Category Archives: Futurism

A Solar Scope

Each day we get closer to exploring farther reaches of our solar system and universe. We have come incredibly far and seem to make progress with each day. However, our ability to survey the outer corners of the cosmos is limited by our current telescopic technology. Now, modern telescopes are nothing to scoff at. As the iconic Hubble Telescope is phased out, the James Webb Space Telescope will continue to capture the beauty of outer space. But scientists have figured out a way to push the boundaries of telescopic technology even further: by turning the Sun (yes, that sun) into a telescope.

To use the sun as some sort of massive magnifying glass, scientists have deferred to Einsteins Theory of Relativity. According to the theory, large objects (like the Sun) bend the space around them, and so anything traveling in that space (even light) bends as well. In a phenomenon known as gravitational lensing, if light is bent around an object in a particular way, it can magnify the space (quite literally, space) behind it.

Scientists have previously used gravitational lensing to help telescopes to be more effective, but now, researchers aim to use this distribution of matter as a telescope. This new approach certainly has its pros and cons. In order to harness this lensing, the necessary instruments would need to approach pretty close to the sun, in order to reach a target 550 AU away. While humans and probes have traveled much closer to the sun than this, and plan to do so in the future, this difficult journey would take a long time and the equipment would have to be somehow placed into the middle of space.

However, if this is pulled off, it would be a massive leap forward in imaging technology. We could finally get a closer, clearer look at Trappist-1, and would be that much closer to discovering life outside of Earth.

As mentioned previously, this sun scope is not the only highly advanced space-imaging technology thats surfacing. The James Webb Space Telescope, set to launch in October of 2018, will hopefully continue and advance the incredible work of the Hubble Telescope. In fact, this telescope is so powerful that Lee Feinberg, an engineer and James Webb Space Telescope Optical Telescope Element Manager at Goddard, was quoted as saying. The Webb telescope is the most dynamically complicated article of space hardware that weve ever tested.

The technology that we use to capture the incredible images of space isimproving every day. Modern telescopes will continue to advance, becoming more powerful, more precise, and more detailed. So, while the idea of a sun-based telescope is incredible and could yield unprecedented images and information, even if it doesnt pan out, we will most certainly continue to find improved ways to look at the Universe.

Originally posted here:
NASA Plans To Turn The Largest Object in Our Solar System into a Telescope - Futurism

Deep Learning, Fast

Deep learning machines have been generating incredible amounts of buzz in recent months. Their extensive abilities can allow them to play video games, recognize faces, and, most importantly, learn. However, these systems learn 10 times more slowly than humans, which has allowed us to keep the creeping fears of a complete artificial intelligence (AI) takeover at bay. Now, Google has developed an AI that is capable of learning almost as quickly as a human being.

Claims of this advancement in speed come fromGoogles DeepMind subsidiary in London. They say that not only can their machine assimilate and act on new experiences much more quickly than previous AI models, it will soon reach human-level speeds.

If youre unfamiliar with how deep learning works, it uses layers of neural networks to locate trends or patterns in data. If one layer identifies a pattern, that information will be sent to the next layer. This process continues until all the information is collected.

Systems can be taught to learn differently depending on many different variables, such as the strength of the connection between layers. Significant changes in one layer can dramatically change how information is transmitted in other layers, or how it is learned. Deep neural networks have many layers, so when changes are present, the process of learning can take an incredibly long time.

However, Alexander Pritzel, one of the researchers at Google DeepMind, and his colleagues seem to have figured out a way around this issue. They call it neural episodic control.

Neural episodic control demonstrates dramatic improvements on the speed of learning for a wide range of environments,the team told MIT Technology Review. Critically, our agent is able to rapidly latch onto highly successful strategies as soon as they are experienced, instead of waiting for many steps of optimization. Their method mimics the processesof learning that occur in human and animal brains, replicating what happens first in the prefrontal cortex and then, as a backup, in the hippocampus.

It seems as though every day some new development in AI technology is being revealed to the world. From altruistic robot lawyers to predictions about the singularity, AI technology has been barreling forward. However, we have not yet reached true AI.No robots exist whose AI capacity matches the intelligence of the human brain.

