2017 – Page 42 – Impact Lab

AI, Artificial Intelligence, Automation, brain hacking, brain-computer interfaces, Breakthrough Thinking, Hackers, Hacking, Robotics, Robots

When computers refuse to obey: Will this be our terrifying future?

April 30, 2017

Cory Doctorow: In the Foundation series, Isaac Asimov posited three rules to protect humans from robots. As our own technology advances exponentially every day, how can will we make technology that frees us, rather than enslaving us?

Let us begin by cleaving this problem into two pieces, only one of which I am qualified to address:

How can we make technology that works well?
How can we make technology that fails well?

I only know about #2.

Continue reading… “When computers refuse to obey: Will this be our terrifying future?”

Big Problems, Engineering, Ideas, Inventions, Nanotechnology

How long before we have self-healing smartphone screens?

April 30, 2017

“When I was young, my idol was Wolverine from the X-Men…He could save the world, but only because he could heal himself,” researcher Chao Wang recently said in a press release from the American Chemical Society (ACS). Wang began working on a self-healing material that could stitch itself back together after damage, and came up with a game-changing polymer.

The key to the the material’s crucial new powers? Chemical bonds. Check out this video.

Continue reading… “How long before we have self-healing smartphone screens?”

AI, Airbus, Aviation, Batteries, Battery, Driverless cars, Driverless vehicles, Drone, drones, Electric Automobile, Electric Vehicles, Elon Musk

Introducing the Tesla self-flying electric car

April 29, 2017

Being a kid, flying cars were the norm, not the exception and you always assumed that your parents will definitely get such a thing the next time they’re shopping for a family car. Although different companies told us, that it’s just around the corner, it never materialized and Back To The Future never happened.

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Alzheimer's Disease, Business, Economy, Employment, Health & Fitness, Hot Issues

Only 3% of seniors wait until 70 to collect social security even thought it’d mean a 76% larger payment

April 29, 2017

Social Security is a program that forms the financial foundation for a majority of our nation’s retired workers, and that’s not expected to change anytime soon. We’re really dependent on Social Security income, and that could be a problem

Data from the Social Security Administration (SSA) shows that 61% of all current retired workers receiving benefits count on Social Security to provide at least half of their monthly income.

Continue reading… “Only 3% of seniors wait until 70 to collect social security even thought it’d mean a 76% larger payment”

Breakthrough Thinking, Hacking, Health & Fitness, Healthcare, Hot Issues, Medical Breakthrough, Medicine

Human head transplant less than a year away

April 28, 2017

By this time next year, if all goes according to plan, the world’s first human head transplant will have taken place, Italian surgeon Sergio Canavero has revealed.

In early 2015, Canavero made headlines around the world when he announced that he would perform the ground-breaking surgery within two years. Now, he has revealed in an interview with German magazine OOOM that it’s going to take place within 10 months, in China.

Continue reading… “Human head transplant less than a year away”

Drone, drones, Hackers, Hacking, Hot Issues, Human Behavior, Law Enforcement, Legal Issues, privacy, Video, women

Backyard skinny-dippers losing privacy to peeping drone stalkers

April 28, 2017

Recent advances in technology mean we can no longer rely on fences or barriers around our homes to protect our privacy. This was certainly the case for Darwin resident Karli Hyatt, who on Tuesday explained how a drone invaded the security and privacy of her suburban backyard.

Hyatt had returned home last week from an evening gym session, undressed and jumped into her secluded backyard pool. She thought she was “skinny-dipping” in private. Within minutes, though, a small camera-mounted quadcopter drone was hovering close overhead. Hyatt is certain it was watching her, although there was no operator to be seen.

She describes the experience as initially shocking and has ongoing concerns about who might have been flying the drone and why. The result is an erosion of trust and cohesion in her neighborhood and a feeling of insecurity in her own home.

Continue reading… “Backyard skinny-dippers losing privacy to peeping drone stalkers”

Artificial Intelligence, brain hacking, brain-computer interfaces, Breakthrough Thinking, Business, Crime

Our fear of artificial intelligence – Is it for all the wrong reasons?

