Mountain Vision

Petman and AlphaDog Robots: Man and Dog of the Future

2012-01-29T18:30:00.001-06:00

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Strange Days Indeed An anthropomorphic robot (Petman) and a legged squad support system (AlphaDog) by Boston Dynamics generate worst-case science fiction scenarios. First for military deployment, then law enforcement, then all sorts of mayhem is possible as artificial intelligence increases with this duo. A combination of the Terminator and the War of the Worlds coming to our lives as we become progressively less relevant. AlphaDog is the descendant of BigDog, which was reviewed in a previous post, LittleDog & BigDog Robots, USC & DARPA show latest versions & abilities.

PETMAN PETMAN is an anthropomorphic robot developed by Boston Dynamics for testing special clothing used by US military personnel. PETMAN balances itself as it walks, squats and does calisthenics. PETMAN simulates human physiology by controlling temperature, humidity and sweating inside the clothing to provide realistic test conditions. PETMAN development is lead by Boston Dynamics, working in partnership with Measurement Technologies Northwest, Oak Ridge National Lab and MRIGlobal. The work is being done for the DoD CBDP. For more information about PETMAN visit us at www.BostonDynamics.com.

Meet the Future: Petman

AlphaDog Proto The AlphaDog Proto is a lab prototype for the Legged Squad Support System, a robot being developed by Boston Dynamics with funding from DARPA and the US Marine Corps. When fully developed the system will carry 400 lbs of payload on 20-mile missions in rough terrain. The first version of the complete robot will be ready in 2012. This video shows early results from the lab where we are developing the control systems and locomotion platform. This lab prototype is powered remotely. AlphaDog will draw power from an internal combustion engine, which we designed to be 10x quieter than BigDog. The field version of AlphaDog will have a sensor head packed with terrain sensors. Boston Dynamics leads a development team that includes AAI Corp, Bell Helicopter, CMU/NREC, FEV, JPL and Woodward HRT. For more information visit us at www.BostonDynamics.com.

Meet the Future: AlphaDog

Worst-Case Scenario: Petman of the Future in a Bad Mood

Worst-Case Scenario: AlphaDog of the Future in a Bad Mood

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Big Brother and the National Defense Authorization Act: Americans Lose More Freedoms and Rights

2012-01-20T00:53:00.000-06:00

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Americans Lose More Freedoms and Rights: Big Brother and the National Defense Authorization ActWhen Alex Jones agrees with Steven Colbert, Occupy Wall Street, and the ACLU, something is going down. What went down was on December 31, 2011 when President Obama signed the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA). The NDAA is approved annually to appropriate funding for the Department of Defense, along with other provisions. Among the provisions is an expansion of powers of the President against enemies of the United States, including indefinite detention by the Armed Forces.

The question is whether American citizens, even within the boundaries of the United States, can be arrested by the Armed Forces, by order of the President, and indefinitely detained without trial. Many think so. The ACLU states, "The statute contains a sweeping worldwide indefinite detention provision". Anthony D. Romero, ACLU executive director, said, "President Obama's action today is a blight on his legacy because he will forever be known as the president who signed indefinite detention without charge or trial into law. We are incredibly disappointed that President Obama signed this new law even though his administration had already claimed overly broad detention authority in court".

Specifically, the President has authority to detain, via the Armed Forces, any person "who was part of or substantially supported al-Qaeda, the Taliban, or associated forces that are engaged in hostilities against the United States or its coalition partners," and anyone who commits a "belligerent act" against the U.S. or its coalition allies, under the law of war, "without trial, until the end of the hostilities authorized by the [AUMF or Authorization for Use of Military Force Against Terrorists]." The text also authorizes trial by military tribunal, or "transfer to the custody or control of the person's country of origin," or transfer to "any other foreign country, or any other foreign entity." An amendment to the Act that would have explicitly forbidden the indefinite detention without trial of American citizens was rejected by the Senate.

The Word - Catch 2012 (Steven Colbert) The National Defense Authorization Act strikes at the heart of the most notorious safe haven for terrorists: the U.S. Constitution.

Obama Signs Martial Law Bill: NDAA Now Law (Alex Jones) President Obama who pledged to veto the National Defense Authorization Act has signed it. Of course his promise was only for public consumption. After all lying to your enemy is what invading corporate takeover army's do. It was the Obama administration all along that demanded the indefinite detention provisions be added while at the same time telling the America people he was fighting to protect their rights. This is treason on parade, in your face all out despotism!

Grand Central Terminal Arrests (OccupyTVNY) Two protesters mic check about the loss of freedom brought about by the passage of the NDAA and both are promptly arrested and whisked out of public sight.

National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2012 (Wikipedia)
Bill Text, 112th Congress (2011-2012), H.R.1540.ENR (The Library of Congress)
President Obama Signs Indefinite Detention Bill Into Law (ACLU)
Indefinite Detention, Endless Worldwide War and the 2012 National Defense Authorization Act (ACLU)

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2012-01-08T12:12:00.002-06:00

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2011-12-20T22:03:00.004-06:00

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Mountain Vision Has Moved! (Link) Visit new website!

2011-12-09T13:02:00.001-06:00

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Mountain Vision has moved to www.Transcend.ws

Mountain Vision Has Moved to a New Website! Mountain Vision has moved to a new website www.Transcend.ws. All new posts will be published there and the prior posts on this blog have been re-posted there. We hope to have new posts very soon!

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Are Humans Advanced Simulations? (Video) Is the Universe a virtual reality?

2011-10-29T16:51:00.000-05:00

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If the Universe is a simulation, are humans artificially intelligent beings?

Objective Reality Vs. Virtual Reality The exponential increase in computing power has created more and more realistic games and virtual realities. This technological advancement in the level of realism will blur the lines between objective reality and virtual reality, between real experiences and virtual experiences. What if we are there already? That is, what if the Universe is a virtual reality, a simulation, and objective reality is outside of the Universe?

Who or What Is The Creator? Is God a cosmic computer coder and we humans nothing more than a simulation? Is God real and are humans virtual? Rich Terrell, NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, believes this is so: "What are the requirements for God? He's an inter-dimensional being, connected with everything in the Universe, a creator, responsible for everything in the Universe, and in some way can change the law of physics, if he wanted to." This is the same as programmers creating simulations.

Computer Generated Simulations Rich Terrell goes through his argument using Moore's Law and the Turing Test. Terrell wondered, how much computing power would a simulation of the Earth require? Humans are doubling the computing power every 13 months per Terrell and computers already match the human brain in computational speed. At this rate, in 10 years, Terrell believes computers will be able to create a "photo real simulation of all that we see around us" - the Earth. But can a computer populate such a simulation with thinking beings, artificially intelligent simulated beings, like humans? Terrell thinks so and that humans are on the verge of creating worlds inside computers populated by sentient beings.

The Universe As A Simulation Rich Terrell, following that humans will eventually create a virtual reality populated with artificially intelligent (sentient) beings, goes to the next step: that the Universe is a simulation and that humans are artificially intelligent (sentient) beings. God is a programmer and Terrell has found evidence of the simulation in nature. Zoom in and every simulation breaks down into pixels. In our Universe, quantum mechanics is the study of pixels. "Look at the way the Universe behaves, it's quantized, it's made of pixels. Space is quantitized, matter is quantitized, energy is quantitized, everything is made of individual pixels. Which means the Universe has a finite number of components. Which means a finite number of states. Which means it's computer." That infers the Universe could be created by lines of code in a computer.

Is The Universe Being Computed? Is there evidence of computer processing of our "objective reality"? One clue is an experiment in the physics laboratory at the California Institute of Technology. A 1928 experiment (the Thomson experiment plus the Davisson-Germer experiment) provide evidence. Using an electron beam transmitted through a piece of graphite with a screen behind is set up. The background screen records how the electrons ricochet off the graphite. At this subatomic level, the pattern is not random, as might be expected, but is a diffraction pattern. Terrell notes, "The experiment shows something really rather extraordinary, that matter, even though it behaves when you are looking at it, measuring it, as individual particles, when you are not looking at it, matter is diffuse. It spreads out, it doesn't have a finite form in the Universe." When observed they are "dots", when we look away, they lose their physical form. Is this behavior of matter similar, or parallel, to the behavior in a simulation? Terrell says yes. As in a simulation, "The Universe gives you what you are looking at when you look at it." Further, "When you are not looking at it, it's not necessarily there". This results in a Universe that is pixelated and only assumes definite form when observed. This is how computer simulations operate.

