getting in the way of declaring our resources as a common heritage isn’t money, but the resources themselves. Just look how some states and firms have better resources than others, be it in the form of more high-tech facilities or more qualified personnel. One can’t just declare these people and things to be equally owned by all, or change their status in any significant way, by abolishing money, because they are still physically located in certain more advanced states (usually the US).
When it comes to how the RBE would manifest in practice, Jacque argues that all wealth and wellbeing should be based on immediate resources, such as water and fertile land. Unfortunately, this means areas with more resources would be better-off than those without, which takes us back to the problem already highlighted above.
Jacque says that increasing automation and peak oil are signs of “collapse” (p. 22), and that this collapse will provoke people to “lose confidence” in monetary economics. People will then turn to a global Resource-Based Economy as the solution. Unfortunately, this is not what usually happens in a collapse. In a collapse, people do not actually grasp at the most ideal solutions, never mind solutions prematurely based on future technologies. Just look at Iraq and Syria, where the failures of the state did not lead to a utopia but to a vacuum filled by pseudo-religious terrorist authorities.
The prediction that removing capitalistic competition by getting rid of money would result in the hippie-like outcome of peace and harmony (p. 69–76) is not convincing. If Christianity got one thing right, it is that humans are prone to sin. Even in a system with unlimited resources, there would be factionalism, security concerns, hoarding, vanity, greed, jealousy, power-mania, sex offenses, plain insanity and a plethora of other reasons for people to do evil. In sum, law enforcement and compliance would still be necessary.
Rethinking society is important, but the catalyst should be technology itself and the results spontaneous, rather than someone’s grand design. People should be in awe of the amazing things being made possible by nanotechnology and biotechnology, but they should be advocating that people invest in these technologies. Abundance is almost certainly going to rely on biotechnology, but there are many grievances against this field and promoting it might involve tolerating the directions taken by some large and rather controversial corporations.
Transhumanism differs from social design in that transhumanism is advocating the redesign of the human individual; a departure from our biological limits themselves as a way of escaping scarcity. Transhumanism is about maximizing the available choices and chances of survival of every human individual. We could go even further, and biologically re-engineer the world to access more resources, as I argued in my outlandish “terra-enhancement” article.
New Bitcoin challenger launches
Posted in bitcoin
Stripe is diving into digital currency in a big way.
The San Francisco-based startup, whose technology lets businesses accept online payments, helped introduce a new Bitcoin-like currency on Thursday called “stellar,” as well as a payments network that lets users send any kind of traditional and digital currency including U.S. dollars, pesos, euros and Bitcoins. People will be able to send one kind of currency across the globe and have it automatically converted into another — a sort of all-inclusive online money exchange.
A 93% of the inhabitants of the used-to-be developed world has, for forty decades, gravely violating the ensuing timeless imperatives of the wisdom.
All of the present content available in this Article is an except quoted from Mr. Agostini’s White Swan book. HOW TO FUNDAMENTALLY SOLVE THIS CHALLENGE, IT ALSO ADDRESSED, AT GREAT LENGTH, IN THE PRECEDING BOOK.
THE FIFTEEN IGNORED FLANKS FOR 40 YEARS (BRIEFEST LIST):
[No. 1 of No. 15] «…The future is not a destination; it is the result of actions that we take today, individually and together. If we can dare to envision the widest number of potential futures, then perhaps we can plan our actions more wisely today…»
[No. 2 of No. 15] «…The future is an act of will…»
[No. 3 of No. 15] «…And the future is now and about change…»
[No. 4 of No. 15] «…The future is not an echo of the past…»
[No. 5 of No. 15] «…The future is not what will happen; the future is what is happening…»
[No. 6 of No. 15] «…The future will happen with or without you … and the future is now and is about change…»
[No. 7 of No. 15] «…The future is hidden in plain sight. it’s right in front of us, if only we could see!…»
[No. 8 of No. 15] «…The future is already here — it’s just not very evenly distributed…»
[No. 9 of No. 15] «…The goal of the future is full unemployment, so we can play…»
[No. 10 of No. 15] «…For the future is not what will happen; the future is what is happening…»
[No. 11 of No. 15] «…The future is not an extrapolation of the past…»
[No. 12 of No. 15] «…The problem with the future is that is different…»
[No. 13 of No. 15] «…The future is not an echo of the past…»
[No. 14 of No. 15] «…The future is not a privilege but a perpetual conquest…»
[No. 15 of No. 15] «…The future is not something we enter. the future is something we create…»
«…The Future is S-H-A-Z-A-M (“…The wisdom of Solomon, the stamina of Atlas, the power of Zeus, the courage of Achilles, and the speed of Mercury…»
A 93% of the inhabitants of the used-to-be developed world has, for forty decades, gravely violating the ensuing timeless imperatives of the wisdom.
All of the present content available in this Article is an except quoted from Mr. Agostini’s White Swan book. HOW TO FUNDAMENTALLY SOLVE THIS CHALLENGE, IT ALSO ADDRESSED, AT GREAT LENGTH, IN THE PRECEDING BOOK.
