Elon Musk Confirms SpaceX Is On Track to Send Humans Into Space – Fortune

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SpaceX founder and CEO Elon Musk tweeted Thursday that he's looking forward to sending humans into space next year, confirming an earlier report by Popular Mechanics that the company's manned space flight is on track.

Popular Mechanics issued its report late last month. Musk, who has been busy juggling events at this other company Tesla , got around to commenting on it Thursday.

SpaceX and Boeing , both of which received contracts from NASA to build spacecraft to carry astronauts to the International Space Station, have changed launch plans from 2017 to 2018. In 2014, NASA awarded SpaceX a $2.6 billion contract to carry crew to space.

SpaceX is developing the Dragon 2 spacecraft and Boeing is building the CST-100 Starliner. Musk founded SpaceX to lower the cost of space travel with the eventual goal of colonizing Mars.

SpaceX is planning a demonstration mission in February 2018, followed by test in June that will have two crew members aboard, according to NASA .

Boeing is scheduled to conduct an orbital flight test in June, followed by a manned test in August 2018

SpaceX announced in February that it plans to send to private citizens in a crewed Dragon in a trip around the moon next yearan important step towards the company's ultimate goal. At the time, SpaceX said the private mission would be launched once the operationational Crew Dragon missions are underway for NASA.

SpaceX's ultimate aspiration is to travel to Mars. SpaceX is already working with NASA scientists to locate possible landing sites on Mars . Paul Wooster, who manages the guidance, navigation, and control systems on SpaceXs Dragon spacecraft, said during a presentation in March at MicroSymposium 58 that the landing sites were for both its Red Dragon spacecraft as well as future human missions

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Elon Musk Confirms SpaceX Is On Track to Send Humans Into Space - Fortune

Two weeks in the life of a sunspot – Phys.Org

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August 4, 2017 by Rob Garner After a large sunspot rotated out of Earth's view on July 17, 2017, NASA instruments could still track its effects on the far side of the star. This imagery from NASA's Solar Terrestrial Relations Observatory on July 23, 2017, captures an eruption of solar material -- a coronal mass ejection -- from that same active region. Credit: NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center/STEREO/Bill Thompson

On July 5, 2017, NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory watched an active regionan area of intense and complex magnetic fieldsrotate into view on the Sun. The satellite continued to track the region as it grew and eventually rotated across the Sun and out of view on July 17.

With their complex magnetic fields, sunspots are often the source of interesting solar activity:

During its 13-day trip across the face of the Sun, the active regiondubbed AR12665put on a show for NASA's Sun-watching satellites, producing several solar flares, a coronal mass ejection and a solar energetic particle event. Watch the video below to learn how NASA's satellites tracked the sunspot over the course of these two weeks.

Such sunspots are a common occurrence on the Sun, but less frequent at the moment, as the Sun is moving steadily toward a period of lower solar activity called solar minimuma regular occurrence during its approximately 11-year cycle. Scientists track such spots because they can help provide information about the Sun's inner workings. Space weather centers, such as NOAA's Space Weather Prediction Center, also monitor these spots to provide advance warning, if needed, of the radiation bursts being sent toward Earth, which can impact our satellites and radio communications.

On July 9, a medium-sized flare burst from the sunspot, peaking at 11:18 a.m. EDT. Solar flares are explosions on the Sun that send energy, light and high-speed particles out into spacemuch like how earthquakes have a Richter scale to describe their strength, solar flares are also categorized according to their intensity. This flare was categorized as an M1. M-class flares are a tenth the size of the most intense flares, the X-class flares. The number provides more information about its strength: An M2 is twice as intense as an M1, an M3 is three times as intense and so on.

Days later, on July 14, a second medium-sized, M2 flare erupted from the Sun. The second flare was long-lived, peaking at 10:09 a.m. EDT and lasting over two hours.

This was accompanied by another kind of solar explosion called a coronal mass ejection, or CME. Solar flares are often associated with CMEsgiant clouds of solar material and energy. NASA's Solar and Heliospheric Observatory, or SOHO, saw the CME at 9:36 a.m. EDT leaving the Sun at speeds of 620 miles per second and eventually slowing to 466 miles per second.

Following the CME, the turbulent active region also emitted a flurry of high-speed protons, known as a solar energetic particle event, at 12:45 p.m. EDT.

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Research scientists at the Community Coordinated Modeling Centerlocated at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Marylandused these spacecraft observations as input for their simulations of space weather throughout the solar system. Using a model called ENLIL, they are able to map out and predict whether the solar storm will impact our instruments and spacecraft, and send alerts to NASA mission operators if necessary.

By the time the CME made contact with Earth's magnetic field on July 16, the sunspot's journey across the Sun was almost complete. As for the solar storm, it took this massive cloud of solar material two days to travel 93 million miles to Earth, where it caused charged particles to stream down Earth's magnetic poles, sparking enhanced aurora.

Explore further: NASA's SDO watches a sunspot turn toward Earth

An active region on the sunan area of intense and complex magnetic fieldshas rotated into view on the sun and seems to be growing rather quickly in this video captured by NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory between July ...

The sun emitted a trio of mid-level solar flares on April 2-3, 2017. The first peaked at 4:02 a.m. EDT on April 2, the second peaked at 4:33 p.m. EDT on April 2, and the third peaked at 10:29 a.m. EDT on April 3. NASA's Solar ...

The sun emitted a mid-level solar flare, peaking at 8:29 pm EDT on April 17, 2016. NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory, which watches the sun constantly, captured an image of the event. Solar flares are powerful bursts of radiation. ...

The sun emitted a mid-level solar flare, peaking at 6:34 p.m. EDT on March 12, 2014, and NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory, or SDO, captured an image of it. Solar flares are powerful bursts of radiation. Harmful radiation ...

The sun emitted a mid-level solar flare, peaking at 12:20 p.m. EDT on July 8, 2014, and NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory captured images of the event. Solar flares are powerful bursts of radiation. Harmful radiation from ...

The sun emitted a mid-level solar flare, peaking at 4:16 a.m. EDT on June 25, 2015. NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory, which watches the sun constantly, captured an image of the event. Solar flares are powerful bursts of ...

On July 5, 2017, NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory watched an active regionan area of intense and complex magnetic fieldsrotate into view on the Sun. The satellite continued to track the region as it grew and eventually ...

Spectacular sunsets and sunrises are enough to dazzle most of us, but to astronomers, dusk and dawn are a waste of good observing time. They want a truly dark sky.

Southwest Research Institute (SwRI) was part of an international team that recently discovered a relatively unpopulated region of the main asteroid belt, where the few asteroids present are likely pristine relics from early ...

The elemental composition of the Sun's hot atmosphere known as the 'corona' is strongly linked to the 11-year solar magnetic activity cycle, a team of scientists from UCL, George Mason University and Naval Research Laboratory ...

According to one longstanding theory, our Solar System's formation was triggered by a shock wave from an exploding supernova. The shock wave injected material from the exploding star into a neighboring cloud of dust and gas, ...

Scientists have found the strongest evidence to date for a stratosphere on an enormous planet outside our solar system, with an atmosphere hot enough to boil iron.

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Singularity: The Influence Of New Order

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Irvine Welsh as a writer has produced fifteen books, as well as plays, film and TV scripts. A native of Edinburgh, he now lives mainly in the USA.

NEW ORDER BY IRVINE WELSH

I hate writing about music. You either love a tune or a band or you dont. The whole point of it is that you never really know why. So you talk a lot of irrelevant personal nonsense, about how a group is so important to your own timeline as were now psychotically inclined to designate our lives.

So here goes.

Like a lot of New Order fans of my vintage, I came to the band through having been a Joy Division obsessive. For me, like most, it was a painless succession. The same talented people were still making great music, and like the band, I was also emerging from a doom-laden period (though there would be more to follow) in favour of something a little more upbeat.

It would be lazy to try and define such a successful group as New Order by the tragedies of Ian Curtis and Rob Gretton. It would also be extremely silly, especially given that the bands personnel are all people who so evidently enjoy their lives. The loss of both would have been considerable however; with the death of Curtis, the band went from being a bunch of North West of England young bloods, having fun and making post-punk music, to growing up in public in the most dramatic and harrowing way.

To outsiders, the death of a famous youth often provokes both unfathomable tragedy and phantom romance, the latter part amplified by stardoms iconizing qualities. As you get older however, you see that the real horror of this is just how widespread the illness of depression is, and how devastating it can be. In Ians case, this was compounded by the terrifying onset of epilepsy. As a group, those young friends were suddenly forced to confront both existential and practical issues: What is this? What do we do? Do we carry on? Despite their youth, they all managed to do this with an incredible decorum and dignity.

New Order grew out of this desire to build on the Joy Division achievement, while producing a less bleak sound. Movement, the bands first album, with its iconic minimalist Factory records sleeve, was awaited with a kind of eager trepidation by fans of the original group. Shamefully, I recall dismissing it before Id heard it -in the way of the arrogant young clown- just because a good friend had bought a copy of it first. If Id allowed it to be great, I would have undermined the competitive relationship that inspired the Renton-Sick Boy friendship in Trainspotting. So I waited for Power, Corruption and Lies to appear, in order that I could announce to my mate that the band had found their feet with this album. It remains one of my favourite albums of all time.

