Monthly Archives: September 2014

David Pearce – The World Transhumanist Association (WTA) – Video

Posted: September 22, 2014 at 9:43 pm


David Pearce - The World Transhumanist Association (WTA)
David Pearce (born 3 April) is a British philosopher. He promotes the idea that there exists a strong ethical imperative for humans to work towards the abolition of suffering in all sentient...

By: Adam Ford

Continue reading here:
David Pearce - The World Transhumanist Association (WTA) - Video

Posted in Transhumanist | Comments Off on David Pearce – The World Transhumanist Association (WTA) – Video

Can We Really Control Everything with Our Thoughts?

Posted: at 9:43 pm

Inventions based on applications of electro-encephalography (EEG) are now being refined and made available to the general public. So are there any technological limits to reading peoples minds and channelling their thoughts to manipulate matter?

Controlling tools using just your thoughts is the ultimate step in abolishing man-machine interfaces. This is no longer the distant dream of just a few years ago, when you had to attach a forest of electrodes to the human brain in order to gather electrical signals powerful enough to analyse and channel. Controlling objects through the power of thought was originally known as psychokinesis, a term coined by American parapsychologist Joseph Banks Rhine on the basis of the Greek words for mind and movement, to denote the movement or change of physical objects without the application of physical force, mind over matter. These days, when we talk about objects moving in response to a persons thoughts, the word generally used is telekinesis. This concept has now become widespread with the use of electro-encephalogram (EEG) headsets, which draw on electrical signals from the brain to translate thoughts in the form of neuron connections into binary signals. Until quite recently, electro-encephalography required much more complex procedures, which were available only in research institutions but the new headset approach heralds the arrival of this technology in low-cost form.

All electrical activity, including nerve activity, generates impulses which can be translated into electronic signals and then read using advanced machine language. Accordingly, an EEG headset collects electrical signals emitted by the brain via nerve impulses, isolated by electrodes placed on the forehead. The neurons perform as a network, emitting electrical signals to and from each other via connections called synapses. The technology used in low-cost EEG headsets enables a fairly accurate transcription of the electrical information on to a computer. Fabien Lotte, a researcher at INRIA, a French public research body for digital science and technology, explains the novelty of EEG sensors: Their appearance at the beginning of the millennium represented a break with the past as they use dry electrodes, thus avoiding the need to apply gel to the cranium, which tends to increase the level of noise interfering with the brainwaves you are trying to read. Another headset, the Mindwave developed by NeuroSky, comprises a set of electrodes able to measure brainwaves from the inside, a few millimetres from the skull, once a sensor has been placed on your forehead. The great advantage of the latest EEG headsets is that they can isolate the signal from the surrounding noise at very low cost.

EEG headsets are becoming lighter and now transcribe electrical signals to higher quality levels. They are therefore proving extremely useful for people suffering from motor handicaps. However, before a person is able to make practical use of the system, s/he has to go through a process not always straightforward of re-educating the mind. Once this step has been overcome and the equipment has been mastered, paraplegics will be able for example to control the movements of their wheelchairs using thought, without having to move any of their limbs.

Young engineers from French engineering school ESME have recently been investigating how to benefit from the low cost aspect of the headset made by NeuroSky. They have invented a mind-controlled wheelchair, which responds to eye-blinking i.e. facial muscles and concentration, which affects blood flow, to regulate the speed. When it comes to concentration, claims Pierre Pagliughi, one of the inventors, theres no need to train the user in advance. S/he will be able to apply it automatically. In fact, the only way to achieve finer monitoring of brainwaves, explains Pagliughi, is to increase the number of electrodes placed on the cranium. This would enable the user for example to send directional commands, such as go to the right, or go to the left, via pure thought rather than by blinking his/her eyes.

Increasing numbers of projects using EEG headsets from steering drones to manipulating bionic limbs are now under way. Connected artificial limbs are still among the easiest tools for people to control by brainwaves once they have received some training, as this calls for motor commands, which can be isolated and captured much more easily than abstract thoughts which require more electrodes and more user training.

Meanwhile London-based startup MindRDR is focusing on combining the trend for wearable electronics with mind control, and has succeeded in connecting Google Glass with a device that monitors brain activity. The current version uses a commercially available NeuroSky brain monitor to extract core metrics from the mind. These are expressed as Meditation and Attention levels. One of their test applications allows users to take pictures, triggered by a conscious level of concentration which the sensors attached to the subjects forehead detect from the increased blood flow to the spot. By concentrating even harder, the user is then able to share the photos on social networks such as Facebook and Instagram via Google Glass.