THE FIFTEEN IGNORED FLANKS FOR 40 YEARS NOW (BRIEFEST LIST):
[No. 1 of No. 15] «…The future is not a destination; it is the result of actions that we take today, individually and together. If we can dare to envision the widest number of potential futures, then perhaps we can plan our actions more wisely today…»
[No. 2 of No. 15] «…The future is an act of will…»
[No. 3 of No. 15] «…And the future is now and about change…»
[No. 4 of No. 15] «…The future is not an echo of the past…»
[No. 5 of No. 15] «…The future is not what will happen; the future is what is happening…»
[No. 6 of No. 15] «…The future will happen with or without you … and the future is now and is about change…»
[No. 7 of No. 15] «…The future is hidden in plain sight. it’s right in front of us, if only we could see!…»
[No. 8 of No. 15] «…The future is already here — it’s just not very evenly distributed…»
[No. 9 of No. 15] «…The goal of the future is full unemployment, so we can play…»
[No. 10 of No. 15] «…For the future is not what will happen; the future is what is happening…»
[No. 11 of No. 15] «…The future is not an extrapolation of the past…»
[No. 12 of No. 15] «…The problem with the future is that is different…»
[No. 13 of No. 15] «…The future is not an echo of the past…»
[No. 14 of No. 15] «…The future is not a privilege but a perpetual conquest…»
[No. 15 of No. 15] «…The future is not something we enter. the future is something we create…»
«…The Future is S-H-A-Z-A-M (“…The wisdom of Solomon, the stamina of Atlas, the power of Zeus, the courage of Achilles, and the speed of Mercury…»
NB: Sorry, in my case, I am not surprised at all. My maternal grandmother was a Professional Futurists to cite one reason.
By Andres Agostini
Author
White Swan
www.linkedin.com/in/AndresAgostini
IPOLITICS: Canada’s investment in genomics is paying off http://www.ipolitics.ca/2014/07/22/canadas-investment-in-genomics-is-paying-off/
FORBES: Why Predictive Shopping Might Be Bad For The Future http://www.forbes.com/sites/privacynotice/2014/08/21/why-pre…he-future/
SILICON BEAT: Quake, rattle, and then roll out of bed http://www.siliconbeat.com/2014/08/25/quake-rattle-and-then-roll-out-of-bed/
COINDESK: Visa Exec: Our Network Could Support Bitcoin Payments http://www.coindesk.com/visa-exec-network-support-bitcoin-payments/
NEW YORK TIMES: Modern Research Borne on a Relic http://www.nytimes.com/2014/08/26/science/airships-that-carr…e&_r=0
NEW YORK TIMES: Thumbtack, an Online Market for Services, Raises $100 Million http://dealbook.nytimes.com/2014/08/20/thumbtack-an-online-m…e&_r=0
STATISTA: Snapchat More Popular Than Twitter Among Millennials http://www.statista.com/chart/2570/most-popular-social-apps-among-millennials/
KAI: Autómata: a believable robot future http://www.kurzweilai.net/automata-a-believable-robot-future
KAI: A new future for cloud computing http://www.kurzweilai.net/a-new-future-for-cloud-computing
REUTERS: No let-up in Gaza war, Israel moves to protect its economy http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/08/25/us-mideast-gaza-idUSKBN0GM11320140825
REUTERS: Amazon snaps up live video startup Twitch for $970 million http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/08/25/us-amazon-com-twit…N820140825
Brain to Brain Communication Using EEG Waves http://guardianlv.com/2014/08/brain-to-brain-communication-u…-internet/
WIRED: The Data Scientist on a Quest to Turn Computers Into Doctors http://www.wired.com/2014/08/enlitic/
BUSINESS INSIDER: How 3D Printing Will Revolutionize Our World http://www.businessinsider.com/the-next-industrial-revolutio…2014-8
BBC: Study creates ‘time travel’ illusion http://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-28852538′
SOUTH CHINA MORNING POST: Shanghai to San Francisco in 100 minutes by Chinese supersonic submarine http://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/1580226/shanghai-san-…-submarine
OIL PRICE: Natural Gas As A Trucking Fuel Fails To Deliver http://oilprice.com/Energy/Natural-Gas/Natural-Gas-As-A-Truc…liver.html
LONG NOW FOUNDATION: David Eagleman: Six Easy Steps to Avert the Collapse of Civilization — Seminar Flashback http://blog.longnow.org/02014/08/22/david-eagleman-steps-to-…flashback/
