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Lifeboat News #222

#222

Lifeboat News

This issue published on 01/01/21. Copyright 2021 Lifeboat Foundation. All Rights Reserved.

Guardian Award

The 2020 Lifeboat Foundation Guardian Award has been given to David Brin in recognition of his long-term interest in existential risks including his ongoing support of the Lifeboat Foundation.
 
David Brin is an American scientist and author of science fiction. He has won the Hugo, Locus, Campbell, and Nebula Awards. His novel The Postman was adapted into a 1997 feature film starring Kevin Costner.
 
As a scientist, tech-consultant, and world-known author, David speaks, advises, and writes widely on topics from national defense and homeland security to astronomy and space exploration, SETI and nanotechnology, future/prediction, creativity, and philanthropy. Urban Developer Magazine named him one of four World’s Best Futurists, and he was appraised as the “#1 influencer” in Onalytica’s Top 100 report of Artificial Intelligence influencers, brands, and publications. His insights have been sought by groups such as Northrup-Grumman, Johns Hopkins, the MIT Media Lab, Google, Microsoft, South by Southwest, IBM, and more.
 
Learn more at https://lifeboat.com/ex/press.releases....d.winner

James E. Gunn Memorial

James E. Gunn joins our Memorial Board at https://lifeboat.com/ex/board.memorial after dying at age 97. James Gunn contributed to our most recent book, “Visions of the Future” at https://amzn.to/2N8X2X9. He was also one of our board members who nominated David Brin for the Guardian Award so we were sad that he died before he learned that we had gone with his suggestion.
 
James Gunn gave the Lifeboat Foundation financial backing and also presented our Lifeboat to the Stars award as documented at https://lifeboat.com/ex/press.releases.....winners. He was also the person who named the award and he suggested the award concept to us along with our board member Frederik Pohl.
 
Jim had many accomplishments including a Hugo Award and was President of the Science Fiction Writers of America and of the Science Fiction Research Association. The Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America made him its 24th Grand Master in 2007, and he was inducted by the Science Fiction and Fantasy Hall of Fame in 2015. His novel “The Immortals” was adapted into a 1970–71 TV series starring Christopher George.
 
We will miss him!

Lifeboat Strategy

By James Blodgett
 
Our human future could be very good or very bad. We might settle the reachable universe, we might live forever, or we might go extinct. What we do right now might make the difference.
 
How can one human among billions make a difference? The “right stuff” test pilots have an aphorism: when the airplane is about to crash, don’t scream in terror, instead “fly the airplane”. Pilots have landed planes with damaged aileron control by gunning the engines to climb, lowering power to descend, and directing power to right and left engines, more to one and less to the other, to turn. If nothing else can be done, it might be possible to point the plane away from a city center and bail out.
 
Humanity can also be steered, heroes of history have done so. We are Lifeboat Foundation members, and we have something to contribute, or we wouldn’t be Lifeboat members. If we can think of good ideas, we might become heroes of history. Strategy is important, and is part of a good idea. Not making mistakes is important, and is part of good strategy.

Books

Read “Alien Puzzle Boxes: Twenty short science fiction stories” by Jeremy Lichtman at https://amzn.to/3b9HX6R.

Papers

Read “Synthetic biology for Entrepreneurs: Innovations in the Healthcare Sector” by Guido Putignano at https://guido-putignano.medium.com/synt...7c249f24.

TransVision 2021

The TransVision 2021 Conference will be held June 4–6 at Ateneo de Madrid. Our Didier Coeurnelle, José Luis Cordeiro, Felipe Debasa, Aubrey de Grey, Ben Goertzel, Rodolfo Goya, Andrés Grases, Rudi Hoffman, Charlie Kam, Ray Kurzweil, João Pedro Magalhães, Jim Mellon, Elena Milova, Liz Parrish, David Pearce, Valerija Pride, Ramón Risco, Anders Sandberg, Paul Spiegel, Melanie Swan, Sergio Tarrero, Philippe Van Nedervelde, and Natasha Vita-More will be speaking at this global futurist summit.
 
Learn more at http://www.transvisionmadrid.com.

Robin Hanson

Robin Hanson, author of “The Age of Em: Work, Love, and Life When Robots Rule the Earth”, joins our Robotics/AI Board.
 
Learn more at https://lifeboat.com/ex/bios.robin.d.hanson.

