Daily Archives: February 12, 2020

Watch a Mother Reunite With Her Deceased Child in VR – Futurism

Posted: February 12, 2020 at 9:44 am

In 2016, Jang Ji-sungs seven-year-old daughter Nayeon died of an incurable disease. Three years later, the South Korean mother was reunited with Nayeon sort of in a virtual world created for a televised documentary.

On Thursday, the Munhwa Broadcasting Corporation shared a clip from the special documentary, titled I Met You, on its YouTube page, with the footage cutting between the real world and the virtual one.

In the former setting, Jang stands in front of a massive green screen while wearing both a VR headset and what appear to be some sort of haptic gloves. In the latter, she and her daughter talk, hold hands, and even have a birthday party complete with a lit cake.

The VR reunion is, as you might expect, extremely emotional. Jang appears to begin crying the moment she sees the virtual Nayeon, while the rest of the family Nayeons father, brother, and sister watch the reunion unfold with somber expressions and the occasional tear.

Maybe its a real paradise, Jang said of the reunion in VR, according to Aju Business Daily. I met Nayeon, who called me with a smile, for a very short time, but its a very happy time. I think Ive had the dream Ive always wanted.

According to Aju Business Daily, the production team spent eight months on the project. They designed the virtual park after one the mother and daughter had visited in the real world, and used motion capture technology to record the movements of a child actor that they could later use as a model for their virtual Nayeon.

All that to say: the process might not be simple and the final product might not be perfect, but we now have the technology to recreate the dead in VR convincingly enough to move their loved ones to tears.

And the implicationsof that are impossible to predict.

It may have taken an entire team of experts to produce I Met You, but how far can we be from a platform that lets anyone upload footage of a deceased love one and then interact with a virtual version of that person? Years? Months?

And what sort of impact will that have on the grieving process? Will seeing a loved one in VR help people find closure and move on following a death? Will some people become addicted to this virtual world, spending more and more time in it and less and less in the real one?

And will it stop with VR? Or is this just the first step to androids designed to mimic our dead loved ones in both appearance and personality, like in the Black Mirror episode Be Right Back?

Several startups are setting the groundwork for that future, compiling dataabout people both living and dead so they can create digital avatars of those people. Other companies are already building robot clones of real people.

The key to a VR reunion being a positive thing that is, more like a twenty-first century take on flipping through a photo album and less like that Black Mirror episode appears to be in the living person fully accepting their loved ones death.

Since you know the person is gone, you accept the virtual equivalent for what it is a comforting vestige,Princeton neuroscientist Michael Graziano told Dell Technologies in December. There is nothing wrong or unethical about it.

Perhaps regulation is necessary. Rather than letting startups offer the public the chance to interact with virtual versions of their dead loved ones undoubtedly at a cost maybe we can make the technology available only to people whove submitted to a screening with a psychologist.

Its hard to say what might work as the opportunity to interact with convincing versions of the deceased in VR is decidedly uncharted territory but now that weve officially entered that arena, we have a lot of questions we need to answer as soon as possible.

Editors Note, 2/07/20: This article was updated to correct the name of the broadcaster that aired the documentary.

READ MORE: Sorrow-stricken mother reunites with deceased daughter in virtual world [Aju Business Daily]

More on clones: A Russian Startup Is Selling Robot Clones of Real People

Go here to read the rest:
Watch a Mother Reunite With Her Deceased Child in VR - Futurism

Posted in Futurist | Comments Off on Watch a Mother Reunite With Her Deceased Child in VR – Futurism

Plans Are Moving Ahead to Open a Space Hotel Attached to the ISS – Futurism

Posted: at 9:44 am

Coming Soon

NASA announced last week that its moving forward with a plan to commercialize the International Space Station (ISS) and that the private company Axiom Space will develop a space hotel to tack onto the orbital space station.

Now, Axioshas obtained more details about the plan, which will see a shift from NASA providing orbital services itself to depending more heavily on private companies take the helm.

Its a marked shift in priorities for a space agency thats spent over 20 years helping run the ISS.