SOUTH CHINA MORNING POST: Huge marijuana plantation spotted by hi-tech satellite in China’s northeast http://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/1580721/chinese-satel…-northeast
FOREIGN AFFAIRS: America in Decay. The Sources of Political Dysfunction By Francis Fukuyama http://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/141729/francis-fukuyama/america-in-decay
FOREIGN AFFAIRS: ISIS’ Western Ambitions. Why Europe and the United States Could be the Militant Group’s Next Target http://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/141611/robin-simcox/i…-ambitions
FOREIGN AFFAIRS: An Anxious Age: The Post-Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of America http://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/141730/joseph-bottum/…t-of-ameri
DER SPIEGEL: Baltic Fears: NATO Debates Directing Missile Shield against Russia http://www.spiegel.de/international/europe/nato-considers-mi…87899.html
THE MOSCOW TIMES: Islamic State an ‘Ideological Threat’ to Russia, Official Warns http://www.themoscowtimes.com/news/article/islamic-state-an-…05834.html
THE MOSCOW TIMES: Ukraine’s Independence Day Shows a Torn Country http://www.themoscowtimes.com/multimedia/photogalleries/ukra…/5378.html
THE MOSCOW TIMES: Russia Claims Exclusion From NATO Summit on Ukraine http://www.themoscowtimes.com/news/article/russia-claims-exc…05772.html
DIGITAL TRENDS: Awesome tech you can’t buy yet, for the week of August 24, 2014 Read more: http://www.digitaltrends.com/cool-tech/awesome-tech-cant-buy…z3BRaS4enC
MORE HACKERS. SECURITY INTELLIGENCE: The Administrator of Things (AoT) – A Side Effect of Smartification http://blog.trendmicro.com/trendlabs-security-intelligence/t…ification/
GOV TRANSFORMER: GovTransformer: IARPA Peeks Into The Future of Your Brain http://govtransformer.us/2014/08/govtransformer-iarpa-peeks-future-brain/
GOVLOOP: Six Words of Advice for the U.S. Digital Service — Plus the 7 Gov Stories http://cdorobek.sharedby.co/share/hRrbXw
FORBES: Ebooks Will Make Us Dumber, Or They Won’t http://www.forbes.com/sites/jeremygreenfield/2014/08/20/will…ium=social
BUSINESS INSIDER: Technology That Could Make Your Smartphone Charge Twice As Fast Is Coming In 2015 Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/qnovo-fast-charging-for-smart…z3BRca9oS9
THE INDEPENDENT: ‘France is totally bankrupt’: French jobs minister Michel Sapin embarrasses Francois Hollande with shocking statement on state of the country’s economy http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/france-is-tot…71077.html
THE INDEPENDENT: Pulitzer-winning scientist warns wildlife face a ‘biological holocaust’ www.independent.co.uk/news/pulitzerwinning-scientist-warns-w…89902.html
THE INDEPENDENT: 7 best quadcopters and drones http://www.independent.co.uk/extras/indybest/gadgets-tech/be…81235.html
CBC NEWS: France’s government dissolves after minister criticizes fiscal policy http://www.cbc.ca/news/world/france-s-government-dissolves-a…-1.2745752
OFFSHORE WIND: Saab Seaeye Falcon Helps Japan Harness Offshore Wind http://www.offshorewind.biz/2014/08/22/saab-seaeye-falcon-he…hore-wind/
OFFSHORE WIND: German Wind Energy Association to Present Industry’s Strength at WindEnergy Hamburg http://www.offshorewind.biz/2014/08/25/german-wind-energy-as…y-hamburg/
OFFSHORE WIND: Marine Ecological Surveys to Examine Seabed of Three UK Regions http://www.offshorewind.biz/2014/08/22/marine-ecological-sur…k-regions/
OFFSHORE WIND: German Wind Energy Association to Present Industry’s Strength at WindEnergy Hamburg http://www.offshorewind.biz/2014/08/25/german-wind-energy-as…y-hamburg/
THE NEW YORKER: Vladimir Putin’s Americanism at http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2014/08/11/watching-eclipse
BBJ: Should Japan restart its nuclear reactors? http://www.bbj.hu/opinion/should-japan-restart-its-nuclear-reactors_84018
CANBERRA TIMES: Australian Tax Office decides bitcoins are assets, not currency http://www.canberratimes.com.au/technology/technology-news/a…063gq.html
MOTHER EARTH NEWS: More Than 36 U.S. Nuclear Reactors at Risk of Early Retirement www.motherearthnews.com/renewable-energy/nuclear-reactors-at…z3BRipzP00
THE GLOBE AND MAIL: The Landmark file: Inside Canadian cyber-security agency’s ‘target the world’ strategy http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/the-landmark-fi…e20179786/