The low-cost EEG headset, which marks a paradigm-shift in man-machine interfaces, raises the question of how we relate to technology. For a number of years now, various artists have been working in this area. The fact that artists are getting into in this area of technology is a good illustration of how electro-encephalography raises questions that go beyond the mere notion of innovation.

For the Head Edit project, (2011), artist Gregory Chatonsky wore an EEG headset to undertake mind-controlled editing, thus responding to the call from the Russian film director Vertov for somebody to invent a means of editing flilm through thought. In Dislocation VII: Suspension of Attention (2013), the artist invites the audience to interact with a heavy iron door, which s/he can move using the power of thought alone channelled through an EEG headset. Chatonskys intention here is however to show that the impression of power that we feel when the door is controlled by the mind is actually illusory. He believes that the alternating concentration and relaxation demanded by the experiment demonstrates that it is the door that guides us. We are not in control. So the artist is using the EEG headset to debunk some of the promises made for the science of mind control. He argues that the EEG headsets as he has used them in his projects, i.e. worn by spectators, illustrate the limited extent of the information provided by brain waves, which operates in a purely binary way.

In spite of these limitations, EEG headsets are nevertheless likely to become increasing widespread among the general public, and may well change peoples relationship with both the material world and our notion of what an idea is. If a thought can be read, why can it not be programmed? Chatonsky sees the optimism expressed by some people in the scientific community regarding this new thought-reading technology as yet another form of faith. Although he does not think EEG headsets will live up to the promise of reading peoples minds clearly, which would involve complex, culture-based factors, headsets that are touted as being able to scan thoughts are still likely to have an impact on the way people relate to ideas.

Read more:
Can We Really Control Everything with Our Thoughts?

Posted in Transhumanist | Comments Off on Can We Really Control Everything with Our Thoughts?

City promotes from within for human resources post

Posted: at 9:43 pm

CHAMPAIGN The city's new human resources director comes from inside city hall after former community relations manager Jason Hood assumed the role on Monday.

Hood takes over as the head of the city's human resources department, a job that was left vacant when Chris Bezruki retired in May 2013. Hood was first hired by the city as a community relations specialist in July 2012.

City Manager Dorothy David said in a press release Hood's advanced degrees, including an MBA from Millikin University and law degree from the University of Illinois, plus his 10 years' experience in both the private and public sectors, will serve the city well.

"It is my pleasure to be able to promote an internal candidate that is so well-qualified to lead our HR function," she said.

Hood was selected from a field of 45 candidates and will make $110,000 annually, according to the city.

Here is the original post:
City promotes from within for human resources post

Posted in Post Human | Comments Off on City promotes from within for human resources post

First Zero-G 3D Printer Is On Its Way To The Space Station

Posted: at 9:43 pm

This 3D printer will be making parts on board the International Space Station (Credit: Made In Space)

On Tuesday morning, a SpaceX Dragon capsule will berth with the International Space Station. Included in its nearly 2 and a half tons of cargo is a first for the final frontier a 3D printer.

This 3D printer was developed by a small startup, Made In Space, which was founded in 2010 and incubated at Singularity University. Since 2011, the company has been actively working on development of their printer with NASA. The company has also received $824,597 in Small Business Innovation Research grants from NASA.

In 2013, NASA awarded Made In Space a Phase III Sole Source contract to build a 3D printer to send to the International Space Station the printer thats on its way to the station right now. The purpose of this printer is the demonstrate that 3D printing can work on board the station. If so, NASA intends to use its printer for experimental purpose with an eye to one day printing parts for the station on-demand.

As you might imagine, 3D printing poses some special challenges when you try to do it in zero gravity.

There are two main categories of problems, Brad Kohlenberg, a Business Development Engineer at the company told me. First is just making work. Second is making it safe in a closed loop environment.

The safety issue is the simple fact that when a 3D printer creates objects from its plastics, it will off-gas emitting toxic gasses into the local air. This isnt a problem on Earth, where doors, windows and HVAC systems allow those gases to diffuse safely. On the space station, however, the atmosphere is strictly controlled and this becomes a real problem.

To solve that problem, the company has developed an environmental control unit that filters out harmful gasses and nanoparticles produced during the printing process. Its so efficient, in fact, that the filter all by itself can purify a room on Earth.