And so, while the realities of job loss as a result of automation and AI are becoming clearer every day, a true AI is not predicted to arrive any time soon. However, this development from DeepMind could be a huge stepping stone on the path to that future.

While that might seem like a science fiction nightmare on its surface, the possible benefits are enormous. Applications for advanced AI technology range from health and medicine to agriculture and even scientific research. As AI gets better at learning, it can be taught more and more ways to improve our lives.

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Google Created an AI That Can Learn Almost as Fast as a Human - Futurism

Bill Nye the Educational Guy

Bill Nye, everyones favorite science guy, recently released a public video message for the current administration. Through his organization, The Planetary Society, Bill has stated (and included a written reportof) his official recommendations for the government in relation to their plans for NASA. The Planetary Society gave their 16-page report directly to the NASA transition team.

As many have already read and discussed, the current administration has their sights set on returning to the Moonand pushing forward the goal to put humans on Mars. In fact, many members of the House Science Committee think that not only should sending humans to Mars be an absolute priority, but we should be reaching this goal much sooner (something thatthose like Tom Young, a past director of Goddard Spaceflight Center, think is currently unrealistic). However, they have also decided that many other efforts of NASA, like climate change research, are less than necessary. In fact, recently, the President-Elect has announced possible plans to defund NASAs Earth Science Division.

Bill Nye, a longtime supporter of correct, up-to-date scientific information, has shown the current administration how they can tailor their plans to be less 1960s moonshot flashback and more scientifically-minded space research. Bill has laid out these recommendations fully and thoughtfully, and has specified fivekey suggestions (which he goes into great detail to explain). These suggestions are as follows:

1. Maintain the exploration of Mars as the organizing principle for NASAs human spaceflight program; 2. Direct NASA to plan an executable, affordable path for sending humans to Mars orbit by 2033; 3. Expand NASAs highly successful science portfolio; 4.Annual five percent increases to NASAs budget for five years; and 5. Continue to grow and support the commercial space industry.

These recommendations seem simple enough, but if followed correctly could be the key to a brighter (and scientifically-sound) future. Going far beyond the simple we want to get humans to Mars, this plan sincerely outlines and develops ways that could advance and modernize current NASA plans. As both government and private space organizations race to release the most exciting developments to help us achieve our goals of space exploration, guidelines like these will allow all of the excitement and planning to become more grounded in reality.

Unfortunately, and especially currently, there are many who do not see value or validity in science. Even those who are in charge of funding scientific programs and research are not always well-versed in the importance of science. Thankfully, these recommendations by Bill Nye avoid any condescending attitude or overly-technical terminology. It is a helpful guide that can be easily interpreted and implemented.

If these suggestions are followed, NASA will be able to continue searching for life outside of Earth, create safe and viable ways to extend the possibilities of human space travel, and support ongoing research. The James Webb Space Telescope, the Mars 2020 rover, Solar Probe Plus, and the Europa Multi-Flyby Mission are just a few of the many projects and programs that will be able to continue to flourish under these guidelines.

These recommendations will hopefully be viewed and taken seriously by the current administration. While many dismiss NASA and think that missions to space are somehow frivolous, the research that NASA has done in the past has been the basis for a huge percentage of modern innovation. From health and medicine to smartphone technology, NASA researchers have had an irreplaceable impact on scientific advancement. Additionally, as the realities of climate change grow more pressing, the data that NASA scientists obtain and analyze is crucial in understanding how we can improve the harsh truths of our environment.

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Bill Nye Just Wrote an Open Letter to the Trump Administration About NASA - Futurism

Lately, I can't help but notice the resurgence of the word "Afrofuturism" in cultural circles: at museums, in books, but maybe most importantly, on my social media feeds. In my own work as the founding curator of the Center for Afrofuturist Studies (CAS) in Iowa City, I've been inspired by artist Martine Syms' mundane Afrofuturism to think about art that deals with the future of black lives in an everyday way. I'm interested in a black future that includes, say, tomorrow and the next day, and that also includes the lives of black people on social mediathe futurity we all already live with. I wonder whether the space-based Afrofuturism of Sun Ra we saw in the mid-20th century has since given way to a new internet-based one: the millennials' Afrofuture.