NO CAMELS: Medigus Created The World’s Smallest Camera Now Being Used By NASA Robots http://nocamels.com/2014/08/medigus-created-the-worlds-small…asa-robots
NEW YORK TIMES: As Peace Talks Approach, Militants Humiliate Prisoners in Ukraine http://www.nytimes.com/2014/08/26/world/europe/russia-ukraine.html
SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN: U.S. Court Overturns Law Limiting Biotech Crops on Hawaiian island http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/u-s-court-overturn…an-island/
NEW YORK TIMES: Save the Fav, Twitter’s Digital Body Language http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2014/08/25/save-the-fav-twitte…d=tw-share
INSIDE BIGDATA: Solix Announces Solix Big Data Suite http://inside-bigdata.com/2014/08/25/solix-announces-solix-big-data-suite/
MASHABLE: The Most Connected Man Is You, Just a Few Years From Now http://mashable.com/2014/08/21/most-connected-man/
BUSINESS INSIDER: Amazon Is Turning Into Google http://www.businessinsider.com/amazon-is-google-2014-8
FCW: NSA’s ICREACH, hackable scanners and the British IT influence http://fcw.com/articles/2014/08/25/news-in-brief-august-25.a…um=twitter
TED: Can we prevent the end of the world? http://www.ted.com/talks/martin_rees_can_we_prevent_the_end_…+-+Site%29
BUSINESS INSIDER: 9 Impressive Stats About Twitch That Show Why Amazon Just Purchased It For $970 Million http://www.businessinsider.com/statistics-about-twitch-2014-8
NEWSWEEK: Developments in Quantum Physics Are About to Transform Our Daily Lives http://www.newsweek.com/2014/07/11/developments-quantum-phys…57093.html
THE WALL STREET JOURNAL: James Gorman on the Future of Finance: Big Banks Will Get Bigger http://online.wsj.com/articles/james-gorman-on-the-future-of…1404762062
LET’S CONCENTRATE ON TODAY. TECHREPUBLIC: How big data is going to help feed nine billion people by 2050 http://www.techrepublic.com/article/how-big-data-is-going-to…e-by-2050/
YAHOO NEWS: U.S. prepares military options in Syria against Islamic State http://news.yahoo.com/u-prepares-military-options-syria-agai…28103.html
YAHOO NEWS: WATCH: This Is the World’s First Self-Fueled Lawn Mower https://www.yahoo.com/tech/douglas-kennedy-reports-on-e-mow-…66604.html
YAHOO NEWS: After Ferguson, Calls Mount for Police to Wear Body Cams https://www.yahoo.com/tech/after-ferguson-calls-mount-for-po…97604.html
YAHOO NEWS: A Quantified Life: Former Facebook Designer Uses Tech to Track All of His Activities https://www.yahoo.com/tech/nicholas-felton-an-information-de…76679.html
POPULAR SCIENCE: Watch A Robot Ride A Hovercycle http://www.popsci.com/article/technology/watch-robot-ride-hovercycle
SCIENCE DAILY: Nanostructured metal-oxide catalyst efficiently converts carbon dioxide to methanol, a key commodity for chemicals and fuels http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2014/07/140731145414.ht…ign=buffer
PHYS ORG: India’s maiden Mars mission one month out from red planet arrival http://phys.org/news/2014-08-india-maiden-mars-mission-month.html
SCIENCE NEWS: Physics research removes outcome unpredictability of ultracold atomic reactions http://esciencenews.com/articles/2014/08/25/physics.research.…reactions
SCIENCE WORLD REPORT: Scientists Uncover Evolutionary History of Honeybees http://www.scienceworldreport.com/articles/16805/20140825/sc…eybees.htm
CANADA NOW: NASA Confrims 30 to 50% of Arctic Sea Ice Has Thinned http://www.ecanadanow.com/science/2014/08/24/nasa-confrims-3…s-thinned/
AMD looks to aid small system builders with new Power Packs http://www.channelbuzz.ca/2014/08/amd-looks-aid-small-system…cks-10539/
REUTERS: U.S., Chinese officials to meet at Pentagon after jet intercept http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/08/26/us-usa-china-milit…ce=twitter
Lifeboat Foundation Worldwide Ambassador White Swan Update and Published Amazon Author by Andres Agostini at www.linkedin.com/in/andresagostini
— Coindesk
Global payments giant Visa earned the ire of the bitcoin community earlier this year when CEO Charlie Scharf stated that he didn’t see bitcoin and its technology as posing a significant threat to its operations.
Now, however, new comments from Visa senior vice president of digital solutions Sam Shrauger suggest that the company may be reevaluating bitcoin.
