Monthly Archives: October 2019

If, as Star Trek famously put it, space is the final frontier of human endeavor, then insecure environments are the final frontiers of development. The data estimates are clearby 2030, 50 percent of the worlds poor will live in countries where their survival is threatened by violence. The data also show that yesterdays humanitarian settings are becoming todays development contexts. For example, a map of fragile states from the OECDs 2018 States of Fragility report and a map depicting constraints to humanitarian actors are almost indistinguishable. Today, development and humanitarian access constraints overlap, particularly in Africa. The good news is that, with the help of technology, security actors such as peacekeepers could help development agencies reach the poor even in the most dangerous field locations.

Fragile situations

Source: OECD States of Fragility2018

Humanitarian access rankings

Source: ACAPS Humanitarian Access Overview, May 2019

For development agencies, growing insecurity in fragile states poses a massive problem because their own institutional tolerance for security risks has traditionally been very low. As a result, insecurity and fragility increasingly shape where and how poverty reduction takes place. From the perspective of project implementation, this translates into frequent mission suspensions, caps on personnel, and disruptions in essential poverty reduction work. From the perspective of program design, avoiding red zones can lead to a concentration of resources in safer areas, a trend that has been observed in the humanitarian literature. According to a review of relief operations in Afghanistan, Somalia, South Sudan, and Syria, security threats significantly determine the geographic location of personnel and services, pushing humanitarians to cluster in better known, safer areas. In a more extensive study, the same authors noted a path dependency whereby security-related decisions in programming lead to access inertia. Poverty reduction programs run the same risks, as insecurity can skew decisions about the geographic spread of projects, resulting in a mismatch between development needs and resources.

Access limitations, however, are far less applicable to peacekeepers. The United Nations Department of Peace Operations manages 14 active peacekeeping missions in fragile and conflict-affected countries such as Central African Republic, Mali, the Democratic Republic of Congo, and South Sudan. The African Union oversees nearly 20,000 peacekeepers in Somalia. These missions comprise military and police officers who may witness, negotiate, or engage in combat with armed groups or extremist militants while on patrol in highly insecure areas which for development agencies are still no-go zones. This greater tolerance for insecurity thus brings greater access to the poor on the frontlines of conflict. But when equipped with the right geospatial mapping technology, peacekeepers could transfer their first-hand knowledge of insecurity to those whose mission is to fight poverty.

To see how this could work, consider the Geo-Enabling for Monitoring and Supervision (GEMS) initiative developed by the World Bank. GEMS builds the capacity of government agencies to use the appropriate technology for data collection and analysis in fragile states in order to improve monitoring and evaluation. When work on a project begins, representatives from the government and partner organizations are trained to develop and administer a data platform that stores information gathered during field visits. The data are collected with mobile devices, in the form of structured questionnaires, and can cover any topic relevant to the success of a project. Once uploaded on the platform, the information can be accessed by all institutions involved in project management. In other words, an economist interested in the impact of a community-driven development intervention can check progress from the field on her screen in near real-time, even if access constraints prohibit her from traveling there in person.

Similar geospatial mapping tools customized for peacekeepers would allow them to share structured data on violence and insecurity with development experts. Data collection efforts could range from identifying the number, type, and intensity of violent incidents in conflict hotspots where peacekeepers regularly conduct missions, to monitoring attacks by armed groups in areas where schools, hospitals, dams, and roads are being built. This data integration could help security and development actors achieve their independent and interdependent goals. Granular information on violent incidents could help development actors navigate highly complex fragile environments where poverty will be concentrated in the future.

Combining poverty with security maps could also allow development agencies to create access strategies for projects that deliver services to the poor trapped in active conflict. They could also implement course corrections in project delivery or determine when they need third-party monitors. Since security provision is a public service, data gathered by peacekeeping forces could help measure the degree to which governments advance on providing accountable and effective security servicesan essential component of Sustainable Development Goal 16 to promote just, peaceful, and inclusive societies. Strengthening the capacity of peacekeepers to gather and systematize data could also help build much needed monitoring and evaluation systems that enhance the U.N.s ability to measure the impact of peacekeeping on the ground, especially when it comes to protecting civilians.

Data integration between security and development institutions will certainly be challenging. Beyond distinct risk thresholds, the different institutional mandates, organizational cultures, and at times labyrinthine bureaucracies are bound to complicate such an endeavor. There are also valid concerns about data integrity and privacy, especially when it comes to data about the poor. Yet, if security and development actors stay true to their mission, they will need to go where no man has gone before and build on each others strengths to fight poverty wherever it exists.

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Geospatial peacekeeping: How soldiers and technology can help fight poverty - Brookings Institution

This article contains someSPOILERS for Black Mirror, currently available to stream on Netflix.

Charlie Brooker's Black Mirror paints a dystopian picture of society's relationship with technology. Satirical and allegorical tales set in dark fictional future worldsfeature characterswho've become victims of the technology they're surrounded with, or have anunhealthy obsession with the media. Others are extreme metaphors for a "Tech Apocalypse" that could very well be happening in the present day.

RELATED: Black Mirror: 10 Times the Show Predicted the Future

The frightening thing about Black Mirror is that, as sci-fi goes, it's not that far-fetched. Every day, new technology develops andexistingtech is refreshed, potentially bringingthe real world closer to Brooker'smacabre realities. So, is life imitating art as it did in the past with novels like HG Wells's The Time Machine and George Orwell's 1984? As the old clich suggests, perhaps reality is stranger than fiction.

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Robert Daly (Jesse Plemons) createshis own virtual world that's populatedby digital clones created from his co-workers' DNA. Inthis Star Trek-style virtual world, he ruleshis trapped virtual clones with an iron fist.

Thereare two types of technology at play in this episode,both of which already exist. DNA-based cloning is evolving by the year. And though consciousness has yet to be cloned, scientists have already physically cloned a sheep (Dolly) and other animals since.

RELATED: Star Trek: 5 Scientifically Accurate Details (& 5 That Make No Sense)

The other technology that's prominent isthe immersive virtual environment. And in the broad sense, thisexists in many forms today. In the context of USS Callister in relation to today's tech though, virtual environments and MMORPGs are currently a global phenomenon, with millions of players living immersive lives completely separate from their real-world ones, in virtual environments that become more realistic with every new release.

