Lifeboat Foundation

Most people probably aren’t aware of this, but the 2016 U.S. Presidential election included a candidate who had a radio-frequency identification chip implanted in his hand. No, it wasn’t Donald J. Trump. It was Zoltan Istvan, a nominee representing the Silicon Valley-based Transhumanist Party and his body-worn chip unlocked his front door, provided computer password access and sent an auto-text that said: “Win in 2016!”

The transhumanist movement – employing technology and radical science to modify humans – offers a glimpse into the marriage of machines and people, the focus of a recent paper released by the Institute for Critical Infrastructure Technology (ICIT). With cybernetic implants already available to consumers, the prospect for techno-human transmutation – cyborgs – is not as far away as many may think.

Continue reading “Why cyborg creators must self-govern security, privacy efforts” »

The agency wants ideas for turning computers into lifelong learners.

Planning to try and automate the entire store.

Walmart (WMT) has been quietly testing out autonomous floor scrubbers during the overnight shifts in five store locations near the company’s headquarters in Bentonville, Arkansas.

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Continue reading “Walmart is ‘secretly’ testing self-driving floor scrubbers, signaling that more robots are coming” »

But can it backflip?

The Pentagon is developing a new fleet of shadow bombers that possibly disappear on radar like those featured in Star Trek movies.

The unit of B-21 stealth bombers, a futuristic combat aircraft, are being created at a secret desert plant in Palmdale, California, after the company Northrop Grumman won the contract for their development two years ago, The Times reported.

The U.S. military has sanctioned the development of around 100 of the bat-like bombers for as much as $80 billion. The precise amount remains top secret.

Continue reading “The U.S. Military Is Building a Fleet of Star Trek-Inspired ‘Shadow’ Bombers Invisible to Radar” »

In a recent article, I began to unpack Rodney Brooks’ October 2017 essay “The Seven Deadly Sins of AI Predictions.” Now I continue my analysis by looking into the faulty atheistic thinking that motivates the AI salvation preached by futurists such as Google’s Ray Kurzweil. Although Brooks does not address this worldview dimension, his critique of AI predictive sins provides a great opportunity for just that.

Brooks is a pioneer of robotic artificial intelligence (AI) and is MIT Panasonic Professor of Robotics Emeritus. He is also the founder and chief technology officer of Rethink Robotics, which makes cobots—robots designed to collaborate with humans in a shared industrial workspace.

Previously I discussed Brooks’ remark that “all the evidence that I see says we have no real idea yet how to build” the superintelligent devices that Kurzweil and like-minded singularity advocates imagine.

Continue reading “What’s Wrong with Godless AI Technological Salvation, the Singularity?” »

Great news! Dr. Aubrey de Grey is going to be doing an AMA on Reddit. This is your chance to ask anything you like about SENS and the scientific progress we are making. Find out more about SENS and how you can help us at: http://www.sens.org/donate

With gene drives, scientists are trying to supercharge evolution to eradicate malaria and save endangered species from extinction. But is this DARPA-funded tech safe enough to test in the wild? One of its creators isn’t so sure.

Even very moderate activity levels can influence the risk of death, according to a new study led by the University of Buffalo. The study showed that there was a significant reduction of mortality risk in women over 65 who regularly engaged in light physical activites, such as household chores.

Yes, folding the laundry, ironing, vacuuming the house and other menial tasks might not seem the most glamorous of activities, but they may help you to live longer.