Lifeboat News: The Blog – Safeguarding Humanity

Get the latest international news and world events from around the world.

May 17
2014

Interstellar may be the first movie that shows realistic warp travel

Jesus Diaz — SPLOID

At last we got to see the full trailer for Chris Nolan’s Insterstellar. The drama seems centered around a worldwide food crisis fired by climate change and resource depletion—a quite probable future. The space travel part seems equally plausible, showing what may be the first realistic depiction of a real warp drive.

Of course, warp drives are not real. Yet (hopefully?) But physicist have theorized about it and NASA has a small group of people working on them. I’m firmly in the camp of “if we can imagine it, we can build it.” But we will get to that later. Watch the trailer first:

May 17
2014

Why Virtual Reality Will Compete with the Real World

Philip Rosedale — MIT Review

Recent weeks have been good ones for people interested in virtual reality. The Facebook acquisition of Oculus has galvanized the idea that “something wonderful” will happen if we put on these strange headsets and visually enter other worlds. Of course, most people assume this means gaming.

And it’s true that the upcoming Crystal Cove Oculus headset (which tracks the head’s position and rotation) will immerse its users in the most amazing computer gaming experiences they could have ever thought possible. But that’s not the big part of the story.

After we’ve had the Oculus strapped to our faces for a few months and the novelty has worn off, we might find ourselves asking some important questions: “Where are the other people?” And “Where can I start working and learning and building in here?”

May 15
2014

The Mathematics of Murder: Should a Robot Sacrifice Your Life to Save Two?

By Erik Sofge — Popular Science

It happens quickly—more quickly than you, being human, can fully process.

A front tire blows, and your autonomous SUV swerves. But rather than veering left, into the opposing lane of traffic, the robotic vehicle steers right. Brakes engage, the system tries to correct itself, but there’s too much momentum. Like a cornball stunt in a bad action movie, you are over the cliff, in free fall.

Your robot, the one you paid good money for, has chosen to kill you. Better that, its collision-response algorithms decided, than a high-speed, head-on collision with a smaller, non-robotic compact. There were two people in that car, to your one. The math couldn’t be simpler.

May 15
2014

CNET founder Halsey Minor launches bitcoin platform Bitreserve.org

Andrea Chang — LA Times

Halsey Minor, founder of CNET and an early backer of Salesforce.com, is launching bitcoin platform Bitreserve.org.

The site aims to address the volatile nature of the cryptocurrency by providing real-time transparency, transaction traceability and proof of solvency.

“Bitcoin is a remarkable innovation, created and supported by lots of very smart people,” Minor said. “Bitreserve is built on top of the bitcoin network, allowing members to convert bitcoin into money they know, trust and understand.”

May 15
2014

Venture Capital Firm Hires Artificial Intelligence To Its Board Of Directors

The Huffington Post UK

A venture capital firm in Hong Kong has hired an artificially intelligent algorithm to its board of directors.

Read that again.

Deep Knowledge Ventures said that the AI would help make financial and business decisions, help lead its research into biotechnology and regenerative medicine, and would act as an “equal member of the board”.

May 14
2014

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

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

Transistors that wrap around tissues and morph with them http://www.kurzweilai.net/transistors-that-wrap-around-tissu…-with-them

Scientists discover protein that can slow brain tumor growth in mice http://www.kurzweilai.net/scientists-discover-protein-that-c…th-in-mice

The Military’s Spending Millions to Build Robots with Morals http://gizmodo.com/the-militarys-spending-millions-to-build-…1576221351

Alibaba’s IPO Is a Sign of China’s Rising Economic Might http://etfpm.com/chinas-rising-internet-giants-514/

Internet of Things and Wearables Will Dominate by 2025 http://mashable.com/2014/05/14/pew-iot-study/?utm_cid=mash-com-li-main-link

Teams from U.S. service academies demonstrate potentially transformative technologies http://www.homelandsecuritynewswire.com/dr20140514-teams-fro…chnologies

Strongly Interacting Electrons in Wacky Oxide Synchronize to Compute Like the Brain http://www.newswise.com/articles/strongly-interacting-electr…-the-brain

Forget an Apple iWatch, the U.S. military is the one really taking wearable technology to new levels. http://www.cnbc.com/id/101664183

Colorado Group To Provide Free Medical Marijuana To Veterans http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/05/07/free-marijuana-for-…83034.html

Russia planes fly to California coast in show of force over Ukraine, U.S. Pacific Commander Says http://www.redflagnews.com/headlines/breaking-russia-jets-fl…er-ukraine

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

May 14
2014

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

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

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

New West Antarctica Report Points to Rising Sea Levels from Melting Glaciers http://www.21stcentech.com/west-antarctica-report-points-ris…-glaciers/

The Future in 3D: How Micro-Manufacturing can Empower the Disenfranchised http://hplusmagazine.com/2014/05/13/the-future-in-3d-how-mic…ranchised/

Scientists create first living organism that transmits added letters in DNA ‘alphabet’ http://phys.org/news/2014-05-scientists-transmits-added-letters-dna.html

Physicists show unlimited heat conduction in graphene http://phys.org/news/2014-05-physicists-unlimited-graphene.html#jCp

Berkeley Lab Researchers Find that Viral Packaging Motor Rotates DNA and Adapts to Changing Conditions, Information that Could Help Future Drug Designs http://newscenter.lbl.gov/feature-stories/2014/05/12/all-in-the-rotation/

Speedy swarms of tiny robots build things in ‘microfactory’ http://www.wired.co.uk/news/archive/2014-04/16/magnetic-microrobot-swarms

Human Learning Altered by Electrical Stimulation of Dopamine Neurons http://neurosciencenews.com/human-learning-altered-by-ehuman…igra-1034/

Google Is Not Your Enemy. (But it’s not your friend either) http://ieet.org/index.php/IEET/more/mcgill20140513

West Antarctic Ice Sheet collapse is underway http://www.kurzweilai.net/west-antarctic-ice-sheet-collapse-is-underway

A DNA-based nanosensor that detects cancer by its pH http://www.kurzweilai.net/researchers-use-dna-to-build-tool-…-on-cancer

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

May 14
2014

Are you ready for contact with extraterrestrial intelligence?

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.

May 14
2014

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

Written By: Jason Dorrier — Singularity Hub

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.

May 14
2014

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

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.