What Are The Odds The Universe Is A Simulation? What is the probability the Universe is a simulation, that we live in a simulation, and therefore there is a God? Terrell says, "The question is, how likely is something like that to happen? And how likely is it that this has already happened in our Universe? The Universe is 13.7 billion years old and we are 50 years from being able to manufacture God. What is the probability that I would be so close to that threshold and not be able to cross to the other side? It's one chance in 300 million that I would be that close. It is an extraordinary coincidence and perhaps, more likely than not, maybe we are a simulation on the other side of that threshold and the deities that exist are our future selves."

Ramifications "Our world bears all the hallmarks of one that is simulated. Who would be more likely to simulate humans than humans from the future, our descendants? They would be god-like beings able to create their own universes." Terrell actually finds a spirituality in this scenario. "I take great solace in this. It shows that along the line we have evolved from nothing into self-awareness and that self-awareness has reached the stage now where our future selves have become gods. To me that's a very, very spiritual thing and that's where my spirituality comes from in seeing things like that. To me, that's a religion." Garrett Lisi, a theoretical physicist, disagrees, "We see this constantly in physics, we start out with something that looks complex and as we look at its parts, the parts are simpler. Now if you imagine some sort of creator, that assumes there is something more complicated than the thing that got created. So to me, that's a step backwards in explaining a philosophically satisfying model." Will we, as finite beings, ever understand God?

You Are Simply A Very Advanced Simulation Morgan Freeman takes us Through The Wormhole

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Is the Universe a Simulation? (Video) *Do we live in a virtual reality?*

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Robots Replacing Americans In Workforce (Video) Workers losing race against machines

2011-10-24T11:29:00.000-05:00

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How many American workers are being replaced by robots, by automation?

Technological Unemployment Although there is disagreement as to the true impact of automation in the workforce, American workers are losing jobs to automation and robots. This is in addition to American workers losing jobs to countries with cheaper labor, especially in Asia. USA productivity has steadily been growing and is reflected in the increase in overall corporate profits. Yet there are fewer jobs and the unemployment and underemployment rates remain high in the lackluster recovery from the Great Recession. Further, corporate payrolls are mostly flat while spending on technology is up +26% since the recession ended in June 2009. Erik Brynjolfsson, an Economist and Director of the M.I.T. Center for Digital Business, and Andrew P. McAfee, Associate Director and Principal Research Scientist at the Center, say, "“Many workers, in short, are losing the race against the machine." It is not just robots and automation taking over mechanical tasks, knowledge-based jobs are the next level and will be taken over by software. At this higher level, no robot is necessary, just software inside a computer.

More Jobs Predicted for Machines, Not People Are jobs in danger of being phased out due to advances in technology? Insight with Jeff Burnstein, Robotic Industries Association and Martin Ford, "The Lights in the Tunnel" author.

More Jobs Predicted for Machines, Not People (CNBC)

A faltering economy explains much of the job shortage in America, but advancing technology has sharply magnified the effect, more so than is generally understood, according to two researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.The automation of more and more work once done by humans is the central theme of “Race Against the Machine,” an e-book to be published on Monday.

“Many workers, in short, are losing the race against the machine,” the authors write.Erik Brynjolfsson, an economist and director of the M.I.T. Center for Digital Business, and Andrew P. McAfee, associate director and principal research scientist at the center, are two of the nation’s leading experts on technology and productivity. The tone of alarm in their book is a departure for the pair, whose previous research has focused mainly on the benefits of advancing technology.

Indeed, they were originally going to write a book titled, “The Digital Frontier,” about the “cornucopia of innovation that is going on,” Mr. McAfee said. Yet as the employment picture failed to brighten in the last two years, the two changed course to examine technology’s role in the jobless recovery. The authors are not the only ones recently to point to the job fallout from technology. In the current issue of the McKinsey Quarterly, W. Brian Arthur, an external professor at the Santa Fe Institute, warns that technology is quickly taking over service jobs, following the waves of automation of farm and factory work. “This last repository of jobs is shrinking — fewer of us in the future may have white-collar business process jobs — and we have a problem,” Mr. Arthur writes.

The M.I.T. authors’ claim that automation is accelerating is not shared by some economists. Prominent among them are Robert J. Gordon of Northwestern and Tyler Cowen of George Mason University, who contend that productivity improvement owing to technological innovation rose from 1995 to 2004, but has trailed off since. Mr. Cowen emphasized that point in an e-book, “The Great Stagnation,” published this year.

Technology has always displaced some work and jobs. Over the years, many experts have warned — mistakenly — that machines were gaining the upper hand. In 1930, the economist John Maynard Keynes warned of a “new disease” that he termed “technological unemployment,” the inability of the economy to create new jobs faster than jobs were lost to automation.

But Mr. Brynjolfsson and Mr. McAfee argue that the pace of automation has picked up in recent years because of a combination of technologies including robotics, numerically controlled machines, computerized inventory control, voice recognition and online commerce.Faster, cheaper computers and increasingly clever software, the authors say, are giving machines capabilities that were once thought to be distinctively human, like understanding speech, translating from one language to another and recognizing patterns. So automation is rapidly moving beyond factories to jobs in call centers, marketing and sales - parts of the services sector, which provides most jobs in the economy.

During the last recession, the authors write, one in 12 people in sales lost their jobs, for example. And the downturn prompted many businesses to look harder at substituting technology for people, if possible. Since the end of the recession in June 2009, they note, corporate spending on equipment and software has increased by 26 percent, while payrolls have been flat.

Corporations are doing fine. The companies in the Standard & Poor’s 500-stock index are expected to report record profits this year, a total $927 billion, estimates FactSet Research. And the authors point out that corporate profit as a share of the economy is at a 50-year high.Productivity growth in the last decade, at more than 2.5 percent, they observe, is higher than the 1970s, 1980s and even edges out the 1990s. Still the economy, they write, did not add to its total job count, the first time that has happened over a decade since the Depression.

The skills of machines, the authors write, will only improve. In 2004, two leading economists, Frank Levy and Richard J. Murnane, published “The New Division of Labor,”which analyzed the capabilities of computers and human workers. Truck driving was cited as an example of the kind of work computers could not handle, recognizing and reacting to moving objects in real time.But last fall, Google announced that its robot-driven cars had logged thousands of miles on American roads with only an occasional assist from human back-seat drivers. The Google cars, Mr. Brynjolfsson said, are but one sign of the times.As others have, he pointed to I.B.M.’s “Jeopardy”-playing computer, Watson, which in February beat a pair of human “Jeopardy” champions; and Apple's new personal assistant software, Siri, which responds to voice commands.

“This technology can do things now that only a few years ago were thought to be beyond the reach of computers,” Mr. Brynjolfsson said.Yet computers, the authors say, tend to be narrow and literal-minded, good at assigned tasks but at a loss when a solution requires intuition and creativity — human traits. A partnership, they assert, is the path to job creation in the future.“In medicine, law, finance, retailing, manufacturing and even scientific discovery,” they write, “the key to winning the race is not to compete against machines but to compete with machines.”This story originally appeared in The New York Times.

