Clipmarks | taksmaster's 'future' clips

Origin of Deja Vu Pinpointed

Fri, 08 Jun 2007 11:51:48 GMT

clipped by: taksmaster

The brain cranks out memories near its center, in a looped wishbone of tissue called the hippocampus. But a new study suggests only a small chunk of it, called the dentate gyrus, is responsible for “episodic” memories—information that allows us to tell similar places and situations apart.

The finding helps explain where déjà vu originates in the brain, and why it happens more frequently with increasing age and with brain-disease patients, said MIT neuroscientist Susumu Tonegawa. The study is detailed today in the online version of the journal Science.

Like a computer logging its programs’ activities, the dentate gyrus notes a situation’s pattern—it’s visual, audio, smell, time and other cues for the body’s future reference. So what happens when its abilities are jammed?

Déjà vu is a memory problem, Tonegawa explained, occurring when our brains struggle to tell the difference between two extremely similar situations.

Tags: science, neuroscience, brain, mind, research, memory

Need to lose weght? Take a 'Gym pill'

Tue, 01 May 2007 15:56:06 GMT

clipped by: taksmaster

Clip Source: news.bbc.co.uk

US scientists have devised a drug that can switch on a gene to burn body fat, offering hope of an exercise pill.

Mice given the drug burned off fat, even when they did not exercise, and were resistant to weight gain despite a high-fat diet.

Turning on this switch activates the same fat-burning process that occurs during exercise.

UK expert Dr Fredrik Karpe, from the Oxford Centre for Diabetes, Endocrinology and Metabolism, is hoping to test this in the near future.

But he cautioned; "Although this might become an 'exercise pill', it is unlikely to provide all the other benefits of real physical exercise."

Tags: science, medicine, health, weight, exercise, fat

The Future is Female

Thu, 26 Apr 2007 15:25:28 GMT

clipped by: taksmaster

Clip Source: news.bbc.co.uk

We have had the industrial age, we have had the information economy.

But now for something different: "the care economy", predicts BT's Ian Pearson.

And, says Mr Pearson assuredly, women - not men - are best suited for this shift.

After years of so called soft skills - such as communication - being sidelined, they will now play centre-stage.

"People will have to focus on being people, using their emotional skills," asserts Mr Pearson - with male confidence.

And, he insists, women are instinctively good at this.

Mr Pearson describes himself as "an engineer making logical deductions for tomorrow, based on things we can already see happening."

"Physical jobs have been done by machines," he says, matter-of-factly.

Although men do work in roles requiring such interpersonal skills, they are dominated by women.

"The future is female - and these changes are closer than many realize," says Mr Pearson.

Tags: women, future, society

Bill of Rights for Abused Robots

Tue, 03 Apr 2007 07:05:44 GMT

clipped by: taksmaster

Clip Source: news.independent.co.uk

A robot rights movement is taking shape and preparing the world's first ethical guidelines for human/robot relationships.

The "Robot Ethics Charter", which will be unveiled later this year, will insist that humans should not exploit robots and should use them responsibly. It is expected to be a version of the classic three laws of robotics developed by the science fiction author Isaac Asimov. These are that robots must not harm people, and that they must obey orders and protect their own existence unless either conflicts with the first law.

"As robots will have their own internal states such as motivation and emotion, we should not abuse them," argues Professor Jong-Hwan Kim, one of South Korea's top robotics experts. "We will have to treat them in the same way that we take care of pets." A spokesman for the Korean Ministry of Commerce, Industry and Energy said: "The move anticipates that day when robots, particularly intelligent service robots, will become part of daily life."

Tags: future, robots, rights, ethics, artificial intelligence

Robot Rights

Sun, 11 Mar 2007 02:57:21 GMT

clipped by: taksmaster

Clip Source: news.bbc.co.uk

If the idea of robot ethics sounds like something out of science fiction, think again, writes Dylan Evans.

Scientists are already beginning to think seriously about the new ethical problems posed by current developments in robotics.

This week, experts in South Korea said they were drawing up an ethical code to prevent humans abusing robots, and vice versa

Isaac Asimov was already thinking about these problems back in the 1940s

A robot may not injure a human being, or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm

A robot must obey the orders given it by human beings except where such orders would conflict with the First Law

A robot must protect its own existence as long as such protection does not conflict with the First or Second Law

If robots can feel pain, should they be granted certain rights? If robots develop emotions, as some experts think they will, should they be allowed to marry humans? Should they be allowed to own property?

Tags: future, robots, robotics, ethics, philosophy, science, technology, ai, artificial intelligence

21st Century Kids - Life in the Year 2189

Tue, 06 Mar 2007 07:43:49 GMT

clipped by: taksmaster

Clip Source: www.21stcenturykidsbook.com

Shannon Vyff has created an adventure into the future of two children who are re-animated 200 years from today, in a society that has implemented many things as we see possible now. This fast-paced read takes a look into the future, one full of possibilities and based on the growing science of today.

