Lifeboat Foundation

“China was leading the global recovery after the Covid-19 pandemic and accounted for half of worldwide robot installations in 2021,” said Marina Bill, President of the International Federation of Robotics. “Growth is strong across all industries with electrical and electronics being the dominant sector – up 30% to 81,600 installations. The automotive industry also showed a strong recovery. This was mainly driven by electric vehicle manufacturing in China. It rose by 89% in 2021 with 50,700 installations.”

Chinese government supports robotic automation

In China aging population’s demographics causes shortage of labor and drives the growth of robotic automation. The continued robotization of industries has been announced earlier this year by the government. The Five-Year plan for the robotics industry, released by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) in Beijing, focuses on promoting innovation — making China a global leader of robot technology and industrial advancement.

Stability AI, the venture-backed startup behind the text-to-image AI system Stable Diffusion, is funding a wide-ranging effort to apply AI to the frontiers of biotech. Called OpenBioML, the endeavor’s first projects will focus on machine learning-based approaches to DNA sequencing, protein folding and computational biochemistry.

The company’s founders describe OpenBioML as an “open research laboratory” — and aims to explore the intersection of AI and biology in a setting where students, professionals and researchers can participate and collaborate, according to Stability AI CEO Emad Mostaque.

“OpenBioML is one of the independent research communities that Stability supports,” Mostaque told TechCrunch in an email interview. “Stability looks to develop and democratize AI, and through OpenBioML, we see an opportunity to advance the state of the art in sciences, health and medicine.”

TL;DR: crazy predictions based on anthropic reasoning seem crazy only because they contradict our exaggerated expectations about too good future.

Louis A. Del Monte.

Nearly invisible weapons of mass destruction.

Nanoweapons just might render humanity extinct in the near future—a notion that is frightening and shocking but potentially true. In Nanoweapons Louis A. Del Monte describes the most deadly generation of military weapons the world has ever encountered. With dimensions one-thousandth the diameter of a single strand of human hair, this technology threatens to eradicate humanity as it incites world governments to compete in the deadliest arms race ever.

Since I won’t be posting on Facebook that much in the future. I will leave you with this post, and also hope to see you there, as with Twitter.

Neal Stephenson invented the metaverse. At least from an imagination standpoint. Though other science fiction writers had similar ideas—and the pioneers of VR were already building artificial worlds—Stephenson’s 1992 novel Snow Crash not only fleshed out the vision of escaping to a place where digital displaced the physical, it also gave it a name. That book cemented him as a major writer, and since then he’s had huge success.

Plus: Depicting the nerd mindset; the best lettuce; and the future is flooding.

Continue reading “Neal Stephenson Named the Metaverse. Now, He’s Building It” »

The invention could enhance the speed of electronic devices and improve security screening technology.

Chinese scientists have conceived of a new method for generating laser-like light that could significantly enhance the communication speed of everyday electronics, according to a report by the South China Morning Post.

The new device that makes this light possible is known as a free-electron laser, and it has been developed by scientists from the Shanghai Institute of Optics and Fine Mechanics under the Chinese Academy of Sciences.

Continue reading “Chinese scientists turn a simple wire into laser-like light” »

In the U.S. alone, CO₂ emissions from cremations surpassed 360,000 metric tonnes in 2020.

A French woman has started a strange but environmentally friendly funeral service dubbed ‘Corbicyclette,’ which is French for a bicycle hearse.

An unusual “cargo bike” could shake up the funeral industry in France, Euronews reported on Wednesday.

The fundamental laws of friction remain a mystery to this day.

Researchers at the NYU Tandon School of Engineering have discovered a fundamental friction law that is leading to the design of two-dimensional materials capable of minimizing energy loss, according to a press release from the institution published on Thursday.

Continue reading “Discovery of a law of friction leads to a material that minimizes energy loss” »