Any Axiom-run space hotel is still several years away, Axios reports. The companys plan is to launch its first module by the end of 2024,followed by two more modules one for habitation and one for manufacturing over the course of the next year.

But even before that, Axiom crews will become a regular sight on the ISS. Company cofounder Michael Suffredini told Axios that it already booked tickets to the ISS on rockets that will launch starting next year.

Were beginning these flights early in order to set the cadence and the rhythm, Suffredini said.

The ISS is expected to be retired at some point in thefuture past reports suggest some time between 2024 and 2028.

When that happens, Axios reports that the Axiom Space modules will detach, and the private company will continue to operate its own space station for the foreseeable future.

READ MORE: Axioms big space station future [Axios]

More on the space station: NASA Has a Plan To Encourage Private Space Stations

Read more:
Plans Are Moving Ahead to Open a Space Hotel Attached to the ISS - Futurism

Posted in Futurist | Comments Off on Plans Are Moving Ahead to Open a Space Hotel Attached to the ISS – Futurism

NASA: Next Moon Landing Will Cost About $35 Billion – Futurism

Posted: at 9:44 am

Lunar Bonus

Returning humans to the Moon by 2024 isnt going to be easy or cheap.

On Monday, NASA human spaceflight chief Doug Loverro announced that the agency will need $35 billion over the next four years to successfully complete the Artemis mission and that the cash will need to be in addition to NASAs existing budget.

Loverro shared the news in conjunction with President Donald Trumps release of his fiscal year 2021 NASA budgetrequest, which asks Congress to increase the space agencys budget to $25.2 billion.

The budget proposed represents a 12 percent increase and makes this one of the strongest budgets in NASA history, NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine said in a statement. The reinforced support from the President comes at a critical time as we lay the foundations for landing the first woman and the next man on the South Pole of the Moon by 2024.

For NASA to obtain the $35 billion it needs for Artemis, Congress will not only need to approve this budget increase, but also agree to budgets of $27.2 billion, $28.6 billion, and $28.1 billion for the years 2022, 2023, and 2024, respectively.

Even if Congress approves Trumps budget request for 2021, though, theres a chance the White House could change hands in 2020 and the next administration might not be in as much of a hurry to reach the Moon.

READ MORE: NASA puts a price on a 2024 Moon landing $35 billion [Ars Technica]

More on the Moon: NASA Just Gave the New Moon Program an Epic Name

View original post here:
NASA: Next Moon Landing Will Cost About $35 Billion - Futurism

Posted in Futurist | Comments Off on NASA: Next Moon Landing Will Cost About $35 Billion – Futurism

Watch a Cybertruck Replace the DeLorean in "Back to the Future" – Futurism

Posted: at 9:44 am

February 7th 20__Victor Tangermann__Filed Under: Advanced Transport

When this baby hits 88 miles per hour, youre gonna see some serious shit.

A YouTuberwho calls themselves Elon McFly has uploaded a pixel-perfect vision of what would it would look like if the iconic DeLorean in the 1985 blockbuster Back to the Future was replaced by a Tesla Cybertruck.

In the clip, the Cybertruck can be seen accelerating to 88mph before traveling through time leaving behind only two burning tire tracks and a bent license plate that reads LOL GAS.

Its a surprisingly competent fan remake that manages to fool the eye with impressive lighting and rendering. The truck is also exactly what youd expect a converted time machine Cybertruck to look like, from the haphazard wiring on the exterior to the light-up buttons on the inside.

Its not the Cybertrucks first appearance in popular culture. Rapper Travis Scott heavily featured the pickup truck and its electric ATV companion in his December music video for the song Gang Gang.

