Daily Archives: February 27, 2020

The 2018 movie A.I. Rising explores how machines could fulfil desires and support humans during space travel. Lo and behold, it might contain the solution to problems related to space exploration. Astronauts, despite their rigorous training, remain humans with needs. For space exploration and colonisation to succeed, we need to overcome taboos, consider human needs and desires and provide concrete, realistic solutions based on science rather than conventional morality.

Can humans thrive for prolonged periods of time in small groups and in closed, isolated environments? Can humans contend with limited possibilities of relationships, intimacy and sexuality? Sex tech might have the answer. As researchers exploring human-machine erotic interactions, we are interested in their implications and potential applications for human wellbeing even beyond our home planet.

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Space exploration and colonisation is one of humanitys greatest endeavours, but it comes with challenges. One of them is to make the space journey human-compatible, that is, physically and psychologically viable. Given that intimacy and sexuality are basic needs, they become central issues for human-space compatibility.

How will humans have sex in space? Can we propagate the species beyond Earth? What will intimate relationships look like aboard spaceships and settlements? As of now, Nasa and other space agencies have denied that any sexual activity has ever occurred during a space mission. Either sex in space hasnt happened, or no one is talking about it. Nonetheless, imminent prolonged human missions to the moon and Mars raise concerns regarding the future of intimacy and sexuality in space.

Mystic Mountain, a pillar of gas and dust standing at three-light-years tall, bursting with jets of gas flom fledgling stars buried within, was captured by Nasa's Hubble Space Telelscope in February 2010

Nasa/ESA/STScI

The first ever selfie taken on an alien planet, captured by Nasa's Curiosity Rover in the early days of its mission to explore Mars in 2012

Nasa/JPL-Caltech/MSSS

Death of a star: This image from Nasa's Chandra X-ray telescope shows the supernova of Tycho, a star in our Milky Way galaxy

Nasa

Arrokoth, the most distant object ever explored, pictured here on 1 January 2019 by a camera on Nasa's New Horizons spaceraft at a distance of 4.1 billion miles from Earth

Getty

An image of the Large Magellanic Cloud galaxy seen in infrared light by the Herschel Space Observatory in January 2012. Regions of space such as this are where new stars are born from a mixture of elements and cosmic dust

Nasa

The first ever image of a black hole, captured by the Event Horizon telescope, as part of a global collaboration involving Nasa, and released on 10 April 2019. The image reveals the black hole at the centre of Messier 87, a massive galaxy in the nearby Virgo galaxy cluster. This black hole resides about 54 million light-years from Earth

Getty

Pluto, as pictured by Nasa's New Horizons spacecraft as it flew over the dwarf planet for the first time ever in July 2015

Nasa/APL/SwRI

A coronal mass ejection as seen by the Chandra Observatory in 2019. This is the first time that Chandra has detected this phenomenon from a star other than the Sun

Nasa

Dark, narrow, 100 meter-long streaks running downhill on the surface Mars were believed to be evidence of contemporary flowing water. It has since been suggested that they may instead be formed by flowing sand

Nasa/JPL/University of Arizona

Morning Aurora: Nasa astronaut Scott Kelly captured this photograph of the green lights of the aurora from the International Space Station in October 2015

Nasa/Scott Kelly

Mystic Mountain, a pillar of gas and dust standing at three-light-years tall, bursting with jets of gas flom fledgling stars buried within, was captured by Nasa's Hubble Space Telelscope in February 2010

Nasa/ESA/STScI

The first ever selfie taken on an alien planet, captured by Nasa's Curiosity Rover in the early days of its mission to explore Mars in 2012

Nasa/JPL-Caltech/MSSS

Death of a star: This image from Nasa's Chandra X-ray telescope shows the supernova of Tycho, a star in our Milky Way galaxy

Nasa

Arrokoth, the most distant object ever explored, pictured here on 1 January 2019 by a camera on Nasa's New Horizons spaceraft at a distance of 4.1 billion miles from Earth

Getty

An image of the Large Magellanic Cloud galaxy seen in infrared light by the Herschel Space Observatory in January 2012. Regions of space such as this are where new stars are born from a mixture of elements and cosmic dust

