Lifeboat Foundation

Future of Life Institute illustrate their objection to automated lethal robots:

“Outrage swells within the international community, which demands that whoever is responsible for the atrocity be held accountable. Unfortunately, no one can agree on who that is”

The year is 2020 and intense fighting has once again broken out between Israel and Hamas militants based in Gaza. In response to a series of rocket attacks, Israel rolls out a new version of its Iron Dome air defense system. Designed in a huge collaboration involving defense companies headquartered in the United States, Israel, and India, this third generation of the Iron Dome has the capability to act with unprecedented autonomy and has cutting-edge artificial intelligence technology that allows it to analyze a tactical situation by drawing from information gathered by an array of onboard sensors and a variety of external data sources. Unlike prior generations of the system, the Iron Dome 3.0 is designed not only to intercept and destroy incoming missiles, but also to identify and automatically launch a precise, guided-missile counterattack against the site from where the incoming missile was launched. The day after the new system is deployed, a missile launched by the system strikes a Gaza hospital far removed from any militant activity, killing scores of Palestinian civilians. Outrage swells within the international community, which demands that whoever is responsible for the atrocity be held accountable. Unfortunately, no one can agree on who that is…

Continue reading “Who’s to Blame (Part 1): The Legal Vacuum Surrounding Autonomous Weapons” »

Could researchers found the magic bullet for cancer? NIH thinks possibly that they have.

Epigenetic marks seen across multiple cancers may serve as a biomarker for identifying solid tumor DNA in blood samples.

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Repeated incidents of inflammation in the stomach could mean a higher risk to colon cancer — new research released shows this.

“A quarter of the world’s population is affected by some type of gut inflammation and these patients always have a much higher chance of developing colon cancer,” said lead author Xiling Shen, associate professor at Duke University in North Carolina, US.

The scientists focussed on a microRNA — a class of naturally occurring, small non-coding ribonucleic acid (RNA) molecules — called miR-34a that gives cancer stem cells the odd ability to divide asymmetrically. This process controls the cancerous stem cell population and generates a diverse set of cells.

Continue reading “Inflammation in the Gut Increases Risk of Colon Cancer” »

Way to go CA!

Dr. Gregory Curtin, founder and CEO of Civic Resource Group, said during remarks Wednesday, Feb. 3, at the Government Transformation conference in Sacramento that augmented reality software and devices are on the market now in products like HoloLens and Magic Leap, and there are already “profound” use cases for AR in the public sector.

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https://youtube.com/watch?v=EZAH7GU1MJs

Ultrahaptics — VR with sense and feeling.

Tom Carter’s ultrasound technology lets you touch and manipulate virtual objects—attracting interest from Jaguar Land Rover, Harman and dozens of others.

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Will Retail Stores of the future include robots as service/ floor reps & cashiers as reps — I believe so.

SoftBank gives preview Of robotic retail with Pepper, its humanoid robot.

Is our new tech-savvy customer base ready for robotic sales associates? Japanese tech firm SoftBank says yes, and offers its humanoid robot, Pepper, as an example.

Continue reading “Will Retail Stores Of The Future Be Run By Robots?” »

https://youtube.com/watch?v=MGbGVGgoSPo

An article on transhumanism in the Huff Post:

Future Transhumanist City — Image by Sam Howzit

Transhumanism–the international movement that aims to use science and technology to improve the human being–has been growing quickly in the last few years. Everywhere one looks, there seems to be more and more people embracing radical technology that is already dramatically changing lives. Ideas that seemed science fiction just a decade ago are now here.

Continue reading “Strategies for Growing the Transhumanism Movement” »

Moley Chef Robots reappearing again today across the web. These do hold a lot of opportunity for restaurant franchises as well as homes. However, AI in a business has a break even point before the investment is no longer a wise or sound investment.

Always step back and look at the bigger picture 1st (e.g. look at all costs & any risks/ liabilities). Look at initial purchase/ lease costs, any write off/ depreciation opportunities, know your customer & your brand (if your restaurant is because of your master chef then a robot is a line chef which you consider how much your spending on a line chef as well as replacing them v. a robotic chef), know your local food & safety regs. Never good to put in a series of robotic chefs and local ordinances and city committees pass restrictions that forces you to de-install your $60K robot after 1 or 2 yrs.

Continue reading “Robot Chef Serves Up the Future of Home Cooking” »

Q-Dots improving wearables.

Spreading out iron dots on nanotubes could help create better wearable tech that is both reliable and more flexible. The technology looks beyond semiconductors, says lead researcher Yoke Khin Yap, and could change how we construct transistors.

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