READ MORE: Tesla Cybertruck blasts Back to the Future in amazing fan-remake [Teslarati]

More on the truck: Elon Musk Admits He Worried Nobody Would Buy Teslas Cybertruck

Up Next__NASA: Next Moon Landing Will Cost About $35 Billion >>>

Read more:
Watch a Cybertruck Replace the DeLorean in "Back to the Future" - Futurism

Posted in Futurist | Comments Off on Watch a Cybertruck Replace the DeLorean in "Back to the Future" – Futurism

Jordan Brand Continues To Infuse Futurism With The Meta-Morph Utility – Sneaker News

Posted: at 9:44 am

As Jordan Brand stands today, there are two distinct avenues of inline design: one is by and large more heritage-focused with vintage shapes while the next is ambitious with its eyes planted firmly on the future and untapped innovations. React lead the charge for a series of silhouettes just last year and the Aerospace 720 surprised many for its aesthetics just a few months ago, but now, as an ostensible offshoot of the latter, the Meta-Morphy Utility has joined the makeshift series as its newest flagship. Appearance-wise, the model seems to be based on the Air Jordan 1s last, though it offers up just a bit less volume for a somewhat sleeker overall profile. Leading upwards, the pair starts with a toe cap detailed by aggressive perforations and ends with a minimal heel counter only enhanced by a bulky lower heel support as well as a small vertically stitched bit of paneling. Above, you can find a bright red pull in match of the stitch seen on the sides circular base as well as the various detailing that etch atop the tongue and center points ornate markings. Grab a detailed look at these here and find them available now at a host of retailers. Also, be sure to check our Jordan Release Dates page for the latest.

Jordan Meta-Morph UtilityAvailable$110Style Code: BV5936-100

Make sure to follow @kicksfinder for live tweets during the release date.

Where To Buy

More:
Jordan Brand Continues To Infuse Futurism With The Meta-Morph Utility - Sneaker News

Posted in Futurist | Comments Off on Jordan Brand Continues To Infuse Futurism With The Meta-Morph Utility – Sneaker News

Iran Tries to Pass Off $20 Walmart Costume as Space Suit – Futurism

Posted: at 9:44 am

Costume Party

Irans Minister of Information and Communications Technology Mohammad-Javad Azari Jahromi uploaded an image to Twitter last week with the caption astronaut costume #bright_future.

But users were quick to point out that the alleged space suit was actually a $20 Halloween costume, soldby online retailers including Amazon and Walmart.

The smoking gun is what appears to be two outlines one rectangular and one round, on the chest area of the suit that perfectly align with two fake NASA patches found on the childrens costume, The Drive points out.

After being founded in 2004, Irans space agency has launched a number of satellites into orbit over the last decade but has yet to send any astronauts into space.

The preposterous tweet feels reminiscent of previous attempts by Irans Revolutionary Guard Crops, a paramilitary militia, to pass off a Qaher 313 stealth fighter mockup as the real thing theres still no evidence it can actually fly, despite unconvincing video footage of a test flight involving a small-scale drone, The National Interest reported in October.

The militia even claimed to have developed, or helped develop, the US Space Shuttle in a recently erected billboard, according to The Drive.

Its a tough era for Irans space efforts. An Iranian satellite Zafar 1 failed to reach a high enough speed on Sunday to enter orbit after liftoff, as Space.com reports.

READ MORE: Iranian Minister Tried To Pass Off A $20 Halloween Costume As A Real Spacesuit [The Drive]

More on Iran: Two More US Sites Hacked With Pro-Iran Propaganda

Visit link:
Iran Tries to Pass Off $20 Walmart Costume as Space Suit - Futurism

Posted in Futurist | Comments Off on Iran Tries to Pass Off $20 Walmart Costume as Space Suit – Futurism

University Chancellor Predicts "Higher Forms of Life" on Europa – Futurism

Posted: at 9:44 am

Doctor Octopus

Monica Grady, the chancellor at Liverpool Hope University in the UK, saysits likely theres advanced alien life on Jupiters moon Europa, according to a recent statement.

If there is something on Mars, its likely to be very small bacteria, she said. But I think weve got a better chance of having slightly higher forms of life on Europa, perhaps similar to the intelligence of an octopus.

Grady believes creatures could be living in glacial oceans underneath a hard shell of ice thats up to 15 miles thick on Jupiters frigid moon.

Scientists have long suspected the existence of these deep subsurface oceanson Europa and maybe even life. In fact, NASA announced in August that its completing the final designs for a Europa-bound spacecraft called Europa Clipper, which will look for signs of life.

