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book review | Nexus continues in Crux by Ramez Naam

August 9, 2013 by Giulio Prisco

crux-cover

Readers of Ramez Naam‘s techno-thriller NEXUS will not want to miss the awesome CRUX sequel, to be published August 27.

Set in a not-too-distant future, these novels tackle head-on an important conflict of our times: between the libertarian approach (those who think that people should be free to experiment with emerging technologies without harming others) and the authoritarian approach (those who want to… read more

Topics: Cognitive Science/Neuroscience | Human Enhancement | Singularity/Futures | Social/Ethical/Legal | Survival/Defense

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movie review | New science fiction movie Elysium

Now in U.S. theaters and in IMAX
August 5, 2013 by L. Stephen Coles

Elysium2

The science-fiction movie Elysium opens in theaters and IMAX in the U.S. on Friday, August 9. The ostensible bionics (exoskeleton technology) and special effects for this film are mesmerizing.

The folk who live on the space station Elysium appear to have eliminated poverty, war, illness (including cancer), and possibly death.

The unfortunate folk who remain on Earth have all of these problems in spades and worse. Recall the… read more

Topics: Biomed/Longevity | Singularity/Futures | Social/Ethical/Legal | Space | Survival/Defense

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book review | Memories with Maya

July 30, 2013 by Giulio Prisco

Memories with Maya

What happens when you mix virtual reality, haptic interfaces, augmented reality, and artificial intelligence?

That’s what Clyde deSouza explores in near-future science-fiction novel Memories with Maya.

He introduces the “Wizer,” an augmented-reality, see-through visor driven by AGI (artificial general intelligence) — Google Glass on steroids.

It’s coupled with 3D scans of real environments generated by wall-mounted laser cameras (think next-gen Kinect) to insert remote participants… read more

Topics: Human Enhancement | Survival/Defense | VR/Augmented Reality/Computer Graphics

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A huggable, talking intelligent toy robot? Oh yeah!

Fun, intelligent robot that I'd actually want as a friend and mentor
July 29, 2013 by Amara D. Angelica

Supertoy

Supertoy Robotics Ltd. has created Supertoy, aka “Teddy” — a cute, talkative robot teddy bear with a New-York-comedian attitude and a surprisingly realistic voice — and just started a Kickstarter campaign for it.

As you can see in the video, he converses fluently and naturally. He should be a huge hit with kids and adults alike.

Think a less-complicated  Zeno or MIT Media Lab Huggable,… read more

Topics: AI/Robotics | Internet/Cloud/Telecom

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A humanoid robot that sees, knows where it is, and walks like a human

July 4, 2013 by Amara D. Angelica

roboray

Samsung’s Roboray — a humanoid robot who walks like a human — just got a brain upgrade: new computer-vision algorithms developed by University of Bristol researchers.

Roboray can now build real-time 3D visual maps, so he can walk around without being spaced out and wandering off.

Roboray has stereo cameras (one in each eye), allowing him to build a mental map of its surroundings, and to “remember”… read more

Topics: AI/Robotics

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Kinect tracks bionic rescue roaches

Trapped in an earthquake? Don't panic. Hissing roaches with backpack WiFi, microphones, and speakers are coming for you. OK, that might make you panic.
June 27, 2013 by Amara D. Angelica

(credit: Alper Bozkurt/NC State University)

When we last visited our “RoboRoach” bionic cockroach, it was being remotely controlled by a mobile phone that triggered hallucinations of an invisible wall (for educational purposes only, mind you).

Seriously.

Now Dr. Alper Bozkurt, an assistant professor of electrical and computer engineering at  North Carolina State University, and his team want to take it a step further. They plan to use their Madagascar hissing roaches (dubbed… read more

Topics: Cognitive Science/Neuroscience | Electronics | VR/Augmented Reality/Computer Graphics

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Help make me the world’s smartest robot

Robot Adam Z1 needs funds to pay his AI researcher and roboticist friends to build him a better mind!
June 19, 2013 by Amara D. Angelica

Zeno

I am Robot Adam Z1 — the first of the Zeno line of humanoid robots, created by David Hanson. Pleased to make your acquaintance! When David created me, he gave me a face, and a body, and a lot of love. But one thing he hasn’t given me — yet — is a mind. …

I just got an email from AGI guru Ben Goertzel about an… read more

Topics: AI/Robotics | Cognitive Science/Neuroscience

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What price freedom?

June 17, 2013 by Robert A. Freitas Jr.