So it was that New Order became one of the essential acts that have provided the soundtrack to my life. Its hard to mark out a definitive New Order era; theyve covered so much ground that I cant think of them as an 80s or 90s band, or even of the twenty-first century. For very straightforward, personable individuals, New Order collectively retains a strange mystique, with a prevailing sense of enigma resilient in their music. An upbeat track will always carry an ominous undercurrent, while a darker piece invariably comes bundled with a subversive joy.

A further complication lies in the strength of the album tracks. Though known as a big pop hits band to the masses, the purists will tell you that its easy to compose an alternative best of album from tracks that were never released as singles. Your Silent Face is probably my favourite New Order song; a quintessential dance/rock n roll fusion, its all at once hypnotic, melancholic, sinister and uplifting. Back when we were talking about the inclusion of songs for the Trainspotting movie soundtrack, everyone had their favourite artists, but the only consensus was that a New Order track was totally essential. There was, obviously, far less accord around exactly which tune that should be.

Thus the New Order sound is highly diverse, but still very markedly their own. It owes a lot to the clash of distinctive melodies and throbbing, angry bass lines. The most interesting thing about the band is how they often manage to eschew a lot of traditional pop structure. Many of their biggest tunes swerve the verse-chorus-verse orthodoxy, developing instead more like classical songs, such as Age of Consent and Run.

For aficionados like myself, Peter Hooks departure from the band felt like a much-loved couple of friends going through a messy divorce. But just like that example, such an estrangement is generally unfathomable to everybody but the parties involved. Whatever has or will be publicly uttered on the matter, its a sad fact of life that people sometimes grow apart. Best to just leave it at that and celebrate the fact that there are now two acts out there for fans to enjoy.

New Order survived and thrived after this, principally because they are natural collaborators. The band members have always been excited to embrace a number of side projects and have thrived on working with different artists. I recall being at an impressive Bad Lieutenant gig in Dublin some years ago, and thus it was no surprise that Tom Chapman became a member of New Order. As individuals, they remain remarkably easy-going and laconic, brimming with a trademark sly Mancunian wit, and apparently unfazed by the trials that have come their way.

Now they have an amazing legacy, which they can augment with new material or curate through gigs, as they see fit. Going to a New Order show is like a zooming through a history of British cultural life of the last few decades, while marveling at just how many big hits and great songs they have knocked out over this time. Ive danced, partied, wooed, lost, won, courted, got married to New Order, been taken under the wing of their ex-label boss, the incredible Tony Wilson, and become friends with the band.

But I really didnt want to write all this, as its pretty much tangential to the real message, which is: I just absolutely fucking love New Order.

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Singularity: The Influence Of New Order

Lab Introduces Singularity Black, the Blackest PaintAnd You Don’t Have to Be Anish Kapoor to Use It – artnet News

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Ever since Anish Kapoor signed an agreement with Surrey NanoSystems, for the exclusive artistic use of the worlds blackest black, Vantablack, the art world has been up in arms. Luckily, Waltham, Massachusetts, firm NanoLab, Inc., has introduced acarbon nanotube black paint of their own, called Singularity Black, and anyone can use it.

Last month, Massachusetts-based artist Jason Chase unveiled the first artwork created using Singularity Black, titledBlack Iron Ursa. He coated acast-iron gummy bear sculpture in the uncannily dark substance, displaying it against a wooden circle painted in rainbow wedges to best accentuate the blackness of the material, which makes the 3-D form look flat and featureless.

Being the first artist to use this technology, I want to share it with my fellow artists and collectors. It is important to create access so artists can use it, said Chase in a statement.Artists are always the ones who take new materials and push them to new limits.

Vantablack. Courtesy of Surrey NanoSystems.

He noted that Kapoors Vantablack had prevented experimentation and stunted the artistic possibilities of working with the new materials, but that starting with my work, those days are over. (Kapoor has had a high-profile feud with artistStuart Semple, who has released a pinkest pink and most glittery glitter that Kapoor is banned from using. Semple has also created a blackest black paint of his own, calledBlack 2.0.)

The invention of Vantablack, which absorbs 99.96 percent of light, was announced in 2014. Not a pigment, Vantablack is actually a dense network of carbon nanotubes, grown in a high-heat chamber. The company has since developed a spray paint version.

Singularity Black, which combines carbon nanotubes with a binding agent for stabilization, was invented separately by NanoLab in 2011 under contract to NASA. It isused by the space agency in equipment for observation of far away stars, absorbing stray light so as not tointerfere with the sensors.

The best way to use Singularity Black, which the company describes as a paint-like analog of the aligned forest,is inside a fume hood or spray booth, and ideally should be applied ona metal surface. After application, the paint must be super heated to 600 degrees Fahrenheit to eliminate the binder. Once activated, it is a no-touch surface, notes the product description.

Jason Chase, Black Iron Ursa, created using Singularity Black, a light-absorbing black paint made with carbon nano tubes by NanoLab. Courtesy of Jason Chase.

The paint is really fragile, Chase told the Boston Globe. If you touch it, its going to flake off, kind of like when you touch a butterflys wings.Heplans to share his ongoing studio research about how to best use Singularity Black, and hopes to curate a group show of works made using the new paint.

NanoLab estimates that Singularity Black will costsomewhere in the low to mid-hundreds of dollars for 250 milliliters to one liter of paint.

Jason Chases Black Iron Ursa will be on view atLaconia Gallery,433 Harrison Avenue,Boston on August 24; and at the Artisans Asylum, 10 Tyler Street, Somerville, Massachusettson September 6.

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Lab Introduces Singularity Black, the Blackest PaintAnd You Don't Have to Be Anish Kapoor to Use It - artnet News

The Age of Cyborgs Has Arrived – Singularity Hub

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From time to time, the Singularity Hub editorial team unearths a gem from the archives and wants to share it all over again. Its usually a piece that was popular back then and we think is still relevant now. This is one of those articles. It was originally publishedSeptember 1, 2016.We hope you enjoy it!

How many cyborgs did you see during your morning commute today? I would guess at least five. Did they make you nervous? Probably not; you likely didnt even realize they were there.

In a presentation titled Biohacking and the Connected Body atSingularity University Global Summit, Hannes Sjoblad informed the audience that were already living in the age of cyborgs. Sjoblad is co-founder of the Sweden-based biohacker network Bionyfiken, a chartered non-profit that unites DIY-biologists, hackers, makers, body modification artists and health and performance devotees to explore human-machine integration.

Sjoblad said the cyborgs we see today dont look like Hollywood prototypes; theyre regular people who have integrated technology into their bodies to improve or monitor some aspect of their health. Sjoblad defined biohacking as applying hacker ethic to biological systems. Some biohackers experiment with their biology with the goal of taking the human bodys experience beyond what nature intended.

Smart insulin monitoring systems, pacemakers, bionic eyes, and Cochlear implants are all examples of biohacking, according to Sjoblad. He told the audience, We live in a time where, thanks to technology, we can make the deaf hear, the blind see, and the lame walk. He is convinced that while biohacking could conceivably end up having Brave New World-like dystopian consequences, it can also be leveraged to improve and enhance our quality of life in multiple ways.

The field where biohacking can make the most positive impact is health. In addition to pacemakers and insulin monitors, several new technologies are being developed with the goal of improving our health and simplifying access to information about our bodies.

Ingestibles are a type of smart pill that use wireless technology to monitor internal reactions to medications, helping doctors determine optimum dosage levels and tailor treatments to different people. Your body doesnt absorb or process medication exactly as your neighbors does, so shouldnt you each have a treatment that works best with your unique system? Colonoscopies and endoscopies could one day be replaced by miniature pill-shaped video cameras that would collect and transmit images as they travel through the digestive tract.

Singularity University Global Summit is the culmination of the Exponential Conference Series and the definitive place to witness converging exponential technologies and understand how theyll impact the world.

Security is another area where biohacking could be beneficial. One example Sjoblad gave was personalization of weapons: an invader in your house couldnt fire your gun because it will have been matched to your fingerprint or synced with your body so that it only responds to you.

Biohacking can also simplify everyday tasks. In an impressive example of walking the walk rather than just talking the talk, Sjoblad had an NFC chip implanted in his hand. The chip contains data from everything he used to have to carry around in his pockets: credit and bank card information, key cards to enter his office building and gym, business cards, and frequent shopper loyalty cards. When hes in line for a morning coffee or rushing to get to the office on time, he doesnt have to root around in his pockets or bag to find the right card or key; he just waves his hand in front of a sensor and hes good to go.

Evolved from radio frequency identification (RFID)an old and widely distributed technologyNFC chips are activated by another chip, and small amounts of data can be transferred back and forth. No wireless connection is necessary. Sjoblad sees his NFC implant as a personal key to the Internet of Things, a simple way for him to talk to the smart, connected devices around him.

Sjoblad isnt the only person who feels a need for connection.

When British science writer Frank Swain realized he was going to go deaf, he decided to hack his hearing to be able to hear Wi-Fi. Swain developed software that tunes into wireless communication fields and uses an inbuilt Wi-Fi sensor to pick up router name, encryption modes and distance from the device. This data is translated into an audio stream where distant signals click or pop, and strong signals sound their network ID in a looped melody. Swain hears it all through an upgraded hearing aid.

Global datastreams can also become sensory experiences. Spanish artist Moon Ribas developed and implanted a chip in her elbow that is connected to the global monitoring system for seismographic sensors; each time theres an earthquake, she feels it through vibrations in her arm.

You can feel connected to our planet, too: North Sense makes a standalone artificial sensory organ that connects to your body and vibrates whenever youre facing north. Its a built-in compass; youll never get lost again.