ECNS: Anti-monopoly actions unlikely to affect Swiss companies http://www.ecns.cn/business/2014/08-23/131141.shtml
FORBES: Here’s How Obama’s Russia Sanctions Will Destroy Vladimir Putin http://www.forbes.com/sites/gregsatell/2014/04/28/heres-how-…mir-putin/
HUFF POST: 150 Years After the First Geneva Convention, Switzerland and the ICRC Call for Greater Respect for International Humanitarian Law http://www.huffingtonpost.com/didier-burkhalter/150-years-af…02658.html
ABC NEWS: Former Japanese PM Naoto Kan urges Australia to wean world off uranium, focus on renewables www.abc.net.au/news/2014–08-22/move-towards-renewables-forme…ia/5691118
FORBES: Here’s What Ukraine’s Poroshenko Should Offer Vladimir Putin Next Week In Minsk… Nothing http://www.forbes.com/sites/gregsatell/2014/08/23/heres-what…-in-minsk/
FOREIGN AFFAIRS: Alexander Dugin and the Philosophy Behind Putin’s Invasion of Crimea http://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/141080/anton-barbashi…tins-brain
SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN: Japan’s Offshore Wind Power Rises within Sight of Fukushima Nuclear Plant http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/japans-offshore-wi…ear-plant/
BLOOMBERG: Fukushima Floating Offshore Wind Turbine Starts Generating http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-11-11/fukushima-f…power.html
REUTERS: Fancy flying to work on a Hoverbike? https://ca.finance.yahoo.com/video/hoverbike-aims-aviation-level-170018218.html
SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN: Tell Us How You Would Upgrade Your Brain http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/if-you-could-upgra…ou-change/
FASTCOEXIST: The Promise Of A Cancer Drug Developed By Artificial Intelligence http://www.fastcoexist.com/3033737/the-promise-of-a-cancer-d…telligence
FORBES: Alien Artifacts On The Moon? http://www.forbes.com/sites/brucedorminey/2014/07/23/crowdso…artifacts/
SCIENCE ALERT: Alzheimer’s patients to be treated with the blood of under-30s http://pda.sciencealert.com.au/news/20142108-26046.html
DISCOVERY: Google Aims to Archive All Human Knowledge http://news.discovery.com/tech/robotics/google-aims-to-archi…NewsSocial
NANOWERKL A breakthrough in imaging gold nanoparticles to atomic resolution by electron microscopy http://www.nanowerk.com/nanotechnology-news/newsid=37048.php#ixzz3BFch8go4
SPLOID: Space station cosmonauts find life in the vacuum of space http://sploid.gizmodo.com/space-station-cosmonauts-find-life…socialflow
WORLD ECONOMIC FORUM: How can we make our cities carbon-free? http://forumblog.org/2014/07/growing-green-cities/?utm_conte…ign=buffer
WORLD ECONOMIC FORUM: Google: the search engine pioneering our future http://forumblog.org/2014/08/google-search-engine-technology-pioneer/
WORLD ECONOMIC FORUM: How can central bankers avoid another financial crisis? http://forumblog.org/2014/08/central-bankers-guardians-finance/
REUTERS: Obama orders review of police use of military hardware: official http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/08/23/us-usa-missouri-sh…O920140823
REUTERS: Merkel says tightening Ukraine-Russian border is key to peace deal http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/08/23/us-ukraine-crisis-…IS20140823
REUTERS: Egypt calls for Gaza ceasefire as fighting rages http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/08/23/us-mideast-gaza-idUSKBN0GM11320140823
REUTERS: Apple iPhone 6 screen snag leaves supply chain scrambling http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/08/22/us-apple-iphone-idUSKBN0GM0N620140822
REUTERS: Amazon developing own online advertising software: WSJ http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/08/23/us-amazon-com-adve…7420140823
REUTERS: Walgreen stores go offline due to technical glitch http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/08/22/us-walgreen-outage…1O20140822
REUTERS: Obama tech policy maven moves to Silicon Valley role http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/08/23/us-government-tech…Y820140823
BBC: Why reprogramming tiny life could reap rich rewards http://www.bbc.com/future/story/20140821-why-we-should-make-new-lifeforms
DER SPIEGEL: A Crazy Plan for a Mars Colony http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/project-seeks-to-c…87080.html
DER SPIEGEL: Is the Islamic State Beating Al-Qaida? http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/brookings-scholar-…87294.html
THE GUARDIAN: US ‘set to launch air strikes’ on senior Isis terror chiefs in Syria http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/aug/23/us-air-strikes-…considered
THE GUARDIAN: Ebola outbreak: British national living in Sierra Leone tests positive for virus www.theguardian.com/society/2014/aug/23/ebola-outbreak-briti…s-positive
THE GUARDIAN: Volcanic eruption beneath Iceland’s Dyngjujökull glacier sparks red alert http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/aug/23/iceland-volcano…on-glacier
THE GUARDIAN: Ed Balls says Scotland would have to join the euro as ‘least bad’ option http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2014/aug/23/ed-balls-sco…dependence