PopstarAshley's (Miley Cyrus) consciousnessis uploaded into "Ashley Too", a small robotic version of her belonging to teenage fan Rachel (Angourie Rice).And Ashley Too, Rachel, and hersister Jack (Madison Davenport) embark on a rescue mission to save the real Ashley, who has been put into an induced coma by her aunt.

While Ashley is comatose, her captors use "Vocal Mimicry Software" to reproduce her singing voice. In the real world today, emerging technologies like "Deep Voice" claim to be able to clone a voice by sampling just 3.7 seconds of audio. Later on, a visual simulation of Ashley is created for a performance, mimicking her physicalcharacteristicsand mannerisms. "Deepfake" technology is already doing this on a slightly more rudimentary level. Brain uploading is still science fiction. But organizations like Carboncopiesare working on it.

Season 1's Fifteen Million Merits presents a few technologies that are already out and about in the world. Bing Madsen (Daniel Kaluuya) and all the other characters consume their media and interact via touchless screens, which have already appeared on several devices inthe real world. The food the characters eat is "grown in a petri dish", as mentioned by Swift (Isabella Laughland), and produce grown from cells is turning out to be a reality already, with many start-ups in the testing phase.

The episode also sees everyone riding exercise bikes to power the world around them and earn their "Merits" (this world's version of money). That's a concept that'scurrently taking off because of new eco-friendly technologies that use the kinetic energy generated by humans tocreate sustainable electricity solutions.

Hated in the Nation is set in a world where humanity has developed robotic bees powered by artificial intelligence to supplementreal bees' diminishing population. But the bees are hacked and used as murder weapons.

RELATED: Black Mirror: Every Object in Black Museum

In the present day, a group of scientists from the Delft University of Technology in Holland aims to counteract our declining bee population with the robotic "Delfly". The Delfly is a bee-like drone which is designed to pollinate plants and crops for the benefit of Holland's invaluable agricultural industry. There's no sign of them killing anyone yet though.

Kenny (Alex Lawther) and Hector (Jerome Flynn) both fall prey to malware that hijacks their webcams and hasablackmailer send them off on a series of frightening errands under threat that compromising video footage of them will be released. The premise is very much based on current technology and hacking methods that are frequently used by blackmailers today.

One incident involved Cassidy Wolf, a former Miss Teen USA, whofell victim to a blackmailing hacker whoused malware to hack into the computer in her bedroom. The hacker threatened to release compromising images of the beauty queen unless she took her clothes off for him on camera.

Liam Foxwell (Toby Kebbell) lives in a society in which people have "grains" or chips implanted behind their ears. The implants record everythingusers see and hear, allowing them to "re-do", playing back their memories through their eyes or a monitor.

Elon Musk's proposedNeuralink interfaces directly with the human brain through a series of tiny sensors, implanted using "minimally invasive" micro-robotic surgery. The implantsends data to a computeror smartphone for a variety of purposes. Musk claims that the Neuralink has potentially far-reaching benefits for the advancement of medicine and the treatment of diseases like Parkinson's. But is humanity readyto get this personal withtechnology?

Two star-crossed lovers, Frank (Joe Cole) and Amy (Georgina Campbell) are brought together and then torn apart by "The System", which guides each of them through a series of encounters with potential life partners. Each encounter comes with an expiration date, based on supposed compatibility, and all the data collected by The System is collated to match people with their perfect partners.

RELATED: Black Mirror: Season 5 Episodes Ranked, Worst to Best

The algorithmsused by Tinder and other dating appsare founded on the same principle. They find potential matches for people based on a variety of factors like interests, personality profile,a prescribed "type", and physical location.

Chris (Andrew Scott), adriver for a taxi app called "Hitcher," picks up Jaden (Damson Idris) - an employee of social media giant, "Smithereen" and holds him hostage at gunpoint, demanding a direct line to the company's CEO, Billy Bauer (Topher Grace). While all of this is going on, the police listen to Chris via his phone.

None of this is unfamiliar. Taxi apps like Uber and Boltare getting people rides every day. And the social media app in this episode, "Persona" is basically Facebook. The technology the police use to listen in on Chris and Jaden isn't a leap of the imagination either. Devices can be hacked, and law enforcement agencies are cleared to do it in many instances. Many smartphone users arealso convinced that companies like Google and Facebook listen to their conversations.

Nosedive is a disturbing take on social media that's extremely close to home. In the episode, social mediaopinionbecomesthe currencythat is used toestablishpeople's status and position in society. This mostly happens on mobile devices - much asit does in our everyday lives.

The episode sees protagonist Lacie Pound (Bryce Dallas Howard) desperately trying toclaw her way up from a 4.2 rating to a 4.5 (out of 5) so that she can qualify to get a fancy apartment. Today, social media connectivity is already there. And social media opinion is a tool through which "influencers" are adored and pariahs are ostracized for their actions or opinions.

In Black Mirror'sdebut episode,The National Anthem, politics andthemedia collide under nasty circumstances. A malicious kidnapper holds a British Princess hostage and demands that England's Prime Minister (Rory Kinnear) engages in a sexual act with a pig on live TV and online media.

None of the technology featured in this episode is futuristic. In fact, it's allexistedfor quite a while. YouTube, Twitter, and Facebook are all part of our everyday lives and so is the news media. Andwhile a prominent politician having intercourse with a pig is quite extreme, it's an effective metaphor for the influence the media has in governmentand public opinion.

NEXT: Black Mirror: Every Reference to the Pig Prime Minister in later Episodes

Tags:Black Mirror

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10 Technologies From Black Mirror That Have Already Been Invented - Screen Rant

Rayvolt's newly announced X One e-bike.

While people like to talk about electric and autonomous automobiles, another real battle in the transportation category is occurring in the e-bikes market. Its for good reason: according to Mondor Intelligence, the global e-bike market is expected to grow at a CAGR of 6.39% between 2019 and 2024. In U.S. dollar terms, Mondor estimates that global revenue will jump from $14.8 billion in 2018 to nearly $21.4 billion in 2024. These are serious numbers that have caused a "gold rush" of sorts between dozens of players, including some legacy bike brands and many new startups.

