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Feb 11, 2020

How social and physical technologies collaborate to create

Posted by in category: futurism

This is a disorienting time. Disagreements are deep, factions stubborn, the common reality crumbling. Technology is changing who we are and the society we live in at a blinding pace. How can we make sense out of these changes? How can we forge new tools to guide our future? What is our new identity in this changing world?

Social upheavals caused by new technologies have occurred throughout history. When the Spaniards arrived in the New World in 1492, some of their horses esca…


Our world is a system, in which physical and social technologies co-evolve. How can we shape a process we don’t control?

Feb 11, 2020

Antares launch scrubbed due to faulty ground support equipment

Posted by in categories: military, space

The military-run spaceport at Cape Canaveral will soon be renamed Cape Canaveral Space Force Station to reflect the facility’s transition from the U.S. Air Force to the newly-created Space Force, military officials said Friday.

Officials said Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, home operational launch pads leased by United Launch Alliance and SpaceX, and nearby Patrick Air Force Base south of Cocoa Beach, Florida, will both get new names.

Brig. Gen. Doug Schiess, commander of the 45th Space Wing which oversees Patrick Air Force Base and Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, said Friday that the two installations on the Space Coast will be among the first military facilities in the country receiving new names after the creation of the Space Force in December.

Feb 11, 2020

Coronavirus outbreak: Santa Clara County declares local health emergency

Posted by in categories: biotech/medical, health

SANTA CLARA COUNTY, Calif. (KRON) — County officials have extended their declaration of a local health emergency in Santa Clara County due to the coronavirus outbreak.

Interactive Map: Track the coronavirus outbreak in real-time

Officials stressed that this does not mean there is an increased risk to the public.

Feb 11, 2020

This AI model improves and colorizes old videos and the results are stunning

Posted by in category: robotics/AI

Last week, my colleague Tristan wrote about an AI developer who used machine learning to upscale the famous 1895 train scene to 4K at 60 frames per second. While this was a great short watch, it made me wonder about using AI to restore and enhance old videos.

Thankfully, I stumbled upon a paper featured by the Two Minute Papers YouTube channel over the weekend that aims to improve and colorize these videos. The model uses Temporal Neural Network to identify and correct defects such as flickers in vintage videos.

Feb 11, 2020

Judge approves $26 billion merger of T-Mobile and Sprint

Posted by in category: internet

Several state attorneys general had argued that combining the No. 3 and No. 4 carriers would limit competition and result in higher prices for consumers.

Sprint and T-Mobile say their merger will help them compete against top players AT&T and Verizon, and advance efforts to build a nationwide 5G network. Andrew Harrer / Bloomberg via Getty Images file.

Feb 11, 2020

Scientists Invent A Way To Turn Sunlight Into Fuel

Posted by in category: energy

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Feb 11, 2020

Engineers Just Built an Impressively Stable Quantum Silicon Chip From Artificial Atoms

Posted by in categories: computing, particle physics, quantum physics

Newly created artificial atoms on a silicon chip could become the new basis for quantum computing.

Engineers in Australia have found a way to make these artificial atoms more stable, which in turn could produce more consistent quantum bits, or qubits — the basic units of information in a quantum system.

The research builds on previous work by the team, wherein they produced the very first qubits on a silicon chip, which could process information with over 99 percent accuracy. Now, they have found a way to minimise the error rate caused by imperfections in the silicon.

Feb 11, 2020

lIllI Humanoid

Posted by in category: robotics/AI

Our first Humanoid on! 🙌🏼

Thanks to @personalroboticsEU, lIllI (said leelee) is an open-source, fully mobile and freely programmable robot framework. The best thing is that you can develop this project with your computer, Arduino, Raspberry Pi or any of the countless mini computers on the market.

Feb 11, 2020

Via Virtual Reality, Mother Encounters Deceased Daughter: Science Fiction in the News

Posted by in categories: robotics/AI, transhumanism, virtual reality

Via Virtual Reality, Mother Encounters Deceased Daughter ‘But that barrier was going to melt away someday soon. The transhumanists had promised…’ — Stephen Baxter, 2008.

BabyX AI Real Enough For You ‘…what’s to keep me from showing face, Man? I’m showing a voice this instant… I can show a face the same way.’ — Robert Heinlein, 1966.

Continue reading “Via Virtual Reality, Mother Encounters Deceased Daughter: Science Fiction in the News” »

Feb 11, 2020

The greatest long-term threats facing humanity

Posted by in categories: alien life, futurism

This approach can be described as “physical eschatology” – a term coined by the astronomer Martin Rees for using astrophysics to model where the Universe is going. Rees took a cue from theology, in which “eschatology” is the study of ultimate things such as the end of the world. And the classic paper on the topic is Freeman Dyson’s 1979 paper on life in open universes, which outlined likely or possible existential catastrophes that could threaten life far into the future, from the death of the Sun to the detachment of stars from galaxies.


How long can civilisation survive? To thrive for billions of years, there will be a few troublesome problems to solve – from the death of the Sun to the decay of matter.