THE GUARDIAN: What is it like for a small business when your website gets hacked? http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2014/aug/22/small-busi…r-security
THE GUARDIAN: Google’s prototype self-driving car will have a steering wheel after all http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2014/aug/22/google-sel…ring-wheel
THE INDEPENDENT: Two Galileo satellites launched into space by European Space Agency to create rival to GPS system end up in the wrong orbit http://www.independent.co.uk/news/science/two-galileo-satell…87438.html
THE INDEPENDENT: Spain’s ‘Google Tax’: will charging companies to link to articles help or hurt newspapers? http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/gadgets-and-tech/new…79248.html
THE LOCAL: Merkel & Obama fire warning to Russia http://www.thelocal.de/20140823/merkel-obama-fire-warning-to-russia
THE LOCAL: Crimea annexation unnerves Germans: Poll http://www.thelocal.de/20140822/crimea-annexation-unnerves-germans-poll
DER SPIEGEL: Impending volcanic eruption: Iceland imposed Red Alert http://bit.ly/1pUc03P
DER SPIEGEL: Exposed to European satellite in the wrong orbit: navigation system Galileo http://bit.ly/1pUc03P
DER SPIEGEL: Risky cheap energy: madman brown coal boom http://bit.ly/1pUc03P
DER SPIEGEL: Fish and coral reefs destroyed avoid http://bit.ly/1pUc03P
DER SPIEGEL: Related to Ebola: New drug protects monkeys against Marburg fever http://bit.ly/1pUc03P
DER SPIEGEL: Glacier data from space: Less ice, more sea http://bit.ly/1pUc03P
AUSTRIAN TIMES: Austrian economy falls in line with the European trend http://www.austriantimes.at/news/Business/2014-06-03…pean_trend
AUSTRIAN TIMES: Austrian company to build Irish motorway http://www.austriantimes.at/news/Business/2014-05-05…h_motorway
AUSTRIAN TIMES: Russia and Austria sign major gas deal http://www.austriantimes.at/news/Business/2014-04-30…_gas_deal_
FOX NEWS: Iceland says subglacial eruption is under way http://www.foxnews.com/world/2014/08/23/iceland-raises-aviat…latestnews
FOX NEWS: Can Ford’s Next Hybrid Beat the Prius? http://www.foxbusiness.com/industries/2014/08/21/can-ford-ne…eat-prius/
FOX NEWS: ‘Very dangerous’: Pentagon says armed Chinese jet did ‘barrel roll’ over US aircraft www.foxnews.com/politics/2014/08/22/chinese-jet-threatened-u…latestnews
FOX NEWS: Should eBay rebrand itself as PayPal? http://video.foxbusiness.com/v/3744137689001/should-ebay-reb…show-clips
FOX NEWS: Malicious software in cash registers could affect more than 1,000 US retailers, gov’t warns http://www.foxnews.com/tech/2014/08/22/malicious-software-in…=obnetwork
FOX NEWS: Could Apple’s CarPlay confuse? http://www.foxnews.com/tech/2014/08/22/could-apple-carplay-c…=obnetwork
THE GLOBE AND MAIL: Canada and U.S. central bankers struggle to make sense of mixed jobs data http://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/economy/jo…e20184968/
THE GLOBE AND MAIL: Vancouver housing data reveal Chinese connection www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/economy/housing/v…e20164662/
THE GLOBE AND MAIL: Over 1,000 U.S. businesses affected by same cyber attack that hit Target http://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/internatio…e20179782/
THE GLOBE AND MAIL: Data-mining retailers prove it’s hip to use Square http://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/industry-n…e20163942/
THE TIMES: Police set to launch raids in hunt for ‘Jihadi John’ http://www.thetimes.co.uk/tto/news/uk/crime/article4184934.ece
THE TIMES: Police ‘turned blind eye’ to killing spree by neo-Nazi gang http://www.thetimes.co.uk/tto/news/world/europe/article4184605.ece
EL PAIS: The Twitter of the homeless http://bit.ly/1wmnUZ4
EL PAIS: Samsung buys Quietside http://bit.ly/1wmnUZ4
EL PAIS: Brazil prohibits Secret, an application that publishes anonymously http://bit.ly/1wmnUZ4
EL PAIS: The fiber now accounts for 73% of new broadband lines http://bit.ly/1wmnUZ4
DVICE: 5 artificial organs getting better by the day http://www.dvice.com/archives/2010/03/turn_yourself_i.php
LE MONDE: China denies endangering American fighter aircraft http://bit.ly/VJeiXA
LE MONDE: “The Islamic state, the alliance between al-Qaida and Call of Duty” http://bit.ly/VJeiXA
THE ECONOMIST: Davy Jones’s heat locker http://www.economist.com/news/science-and-technology/2161316…swer-seems\
ENTREPRENEUR: How to Win Clients Your First Week in Business http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/236217
CBSNEWS: 3D-printed vertebra used in spine surgery http://www.cbsnews.com/news/3d-printed-vertebra-used-in-spine-surgery/
WEARABLE TECHNOLOGIES: Himax-Lumus Collaborate to Develop The Next Generation Of Smart Glasses http://wearabletechnologies.co.uk/2014/08/himax-lumus-collab…t-glasses/
DAILY MAIL: Is this America’s new ‘space taxi’? Boeing blasts into the lead in race to replace the shuttle http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2732291/Is-Am…boost.html
DAILY MAIL: Evidence of one of the universe’s oldest stars discovered — and it may been have hundreds of times more massive than the sun http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2732029/Evide…e-sun.html
