Clipmarks | Silkweaver's 'futurism' clips

The Evolving AI Ecosystem

Fri, 05 Sep 2008 01:13:38 GMT

clipped by: Silkweaver
clipper's remarks: He takes his theory further, all the way in to the tubes of the internet. In collaboration with Professor Tim Berners-Lee – the co-inventor of the World Wide Web – the pair have been investigating the next generation Web. “What is emerging now is a digital ecosystem,’ says Professor Shadbolt, ‘involving lots of simple systems which connect millions of complex ones – humans!”

And there begins to be a certain amount of logic and a lessening of the fear I feel for the day when I am some robots whipping boy. We see such developments already in websites such as Facebook and Flickr, and programs such as Google Earth and World of Warcraft. We are being linked together, ever so slowly by a collective consciousness.

Clip Source: www.dailygalaxy.com

One of the greatest fears of many is the underlying knowledge that of all the wonderful advances of technology, the internet and robotics is simply bringing us closer to being subservient to our robotic overlords.

However British Computer Society President and ECS Professor of Artificial Intelligence Nigel Shadbolt, believes differently.

Shadbolt believes that the future of artificial intelligence will be much different, though no less exciting, than previously expected.

Instead of intelligence that is a “brain in a box”, we are seeing intelligence that is assistive, adaptive and flexible.

In other words, instead of an intelligence that is “…agonizing about their existence or whether we are about to switch them off” we are seeing the growth of intelligence that, in years to come, will immerse us and center around humans, rather than feel the need to enslave humans.

There will be micro-intelligences all around us – systems that are very good and adaptive at particular tasks

Tags: ai, the web, futurism, man machine interface

Singularity by 2045 - incredible life in a tamed world

Wed, 06 Aug 2008 13:07:54 GMT

clipped by: Silkweaver
clipper's remarks: Other possible advancements from 2050 to 2100 could include colonies on Moon, Mars and beyond, finding and harnessing wormholes that break “light speed” barriers in extraterrestrial travel, and whisking information through time to meet ourselves at an earlier age, or go forward and see what the future has in store for us. It may even become possible to gather scanned minds from lost loved ones before their death enabling them to continue living in our time. How wild would that be?

Clip Source: memebox.com

Imagine living in an ageless, disease-free body with youthful looks, superhuman strength and a brain that can out-think computers. Now further imagine an affluent, happy, crime-free population residing in a world terraformed for comfort without dangerous storms, tsunamis, or unbearable weather.

This is the vision many forward-thinkers believe humanity can achieve during this century.

Author James John Bell, in his Exploring the Singularity article in The Futurist says, “We won’t just experience 100 years of progress in the 21st century – it will be more like 20,000 years

Forward-thinkers believe by 2050, explosive information growth created by the Singularity could thrust our world into what astronomer Nikolai Kardashev describes as a “Type 1” civilization – 150 years earlier than some have predicted – giving us abilities to terraform our planet making it free from earthquakes, hurricanes, tsunamis and dangerous weather.

Tags: singularity, futurism, utopia

New You By 2018

Sat, 26 Jul 2008 22:53:24 GMT

clipped by: Silkweaver
clipper's remarks: Therapeutic: Cloning for tissue replacement is already happening, as stem cells have successfully grown new heart tissues in patients. Researchers believe replacing muscle, bone, skin; even neurons, teeth, eyes, and other organs could be in beginning stages by 2018.

Augmentation: Procedures expected to be in place by as early as 2015 include improved memory recall, simultaneous language translation, long range and microscopic vision on demand, wide spectrum hearing, distinctive voice projection, and stronger muscles. And by mid-to-late-2020s, “nanobots” monitoring each of our cells could keep us ageless and forever healthy.

Designed Evolution: These could include memory, intelligence, speed, agility, and other behavioral and physical attributes. Eliminating undesired genes that might pre-dispose a child to cancer, heart disease or alcoholism could be possible by about 2015.

Clip Source: aftermathnews.wordpress.com

Clip Source: www.positivefuturist.com

In just ten short years, you may be looking into the mirror and wondering, “Who is that gorgeous creature?” Your reflection would reveal a much younger and healthier you; with natural hair color, youthful skin, perfect vision, real teeth, a spring in your step, and an incredibly sharp mind and memory.

Welcome to tomorrow’s futuristic world of biotech enhancements, which forward thinkers believe will be widely available and affordable by 2018.

The Institute for Global Future’s Dr. James Canton believes a trillion dollar health enhancement market will evolve in the next decade.

Enhancements fall into three categories: Therapeutic, Augmentation, and Designed Evolution.

Therapeutic refers to restoring normal capabilities to disabled or dysfunctional patients.

Augmentation means enhancing performance levels beyond the norm.

Designed Evolution refers to modifying our children prior to conception and after birth

thoughts of improving humans beyond what some consider “natural” will evoke controversy

Tags: futurism, augmentation, future medicine, singularity

Environmental Threats of the Future

Fri, 25 Jul 2008 13:11:49 GMT

clipped by: Silkweaver
clipper's remarks: Every technological breakthrough will bring with it new problems and dangers, but also the means to deal with them. We just have to tread carefully and responsibly.

Clip Source: www.dailygalaxy.com

Forget about rising global water levels: Researchers, policymakers and environmental campaigners have identified 25 potential future threats to the environment

• Biomimetic robots that could become new invasive species.

• Experiments involving climate engineering, for instance ocean 'fertilization' and deploying solar shields

• Increased demand for the biomass needed to make biofuel.