Moor Mother, however, sees things a little differently. "I don't know anything about millennial culture," the Philly-based punk-poet, n Camae Ayewa, tells me over the phone when I ask her about Black Quantum Futurism, an offshoot of Afrofuturism she created with her partner Rasheedah Phillips. As Ayewa explains it, Black Quantum Futurism is "a new language of healing, memory, and justice that can be transmitted and used as a technology," one that exists at the intersection of activism, art, and DIY culture.

Ayewa emphasizes that access to the internet is itself a privilegein a way that, say, access to the ideas of space and of the future are not. Black Quantum Futurism, in other words, is a version of Afrofuturism that is expressly for the peopleespecially the people who can't afford to be online, and who therefore are all too easy to overlook when you spend most of your time in the privilege-dome of the internet.

But this doesn't mean that if you are onlineas you are, right now, reading thisthat Black Quantum Futurism isn't also geared towards you. This May, Ayewa and Phillips are teaming with Philly-based collectives The Afrofuturist Affair and Metropolarity to curate the Black Quantum Futurism programming theme at Moogfest, which includes a series of performances, talks, and workshops that I'm pretty sure will draw crowds of phone-wielders like you and me. There's a workshop called "Discovering Your Secret Superpower," designed to help people develop their own superhero identities based on their own strengths and weaknesses. And there's another called "Deep Space Mind," inspired by a DIY approach to science-fiction that helps marginalized people "reclaim their own insane mindspaces while developing strategies for psychological survival in our age of warfare." On top of all that, Ayewa's working on a durational piece for Moogfest, in the spirit of her other durational piece, "14 Hours," a performance that lasts as long asyou guessed it14 hours.

So, if you find yourself in Durham, North Carolina in May at the Black Quantum Futurism stage, make sure you bring some snacks, and maybe a change of clothes. Oh, and make sure you turn your fucking phone offat least after you've got the whole thing documented on the gram. You won't want to forget it.

Below, Moor Mother explains Black Quantum Futurism, and what's in store for folks at Moogfest. The text combines our telephone interview with some follow-up questions she answered via email, and has been edited and condensed for clarity.

Moor Mother and Rasheedah Phillips outside the Black Quantum Futurism space in Philadelphia

Moor Mother: Afrofuturism is a lens to see things in a differen t way. It's a place for people out on the fringes who have a lot to offer, but may not be in the academic world. There may not be thousands of books on Afrofuturism, unlike the Italian Futurists or something, but it's coming.

The past and future are not cut off from the presentboth dimensions have influence over our lives, who we are, and who we become at any particular point in space-time. Our work [with Black Quantum Futurism] focuses on recovery, collection, and preservation of communal memories, histories, and stories.

One of our projects, "Community Futurisms: Time & Memory in North Philly," is a collaborative art and ethnographic research project exploring the complexities of history, time, temporalities, and futurities within a specific low-income community currently undergoing displacement and redevelopment. [The] project is an example of Afrofuturistic social practice, and how Afrofuturism can be used by disenfranchised communities to create safe space for dialogue, visioning, and testing of ideas around community sustainability, resilience, and resistanceand as a technology for the actual implementation of those visions and ideas. [It also sets] an example for other advocates and policymakers on how to creatively approach these issues using social practice and community-engaged art. That's what Black Quantum Futurism is. It's all practicalthat's the main point.

We have two volumes of [the book Black Quantum Futurism Theory & Practice] out right now that everyone can go and check out. We have a community space [Community Futures Lab] here in North Philly where we have interns that come and work. We've had people do residencies with us on a short term. We've traveled the world talking about these concepts. We just came back from Berlin giving workshops, talks, and performances on Black Quantum Futurism. We're here.