As far as the existence of other human-like aliens in our own solar system, Grady is not optimistic.

Im fairly certain were all there is at our level of intelligence in this planetary system, she said. And even if there are octopuses on Europa, that doesnt give us a reason to destroy our planet.

READ MORE: Racing certainty theres life on Europa and Mars, says leading UK space scientist [Liverpool Hope University]

More on Europa: Scientists Confirm Water Vapor Above the Surface of Europa

Originally posted here:
University Chancellor Predicts "Higher Forms of Life" on Europa - Futurism

Posted in Futurist | Comments Off on University Chancellor Predicts "Higher Forms of Life" on Europa – Futurism

UN Secretary-General: "A Wind of Madness Is Sweeping the Globe" – Futurism

Posted: at 9:44 am

Ominous Message

Antonio Guterres, Secretary-General of the United Nations, shared a grim outlook on the state of the world at a Tuesday conference.

The underlying message of his speech was that our global society should strive to bring about a more peaceful and prosperous future, NPR reports. But until a big shift happens, his prognosis is one of worsening violence, conflict, global instability, and environmental decay.

A wind of madness is sweeping the globe, Guterres told the press.

Guterres warned that world leaders often violate or entirely ignore U.N. resolutions meant to reduce global instability and promote peaceful resolutions between conflicting nations.

As future prospects look bleak, populist and ethnic nationalist narratives gain appeal, Guterres said.

As instability rises, investment dries up, and development cycles down, he continued. When armed conflicts persist, societies reach perilous tipping points. And as governance grows weak, terrorists get stronger, seizing on the [vacuum.]

During his speech, Guterres spoke at length about the worsening climate emergency facing the planet, NPR reports. But he also said he was encouraged by growing public awareness of environmental issues and the fact that some leaders are taking the problem seriously.

Guterres urged global leaders to break the vicious circle of poverty and inequality, according to NPR.

Through improved healthcare, equality, and education, he said the world could create the virtuous circle we know is possible and that can point the way toward growth and prosperity for all.

READ MORE: Wind Of Madness Is Sweeping Earth, U.N. Secretary-General Says [NPR]

More on global instability: New Research: Climate Change Causes Migration and Conflict

Link:
UN Secretary-General: "A Wind of Madness Is Sweeping the Globe" - Futurism

Posted in Futurist | Comments Off on UN Secretary-General: "A Wind of Madness Is Sweeping the Globe" – Futurism

What People Think About The Future Of AI – Analytics India Magazine

Posted: at 9:43 am

In the trending arena of Artificial Intelligence (AI), it is worthwhile to understand the pulse of the people towards its need, purpose, hype and reality.

Sometime back, Iinitiated a self-driven survey on LinkedIn comprising of six questions to knowwhat people think about the future of AI, how it is impacting their current workand possibly the future of work due to digital disruption. I have pulled in thesurvey results and shall try to draw some interesting insights with all of you.The intention of this survey is purely for educational purpose and theresponses do not form any general opinion or conclusion on any point.

What do you think the future of AI will be?

70% of the respondents feel that the future of AI is bright because it will become a necessity to keep up with the changing scenario to increase human efficiency and innovation. While 20% of respondents feel that it is an immediate need of the hour and only 10% feel that the future of AI is weak. We cannot ignore this 10% of the people who feel that AI is not going to bring that advantage and it is more of a hype than reality.

The problem with the understanding of AI is that it is treated as simply the system enabling automation engineering which overshadows its highest benefit of human augmentation a combination of human and artificial intelligence, where both complement each other.

Do you think AI will replace or reduce existing workforce?

80% of the respondents feel that it will impact the existing workforce to some extent, and I believe it is evident from the following press release from Gartner. While only 10% of the respondents feel that it will impact the existing workforce significantly.

According to the following press release in Dec 2017, Gartner predicted that AI will create 2.3 million jobs in 2020, while eliminating 1.8 million.

