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Jul 17, 2018
Transhumanism Trouble? Could Happen. Here’s How To Save The World
Posted by Derick Lee in categories: economics, robotics/AI, transhumanism
What we need to do, to prevent global wealth inequality and advanced technology from adding up to produce global catastrophe, is increase equitability of opportunity. We need to enable everyone in the world to have the opportunity to really play the modern global economic-social game.
AI scientist BEN GOERTZEL believes that advanced technologies will change the world and transform our species in the process — unless tragedy strikes. Here’s how we ought to save the world if it does …
Jul 16, 2018
Pentagon sees quantum computing as key weapon for war in space
Posted by Klaus Baldauf in categories: computing, military, quantum physics, space
The military wants to apply quantum computing to secure communications and inertial navigation in GPS denied environments.
Jul 16, 2018
First driverless, electric, off-road logging truck rolls into Goodwood
Posted by Dan Kummer in categories: employment, robotics/AI, transportation
https://youtube.com/watch?v=m5HGUY3xxf8
Full automation of things like Logging, and Mining is not that far off. A humanoid robot that can do all the tasks of those sorts of jobs is already really close, the main issue right now is copying Human Hands, and it is almost there. Then, having vehicles like this to haul the stuff out of there. And, then those jobs are gone for good.
It might not be the quickest vehicle at the event, but Swedish transport company Einride has chosen the Goodwood Festival of Speed to reveal the T-log, an autonomous, electric logging truck. Incorporating some unusual purpose-built design for the niche logging market, the vehicle is designed to go off-road and to navigate forest roads with and without loads.
Jul 16, 2018
Ionic materials could achieve 50% higher energy density while costing less than $100 per kwh
Posted by Bill Kemp in categories: energy, materials
Ionic Materials received an investment from Hyundai Cradle. Ionic Materials has a polymer electrolyte that can make higher performing and safer solid-state batteries. Prototype batteries with Ionic Materials’ solid plastic electrolyte can enable higher energy densities at low cost.
Properties of Ionic Materials polymer
Up to 1.3 mS/cm at room temperature Lithium transference number of 0.7 High voltage capability (5 volts) Can accommodate high loadings in the cathode High elastic modulus Low cost precursors Stable against Lithium Conducts multiple ions.
Jul 16, 2018
Plutonium Was Stolen From the Back of a Van at a Texas Marriott
Posted by Genevieve Klien in categories: energy, government, military
Their task was to ensure that the radioactive materials did not fall into the wrong hands on the way back to Idaho, where the government maintains a stockpile of nuclear explosive materials for the military and others.
To ensure they got the right items, the specialists from Idaho brought radiation detectors and small samples of dangerous materials to calibrate them: specifically, a plastic-covered disk of plutonium, a material that can be used to fuel nuclear weapons, and another of cesium, a highly radioactive isotope that could potentially be used in a so-called “dirty” radioactive bomb.
But when they stopped at a Marriott hotel just off Highway 410, in a high-crime neighborhood filled with temp agencies and ranch homes, they left those sensors on the back seat of their rented Ford Expedition. When they awoke the next morning, the window had been smashed and the special valises holding these sensors and nuclear materials had vanished.
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Jul 16, 2018
Scientists Discovered a Quadrillion Diamonds Hidden Deep Within the Earth
Posted by Genevieve Klien in category: chemistry
In a new study published in “Geochemistry, Geophysics, Geosystems” an international team of scientists explain that there may be more than a quadrillion tons of diamonds scattered throughout the Earth, buried in ancient slabs of rocks known as cratonic roots. They came across these by studying seismic wave movement.
Jul 16, 2018
This wearable allows humans to control machines with their minds
Posted by Shailesh Prasad in categories: biotech/medical, robotics/AI, virtual reality, wearables
CTRL-labs’s noninvasive neural interface allows people to control computers, robots and applications by tracking electrical activity generated when a person thinks about moving. This electrical activity is detected by an armband outfitted with sensors and decoded by a computer. The team thinks the technology will initially be used for augmented and virtual reality, but CTRL-labs is already experimenting with medical applications.
Jul 16, 2018
Watch a self-driving car complete Goodwood’s legendary hill climb
Posted by Shailesh Prasad in categories: robotics/AI, transportation
Want a hint of how the automotive zeitgeist is changing? You only need to look at the just-ended Goodwood Festival of Speed. Roborace has carved out a small niche in history with the first self-driving vehicle to successfully complete Goodwood’s famous hill climb, where vehicles have to tackle a gradual 300-foot ascent that includes narrow hay- and brick-lined passages. It wasn’t a flat-out assault, but the attempt (which was preceded by a practice run) went off without a hitch — which you can’t say for the other autonomous contender at the festival.
Siemens had prepared an autonomous Ford Mustang that carried none other than the festival’s founder, the Duke of Richmond, through the run. Technically, it did complete the run — but only with help from a safety driver, who had to repeatedly take over as the modified coupe threatened to plow into hay bales. This came despite Siemens’ team having 3D-mapped the course and plotted the route in advance.
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