When Rasheedah started her blog, [The Afrofuturist Affair] on Tumblr [in 2011], I had never run into anything that was an Afrofuturist event or a workshop about Afrofuturism. Around that time, Tumblr was really popping. A lot of people that were just starting out on Tumblr [back then], I see them now being in the forefront of things, whether they are artists or activists. I want to move towards the people, and I see that the people are offline. I think that it's a privilege to be online. It's a privilege to be able to continue to tweet things all day to build up your followers. That's a privilege that takes money.

I do these durational performances. I did one called "14 Hours," which is a 14-hour performance to [protest] domestic violence and sexual assault. There's so many women in prison because they protected themselves from some abusive relationship. The next performance that I did was "The Resurrection of Potter's Fields." In the 1700s, 1800s, early even 1900s, there were fields of unmarked gravespeople that couldn't afford burialall different types of what they would call the "Negro Fields." So my durational piece was [an attempt] to resurrect those graves and return them back to their homeland. There's a tradition of people wanting to be buried where they're from, by their families and with their families. The good thing that came about that was in PhiladelphiaI don't know who was talking to whothey created a marker, just a few days ago, for the potter's fields here.

[For Moogfest, I'm going to be doing] a piece in the energy and tradition of what I've been doing. I'll be doing workshops too with Black Quantum Futurism, Metropolarity, and the S1 Library from Portland. I'll be doing a little bit of everything. [We're looking] at the underlying connections that hold us captive in literal and virtual prisons and through the Black Quantum Future lens, [breaking down] the linear dreams that have been etched in our psyche, the message that we are running out of time and toward a chaotic end.

It's interesting how communities all over the world are understanding how important it is to move [away] from social constructs. One model that you read in some book, or some person was talking about on Facebook, may not be the model for you. We have to take the agency to define our own thing that keeps us chill, keeps our head above water.

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Moor Mother Explains Black Quantum Futurism - THUMP

Kurzweils Predictions

Ray Kurzweil, Googles Director of Engineering, is a well-known futurist with a high-hitting track record for accurate predictions. Of his 147 predictions since the 1990s, Kurzweil claimsan 86 percent accuracy rate. Earlier this week, at the SXSW Conference in Austin, Texas, Kurzweil made yet another prediction: the technological singularity will happen sometime in the next 30 years.

In a communication to Futurism, Kurzweil states:

2029 is the consistent date I have predicted for when an AI will pass a valid Turing test and therefore achieve human levels of intelligence. I have set the date 2045 for the Singularity which is when we will multiply our effective intelligence a billion fold by merging with the intelligence we have created.

By 2029, computers will have human-level intelligence, Kurzweil saidin an interview with SXSW.

The singularity is that point in time when all the advances in technology, particularly in artificial intelligence (AI), willlead to machines that are smarter than human beings. Kurzweilstimetable for the singularity is consistentwith other predictions, notably those of Softbank CEO Masayoshi Son, who predicts that the dawn of super-intelligent machines will happen by 2047. But for Kurzweil, the process towards this singularity has already begun.

That leads to computers having human intelligence, our putting them inside our brains, connecting them to the cloud, expanding who we are. Today, thats not just a future scenario, Kurzweil said. Its here, in part, and its going to accelerate.

We all know it is coming sooner or later, but the question in the minds of almost everyone is: should humanity fear the singularity? Everyone knows that when machines become smarter than human beings, they tend to take over the world. Right? Many of the worlds science and technology bigwigs like Stephen Hawking, Elon Musk, and even Bill Gates warn about this kind of future.

Well, Kurzweil doesnt think so. In fact, he isnt particularly worried about the singularity. It would be more accurate to say that hes been looking forward to it. What science fiction depicts as the singularity at which point a single brilliant AI enslaves humanity is just that: fiction.

Thats not realistic, Kurzweil said during hisinterview with SXSW. We dont have one or two AIs in the world. Today we have billions.

For Kurzweil, the singularity is an opportunity for humankind to improve. He envisions the same technology that will make AIs more intelligent giving humans a boost as well.

Whats actually happening is [machines] are powering all of us, Kurzweil said during the SXSW interview. Theyre making us smarter. They may not yet be inside our bodies, but, by the 2030s, we will connect our neocortex, the part of our brain where we do our thinking, to the cloud.