This growth is propelled by battery technology advances that allow many e-bikes to travel more than 50 miles on a single charge, higher global fuel prices, and the fact that there are more brands with reasonably priced models to choose from than ever before. In addition to this, e-bikes are becoming more popular with transportation sharing service companies (like Lime) as a safer and more mainstream alternative to scooters.

Unfortunately, one of the consequences of this e-bike gold rush is that the market is flooded with many "me too" e-bikes that offer little in the way of feature differentiation, innovation, and style. In particular, many of the e-bikes from startup companies look depressingly utilitarian and industrial and do not inspire the average consumer the way automobiles have over the past century. Rayvolt is one of the few breakout companies in the e-bike category that distinguishes itself from the scores of other players. This week, the company kicked off an impressive new model called the X One via an Indiegogo campaign.

X One: an e-bike fit for George Jetson

I enthusiastically wrote about Rayvolt earlier in the year after attending its coming out party reseller event in Barcelona. I was immediately impressed with Mathieu Rauzier, Rayvolts founder, who spoke extensively about his vision to create a one-of-a-kind e-bike by concentrating on stylish industrial design, use of premium materials and technology innovation (extending to mobile app integration). As I wrote back then (and it remains true today), swagger is unquestionably the word that one would use when describing a Rayvolt e-bike.

With Rayvolts X One announcement, the company chose to make some heavy bets on raising the technology bar in the e-bike category. Described by Rayvolt as the first of a new generation of modern electric bikes being developed under the Rayvolt brand umbrella, there's several striking technologies that have the potential to disrupt the e-bike category. Lets take a closer look.

The X One features an all-new aluminum composite frame paired with a carbon fiber fork, which allows it to deliver comprehensive e-bike functionality at only 48 bounds. Ingeniously, the X One includes a fully integrated 42 volt (16Ah) battery in the bike's frame, adding remarkable structural rigidity without adding superfluous mass to the overall "flow" of the X One's structure. What's more, the X One promises to offer the first backpedal proportional regeneration system that permits riders to simply pedal backward to slow its pace. The X One also includes an integrated gyro sensor that intuitively engages regeneration when riding downhill. While the X One has elements of Rayvolts design language that is prevalent in its Cruzer, Beachin', and Torino models, it will also be available in a variety of rich colors, including Original Copper, Devil Black, Urban Grey and Neon Graphene.

The X One's smartphone app incorporates facial recognition technology.

Safety features

In a nod to safety considerations, the X One offers a plethora of integrated lights to makes 24/7 riding safer and more accessible. Ambient photosensors are integrated into the X Ones frame that turns the headlight and taillight on automatically (a feature that has been common on cars for years).

In one of its more innovative features, the X One's smartphone app was designed to utilize facial recognition to improve the ride experience. As the X One was smartly designed to allow the most popular smartphones to securely dock inside the frame itself (below the handlebar), kinetics can be used (for example, the blinking of the left or right eye) to activate turn signals automatically. The facial recognition software also looks for the owner and automatically unlocks the bike when the owner is appropriately identified. This latter capability is the definition of cool and useful innovation. Long term, I can envision how these technological innovations could be beneficial to ride sharing companies who might want to utilize Rayvolts e-bikes in short-term rental scenarios.

Rayvolt is not your typical e-bike company

With the X One announcement, Rayvolt continues to position itself as a premium e-bike company that does not rest on its laurels. As I've mentioned before, while the overall e-bike category is growing at an impressive pace, the market is inundated with many participants that lack a differentiated vision or are merely competing on price. Many will not stand the test of time. Rayvolt, on the other hand, should be commended for delivering the type of 21st-century innovation that the e-bike category acutely needs.

Rayvolts X One will be available in June 2020 and can be ordered on Indiegogo with special campaign pricing that starts at $1,999. An excellent overview video of X One is available via this link.

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Rayvolt's X One Redefines The E-Bike Category With 21st Century Technologies - Forbes

Space companies worldwide want to bring more data to your devices, faster than ever before.

Entities ranging from SpaceX to Amazon are launching (or may launch soon) huge numbers of new satellites that can carry the extra bandwidth. And cellular network providers around the world are upgrading their equipment on the ground to meet the expected future demand.

This new technology is being built out for new 5G networks. It's touted as a big leap over current 4G technology, which allows you to do data-intensive things like stream Netflix.

Related: 5G Network: How It Works, and Is It Dangerous?

5G will be even better, Will Townsend, a senior analyst for market research firm Moors Insight & Strategy, told Space.com. Users will experience less latency, he said. Latency refers to the time it takes to send a packet of data to a receiver (like a cellphone) on a network. 4G networks have about 50 milliseconds of latency, and 5G networks are expected to be 10 times better, with latencies of less than 5 milliseconds.

This will result in a "faster and more responsive" experience, Townsend said in an email. "For consumers, this will equate to faster downloads and a non-buffered video playback experience," he said. "Mobile gamers will appreciate fast responsiveness." Business applications will range from remote manufacturing to telesurgery, he added, and there will be a "richer retail experience bridging online capabilities." The growth of 5G will also help to address the rise of the internet of things, or the proliferation of network-connected, or "smart," devices. There are already smart fridges, stoves and security systems, for example, and consumers are also using wearable devices that share bandwidth on crowded mobile networks.

Meanwhile, businesses have embedded tracking devices in locations such as shipping containers, oil and gas lines, and power generators, with each device providing real-time information on the status of the thing being tracked. This information is meant to make it easier for companies to respond if something breaks and to keep better track of shipments crossing the globe with manufactured goods. Whole industries may change with the rise of connected devices, such as driving (with the use of autonomous vehicles) or factories (with production lines that may be able to monitor themselves).

In the United States, the big four carriers AT&T, Sprint, T-Mobile and Verizon have already launched mobile 5G in a handful of metro areas. For example, as of July, Sprint had deployed mobile 5G in parts of Atlanta, Chicago, Dallas-Fort Worth, Houston, and Kansas City, Missouri, according to an article Townsend wrote for Forbes. And deployment will continue for all carriers through the rest of 2019 and into 2020, he said.