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Are Robots Taking American Jobs? (Video) *Robots: programmed job killers?*

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Ray Kurzweil: The Six Epochs of Technology Evolution (Video) Humanity & the evolution of information

2011-10-12T23:50:00.003-05:00

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Countdown to the Technological Singularity

Ray Kurzweil: The Six Epochs of Technology Evolution Ray Kurzweil has postulated, and views evolution as, six epochs of technology. Each epoch defines how information is stored and processed and are stages in the evolution of information. These epochs are:
● Epoch 1 Physics and Chemistry: Information in atomic structures
● Epoch 2 Biology: Information in DNA
● Epoch 3 Brains: Information in neural patterns
● Epoch 4 Technology: Information in hardware and software designs
● Epoch 5 Merger of Technology and Human Intelligence: The methods of biology (including human intelligence) are integrated into the (exponentially expanding) human technology base
● Epoch 6 The Universe Wakes Up: Patterns of matter and energy in the Universe become saturated with intelligent processes and knowledge

Ray Kurzweil We are now in late Epoch 4. Ray Kurzweil states, "This is the advanced state of Epoch 4, where humans are creating technology and putting our knowledge base in that technology. Epoch 5 is when we are going to merge with that non-biological intelligence that we are creating. To do that, we need to create intelligence that is equal to us and we need to create the nanotechnology to put it inside our bodies and brains. That's where we're headed, that will be Epoch 5. Then Epoch 6 is when we go out into the rest of the Universe." In Epoch 5 the Law of Accelerating Returns, that information technology grows exponentially, is utilized to maximum advantage and the Technological Singularity occurs.

The Near Future Ray Kurzweil predicts that computers will be able to simulate the human brain by 2020. By 2029 the human brain will have been reverse-engineered and computers will be able to simulate all of the brain's capabilities, including emotional intelligence. Machines will then be more intelligent than humans.

The Six Epochs from The Singularity is Near The Singularity is real. By virtue of second law of thermodynamics it is inevitable. In the absence of Truth it creates fear. In thermodynamics it emerged as heat death of the universe. In General Relativity it emerged as the point to which all the matter collapses in time to take new birth [Big bang]. In modern world it is the black hole into which all the information collapses. From the point of biology and evolutionist it becomes the point where machines grow to beat the potentiality of Human mind and makes him slave. All this potentially fearful evolution emerges, from our basic vision and assumption that universe is material. These fears vanish and hope emerges the moment you switch your fundamental assumption that universe is material and think it as living conscious and intelligent being. Then all the conceptual thinking of singularity becomes valid as Living Science, centered on one Super Soul and Mind that Creates and controls everything. Our present Evolution of the universe becomes a journey of the Creator in time to awaken human consciousness and intelligence to meet the Mind of God or the Creator, such that we humans beat death and gain life. We are approaching the gate of singularity and Truth is the Key to open the door to Golden Age or Kingdom of God. We are in the edge of death and destruction, the more we delay comprehending the Truth greater will be the destruction. Universe needs to be understood as Consciousness and intelligence [Information] unfolding and enfolding eternally sustaining the universe in time.

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A Video 13 Billion Years in the Making! (Videos) Realistic simulation of the formation of the Milky Way

2011-09-25T13:12:00.001-05:00

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Milky Way Galaxy (within 50,000 light years)

Milky Way Formation Simulation How do galaxies form and develop? Astrophysicists at the University of Zurich and astronomers from the University of California at Santa Cruz have developed a realistic computer simulation of the formation of the Milky Way Galaxy, a spiral galaxy. This is a world's first and illustrates how gravity began forming galaxies about a million years after the Big Bang. About 10 billion years ago, the disk of the Milky Way began forming. The Milky Way continued growing by accreting gas and dwarf galaxies until the current status was reached, including the Sun and our home Earth. Next different types of galaxies are planned for simulation, such a an elliptical galaxy. Then a galaxy group of about 10+ galaxies could be simulated. Ultimately, a simulation of the entire Universe is theoretically possible but not practical as currently there is insufficient computing power available.

Cold Dark Matter The simulation calculation was obviously a very complex, multi-year effort, including even the effects of dark matter. The ultimate achievement was the simulation validates the standard cosmological theory, which assumes the main component of matter in the Universe is cold dark matter, which is still an unknown component. Although this cold dark matter does not interact with warmer visible matter, it is the source of most gravity in and compromises almost 90% of the mass of the Universe.

ERIS: World's First Realistic Simulation of the Formation of the Milky Way For almost 20 years astrophysicists have been trying to recreate the formation of spiral galaxies such as our Milky Way realistically. Now astrophysicists from the University of Zurich present the world's first realistic simulation of the formation of our home galaxy together with astronomers from the University of California at Santa Cruz. The new results were partly calculated on the computer of the Swiss National Supercomputing Center (CSCS) and show, for instance, that there has to be stars on the outer edge of the Milky Way.

Interview with Lucio Mayer on World's First Realistic Simulation of the Formation of Milky Way First glimpse into birth of the Milky Way - For almost 20 years astrophysicists have been trying to recreate the formation of spiral galaxies such as our Milky Way realistically. Now astrophysicists from the University of Zurich present the world's first realistic simulation of the formation of our home galaxy together with astronomers from the University of California at Santa Cruz. The new results were partly calculated on the computer of the Swiss National Supercomputing Center (CSCS) and show, for instance, that there has to be stars on the outer edge of the Milky Way.

For additional information about the Universe, see Atlas of the Universe.

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Living in a Post-Human World (Video) Michio Kaku: "We will become the gods that we once feared"

2011-09-19T23:14:00.001-05:00

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Will transbiological humans be like the gods of mythology?

The Future of Humanity Michio Kaku asserts that humans have not changed, but are the same as the cavemen of 100,000 year ago. The basic personality is the same. The difference is the technology modern humans have developed. The post-human world will be similar socially and culturally. Further, through technology, "we will become the gods we once feared", having their abilities and powers. The capabilities of Zeus, Athena, and Apollo will become reality in a post-human world. Even new animals will be created, such as Pegasus, and extinct animals will be resurrected, such as dinosaurs. While our ancestors would be in awe of our current technology, our descendants would be seen by us as gods.

Living in a Post-Human World Big Think reader Liam Stein asks Dr. Michio Kaku the question "How will the world look post-singularity? Can you walk us through a day in the life of a transhuman?" Michio Kaku: At some point in the future we will have robots as smart as us. Why not enhance ourselves?Fundamentally we are the same cavemen and cavewomen of 100,000 years ago that emerged from Africa, except we have all the gizmos and gadgets of today, but our basic personality hasn’t changed so much. People will still want to look acceptable to their peers, acceptable to members of the opposite sex and so living in a post human world is not going to be that much different than living in the human world except we’ll have perfect bodies, except we’ll be ageless. We will become the gods that we once feared. We will like Zeus mentally control objects around us. Like Venus we will have perfect bodies and ageless bodies. Like Apollo we will have carriages that make us fly effortlessly in the sky with no energy from the outside and like Pegasus we’ll have animals that have never walked the surface of the earth or ceased walking the surface of the earth tens of thousands of years ago. In other words, if we today were to meet our grandparents of 1900 they would view us with our rockets and GPS systems and iPads. They would view us as sorcerers, wizards. How would we today view someone from 2100? We would view them as the gods of mythology.

About Michio Kaku Dr. Michio Kaku is a theoretical physicist, best-selling author, and popularizer of science. He’s the co-founder of string field theory (a branch of string theory), and continues Einstein’s search to unite the four fundamental forces of nature into one unified theory. He has appeared on television (Discovery, BBC, ABC, Science Channel, and CNN to name a few), written for popular science publications like Discover, Wired, and New Scientist, been featured in documentaries like Me & Isaac Newton, and hosted many of his own including BBC’s recent series on Time. He received a B.S. (summa cum laude) from Harvard University in 1968 where he came first in his physics class. He went on to the Berkeley Radiation Laboratory at the University of California, Berkeley and received a Ph.D. in 1972. In 1973, he held a lectureship at Princeton University. Michio continues Einstein’s search for a “Theory of Everything,” seeking to unify the four fundamental forces of the universe—the strong force, the weak force, gravity and electromagnetism. He is the author of several scholarly, Ph.D. level textbooks and has had more than 70 articles published in physics journals, covering topics such as superstring theory, supergravity, supersymmetry, and hadronic physics. He holds the Henry Semat Chair and Professorship in theoretical physics at the City College of New York, where he has taught for over 25 years. He has also been a visiting professor at the Institute for Advanced Study at Princeton, as well as New York University (NYU).