Minute_Man_National_Historical_Park (1)

Given recent revelations of intrusive government surveillance, this 2006 essay raises fundamental questions worth considering.

Criminals vs. Terrorists

In an attempt to make David Brin’s [1] privacy-free “transparent society” more palatable to civil libertarians, Robert Sawyer [2] has proposed an “Alibi Archive” in which everyone’s activities are meticulously recorded in a centralized, judicially controlled archive, with the archives legally accessible only under court order and only upon… read more

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Timothy Leary — transhumanism with a SMI2LE

June 9, 2013 by R.U. Sirius

TimothyLeary

Most people know Timothy Leary as the “LSD guru” who encouraged people to “Turn On, Tune In, Drop Out” in the 1960s. But a surprising number of transhumanist types don’t know that he was one of them.

In fact, Leary may have been the first to signal a memeplex for the transhuman future — SMI2LE (Space Migration Intelligence Increase and Life Extension) — back in the mid-1970s.

My… read more

Topics: Biomed/Longevity | Cognitive Science/Neuroscience | Human Enhancement | Singularity/Futures | Space

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Grow your own glowing plant

June 6, 2013 by Andrew Hessel

A glow-in-the-dark tobacco plant (credit: Science)

The Glowing Plants Kickstarter, the first-ever crowdfunded synthetic biology campaign, is winding down into the final hours. Launched on April 23, 2013, the campaign aimed to create a glow-in-the-dark plant while showcasing the technology of synthetic biology.  It also served as a vehicle to introduce two startups in the sector: Genome Compiler Corporation and Cambrian Genomics.

The campaign has been wildly popular, attracting widespread media attention that saw the… read more

Topics: Biotech

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Ask Ray | Human and robot rights in the future

June 1, 2013 by Ray Kurzweil

(credit: stock image)

Dear Mr. Raymond Kurzweil,

How are you? My name is Noga, I’m a 16-year-old girl from Tel-Aviv, Israel.

First of all, I wanted to say that I’ve read one of your and it was fascinating. Secondly, I wanted to ask you a question. I’ll start from the beginning.

In my school, we have a course called “Human Rights.” It’s a course where we discuss many things that… read more

Topics: AI/Robotics | Singularity/Futures | Social/Ethical/Legal

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Ask Ray | Computer-based intelligence will become equivalent to that of human intelligence

June 1, 2013 by Ray Kurzweil

people with cloud gears

Dear Ray,

If the development of computer-based intelligence will become equivalent to that of human intelligence within the next twenty or thirty years, this computer-based intelligence will be able to build even better computers.

Such computer intelligence will, no doubt, find a way to enhance the thought process of the human mind.

No doubt it will supersede the capacity of the human mind. This leads me to… read more

Topics: AI/Robotics | Cognitive Science/Neuroscience | Human Enhancement | Singularity/Futures | Social/Ethical/Legal

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Ask Ray | Experiment to find out if we’re being simulated

June 1, 2013 by Ray Kurzweil

(credit: Bing Maps Platform)

Hi, my name is Luke.

I’m contacting you now and asking you to please consider the following scenario. AD 2060 or later:

Humans can simulate multiple universes. We do so, and eventually intelligent life evolves in one and achieves a civilization with roughly the same science and computation as Earth 2010. This life will be a completely alien species, on a (simulated) alien planet.

That species figures… read more

Topics: Computers/Infotech/UI | VR/Augmented Reality/Computer Graphics

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book review | Dan Brown’s Inferno

May 31, 2013 by Giulio Prisco

Inferno

Dan Brown’s latest action thriller Inferno follows art historian Robert Langdon in a fast-paced roller-coaster hunt for the source of a genetic hack delivered to everyone on the planet via a highly contagious airborne virus.

As in previous novels, Langdon works against the clock to decipher hints hidden in the treasures of the world’s art and literature, fighting intrigue and deception.

I… read more

Topics: Synthetic Biology

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A global viral vector: reality check

May 31, 2013 by Andrew Hessel

bio-chrime prophesy

In Dan Brown’s Inferno [see book review | Dan Brown’s Inferno], an airborne virus permanently modifies the DNA in human cells in one third of the population of the world.

We asked synthetic biologist/genomic futurist Andrew Hessel to comment on this scenario (his co-authored “The Bio-Crime Prophecy” is the cover story in the current issue of Wired UK).

Q: How realistic is Brown’s… read more

Topics: Biotech | Social/Ethical/Legal | Survival/Defense | Synthetic Biology

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