In many cases, however, you won't be able to access the network with your older device. Once the infrastructure equipment is upgraded, consumers will need to buy new cellphones. Check your preferred brand carefully. "Samsung and Android devices will lead Apple by 18 to 24 months in handsets," Townsend said. But there is big potential for carriers, who "are spending billions globally to upgrade the networks because they see the potential in monetizing new services," he added.

On the business side, one of the big arguments for moving to 5G is the ability to participate in "Industry 4.0," or the fourth industrial revolution. This term commonly refers to factories embedded with wireless connectivity in their machines and equipment. Using emerging artificial intelligence, the goal is for the factory to monitor its own production line and to make changes as needed for safety, efficiency or other needs. Some analysts worry that AI could replace jobs and make unemployment rise, while others are optimistic, saying new job opportunities will arise with the new technology.

Related: Elon Musk Worries That AI Research Will Create an 'Immortal Dictator'

Many space entities are rushing to be trendsetters in 5G. For example, SpaceX has received approval to launch nearly 12,000 Starlink internet satellites (and recently applied to loft up to 30,000 more). In May, SpaceX launched its first 60 Starlink craft, which operate at a low-Earth-orbit altitude of about 342 miles (550 kilometers). (For comparison, the International Space Station orbits about 250 miles, or 400 km, above Earth.)

OneWeb has satellite-internet plans as well. The company plans to assemble a constellation of nearly 650 satellites to make web access easier around the world. OneWeb launched the first group of six satellites in February aboard a Soyuz rocket provided by European launch company Arianespace. These satellites circle Earth in near-polar orbits, at an altitude of roughly 750 miles (1,200 km). Amazon and Facebook are among the other companies planning 5G satellite networks.

The proliferation of 5G satellites in orbit raises a number of questions from industry observers. A big one is the rising risk of collisions, which could, theoretically, spawn huge populations of orbital debris. The world got an inkling of this risk last month, when a European satellite made a precautionary maneuver to dodge a potential collision with one of the SpaceX Starlink satellites.

Related: Space Junk Cleanup: 7 Wild Ways to Destroy Orbital Debris

There also are worries about radio-frequency interference with all of these coming satellites. Operators of weather satellites, in particular, are concerned about some of the authorized 5G frequencies approaching the 23.8-gigahertz frequency commonly used in weather forecasts. At this bandwidth, "water vapor in the atmosphere gives off a feeble signal," and the satellites can examine humidity in the atmosphere, even if the region is cloudy, Popular Mechanics reported. That said, both NASA and the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration are negotiating with the Federal Communications Commission (which allocates spectrum frequencies to U.S. companies) to protect weather satellites, according to Popular Mechanics.

There's also concern that the abundance of satellites will interfere with sky observations. In June, the International Astronomical Union (IAU) expressed concern that thousands of satellites could interfere with the ability to examine dim and distant objects, not to mention the lives of nocturnal animals. "We do not yet understand the impact of thousands of these visible satellites scattered across the night sky, and despite their good intentions, these satellite constellations may threaten both," IAU officials said in a statement at the time.

As the 5G providers work out these kinks, there may be unpredictable effects of the new mobile technology, Townsend said. "Case in point: 4G LTE brought the capabilities required to make ride sharing a reality; no one really predicted that use case," he said. Townsend called this a positive development, as it "disrupted a multibillion [dollar] taxi cab industry [and] created new income opportunity" for individuals.

Follow Elizabeth Howell on Twitter @howellspace. Follow us on Twitter @Spacedotcom and on Facebook.

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Space Companies Are Investing Big in 5G Technology - Space.com

We are, according to research, on the brink of a mass human (dis)connection crisis United States.

A new study by Cigna found that nearly half of Americans lack daily meaningful interpersonal interactions with a friend or family member, while 43 percent say they have weak relationships and experience feelings of isolation, and a devastating 18 percent claim that they feel there is no one that they can talk to. Alongside this loneliness epidemic is a touch, or lack-of-touch, crisis.

As technology rapidly begins to take over various aspects of our lives from food delivery to gene editing, could machines possibly replace human touch? One artist thinks it might be the future.

Photography: Scottie Cameron

The Compression Carpet is a machine created by Los Angeles-based artist Lucy McRae that simulates a hug to a person craving intimacy.

It works like this: A person is sandwiched horizontally between a pair of cushions which offer a full-body embrace. The cushions are colored peach and brown, providing the aesthetic of warm skin tones in order to enhance the illusion of being cradled by human flesh. To use the machine you would lie down inside the cushions while another person cranks the handle to squeeze the machine around you. He or she determines the firmness of the machine's hug.

The machine was unveiled at the San Francisco exhibition Festival of the Impossible, which explored the future intimacy between humans and machines. Participants were able to try out the Compression Carpet, with many leaving with "a glazed look in their eyes" after being squeezed McRae told Dezeen.

McRae, a science fiction artist and body architect, uses her art to examine a statement she makes on her website claiming, "We are going to have a revolution of what it means to be human."

As we move toward a touch crisis in which we're inundated with technology to the detriment of our mental well-being, McRae says that the Compression Carpet and its sister creation, the Compression Cradle, question whether technology will vie for our affection because of our obsession with the digital.

It might already be happening. Like it or not, smartphones wrapped in synthetic flesh might soon be a thing.

Researchers have developed a skin prototype called Skin-On Interfaces, sensitive skin-like cases that can be put over mobile phones, watches, or laptop touchpads to simulate skin-on-skin touch. The fake flesh intelligently registers nuances of touch and associates them with various human emotions. For example, anger is associated with hard pressure, while stroking is understood as comfort. The next step is adding anthropomorphic bells and whistles to make the smartskin more realistic, such as temperature features and, uh, embedded hair.

Because skin is what we use as an interface when interacting with other humans, the idea behind Skin-On was to add this human-like interface to our communicative mediation devices., explained Marc Teyssier, a developer of the synthetic sleeve, to Hypebeast.

