Robot Hiveminds & Network Effects
By: Ali Yahya June 12, 2019 While I was at Google X, I worked on an effort to build a robot hivemind––a network of robots with collective intelligence. Our work was part of a broader strategy to gain a data advantage. Here’s what I learned about “data network effects”. About a month ago, my partners […]
NYT Calls For “Fully Automated Luxury Communism”
By: _Dan Robitzsk June 11, 2019 One For All Lab-grown meat could feed the world. Renewable energy could power it. Automation could save us from mind-numbing jobs. But only if capitalism is replaced with a form of communism that deploys these technologies to the benefit of the many. At least, that’s the argument in a […]
Uber Air announces Melbourne as trial city for flying taxi service
By: Lisa Martin June 11, 2019 Melbourne will be the first city outside the US to host trials of Uber Air, a service the company describes as “aerial ridesharing” that will shuttle people from rooftop to rooftop for the price of an UberX. The company has flagged test flights will begin next year, with commercial […]
Russian biologist plans more CRISPR-edited babies
By: David Cyranoski June 10, 2019 A Russian scientist says he is planning to produce gene-edited babies, an act that would make him only the second person known to have done this. It would also fly in the face of the scientific consensus that such experiments should be banned until an international ethical framework has […]
New study by Global Pulse highlights risks of AI-generated texts, creates fake UN speeches
By: Felicia Vacarelu, Communications Specialist, UN Global Pulse June 10, 2019 What if that speech you just read was entirely AI generated? UN Global Pulse released a new study discussing the risks that can arise from the malicious use of automated text generation software, and the potential impacts. The study used open-source tools and data […]
The future of patient monitoring
By: Cambridge consultants March 28, 2017 Remote patient monitoring (RPM) has seen exponential growth in recent years,2 boosted further by the widespread adoption of consumer wellbeing monitoring and, more recently, its subsequent convergence with long-term healthcare monitoring in the home and other non-clinical environments. Initially aimed at exercise monitoring, wellness devices, including fitness tracking, sleep […]
Research reveals how the Internet may be changing the brain
By: NICM June 5, 2019 An international team of researchers from Western Sydney University, Harvard University, Kings College, Oxford University and University of Manchester have found the Internet can produce both acute and sustained alterations in specific areas of cognition, which may reflect changes in the brain, affecting our attentional capacities, memory processes, and social […]
New Gene-Editing Method Could Lead To “Creation of a Super-Baby”
By: Kristin Houser June 03, 2019 Avoiding Brightburn Chinese researchers have found a way to nearly triple the efficiency of a tool designed to edit genes in human embryos. Their method should be ready for clinical use soon, with gene-edited babies available in another year or two, Yang Hui, the lead researcher behind the project, […]
The rust belt is being sold a lie – China has funded US spending
By: Larry Elliott June 03, 2018 First it was Europe, Canada and Mexico. Now Donald Trump’s focus has switched to the real target for his trade war: China. Wilbur Ross, the US commerce secretary, is in Beijing for talks aimed at reducing America’s $30bn-a month-deficit. Exports of Chinese high-tech manufactured goods are top of Ross’s […]