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IBM Unveils Cognitive Computing Chips (Videos) Significant step in computer evolution from calculators to learning systems

2011-08-22T00:28:00.000-05:00

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Cognitive Computing: the breakthrough for artificial intelligence?

Cognitive Computing Chips IBM has announced, "IBM researchers unveiled a new generation of experimental computer chips designed to emulate the brain’s abilities for perception, action and cognition. The technology could yield many orders of magnitude less power consumption and space than used in today’s computers. In a sharp departure from traditional concepts in designing and building computers, IBM’s first neurosynaptic computing chips recreate the phenomena between spiking neurons and synapses in biological systems, such as the brain, through advanced algorithms and silicon circuitry. Its first two prototype chips have already been fabricated and are currently undergoing testing. Called cognitive computers, systems built with these chips won’t be programmed the same way traditional computers are today. Rather, cognitive computers are expected to learn through experiences, find correlations, create hypotheses, and remember – and learn from – the outcomes, mimicking the brains structural and synaptic plasticity." The press release is lower in this post. Previously, Intel had announced a major breakthrough in microprocessors, Intel Announces Major Breakthrough in Microprocessors (Video) *Tri-Gate: world's first mass-produced 3-D transistors*.

Moving Beyond the von Neumann Paradigm IBM’s long-term goal is to build a chip system with ten billion neurons and hundred trillion synapses, while consuming merely one kilowatt of power and occupying less than two liters of volume. These are the parameters of the human brain. “This is a major initiative to move beyond the von Neumann paradigm that has been ruling computer architecture for more than half a century,” said Dharmendra Modha, project leader for IBM Research. “Future applications of computing will increasingly demand functionality that is not efficiently delivered by the traditional architecture. These chips are another significant step in the evolution of computers from calculators to learning systems, signaling the beginning of a new generation of computers and their applications in business, science and government.” Also announced was approximately $21 million in new funding from the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) for Phase 2 of the Systems of Neuromorphic Adaptive Plastic Scalable Electronics (SyNAPSE) project.

SyNAPSE: IBM Cognitive Computing Project - Overview

Today's computers are little better than calculators; ruled by the von Neumann architecture for over half a century, they use storage structures and programmable memory that scientists are endlessly aiming to improve. However, the human brain - the world's most sophisticated computer - can perform complex tasks rapidly and accurately using the same amount of energy as a 20 watt light bulb and consuming as much space as a 2 liter bottle of soda. Researchers at IBM and collaborating universities are working to build cognitive systems that can learn and perform complex tasks such as action, recognition and perception, while rivaling the low energy and power consumption of the human brain.

Dr. Dharmendra Modha, IBM Cognitive Computing Manager, says today's computers, compared to the human brain, are little more than high-powered calculators. "We are trying to build cool, compact cognitive computing chips that rival the functionality of the human brain, while meeting extremely low power and low space of the human brain". Dr. Horst Simon, Deputy Director of the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, says that the original computers were designed and built for one purpose (calculating). This architecture was then used for everything else in computing. Cognitive computing is rethinking the architecture of this architecture. He adds, "We don't want to build a human brain, we want to build a device that will make it easier for us to solve tasks that current computers can't solve very easily."

Dr. John Arthur, IBM Cognitive Computing Hardware, says, "The purpose of these neuromorphic chips is to build systems that can do things efficiently that current computers do poorly. Current computers are great at adding numbers, they can add billions of numbers per second, they are fantastically fast. They do really poorly at recognizing people's faces, recognizing objects, and other kinds of things that our brains do really well at. The hope is that we can build really large systems that can do recognition tasks in an automatic way." Professor Stefano Fusi, Center for Theoretical Neuroscience, Columbia University, adds, "This project (cognitive computing), is the perfect storm of nanotechnology, neuroscience, and supercomputing".

SyNAPSE: IBM Cognitive Computing Project - Software

Steven Esser, IBM Research - Almaden researcher on the SyNAPSE project, walks through the transformational technology behind cognitive computing.

Steven Esser, IBM SyNAPSE researcher, says, "The current state of the art in artificial intelligence has in a way run into a wall, where artificial intelligence can produce algorithms that are very good for specific problems, but they don't generalize very well beyond those specific problems. What we're hoping is that cognitive computing will give us a whole new range of algorithms that can solve many, many different problems with only minor tweaks to the basic system. We think that is going to open up a huge number of possible innovations. What we are looking for now is a completely new way to design our computing systems, that goes beyond on the traditional way of designing computing systems."

Esser continues, "What the human brain, or any mammalian brain, can do is take in huge amounts of raw data. From that raw data, we are able to make these amazing discriminations between different objects, make associations between these different objects, and we are able to make complex decisions based on our understanding of the world - just based on that raw data. We have these new systems we can build, if we just focus on that capability. If you look at the brain, it is divided into these different areas, specialized for certain functions. We have visual areas, auditory areas, and so forth. To understand how these different parts work together, we've been able to make some simulations." These simulations follow an outside stimulus to various areas of the brain. "I think we could be seeing completely new innovative systems in the next 20 years that could revolutionize the way personal computers are built."

IBM Unveils Cognitive Computing Chips

ARMONK, N.Y., - 18 Aug 2011: Today, IBM (NYSE: IBM) researchers unveiled a new generation of experimental computer chips designed to emulate the brain’s abilities for perception, action and cognition. The technology could yield many orders of magnitude less power consumption and space than used in today’s computers.

In a sharp departure from traditional concepts in designing and building computers, IBM’s first neurosynaptic computing chips recreate the phenomena between spiking neurons and synapses in biological systems, such as the brain, through advanced algorithms and silicon circuitry. Its first two prototype chips have already been fabricated and are currently undergoing testing.

Called cognitive computers, systems built with these chips won’t be programmed the same way traditional computers are today. Rather, cognitive computers are expected to learn through experiences, find correlations, create hypotheses, and remember – and learn from – the outcomes, mimicking the brains structural and synaptic plasticity.

To do this, IBM is combining principles from nanoscience, neuroscience and supercomputing as part of a multi-year cognitive computing initiative. The company and its university collaborators also announced they have been awarded approximately $21 million in new funding from the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) for Phase 2 of the Systems of Neuromorphic Adaptive Plastic Scalable Electronics (SyNAPSE) project.

The goal of SyNAPSE is to create a system that not only analyzes complex information from multiple sensory modalities at once, but also dynamically rewires itself as it interacts with its environment – all while rivaling the brain’s compact size and low power usage. The IBM team has already successfully completed Phases 0 and 1.

“This is a major initiative to move beyond the von Neumann paradigm that has been ruling computer architecture for more than half a century,” said Dharmendra Modha, project leader for IBM Research. “Future applications of computing will increasingly demand functionality that is not efficiently delivered by the traditional architecture. These chips are another significant step in the evolution of computers from calculators to learning systems, signaling the beginning of a new generation of computers and their applications in business, science and government.”

Neurosynaptic Chips

While they contain no biological elements, IBM’s first cognitive computing prototype chips use digital silicon circuits inspired by neurobiology to make up what is referred to as a “neurosynaptic core” with integrated memory (replicated synapses), computation (replicated neurons) and communication (replicated axons).

IBM has two working prototype designs. Both cores were fabricated in 45 nm SOI-CMOS and contain 256 neurons. One core contains 262,144 programmable synapses and the other contains 65,536 learning synapses. The IBM team has successfully demonstrated simple applications like navigation, machine vision, pattern recognition, associative memory and classification.

IBM’s overarching cognitive computing architecture is an on-chip network of light-weight cores, creating a single integrated system of hardware and software. This architecture represents a critical shift away from traditional von Neumann computing to a potentially more power-efficient architecture that has no set programming, integrates memory with processor, and mimics the brain’s event-driven, distributed and parallel processing.

IBM’s long-term goal is to build a chip system with ten billion neurons and hundred trillion synapses, while consuming merely one kilowatt of power and occupying less than two liters of volume.

Why Cognitive Computing

Future chips will be able to ingest information from complex, real-world environments through multiple sensory modes and act through multiple motor modes in a coordinated, context-dependent manner.