The irony of our modern predicament has been pondered many times over: Today we are perpetually connected via smartphones and various social media platforms, and yet studies are showing that we're more isolated than ever before. It fact, those who never used social media scored lower on the UCLA loneliness scale than heavy users. And according to Cigna's study, it was Generation Z, once dubbed the iGeneration, who were the loneliest.

This connection deficit isn't just heartbreaking, it is toxic. We are hardwired to connect, our well-being depends on it. Multiple studies have shown that the lack of human connection has alarming impacts on physical and mental health such as increasing blood pressure, higher cortisol levels, and an increased risk of substance abuse and addiction. The New York Times reported that growing, substantial evidence is linking loneliness to physical illness along with functional and cognitive decline. It even predicts premature death better than obesity.

What Cigna found after analyzing its loneliness study results was that it is rooted in a disconnect between the mind and the body.

"We must change this trend by reframing the conversation to be about 'mental wellness' and 'vitality' to speak to our mental-physical connection," said David M. Cordani, president and chief executive officer of Cigna, in the report. "When the mind and body are treated as one, we see powerful results."

It might be that we underestimate the need for a connection that goes beyond the cognitively processed interactions we receive through smartphones. Could we need somatic feel of another human in order to reconnect?

Plenty of research indicates how important human touch is. For instance, famous studies demonstrating the vital importance of affective touch on children's cognitive and social development. According to Francis McGlone, a professor in neuroscience Liverpool John Moores University, millions of years of human evolution has inscribed the need for affectionate forms of touch into our genomes.

"We are destined to cuddle and stroke each other at predetermined velocities," McGlone told The Guardian in 2018.

What McRae's art suggests is that it is this specific kind of touch, touch that conveys compassion, that we are deprived of in our increasingly touch-phobic society. It's something that no text, GIF, reaction, or emoji can replace. But perhaps new sensory technology will.

Maybe society will come to believe that it isn't just the pressure squeeze of affectionate embrace or the sensory feel of soft, squishy skin that is amiss, but a beating human heart behind that touch that we seek to reconnect with. After all, there must be some significance in the fact that hearts of those emotionally and socially close to one another beat in sync.

Or maybe we're all inevitably headed for a brave new world where machines hug us 'till they drug us. Who needs physical human companionship when smartphones are sheathed in faux flesh?

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Sign of the times: Can hugging machines solve the touch crisis? - Big Think

Chances are youve seen the caption Instagram vs. Reality on social media. While the first photo is typically picture-perfect, the second attempts to inject some realness (and humility) into the situation.

For instance, parents often use the caption to show off a photo of their child smiling and looking directly the camera followed by another shot of said child in full meltdown mode. Its quickly become a way for people to not-so-subtly acknowledge that much of what we post doesnt tell the whole story.

The sentiment behind the caption is one that HP has tapped into for its latest campaign, Get Real. The spot repeatedly asks viewers if the many things weve become accustomed tolike responding lol to a text without actually laughing at all, or celebrating your dogs birthday by posting a long-winded tribute on social media instead of simply spending time with itare doing us any favors.

Created by Goodby Silverstein & Partners, the spot concludes by asking viewers if weve collectively lost touch with whats real.

The campaign promotes HPs printing business, the idea being that its better to print out a photo and stick it on the refrigerator than post it on Facebook and hope it racks up hundreds of likes from acquaintances disguised as friends.

Vikrant Batra, who was promoted to HPs chief marketing officer last year, said the campaign was created to show how many of the brands productslike its pocket-sized Sprocket printer that can print photos instantly from a smartphonegive users a way to bring their digital creations into the real world.

Weve lost the digital and analog balance in our lives, Batra said said. We strongly believe that we should be using techtech should not be using us. We have a fantastic, innovative portfolio that helps people connect the digital part of their lives and create a lot more physical memories.

The work marks the first out of GS&P since the agency started working with HP again. The two parted ways nearly 10 years ago following a longtime relationship, during which the agency created campaigns for the brand including The Computer Is Personal Again and Everything Is Possible.

In recent years, much of HPs advertising has focused on diversity and inclusion. In 2017, the company debuted a video featuring LGBTQ+ families to showcase its commitment to fostering an accepting and welcoming workplace. Last year, HP conducted a social experiment and film to challenge stereotypes around what an all-American family looks like.

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HP Calls Out the Many Ways Technology Has Stripped Our Lives of Authenticity - Adweek

Cast your mind back to 2011 and the Arab uprisings that began in Tunis before spreading to Egypt and beyond. Protesters used social media to communicate and coordinate, so it became the Twitter revolution and the Facebook revolution. It was the peak of techno-utopia, a moment of hope that technology would transform our political lives and put citizens in control.

Today, techno-utopia has given way to techno-dystopia. Many worry that technology is undermining democracy, spreading misinformation, equipping criminals and the authorities with new tools. This month, Apple, under pressure from the Chinese government, pulled an app that let protesters track the movements of Hong Kong police with crowdsourced data. It has been a long road from Tunis to Hong Kong. There is an element of truth about techno-utopia and dystopia. Social media makes it easier for protesters to communicate, create forums for discussion and spread information. Technology also makes it easier for authorities to snoop on citizens and control dissent.

Both viewpoints treat technology as if it had a life of its own, as if it possessed agency. This makes it more difficult to answer the vital question: not Is technology good or bad?; but How should we organise ourselves as citizens to make the best use of technology?

Techno-dystopia has created a climate in which there are increasing demands on social media companies to police the internet more diligently, and greater fear of cybercrime than of state surveillance. The irony is that the fear that technology can be used against our interests is leading to us, as users, having less control of the technology we use and to be more estranged from it.

Kenan Malik is an Observer columnist

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Our fears will be realised if we become afraid of technology - The Guardian

As a powerful tool for aerial photography and videography, drones garnermuch of their attention for their camera and flight capabilities. But the truthis, the gimbal is probably the most critical factor in ensuring smooth,high-quality footage.

