Robots, not humans, will run the show.
Artificial intelligences are about to get a place to call their own — and it’s located somewhere humans are unlikely to want to visit.
According to a story published Monday in the South China Morning Post, scientists from the Chinese Academy of Sciences plan to construct a research base deep in the South China Sea, and they want artificially intelligent robots to run it.
This base could be the “first artificial intelligence colony on Earth,” those involved in the project told the SCMP.
Continue reading… “China plans to build a deep sea base run entirely by AI”
An Internet Court in Hangzhou, Eastern China, has turned to blockchain to fight piracy at the expense of online writers, English-language media outlet China.org.cn reports Dec. 8.
China has reportedly “set up three Internet courts in Hangzhou, Beijing and Guangzhou.” Internet Courts are courts expressly intended to manage internet-related cases and allow plaintiffs to file their complaints online.
The official website of Hangzhou Internet Court reads that it “behave[s] as an ‘incubator’ for Internet space governance, a ‘test field’ for Internet judicial rules, a ‘leader’ for diversified Internet disputes, and a ‘first mover’ for the transformation of Internet trials.”
Meals being air freighted, plus armies of delivery robots.
As part of its multi billion-dollar plan to build a nationwide network of automated logistics, China’s JD.com is testing its tri-copter drones in testing zone in Shaanxi.
Chinese companies are going all-out on unmanned systems for delivery logistics. A fleet of new autonomous cargo drones, robotic trucks, and fast quadcopters are private-sector developments that are making China a future world leader in robotics.
Continue reading… “Meet China’s growing fleet of automated delivery drones”
A daring effort is under way to create the first children whose DNA has been tailored using gene editing.
When Chinese researchers first edited the genes of a human embryo in a lab dish in 2015, it sparked global outcry and pleas from scientists not to make a baby using the technology, at least for the present.
It was the invention of a powerful gene-editing tool, CRISPR, which is cheap and easy to deploy, that made the birth of humans genetically modified in an in vitro fertilization (IVF) center a theoretical possibility.
Now, it appears it may already be happening.
Continue reading… “Inside the Controversy: Chinese scientists creating CRISPR babies”
This massive power plant is taking energy to a whole new level.
The world’s largest floating solar power plant is now online in China. Built by Sungrow, a supplier of PV inverter systems, the 40MW plant is now afloat in water four to 10 meters deep, and successfully linked to Huainan, China’s grid. The placement was chosen in large part because the area was previously the location of coal mining operations; and, as a result, the water there is now mineralized and mostly useless. The lake itself was only formed after years of mining operations, the surrounding land collapsed and created a cavity that was filled with rainwater.
Continue reading… “The world’s largest floating solar plant is finally online”
It illustrates one of the many issues with China’s surveillance culture.
There are many criticisms you can level at China’s growing reliance on facial recognition, including its absolute faith in technology: what happens if there’s a false positive? Unfortunately, we just saw an example of that in action. Police in the city of Ningbo have taken corrective action after the facial recognition system at a crosswalk mistakenly accused famous businesswoman Dong Mingzhu of jaywalking because she appeared in an ad on a passing bus. As with any other detected offender in the area, it posted both Dong’s name (incorrectly displaying her surname as “Ju”) and government ID.
Continue reading… “Chinese facial recognition system confuses bus ad with a jaywalker”
Singapore may be turning its island state into a surveillance state.
The nation plans to install cameras equipped with facial recognition technology to all 110,000 lamp posts around the city, making it easier than ever for the country to keep tabs on its citizens and visitors, Reuters reports. The so-called “Lamppost-as-a-Platform” pilot project will allow the government to “perform crowd analytics” and support anti-terror operations through “various kinds of sensors on the lampposts, including cameras that can support backend facial recognition capabilities,” according to a government spokesperson who spoke to Reuters.
Continue reading… “Singapore wants to add face-recognition surveillance to 110,000 lamp posts”
CHINESE ‘GAIT RECOGNITION’ TECH IDS PEOPLE BY HOW THEY WALK
In this Oct. 31, 2018, photo, Huang Yongzhen, CEO of Watrix, demonstrates the use of his firm’s gait recognition software at his company’s offices in Beijing. A Chinese technology startup hopes to begin selling software that recognizes people by their body shape and how they walk, enabling identification when faces are hidden from cameras. Already used by police on the streets of Beijing and Shanghai, “gait recognition” is part of a major push to develop artificial-intelligence and data-driven surveillance across China, raising concern about how far the technology will go. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)
Continue reading… “Chinese ‘Gait Recognition’ tech ID’s people by how they walk”
Alibaba founder Jack Ma. Marcos Brindicci/Reuters
SHANGHAI, China — Alibaba just made e-commerce history.
With the company’s massive Singles Day celebration on 11/11 — November 11 — coming to a close, Alibaba reports that customers spent $30.8 billion online over the last 24 hours. That is a significant increase from the $25.3 billion in gross merchandise volume (GMV) Alibaba shoppers spent in 2017.
Risk is potential for flood of sales during any property slump. Xi has said homes are for living in, not for speculation.
Chinese President Xi Jinping’s mantra that homes should be for living in is falling on deaf ears, with tens of millions of apartments and houses standing empty across the country.
Soon-to-be-published research will show roughly 22 percent of China’s urban housing stock is unoccupied, according to Professor Gan Li, who runs the main nationwide study. That adds up to more than 50 million empty homes, he said.
The nightmare scenario for policy makers is that owners of unoccupied dwellings rush to sell if cracks start appearing in the property market, causing prices to spiral. The latest data, from a survey in 2017, also suggests Beijing’s efforts to curb property speculation — considered by leaders a key threat to financial and social stability — are coming up short.
Continue reading… “A fifth of China’s homes are empty. That’s 50 million apartments”
The League of Legends World Championship Finals in Incheon, South Korea, on Nov. 3.
Two squads battled it out at a 50,000-seat stadium in the South Korean city of Incheon. Photography by Jean Chung
This weekend, legends were created in South Korea, the birthplace of esports.
Watched by tens of millions of people each year, the world championship finals of League of Legends this year featured two squads battling it out at a 50,000-seat stadium in the South Korean city of Incheon.
Continue reading… “Inside the ‘World Cup of E-sports’”
By delving into the futuring techniques of Futurist Thomas Frey, you’ll embark on an enlightening journey.
Learn More about this exciting program.