For example, a cognitive computing system monitoring the world's water supply could contain a network of sensors and actuators that constantly record and report metrics such as temperature, pressure, wave height, acoustics and ocean tide, and issue tsunami warnings based on its decision making. Similarly, a grocer stocking shelves could use an instrumented glove that monitors sights, smells, texture and temperature to flag bad or contaminated produce. Making sense of real-time input flowing at an ever-dizzying rate would be a Herculean task for today’s computers, but would be natural for a brain-inspired system.

“Imagine traffic lights that can integrate sights, sounds and smells and flag unsafe intersections before disaster happens or imagine cognitive co-processors that turn servers, laptops, tablets, and phones into machines that can interact better with their environments,” said Dr. Modha.

For Phase 2 of SyNAPSE, IBM has assembled a world-class multi-dimensional team of researchers and collaborators to achieve these ambitious goals. The team includes Columbia University; Cornell University; University of California, Merced; and University of Wisconsin, Madison.

IBM has a rich history in the area of artificial intelligence research going all the way back to 1956 when IBM performed the world's first large-scale (512 neuron) cortical simulation. Most recently, IBM Research scientists created Watson, an analytical computing system that specializes in understanding natural human language and provides specific answers to complex questions at rapid speeds. Watson represents a tremendous breakthrough in computers understanding natural language, “real language” that is not specially designed or encoded just for computers, but language that humans use to naturally capture and communicate knowledge.

IBM’s cognitive computing chips were built at its highly advanced chip-making facility in Fishkill, N.Y. and are currently being tested at its research labs in Yorktown Heights, N.Y. and San Jose, Calif. For more information about IBM Research, please visit ibm.com/research.

About IBM

The company's business model is built to support two principal goals: helping clients succeed in delivering business value by becoming more innovative, efficient and competitive through the use of business insight and information technology (IT) solutions; and, providing long-term value to shareholders. The business model has been developed over time through strategic investments in capabilities and technologies that have the best long-term growth and profitability prospects based on the value they deliver to clients. The company's strategy is to focus on the high-growth, high-value segments of the IT industry.

The company's global capabilities include services, software, hardware, fundamental research and financing. The broad mix of businesses and capabilities are combined to provide business insight and solutions for the company's clients.

The business model is flexible, and allows for periodic change and rebalancing. The company has exited commoditizing businesses like personal computers and hard disk drives, and strengthened its position through strategic investments and acquisitions in emerging higher value segments like service oriented architecture (SOA) and Information on Demand. In addition, the company has transformed itself into a globally integrated enterprise which has improved overall productivity and is driving investment and participation in the world's fastest growing markets. As a result, the company is a higher performing enterprise today than it was several years ago.

The business model, supported by the company's long-term financial model, enables the company to deliver consistently strong earnings, cash flows and returns on invested capital in changing economic environments.

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The Story of Your Enslavement (Video) "The only freedom is freedom from illusion"

2011-08-17T01:31:00.001-05:00

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Cry of the Masses

Why You Are Easy to Control The video below provides "the story of your enslavement, how it came to be, and how you can finally be free". Human nature is to exploit resources, including other humans. The argument is that humans became afraid of death. By being afraid of death, and also injury and imprisonment, we become controllable. Humans became the most valuable resource to be controlled and exploited, by other humans. "This human farming has been the most profitable, and destructive, occupation throughout human history and it is now reaching its destructive climax." History is a series of human farms, where farmers own human livestock. These "farmers" are political, religious, economic, cultural, and military leaders and elite. Isn't there benevolence by providing food, water, shelter, health care, and education to the masses in a society? Farmers provide the same, including training, to their livestock. Isn't there freedom and liberty of individuals in the more modern, democratic societies? To an extent, but even farmers provide crop spacing to "increase their yields" and allow exceptional, "prized" animals more space, larger stalls to increase production. Therefore, is a nation such as America merely a "tax farm" and a corporatocracy to perpetuate both the government and corporations? Your "farmer" grants you certain liberties not because of concern for your freedom, but for profit maximization. This is the cage you were born into. Welcome to your cage!

History of Human Farming There have been four phases of human farming in history.
● Originally the human body was controlled by slavery, such as in ancient Egypt. The creativity of the mind was not generally exploited. Brute force was necessary for control and the system was inefficient.
● Next slaves were granted some freedom, as in the Roman Empire, thereby promoting some ingenuity and creativity. This increased productivity.
● Later the feudal system of lords, vassals, and fiefs was developed in Europe and the slaves were "peasants". Perhaps a peasant could control land, or even perhaps own land, as long as the higher ranks were paid taxes and tribute.
● Technology eventually allowed more agricultural productivity. Cities of displaced peasants, now industrial workers, and democracy, became a more efficient organization and method of human ownership via the industrial revolution. Also, it was more efficient to allow humans to choose their own occupations, now that technological advancement provided options. The assertion is that the Mafia model has now been implemented within democracies along with these increased freedoms.

Mafia Model Efficiency The Mafia doesn't necessarily own businesses directly, but extorts payment. Today you are allowed to choose your own occupation, which increases your productivity and therefore the taxes you can pay - to your masters. What freedoms you are allowed to have are profitable to your owners. However, an expansion of freedoms can adversely affect your owners' profitability. At that point, civil rights and liberty must be curtailed through restrictive measures. Taxed livestock must be kept within the compounds of the ruling class.

Maintaining Control of You Your owners maintain control of you through three methods.
● First is indoctrinating the young through education. You need to be trained in skills beneficial to the society, but not be educated in critical and logical thinking to be a threat. Logic should be a required, beginning course in every school, in order to learn, but it is not. Religious training is also useful to the owners for control.
● Second is to divide and conquer, to divide society, through the creation of dependent livestock. Extreme force is unproductive, such as in North Korea. Humans do not breed well and are not productive in direct captivity. However, if humans believe they are free, then productivity increases dramatically. To perpetuate this illusion of freedom, some of the livestock are placed on the farmers' payroll. Now they have a vested interested in the status quo and will resist change by other groups of citizens who protest against the violence, hypocrisy, and immorality of the system of human ownership. In Big Brother speak, "Freedom is slavery, and slavery is freedom". If the elite can get some of the cows, the sheeple, to attack others who protest against the system, then the cost of control is minimized. Those benefiting and and profiting from the largess of the farmer will violently oppose a challenge to the system by others. Those who demand real freedom are a threat to be suppressed.
● Third is the invention and perpetuation of external threats so that the livestock cling to the protection of the farmers. War is Peace!

Human Farming Nearing an End? Will the increases in economic freedoms of the past century cause a collapse of the Western economic systems through overwhelming debt? Is the growth of the state always proportional to the preceding economic freedoms? More wealth is created, but this attracts more thieves and political parasites. This greed then destroys the economic freedoms as the system then collapses. "Freedom metastasizes the cancer of the state". Government begins small but always increases in size and scope. Therefore, there can never be a viable and sustainable alternative to a truly free and peaceful society. To be truly free is very easy and very hard. We avoid the horror of our enslavement because it is so painful to see it directly. We ignore the endless violence of our dying system, because it is unthinkable. We can only be kept in the cages we refuse to see. Wake up, to see the farm is to leave it.

Mountain Vision Conclusion This video presents a dark, thought-provoking, perhaps even campy, version of history and our current human condition. However, human history has been darker, more brutal, and more difficult at a personal level, than books at a general and macro level usually portray. Enslavement, exploitation and control of humans, by humans, persists and thrives, even in the most modern, free countries. Americans like to say they are free, to which I respond, "Go tell the IRS that, that you are free, that you are being extorted, and that you'll not pay taxes henceforth". The threat of imprisonment, but most likely impoverishment, by the IRS will get you back in line, and under control, immediately. The ongoing technological explosion can either enslave or liberate individuals. The worldwide inter-connectivity of people via the Internet, via the global cloud, provides hope. History is written by the victors (Winston Churchill). History is little else than a long succession of useless cruelties (Voltaire). In mass societies, myth takes the place of history (William Bosenbrook). The historian amputates reality (Gaetano Salvemini). I wonder why we hate the past so? (W.D. Howells to Mark Twain). It's so damned humiliating (Twain's reply).

