In this video, Sir Harry Kroto talks about why carbon nanotubes will likely lead to stronger, better, safer materials, and potentially transition to “paradigm shifting” applications such as molecular electronics and lossless conduction of electricity.
Entrepreneur Magazine talks Singularity University
The October issue of Entrepreneur includes a feature on Singularity University, and how participants may be able to take what they learn throughout the program to create new business plans and models that will benefit populations in areas often ignored or marginalized.
“We want students to think big, but do so realistically,” (Founder Peter) Diamandis says. That’s why the curriculum focuses on solutions for developing countries and emerging markets–where the greatest untapped opportunities exist.
“The point is not to just have a good idea. It’s to really launch a project,” Kurzweil adds, noting that SU is providing opportunities for teams to receive capital from companies like ePlanet Ventures. They also get to pitch a crowd of investors during their final presentations.
As director of the Innovation Center at Un Techo para Chile, an NGO that invents products such as silicon mobile showers to improve the lives of impoverished Chileans, Julian Ugarte knows how crucial business strategy is in turning ideas into reality. “There’s obviously more water than soda in the world, but it’s easier to find Coca-Cola than fresh water in slums,” he says, “so if the Valley gets excited, the talent and resources here can make a real difference in the developing world.”
The article touches on some of the concepts of the singularity and transhumanism, but is appropriately focused on how these ideas will play a role in business.
If iCub learns to use a rifle, we’re in trouble
This video of humanoid robot iCub learning to accurately shoot a bow and arrow is interesting – the robot is evaluating each missed shot, and then making adjustments to improve its aim. It takes it eight tries to finally hit the target.
The learning algorithm, called ARCHER (Augmented Reward Chained Regression) algorithm, was developed and optimized specifically for problems like the archery training, which have a smooth solution space and prior knowledge about the goal to be achieved. In the case of archery, we know that hitting the center corresponds to the maximum reward we can get. Using this prior information about the task, we can view the position of the arrow’s tip as an augmented reward. ARCHER uses a chained local regression process that iteratively estimates new policy parameters which have a greater probability of leading to the achievement of the goal of the task, based on the experience so far. An advantage of ARCHER over other learning algorithms is that it makes use of richer feedback information about the result of a rollout.
While we’re talking robot archery, here’s a neat little video of toy humanoid robot i-SOBOT shooting a mini bow and arrow. There’s no calculation going on here to figure out where it should aim, but hey – robots with tiny weapons are still cool.
Panasonic announces hair washing robot
Japanese companies have worked to develop robots that will one day be able to assist with caring for the country’s rapidly aging population. The latest addition? Panasonic’s hair washing robot, which will be unveiled next week at the International Home Care & Rehabilitation Exhibition.
Two robot arms guide the 16 fingers, which have the same dexterity as human fingers, the company claimed. Sensors scan the person’s head to measure its shape and assure that just the right amount of pressure is applied when washing and rinsing, Panasonic said.
The machine also remembers each person’s head shape and preferred massage course so a repeat wash and rinse is as good as the first.
The robot was developed to assist caregivers in hospitals and health-care facilities and is the product of a Panasonic program that is developing robotic technology for health care and welfare services.
Panasonic has created other robots intended to ease caregivers’ workloads, including a bed that transforms into a wheelchair:
And a robot capable of doing dishes.
With rising health care costs, shortages of qualified nurses and caregivers and an aging population around the world, this area of robotics is going to progress rapidly.
Study shows Omega-3 fish oil may help preserve telomere length
Omega-3 fatty acids are an important part of the diet, and which most Americans aren’t getting nearly enough. O3s fight inflammation, may prevent cardiovascular disease, benefit mental health and even help prevent cancer.
Add another potential benefit to omega-3 fatty acids in the form of fish oil: they may preserve telomere length, thus protecting against cellular aging.
A study in the prestigious Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) showed patients who had the highest levels of EHA+DHA (an omega-3 fatty acid found in cold weather fish) had the slowest rates of telomere shortening over 5 years. On the contrary, those patients with the lowest levels of EHA+DHA experienced the fastest rate of shortening.
Leukocyte telomere length is an emerging marker of biological age that independently predicts morbidity and mortality in patients with cardiovascular diseases.28In this longitudinal study, we observed that baseline levels of ma- rine omega-3 fatty acids were associated with decelerated telomere attrition over 5 years. The association was linear and persisted after adjustment for potential confounders. These findings raise the possibility that omega-3 fatty acids may protect against cellular aging in patients with coronary heart disease.
The study authors pose two potential mechanisms for how omega-3 fish oil may protect telomeres. In the first, omega-3 fatty acids may protect against oxidative stress. In the second, omega-3s may increase the activity of the enzyme telomerase, which can preserve telomeres.
The full study is available on Scribd for the time being, so be sure to check it out. It’s fascinating and another reminder that I should be more vigilant about taking my regular spoonfuls of fish oil every day.
Who’s in the mood for existential threats?
Discover Magazine has a list of “30 Ways the World Could End,” which details exactly what it claims. To be fair, though, some of these aren’t exactly world-ending threats, but rather would spell the end of humanity as we know it. For instance, see this description of the technological singularity:
30 INFORMATION OVERLOAD Futurist Ray Kurzweil talks expansively about the coming “singularity,” a moment when human and machine intelligence become indistinguishable and the pace of progress accelerates unimaginably. If minds could be transferred to computers, Kurzweil argues, death would become meaningless. And if humans merged with their machines, the world as we know it would no longer exist. In the evolutionary sense, this could represent the emergence of a new species—Homo singularity?—that would be mostly technology driven. (And don’t ask what happens if the power fails.) Linguist Stephen Pinker dismisses this whole vision, likening it to the old predictions of domed cities and nuclear-powered cars. But Kurzweil claims he can provide the date when the singularity will arrive: 2045, just in time for DISCOVER’s 65th anniversary. ODDS: indeterminate, but likely—human-machine merging is starting already.
