Drones can be used for some very nefarious activities. For this reason, armies and law enforcement need some effective means of countering them.
Drones are, frankly, awesome. But there are some bad actors who could use them for nefarious activities.
For these reasons, many companies around the world, including engineering-giants like Boeing and Lockheed Martin, are producing anti-drone weapons to counter the potential threats drones can offer.
The year’s most important developments in the world of aerospace. Lockheed Martin
The most awesome aerospace innovations of this past year aren’t just cool contraptions designed to cruise through air and space at breakneck speeds. They’re hints at what might be mainstream in the future. From an experimental craft that could help usher in a new period of quiet supersonic flight to a drone destined to fly on Mars, these machines are made to push the edges of our engineering envelopes. These mind-bending vehicles are bringing wings, rotors, engines, and humanity to new heights.
The rule came into effect on December 1st, to “protect” Chinese citizens’ rights and security in cyberspace.
Now people buying new mobile phones and phone contracts in China will have to provide a scan of their faces.
The rule came into effect on Sunday, 1 December and is meant to “protect the legitimate rights and interest of citizens in cyberspace,” according to China’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology.
The faces of customers buying new SIM cards must now match their I.D. documents.
It might seem like a step in the right direction along with technological advancement, however, a few privacy concerns have arisen.
Losing your job to a human stings more than getting replaced by a robot, research found.
The question has a surprising psychological factor for workers now and in the future.
Losing a job can be stressful and demoralizing. Seeing your role replaced by automation is an additional stressor that more workers will have to contend with and worry about in the future.
Robots are already replacing people in some jobs. Apps take orders in chain restaurants, and some supermarkets use self-checkout machines to replace checkers. This is the new reality. The Brookings Institution predicts that 36 million Americans face a “high exposure to automation” in the coming decades, meaning they will have more than 70% of their role at risk of being substituted by artificial intelligence.
In February, FedEx debuted its SameDay Bots, which are parcel delivery robots that use a combination of artificial intelligence and motion sensors to navigate city streets and sidewalks.
Last week, social media users began reporting sightings of the bots in New York City. But based on a tweet from Mayor Bill de Blasio, FedEx never bothered to get permission to test the robots in the Big Apple — and it could be the bots’ undoing.
The ITT works continuously day and night without any interruption or supervision
The Intelligent Tow Tank conducts experiments and changes experimental values to seek out new and useful results, conducting 100,000 experiments a year
Scientists are always warning us that our jobs are under threat from artificial intelligence. Self-driving technology will replace van drivers . Humanoid robots could replace builders, shelf stackers, even waitresses .
Even sex workers are under threat from automation.
But the latest, and perhaps most surprising, job that’s under threat from AI is…scientists.
Fancy a robot as a spouse? Artificial intelligence, that marvel of software, is expected to revolutionize affairs of the human heart. But would algorithmic love still be love?
Marriages are made in heaven, we were once told. But heaven might be displaced by technology within a few decades. Credit for this disruption would go to artificial intelligence (AI), according to those who have gazed into crystal balls (of silicon, naturally), and spied weddings between humans and robots in the not-so-distant future. Among them is Maciej Musiał, a philosopher from Poland’s Adam Mickiewicz University, who has been studying bonds that we develop with machines. Virtual reality, in his view, is no longer an oxymoron, and he presents the chit-chat we do with online assistants, such as Siri and Alexa, as evidence of not just a great blurring, but also of our capacity for emotional ties with e-individuals. Of course, Spike Jonze’s 2013 film, Her, has already been there and done that—its hero falls for an AI “her”. What’s new are corporeal versions, or “sexbots”, that promise physical intimacy as well. Many believe we’re only a few upgrades away from the whole spousal package—pillow talk, toilet-seat tiffs, and all. Designer babies, engineered with DNA samples, are already being talked about. Will humanoid infants be next? What’s going on? Is human evolution about to get warped by this brave new world?
Managers can’t compete with artificial intelligence (AI) when it comes to some areas of decision-making and trust building, according to a broad new global study of workers. But rather than be viewed as an indictment of managers, the study findings can help organizations create a more human workplace, some experts say.
The study by Oracle and Future Workplace, an HR advisory and research firm in New York City, found that the growing use of AI is having a significant impact on the way employees interact with their managers. Among the study’s key findings is that 64 percent of respondents would trust a robot more than their direct manager, and 82 percent believed AI or bots could perform certain tasks better than their managers. The study surveyed 8,370 HR leaders, managers and employees across 10 countries.
A mockup of U.S. SOCOM’s TALOS suit — a bold project, but one that ultimately brought less tech than initially hoped. (DoD)
Ear, eye, brain and muscular enhancement is “technically feasible by 2050 or earlier,” according to a study released this month by the U.S. Army’s Combat Capabilities Development Command.
The demand for cyborg-style capabilities will be driven in part by the civilian healthcare market, which will acclimate people to an industry fraught with ethical, legal and social challenges, according to Defense Department researchers.
Implementing the technology across the military, however, will likely run up against the dystopian narratives found in science fiction, among other issues, the researchers added.
The report — entitled “Cyborg Soldier 2050: Human/Machine Fusion and the Implications for the Future of the DOD” — is the result of a year-long assessment.
The VR headsets will hopefully relax the cows, offering them sun-filled summer views of green pastures.
If you walked onto the RusMoloko dairy farm near Moscow, in Russia, you may think you’ve arrived onto a bizarre futuristic film set, where cows run around fitted with VR headsets.
The VR goggles aren’t props for a film, however. They have been specifically made for these dairy cows, so as to improve their conditions and enable them to relax into producing more milk.
Many different industries around the world are turning more and more toward computerization to improve working conditions, so why not the farming industry too?
Better coding, not just laws and regulations, is the solution for tech’s failure to address the needs of actual humans
Calls for stronger government regulation of large technology companies have become increasingly urgent and ubiquitous. But many of the technology failures we hear about every day—including fake news; privacy violations; discrimination; and filter bubbles that amplify online isolation and confrontation—have algorithmic failures at their core.
For problems that are primarily algorithmic in nature, human oversight of outcomes is insufficient. We cannot expect, for example, armies of regulators to check for discriminatory online advertising in real time. Fortunately, there are algorithmic improvements that companies can and should adopt now, without waiting for regulation to catch up.
Given their frequent media portrayal as mysterious black boxes, we might be worried that rogue algorithms have escaped the abilities of their creators to understand and rein in their behaviors. The reality is thankfully not so dire. In recent years hundreds of scientists in machine learning, artificial intelligence and related fields have been working hard at what we call socially aware algorithm design. Many of the most prominent and damaging algorithmic failures are well understood (at least in hindsight), and, furthermore, have algorithmic solutions.