The Story of Your Enslavement We can only be kept in the cages we do not see. A brief history of human enslavement - up to and including your own. From Freedomain Radio, the largest and most popular philosophy conversation in the world. http://www.freedomainradio.com

Freedomain Radio
The largest philosophy conversation in the world

About Stefan Molyneux I am Stefan Molyneux, the host of Freedomain Radio. I have been a software entrepreneur and executive, co-founded a successful company and worked for many years as a Chief Technical Officer. I studied literature, history, economics and philosophy at York University, hold an undergraduate degree in History from McGill University, and earned a graduate degree from the University of Toronto, focusing on the history of philosophy. I received an 'A' for my Master's Thesis analyzing the political implications of the philosophies of Immanuel Kant, G.W.F. Hegel, Thomas Hobbes and John Locke. I also spent two years studying writing and acting at the National Theatre School of Canada. I have been fascinated by philosophy - particularly moral theories - since my mid-teens. I left my career as a software entrepreneur and executive to pursue philosophy full time through my work here at Freedomain Radio. I have written a number of novels as well as many free books on philosophy. In my podcasts and videos, I try to avoid opinions, and instead talk about proof and rationality. If the theories I propose are reasonable, and are supported by evidence, well and good, we have both learned something. If not, listeners such as you are quick to point out errors, which I receive with gratitude. This approach is fundamentally different from most "talk shows." I am a rigorous philosopher, and I will always bow to reason and evidence. The only freedom is freedom from illusion...

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Is the Universe a Simulation? (Video) Do we live in a virtual reality?

2011-08-07T01:59:00.000-05:00

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If our existence is inside a simulation, are we real at all?

Are We Living in a Computer Simulation? "We are currently living in a computer simulation", says Nick Bostrom who originated the Simulation Hypothesis. He means literally, "we are living in a computer simulation created by some advanced civilization in a computer they have built in their Universe". This implies, "that everything we see and our brains themselves would just be part of this simulation". Bostrom argues this isn't just speculation, but based on empirical considerations, including the computing power available to advanced civilizations. The Simulation Hypothesis, "couldn't be conceptualized before we had the concept of the computer, so it's really in the last several decades that the Hypothesis could even be entertained".

The Game of Life John Conway's Game of Life is a simulation, a cellular automaton, that provides support for the Simulation Hypothesis. Conway says that although the rules in the Game of Life are "tiny, trivial laws" compared to the laws of the Universe, they do exhibit interesting behavior. "It proved an important point, which is that a system like this, the Game of Life, could have some of the properties of the real Universe. So, in a way, its design was copied, but in a very trivial way, from real-life biology and correspondingly it became a kind of artificial biology ". Bostrom says, "We can't be certain to what extent the actual laws governing the natural world are similar to those in the Game of Life. We do know the laws governing the natural world are simple. We can write them down in simple equations. We can program computers to simulate them and from great simplicity we derive great complexity".

Existence Inside a Simulation If our existence is inside a simulation, are we real at all? Nick Bostrom states, "Speculations about the nature of reality and whether it might be an illusion or a dream goes back for thousands of years - philosophers have been pondering these questions. If we are in a simulation does that mean that nothing is real? I think a better way of viewing it that it would mean that reality is something slightly different than we thought. For most practical intents and purposes, you would still behave as you do anyway. We have no reason to get depressed by the philosophical implications of these things because the everyday aspect of life is always going to feel the same, regardless if we actually have free will or not, regardless if the Universe is going to end in a Big Crunch. I think for all the thinking humans like to do on the big things, what really, really gets to us emotionally are the everyday little things. They are what they are. Max Tegmark, a cosmologist, says, "Ultimately, if we are a simulation, then in the ways that matter to us, we are real enough. Whatever force has guided our creation, mathematical or intelligent, it is constructed from simple atoms. Humans are a creature capable of thinking beyond the limits of physical investigation.

What is the Purpose of the Simulation? A simulation implies a creator, design, and purpose. If we are simulated, might we have been simulated for a purpose? Might there be a creator with a grand design, just as our ancestors believed? Nick Bostrom notes, "These kinds of arguments show at the same time the limitations to the reach of the human intellect. We're discovering how our little corner of the world might indeed just be a small, small, small, small, small corner of a vastly bigger world than we ever imagined. We might never, even in principle, be able to look out at other parts. At the same time, these arguments also emphasize the astounding reach of the human intellect that we can begin to formulate theories and hypotheses that extend way beyond the world around us that we are evolved to cope with, i.e., how many lions entered the cave?, will it rain later this afternoon?, what does that person think of me? - these kind of very down-to-earth issues since our brain evolved. But it turns out it can be used to grapple with these fundamental questions of existence and the nature of the world."

Alternative Creation Theory An alternative explanation to the religious accounts of our creation results in a possibility, via the Simulation Hypothesis, that is incredibly similar: an all-powerful, all-knowing, super-intelligent being, an entity whose motives are unfathomable and whose existence is unprovable. Max Tegmark adds, "It is very important for us physicists to not dismiss ideas just because they are weird. Because if we did, we would have already dismissed atoms, black holes, and all sorts of other marvelous things. When you ask the basic question about the nature of reality, don't you expect an answer which is a little bit weird? I think anything but weird would be a big letdown. Let's just accept that the Universe is weird and view that as part of its charm." Nick Bostrom says, "There's no reason that the human brain should have evolved just far enough to simulate the deepest nodes of reality, what is amazing that we have been able to make so much sense as we have of the external world. I believe when the history of science is written then what's been discovered about our Universe in the last decade or two will be one of the most exciting chapters.But the key question, of course, is what we still don't know and that is the challenge for the coming century."

Big Think Summary Big Think reported, "Imagine a super-advanced version of The Sims, running on a machine with more processing power than all the minds on Earth. Intelligent design? Not necessarily. The Creator in this scenario could be a future fourth-grader working on a science project. Oxford University philosopher Nick Bostrom argues that we may very well all be Sims. This possibility rests on three developments: (1) the aforementioned megacomputer. (2) The survival and evolution of the human race to a “posthuman” stage. (3) A decision by these posthumans to research their own evolutionary history, or simply amuse themselves, by creating us – virtual simulacra of their ancestors, with independent consciousnesses."

Simulation Hypothesis The Simulation Hypothesis by Nick Bostrom argues that at least one of the following propositions is true:
(1) the human species is very likely to go extinct before reaching a “posthuman” stage
(2) any posthuman civilization is extremely unlikely to run a significant number of simulations of their evolutionary history (or variations thereof)
(3) we are almost certainly living in a computer simulation.
It follows that the belief that there is a significant chance that we will one day become posthumans who run ancestor-simulations is false, unless we are currently living in a simulation.

Mountain Vision Conclusion The only theory that explains all the scientific facts and human experiences, in the totality of reality as perceived by humans, and in the entire known Universe, is Simulation Hypothesis Argument #3: we are almost certainly living in a computer simulation. Further, the purpose of the simulation is probably either experimentation or entertainment. Any other purpose cannot be determined and proven from human experiences and scientific facts discovered to-date. Further, the creator of the simulation, from a human's perception within the simulation, is all-powerful and all-knowing. However, there is no proof the operator of the simulation is the creator of the simulation. Every human experience, scientific fact discovered, and human philosophical belief is within and explained by these propositions. What do you think? Can you prove me wrong?

Computer Simulation A video about the possibility that we are actually living in a computer simulation, Matrix like.. Narrated by David Malone.

About Nick Bostrom (Professor, Faculty of Philosophy and Oxford Martin School; Director, Future of Humanity Institute; Director, Programme on the Impacts of Future Technology; University of Oxford) Nick Bostrom: Prior to taking up my current post as the founding director of the Future of Humanity Institute at Oxford University, I was a British Academy Postdoctoral Research Fellow in the Faculty of Philosophy. Before that, I was a lecturer at Yale University, in the Department of Philosophy and in the Institute for Social and Policy Studies. Beside philosophy, I have a background in physics, computational neuroscience, mathematical logic, and artificial intelligence. I studied several subjects in parallel as an undergraduate---my performance set a national record in my native Sweden. Before degenerating into a tweedy academic, I also dabbled in painting, poetry, and drama, and for a while did stand-up comedy in London.