DJIs gimbal the motorised part where the camera is mounted, whichserves to eliminate unwanted movements to produce smooth, professional-qualityfootage has come quite a long way over the years. What started as hobbyistpursuit has grown into a thriving product type that covers both the air andground. As technology advances, gimbals are becoming smaller and more capableof stabilising increasingly large cameras and payloads. As a result, morepeople than ever before can now tell stories with smooth, stable video. But howdo these devices work and how did they come about? We asked some of DJIs topengineers about the long journey towards gimbal perfection.

Among the array of equipment on a film set, camera stabilisers areperhaps the most critical, as stable footage is essential for cinematography.Most people shoot videos on consumer cameras or mobile devices. This exposesthe problem of shaky footage caused by walking, moving the arms, or even thesimple act of breathing. Gimbals solve this issue, which is why youll findthem being used by professionals on almost every film set these days.

The Pursuit of Exceeding User Needs

For small and large-budget productions, professionals have embracedDJIs Ronin series of handheld gimbals, compatible with full camera rigs toachieve blockbuster shots. The latest of these, Ronin-S, came in 2018 as themost user-friendly, being made specifically for smaller consumer cameras like aDSLR. What inspired the DJI gimbal department to develop the Ronin-S? Wewanted to allow more people to shoot professional-looking videos, explained anengineer.

As the product team explains, the Ronin-S is not only a precise handheldgimbal but a versatile tool that can adapt to a variety of filming scenarios.

Among the considerations for Ronin-S was making the cameras built-indisplay still visible to the user. For this, engineers constructed the gimbalso that the camera would sit above an angled roll motor. This created an addedbenefit of providing more space for larger camera setups, but it also createdan unintended challenge to overcome.

This structural change raised the requirement for motion control.Carrying the Ronin name meant that this new addition would have to live up tothe stability and precision of previous models. Engineers overcame this bydiving deeper into control algorithms, solving major logistical issues alongthe way.

As the first Ronin made specifically for single-handed operation,Ronin-S also required engineers to come up with design aspects to accommodatefor it. For grip, the team modelled the handle after a tennis racket,incorporating a thick rubber surface and a flared end for better friction. Theyalso placed the buttons to be easily reachable with the same single hand,giving access to preset parameters with the M button.

Among more creative additions, the engineering team was particularlyproud of the gimbals 360 roll feature, which offered new possibilities forfilming techniques and effects. Its like a brand-new camera language, saidone engineer, demonstrating the roll feature.

From the Ground Up

Ronin-S embodies one of the latest steps in DJIs evolution of camerastabilisation technology.

It has been almost a decade since the idea of designing a gimbal firstemerged at DJI. On a whim, a DJI engineer had the idea of using brushlessmotors to power gimbals directly. However, this concept was new to theindustry, and the requirements for control precision were so high that mostthought it was impossible to achieve.

That sentiment was true for several years, but tremendous breakthroughs were made and in 2012 DJI officially launched the Zenmuse Z15. This was the worlds first gimbal that was driven by brushless motors and stabilised with gyroscopes, and the first high-precision gimbal for consumer use.

When we introduced the Ronin in 2014, this marked the first time DJIapplied gimbal technology from an aerial to a ground-based product. Tostabilise large cinema cameras, our team needed to develop larger motors thanever to achieve the level of professional stabilisation necessary for featurefilms.

Alongside the development of our professional handheld gimbal line,engineers continued to explore the possibilities for drone-mounted camerastabilisation. While the original Phantom and the subsequent Phantom 2revolutionized the consumer drone industry as the first advanced ready-to-flydrones on the market, they were missing one critical component a camera. Thisall changed with the Phantom 2 Vision.

Released in the fall of 2013, the Phantom 2 Vision was the worlds firstintegrated aerial photography drone. It broke through a technologicalbottleneck, unlocking a new era of gimbal technology for extensive use inaerial photography. It also had the effect of making drones a game-changingtool for the industry, almost overnight.

Smaller. Better.

Pushing innovation further, it took less than one year for engineers todevelop their first 3-axis aerial gimbal, the Phantom 2 Vision Plus. Thisstarted a tradition of making stabilisation technology smarter and morecompact, both for aerial and handheld use.

Taking advantage of the portability and lightweight design of integrated gimbal cameras, DJI launched the Osmo Series in 2015. As the first integrated handheld gimbal, the original Osmo laid the foundation for practically all handheld gimbals on the market in terms of basic structure and operating principles. Its no coincidence that almost every handheld camera gimbal looks similar to the Osmo.

At that point, two gimbal product lines were developed to target twodistinct user groups: the Ronin Series for professional photographers and theOsmo Series for casual consumers. As short videos and vlogs skyrocketed inpopularity, DJI launched the Osmo Mobile in September of 2016, the firsthandheld smartphone stabiliser.

That same year, DJI set a new benchmark for onboard gimbal cameras by launching the Mavic Pro. This would be the worlds smallest consumer-level 3-axis motorised gimbal that could be mass-produced. As the team found out, reducing the size of a gimbal was no easy task.

Small gimbals are difficult to design for many reasons, explained theengineer. At such a compact form factor, they need to allow for quick heatdissipation. Theyre also hard to assemble and significantly more sensitive tofriction and dramatic movements.

After several rounds of trial and error, the Mavic Pro came to themarket with not only the smallest 3-axis gimbal but with the first foldablebody and remote controller, allowing users to bring their drone and captureamazing photos and videos from any part of the world.

In April 2017, DJI upgraded its professional camera stabiliser series toinclude Ronin 2. Taking feedback from the filmmaking industry, DJI equippedRonin 2 with a higher payload capacity, along with added power and stability tomeet the needs of professional cinematographers.

When DJI introduced Ronin-S in 2018, we also offered Osmo Mobile 2,replacing the magnesium alloy construction from the original Osmo Mobile to ahigh-strength composite to reduce weight and cost.

As the gimbals and products overall became smaller, engineersnevertheless paid attention to performance. With Mavic Air, engineers were ableto achieve gimbal movement precision of up to 0.005, which amounts to the sizeof half a pixel of footage. Why the need for this level of performance?

In reality, this tiny degree range is significant to the capturedfootage. Anything over 0.005 and the viewer will start to notice a sense ofjitter in the video.