Biohacking applications are likely to proliferate in the coming years, some of them more useful than others. But there are serious ethical questions that cant be ignored during development and use of this technology. To what extent is it wise to tamper with nature, and who gets to decide?

Most of us are probably ok with waiting in line an extra 10 minutes or occasionally having to pull up a maps app on our phone if it means we dont need to implant computer chips into our forearms. If its frightening to think of criminals stealing our wallets, imagine them cutting a chunk of our skin out to have instant access to and control over our personal data. The physical invasiveness and potential for something to go wrong seems to far outweigh the benefits the average person could derive from this technology.

But that may not always be the case. Its worth noting the miniaturization of technology continues at a quick rate, and the smaller things get, the less invasive (and hopefully more useful) theyll be. Even today, there are people already sensibly benefiting from biohacking. If you look closely enough, youll spot at least a couple cyborgs on your commute tomorrow morning.

Image Credit:Movement Control Laboratory/University of WashingtonDeep Dream Generator

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Recursor.TV Brings All The Best Indie Sci-Fi To One Place – Singularity Hub

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If you love science and technology, chances are you love science fiction too. But sci-fi isnt just for geeks anymore. Or maybe more accurately, more of us are geeks now than ever.

Television shows Black Mirror and Westworld, for example, are two of the most talked-about series in recent years. Feature-length film Arrival won an Oscar this year and was nominated for seven more, including best picture. The latest two Star Wars films made over $3 billion worldwide, and a brand new Star Trek television series is set to premier in September.

But it isnt just about big budgets and network deals. Science fiction films are coming to the internet too. There are an increasing number of independent sci-fi short films available for free online. Some of these are aimed at the big screen, a kind of proof-of-concept or pitch for a feature-length film. Others fit the short form just so, compactly addressing a single idea.

Like all great sci-fi, short or long, written or filmed, sci-fi shorts take the worlds present state and advance the script. The best science fiction is based on existing trends and scientifically plausible technologies, and the implied question is often: Do we like what we see?

Many of these short films are posted on Vimeo or YouTube, where publishers find and introduce them to their readers. Its sort of an ad-hoc processwhich is where sci-fi video platform Recursor.TV comes in. Recursor is a one-stop shop for short indie sci-fi online.

Although there are dozens of sites dedicated to comedy and other genres, including horror, science fiction is under-represented, especially online, says EJ Kavounas, Recursor founder and CEO, in a recent interview with Singularity Hub.

Its time that changed. Quick-moving technologies such as AI, robots, and biotech, are being seriously written and talked about across the mainstream press. More people see technology as a force rapidly changing society, and they want to know whats in store.

Meanwhile, digital technologies are making it possible to build whole worlds and compelling future scenarios in which to immerse ourselves. As they approach photorealism, todays visual effects dont require the same suspension of disbelief they did in the past.

Most importantly for independent sci-fi, you dont need a Hollywood-sized special effects budget to make good visuals, and distribution is being democratized by the internet.

My first job in the entertainment industry was on the sci-fi television series Babylon 5, produced in the dinosaur era of CG. In the early 90s, it took years of apprenticeship to learn [the tricks of the trade]. Filmmaking techniques were passed down to subsequent generations like feudal-aged blacksmiths, Kavounas says. Thankfully, Moores Law and the internet democratized VFX, allowing anyone to create studio-quality CG on a laptop and, more importantly, facilitated instant knowledge transfer.

Now you can make decent effects and learn the trade thanks to thousands of how-to videos online. Even so, its hard to make truly compelling stuff and rise above the noise. Recursor aims to do both by creating their own original films and connecting other filmmakers to viewers.

The motivation to self-publish is similar to other industries, where content creators attempt to disintermediate gatekeepers in the hopes that an online audience will embrace them and prove commercial viability, Kavounas says. It makes sense in theory, but the key is finding an audienceIts hard enough to make a decent-looking sci-fi short, but marketing and promotion is often a different skillset.

Kavounas has talked to talented sci-fi filmmakers who are frustrated their films havent had the reach they expected. Recursor, he believes, can bridge the gap by providing an online destination for science fiction short films and an expertly-curated selection over a variety of sub-genres, such as augmented reality, artificial life, cyberpunk noir, and post-human.

The Recursor team is also making their own contribution to the genre with the award-winning original web series, Nina Unlocked. The series, starring Lana McKissack, features Nina, an advanced AI and former military assassin whos lost her memory. She heads out on a quest of self-discovery, interviewing experts to figure out how she is similar and different from humans.

We chose an interview formatbasically Between Two Ferns meets Ex Machinain which a character interviews real guests because it felt more authentic to have unscripted responses to Ninas absurd questions, Kavounas says. Fans of science and science fiction often overlap, so Nina interviews real scientists as well as creative types.

In the first season, Nina interviewed the likes of Eli Sasich, creator of the sci-fi series Atropa, Darren Bousman, a director of the Saw franchise, and Dr. Jamie Molaro of NASA JPL.

If you come here often, you know we believe science fiction isnt only about entertainment.

While its important to forecast future trends in dry reports featuring facts, figures, and charts, humans are experiential beings. Science fiction translates hard data into compelling stories and characters we can identify with. It makes the future a topic of conversation for everybody.

Ask people what they know about AI and robots, and chances are, Terminator comes to mind. Virtual reality and brain-machine interfaces? The Matrix (plus AI and robots, for good measure). Space travel and post-scarcity? Star Trek. Augmented reality? Iron Man and Minority Report.

Hollywood has long been a dominant player, but by bringing science fiction film online, we can add voices to the conversation and explore a wider range of ideas. This matters because the story we tell influences the future we pursue. The more people engage, both creators and viewers, the more nuanced the story getsand the more thoughtfully we move ahead.

Image Credit: Recursor.tv

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Blockchain and the Power of Singularity | HuffPost – HuffPost

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Set on Sir Richard Bransons Necker Island, the third annual Blockchain Summit, hosted by BitFury, a leading full service Blockchain company, and Bill Tai, a venture investor and technologist, has come to a close. This event was an intimate, if perfectly balanced, gathering of technology, policy, investment and business leaders from around the world and across sectors. Topics ranged from the public policy implications of what is being heralded as a foundational technology, to new emerging business models that can ride on the very rails that enabled the global bonanza of digital currencies like Bitcoin. A key question that underpinned the Summit is if Blockchain could not have existed without the Internet, what could not exist without Blockchain?

Blockchain technology can undoubtedly change industries, especially those that labor under often byzantine, opaque and friction-laden business models. While many of the early pioneers are focusing on finance and insurance, the opportunities for this radical technology may very well reorder society as we know it. The remarkable case of Estonia, for example, shows a country reinventing itself into a future-proof digital state, where citizen services are rendered nearly instantaneously and to people all over the world. Similarly, promising work inspired by the famed Peruvian economist, Hernando de Soto, on improving land registries is being carried out by BitFury in a host of countries. With land and property being the two largest assets people will own - and the principal vehicle of value creation and wealth transfer - an unalterable, secure and transparent registration process should give the world comfort and elected leaders longevity.

What drives this unique technology is the power of distributed singularity, from which Blockchains identity pioneers like Dr. Mariana Dahan, who launched the World Identity Network on Necker Island, and Vinny Lingham of Civic, draw their inspiration. Blockchain operates on the basis of a distributed ledger (or database) system, inexorably marching forward recording and time-stamping transactions or records. While some may herald Bitcoin as Blockchains killer app, it is easy to maintain that the killer app is not the digital currencies that ride on Blockchains rails, but rather the rail system altogether. Two trains can ride on rails. But a high-speed maglev train is a decidedly faster mode of transport than a steam engine. Just as the maglev makes little or no contact with the rails enabling low-friction transport, the Blockchain can greatly reduce the friction in how the world transfers and records value. If the Internet augured frictionless information sharing, Blockchain can augur frictionless value transfer. Herein lies the domain of truly profound change - accepting that Blockchain is still in the era of a thousand flowers being planted, many of which began blossoming on Necker Island.

For now, the Blockchain standards war - which in reality is an incredibly collaborative search for use cases - is largely being waged in the cash transfer market, with firms like Bitt, founded by the Barbadian entrepreneur, Gabriel Abed, and BitPesa, founded by Elizabeth Rossiello, emerging with low-friction highly scalable business models. What is most encouraging is that these firms, have not shied away from regulatory regimes, but rather embraced them, greatly legitimizing the poorly named crypto currency market. BitPesa has received UK regulatory approval from the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), which is one of the most stringent financial regulators in the world, while Bitt has created a veritable pan-Caribbean digital currency accepted by many regional central banks. In short, digital currency and frictionless asset transfer are not going away and the more pioneers like Bitt and BitPesa harmonize with established financial norms, the more this space can thrive.

The Blockchain Summit on Necker Island was all about encouraging breakthrough innovation across all sectors. If the Internet was truly a disruptive technology, Blockchain is an augmenting technology, that can greatly improve and amplify many established business models and forms of governance. At a time when the world is gripped by profound changes driven by an erosion of public trust in business, institutions and government, a trust engine like Blockchain can begin to shore up accountability and transparency. Similarly, with rampant cyber-threats hobbling companies and countries around the world, Blockchain cannot only serve as a vital source of transparency - recalling that sunlight is the greatest disinfectant - it may very well serve as a global disaster recovery and business continuity engine. Blockchains security properties are often undersold, however, these are among the most important features of this technology. Indeed, hardwired into Blockchains distributed structure are the very best practices of cybersecurity redundancy that so many organizations struggle to abide by.