Nasa

The first ever image of a black hole, captured by the Event Horizon telescope, as part of a global collaboration involving Nasa, and released on 10 April 2019. The image reveals the black hole at the centre of Messier 87, a massive galaxy in the nearby Virgo galaxy cluster. This black hole resides about 54 million light-years from Earth

Getty

Pluto, as pictured by Nasa's New Horizons spacecraft as it flew over the dwarf planet for the first time ever in July 2015

Nasa/APL/SwRI

A coronal mass ejection as seen by the Chandra Observatory in 2019. This is the first time that Chandra has detected this phenomenon from a star other than the Sun

Nasa

Dark, narrow, 100 meter-long streaks running downhill on the surface Mars were believed to be evidence of contemporary flowing water. It has since been suggested that they may instead be formed by flowing sand

Nasa/JPL/University of Arizona

Morning Aurora: Nasa astronaut Scott Kelly captured this photograph of the green lights of the aurora from the International Space Station in October 2015

Nasa/Scott Kelly

One important concern is that space exploration and colonisation will limit peoples opportunities for relationships, intimacy and sexuality for long periods of time. In the very near future, human missions will only include small crews and settlements. Fewer people mean fewer opportunities for intimacy making it difficult to find partners to connect with and potentially increasing tension between crew members. For instance, it might be difficult to find partners that fit our personality, preferences and sexual orientation. And when a relationship ends, people are stuck on a ship with an ex-partner possibly impairing a crews mood and the teamwork necessary to survive in dangerous environments.

While some people might be able to withstand a policy of total abstinence, it might be detrimental to the physical and mental health of others especially as larger groups venture into space. Yet Nasa seems afraid of tackling issues of intimacy and sexuality in space. In 2008, Bill Jeffs, spokesperson for Nasas Johnson Space Center in Houston, said: We dont study sexuality in space, and we dont have any studies ongoing with that. If thats your specific topic, theres nothing to discuss.

Might human-machine sex be a step too far in our relationship with technology? (Getty)

Given what we know about human sexuality, this position seems irresponsible. It prevents research from examining basic questions about sexual health and wellbeing in space. For instance, how do we deal with hygiene and the messiness of human sex in zero gravity? How will we maintain a crews psychological wellbeing if people must endure long periods lacking in erotic stimulation and affection? Is imposed abstinence a reasonable solution, based on empirical evidence?

One solution could be to make erotic technologies available to crews and settlers in space. This could include sex toys any object used for sexual enhancement or stimulation which could be used for sexual pleasure and gratification. But sex toys do not address the social dimensions of human erotic needs. This is where erobots come in.

The term erobots characterises all virtual, embodied and augmented artificial erotic agents and the technologies that produce them. Examples include sex robots, erotic chatbots and virtual or augmented partners. Erobotics is the emerging transdisciplinary research studying human-erobots interactions and related phenomena. Unlike previous technologies, erobots offer the opportunity of intimate relations with artificial agents tailored to the needs of their users. Erobotic technologies polarise public and academic discourses: some denounce them as promoting harmful norms, while others defend their potential benefits and health, education and research applications.

Erobots represent a practical solution to tackle the inhuman conditions of space exploration and colonisation. Moreover, erobotics could enable us to approach questions of intimacy and sexuality in space from scientific, relational and technological perspectives. Erobots could provide companionship and sexual pleasure to crew members and settlers. Beyond the capabilities of sex toys, erobots can incorporate social dimensions into erotic experiences. They could help with loneliness and the inevitable anxieties borne out of solitude. They could act as surrogate romantic partners, provide sexual outlets and reduce risks associated with human sex.

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Erobots could also provide intimacy and emotional support. And finally, erobots sensors and interactive capabilities could help monitor astronauts physiological and psychological health acting as a complement to daily medical exams. Erobots can take many forms and be made of light material. They can manifest through virtual or augmented reality and be combined with sex toys to provide interactive and immersive erotic experiences. The same technology could also be employed to enact erotic experiences with loved ones back on Earth.

To harness erotic technologys potential for human space missions, we must build collaborations between academia, governmental space programs and the private sector. Erobotics can contribute to space research programs. As a field grounded in sexuality and technology positive frameworks, it recognises the importance of intimacy and sexuality in human life and promotes the development of technology geared towards health and wellbeing. And ultimately, we must shed our taboos regarding technology and sexuality as we journey to the final frontier.