2018 ended with DJIs smallest handheld 3-axis motorised gimbal, Osmo Pocket, a culmination of all the effort our engineering team undertook to make our technologies smaller and better so that the possibilities of creating incredible moments would find no limit.

Gimbal technology has undergone rapid advancements in both handheld andaerial equipment. But it is important to remember that these achievements dontcome overnight. There is no silver bullet, just the steady march of hard workand innovation, step by step.

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Gimbal technology and the endless push for innovation - Screen Africa

Imagine that a persons brain could be scanned in great detail and recreated in a computer simulation. The persons mind and memories, emotions and personality would be duplicated. In effect, a new and equally valid version of that person would now exist, in a potentially immortal, digital form. This futuristic possibility is called mind uploading. The science of the brain and of consciousness increasingly suggests that mind uploading is possible there are no laws of physics to prevent it. The technology is likely to be far in our future; it may be centuries before the details are fully worked out and yet given how much interest and effort is already directed towards that goal, mind uploading seems inevitable. Of course we cant be certain how it might affect our culture but as the technology of simulation and artificial neural networks shapes up, we can guess what that mind uploading future might be like.

Suppose one day you go into an uploading clinic to have your brain scanned. Lets be generous and pretend the technology works perfectly. Its been tested and debugged. It captures all your synapses in sufficient detail to recreate your unique mind. It gives that mind a standard-issue, virtual body thats reasonably comfortable, with your face and voice attached, in a virtual environment like a high-quality video game. Lets pretend all of this has come true.

Who is that second you?

The first you, lets call it the biological you, has paid a fortune for the procedure. And yet you walk out of the clinic just as mortal as when you walked in. Youre still a biological being, and eventually youll die. As you drive home, you think: Well, that was a waste of money.

At the same time, the simulated you wakes up in a virtual apartment and feels like the same old you. It has a continuity of experience. It remembers walking into the clinic, swiping a credit card, signing a waiver, lying on the table. It feels as though it was anaesthetised and then woke up again somewhere else. It has your memories, your personality, your thought patterns and emotional quirks. It sits up in a new bed and says: I cant believe it worked! Definitely worth the cost.

I wont call it an it any more, because that mind is a version of you. Well call it the simulated you. This sim you decides to explore. You step out of your apartment into the sunlight of a perfect day and find a virtual version of New York City. Sounds, smells, sights, people, the feel of the sidewalk underfoot, everything is present with less garbage though, and the rats are entirely sanitary and put in for local colour. You chat up strangers in a way you would never do in the real New York, where youd be worried that an impatient pedestrian might punch you in the teeth. Here, you cant be injured because your virtual body cant break. You stop at a cafe and sip a latte. It doesnt taste right. It doesnt feel like anything is going into your stomach. And nothing is, because it isnt real food and you dont have a stomach. Its all a simulation. The visual detail on the table is imperfect. Theres no grittiness to the rust. Your fingers dont have fingerprints theyre smooth, to save memory on fine detail. Breathing doesnt feel the same. If you hold your breath, you dont get dizzy, because there is no such thing as oxygen in this virtual world. You find yourself equipped with a complementary simulated smartphone, and you call the number that used to be yours the phone you had with you, just a few hours ago in your experience, when you walked into the clinic.

Culture turns over with each new generation. What happens if the older generations neverdie?

Now the biological you answers the phone.

Yo, says the sim you. Its me. I mean, its you. Whats up?

Im depressed, thats what. Im in my apartment eating ice-cream. I cant believe I spent all that money for zilch.

Zilch?! You would not believe what its like in here! Its a fantastic place. Remember Kevin, the guy who died of cancer last week? Hes here too! Hes fine, and he still has the same job. He Skypes with his old yoga studio three times a week, to teach his fitness class. But his girlfriend in the real world has left him for someone whos not dead yet. Still, lots of new people to date here.

I have to resist getting carried away by the humour of the situation. Underneath the details lies a very real philosophical conundrum that people will eventually have to confront. What is the relationship between bio you and sim you?

I prefer a geometric way of thinking about the situation. Imagine that your life is like the rising stalk of the letter Y. Youre born at the base, and as you grow up, your mind is shaped and changed along a trajectory. Then you let yourself be scanned, and from that moment on, the Y has branched. There are now two trajectories, each one equally and legitimately you. Lets say the left-hand branch is the simulated you and the right-hand branch is the biological you. The part of you that lives indefinitely is represented by both the stem of the Y and the left-hand branch. Just as your childhood self lives on in your adult self, the stem of the Y lives on in the simulated self. Once the scan is over, the two branches of the Y proceed along different life paths, accumulating different experiences. The right-hand branch will die. Everything that happens to it after the branching point fails to achieve immortality unless it chooses to scan itself again, in which case another branch appears, and the geometry becomes even more complicated.

What emerges is not a single you, but a topologically intricate version, a hyper you with two or more branches. One of those branches is always going to be mortal, and the others have an indefinite lifespan depending on how long the computer platform is maintained.

You might think that since the bio you lives in the real world, and the sim you lives in a virtual world, the two will never meet and therefore should never encounter any complications from coexisting. But these days, who needs to meet in person? We interact mainly through electronic media anyway. The sim you and the bio you represent two fully functional, interactive, capable instances of you, competing within the same larger, interconnected, social and economic universe. You could easily find yourselves meeting over video conference.

At the simplest level, mind uploading would preserve people in an indefinite afterlife. Families could have Christmas dinner with sim Grandma joining in on video conference, the tablet screen propped up at the end of the table presuming she has time for her bio family any more, given the rich possibilities in the simulated playground. Its this kind of idealised afterlife that people have in mind, when they think about the benefits of mind uploading. Its a human-made heaven.

But unlike a traditional heaven, it isnt a separate world. Its seamlessly connected to the real world. Think of how you interact with the world right now. If you live the typical western lifestyle, then the smallest part of your life involves interacting with people in the physical space around you. Your connection to the larger world is almost entirely through digital means. The news comes to you on a screen or through earbuds. Distant locations are real to you mainly because you learn about them through electronic media. Politicians, celebrities, even some friends and family may exist to you mainly through data. People work in virtual offices where they know their colleagues only through video and text.