Where minds begin to race when it comes to Blockchain and where Blockchain Billionaires will likely emerge, is in the unitary approach (and smart contracting features) to value transfer. The sharing economy has undoubtedly tapped peoples willingness to forego traditional asset ownership for fractional, usage-based access. Blockchain takes this intuition even further by enabling these same market dynamics to occur, but on a rail system robust enough to survive in Thomas Friedmans hot, flat and crowded world. Envision a skills engine enabling people to repurpose themselves, obtaining vital (verifiable) credentials to enter the workforce or to find work following a setback or job loss? Without Blockchain this proposition is not only cost prohibitive, it is incredibly centralized favoring a dated algorithmic hiring model that has left millions of workers behind. With Blockchain, this type of reinvention engine is not only possible, it can be developed with sufficient autonomy and transparency across stakeholder groups ultimately becoming a utility.

Indeed, one of the most promising companies focusing on Blockchain applications is PowerLedger in Australia, which was founded by Dr. Jemma Green. Dr. Green, traveled more than 40 hours carrying her young daughter in hand and her weight as one of the worlds true Blockchain visionaries. Her firm taps the power of singularity and decentralization in the Blockchain, as well as underscores the ability to harness renewable energy in ways (and in places) never thought possible. Fractionalizing urban energy is as important to human adaptation and development, as building a rural energy matrix that incorporates micro grids and new distribution and payment models. PowerLedger is well on the way toward solving this challenge and Blockchain will be at the center of both.

Blockchain is here to stay and the exuberance of its most ardent enthusiasts (who are on the verge of a Bitcoin civil war), of which there were many on Necker Island, should be tempered with the reality that all breakthrough innovations are decided by the market. For this, large firms and established models of organizing and transferring value have been cautious to dismissive of Blockchain. This posture may consign many of these players to the wrong side of history, or worse, irrelevance. Indeed, the emergence of global industry bodies like the Global Blockchain Business Council, which is quickly establishing chapters around the world, as well as the Blockchain Trust Accelerator, are aiming to normalize this technology and, critically create a lexicon and library of use cases that are not threatening in the worlds halls of power.

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Waltham lab develops the world’s ‘blackest black’ paint – The Boston Globe

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Above: Black Iron Ursa was made using Singularity Black paint.

SOMERVILLE That the gummy bear was an artwork was unusual.

That the gummy bear was so black that it looked like an optical illusion was really unusual.

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Welcome to the world of Singularity Black.

Black Iron Ursa, a painted sculpture, doesnt reflect light, making it difficult to see its ears and paws. Because the human eye is trained to look for light, it is disorienting and somewhat painful to look at.

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Black Iron Ursa was the brainchild of Somerville artist Jason Chase, who watched baffled visitors stare at the object in his studio on a recent Sunday afternoon.

Made from cast iron, the gummy bear was coated in Singularity Black, a carbon nanotube paint developed by Waltham-based NanoLab, Inc. The paint absorbs over 99.9 percent of light, making three-dimensional objects look two-dimensional. Chase built a colorful wooden carousel to display the bear on, making the bears blackness even more striking. A small glass dome covers the artwork to protect it.

The paint is really fragile, Chase said. If you touch it, its going to flake off, kind of like when you touch a butterflys wings.

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The blackest black paint has been a point of contention in the art world since 2014, when British artist Anish Kapoor received exclusive rights to working with Vantablack , a pigment created by a British company, Surrey NanoSystems, that absorbs 99.965 percent of light.

This arrangement frustrated other artists. In response, British artist Stuart Semple created the worlds pinkest pink and the worlds glitteriest glitter, which he made available in 2016 to everyone except Kapoor. (Kapoor managed to get his hands on the pink pigment anyway and posted a photograph of it on Instagram, taunting Semple.)

Now Chase is hoping that Singularity Black will put the whole squabble to bed.

Im really honored to be part of the launching process, he said. I remember reading about Vantablack when it came out and wanting to work with it. I hope that this means the whole art world gets to move forward.

NanoLab created Singularity Black at NASAs request in 2011. The agency frequently sends equipment into space to measure faint stars, and they wanted a pigment that would absorb stray light to keep it from interfering with sensors. Its name was inspired by the center of a black hole, where the known laws of physics stop operating.

Carbon nanotubes excel at trapping light, so the lab combined them with a binding agent for stabilization. After the pigment is applied to an object, it has to be heated to 600 degrees Fahrenheit, which eliminates the binder and leaves the carbon nanotubes in a porous arrangement for maximum light absorption.

Colin Preston, a senior research scientist on the project, noticed that Surrey NanoSystems had developed its similar product and licensed the rights to Kapoor. (NanoLab conceived the formula for Singularity Black independently, according to Preston.)

I was honestly kind of confused by that, he said. When we were done developing the pigment, we really wanted to develop our product to be commercial.

Preston had met Chase in a Drawing in Pubs class, so he e-mailed him as soon as NanoLab had successfully developed Singularity Black into a paint.

Chase, who is primarily a painter, had been working with renderings of gummy bears for a while. He made the cast-iron gummy bear a while back, during a workshop, so he dug it up and brought it to the lab for a paint job. The artwork will be displayed at Laconia Gallery , in the South End, starting Aug. 24.

Artists can buy Singularity Black off the shelf. They can apply the paint themselves after a tutorial from NanoLab, according to Preston. He estimated current price to be in the low to mid-hundreds of dollars for 250 milliliters to 1 liter of paint.

Colorado sculptor Sean OMeallie said he is intrigued by the material. He said Singularity Black opens up possibilities of doing something different and challenging.

Painting something in Singularity Black will make it harder for viewers to see a silhouette, he said. It might be a way of making art a little more hidden.

However, there are limitations to how Singularity Black can be used. It can only be applied to metal surfaces, so Chase is experimenting on copper plate. He said he wants to juxtapose traditional mediums, like oil and gold leaf, with this futuristic paint.

Preston said NanoLab has already received multiple inquiries from artists interested in getting the paint. Chase said he intends to curate an art show of Singularity Black pieces as soon as there is a collection.

I think itll fit really well in surrealist images, he said. The best thing about this paint being available to everyone is that well get to push the boundaries of the art world with it.

View Black Iron Ursa at Laconia Gallery on Aug. 24 at 7 p.m. 433 Harrison Ave.

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China Is On its Way to Being the Next Tech Superpower – Singularity Hub

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My recent trip to Beijing and Shanghai has me convinced China is the next technological superpower.

This blog lays out the data so you can make your own judgment.

China is the worlds second-largest economy with a GDP of $7.5 trillion, and an average 9.71 percent annual GDP growth (since 1990).

Check out Shanghai in 1990 (27 years ago) versus Shanghai today.

Shanghai 1990

Shanghai today

Recently, China is getting into the venture capital business in a big way. A really, really big way. Venture capital raised in China tripled year over year to $250+ billion in 2016. Thats the biggest pot of money for startups in the world.

Consequently, China is undergoing a technological renaissance with thousands of startups and dozens of multi-billion-dollar tech companies springing up.

Companies like Alibaba, Tencent and Xiaomi are capitalizing on Chinas 700+ million Internet users.

A Chinese delivery company, ZTO Express, raised $1.4 billion in its public debut. This was the biggest US IPO of the year (in 2016).

China is a manufacturing powerhouse producing 25 percent of the worlds goods and 70 percent of its mobile phones.

Today there is a list of 600+ Chinese companies waiting to go public.

Lets talk about manufacturing. 100 million people in China work in manufacturing. FOXCONN is the worlds largest contract electronics manufacturer. Notable customers include Apple, Kindle, Playstation and Xbox.

In 2015, China became the worlds largest producer of photovoltaic power. China also led the world in production and use of wind power and smart grid technologies.

China owns 70 percent of the commercial drone market. They havealso increased their space budget considerably over the last few years. And their human spaceflight program is very serious.

China has truly become an international technology superpower.

Image Credit: Peter Diamandis via YouTube

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July 31, 2017 – Nam June Paik Art Center – Our Bright Future-Cybernetic Fantasy – E-Flux

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Our Bright Future-Cybernetic Fantasy July 19November 5, 2017

Technology/Media Workshop: : Every Saturdays in August, 2pm, diana band, Insook Bae, Protoroom, Unmake Lab Artist talk: July 22, 15pm, Taeyeun Kim, pela Petri; in conjunction with the 2017 International Symposium Coevolution: Cybernetics to Posthuman

Nam June Paik Art Center 10 Paiknamjune-ro, Giheung-gu Yongin-si, Gyeonggi-do 17068 Korea Hours: TuesdaySunday 10am6pm

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Artists: Taeyeun Kim, Jinah Roh, diana band, !Mediengruppe Bitnik, Kelvin Kyung Kun Park, Insook Bae, Nam June Paik, Jongjun Son, pela Petri, Yang Zhenzhong, Unknown Fields, Unmake Lab, Zach Blas & Jemima Wyman, PROTOROOM, Joosun Hwang

Curated by Jeonghwa Goo, Sooyoung Lee (Nam June Paik Art Center) Co-Curated by Unmake Lab Hosted and Organized by Nam June Paik Art Center, Gyeonggi Foundation Cooperation Changseng Gonggan Supported by Perrier, Snapple

The Nam June Paik Art Center presents a special exhibition Our Bright Future-Cybernetic Fantasy from July 20 to November 5, 2017. This exhibition explores modern technology and art from the perspective of the "Cybernetics"of Nam June Paik who not only gave relationship between the technological environment and the human being but also presented a futuristic vision to it. Under the themes of robots, combination, post-human, the 15 participating teams warn against the end of the geological era which has been led by humans and requires the birth of the new human. The participating artist Taeyeun Kim and pela Petri will give an artist talk on July 22 in conjunction with 2017 International Symposium of Nam June Paik Art Center, and four participating teams (diana band, Insook Bae, PROTOROOM, Unmake Lab) will lead a Technology/Media Workshop on every Saturdays in August. Also the celebration for the 1st floor renewal opening will be on July 20, accompanied by special performances by SUDDEN THEATER, Hyunjoon Chang and Kim Oki / Park Jiha / John Bell / Rmi Klemensiewicz.