Simon Dubeis aPhD candidate in psychology atConcordia University and Dave Anctil is a researcher atUniversite Laval. This article was first seen on The Conversation

Read more:

Out of this world: Should sex technology be launched into space? - The Independent

If youre committed to the Paris agreement to keep the increase in global average temperature to well below two degrees above pre-industrial levels, and pursue efforts to limit the increase to 1.5 degrees then at a minimum, logically, scientifically, youre committed to net-zero carbon emissions by 2050.

So far, at least 77 countries have committed to the target, as has every state and territory in Australia. The fact that prime minister Scott Morrison is pushing back hard against the calls for such a target sends yet another strong signal that his government still denies the need to tackle climate change.

Sensing it must be seen to do something, but committed to doing nothing substantive, the government is arguing that investing in technology is the superior pathway to to to what? Are billions of dollars of public funds about to be allocated to a strategy that delivers on an unspoken goal?

This passion for technology is newfound and insincere. In truth, our government has a long history of undermining climate technologies.

In the three years to 2016, the government ripped just shy of $1bn from the Australian Renewable Energy Agency (Arena), the body charged with helping early stage technologies through to commercial launch.

The funding of a feasibility study for a coal power station in Collinsville and the foreshadowed gift of $11m to extend the life of the 42 years old Vales Point coal power station in the Hunter, demonstrate just how reluctant the Coalition is to let go of last centurys energy technologies.

One of the most promising and critical new technologies is the rapid maturation of the electric vehicle, but who can forget the governments pushback against EVs during last years election?

Last November I visited the Leilac zero carbon cement project Belgium an exciting project given that cement is responsible for 7% of global emissions, more than twice as much as aviation. The new process captures most of the carbon dioxide thats ordinarily released to the atmosphere during cement manufacture. The technology, which can be powered by renewable energy, was developed in Bacchus Marsh, Victoria and was lured to Europe on the back of a 12 million grant and a price on carbon.

In the alternate universe where Arena and our carbon price werent smashed by ideological attacks, that world-changing technology would be proudly Australian made.

While theres plenty of valuable research and development in our future, especially for the difficult to decarbonise sectors of cement, steel and aviation, the truth is that we already have the technology to deal with around 70% of global emissions.

The pathway is simple electrify everything and swap fossil fuels for renewables. These technologies have come down in cost not because of boffins in laboratory coats, but because of innovation born of sustained deployment and ruthless competition.

Mike and Annie Cannon-Brookes Resilient Energy Collective is a case study for how far weve come. In just a handful of weeks the group has put together an emergency power product for restoring power to bushfire affected communities. The solar-powered, battery-backed system can be installed in a single day, and will be rolled out to 100 communities in as many days. The energy supply companies partnering in the project are stunned that the infrastructure is being rolled out in hours not months. Community members are amazed that theyre using solar power at night.

Likewise, Aemo, our grid operator, has just released a blueprint for reducing electricity sector emissions by 85%, using existing technologies and without compromising reliability. Industry is champing at the bit to implement such a plan they just need a minister who believes in the end goal and is committed to resolving the roadblocks.

In reality, the call for technology before action is a specious distraction designed to paper over the plan to take no action. The greatest proponent of the frame is Danish political scientist Bjorn Lomborg, one of a small cadre of almost respectable climate obfuscationists.

In the lead up to the Copenhagen climate conference in 2009, Lomborg handpicked a panel of ancient Nobel laureates to rank 16 climate solutions. The four proposed carbon tax schemes were ranked dead last, and the top three projects deemed worthy of consideration were marine cloud whitening, energy research and development and stratospheric aerosol insertion.

The top-ranked solution would involve a global fleet of 1,900 unmanned ships spraying sea water mist into the air to thicken clouds and reflect the suns rays back into space. The third solution involves fleets of planes spraying sulphur dioxide into the sky. The chemical would mimic the effects of volcanoes reacting with water to form a hazy layer spread around the globe scattering and absorbing incoming sunlight.

The first three years of the Coalition government focussed on tearing down climate policy. The next three used endless reviews that came to nothing as intended.

In July 2014, Tony Abbott finally made good on his promise to dismantle Australias carbon price mechanism, our most effective and efficient climate policy. In doing so, not only did he throw away the best tool we had, he cheated Australian farmers out of earning billions from exporting carbon credits to Europe.