Blog

Jeffery Pacheco joins our blog team with the post “Wormholes may be lurking in the universe — and new studies are proposing ways of finding them” at https://lifeboat.com/blog/2021/01/wormh...ing-them
 
Recent interesting blog posts include:
 
“Accelerating AI computing to the speed of light” by Saúl Morales Rodriguéz at https://lifeboat.com/blog/2021/01/accel...of-light
 
“Apple’s 2021 chip strategy will create a massively parallel universe” by Quinn Sena at https://lifeboat.com/blog/2020/12/apple...universe
 
“Artificial cornea allows a blind man to regain his eyesight” by Raphael Ramos at https://lifeboat.com/blog/2021/01/artif...eyesight
 
“Artificial intelligence in longevity medicine” by Montie Adkins at https://lifeboat.com/blog/2021/01/artif...medicine
 
“Black holes leak energy when they eat plasma near the event horizon” by Dan Kummer at https://lifeboat.com/blog/2021/01/black...-horizon
 
“Brain-to-brain communication demo receives DARPA funding” by Genevieve Klien at https://lifeboat.com/blog/2021/01/brain...-funding
 
“The Changing World Order: Why Nations Succeed and Fail” by Derick Lee at https://lifeboat.com/blog/2021/01/the-c...and-fail
 
“Clearance of senescent cells for improved cognition” by Quinn Sena at https://lifeboat.com/blog/2021/01/clear...ognition
 
“CRISPR doubles lifespan of mice with rapid ageing disease progeria” by Paul Battista at https://lifeboat.com/blog/2021/01/crisp...progeria
 
“‘Designer baby’ book trilogy explores the moral dilemmas humans may soon create” by Shailesh Prasad at https://lifeboat.com/blog/2021/01/desig...n-create
 
“Facebook Knows What You Are Doing Even If The App Is Not Installed On Your Phone” by Poopeh Morakkabati at https://lifeboat.com/blog/2021/01/faceb...ur-phone
 
“Father of the Web Tim Berners-Lee prepares ‘do-over’” by Muhammad Furqan at https://lifeboat.com/blog/2021/01/fathe...-do-over
 
“The FBI is Secretly Breaking Into Encrypted Devices. We’re Suing” by Brent Ellman at https://lifeboat.com/blog/2020/12/the-f...re-suing
 
“How to get people from Earth to Mars (and safely back again)” by Montie Adkins at https://lifeboat.com/blog/2020/12/how-t...ck-again
 
“Inside Singapore’s huge bet on vertical farming” by Dan Kummer at https://lifeboat.com/blog/2021/01/insid...-farming
 
“Is resurrection possible? Researchers catalogue the ways science may achieve it” by Paul Battista at https://lifeboat.com/blog/2021/01/is-re...hieve-it
 
“Jeff Bezos Is Backing an Ancient Kind of Nuclear Fusion” by Quinn Sena at https://lifeboat.com/blog/2021/01/jeff-...r-fusion
 
“Latest Starlink Satellites Equipped with Laser Communications, Musk Confirms” by Muhammad Furqan at https://lifeboat.com/blog/2021/01/lates...confirms
 
“Life Discovered in Deep Ocean Sediments at Temperatures Above Water’s Boiling Point” by Genevieve Klien at https://lifeboat.com/blog/2021/01/life-...ng-point
 
“Loneliness As Deadly As Smoking — How It Impacts Your Health & Longevity” by Mark Parkins at https://lifeboat.com/blog/2021/01/lonel...ongevity
 
“Meet Digit: A Smart Little Robot That Could Change the Way Self-Driving Cars Make Deliveries” by Omuterema Akhahendra at https://lifeboat.com/blog/2021/01/meet-...liveries
 
“Microbial Products Affect the Hallmarks Of Aging: 1) Mitochondrial Function” by Mike Lustgarten at https://lifeboat.com/blog/2020/12/micro...function
 
“NASA astronaut Kate Rubins harvests radishes grown in space” by Genevieve Klien at https://lifeboat.com/blog/2020/12/nasa-...in-space
 
“New technique builds super-hard metals from nanoparticles” by Saúl Morales Rodriguéz at https://lifeboat.com/blog/2021/01/new-t...articles
 
“The Physical Effects of Living in Space Could Create a New Human Species” by Lola Heavey at https://lifeboat.com/blog/2021/01/the-p...-species
 
“Police Robots Are Not a Selfie Opportunity, They’re a Privacy Disaster Waiting to Happen” by Shailesh Prasad at https://lifeboat.com/blog/2021/01/polic...o-happen
 
“Possibility of one-dose vaccine raises hopes for faster rollout” by Poopeh Morakkabati at https://lifeboat.com/blog/2020/12/possi...-rollout
 
“Rare quadruple-helix DNA found in living human cells with glowing probes” by Saúl Morales Rodriguéz at https://lifeboat.com/blog/2021/01/rare-...g-probes
 
“Scientists Create Underwater Internet” by Brent Ellman at https://lifeboat.com/blog/2020/12/scien...internet
 
“Scientists develop new gene therapy strategy to delay aging” by Montie Adkins at https://lifeboat.com/blog/2021/01/scien...ay-aging
 
“Scientists Discover a Way to Control the Immune System’s ‘Natural Killer’ Cells With ‘Invisible’ Stem Cells” by Paul Battista at https://lifeboat.com/blog/2021/01/scien...em-cells
 
“Scientists ‘program’ living bacteria to store data” by Muhammad Furqan at https://lifeboat.com/blog/2021/01/scien...ore-data
 
“Shoot for the Moon: Its Surface Contains a Pot of Gold” by Lola Heavey at https://lifeboat.com/blog/2021/01/shoot...-of-gold
 