Cybernetics,a scientific study established by Norbert Wiener, was widely accepted in the field of scientific technology around the 1940s. The theory which aimed to equally control both living organisms and machines has dominated the trends of technological development, that is, the "Humanization of the Machine"and the "Mechanization of the Human."The belief that technological development will open a new world to the human race is paralleled with the fear that the very technology will take not only jobs but also the human identity from us. Although we are on the brink of the advent of the strongest Artificial Intelligence, we are living on the earth which is devastated more than ever. So, is there a future for us? Are the two options of sustainability and apocalypse the only frame of our future?Or, is there another option available to us were missing?

The exhibition is composed of Robot, Interface, and Posthuman. Each of themes is intended to create various questions. The Robotsection features Nam June Paiks Robot/People and Robot K-567, Yang Zhenzhongs Disguise, Jinah Rohs An Evolving GAIA, Jongjun Sons Defensive Measure, and Zach Blas & Jemima Wymans im here to learn so :)))))). They not only successfully catch the conflict and oscillation caused by the coexistence between men and machines, but also accuse the man-machine cooperation system of being cracked. The Interfacesection goes deeper into the crack of the man-machine cooperation system to try to make a new seam. PROTOROOMs Feedback of MetaPixels-Language for Digital Atoms, Unmake Labs Rumor in the City and the City, and Joosun Hwangs Mind!=Mind take down the black box of machines which isolate humans, and relocate the position of humans in the midst of machines. Besides, recent works such as Insook Baes The Sum and diana bands Phone in Hand: Choir Practice are also presented, suggesting the solidarity of humans through machines. The Posthumansection shows that the time has come when the boundary between the human and the non-human, having been destroyed by cybernetics, must be re-established in a network of horizontal relationships. Taeyeun Kims Island of A-life cultivates the artists DNA injected into a plant; pela Petris Miserable Machine converts mussels muscle contraction to the human labor system; Unknown Fields Rare Earthenware shows the process of collecting the raw material used for smart technologies, telling us that humans have been the geological power who has power over all creatures on the earth.

In his Cybernated Art in Manifestos (1965), Nam June Paik wrote that some specific frustrations caused by cybernated life, require only through accordingly cybernated shock and catharsis. So his argument is that the healing of the suffering in this cybernated life, or smart life of today, is possible only through smart technologies. The truly smart life is not the objectification of each other in which robots replace humans or in which humans control robots, but connecting deeply inside the technological environment and thereby making new interfaces between the human and nonhuman. The participating artists in the exhibition Our Bright Future- Cybernetic Fantasy encourage the birth of a new human by making cracks in the cybernated system and actively inquiring about our technological environment. In this way, the participating artists warn against the end of the geological era which has been led by humans, and requires the birth of the new human, by creating a new relationship between the human and the nonhuman.

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The Ascension of the Lord

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Reading 1 Acts 1:1-11 In the first book, Theophilus, I dealt with all that Jesus did and taught until the day he was taken up, after giving instructions through the Holy Spirit to the apostles whom he had chosen. He presented himself alive to them by many proofs after he had suffered, appearing to them during forty days and speaking about the kingdom of God. While meeting with them, he enjoined them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for "the promise of the Father about which you have heard me speak; for John baptized with water, but in a few days you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit."

When they had gathered together they asked him, "Lord, are you at this time going to restore the kingdom to Israel?" He answered them, "It is not for you to know the times or seasons that the Father has established by his own authority. But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, throughout Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth." When he had said this, as they were looking on, he was lifted up, and a cloud took him from their sight. While they were looking intently at the sky as he was going, suddenly two men dressed in white garments stood beside them. They said, "Men of Galilee, why are you standing there looking at the sky? This Jesus who has been taken up from you into heaven will return in the same way as you have seen him going into heaven."

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The Ascension of the Lord

Ascension plans $63.1 million in capital projects for Macomb-Oakland and Providence hospitals – Crain’s Detroit Business

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MacKenzie said Ascension hired FreemanWhite, a consulting and design company in Chicago, to evaluate its Michigan hospitals and recommend improvements over the next several years.

In November, St. John Macomb-Oakland Hospital will break ground on a $48.1 million expansion project. The expansion, the largest in the hospital's history, will expand the east tower of the hospital from four to seven floors, convert 75 rooms into private patient rooms and renovate 42 other private rooms.

"They went to Macomb and characterized it as a very hard-working hospital for the amount of space contained in it," said MacKenzie.

St. John Macomb Hospital and St. John Oakland Hospital merged in 2007, and the hospital operates two campuses, one in Warren with 376 licensed beds and the other in Madison Heights with 159 beds.

By opening another 15 new private beds, St. John Macomb campus will have 220 private rooms, or 58 percent of the hospital's total beds. The project is expected to be completed the summer of 2019. The hospital also is launching a $2 million fund-raising campaign.

"The volume has been increasing and exceeding the capabilities of the hospital," she said. "We increased the building from four to seven floors. It is a bed tower."

An osteopathic hospital, St. John Macomb-Oakland trains 200 residents in 20 specialties, making it one of the largest osteopathic training programs in the country.

Providence-Providence Park Hospital in Southfield, another two-campus hospital with the second campus in Novi, is planning a three-year, $15 million renovation project to upgrade and renovate several service areas.

MacKenzie said upgrading at the Southfield campus will include critical care units, medical/surgical units and the birthing center. In addition, new flooring, wall coverings, painting, lighting upgrades, and upgrades to nursing stations and patient furnishings throughout inpatient units and patient rooms will be done.

"The renovations at Providence Hospital and the addition of more private rooms at St. John Macomb-Oakland will improve efficiency and safety, as well as provide a more pleasing environment for healing for patients and families," MacKenzie said.

Ascension Health Michigan is part of St. Louis-based Ascension Health, the largest nonprofit health system in the U.S. with 141 hospitals. Ascension Health Michigan operates 15 hospitals and hundreds of related health care facilities that together employ more than 27,000 people.

In fiscal year 2016 ended June 30, Ascension Health earned $753 million in operating income for a 3.4 percent margin. Through nine months of fiscal 2017, Ascension earned $1.39 billion in net for an 8.1 percent margin on revenue of $17.1 billion, according to Ascension's audited financial statements.

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Ascension plans $63.1 million in capital projects for Macomb-Oakland and Providence hospitals - Crain's Detroit Business

Proposal by A Better Ascension to change parish executive will go through extended Parish Council review, unlikely … – The Advocate

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DONALDSONVILLE The proposal by the group A Better Ascension to eliminate the elected Ascension Parish president position in favor of a more autonomous, appointed parish manager won't make it to the ballot this fall as the plan's backers had hoped.

Ascension Parish Council Chairman Bill Dawson announced Thursday night he is establishing a council committee to hold at least three public meetings on the plan before the full council decides whether to put the measure before the voters. One of those meetings will have to be in west Ascension.

Reading from a statement, Dawson said the committee will have the "specific task of publicly vetting the charter amendments proposed by A Better Ascension." Dawson said the new committee will be composed of the entire 11-member council.

Backers of the A Better Ascension proposal want to make major changes to the parish home rule charter, which is Ascension's plan of government, to create the new parish manager position in a bid to improve efficiency and insulate the parish executive from political back and forth.

The creation of the committee by Dawson means three groups will be holding public meetings on A Better Ascension's plan in the coming weeks and months, including another Parish Council committee and A Better Ascension itself.

GONZALES With an attempted bribery indictment hanging over the head of Ascension Parish Pr

Amendments to the home rule charter require a vote of the public. At least two-thirds of the council, or eight members, must vote to put proposed charter changes on the ballot.

The proposal would mean the parish executive would not be directly elected by voters, as the parish president is now, but would be selected by the Parish Council after nomination by a separate committee of primarily business leaders.

The proposal has already drawn opposition from sitting Parish President Kenny Matassa, his 2015 election runoff opponent surveyor Clint Cointment, and some council members. But other members expressed openness to the idea.

Dawson had said earlier there was likely a window to get the measure on the November ballot if the council had been able to vote on the proposal by the end of this month. But Dawson said Thursday the committee of the whole chairman won't make his first progress report to the Parish Council until mid-September.Dawson has named Councilman Travis Turner as chairman of the new committee and Councilman Aaron Lawler as the vice chairman.

Separate from Dawson's initiative, Councilman Daniel "Doc" Satterlee also called for discussion of A Better Ascension's proposal before the committee he chairs, the Council Strategic Planning Committee, which meets 6:30 p.m. Aug. 10 at the Parish Courthouse Annex in Gonzales.

A Better Ascension, the nonprofit group of business people pushing the measure, is also planning public meetings later this month.

