Lifeboat Foundation

By analyzing data from the global online intelligence platform BuiltWith, my colleagues and I have been exploring new ways to measure a nation’s actual digital footprint – from the bottom-up. We have developed two new experimental measures of national digital infrastructure – one focused on domestic digital infrastructure (DDI) and another that looks at a nation’s online export ambitions (DXI).

We plan to develop these further and explore how they may be used to feature in a future index of Digital Economic Investment next year.

This first measure: Digital Domestic Infrastructure (DDI), has a domestic focus and simply looks at the number of websites in each country using the top-level country domain as a simple filter for geography. We digital infrastructure consists of much more than websites and online services but that is a useful guide at a national scale into a nations investments and assets in the digital economy. We’ve also filtered for domains that are hosted by or invest in paid technologies (a data feature BuiltWith offers), so as to distinguish active websites from those that are idle or redirected – typically held by domain squatters. This also removes counts of hobby or personal websites as, while there’s an amazing array of free, open source technologies to be used in building digital services online, most commercial services now have at least one form of paid technology in their mix.

Honda and the engineering and construction firm Black & Veatch have tested a prototype of Honda’s autonomous work vehicle at a construction site in New Mexico.

During a month of tests, the AWV performed such tasks as towing, moving construction materials and other supplies to specific locations within the work site.

Honda’s AWV was first shown as a concept at the 2018 Consumer Electronics Show. It combines a durable off-road side-by-side platform with advanced autonomous technology. The vehicle uses a collection of sensors to maneuver without a driver, using GPS, radar and lidar for obstacle detection, as well as 3D cameras. Together, these features enable the AWV to be operated by remote control.

A great celestial event is coming for North America, but you’re going to have to get up early to see it.

Taking place on the night of November 18–19, 2021 is the longest partial eclipse of the Moon this century.

That in itself is not a huge claim. After all, a total lunar eclipse is the “best” kind of lunar eclipse. However, what happens later this week will be, and look, rather strange.

Continue reading “Blood Moon Eclipse 2021: Why You Need To Wake-Up Early On Thursday To See The ‘Giant Japanese Lantern’ Moon Glow” »

This is why researchers trained computers to predict what designer drugs will emerge onto the scene before they hit the market, according to a recent study published in the journal Nature Machine Intelligence.

With highly-addictive drugs flooding regions throughout the U.S., this program could save countless lives. But it could also unlock an entire “dark matter” world of unknown psychoactive possibilities.

This solar farm in Colorado thinks so.

The farming industry is using way too much energy both for its own and the Earth’s sake. To put it in numbers, agriculture uses approximately 21 percent of food production energy, which equals 2.2 quadrillions of kilojoules of energy each year. What’s more, about 60 percent of the energy used in agriculture goes toward gasoline, diesel, electricity, and natural gas.

That’s where agrivoltaics come in. A system where solar panels are in… See more.

This astronomical portrait from the NASA

Established in 1958, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) is an independent agency of the United States Federal Government that succeeded the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA). It is responsible for the civilian space program, as well as aeronautics and aerospace research. It’s vision is “To discover and expand knowledge for the benefit of humanity.”

Unity, the San Francisco-based platform for creating and operating games and other 3D content, on November 10 announced the launch of Unity Simulation Pro and Unity SystemGraph to improve modeling, testing, and training complex systems through AI.

With robotics usage in supply chains and manufacturing increasing, such software is critical to ensuring efficient and safe operations.

Danny Lange, senior vice president of artificial intelligence for Unity, told VentureBeat via email that the Unity SystemGraph uses a node-based approach to model the complex logic typically found in electrical and mechanical systems. “This makes it easier for roboticists and engineers to model small systems, and allows grouping those into larger, more complex ones — enabling them to prototype systems, test and analyze their behavior, and make optimal design decisions without requiring access to the actual hardware,” said Lange.

To create the ice, the scientists had to squeeze a water droplet to 3.5 million times Earth’s atmospheric pressure and heat it hotter than the sun.

Artificial Superintelligence or ASI, sometimes referred to as digital superintelligence is the advent of a hypothetical agent that possesses intelligence far surpassing that of the smartest and most gifted human minds. AI is a rapidly growing field of technology with the potential to make huge improvements in human wellbeing. However, the development of machines with intelligence vastly superior to humans will pose special, perhaps even unique risks.

Most surveyed AI researchers expect machines to eventually be able to rival humans in intelligence, though there is little consensus on when or how this will happen.

Continue reading “From Artificial Intelligence to Superintelligence: Nick Bostrom on AI & The Future of Humanity” »