This idea is similar to Musks controversial neural laceand to XPRIZE Foundation chairman Peter Diamandis meta-intelligence concept.Kurzweil expounded on how this technology could improve human lives.

Were going to get more neocortex, were going to be funnier, were going to be better at music. Were going to be sexier, Kurzweil said during the SXSW interview. Were really going to exemplify all the things that we value in humans to a greater degree.

To those who view this cybernetic society as more fantasy than future, Kurzweil pointing out that there are people with computers in their brains today Parkinsons patients. Thats how cybernetics is just getting its foot in the door, Kurzweil said.And, because its the nature of technology to improve, Kurzweil predicts that during the 2030s some technology will be invented that cango inside your brain and help your memory.

So, instead of the machines-taking-over-the-world vision of the singularity, Kurzweil thinks itll be a future of unparalleled human-machine synthesis.

Ultimately, it will affect everything, Kurzweil said during the SXSW interview. Were going to be able to meet the physical needs of all humans. Were going to expand our minds and exemplify these artistic qualities that we value.

Editors note: This article has been updated to correct errors. A previous version of this article stated that Kurzweil predicted the singularity by 2029, rather than the date an AI will pass a valid Turing test.

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Kurzweil Claims That the Singularity Will Happen by 2045 - Futurism

In Brief

Dubai-based construction firmCazza Technologies has announced plans to build the worlds first 3D printed skyscraper.

When we first thought of implementing 3D printing technologies, we were mostly thinking of houses and low-rise buildings. Developers kept asking us if it was possible to build a 3D printed skyscraper. This led us to begin researching how we could adapt the technologies for taller structures, Chris Kelsey, CEO of Cazza,explained to Construction Week Online.

The companys large robotic 3D printers already allow them to construct architecturally complex buildings at unprecedented speeds.All of the essential structural components for tall buildings, including reinforcements with steer rebar, can be 3D printed using this system.

For the skyscraper project, the system will simply be merged with existing cranes, which means theres no need to build specialized cranes from scratch. Any construction elements for the skyscraper that cant be 3D printed will be completed using traditional construction methods.

While Cazza has confirmed that the first 3D printed skyscraperusing its novel construction method will be built in Dubai, details such as the buildings height or when the project will begin are still under wraps.

3D printing technology has already established a foothold in numerous fields. Its particularly prevalent in the medical industry, where it is being used to build organs and human cells, but the techs application in housing and construction hasnt exactly been moving at the same rate. Nevertheless, ambitious 3D projects such as Cazzas are set to shine a spotlight on the technologys potential. Once others see this potential for speed and cost efficiency, they will be more likely toadopt the tech themselves.

Cazza may be the first company to attempt to 3D print a skyscraper, but others have successfully completed smaller projects, includinga tiny guesthouse in Amsterdam and aSuzhou-style Chinese villain Binzhou. As more projects such as those are undertaken, the technology will become cheaper, further speeding up the pace of adoption. It is all about economies of scale where the initial high technology costs will reduce as we enter the mass-production phase, explains Kelsey.Eventually, 3D printed skyscrapers could be the norm.

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Dubai is Going to Be Home to the World's First 3D Printed Skyscraper - Futurism

Budget Cuts

The new administration has big plans for space research and travel. It seems however, that NASA has some serious belt tightening to do, given that the 2017 budget proposal released by the White House will see $200 million cut from the space agencys current funding.

The budgetwould basically allotNASA $19.1 billion for the 2018 fiscal year. Thats $200 million less than the $19.3 the agency received last year.NASA administrator Robert Lightfoot did not seem surprised by the White House announcement in thestatementhe released.

While more detailed budget information will be released in May, we have received a top line budget number for the agency as part of an overall government budget roll out of more than $19 billion, Lightfoot said in the statement. This is in line with our funding in recent years, and will enable us to effectively execute our core mission for the nation, even during these times of fiscal constraint.

Lightfoot expressed hisconfidence that NASA will be able to continue with itswork, sustain research, and develop technologies that will broadenthe agencys capabilities to send humans deeper into space, even given the funding cut in the proposed budget.