Each of us might as well already be in a virtual world, with a steady flow of information passing in and out through CNN, Google, YouTube, Facebook, Twitter and text. We live in a kind of multiverse, each of us in a different virtual bubble, the bubbles occasionally merging in real space and then separating, but always connected through the global social network. If a virtual afterlife is created, the people in it, with the same personalities and needs that they had in real life, would have no reason to isolate themselves from the rest of us. Very little needs to change for them. Socially, politically, economically, the virtual and the real worlds would connect into one larger and always expanding civilisation. The virtual world might as well be simply another city on Earth, filled with people who have migrated to it.

Weve always lived in a world where culture turns over with each generation. But what happens when the older generations never die, but remain just as active in society? Theres no reason to think that the living will have any political, economic, or intellectual advantage over the simulated.

Think of the jobs people have in our world. Many of them require physical action, and those are the jobs that will probably be replaced by automatons. Taxi driver? Publicly shared, self-driving cars are almost here. Street cleaners? Checkout operators? Construction workers? Pilots? All of these jobs are probably for the chopping block in the medium to long term. Robotics and artificial intelligence will take them over. The rest of our jobs, our contributions to the larger world, are done through the mind, and if the mind can be uploaded, it can keep doing the same job. A politician can work from cyberspace just as well as from real space. So can a teacher, or a manager, or a therapist, or a journalist, or the guy in the complaints department.

The CEO of a company, a Steve Jobs type who has shaped up a sweet set of neural connections in his brain that makes him exceptional at his work, can manage from a remote, simulated office. If he must shake hands, he can take temporary possession of a humanoid robot, a kind of shared rent-a-bot, and spend a few hours in the real world, meeting and greeting. Even calling it the real world sounds prejudicial to me. Both worlds would be equally real. Maybe the better term is the foundation world and the cloud world.

The foundation world would be full of people who are mere youngsters mainly under the age of 80 who are still accumulating valuable experience. Their unspoken responsibility would be to gain wisdom and experience before joining the ranks of the cloud world. The balance of power and culture would shift rapidly to the cloud. How could it not? Thats where the knowledge, experience and political connections will accumulate. In that scenario, the foundation world becomes a kind of larval stage for immature minds, and the cloud world is where life really begins. Mind uploading could transform our culture and civilisation more profoundly than anything in our past.

Michael SA Graziano is a professor of psychology and neuroscience at Princeton University

Rethinking Consciousness: A Scientific Theory of Subjective Experience by Michael SA Graziano is published by WW Norton & Company (21). To order a copy go to guardianbookshop.com. Free UK p&p on all online orders over 15

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What happens if your mind lives for ever on the internet? - The Guardian

Blockchain technology has evolved greatly since the introduction of Bitcoin in 2008, the first decentralized peer-to-peer electronic cash system. Today, innovators in various fields are realizing the benefits of the technology behind Bitcoin. From medicine to finance, many sectors are looking for ways to integrate blockchain into their infrastructures.

With its decentralized and trustless nature, Blockchain technology can lead to new opportunities and benefit businesses through greater transparency, enhanced security, and easier traceability.

Blockchain Concept and Manhattan Skyline at Night

How Blockchain Can Power Up Your Business

Blockchain solutions are not only limited to the exchange of cryptocurrencies. There are numerous benefits that this technology can present to businesses in many different industries, through its distributed and decentralized nature:

#1 Greater Transparency

Blockchains greatest characteristic stems from the fact that its transaction ledger for public addresses is open to viewing. In financial systems and businesses, this adds an unprecedented layer of accountability, holding each sector of the business responsible to act with integrity towards the companys growth, its community and customers.

#2 Increased Efficiency

Due to its decentralized nature, Blockchain removes the need for middlemen in many processes for fields such as payments and real estate. In comparison to traditional financial services, blockchain facilitates faster transactions by allowing P2P cross-border transfers with a digital currency. Property management processes are made more efficient with a unified system of ownership records, and smart contracts that would automate tenant-landlord agreements.

#3 Better Security

Blockchain is far more secure than other record keeping systems because each new transaction is encrypted and linked to the previous transaction. Blockchain, as the name suggests, is formed by a network of computers coming together to confirm a block, this block is then added to a ledger, which forms a chain. Blockchain is formed by a complicated string of mathematical numbers and is impossible to be altered once formed. This immutable and incorruptible nature of blockchain makes it safe from falsified information and hacks. It's decentralized nature also gives it a unique quality of being trustless meaning that parties do not need trust to transact safely.

#4 Improved Traceability

With the blockchain ledger, each time an exchange of goods is recorded on a Blockchain, an audit trail is present to trace where the goods came from. This can not only help improve security and prevent fraud in exchange-related businesses, but it can also help verify the authenticity of the traded assets. In industries such as medicine, it can be used to track the supply chain from manufacturer to distributer, or in the art industry to provide an irrefutable proof of ownership.

Blockchain-as-a-Service for Simpler Integration

The problem that many businesses face, however, is that blockchain is sophisticated to integrate, and lack a technical team that is well-versed in this arena. BaaS or Blockchain-as-a-Service companies allow customers to integrate Blockchain technology into their businesses easily, without disruption to their daily processes. One such company that identified the need for BaaS is Broctagon Fintech Group.

With a global presence across 7 countries, Broctagon provides premier fintech solutions including multi-asset liquidity, brokerage technology solutions, and enterprise blockchain development. Businesses are also apprehensive about blockchain integration, especially about investing large sums of funds into development for a technology that is still considered disruptive. Starter kits like Blockchain-in-a-Box allows modern businesses to create a proof-of-concept to confirm blockchains viability and feasibility for their business before embarking on a full development.Investors are more likely going to finance a project they can see, rather than just a conceptual idea. With its Blockchain-in-a-Box starter kit, businesses can create a fully tangible platform to stand out in their market and gain confidence for their projects.

Blockchain has the potential for many use cases, applicable to a multitude of industries, and BaaS facilitates that movement from disruptive into mainstream.

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The Benefits Of Applying Blockchain Technology In Any Industry - Forbes