April 27, 2017

People in Britain are more scared of the artificial intelligence embedded in household devices and self-driving cars than in systems used for predictive policing or diagnosing diseases. That’s according to a survey commissioned by the Royal Society, which is billed as the first in-depth look at how the public perceives the risks and benefits associated with machine learning, a key AI technique.

Continue reading… “Our fear of artificial intelligence – Is it for all the wrong reasons?”

Corporate Manipulation, Economy, Hot Issues, Legal Issues, Science & Technology News

Have we reached peak beer?

April 26, 2017

When craft brewers get together, we agree that this is the greatest time in history to be a beer drinker in America. In 1981, there were only 82 breweries in the United States, and our beer, fizzy and flavorless, was the laughingstock of the beer world. Today, America is home to over 5,300 small, innovative craft breweries making unique, flavorful, creative brews.

But we also agree that the horizon isn’t so bright. After years of 15 percent growth, the craft sector is down to the single digits. Part of that is to be expected in a maturing part of any market — but it’s also a result of a pushback by a handful of gargantuan global brewers, aided by slack government antitrust oversight. I worry that yet another major shift in the beer landscape is upon us — and this time, American consumers will be the losers.

Continue reading… “Have we reached peak beer?”

Biotech, Science & Technology News

Researchers Develop a Technology That Digitally Creates Odors From Ambient Molecules in the Air

April 24, 2017

Perfumery is an intricate science that takes a lot of effort to get right. Many people don’t realize the amount of work that goes into perfecting that fragrance that we so willingly splash on in the morning. With the advancement in technology over the past two decades, chemists have been able to develop techniques that create an even larger array of scents and fragrances that people have never smelled before. For the first time ever, people can actually get personalized, unique scents to wear. How much that would actually cost, is a different matter.

Continue reading… “Researchers Develop a Technology That Digitally Creates Odors From Ambient Molecules in the Air”

Home Technology, Hot Issues, Internet of Things, Legal Issues, Science & Technology News

The maker of an internet-connected garage door disabled a customer’s device over a bad review

April 20, 2017

There’s a new, dystopian risk to using internet-connected gadgets: If you complain, the company that made it might remotely kill your product.

This is what happened to one customer who bought Garadget — an internet-connected garage door opener. It lets you remotely lock or unlock your garage with an app, or see if it’s open.

Continue reading… “The maker of an internet-connected garage door disabled a customer’s device over a bad review”

Biotech, Future, new technology, Science & Technology News

A real-life company is implanting microchips in employees

April 20, 2017

After a semi-painless injection between the thumb and index finger, a microchip is implanted in another employee. A cyborg is now created, and this human/machine mashup runs off to buy a smoothie using his or her new sub-dermal implant.

If that sounds futuristic, it’s because we’re conditioned to this as a sort of science fiction trope: human gets implanted, its overlords are now in control. For a Swedish company, however, the practice of implanting microchips into its employees has become routine, popular even.

Continue reading… “A real-life company is implanting microchips in employees”

Analysis, brain hacking, Latest Trend, Science & Technology News

America’s unhealthy obsession with productivity is driving its biggest new reading trend

April 20, 2017

“I probably started reading ultra hardcore about seven or eight years ago,” says Tom Bilyeu, an entrepreneur based in Los Angeles. “Ultra hardcore” means that Bilyeu reads everywhere: While he brushes his teeth, while he gets dressed, in the 30 seconds it takes to cross rooms in his house, he’s reading.

“My big secret is,” says Bilyeu, “I read in all those little transitional moments.” Plus, for the last eight years, he’s optimized his intellectual consumption by listening to audiobooks at three times the normal speed.

Audiobooks are the latest trend in book publishing. They’re part of the podcast boom, and they’re helping US publishers keep losses down as ebook sales from big-name companies continue to slump. What’s been around since the 1980s has a sleek new face, and today who’s listening, where, and why, offers a glimpse into a new reading trend sweeping the US.

Continue reading… “America’s unhealthy obsession with productivity is driving its biggest new reading trend”