Category Archives: Transhuman News

Journalism lost a giant today. Former Washington Post Executive Editor Ben Bradlee has died. He was 93. Bradlee stood up to the U.S. government, pursued the story which brought down a president, and shaped a generation of journalists.

"I just do not believe the first version of events in this city," he once said. "I don't believe it."

As Executive Editor of the Washington Post, Ben Bradlee brought skepticism to the paper's daily reporting.

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"People don't tell the truth," says Ben Bradlee, former executive editor of The Washington Post. And Bradlee knows a thing or two about lies, hav...

"People don't tell the truth. They don't tell the truth a hundred different ways," he said on "60 Minutes" in 1995. "And it's become so easy to lie."

Bradlee was born August 26, 1921 in Boston, Massachusetts, a member of the well-heeled Crowninshield family. He attended college at Harvard University, and he married his first wife, Jean Saltonstall, while he was there.

He joined the Navy shortly after graduating. As part of the Office of Naval Intelligence, Bradlee served as a communications officer in the Pacific during World War II.

In 1951, Bradlee became a press attach at the U.S. Embassy in Paris. After several years, he made the jump to Newsweek, remaining in Paris as a European correspondent for the magazine. There he became friendly with a neighbor, Sen. John F. Kennedy.

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Ben Bradlee, legendary Washington Post executive editor, dead at 93

The one-year suspension Cung Le received after testing positive for excess levels of Human Growth Hormone (HGH) in a post-fight drug test following his fourth-round TKO loss to Michael Bisping at UFC Fight Night 48 has been rescinded, promotion officials announced on Tuesday.

With the UFC serving as its own governing body, as per usual for overseas shows in a territory lacking an athletic commission, both Bisping and Le were subject toenhanced blood and urine drug testing following their fight in Macau, China, in addition to the regular pre- and post-fight drug testing.

Le was initially found to have failed the test, howeverseveral flaws with the UFC's testing process were uncovered in the ensuing days, chief among them thefact that the testing facility employed by the UFC, the Hong Kong Functional Medical Testing Center, was found to not be a lab approved and operated under the standards of the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA).

In addition, the blood sample drawn from Le wasdiscovered to have been taken just minutes after the conclusion of his fight with Bisping, despite the belief that HGH levels tested post-exertion undergo significant natural increase from normal levels.

Le (9-3) planned to appeal the UFC's one-year suspension, but in light of Tuesday's decision, that is no longer necessary. UFC officials issued the following statement:

At UFC Fight Night Macao on August 23rd, UFC contracted with an independent drug testing laboratory in Hong Kong to perform urinalysis testing on all fighters on the card. Additionally, UFC requested the laboratory to test blood samples from 4 fighters for human growth hormone (HGH), erythropoietin (EPO) and testosterone.

One of the athletes who had his blood tested was Cung Le. The laboratory results from Le's blood test were sent to the UFC and showed that his blood had a total HGH level outside the reference range. Based on such results, UFC officials determined that Le had violated his promotional agreement and the UFC Fighter Conduct Policy. Consequently, UFC decided that Le should be suspended from unarmed combat competition for 12 months.

Following the announcement of Le's suspension, UFC officials have been provided with medical advice regarding the elevated total HGH present in Le's system. In accordance with such medical advice, UFC has determined that Le's elevated total HGH by itself does not prove that he took performance-enhancing drugs before the August 23rd bout. As a result, UFC has informed Le that his suspension is rescinded.

Le had requested an appeal of his suspension, and was entitled to arbitrate the drug test results and suspension. However, based on the lack of conclusive laboratory results, UFC officials deemed it appropriate to immediately rescind the suspension without the need for further proceedings.

The UFC organization has always been a leader when it comes to testing for performance-enhancing drugs in combat sports. All UFC athletes know they are subject to drug testing by an applicable state athletic commission, an international governing federation, or by an independent laboratory contracted by the UFC when no regulatory body is overseeing the event. In those cases where regulatory oversight is unavailable, UFC voluntarily chooses to adhere to the highest level of athlete health and safety protocols similar to if the event were being held in the state of Nevada.

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Cung Le's suspension for elevated levels of HGH rescinded by UFC

TIME Ideas Innovation Lets Fix It: Lets End Human Driving Sam Shank, chief executive officer and co-founder of HotelTonight Inc., speaks during a Bloomberg West Television interview in San Francisco, California on Jan. 2, 2014. BloombergGetty Images

Sam Shank is the CEO and Co-Founder of HotelTonight

This Influencer post originally appeared on LinkedIn. Sam Shank shares his thoughts as part of LinkedIns Influencer series, Lets Fix It in which the brightest minds in business blog on LinkedIn about how they would fix whats broken in this world. LinkedIn Editor Amy Chen provides an overview of the 60+ Influencers that tackled this subject as part of the package. Follow Sam Shank and insights from other top minds in business on LinkedIn.

Ive long been fascinated by the idea of technology replacing human drivers.

Lets be honest: people arent always great drivers. They get distracted, tired and make mistakes. Technology can simply do a better job. This is a subject Ive thought about deeply for the past 20 years. I believe it will have as much impact on the world as the switch from horse transport to automobiles.

The consensus opinion is that safe and reliable driverless cars will be available within a few years. Tesla just announced Autopilot, which will be available soon via a software update, and will allow for autonomous driving on freeways an amazing first step.

Heres what I think will happen next: the initial use of drive-anywhere autonomous cars (I call them AutoCars) will be with companies like Uber or Lyft rather than individually owned. They will rapidly gain acceptance because theyll save people time (imagine all you could do with that time currently spent behind the wheel), will lower the costs of getting from one place to another, and will be way faster while also being safer than human driving.

Soon thereafter, as adoption skyrockets, cities will designate areas that are AutoCar-only. Lanes of highways will become AutoCar-exclusive, allowing for more density of driving and far higher speeds. Roughly 10 years from now we will see the End of Human Driving a seminal moment of the first half of the 21st century. Im guessing my young sons will not need to learn how to drive but Ill probably teach them anyway, as recreational driving is fun and wont ever go away, any more than automobiles put an end to recreational horse riding.

The benefits of AutoCars are so pronounced across many areas health, saved time, mobility of kids and seniors, lower road costs, efficiency all of which Id love to explore in future posts.

But what I think may be the biggest impact will be on our physical landscape. It always strikes me as interesting that the physical landscape hasnt changed all that much in decades, despite the fact that the way we work and communicate has changed dramatically thanks to information technology. Sure, buildings have more glass and cars have more rounded edges, but if you compare two photos from 50 years ago and today, its often hard to spot much difference in the landscape (besides a few outfit choices and smartphones).

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Lets Fix It: Lets End Human Driving