While NASA isnt facing budgetary cuts as drastic as other federal agencies, the cuts do have implications on NASAsEarth science and education programs.

Overall science funding is stable, although some missions in development will not go forward and others will see increases, Lightfoot said. We remain committed to studying our home planet and the universe, but are reshaping our focus within the resources available to us a budget not far from where we have been in recent years, and which enables our wide ranging science work on many fronts.

Under the proposal, the Earth science division would take a$102 million cut compared to what it received in 2017. The budget would effectively end several Earth science initiatives, such as NASAs carbon monitoring program and NASAs involvement in the DSCOVR program.

Some of the other notable missions that are up for cancellation underthe new budget proposal includes NASAs Asteroid Redirect Missionand a mission to land on Europa, one of Jupiters moons. NASAs education program, which the proposal described asredundant to other parts of the agency, would now be completely be scrapped. The agencys human spaceflight program, fortunately, would mostly stay on track.

Despite these defunded programs andmissions, the new budget request does draw focus to other NASA initiatives, such as commercial space travel.

The budget supports our continued leadership in commercial space, which has demonstrated success through multiple cargo resupply missions to the International Space Station, and is on target to begin launches of astronauts from U.S. soil in the near future, Lightfoot said in the statement.

According to the proposal, NASAwill continue to support and expand private-public partnerships that hope to grow civilian space travel. It seems that the new budget would be opening options for NASA to engage incollaboration with industry in terms of running the space station and developing deep-space habitats.

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NASA Poised to Lose $200 Million in Funding Under the Trump Administration - Futurism

Automation Boom

Dismissing vague warnings that robots are coming for our jobs is pretty easy. Not so easy? Dismissing hard evidence that theyve already arrived and are doing those jobs better and more cheaply than we ever could.

Those are the facts the workers of the world faced when news broke earlier this year that a Chinese factory increased its production by 250 percent and dropped its defect rate by 80 percent by replacing 90 percent of its human workforce with automated machines. In fact, the transition to machines has been so successful, the plant may soon cut its remaining workforcefrom 60 to just 20 human workers.

Experts are predicting that up to 47 percent of jobs in the United States may be replaced by automated systemsand thats all in the next decade. If thats not enough, manufacturing jobs arent the only ones at risk. Automated systems are proving that they are capable of handling everything from low-skill work like

If thats not enough, manufacturing jobs arent the only ones at risk. Automated systems are proving that they are capable of handling everything from low-skill work like flipping burgers and driving taxis to white-collar professions like managing hedge fundsandpreparing tax returns.

Researcher after researcherhas concluded the same thing automation is going to put a lot of people out of work very soon but what people cant agree on is what we should do about it.

Some, like President Barack Obama, recommend focusing on education and training to prepare people to take on new types of jobs once their jobs are replaced. Others recommend putting systems in place that would make having a job a guarantee.

Still others think a tax on robots could be the solution. Perhaps the most seriously discussed option, however, is universal basic income (UBI).

So what exactly is it?

The idea behind a UBI system is that every member of a society regularly receives a set amount of unconditional money from the government or a public institution. How much money, how often it is given, who supplies it, and other variables are all open to interpretation.

Proponents of such a system say its benefits would be multifold. With so many people expected to lose their jobs in the coming decades, UBI would be a way for the government of a country to ensure it doesnt see a drastic increase in poverty due to unemployment. They point to the encouraging results of past studies in their support of UBI, noting how some trials have revealeda link between UBI and better health, while others have noted a drop in the usage of temptation goods like alcohol and tobacco in societies with a UBI in place, particularly if those societies are in underdeveloped nations.

While notable figures such as Tesla CEO Elon Musk, Y Combinator president Sam Altman, andeBayfounder Pierre Omidyar have all expressed their support for UBI, just as many people remain on the other side of the debate.