There’s similar thoughts on the idea of genetically engineered superhumans becoming the dominant species, thus leading to the demise of humble Homo sapiens like yours truly. While the original “20 Ways the World Could End” article included some pretty outlandish threats (“Divine Intervention,” “Alien Invasion” and “Someone wakes up and it was all a dream” are a few), it also outlined more plausible threats, like asteroid impacts and massive solar flares, that we can actually defend against to some extent.
Nonetheless, while I suppose any of these are possible end-of-the-world scenarios, I won’t be losing any sleep tonight.
To the mainstream, transhumanism is still really weird
Sometimes I’m reminded that many of the concepts transhumanists regularly discuss and work toward – cryonics, mind uploading, molecular nanotechnology, life extension and so on – are still extremely foreign and odd to most humans. Try telling your friends you hope to live forever through advanced technologies and see how they react. Then talk to them about the technologies that might enable you to do so.
In this article from AlterNet, a writer discusses the “Bizarre Libertarian Plan of Uploading Brains into Robots to Escape Society.” Setting aside his mistaken presumption that all transhumanists share a libertarian political persuasion (although several prominent voices do), he describes several advanced technologies and concepts central to transhumanist thought and comes to the following conclusion:
No one wants to die, but the thought of living forever among narcissistic libertarian cyborgs makes death’s cold embrace seem more like a squishy hug from the Easter Bunny.
Now AlterNet is a “liberal” blog, but I think this post would have been far more interesting had it compared the approach to transhuman concepts from both a libertarian viewpoint and a democratic transhumanist viewpoint as espoused by thinkers like Dr. James Hughes or George Dvorsky.
Politics aside, though, this article does illustrate how most people view transhumanism. First, these technologies are so radical it’s difficult for most people to wrap their minds around them As a result, transhumanist thinkers get labeled as, at best, idealists, and at worst, cranks. Second, even if you convince people that these technologies are feasible and are on their way, it’s a challenge to convince them that they’re desirable. I’m still amazed more people aren’t enthusiastic about the concept that they might never have to die a natural death.
Transhumanism’s struggle in the near future will be portraying itself in ways that aren’t scary, weird or off-putting. Even so, as transhumanist technologies advance I expect a much larger (and organized) backlash. Good, proactive PR can go a long way toward helping to mitigate negative sentiment.
H+ Magazine is back!
A scant month-and-a-half ago I lamented the hiatus of H+ Magazine, which was a truly stellar periodical. Or, perhaps I should say *is* a stellar periodical, because it’s back with a new publisher!
The design, launch, and initial management of a new magazine, as with any startup, is the most exciting, but also the most risky period in the life of the project. When H+ Magazine was born, its publisher, Betterhumans,Inc., did a great job creating great design and content — and brought together a community around it.
After an initial period, the magazine has been donated to Humanity+. We are very grateful for this. With the efforts of R.U. Sirius, who stays on as Editor, we hope to be able to continue attracting curious readers who want to learn about technology, society, the evolution of the human condition, and all the exciting topics that we will cover in the future.
Can’t wait to read the next issue.
New powered exoskeletons to assist military, disabled
Despite similar concepts and design, two new robotic exoskeletons designed to assist humans are intended for very different audiences and very different purposes. The first is designed to enhance a person’s strength while preserving mobility. The second is designed to provide mobility to those in which it has been severely restricted.
HULC, or Human Universal Load Carrier, is an exoskeleton designed by Lockheed Martin to assist soldiers carrying heavy loads in the field. According to its manufacturer, HULC allows soldiers to carry up to 200 pounds for extended periods of time while preserving the user’s range of movement – including “deep squats, crawls and upper body lifting.”
As you can see in Lockheed’s promotional video above, HULC isn’t a bulky exoskeleton that provides strength in exchange for mobility. Users appear to be able to move quickly and easily even over rough terrain.
The U.S. Army is apparently intrigued by the concept, and this week announced a $1.1 million contract to actually field a few HULC units among active troops. While $1.1 million is a relative drop in the bucket as far as military spending goes, it may foretell a future in which assistive exoskeletons become common in the military for logistics staff and even soldiers engaged in combat.
New Zealand firm Rex Bionics took a different approach with their “robotic legs,” which are designed to allow the disabled to walk. The company notes the Rex is not intended to be a wheelchair replacement, but is instead a way to augment a chair – for instance, when needing to travel up and down stairs or access items stored at a standing height.
Having been in development for the last seven years. the Rex is expected to go on sale “soon” in its home country and is expected to cost $150,000.
“What if the doctor was your cell phone?”
Many people around the world (and in the United States) do not have reliable access to medical care. This may be due to geographical factors, financial factors, cultural factors, or a combination thereof. However, mobile phone adoption continues to grow rapidly in both developed and underdeveloped countries.
With fast rates of adoption and increasing levels of computing power available through mobile phones to people around the world, the X PRIZE Foundation is looking to “inspire creation” of “The AI Physician X PRIZE,” which would use artificial intelligence to “diagnose patients better than board certified doctors.”
While this technology would certainly be a boon for many, a diagnosis is only the first part in healing a patient. Those without access to care would still be left without a means of actual treatment due to the same three factors that would prevent them from getting diagnosed. Gotta crawl before you walk, though, I suppose.
(Via Scope)