Lifeboat Foundation

Westworld’s first season was largely focused on the abuse of artificial life, given that the park hosts’ purpose almost exclusively revolved around sex, violence, and suffering. The freedom Dolores and her ilk were fighting for was simple consciousness—a right to their own memories and self-awareness. In just the first four episodes, Westworld’s second season has exploded that basic quest into all kinds of fascinating directions, but “The Riddle of the Sphinx” was the first to really grapple with one of the most obvious questions in AI, which is: Isn’t artificial intelligence the key to immortality?

Three Atlantic staffers discuss “The Riddle of the Sphinx,” the fourth episode of Season 2.

Don’t panic.

An asteroid the size of the Statue of Liberty is set to narrowly miss Earth on Tuesday evening. Luckily, it won’t actually smack into our planet or cause any da.

It’s growing so rapidly that it’s shining thousands of times more brightly than an entire galaxy.

A “supermassive” black hole swallowing up the mass of our sun every two days has been found by Australian astronomers.

Astronomers at the Australian National University (ANU), led by Dr Christian Wolf of the Research School of Astronomy and Astrophysics, found the fastest-growing black hole known in the universe by looking back more than 12 billion years to what they call “the early dark ages of the universe.”

Continue reading “The fastest-growing black hole in the universe eats a sun every 48 hours — and astronomers have found it” »

May 15 (UPI) — Until now, scientists weren’t sure how gene activation mechanisms avoided nucleosomes, the bodyguards tasked with keeping DNA turned off.

Researchers at the University of California, San Diego, however, have pinpointed a key factor responsible for unraveling nucleosome structures and allowing genes to be activated.

Geneticists described the newly identified nucleosome destabilizing factor, or NDF, this week in the journal Genes and Development.

Continue reading “Key part of human gene activation revealed by new study” »

By combining virtual reality with a brain-based computer interface, researchers hope to create more immersive, lifelike experiences for gaming and health care applications.

The University of Southern California is developing the means to control and direct radio frequency energy to destroy cancer tumors…

A new technique from the University of Southern California uses radio-frequency waves to burn away tumors as doctor’s monitor the procedure in real-time.

Please don’t pay any attention to this posting. It is not for you… *

This graph presents indisputable fact: It compares US dollar growth as reported by the US government and Bitcoin growth (for all time), extrapolated by pure math.

I wish that this would put to bed the fake news, conspiracy theories, and “nothing backs it” nonsense. Unfortunately, seismic shifts in architecture or process take time for society to understand and accept. Early adopters will be the fortunate buckos. Timid or clueless denizens will complain bitterly about the unfair advantage of those who wise up before it hits a 6 figure exchange rate. Eventually, comparisons with legacy currencies will be utterly meaningless. It will become the currency. It will be the gold-pressed latinum of universal recognition and intrinsic value.

15 years from now, some will look back on our era and claim that the Winkelvoss twins were lucky. Risk, patience and an understanding of economics is not ‘luck’. They have the gift of prescience.

Continue reading “The USD is Tulip Mania—BTC is not” »

When it’s complete, the Giant Magellan Telescope will be as tall as the Statue of Liberty. On this podcast episode, an astronomy expert explains what the enormous telescope can teach us about the universe.

The power of the cloud, artificial intelligence, and machine learning is making smart cities and data-based Location of Things navigation a reality. Join the Principal Product Manager for Microsoft Azure Maps and others and learn how advanced location technology will revolutionize everything from autonomous cars to connected cities. Don’t miss this VB Live event!

Register here for free.

Location data is the foundation of technology: It’s what binds a device and a user, a user and the environment they’re in. And as location data moves to the cloud and gets smarter, powered by artificial intelligence and machine learning, the number of potential applications for smart location data is exploding, says Chris Pendleton, Principal PM for Azure Maps. We’re on the threshold of creating a smarter society, built on the hundreds of millions of connected devices that together create The Location of Things.

Continue reading “How Microsoft is using location data to map the future (VB Live)” »