In 2015, Abbott managed to slash the renewable energy target assisted in the background by Angus Taylor, the man now charged with reducing emissions cutting future activity under the target by 40%.

The only half decent action has been the emissions reduction fund, called a fig leaf of a policy by the partys once and future leader Malcolm Turnbull in 2009, whereby taxpayers, not polluters, buy carbon offsets. To date, the ERF has bought just 50m offsets, which doesnt even cover the increase in emissions from just the LNG sector during the last 5 years.

Now the government is talking about a technology investment target, whatever that means. Will we be subjected to another barrage of lies that some magical technology exists to cut coal emissions? Remember CCS and HELE? Hopefully by now we all now know that clean coal is as real as healthy cigarettes.

If Scott Morrison is genuine about climate action, then sure, he should start by restoring the billion dollars ripped out of Arena. In fact, lets give them a few hundred million a year to help Australian ideas reach their potential and give us a whole new export sector to replace the inevitable decline in coal exports. We have the resources, people and smarts to position Australia for great success in a carbon-constrained global economy.

At this point, the roadblocks to effective and affordable action are social and political, not technological.

So here we are again. Another strategy to kick the can down the road. The Finkel review bought the government a year of doing nothing in 2017, as did the national energy guarantee in 2018. The hollow climate solutions package helped the government escape scrutiny in 2019, however the Black Summer and the approaching Novembers COP26 conference in Glasgow where countries are expected to lift their commitments in the direction of the Paris agreements goals leave the government with nowhere to hide.

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The government's sudden passion for climate technology is newfound and insincere - The Guardian

A New York City fashion institute placed two school officials on administrative leave Friday following a fashion show featuring "racist references" that led to backlash from models and students.

The runway show, put on during a New York Fashion Week showcase for graduating students of the Fashion Institute of Technology's MFA program, included "large prosthetic ears and lips and bushy eyebrows," the school said in a statement addressing the incident.

In addition to students who protested the prosthetics, model Amy LeFevre, who is black, told NBC News that she "almost broke down in tears" when she found out she was supposed to wear them during the show and said she felt "pressured" by those in charge.

She said she told the runway show's organizers that the prosthetics called back to offensive caricatures of black people.

LeFevre said FIT students "did come to support me, realizing how inappropriate [the accessories] were," but said that they were yelled at to move away from her.

LeFevre eventually ended up walking the runway without the accessories.

FIT president Joyce Brown said in the school's latest statement that she would be sending LeFevre and the other models who participated in the show letters of apology. Requests for comment from LeFevre were not immediately returned Saturday.

The collection was designed by FIT alum Junkai Huang. However, Brown said in the statement that Huang's collection "was not aimed at invoking or provoking racial implications" and noted that "it also appears based upon information available that the styling and accessorizing used in the show were provided to him rather than chosen at his discretion."

"To us, this indicates that those in charge of and responsible for overseeing the show failed to recognize or anticipate the racist references and cultural insensitivities that were obvious to almost everybody else," Brown said.

It was not clear who provided Huang with those accessories. Requests for comment from both Huang and FIT were not immediately returned Saturday.

FIT said that the school has also commissioned law firm Bond, Schoeneck & King to investigate the incident. Both Mary Davis, dean of the School of Graduate Studies, and Jonathan Kyle Farmer, chair of the MFA Fashion Design Department, have been placed on administrative leave pending the investigation's conclusion.

In an Instagram post, Farmer apologized to LeFevre and took "full responsibility" for the accessories, NBC News reported.

"I deeply apologize for any harm and pain I've caused to those involved with the show, including Amy LeFevre," he wrote. "It was never our intent for the show's styling to be interpreted as racist or to make people feel uncomfortable but I now fully understand why this happened. I take full responsibility and am committed to learning from this situation and taking steps to do better."

Farmer's Instagram account is now private.

The fashion industry has been no stranger to designs invoking racist tropes in recent years. In 2018, Prada was criticized for a window display featuring figurines in what many said was blackface, and agreed to racial equality training for its employees in New York City moving forward. Gucci has also apologized for clothing featuring blackface imagery, and Burberry announced new diversity initiatives after it included a "noose hoodie" in a 2019 fashion show.