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Abandon Earth or Face Extinction (Video) Stephen Hawking: "I see great danger for the human race"

2011-07-13T22:54:00.001-05:00

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Will humans have to abandon Spaceship Earth?

Long-Term Future of Humans Must Be in Space Stephen Hawking believes humans must abandon Earth or face extinction. Dr. Hawking says, "It will be difficult enough to avoid disaster on planet Earth in the next hundred years, let alone the next thousand, or million." Hawking adds, "The human race shouldn't have all its eggs in one basket, or on one planet. Let's hope we can avoid dropping the basket until we have spread the load." Further, "Our only chance of long term survival, is not to remain inward looking on planet Earth, but to spread out into space."

Increasingly Dangerous Period of Human History Hawking conjectures, "If we are the only intelligent beings in the galaxy, we should make sure we survive and continue." However, "But we are entering an increasingly dangerous period of our history. Our population and our use of the finite resources of planet Earth, are growing exponentially, along with our technical ability to change the environment for good or ill." He believes humans' "selfish and aggressive instincts" via the genetic code were an advantage in the past but now are a liability.

Abandon Earth - Or Face Extinction Stephen Hawking, Theoretical Physicist: Stephen Hawking says all we have to do is survive another two hundred years and the human race will be saved, because by that point human settlements in space will already be well-established.

About Stephen Hawking Stephen Hawking has worked on the basic laws which govern the universe. With Roger Penrose he showed that Einstein's General Theory of Relativity implied space and time would have a beginning in the Big Bang and an end in black holes. These results indicated that it was necessary to unify General Relativity with Quantum Theory, the other great Scientific development of the first half of the 20th Century. One consequence of such a unification that he discovered was that black holes should not be completely black, but rather should emit radiation and eventually evaporate and disappear. Another conjecture is that the universe has no edge or boundary in imaginary time. This would imply that the way the universe began was completely determined by the laws of science.

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A History of the Universe in Sound (Video) Radio Astronomy: Sounds from Space

2011-06-28T03:17:00.000-05:00

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The Big Bang The cosmic microwave background radiation remaining from the Big Bang is the oldest sound in the Universe

What Does It Mean to Listen to Space? Honor Harger explains, "Whilst our project uses what we describe as "sounds from space", it is important to understand that stars and planets are not directly audible. Sound waves can not propagate in the vacuum of space. However, it is possible for radio waves emitted from celestial bodies, such as Jupiter and the Sun, to be heard by using radio technology. In our galaxy, the Sun is the strongest source of radio waves - so it's the most powerful transmitter in the radio sky. Jupiter also sends us strong radio signals. What we hear is very curiously linked with our experience of radio here on earth -- the sounds are a bit like the sound of static between the stations."

Honor Harger: A History of the Universe in Sound Artist-technologist Honor Harger listens to the weird and wonderful noises of stars and planets and pulsars. In her work, she tracks the radio waves emitted by ancient celestial objects and turns them into sound, including "the oldest song you will ever hear," the sound of cosmic rays left over from the Big Bang.

The Sun This LASCO C2 image, taken 8 January 2002, shows a widely spreading coronal mass ejection (CME) as it blasts more than a billion tons of matter out into space at millions of kilometers per hour. The C2 image was turned 90 degrees so that the blast seems to be pointing down. An EIT 304 Angstrom image from a different day was enlarged and superimposed on the C2 image so that it filled the occulting disk for effect (Courtesy of SOHO/LASCO consortium)

About Honor Harger Honor Harger is a New Zealand-born artist and curator who has a particular interest in artistic uses of technologies. She's the director of Lighthouse, an arts agency in Brighton, UK. Her artistic practice is produced under the name radio qualia together with collaborator Adam Hyde. One of their main projects is Radio Astronomy, a radio station broadcasting sounds from space.

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Ray Kurzweil & Barry Ptolemy Appear on Charlie Rose (Video) Transcendent Man: The Life & Ideas of Ray Kurzweil

2011-06-28T02:03:00.002-05:00

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Transcendent Man: The Life and Ideas of Ray Kurzweil

Transcendent Man: The Life and Ideas of Ray Kurzweil Ray Kurzweil and Barry Ptolemy were on the Charlie Rose show in March 2011 promoting the film Transcendent Man: The Life and Ideas of Ray Kurzweil. Barry Ptolemy produced and directed Transcendent Man. Transcendent Man was reviewed in a previous blog post here [Transcendent Man: The Life and Ideas of Ray Kurzweil (Video) *Prepare to Evolve, the Universe is About to Wake Up*].

About Transcendent Man
The compelling feature-length documentary film, by director Barry Ptolemy, chronicles the life and controversial ideas of luminary Ray Kurzweil. For more than three decades, inventor, futures, and New York Times best-selling author Ray Kurzweil has been one of the most respected and provocative advocates of the role of technology in our future.

In Transcendent Man, Ptolemy follows Kurzweil around the globe as he presents the daring arguments from his best-selling book, The Singularity is Near: When Humans Transcend Biology. Kurzweil predicts that with the ever-accelerating rate of technological change, humanity is fast approaching an era in which our intelligence will become increasingly non-biological and millions of times more powerful. This will be the dawning of a new civilization enabling us to transcend our biological limitations. In Kurzweil's post-biological world, boundaries blur between human and machine, real and virtual. Human aging and illness are reversed, world hunger and poverty are solved, and we cure death.

Ptolemy explores the social and philosophical implications of these changes and the potential threats they pose to human civilization in dialogues with world leader Colin Powell; technologists Hugo deGaris, Peter Diamandis, Kevin Warwick, and Dean Kamen; journalist Kevin Kelly; actor William Shatner; and musician Stevie Wonder. Kurzweil maintains a radically optimistic view of the future, while acknowledging new dangers. Award-winning American composer Philip Glass contributes original theme music that mirrors the depth and intensity of the film.

Ray Kurzweil and Barry Ptolemy on the Film "Transcendent Man" Charlie Rose interviews Ray Kurzweil and Barry Ptolemy

About Ray Kurzweil

A Brief Career Summary

Kurzweil Technologies

Ray Kurzweil has been described as “the restless genius” by the Wall Street Journal, and “the ultimate thinking machine” by Forbes. Inc. magazine ranked him #8 among entrepreneurs in the United States, calling him the “rightful heir to Thomas Edison,” and PBS included Ray as one of 16 “revolutionaries who made America,” along with other inventors of the past two centuries.

As one of the leading inventors of our time, Ray was the principal developer of the first CCD flat-bed scanner, the first omni-font optical character recognition, the first print-to-speech reading machine for the blind, the first text-to-speech synthesizer, the first music synthesizer capable of recreating the grand piano and other orchestral instruments, and the first commercially marketed large-vocabulary speech recognition. Ray’s web site Kurzweil AI.net has over one million readers.

Among Ray’s many honors, he is the recipient of the $500,000 MIT-Lemelson Prize, the world's largest for innovation. In 1999, he received the National Medal of Technology, the nation's highest honor in technology, from President Clinton in a White House ceremony. And in 2002, he was inducted into the National Inventor's Hall of Fame , established by the US Patent Office.

He has received nineteen honorary Doctorates and honors from three U.S. presidents.

Ray has written six books, four of which have been national best sellers. The Age of Spiritual Machines has been translated into 9 languages and was the #1 best selling book on Amazon in science. Ray’s latest book, The Singularity is Near, was a New York Times best seller, and has been the #1 book on Amazon in both science and philosophy.

