Lifeboat Foundation

S cientists have edited human embryos for the first time in the UK to discover a “master gene” that underpins successful pregnancies. The “game-changing” research promises improved IVF outcomes and a breakthrough in understanding why so many pregnancies fail.

The Government-funded investigation, undertaken by the Francis Crick Institute, is the first to prove that gene editing can be used to study the genetic behaviour of human embryos in their first few days of life.

The company TuNur aims to produce solar energy cheaply in the Sahara desert and distribute it to Europe. However, there are lingering questions about whether the company behind the project can actually pull it off.

Energy company TuNur is seeking approval from the Tunisian government for a 4.5GW solar park situated in the Sahara desert. If it’s given the green light, the project would distribute electricity to Malta, Italy, and France via submarine cables.

Today, U.S. Depart of Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao released the DoT and National Highway Traffic and Safety Administration’s new guidelines for automated driving systems. This is version 2.0 of a federal policy on self-driving cars, and Chao said it’s a “living document,” with plans already for version 3.0 to arrive in 2018.

These guidelines are called “A Vision for Safety 2.0,” which Chao says reflects their importance in terms of addressing the rising rate of traffic deaths in the U.S. Chao cited the most recent stats, which include the stat that 94 percent of serious motor vehicle accidents in the U.S. are due to human error, in presenting the new guidelines at an event today.

The new guidelines are designed to unify development of automation features, including full autonomy and advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS), and to help unify industry, local, state and federal government efforts to that end. It’s voluntary guidance, but it focuses on SAE Levels 3 through 5 automation, and it clarifies that companies don’t need to wait to begin testing and deploying their automated driving systems, and streamlines the self-assessment process for companies and organizations.

Continue reading “Department of Transportation releases new self-driving vehicle guidelines” »

Not much is known about Neuralink beyond Musk’s few public comments about the potential of brain-computer interfaces to accelerate human evolution. Musk sees real danger in artificial intelligence — he’s called AI a “fundamental risk to the existence of human civilization” — and believes that the best way to keep pace with machine intelligence is to upgrade human intelligence.

“Over time I think we will probably see a closer merger of biological intelligence and digital intelligence,” Musk told audience members at the World Government Conference in Dubai, proposing a high-bandwidth digital interface that can be interlaced with the brain to transmit data at the speed of thought.

Musk elaborated on the brain-computer interface — also known as a neural lace — in an interview published on the blog Wait But Why. In it, he said that the immense creative capacity of the human brain is constrained by the need to compress our highly complex thoughts into speech or typed text.

Continue reading “Elon Musk’s Neuralink Gets $27 Million to Merge Humans and Machines” »

WASHINGTON (Reuters) — President Donald Trump’s administration is set to unveil revised self-driving vehicle guidelines next week in Michigan, responding to automakers’ calls for elimination of legal barriers to putting autonomous vehicles on the road, sources briefed on the matter said on Tuesday.

U.S. Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao was expected to unveil the revised guidelines next Tuesday at a self-driving vehicle testing facility in Ann Arbor, Michigan, four people briefed on the matter said.

A spokesman for Chao did not immediately comment. The White House Office of Management and Budget approved the undisclosed Transportation Department changes to the guidelines on Aug. 31, according a posting on a government website.

Continue reading “U.S. to unveil revised self-driving car guidelines: sources” »

More films about China: https://rtd.rt.com/tags/china/
- Technology and innovation hub, Shenzhen is known as China’s “silicon valley” and “the city of the future”.
- Once a fishing village, in just 50 years it grew into a megacity packed with skyscrapers.
- It hosts international technology exhibitions and forums and attracts creators and investors from around the world, contributing to its population boom.
- Inventors and engineers working here, create helpful robots, hybrid cars and smart car parks.

China has a saying; to see the past, visit Beijing, to see the present, go to Shanghai but for the future, it’s Shenzhen. Shenzhen has transformed itself from a tiny fishing village to a megacity in just 50 years, its population tripling since the 1990s. The city is a magnet for tech-savvy and inventive dreamers from all across China and the world, because of them Shenzhen has become the “silicon valley” of China, a true technology and innovation hub.

Continue reading “Shenzhen: City of the Future. The high-tech life of China’s Silicon Valley” »

Here’s a people-friendly/business-friendly plan to replace Labor Day with Basic Income Day in America. Your half million dollars is waiting and yours! http://www.businessinsider.com/basic-income-with-federal-lan…2017-7 #FederalLandDividend

Futurist and 2018 libertarian candidate for California governor Zoltan Istvan outlines his plan to give everyone a government kickback from untapped land.

Article out by Ron Bailey at Reason Magazine that discusses #transhumanism and #libertarianism:

Kai Weiss, a researcher at the Austrian Economics Center and Hayek Institute in Vienna, Austria, swiftly denounced the piece. “Transhumanism should be rejected by libertarians as an abomination of human evolution,” he wrote.

Clearly there is some disagreement.

Continue reading “Transhumanism and Libertarianism Are Entirely Compatible” »

Dr. Aubrey de Grey gives his opinion on this, and explains how people can help support research at the SENS Research Foundation.

This video is presented by LEAF. Please support our work by becoming a “Lifespan Hero”: http://lifespan.io/hero

Panel: Dr. Alexandra Stolzing, Dr. Aubrey de Grey, Dr. Oliver Medvedik, Elena Milova, Keith Comito, Steve Hill and Alen Akhabaev.