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The Fashion Institute Of Technology Put Two Top Officials On Leave Over A Runway Show People Are Calling Racist - BuzzFeed News

Mobility supplier DENSO is working withDrishti Technologies, Inc. to help optimize manufacturing production within its North American facilities. Drishtis AI-enabled action recognition technology allows DENSO to generate real-time, continuous analytics on manual tasks performed by its production employees. This dataset grants production management the ability to quickly identify and eliminate bottlenecks, improve processes, boost efficiency and prioritize tasks.

Action recognition technology provides real-time insights into our fundamental and human-driven production tasks: managing cycle-time variance; identifying bottlenecks in the process; ensuring that employees perform standard work every cycle; and pace setting, Raja Shembekar, vice president of DENSO North American Production Innovation Center tells IndustryWeek. DENSO then leverages the insights from each area to find problems and successes to make improvements, resulting in better quality and efficiency.

Although manufacturing automation in advanced economies like the U.S. and Japan continues to increase, it is still expected to perform less than 25% of manufacturing tasks by 2025 (Boston Consulting Group, 2015), explains Shembekar.

This means humans will execute a significant portion of manufacturing operations for years to come. With AI (neural networks) and action recognition technology, we are now able to, for the first time, get analytical and quantitative insights into the performance of manual operations, in real-time and continuously, he says. As a result, DENSO can dramatically increase the speed at which it implements Kaizen or continuous improvement, principles.

These capabilities increase production outputs, improve product quality and consistency, and assist production employees in their day-to-day assignments, helping them identify how they and their teams can better streamline processes. The move is part of DENSOsLong-Term Policy2030to create and inspire new value for advanced mobility using disruptive technology. It also marks one of the first times DENSO has integrated AI into its production processes.

Understanding opportunities

As Drishti discovered injoint researchwith A.T. Kearney, human line employees perform 72% of factory tasks. This data, from a survey of more than 100 manufacturing leaders, suggests that even as the industry increasingly focuses on robotics and Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT), people and their ingenuity remain central to manufacturing.

True digital transformation efforts have to extend to the human operator, because the bulk of manufacturing tasks are still done manually, said Prasad Akella, founder and chief executive officer of Drishti. DENSO recognized that fact well ahead of the rest of the market, and our technology is helping the company secure its position as an innovation leader in the advanced automotive manufacturing industry.

According to Shembekar, the potential DENSO now sees to achieve significant process gains while simultaneously helping our workforce add greater value is precisely why it is so committed to exploring and implementing innovation with leading-edge startups like Drishti.

"Digitizing highly variable human motion continuously and in real time provides analytics insight that can significantly improve productivity, efficiency, and quality, as well as how we approach employee training," said Jon Ruge, a director of DENSO Industrial Engineering.

Overcoming obstacles

As with any change, implementing this technology has its share of challenges. According to Shembekar, the first challenge is to get buy-in from the line worker whose action is being recorded. We do this by explaining the technology and its purpose to them so they can clearly understand the benefit it provides them, and not just to management, he says. Its especially important that we emphasize this is a supplemental technology, one that helps employees and their teams do their jobs better and smarter, rather than replace them.

Secondly, it is vital that the action recognition technologys accuracy is very high (> 99%), so that the analytics it provides are credible. If the accuracy were low, employees would disregard it very quickly, says Shembekar. Also, the speed of the action recognition technology has to match the actual speed of production, so that there is no data lag. If there were a lag, it would have adverse impacts on productivity rather than improve it.

Finally, the cost of such technology should be at such a price point that it provides a reasonable benefit year over year. In other words, the benefit of human-driven production and the technology should be larger than if the process were automated, he says.

Bottom line

As DENSO continues to transform into a true digital operation, having data on manual tasks fills a major gap in our analytics, says Dave Grimmer, a senior vice president at DENSO and head of its North American Production Innovation Center. Drishtis continuous data creation offers productivity insights and quality metrics that help us make better decisions, faster.

Drishtis technology produces datasets that are several orders of magnitude larger than those produced by traditional time and motion studies. Drishti-produced datasets are also more diverse and enriched by video. The benefits of these massive datasets extend beyond the production floor to DENSOs leadership and engineers, who, like production teams, use Drishtis technology to gather production feedback and make data-driven decisions on design and organizational management.

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AI-Based Action Recognition Technology Reaps Rewards - IndustryWeek