Business mogul Mark Cubansimply called UBI one of the worst possible responses to automation,philanthropist Bill Gatessaid even the richest countries couldnt afford such a system, and the Obama administrationreleased a report stating that job training and job search assistance are much more likely to mitigate the potential unemployment situation than UBI. Others argue that UBI would discourage people from working, wouldnt be enough to lift them out of poverty, and would result inimmigration problems for countries that enact such systems.

Until recently, weve had very few examples of UBI systems to look to for definitive proof of their potential benefits or burdens. Those examples we did have involved smaller groups of people for relatively short durations of time. What we need to move forward are more extensive trials involving larger groups, and thankfully,thats what were finally getting.

This year,Finlandkicked of a two-year UBI trial in which 2,000 randomly selected citizens each receive the equivalent of $587 a month. Each participant wasalready receiving unemployment benefits or an income subsidy from the government that they would lose if they started earning outside income. The hope is that the UBI will encourage those people to take chances on potentially risky job offers, like those at tech startups, knowing theyll still have an income to fall back on.

Once the two-year trial is over, the government plans to compare the data it collects from the 2,000 participants and173,000 non-participants from a similar background to determine if a larger UBI system would be economically worthwhile.

GiveDirectlyis poised to launch the largest UBI program to date this spring. With the support of investorslike Omidyar, the nonprofit will provide UBI to more than26,000 Kenyans, with the total amount dispersed expected to hit around$30 million. The company is spreading the money across200 villages, with recipients grouped into one of three potential systems. Some will receive 12 years of basic income, some will receive two years of it, and others will receive two years worth of income as a single lump sum.

Kenyans in 100 villages will act as the control group against which the results of the trial will be judged. GiveDirectly is hoping to learn a great deal about UBI from the study,including how it affects a persons economic status, willingness to take risks, and their gender relations, particularly in terms of female empowerment.

Canada has its own UBI project set to launch this year. In December, the state legislature of Prince Edward Island (PEI) approved an initiative to test out a UBI program, with leaders of all four political parties in the province approving the measure. The details still need to be hashed out and the plan implemented, but with150,000 citizens, the small Canadian province could prove to be the perfect setting for a UBI pilot program large enough to provide a validsample size but small enough to be logistically feasible.

With so many projects in place, 2017 is being touted as the year well finally find out if a UBI system could work, and really, we have no time to waste. That Chinese factory may have been one of the first, but it certainly wont be the last example of automations superiority in the workplace.

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Experts Think UBI Is the Solution to Automation. This Year, We'll Find Out. - Futurism

Kurzweils Predictions

Ray Kurzweil, Googles Director of Engineering, is a well-known futurist with a high-hitting track record for accurate predictions. Of his 147 predictions since the 1990s, Kurzweil claimsan 86 percent accuracy rate. Earlier this week, at the SXSW Conference in Austin, Texas, Kurzweil made yet another prediction: the technological singularity will happen sometime in the next 12 years.

By 2029, computers will have human-level intelligence, Kurzweil saidin an interview with SXSW.

The singularity is that point in time when all the advances in technology, particularly in artificial intelligence (AI), willlead to machines that are smarter than human beings. Kurzweilstimetable for the singularity is earlier by around two decades compared to other predictions, notably those of Softbank CEO Masayoshi Son, who predicts that the dawn of superintelligent machines will happen by 2047. But for Kurzweil, the process towards this singularity has already begun.

That leads to computers having human intelligence, our putting them inside our brains, connecting them to the cloud, expanding who we are. Today, thats not just a future scenario, Kurzweil said. Its here, in part, and its going to accelerate.

We all know it is coming sooner or later, but the question in the minds of almost everyone is: should humanity fear the singularity? Everyone knows that when machines become smarter than human beings, they tend to take over the world. Right? Many of the worlds science and technology bigwigs like Stephen Hawking, Elon Musk, and even Bill Gates warn about this kind of future.

Well, Kurzweil doesnt think so. In fact, he isnt particularly worried about the singularity. It would be more accurate to say that hes been looking forward to it. What science fiction depicts as the singularity at which point a single brilliant AI enslaves humanity is just that: fiction.

Thats not realistic, Kurzweil said during hisinterview with SXSW. We dont have one or two AIs in the world. Today we have billions.