• Disruption to marine ecosystems caused by offshore power generation.

• Experiments to control invasive species using genetically engineered viruses.

Some of the threats identified are more speculative, such as robots that imitate animal behavior and microbes made from synthetic molecules and might eventually behave like invasive species.

Tags: futurism, environment

Robots will surpass human intelligence by 2030, scientists say

Wed, 28 May 2008 00:16:13 GMT

clipped by: Silkweaver
clipper's remarks: Immortal silicon bodies? I am taking one (or two) and off to the stars !!

Clip Source: memebox.com

Personal robots have been a long time coming, but scientists now say we can expect revolutionary machines that surpass human physical and intellectual abilities within 22 years.

Today’s robots are mostly industrial types found in factories. An example would be an arm that inserts a product into a box and places it on a conveyor belt.

Robo-pets like Sony’s Aibo and NEC’s PaPeRo, priced from $2,000 to $5,000, are pleasing children and providing companionship for handicapped and elderly people around the globe.

Available soon in the $10,000 to $30,000 range will be human-like robots such as Sony Qrio, Honda Asimo, and Toyota Personal Robot.

These realistic marvels can speak and understand crude language, recognize family members by sight, and perform many butler, chef, and maid services.

Could we evolve into a human-cyber being? Absolutely, say futurists. By mid-2030s, we could be swapping frail biological bodies for powerful, immortal silicon versions.

Tags: robotics, futurism

How to live forever

Tue, 15 Apr 2008 00:05:24 GMT

clipped by: Silkweaver
clipper's remarks: This is the Economist ! The idea goes mainstream so it seems.

Clip Source: www.economist.com

“IN THE long run,” as John Maynard Keynes observed, “we are all dead.” True. But can the short run be elongated in a way that makes the long run longer? And if so, how, and at what cost? People have dreamt of immortality since time immemorial. They have sought it since the first alchemist put an elixir of life on the same shopping list as a way to turn lead into gold. They have written about it in fiction, from Rider Haggard's “She” to Frank Herbert's “Dune”. And now, with the growth of biological knowledge that has marked the past few decades, a few researchers believe it might be within reach.

It looks unlikely that medical science will abolish the process of ageing. But it no longer looks impossible

Tags: life extension, biology, futurism, health

Energy 2020: A vision of the future

Mon, 08 Jan 2007 17:12:44 GMT

clipped by: Silkweaver
clipper's remarks: An interesting perspective on the future of energy resources

Clip Source: lifeboat.com

In 2020, world population has grown to 7.5 billion people, the global economy is approaching $80 trillion, and the wireless Internet 4.0 is now connecting almost half of humanity. Synergies among nanotechnology, biotechnology, information technology, and cognitive science (commonly known as NBIC technologies) have dramatically improved the human condition by increasing the availability of energy, food, and water and by connecting people and information anywhere, anytime. The positive effects are to increase collective intelligence and to create value and efficiency while lowering costs.

It all started late in the 20th century. In 1992, an official announcement by the World Energy Council (WEC) stated clearly that the planet was not running out of energy resources. A few years later, the International Energy Agency (IEA) also ratified that there was more than enough energy, including oil and gas, to last for many decades. Such news from two recognized institutions like the WEC and the IEA openly contradicted the pessimistic views of the previous reports of the Club of Rome, which had forecasted in 1972 that the world would be running out of resources by the end of the 20th century.

By 2020, gas production has indeed caught up with oil production. Supply of gas doubled between 2000 and 2020, and it overtook coal production in 2016. Now, according to most forecasts, other energy sources will also catch up in the 2030s with gas and oil, which are both declining relatively. Even though there has never been any continuous shortage of coal, oil or gas, except for small local production problems sometimes caused by political disruptions or weather factors, the era of fossil fuels does seem to be reaching its zenith and might end in the following decades.

ENERGY 2020: A VISION OF THE FUTURE —
A REPORT RETRIEVED FROM THE YEAR 2020
VIA A WORMHOLE

Tags: technology, energy, futurism

Fourteen Wild Ideas

Wed, 03 Jan 2007 12:52:18 GMT

clipped by: Silkweaver
clipper's remarks: 14 interesting speculations about the present and the future. Worth looking into some the actual papers.

Clip Source: hanson.gmu.edu

Fourteen Wild Ideas

Many times each day, your mind permanently splits into different versions that live in different worlds.

The startling prediction of the "many worlds" interpretation of quantum mechanics is that when systems like your mind interact with small quantum systems, every possible quantum outcome actually happens in a different "world." Quantum mechanics is our most basic theory of physics, and surveys of prominent physicists reportedly find majorities favoring this interpretation. (More here.)

By 2100, the vast majority of "people" will be immortal computers running brain simulations.

Simulated brains are potentially immortal, just as all computer data is. And the ability to cheaply simulate brains will revolutionize labor economics; wages should fall to near the cost of making brain simulators. The population of such "uploads" should expand very rapidly, allowing huge increases in both economic growth rates and inequality. (More here and here.)

If we allowed complete freedom of contract, law could be privatized, to our common benefit.

Limits on freedom of contract are today said to fix problems of monopoly, externalities, asymmetric information, and local irrationality. But if limits are good fixes, then people should voluntarily choose such limits in early contracting over contract law itself. If competing private laws offered law and enforcement packages, contracting early with each other on inter-law disputes, we could each better tune our laws to our individual circumstances and preferences. (More here.)

Tags: science, futurism, forecasting