Were actually in talks with other manufacturers about spinning that off, Kohlenberg told me. Doing crazy things that even if you fail to meet your goal, you could revolutionize another industry.

Made In Space tests its 3D printer on a microgravity parabolic flight.

Follow this link:
First Zero-G 3D Printer Is On Its Way To The Space Station

Posted in Futurism | Comments Off on First Zero-G 3D Printer Is On Its Way To The Space Station

David Houle – Futurist, Speaker and Author – Video

Posted: at 9:43 pm


David Houle - Futurist, Speaker and Author
David Houle is a futurist, thinker and keynote speaker. He has always been slightly ahead of the curve. Houle is consistently ranked as one of the top futuri...

By: speakerchannel

The rest is here:
David Houle - Futurist, Speaker and Author - Video

Posted in Futurist | Comments Off on David Houle – Futurist, Speaker and Author – Video

David L. Smith – Economist, Futurist and Market Strategist – Video

Posted: at 9:43 pm


David L. Smith - Economist, Futurist and Market Strategist
David L. Smith has the education, experience and proven track record to reassure audiences he knows what he is talking about. A Dartmouth- and Stanford-train...

By: speakerchannel

See more here:
David L. Smith - Economist, Futurist and Market Strategist - Video

Posted in Futurist | Comments Off on David L. Smith – Economist, Futurist and Market Strategist – Video

'Digital twins' will make decisions for us – and even console loved ones after we die by 2020, futurist claims

Posted: at 9:43 pm

The claims were made by futurist and system theorist John Smart He believes we will have digital twins within the next five years These twins could act like digital personal secretaries or agents They could also, one day, have human faces and hold conversations In addition, when people die, loved ones could converse with digital versions of ourselves long after our death Apps already exist that offer similar tools including Siri and Google Now The claims signal a step towards the futurist theory of singularity

By Victoria Woollaston for MailOnline

Published: 06:56 EST, 22 September 2014 | Updated: 06:57 EST, 22 September 2014

696 shares

43

View comments

By 2020, our day-to-day lives, relationships and even what to have for dinner could be controlled and run by digital versions of ourselves.

According to futurist John Smart, within the next six years many of us could have so-called digital twins that schedule our appointments and even have conversations with others on our behalf.

And they could one day console loved ones after we die by mimicking our voice, emotions, mannerisms and thoughts.

According to futurist John Smart, within the next five years many of us could have so-called digital twins (illustrated) that schedule appointments, make decisions and have conversations with others on our behalf. They could even console loved ones after we die by mimicking our voice, emotions, mannerisms and thoughts

Read the rest here:
'Digital twins' will make decisions for us - and even console loved ones after we die by 2020, futurist claims

Posted in Futurist | Comments Off on 'Digital twins' will make decisions for us – and even console loved ones after we die by 2020, futurist claims

X Prize Pledges $15M for Software That Lets Children Teach Themselves

Posted: at 9:43 pm

The X PRIZE Foundation, the brainchild of entrepreneur and futurist Peter Diamandis, is already working on everything from sending people to the moon, to cleaning up our oceans, to developing a real life Star Trek tricorder. And on Monday, the venerable non-profit announced another ambitious goal. It wants to bootstrap technology that will let the worlds children teach themselves to read and write.

The newly launched Global Learning X PRIZE is offering up $15 million to fund open source software that can remake education in the developing world. Ideally, Diamandis says, the X PRIZE team is looking for software that is artificially intelligent, so it can better understand how students learn and what their interests are, in order to keep them more engaged in their education.

This 200-year-old industrial age educational system that we all grew up in, in which we all sit in a classroom, the bell rings, and like cogs in a wheel, we change classrooms? Inevitably, half the students are lost, and half are bored, Diamandis told WIRED on Monday at the Social Good Summit in New York City, where the new prize was announced. The question is: How do you change that so its personalized education? Thats possible, and thats the goal.

Were aiming at kids who live in villages where theres nothing. This has to take them from complete illiteracy to basic reading, writing and numeracy.

As Diamandis admits, theres no shortage of technological innovation in education these days. The last few years have given birth to models like the massively open online course, which promises to give an elite global education to anyone online for free. But as important as this technology may be, he says, it often assumes a higher state of learning than exists. If you dont have the basics of education, you dont know how to use the web and dont know how to type in a URL, he says. Were aiming at kids who live in villages where theres nothing. This has to take them from complete illiteracy to basic reading, writing and numeracy.