About Barry Ptolemy
Ptolemaic Productions

At age 12, Barry Ptolemy was first inspired to create films by Steven Spielberg on the set of E.T., The Extra Terrestrial, where he worked and studied closely alongside the director for the duration of the production. After attending USC film school, Barry went on to direct and produce dozens of award-winning commercials and films. In 2006, his interest in the sciences led him to read Ray Kurzweil's The Singularity is Near, upon which his first feature, Transcendent Man, is based. He also recently directed the commercial "We Are The World 25 For Haiti" with Lionel Richie and Quincy Jones, which aired during the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympic Opening Ceremonies. Barry was recently hailed as one of the new "power directors" by Los Angeles Confidential Magazine. He lives in Southern California with his wife and their two children.

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More Robots for Australia Mines Driverless mining trucks & equipment reduce costs, increase safety

2011-06-25T19:08:00.002-05:00

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Mining Truck in Australia

Over a year ago, the U.S. Air Force announced there were more drone operators than traditional Air Force pilots that actually got in the aircraft and flew them. Now Australia's mining trucks in the remote Outback are beginning to be remotely operated via a computer terminal.

More Robots for Australia Mines May Plug Labor Crunch

Some Australian mine workers may soon find themselves trading in their steel-toed boots for a headset and computer mouse, as mining companies automate to help plug labor shortages and ramp up output to feed Asia's voracious demand for minerals. Jobs in Australia's Outback mines can mean grueling 12-hour days, scorching temperatures and long commutes — conditions perfect for machines from driverless trucks to drilling robots.

The resources industry has roughly $400 billion in new projects on the drawing board in Australia and, along with the construction industry, will need an additional 260,000 workers over the next five years, according to government estimates. "There's a shortage of skilled and un-skilled workers and that tends to lead to automation, certainly companies will be looking at that more at the current time," said Colin Hamilton, a commodities analyst with Macquarie in London. The use of remote-controlled mining could even replace one of the stock characters of Australia's mining bonanza — the truck driver without a degree who can rake in more than $100,000 per year.

Rio Tinto recently announced plans to double its fleet of driverless mining trucks at its Yandicoogina mine, the largest in Australia's Pilbara outback iron ore district. A guidance system, in a box near the front bumper, and a couple of radar-dish sensors remotely steer the trucks, which are otherwise identical to the towering yellow-painted behemoths that lumber through Pilbara's red-rust landscape.

"They will be doing everything. The whole (mining) pit will be fully autonomous — nothing that goes in or out of there that's not on a computer screen," Gervase Greene, spokesman for Rio Tinto, said. "It works from an efficiency point of view fantastically. You'll find load time is quicker, they are always in position, exactly the same position."

Rio Tinto already runs many of its mines from a center in Perth, some 1,500 km away from the Pilbara. At the operating center, which resembles a NASA control room and is far removed from the dusty outback, employees sit in front of desks with multiple screens detailing mine operations. From the serene atmosphere of the control room, Rio employees guide machines that do most of the work at the mines - from loading trains and ships to controlling mine power and water supply, Greene said. Rio had even begun investing in driverless trains, but suspended the program as it tried to cut back on costs when the global financial crisis hit. Hancock Prospecting Pty, owned by Australia's richest person, Gina Rinehart, will soon follow suit with remote operating centers in Perth for its Roy Hill iron ore mine and in Brisbane for coal mining.

"There are a whole bunch of reasons for doing it - to reduce costs, improve safety, and improve quality, increase capacity, improve productivity, reduce waste. Down the list, I think, it is to replace people," said Jock Cunningham, an automation expert at the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization (CSIRO).

Fewer Accidents

Rapidly growing Asian economies such as China and India have kept Australia's miners producing at breakneck speed, 24 hours a day, seven days a week. With production set to pick up and major miners planning to pour money into expanding operations, having robots do the job speeds operations up.

"Machines tend not to get tired — they will just keep doing the same thing over and over again... plus they are able to work through shift breaks and reduce travel time," Cunningham said. Companies typically need to see a 10 to 20 percent annual saving or improved productivity to encourage investment in high-cost robots, he said. Off-the-shelf technology can take about a year to pay off, while companies developing bespoke technology can wait up to ten years to break even, he said.

Some of the machines - such as the popular Load, Haul, Dump or LHD vehicle - can be sent into mine shafts for long periods of time, saving humans from deep descents which can put them in hazardous situations. From a mining company's point of view, cutting the number of accidents can be advantageous as well. "...that's a huge cost, it's a huge cost to a company's reputation and a risk as far as we're concerned," said Cheryl Edwardes, head of government relations for Hancock Prospecting.

Responding to Union Pressure?

Automation has gained cautious union support for its potential to improve safety. "There are some benefits to automating some of the work that's been traditionally quite dangerous - we've still got an unacceptable number of deaths in the mining industry," Unions Western Australia Secretary Simone McGurk said. Although miners emphasize that they do not intend to substitute robots for people, some say union pressure could be one of the factors driving automation.

Western Australia's Pilbara is not unionized, but unionized coal miners in the eastern Queensland state are in a dispute with BHP Billiton and Mitsubishi. "Given the current situation of the growing standoff between mining unions and some of the nations big miners, there's somewhat of a longer term incentive to potentially reduce employee numbers," said Gavin Wendt, senior resources analyst at Mine Life.

Using robots to do some of the more backbreaking jobs is another potential advantage. "What we do is we take the people out of those jobs in the pit and put them somewhere where they are doing better stuff. They are not getting replaced by (driverless) trucks by no means -- not one person," Rio Tinto's Greene said.

Still, CSIRO's Cunningham says some mining jobs will likely become extinct, just as the computer phased out the typing pool. "The new breed of operators that are coming through - the Gen Y operators - are very savvy to virtual interfaces and remote control," Cunningham said. "They like this stuff and that's what they expect to find in the industry rather than working behind a steering wheel or gear shift... a mining company that has that higher level will probably be more attractive to young employees."

More Robots for Australia Mines May Plug Labor Crunch - CNBC

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Ray Kurzweil Appears on Real Time with Bill Maher (Video) "In 2029, computers will match & exceed human intelligence"

2011-06-21T19:23:00.003-05:00

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Transcendent Man: The Life and Ideas of Ray Kurzweil

Transcendent Man: The Life and Ideas of Ray Kurzweil Ray Kurzweil was recently on Jimmy Kimmel Live promoting his film Transcendent Man: The Life and Ideas of Ray Kurzweil, which is now available on DVD. Transcendent Man was reviewed in a previous blog post here [Transcendent Man: The Life and Ideas of Ray Kurzweil (Video) *Prepare to Evolve, the Universe is About to Wake Up*]

Ray Kurzweil on Real Time with Bill Maher A portion of Bill Maher's interview with Ray Kurzweil

Notable Quotes During Ray Kurzweil Interview by Bill Maher

"We'll be able to have very intelligent, little robots with computers going inside our bloodstream, keeping us healthy from inside, destroying cancer at the level of one cell." Ray Kurzweil

"In 2029, I think computers will match and exceed human intelligence in the ways that we are now superior, like being funny, where we still have an edge." Ray Kurzweil

"Emotional intelligence is what humans are good at and that's not a sideshow. That's the cutting edge of human intelligence." Ray Kurzweil

"In movies and TV shows whenever the computers get that smart - they fuck us over." Bill Maher

"We're democratizing the tools of creativity." Ray Kurzweil

"In 2029, you can have this computer that has all the answers, it is infallible. Do you really think the Tea Baggers are going to believe it?" Bill Maher

"There are downsides to every technology, fires kept us warm but also burned down our villages." Ray Kurzweil

"You're talking about machines that can know everything like 'God' does and living forever. You're going to piss (religious) people off. I mean, you're selling crack on their corner when you talk about infallibility and living forever." Bill Maher

"The reality is, these technologies are readily adopted once they come out." Ray Kurzweil

"People talk philosophically, 'Oh, I don't want to live past 100'. You know, I'd like to hear them say that when they are 99." Ray Kurzweil

About Ray Kurzweil

A Brief Career Summary

Kurzweil Technologies

He has received nineteen honorary Doctorates and honors from three U.S. presidents.

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More Robots for Australia Mines Driverless mining trucks & equipment reduce costs, increase safety