JHudson, a spokesman for A Better Ascension, said before the council meeting Thursday that the group's members respect "the process and are looking forward to sharing our message of professionalism, accountability, and efficiency throughout Ascension."

"Ultimately, the charter belongs to the people of Ascension," Hudson said. "Their voices deserve to be heard regarding these changes."

A Better Ascension is composed of business leaders from Ascension, including Eatel Corp. President John Scanlan and LABI political action committee director and Republican pollster and strategist John Diez Jr., a Gonzales native.

Follow David J. Mitchell on Twitter, @NewsieDave.

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Crittenton Hospital in Rochester Hills is first to be renamed in Ascension Health system – Crain’s Detroit Business

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Ascension Crittenton Hospital in Rochester Hills on Tuesday became the first hospital in the 141-hospital St. Louis-based Ascension Health family to receive a new name under the nonprofit health system's rebranding strategy.

Over the next 12 months, 14 other Ascension hospitals in Michigan will add Ascension to the beginning of their names, Ascension executives said in a statement.

For example, Providence Hospital in Southfield will soon be known as Ascension Providence Hospital and St. John Hospital and Medical Center in Detroit will become Ascension St. John Hospital.

In 2018, the name of metro Detroit's five-hospital St. John Providence Health System name will be retired and folded into the management of Ascension Health Michigan.

Last September, Gwen MacKenzie, Ascension's senior vice president and Michigan market executive, told Crain's about the health care rebranding and management integration plan that will tie all properties under one surname and reporting structure.

Ascension medical groups, nursing homes and other sites of care also will prominently feature the Ascension name. Ascension's other 126 hospitals in Wisconsin and 22 other states will also change their names in the coming year.

Other regional Ascension hospital groups include Borgess Health in Kalamazoo; Genesys Health in Grand Blanc; St. Joseph Health System in Tawas City; and St. Mary's of Michigan in Saginaw.

Last year, Ascension eliminated local hospital and regional boards and created the Southeast Michigan Hospital Board, the West Michigan Hospital Board, the Mid-Michigan Hospital Board and the Michigan Market Board that oversees all Ascension properties in the state.

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Ascension Catholic youth named LYAC historian – Post South

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Greg Fischer Editor-in-chief @AscensionEditor

Louisiana's Legislative Youth Advisory Council (LYAC) elected new officers at a Leadership and Orientation Seminar held July 24-25, 2017 at the Louisiana State Capitol, according to a recent LYAC press release.

St. James native and Ascension Catholic student Nydia Cooper was elected Historian. Cooper is an exceptional student judging from a June 23 LYAC press release, which reads:

"Cooper is a 15-year-old honor student at Ascension Catholic High School in Donaldsonville, Louisiana. She is currently in the National Honor Society; seven-year member at large with St. James Parish 4-H; Vice-Grand lady for St. James Catholic Church Junior Catholic Daughters; State 4-H Citizenship Board Member; Diocese of Baton Rouge Youth Board Member; St. James Parish 4-H Impact Club (Junior Leaders) Member; State 4-H Co-Op Camp Treasurer; St. James Parish 4-H Shooting Sport Team Member; Member of Ascension Catholic High School band, powerlifting team and tennis team. Nydia has a 3rd Degree Level II black belt in Taekwondo. Recently, Nydia placed runner-up in the category of photo illustration with the Rochester Institute of Technology."

Other newly elected LYAC officers are: President Marian Luzier, Walker High School, Walker; Vice President Reed Broussard, Teurlings Catholic High School, Youngsville; Secretary Ruby Roberg, West Feliciana High School, St. Francisville; Parliamentarian Jesse Landry, West Feliciana High School, St. Francisville; Communications Officer Katie Hall, Ouachita Christian School, Monroe.

Under this leadership, the council gets to select issues to discuss with Louisiana legislators for the upcoming 2018 Regular Session of the legislature.

"The goal is to get legislation sponsored, introduced and passed next year," according to the press release. "Now in its tenth year, LYAC facilitates the communication between youth and the legislature and gives students the unique opportunity to be involved in the workings of state government."

ACHS senior Micah Daggs also serves on the council.

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The Downsides of John Kelly’s Ascension – Defense One

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The former Marine general is unlikely to succeed in his new job, even as his appointment contributes to the decay of American civil-military relations.

Donald Trump is not much of a man. He feels sorry for himself, he whines, he gropes women; he bullies the weak. He brags and he lies. As a young man, this self-proclaimed athlete collected five draft deferments rather than wear his countrys uniform. He doesnt even work out. The motto emblazoned on Trumps bogus coat of arms should probably be faithless, which makes it odd that he has picked as his chief of staff a general steeled in a service whose motto is ever faithful. (The Trump coat of arms wasreportedly liftedfrom another family, with the motto integrity replacedinevitablybyTrump.)

John Kelly, retired Marine four-star and new White House chief of staff, has been throughout his career everything Trump is not: He has endured more than Trump could imagine, and has displayed virtues that Trump may not understand and certainly has not exhibited, among them candor, courage, and discipline. Which is why some observers have welcomed Kellys hiring as evidence that perhaps the president is learning, that maybe now we will have a disciplined White House that will focus on the business of public policy. Maybe the early morning tweets will diminish or evenstop.

Trumps pick of Kelly is probably better understood in a broader and darker context. That includesa speechthat he gave the same day to New Yorks Suffolk County Police Department calling on cops to bang suspects heads into squad cars; the brusque, uncoordinateddismissalof transgender service personnel by presidential tweet; aspeecha week earlier at the commissioning of USSGerald R. Fordurging sailors to lobby their representatives; a harangue to 30,000 Boy Scouts that includeda rant about loyalty, and that earned him an astonishing rebuke from the head of the Boy Scouts of America; and a longer history of toying around the edge of inciting violence, to includethe assassination of his opponentin the lastelection.

As the coils of the Russia investigation grow tighter, as his failures in Congress mount, Trump reaches for what he knowsdemagoguery of the rawest sort. He reaches as well for what he thinks of as his base, which includes (he believes) the military, many of whose leaders are actually quietly appalled by what he represents. He has picked Kelly not because of his political or administrative skills but because he thinks of him as a killera term of praise in his lexicon, which is why he likes referring to his secretary of defense as Mad Dog Mattis, a nickname the former general rejects. Kelly will not organize Goon Squads for Trump, but the president would probably not mind if he did. More to the point, Kellys selection, and that of a foul-mouthed financier from New York as Trumps communications director, tells us not that Trump is planning on moderating his behavior, but rather on going to the mattresses. He just may have picked the wrong guy for that mission, thatsall.

Kellys decision to take the job lends itself to multiple explanations. It may be an irresistible call to duty by someone who thinks of the president mainly as commander-in-chief; it may be an act of deep, quiet patriotism by someone who intends to shield the country from Trumps lawless worst; it may reflect personal ambition, or mere hankering for as difficult a management challenge as one could imagine; or it may reflect a sneaking admiration for the boorish businessman who has successfully slapped around the politicians of left and right that many officers, and Marines in particular, despise as cowardly and corrupt. Kelly once handed a ceremonial saber to the President while unfunnily suggesting that he use it on the press. In April, hesaidthe following: If lawmakers do not like the laws theyve passed and we are charged to enforce, then they should have the courage and skill to change the laws. Otherwise they should shut up and support the men and women on the front lines. A less supine Congress might have noticed the discourtesy and reacted sharply to being told to shutup.

His occasionally contemptuous attitude towards the press and Congress, though, is only one reason why it is highly unlikely that Kelly will succeed. Trump will remain Trump, and the various denizens of the White House are unlikely to treat Kelly with much more deference than they treat one another. He will discover that he is no longer a general, or even a cabinet secretary, but a political functionaryneither more norless.

There was a reason why he spent 42 years on active duty rather than run for mayor of Boston. He probably already knows, but if not he will soon learn, that he will be as dispensable as his predecessor, that Trump hates any of his subordinates being too powerful or too visible. And worst of all, he will soon find himself wrestling with the moral corruption that being close to this man entails. You cannot work directly for Trump while adhering to a code of honesty, integrity, and lawfulness. Sooner or later Kelly will have to defend the White Houses jabber about fake news, alternative facts, and witch hunts. He will have to ascribe to Trump virtues that he does not possess, and deny the moral lapses and quite possibly the crimes that he hascommitted.

There is one further reason to find this appointment depressing. It contributes to the continuing decay of American civil-military relations. Those of us who were relieved to see James Mattis as secretary of defense, H. R. McMaster as national-security adviser, and Kelly himself as secretary of Homeland Security, felt that way partly out of appreciation for the virtues of all three men, but also, very largely, out of relief that their sanity might contain their bosss craziness. But it is inappropriate to have so many generals in policy-making positions; it is profoundly wrong to have a president regard the military as a constituency, and it is corrupting to have the Republican Party, such as it is, act as though generals have if not a monopoly then at least dominant market share in the qualities of executive ability and patriotism. It is unwise to have higher-level positions in the hands of officials who have openly expressed disdain for Congressnow a dangerously weak branch ofgovernment.

Trump, who has no idea how many articles there are in the Constitution, neither knows nor cares about any of the niceties of civil-military relations. To their credit, Kelly, Mattis, and McMaster have thought long and hard about these issues. But like any of us they have their individual limitations, and like any of us, their characters can be eroded by the whirlpool of moral and political corruption that is Donald Trump. The Marines live by a hard code, and John Kelly has endured tests of character more difficult than most of us can conceive. But his hardest tests lie ahead, and neither he nor anyone else can be sure that he will passthem.