If X PRIZE were to achieve such an ambitious goal, it wouldnt be the first time. In 2004, the foundation launched its Ansari X PRIZE, which challenged teams to create their own private spacecraft and is often credited with kickstarting what is now becoming a mature commercial spaceflight industry. Just last week, NASA awarded two multibillion dollar contracts to SpaceX and Boeing, entrusting them with the development of two new spacecraft that will shuttle NASA astronauts to and from the International Space Station in the near future.

Im really proud we helped kick the private space flight industry in the butt, Diamandis says of the Ansari prizes legacy. We helped bring regulatory reform, capital to the marketplace, and more excitement about spaceflight to the industry.

Now, Diamandis hopes to replicate that success with the Global Learning prize. Teams will have six months to register, after which theyll have 18 months to build their software. It could be teams from Microsoft and Google or two kids in a garage from Nairobi, he says.

Then, the foundation will test those technologies with children throughout Africa, and it is now raising money through crowdfunding to expand that test from 5,000 kids to 10,000. Once the winning team is chosen, Diamandis says he plans to work with companies like Google, Samsung, HTC, and other device manufacturers to ensure the software is integrated into all of their new phones and tablets.

I want to make this software available for every tablet and smartphone out there, Diamandis says. Imagine that when someone gets a tablet in the future, it will become their teacher, as well.

Original post:
X Prize Pledges $15M for Software That Lets Children Teach Themselves

Posted in Futurist | Comments Off on X Prize Pledges $15M for Software That Lets Children Teach Themselves

Jason Hope Predicts the Internet of Things Will Change the Face of Business

Posted: at 9:43 pm

Scottsdale, AZ (PRWEB) September 22, 2014

The Internet of Things, that vast connectivity that is happening with everything from the Apple Watch to Internet-enabled doorbells, is changing personal life for the better, but business is poised to change as well. Jason Hope, futurist and entrepreneur, indicates that the Internet of Things is going to make vast changes in the business world in the coming years. According to Hope, the Internet of Things is going to change the way we do business, the way employees function in the work place and the way consumers interact with businesses.

Mr. Hope was quoted in a recent blog post, "We're already seeing these changes in the world of cloud computing," notes Hope. "We've been able to eliminate much hardware in favor of computing in the cloud. As that continues to be implemented in the future, and new connected devices are brought to market; we'll see greater connectivity in the business world as a whole."

Hope is not the only one who is making these types of predictions. Earlier this year, Samsung's president for North America, Gregory Lee, declared in a recent September 16, 2014 article on TechRadar, that 2014 would be the "Year of the Internet of Things." The IDC has found that nearly 40 percent of the world force will be mobile workers by 2015, said BusinessNewsDay even back on January 5, 2012.

"Imagine a device that will lock your front door as you leave, open your car and start the remote start, notify you of your morning meeting and send a text to your boss based on your GPS location telling him that you will be a little late for that meeting. This is the reality that the Internet of Things brings to the business world," comments Hope.

The function of work may also change. People's work will become more anticipatory rather than reactionary as the Internet of Things, and the devices it brings, is able to anticipate work patterns, objectives and even basic movements.

"It's an exciting time for business, and watching it all unfold is like having a front row seat to a blockbuster film," says Hope.

About Jason Hope:

Jason Hope, an Arizona native currently living in Scottsdale, is an entrepreneur and futurist who is passionate about technology and health, and how the two can complement each other. His recent donations to the SENS Research Foundation to fight the effects of aging points to this passion. To learn more about Jason's work, visit him at http://www.jasonhope.com.

Link:
Jason Hope Predicts the Internet of Things Will Change the Face of Business

Posted in Futurist | Comments Off on Jason Hope Predicts the Internet of Things Will Change the Face of Business

Mysterious "Bermuda Triangle" in Space Affecting Hubble Telescope – Video

Posted: September 21, 2014 at 8:52 pm


Mysterious "Bermuda Triangle" in Space Affecting Hubble Telescope
More space news and info at: http://www.coconutsciencelab.com - the South Atlantic Anomaly is a region of space full of swarms of intensely high energy parti...

By: CoconutScienceLab

Original post:
Mysterious "Bermuda Triangle" in Space Affecting Hubble Telescope - Video

Posted in Hubble Telescope | Comments Off on Mysterious "Bermuda Triangle" in Space Affecting Hubble Telescope – Video