CBSNEWS: SpaceX rocket explodes during test flight in Texas http://www.cbsnews.com/news/spacex-rocket-explodes-during-test-flight-in-texas/
CBSNEWS: Paparazzi now using drones to hunt down and photograph stars http://www.cbsnews.com/news/paparazzi-take-to-the-skies-to-p…th-drones/
HUFF POST: Why I Don’t Want My Kids to Succeed http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jennifer-tyler-lee/why-i-dont-…mg00000023
GIZMODO: The Ultra-Laborious Way the FBI Matched Fingerprints to Paper Files http://gizmodo.com/the-ultra-laborious-way-the-fbi-matched-f…socialflow
DAILY MAIL: Car bombs kill 30 Baghdad and Kurdish-held Kirkuk as Syrian warplanes bomb caliphate capital http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2732767/Car-bombs-ki…z3BGWPca4n
FOX BOSTON: Counter-terrorism expert weighs in on ISIS threat, says citizens should be vigilant http://www.myfoxboston.com/story/26349956/counter-terrorism-…e-vigilant
WALL STREET JOURNAL: Amazon Prepares Online Advertising Program http://online.wsj.com/articles/amazon-preps-a-challenge-to-g…1408747979
BIOSPACE: Move Over San Francisco: Boston Showing Its Pharmaceutical Potential — See more at: http://www.biospace.com/News/move-over-san-francisco-boston-…GOkOP.dpuf
CNBC: Future Fashion: 10 Wearable Tech Trends to Watch http://www.cnbc.com/id/100853138/page/1
COGNIZANT: The Internet of Things (IoT) is turning out to be bigger than the Internet itself. http://www.cognizant.com/perspectives/decomposing-the-intern…pportunity
THE ATLANTIC: Facebook and Google Own the Future of Advertising—in 2 Charts http://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2014/03/facebook…ign=buffer
DAILY MAIL: The moment paralysed woman served herself first cup of coffee in 15 years… thanks to robot arm activated by mind-reading brain implant http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2145314/Paral…plant.html
TECHCRUNCH: Clean CRM Data Starts With A Great Mobile Experience http://techcrunch.com/2014/08/23/salesforce-may-still-need-a…um=twitter
WIRED: 100 Years of Automotive Innovation, in One Amazing Display http://www.wired.com/2014/08/pebble-beach-concours-best-cars…id-1431071
WALL STREET JOURNAL: More Than 1,000 Businesses Affected by ‘Backoff’ Malware http://online.wsj.com/articles/more-than-1-000-businesse…1408746408
NASA WATCH: SpaceX’s Dragon Carrying NASA Cargo Resupplies Space Station http://spaceref.com/news/viewsr.html?pid=43510
FINANCIAL POST: Draghi says ECB ready to do more, eurozone recovery remains ‘uniformly weak’ http://business.financialpost.com/2014/08/22/draghi-says-ecb…rmly-weak/
FINANCIAL POST: Argentina lashes out at U.S. judge for ‘imperialist’ comments amid debt saga http://business.financialpost.com/2014/08/22/argentina-lashe…debt-saga/
Lifeboat Foundation Worldwide Ambassador White Swan Update and Published Amazon Author by Andres Agostini at href=“www.linkedin.com/in/andresagostini” target=“_blank”>www.linkedin.com/in/andresagostini
by Ben Medlock — CityAM
Think Artificial Intelligence and the first thing that comes to mind is probably robots. Thanks to popular culture, AI is considered distinctly un-human, and can prompt people to worry about the role of technology in our daily lives and who is really in control. However, there’s a new wave of technology fighting to put the human back at the heart of the experience, one that is designed to make the technology that you use every single day learn from you personally.
Called Machine Learning, it underlies technology that constantly evolves to adapt to every individual, anticipating what you want to do next and staying one step ahead. Machine Learning is about building software capable of learning how to perform tasks that are too complex to be solved by traditional programming techniques. During my PhD research at the University of Cambridge, for example, I built programs that could recognise topics in news articles and filter spam email.
Ariel Schwartz — Fast Company
BPM 31510 is just another cancer drug in human development trials, except for one thing. Scientists didn’t toil away in labs to come up with it; artificial intelligence did.
The cancer drug development process is costly and time-consuming. On average, it takes 24 to 48 months and upwards of $100 million to find a suitable candidate. Add that to the fact that 95% of all potential drugs fail in clinical trials, and the inefficiencies of the whole drug-discovery machine really become apparent.
Backed by real estate billionaire Carl Berg, eponymous biotech startup Berg wants to use artificial intelligence to design cancer drugs that are cheaper, have fewer side effects, and can be developed in half the time it normally takes. BPM 31510 is the first of Berg’s drugs to get a real-world test.
How Not To Think, Correctly! (Excerpt from the White Swan book) By Andres Agostini at www.linkedin.com/in/andresagostini
1.- Ignorant Thinking
2.- Sloppy, emotional Thinking
3.- Fashionable Thinking
4.- Within-style Thinking
5.- Ideal-based rational.
6.- Instant-gratification thought process.