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YU Real Estate Executive Circle Marks Ascension of Brooklyn – Yu News (blog)

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All-Star Panel Discusses Emerging Real Estate Trends in the Borough

On July 25, the Yeshiva University Real Estate Executive Circle, a membership-based organization that brings together real estate professionals who share a common interest in supporting YU and its values, held a panel discussion on emerging real estate trends in the borough of Brooklyn.

The event was hosted by Yaakov Sheinfeld 03SB at Milbank, Tweed, Hadley & McCloy LLP, and moderated by Michael Stoler of Madison Realty Capital and president of New York Real Estate TV. The panel featured Ofer Cohen (TerraCRG), Jason Muss 93YC (Muss Development LLC), Michael Ridloff (Vanke Holdings USA LLC) and Paul Travis (Washington Square Partners).

(l-r): Paul Travis (Washington Square Partners), Michael Ridloff (Vanke Holdings USA LLC), Jason Muss 93YC (Muss Development LLC), moderator Michael Stoler (The Stoler Report), and Ofer Cohen (TerraCRG)

In his opening remarks, Ari Hirt 84YUHS, 88YC of Mission Capital Advisors and chair of the Executive Circle, noted how the Circle connects successful, liked-minded real estate professionals through high-quality programming and networking events.

Under Stolers astute questioning, the four panelists shared their observations about the achievable profits for residential and commercial real estate in Brooklyn. On the residential side, as Ridloff noted, were not 57th Street, a reference to the mega-residential structures on that thoroughfare, but we look to build more in line with the kind of lives Brooklyners lead. To Muss, that life is not only defined by the younger generations living in Park Slope and Fort Greene but also by the groups that have made places like Brighton Beach and Sheepshead Bay their homes.

Panelists noted the shift away from Manhattan elitism and more enthusiasm for the outer borough, with new companies now establishing themselves in Brooklyn, rather than starting in Manhattan and migrating over the bridge, and even Manhattan-based companies moving to Brooklyn to be closer to their employees.

Still, presenters observed, there are challenges unique to Brooklyn, especially with the redevelopment of large sites such as the Brooklyn Navy Yard, which might not be quite right for commercial or residential development. Other topics covered during the discussion included new commercial development, like the Dekalb Market Hall, in the revitalized downtown area, and transportation concerns specific to Brooklyn.

Rabbi Dr. Ari Berman, President of Yeshiva University, was in attendance for the discussion and called out the importance of organizations like the Executive Circle to YUs long-term future. One of the great reasons to go to Yeshiva University, Dr. Berman said, is that you will know throughout your life that theres a network of people who are willing to help you and be there for you, to connect and network with you, and that you will be okay, you will be taken care of, and that theres a family that surrounds you. This activity is of crucial importance, and we should use it as a model for all of our groups at the University.

Executive Circle Chair Hirt added that networking is not only important for the Circles individual members but is also an opportunity to support Yeshiva University, the premiere Modern Orthodox educational and communal service institution. The four successful industry events held during the Circles first year have brought together many big players in the industry while raising much-needed funds for YU, he said.

For more information about the Yeshiva University Real Estate Executive Circle, see http://www.yu.edu/yureec. Interested YU students, faculty or alumni can also call 646.592.4485 or email yureec@yu.edu.

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YU Real Estate Executive Circle Marks Ascension of Brooklyn - Yu News (blog)

The Musk/Zuckerberg Dustup Represents a Growing Schism in AI – Motherboard

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Frank White is the author of The Overview Effect: Space Exploration and Human Evolution. He is working on a book about artificial intelligence.

Recently, two tech heavyweights stepped into the social media ring and threw a couple of haymakers at one another. The topic: artificial intelligence (AI) and whether it is a boon to humanity or an existential threat.

Elon Musk, founder and CEO of SpaceX and Tesla, has been warning of the dangers posed by AI for some time and called for its regulation at a conference of state governors in July. In the past, he has likened AI to "summoning the demon," and he founded an organization called OpenAI to mitigate the risks posed by artificial intelligence.

Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg took a moment while sitting in his backyard and roasting some meat to broadcast a Facebook Live message expressing his support for artificial intelligence, suggesting that those urging caution were "irresponsible."

Musk then tweeted that Zuckerberg's understanding of AI was "limited."

The Musk/Zuckerberg tiff points to something far more important than a disagreement between two young billionaires. There are two distinct perspectives on AI emerging, represented by Musk and Zuckerberg, but the discussion is by no means limited to them.

This debate has been brewing under the surface for some time, but has not received the attention it deserves. AI is making rapid strides and its advent raises a number of significant public policy questions, such as whether developments in this field should be evaluated in regard to their impact on society, and perhaps regulated. It will doubtless have a tremendous impact on the workplace, for example. Let's examine the underlying issues and how we might address them.

Perhaps the easiest way to sort out this debate is to consider, broadly, the positive and negative scenarios for AI in terms of its impact on humankind.

The AI pessimists and optimists seem locked into their worldviews, with little overlap between their projected futures

The negative scenario, which has been personified by Musk, goes something like this: What we have today is specialized AI, which can accomplish specific tasks as well as, if not better than, humans. This is not a matter of concern in and of itself. However, some believe it will likely lead to artificial general intelligence (AGI) that is not only equal to human intelligence but also able to master any discipline, from picking stocks to diagnosing diseases. This is uncharted territory, but the concern is that AGI will almost inevitably lead to Superintelligence, a system that will outperform humans in every domain and perhaps even have its own goals, over which we will have no control.

At that point, known as the Singularity, we will no longer be the most intelligent species on the planet and no longer masters of our own fate.

In the scariest visions of the post-Singularity future, the hypothesized Superintelligence may decide that humans are a threat and wipe us out. More hopeful, but still disturbing views, such as that of Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak, suggest that we humans will eventually become the "pets" of robots.

The positive scenario, recently associated with Zuckerberg, goes in a different direction: It emphasizes more strongly that specialized AI is already benefiting humanity, and we can expect more of the same. For example, AIs are being applied to diagnosing diseases and they are often doing a better job than human doctors. Why, ask the optimists, do we care who does the work, if it benefits patients? Then we have mainstream applications of AI assistants like Siri and Alexa, which (or who?) are helping people manage their lives and learn more about the world just by asking.

Read More: Google's DeepMind Is Teaching AI How to Think Like a Human

Optimistic observers believe that AGI will be difficult to achieveit won't happen overnightand we can build in plenty of safeguards before it emerges. Others suggest that AGI and anything beyond it is a myth.

If we can achieve AGI, the optimistic view is that we will build on previous successes and deploy technologies like driverless cars, which will save thousands of human lives every year. As for the Singularity and Superintelligence, advocates of the positive scenario see these developments as more an article of faith than a scientific reality. And again, we have plenty of time to prepare for these eventualities.

The AI pessimists and optimists may seem locked into their own worldviews, with little apparent overlap between their projected futures. This leaves us with tweetstorms and Facebook Live jabs rather than a collaborative effort to manage a powerful technology.

However, there is one topic on which both sides tend to agree: AI is already having, and will continue to have, tremendous impact on jobs.

Speaking recently at a Harvard Business School event, Andrew Ng, the cofounder of Coursera and former chief scientist at Baidu, said that based on his experience as an "AI insider," he did not "see a clear path for AI to surpass human-level intelligence."

On the other hand, he asserted that job displacement was a huge problem, and "the one that I wish we could focus on, rather than be distracted by these science fiction-ish, dystopian elements."

Ng seems to confirm the optimistic view that Superintelligence is unlikely, and therefore the thrust of his comments center on the future of work and whether we are adequately prepared. Looking at just one sector of the economy, transport, it isn't hard to see that he has a point. If driverless cars and trucks do become the norm, thousands if not millions of people who drive for a living will be out of work. What will they do?

As the Musk/Zuckerberg argument unfolds, let's hope it sheds light on a significant challenge that has gone unnoticed for far too long. Forging a public policy response represents an opportunity for the optimists and pessimists to collaborate rather than debate.

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The Musk/Zuckerberg Dustup Represents a Growing Schism in AI - Motherboard

Luxembourg set to become Europe’s commercial space exploration hub with new Space Law – Resource World Magazine (press release) (subscription)

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Filling the void: Luxembourg leads the way in Europe by regulating the ownership of space resources

By Laurent Thailly, Partner at Ogier, Luxembourg

The law of 20 July 2017 on the exploration and use of space resources (the Space Law), as adopted by the Luxembourg Parliament on 13 July 2017 and effective from 1 August 2017, creates a licensing and supervisory regime in Luxembourg addressing the ownership of resources acquired in space. Similar to the US Commercial Space Launch and Competitiveness Act, the Space Law provides that commercial companies operating within its regulatory framework may legally appropriate resources acquired in space from celestial bodies known as Near Earth Objects (NEOs). Notably, the Space Law does not apply to satellite communications, orbital positions or the use of frequency bands.

Luxembourg is the first European country to adopt legislation regulating the ownership of resources acquired in space by commercial companies, providing legal certainty for commercial projects in the space sector. The Outer Space Treaty (OST) dating back to 1967, signed by 107 countries including Luxembourg, established principles for the peaceful and free exploration of space by nation states. However, OST does not address the ownership by private organisations of the resources harvested from NEOs by, for example, asteroid mining, including metals, minerals, and gases.