“Sleep Deprivation Worse Than Being Drunk” by Mark Parkins at https://lifeboat.com/blog/2021/01/sleep...ng-drunk
 
“Solar panels made from food waste win inaugural James Dyson Sustainability Award” by Brent Ellman at https://lifeboat.com/blog/2020/12/solar...ty-award
 
“Sweden: World’s First Cashless Society” by Roger Dufur at https://lifeboat.com/blog/2020/12/swede...-society
 
“Ten Chinese chip start-ups whose founders have foreign experience” by Derick Lee at https://lifeboat.com/blog/2020/12/ten-c...perience
 
“This System Lets You Fly a Drone With Arm Gestures” by Raphael Ramos at https://lifeboat.com/blog/2020/12/this-...gestures
 
“Tiny Nuclear Reactors Are the Future of Energy” by Derick Lee at https://lifeboat.com/blog/2020/12/tiny-...f-energy
 
“US Department of Homeland Security warns American business not to use Chinese tech or let data behind the Great Firewall” by Raphael Ramos at https://lifeboat.com/blog/2020/12/us-de...firewall
 
“UV-LED disinfection of Coronavirus: Wavelength effect” by Omuterema Akhahenda at https://lifeboat.com/blog/2020/12/uv-le...h-effect
 
“VR leaps into the disruptive phase” by Omuterema Akhahenda at https://lifeboat.com/blog/2020/12/vr-le...ve-phase

Growing Membership

We now have over 4,200 donors!
 
Recent donations/pledges we have received since our last newsletter:
 
Dave Davies: $200, Michael Dickey: $85, Kenneth P. Weiss: $85, Anonymous: $60, Sam Gutterman: $50, Thomas Weiser: $30, Bill Barbour: $25, Hamilton HVAC Pros: $25, Alexia Idoura: $25, Matthew L. McGuirl: $25, Allt Om Smslån: $20, Rebecca R. Cooper: $10, Susan Cutforth: $10, Dog Bite King Las Vegas: $10, FastBay: $10, Anthony L. Haynor: $10, Tommy Ledbetter: $10, Alexander Macrae: $10, Craig Olschansky: $10, Patrik Sandin: $10, Roland Schiefer: $10, David Shumaker: $10, CouponsXDeals: $5, Dart Bars: $5, Fluffy Favourites Slot Sites: $5, iBEE Digital Solution: $5, Knife Guardian: $5, NC Paving Services of Burlington NC: $5, Sånghäfte.se: $5, St George Towing: $5, Buffalo Appliance Repair: $2, CBD TopReview: $2, Charles County DUI Attorney: $2, Citrus Heights Tree Service: $2, Cleanline Builders: $2, Dynamic Home Remodeling: $2, EwalletVIP: $2, FarmFoodFamily: $2, Frisco Appliance Repair: $2, Grindago: $2, Manifest Like Whoa!: $2, Metro Queens Epoxy CO.: $2, Mets Minor League Blog: $2, Mmosky Game Service: $2, OvrClock: $2, Sober Alley: $2, True Appliance Repair: $2, 247 Electric Expert Electrician: $1, Air Duct / Dryer Vent Cleaning Glendale: $1, Air Duct / Dryer Vent Cleaning Mesa: $1, Air Duct / Dryer Vent Cleaning Phoenix: $1, Air Duct / Dryer Vent Cleaning Surprise: $1, Air Duct / Dryer Vent Cleaning Tempe: $1, Bakersfield Car Detail: $1, Bakersfield Concrete: $1, Bitnewsbot: $1, Broadway Interiors: $1, Bunbury Dog Grooming and Washing: $1, Cash Jargon: $1, Casino Dino: $1, Casinos Ohne Deutsche Lizenz: $1, Controllo A Distanza: $1, Delian Restorations: $1, Dimension7.ch: $1, Dumpster Rental Brooklyn: $1, Electrical Services: $1, El Paso Appliance Repair: $1, El Paso Carpet Cleaning: $1, El Paso Landscaping: $1, El Paso Windshield Repair: $1, Epoxy Xpert Resources: $1, Fastest YouTube Downloader: $1, French Hair Couture: $1, GadgetsToCompare: $1, The Golfing Pro: $1, Home Tune Little Rock: $1, Kayakiye.com: $1, Laatukasinot: $1, Laatukasinot.com: $1, Lelaki.my: $1, Lokasi Percutian: $1, Los Angeles Concrete Contractors: $1, Mackay Pro Painters: $1, McKinney Car Detail: $1, MyBangla24: $1, Nakupodbornik.cz: $1, nSpek: $1, Oregonized Accounts: $1, Riva Cnc: $1, Rochester Towing Service: $1, Roofing South Bend: $1, Sacramento Drywall: $1, Sacramento Roofer Co.: $1, Steuerberater Offerten: $1, TipsMotion: $1, Up Digital: $1, The World Wide Directory: $1, Yonip Network: $1, and Zdrav Stil Zivota: $1.