For Kurzweil, the singularity is an opportunity for humankind to improve. He envisions the same technology that will make AIs more intelligent giving humans a boost as well.

Whats actually happening is [machines] are powering all of us, Kurzweil said during the SXSW interview. Theyre making us smarter. They may not yet be inside our bodies, but, by the 2030s, we will connect our neocortex, the part of our brain where we do our thinking, to the cloud.

This idea is similar to Musks controversial neural laceand to XPRIZE Foundation chairman Peter Diamandis meta-intelligence concept.Kurzweil expounded on how this technology could improve human lives.

Were going to get more neocortex, were going to be funnier, were going to be better at music. Were going to be sexier, Kurzweil said during the SXSW interview. Were really going to exemplify all the things that we value in humans to a greater degree.

To those who view this cybernetic society as more fantasy than future, Kurzweil pointing out that there are people with computers in their brains today Parkinsons patients. Thats how cybernetics is just getting its foot in the door, Kurzweil said.And, because its the nature of technology to improve, Kurzweil predicts that during the 2030s some technology will be invented that cango inside your brain and help your memory.

So, instead of the machines-taking-over-the-world vision of the singularity, Kurzweil thinks itll be a future of unparalleled human-machine synthesis.

Ultimately, it will affect everything, Kurzweil said during the SXSW interview. Were going to be able to meet the physical needs of all humans. Were going to expand our minds and exemplify these artistic qualities that we value.

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Kurzweil Claims That the Singularity Will Happen by 2029 - Futurism - Futurism

Pushing the Boundaries

Some 3.8 billion years ago,the first lifeforms emerged on Earth, and they were single-celled organisms, such as bacteria. Then, roughly 541 million years ago, complex, multicellular life appeared during an evolutionary event known as the Cambrian Explosion. Much of what we know aboutthis relatively short period in history is gleaned from fossil evidence. Now, the discovery of strange fossils in sedimentary rocks in central India may push this evolutionary moment back by 400 million years.

Therese Sallstedt from the Swedish Museum of Natural Historyhas discovered fossils that appear to be the earliest evidence of plant life. Radiometric dating puts them at roughly 1.6 billion years old, which would make them the oldest evidence of red algae ever found.

I had seen something similar a little bit before in other thin sections but the eureka moment was when I found this particular specimen [and] saw these colonies of algae, said Sallstedt, speaking to The Independent. Thats when I realized, wow, this must be more advanced than microbes.

Sallstedts team subjected the fossils to an imaging technique called X-ray tomographic microscopy. This allowed them to identify regularly recurring platelets in each of the cells. They think that these could have been part of the organisms chloroplasts, the cellular structure where photosynthesis takes place. Cell fountains, filament structures common in red algae, were also detected.

The evolution of complex life is still one of the greatest mysteries of science. We know it had to have happened at a certain moment when the conditions were just right. Its unclear, however, why simple life evolved at an earlier stage but complex life took so long to follow. If proven to actually be from crown group red algae, these new fossils will challenge our assumptions about when this evolution of complex life actually occurred.

These fossils pre-date the previously earliest accepted red algae by about 400 million years, suggesting that eukaryotes may have a longer history than commonly assumed, Sallstedt said of the teams research, which was published in the journal PLOS Biology.Previously, the oldest known samples of red algae were thought to be 1.2 billion years old.

The time of visible life seems to have begun much earlier than we thought, said Stefan Bengtson, a member of the research team. However, without DNA evidence to support the teams assertions, it is difficult to prove anything. You cannot be 100 percent sure about material this ancient, as there is no DNA remaining, but the characters agree quite well with the morphology and structure of red algae, explained Bengtson.

So, while it may not be possible to say definitively that these fossils are from eukaryotic red algae, the presence of features commonly associated with multi-cellular organisms certainly makes it look like they are. In turn, that forces us to rethink when complex life actually began. Samples of similar fossils could eventually be found elsewhere, so further research is definitely warranted.

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Earth May Have Hosted Complex Life Much Earlier Than We Thought - Futurism