Legal certainty and clear guidelines: the Space Law

The Space Law sets out a number of requirements for a commercial company seeking to rely on Luxembourgs regulatory framework in order to appropriate space resources (the Operator). The main ones are listed below:

Luxembourgs larger investment in space exploration and asteroid mining

The Space Law is not a solitary act, but part of a larger strategy by the Luxembourg government to establish the Grand Duchy as Europes space exploration and research hub. A member of the European Space Agency since 2005, Luxembourg recognises the lucrative potential of the untapped resources of space and has launched the national SpaceResources.lu initiative aimed at creating the ideal legal, regulatory and business landscape for a flourishing space exploration economy in Luxembourg.

In a push to diversify Luxembourgs investment funds and banking dominated economy and establish Luxembourg as the European centre of the asteroid mining business, the government has committed 200 million euros to SpaceResources.lu to help fund companies set up space exploration related companies. The funding, as well as Luxembourgs offer to help companies obtain private financing, are designed to entice start-ups and established space mining companies to open their European headquarters in Luxembourg. A number of such companies have already either set up in Luxembourg or partnered with the Luxembourg government to finance their endeavours.

Next Steps

The Luxembourg government states that it is committed to engaging the governments of other countries to establish a global legal framework within the context of the U.N. for the exploration and commercial utilization of resources from NEOs.

Co-operation with European institutions is already taking place, with the Luxembourg Ministry of the Economy and the European Investment Bank signing an Advisory Service Agreement to secure advice and guidance of the European Investment Advisory Hub on enhancing access to financing for projects in the context of SpaceResources.lu.

In November, Luxembourg will host the first European edition of an international conference dedicated to space, NewSpace Europe.

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Luxembourg set to become Europe's commercial space exploration hub with new Space Law - Resource World Magazine (press release) (subscription)

The Ethics of Mars Exploration: Q&A with Lucianne Walkowicz – Space.com

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Dr. Lucianne Walkowicz is an astronomer at the Adler Planetarium in Chicago. This October, she begins work as the new NASA/Library of Congress Chair of Astrobiology.

Lucianne Walkowicz, a researcher at the Adler Planetarium in Chicago, is setting off on a year's mission with the U.S. Library of Congress to pick apart the ethics of Mars exploration.

Walkowicz, an eloquent speaker known for her TED talk "Let's not use Mars as a backup planet," has been named the Library of Congress' Baruch S. Blumberg Chair in Astrobiology the first woman to hold the yearlong position. While there, she will work on a project with the title "Fear of a Green Planet: Inclusive Systems of Thought for Human Exploration of Mars."

Space.com talked to Walkowicz about the new project, the current state of space-exploration policy and how the big questions on colonization tie into her activism with underrepresented students in science, technology, engineering and math through the nonprofit organization Urban Alliance. [Making Sense of Humanity's Impact on Earth from Outer Space]

Space.com: How do you intend to explore space policy in order to incorporate it into your research on future Mars exploration?

Lucianne Walkowicz:I think that one of the things that most excites me about being able to carry out this research, specifically at the Library of Congress, is access to not only the history of policy that's within the library's holdings, but also to be in a place where there are a lot of policymakers in other words, Washington, D.C.

What governs how we explore at the moment is theOuter Space Treaty of 1967, which is now quite an old document. It was signed on by most of the countries existing at the time, and says, for example, that you can't own a celestial body.

Back a couple of years ago,the Space Act was enacted, which said that you could actually own some of the products of a celestial body. So, for example, you might not be able to own Mars, but potentially you could own something that you had mined on Mars, and if you look at that document, it says that you can own everything that isn't biological, but you can also own water.

Space.com: Is this, then, a stumbling block of existing exploration policy, or is legislation like the Space Act sufficiently effective?

Walkowicz: So I think this is a nice example of where the policy sounds good on paper but doesn't actually fold in all of the things that we know about astrobiology today. Mars, for example, had once been a much more hospitable world than it is currently: It could have had a past history of life, and could even continue to host microbial life in some trace amount today. Mars is an example of a place that has its own history. And I think a lot of times, within historical narratives, you hear people recycle the talk about exploration. Often there's an assumption that because we don't see large-scale macroscopic life running across the surface of Mars today, that we don't have to worry about those things.

What I would like to do is look at the ways in which these ideas interact with the actual existing policy, and how what we know about Mars now interacts with the existing policy, because it remains a fact that Mars is a place unto its own that has its own history, and what respect do we owe to that history? What rights does that history have? [Luxembourg Adopts Space Resources Law]

Space.com: You mentioned that you are taking this position to research the intersection of science and policy. How would nations negotiate Mars exploration under the current laws?

Walkowicz: One of the things about this research is that we really don't know.

The Outer Space Treaty, which, as I mentioned, is a very old document, is really the closest thing we have to an idea of how internationally we see people existing in space. But the fact of the matter is that even things like the Space Act, which was intended to clear the way for asteroid mining, all have an air of hypothetical-ness about them. That is because nobody has tested them. Nobody has tried to interact with them in a practical way, and I think a large part of this issue is that it hasn't really been thought out very well. There are policies that exist, but the way it would actually go down in real life I think is still very much an open question.

Space.com: What do you think is the most important aspect of the ethics of Mars exploration?

Walkowicz: I would say that the most important aspect, what really draws me to this particular line of research, is the opportunity to closely examine our past history so that we can move forward in a way that is more inclusive for our future: I think that a lot of the ways that we currently speak about exploration draw on narratives that were very harmful in the past.

The comparisons that are so often invoked to Christopher Columbus are a good example, where we constantly recycle these narratives from history that were actually quite harmful, and were histories of exploitation. So, as we move forward to trying to explore places like Mars, I'm curious as to how we can acknowledge these harmful past events and move forward in a way that is more inclusive for everyone who might choose to explore the universe, whether by leaving Earth or by studying it here.

Space.com: In what ways is the scientific community vulnerable to perpetuating historically destructive patterns that stem from its surrounding social environment?

Walkowicz: I think we are at an interesting point in science right now, where truly, for many years I think and this is still a persistent myth people think that science sometimes exists outside of its larger societal framework, and that it is somehow purer and therefore not vulnerable to these harmful patterns that have been enacted in all aspects of society.

But, if you look at the makeup of predominantly who becomes a scientist particularly in physics and astronomy the makeup of who becomes a research-level faculty scientist is still very white and very male, and I think shows that there is still a great deal of inequality in access to STEM careers for people who have not been typically represented as scientists. And that includes people of color, broadly, and women, and especially women of color. [Women of Color in Astronomy Face Greater Degree of Discrimination, Harassment]

Space.com: You're also involved with a nonprofit organization, Urban Alliance, which serves underrepresented students in science, technology, math and engineering. Why is the organization important?

Walkowicz: My interaction with Urban Alliance started here in Chicago. They are predominantly based in the mid-Atlantic, in Virginia, D.C. and Baltimore, but their other location is actually here where I am, in Chicago. I gave a talk at Chicago Ideas Week a couple of years ago, and they had partnered with Urban Alliance, and they brought a group of their students just to hang out afterwards and talk about space. And I had a really wonderful series of questions and answers and conversations with them, and between that and the Adler Planetarium where I am, which has a very vibrant teen program, one of the things I'm always struck by is that our teens have wonderful, insightful questions about our future here on Earth and space, and I think you hear a lot of people talk in sort of the abstract about what the next generation needs or what the next generation thinks, or even people invoking, "Well, all children want to be astronauts, etc.," and you know, when you actually talk to teenagers, they have a beautiful cornucopia of opinions.

I think that working with Urban Alliance or even just more broadly with students in the D.C. area is important, because the majority of people are not asking those students what they think and are not engaging them in actually forging their own futures, and I think that their opinions are important. And I think it's particularly important to reach out to students who do come from diverse backgrounds, because you find that, when you get groups of people together who come from a variety of different places, they see things in a variety of different ways.

Our research shows that that makes for a more robust set of problem solvers, and I really think that the more people we can engage from more backgrounds to work together, the stronger we'll be and the greater our chances will be in space and on Earth. [To Get to Mars, NASA Must Convince Lawmakers]

This aerial view shows Adler Planetarium's relationship to the Chicago skyline in the background.

Space.com: How will you present your findings from the yearlong position you begin in October 2017 as Chair of Astrobiology at the Library of Congress?

Walkowicz: Well, I think it'll be a variety of things. I'll be organizing in this position [a] series of symposia, so a lot of those will be bringing together people who work at the intersection of not only astronomy and planetary science, but also anthropology, policy, and space policy, specifically, and social justice within the sciences.

I'll be hoping to have those people come together at the Library and engage in conversations, so I think there will probably be some public aspect of that to be worked out over the course of this year. But also, I'm hoping to do a lot of writing on the topic. I eventually would like to be writing about this in a longer form; I've played with the idea of writing a book. For the moment, I'd like to spend the year digging into these subjects and writing about them whenever possible, because I think it's important to engage as many people in thinking about this stuff as you can, so I'd love to use this year to have some of these questions reach a wider audience and get people thinking about them more.

I think it's the beginning of a much larger, bigger conversation! [Large laugh] So I'm excited to delve into this in a deeper way.

Follow Doris Elin Salazar on Twitter @salazar_elin.Follow us@Spacedotcom,FacebookandGoogle+. Original article onSpace.com.

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The Ethics of Mars Exploration: Q&A with Lucianne Walkowicz - Space.com