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Given all the changes Vladimir Putin is making in these days in the Russian constitutional order, ones that legalize the presidentialist dictatorship he has already created, many may have failed to notice that a law he signed restoring a key feature of the GULAG, the use of convicts as slave laborers, went into effect on January 1.

And while some may be inclined to dismiss this as nothing more than the nearly universal practice of using prisoners to produce things like license plates and road signs as in the United States, it is already taking shape as something worse and more ominous with Russian businessmen calling for setting up forced labor camps in parts of the country.

The law discussed, passed and signed by Putin last year calls for creating two kinds of labor camps: entire colonies where inmates will be put to work either for the state or for businesses on a contract basis and special “correction centers” attached to business sites.

MUST-WATCH video of a rocket launch as seen from the International Space Station. You can track the tiny spot rising into the darkness as if it’s an animated cartoon. But it’s REAL. Hopefully, it will soon be just one of the flights in the regular commuter network between the planets, a future #Asgardia seeks to make true as soon as possible.\n(Credit: NASA, ISS, Riccardo Rossi (ISAA))\n\nYou can make it happen sooner by sharing your ideas and joining #TheFirstSpaceNation’s Business Partnership Program!

By Chuck Brooks In FORBES


The surge in digital connectivity and more sophisticated cyber-threats has promulgated the need for smart cybersecurity. Smart Cybersecurity is a logical reaction to try to manage risk by lessening security gaps often posed by reliance on manual processes that are impacted by a continual cybersecurity skills shortage and the administrative burdens of data security management.

Despite the challenges, there is promise for reducing dependence on humans and bolstering cybersecurity capabilities. A myriad of evolving cognitive technologies can help us enhance cybersecurity and navigate the increasingly malicious and disruptive cyber threat landscape. They include:

Artificial Intelligence

An amazing aspect of living in The Fourth Industrial Era is that we are at a new inflection point in bringing emerging technologies to life. We are in an era of scientific breakthroughs that will change the way of life as we currently know it. While there are many technological areas of fascination for me, the meshing of biology with machine is one of the most intriguing. It fuses many elements of technologies especially artificial intelligence and pervasive computing. I have highlighted two frontiers of “mind-bending” developments that are on the horizon, Neuromorphic technologies, and human-machine biology.

Neuromorphic Technologies

Human computer interaction (HCI) was an area of research that started in the 1980s and has come a long way in a short period of time. HCI was the foundation for what we call neuromorphic computing, the integration of systems containing electronic analog circuits to mimic neuro-biological architectures present in the biological nervous system.

Take care of Mother Nature and she will take care of you to live long and prosper in a symbiotic mutually beneficial win/win deal thanks to the economic principle of reciprocity to restore the riches by circulating the love for peace, prosperity, and profit while caring for the birds, bees, and the trees. as we begin to merge with machines as future cyborgs soon. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mother_Nature

Reliable Robotics, a startup developing autonomous flight technologies, this week emerged from stealth with $33.5 million in venture capital funding. Cofounder and CEO Robert Rose says the funds will be used to scale production of the company’s products and bring on new engineering talent.

Aviation companies pursuing autonomous transportation include Uber, Boeing, and Honeywell. According to management consulting firm Oliver Wyman, replacing single-pilot operations with autonomous planes could save airlines as much as $60 billion annually. Pandemic headwinds have only reinvigorated the search for cost-cutting opportunities, as Statista estimates airlines will lose at least $314 billion in revenue in 2020.

Looking to expedite their path to market, companies like Xwing, Airbus, and Elroy Air have explored retrofitting existing aircraft rather than developing hardware from scratch. Reliable Robotics, which was founded in 2017 by Rose and VP of engineering Juerg Frefel, aims to develop a platform that imbues any fixed-wing plane with autonomous capabilities.