The above 70% and20% of the respondents to first question who feel that the future of AI is bright,and it is an immediate need of the hour gives a clear reflection of confidence whichcan help in endorsing the human augmentation by removing the fear ofconsequences of elimination of 1.8 million jobs versus creation of 2.3 million.Its important that people stay relevant to obtain these new jobs.

Is your organization sensitized to the disruption created by AI?

60% of the respondents feel that their organizations are sensitized to some extent to the disruption created by AI while only 30% feel that either their organizations are not sensitized or neutral in their attitude and actions towards AI. This is an important segment as they will soon become the laggers as compared to the 10% leaders who are highly sensitized towards the disruption created by AI.

Now, it is not only about how machines can take decisions or do predictions but also about AGI (Artificial General Intelligence- think, understand and learn like humans) which humans can provide when they work cohesively with the machines doing specialized AI only. When we counter superintelligence, which is a state when the hypothetical or virtual agent exceeds human intelligence, we are restricting the human intelligence to grow and unleash its unexplored potential.

Do you think AI is impacting your current work and existence in the organization?

60% of the respondents feel that AI is impacting their current work and existence in the organization to some extent. It becomes important that there is a need to understand the future of work and how will the existing routine work be transformed or transferred to virtual workforce to improve the innovative and critical thinking of human workforce.

As per the aboveGartner report, it is also predicted that In2021, AI augmentation will generate $2.9 trillion in business value and recover6.2 billion hours of worker productivity.

These 6.2billion hours of worker productivity could be utilized in high valued taskssuch as improving the morale of the human workforce, building a cohesive andprogressive environment to retain the talent and, thus, augmenting the humancapital.

According to Karl Marxs theory of alienation, inthe capitalist mode of production, the generation of products (goods andservices) is accomplished with an endless sequence of discrete, repetitivemotions that offer the worker little psychological satisfaction for a jobwell done. By means of commodification, the labor power of the worker isreduced to wages (an exchange value); the psychological estrangement (Entfremdung)of the worker results from the unmediated relation between his productive laborand the wages paid to him for the labor. The worker is alienated from the meansof production via two forms; wage compulsion and the imposed productioncontent. The worker is bound to unwanted labour as a means of survival, labouris not voluntary but coerced (forced labor). [Source:Wikipedia]

The above theory rightly applies to the manual and mundane repetitive tasks being executed by the workforce in an IT business process which gives little psychological satisfaction and does not actually utilize the power of the human brain. Over a period, the worker is alienated from the process; since it becomes a routine activity and no further innovation or productivity gain is envisioned. Hence, this mundane/labour intensive job requiring no expert judgment can be shifted to a virtual workforce making the human workforce spend valuable time on innovation and improving the human-made artificial intelligent systems.

Do you and your organization focus on reskilling and upskilling to deal with the digital disruption?

Only 30% feel that their organizations are highly focused on reskilling and upskilling which creates a huge gap between strategy design and its implementation. Organizations which are partially focused treat AI as their goal or objective which is usually short-term perspective to stay in the business but in order to thrive, they need to treat AI as their strategy which is a long-term initiative.

This also highlights that the organizations which are not focused or neutral towards reskilling and upskilling will add to the global disparity and will create a risk for themselves by letting their customers realign with other vendors/partners.

How many of your existing customers request for building AI and ML enabled systems?

This question has the most fascinating response with 60% of people responding that large number of existing customers request for building AI and ML-enabled systems even though the response to the above question shows that only 30% of people feel that organizations are highly focused on reskilling and upskilling and 40% are partially focused. This clearly shows a gap between demand and supply and hence a need for more skilled people in this area to cater to the in-flight or in-pipeline requirements.

Journey ahead

Its an opportunity to sustain, grow, compete, thrive and stay relevant to attain the business agility where teams can build innovative business solutions with high quality not only improving the operational efficiency with cost savings but embarking the new journey for exponential socio-economic growth. Nonetheless, it also obviates the myths and trough of despair towards AI enabling lowering the cost of making predictions and increasing the value of human judgment and supremacy.

comments

View original post here:

What People Think About The Future Of AI - Analytics India Magazine

Posted in Superintelligence | Comments Off on What People Think About The Future Of AI – Analytics India Magazine