7.- Non-Gestalt Thinking.
8.- Lumpen Thinking. (Lumpen is a nice word, extremely manipulated by Commies. Ergo, anything stemming from Commies I reject).
9.- Non-Crowd-Wisdom Thinking. (No one played Albert’s violin and theories, nor Amadeus’ piano, nor Howard’s gigantic wooden aquatic-airplane or communication’s satellites, nor Newton’s unpublished prophecies, but them, and them alone, in in-companionship-ed solitude).
10.- Clustered Thinking.
11.- Silo Thinking.
12.- Charter Thinking.
13.- Standard Thinking.
14.- Informal Thinking.
15.- Undocumented Thinking.
16.- Laggards’ Thinking.
17.- Bohemian Thinking.
18.- Hippie Thinking.
19.- “…Keep It Simple, Stupid…” (K.I.S.S.) Thinking.
20.- Short-term Thinking.
21.- Linear Thinking.
22.- Extra-Mile Thinking (We need several Extra-Leagues Thinking. A league is 3 miles or 4.8 kilometers).
23.- Single-mindedness Thinking (Against in-series thinking).
24.- Un-Orchestrated Thinking.
25.- Fragmented, Fragmentary Thinking.
26.- Futilitifulness Thinking. (Futilitifulness is the quality of conforming to maximum futility).
27.- Démodé Thinking.
28.- Typical Thinking.
29.- Passé Thinking.
30.- Within-Range Thinking.
31.- Chaku-Chaku Thinking.
32.- Spaghetti-like Thinking.
33.- Episodic Thinking.
34.- Management-fads Thinking.
35.- Leadership-focused Thinking.
36.- Popular Thinking.
37.- Crowded Thinking.
38.- Out-loud-Brainstoriming Thinking.
39.- Jumping-to-Conclusions Thinking.
40.- In-absentia Thinking.
41.- Misery-Likes-Company Thinking.
42.- Watercooler-Conversations Thinking.
43.- Subjective Thinking.
44.- Fictitious Thinking.
45.- Departing-from-Rationality Thinking
46.- Feeding-Frenzies Thinking.
47.- Tentative Thinking.
48.- Pointless Thinking.
49.- Out-of-the-point Thinking.
50.- Straight-backward Thinking.
51.- Glucose-depletion Thinking.
52.- Syllogistic Thinking.
53.- Slothful Thinking.
54.- Sketchy Thinking.
55.- Un-constellated Thinking.
56.- Associatively-Incoherent Thinking.
57.- Dissociatively-Coherent Thinking.
58.- Attenuated Thinking.
59.- Un-primed Thinking.
60.- Unobtrusive Thinking.
61.- Unfreely-Willed Thinking
62.- Unprovocative Thinking.
63.- Anti-Statistical Thinking.
64.- Mental-Economy Thinking.
65.- Uncritical Thinking.
66.- Premonitory Thinking.
67.- Spurious Thinking.
68.- Cumbersome Thinking.
69.- “Background-less Material” Thinking.
70.- “One-Sided Evidence” Thinking.
71.- Missing-Evidence Thinking.
72.- In-confident Thinking.
73.- Information-Poor Thinking.
74.- Laborious-less Thinking.
75.- Evildoing Thinking.
76.- Superfluous Thinking.
77.- Dumbfounded Thinking.
78.- Reasoned Thinking.
79.- On-The-Shelf Thinking.
80.- Pathetic Thinking.
81.- In-Dire-Straits Thinking.
82.- Perceptual-less Thinking.
83.- Negligible Thinking.
84.- Infinitesimal Thinking.
85.- Decoherence-Seeking Thinking.
86.- Inept Thinking.
87.- Wobblier Thinking.
88.- Sampling-Luck Thinking.
89.- Discredited Thinking.
90.- Untrained-Eye Thinking.
91.- Anchoring-Effect Thinking.
92.-Exasperated Thinking.
93.- Pharaohnic Thinking.
94.- Populist Thinking.
95.- Insipid Thinking.
96.- Vulgar Thinking.
97.- Wrongheaded Thinking.
98.- Logical-Inconsistency Thinking.
99.- Demagogue Thinking.
100.- Neophyte Thinking.
101.- Demagogue Thinking.
102.- Authoritarian Thinking.
103.- Ill-prepared Thinking.
104.- Wrongheaded Thinking.
105.- Logical-Inconsistency Thinking.
106.- Earth-Shot Thinking.
107.- Past-oriented Thinking.
108.- Karmic Thinking.
109.- Decrepit Thinking.
110.- Stuck-on-Autopilot Thinking.
111.- Leisurely Thinking.
112.- Broken-Bladed Thinking
113.- Careless Thinking.
114.- Deteriorated Thinking.
115.- “Snail-Like Pace” Thinking.
By Mr. Andres Agostini
Author of the White Swan Book
href=“www.linkedin.com/in/andresagostini” target=“_blank”>www.linkedin.com/in/andresagostini