“In the early days of flight experimentation, most people chalked up the idea of human flight as pure fiction,” says Vyff. “They could’t believe humans would ever be able to fly, yet now we realize the Wright Brothers knew what they were talking about. I think the same can apply to other areas of human exploration and science.”

“I wanted the story to reflect the impact that each of us has on the health of our planet,” says Vyff. “I want children to have fun reading this book and being awed by the scientific possibilities of the future; yet I hope they will also think about the possibilities they each have for making our Earth a healthier place.”

Tags: science, technology, future, children, kids, books, education

Building Gods

Sun, 04 Mar 2007 09:18:43 GMT

clipped by: taksmaster
clipper's remarks: A film about the future of AI, transhumanism, and the singularity.

Clip Source: video.google.com

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Tags: artificial intelligence, future, science, technology, singularity, transhumanism, philosophy

Human 2.0 - Creating Gods

Thu, 01 Mar 2007 17:12:29 GMT

clipped by: taksmaster
clipper's remarks: Documentary about the upcoming technological singularity.

Clip Source: www.youtube.com

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Tags: science, technology, future, neuroscience, transhumanism, artificial intelligence, singularity, quantum mechanics

Technology in The 21st Century

Wed, 28 Feb 2007 18:42:36 GMT

clipped by: taksmaster

Clip Source: www.youtube.com

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Tags: science, technology, future

A Step Towards a Utopia?

Mon, 19 Feb 2007 01:05:35 GMT

clipped by: taksmaster
clipper's remarks: Video descriptions of The Venus Project:

Part 1 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cf1gZxmIDKw

Part 2 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zsaSFonaa8Y

Clip Source: www.thevenusproject.com

The Venus Project is a educational think tank operating out of a 25-acre Research Center located in Venus, Florida.

When one considers the enormity of the challenges facing society today, we can safely conclude that the time is long overdue for us to reexamine our values, and to reflect upon and evaluate some of the underlying issues and assumptions we have as a society. This self-analysis calls into question the very nature of what it means to be human, what it means to be a member of a "civilization," and what choices we can make today to ensure a prosperous future for all the world's people.

Experience tells us that human behavior can be modified, either toward constructive or destructive activity. This is what The Venus Project is all about - directing our technology and resources toward the positive, for the maximum benefit of people and planet and seeking out new ways of thinking and living that emphasize and celebrate the vast potential of the human spirit. We have the tools at hand to design - and build - a future that is worthy of the human potential. The Venus Project presents a bold, new direction for humanity that entails nothing less than the total redesign of our culture. What follows is not an attempt to predict what will be done - only what could be done. The responsibility for our future is in our hands, and depends on the decisions that we make today. The greatest resource that is available today is our own ingenuity.

The Venus Project calls for a straightforward approach to the redesign of a culture, in which the age-old inadequacies of war, poverty, hunger, debt, environmental degradation and unnecessary human suffering are viewed not only as avoidable, but totally unacceptable.

Tags: future, technology, society

Marvin Minsky Interview

Thu, 15 Feb 2007 04:07:19 GMT

clipped by: taksmaster

Clip Source: www.discover.com

(Courtesy of Donna Coveney/MIT)

Marvin Minsky straddles the worlds of science and sci-fi. The MIT professor and artificial intelligence guru has influenced everyone from Isaac Asimov to the digital chess champ Deep Blue to computer movie star HAL of 2001: A Space Odyssey. He may be known around campus as "Old Man Minsky," but the scientist is just as active in AI research today as he was when he helped pioneer the field as a young man in the 1950s.

Although educated in mathematics, Minsky has always thought in terms of mind and machine. For his dissertation at Princeton University in the 1950s, he analyzed a "learning machine," meant to simulate the brain's neural networks, that he had constructed as an undergrad. In his early career he was also an influential inventor, creating the first confocal scanning microscope, a version of which is now standard in labs worldwide. In 1959 Minsky cofounded the Artificial Intelligence Laboratory at MIT, where he designed and built robotic hands that could "feel" and "see" and manipulate objects, a watershed in the field.

Throughout, Minsky has written philosophically on the subject of AI, culminating in the 1985 book Society of Mind, which summarizes his theory of how the mind works. He postulates that the complex phenomenon of thinking can be broken down into simple, specialized processes that work together like individuals in a society. His latest book, The Emotion Machine, continues ideas begun in Society of Mind, reflecting twenty-some additional years of thought. It is a blueprint for a thinking machine that Minsky would like to build—an artificial intelligence that can reflect on itself—taking us a step forward into a future that may seem as if out of an Asimov story.

Tags: science, technology, artificial intelligence, future

Biotech Will Drive Software Security

Tue, 13 Feb 2007 05:51:29 GMT

clipped by: taksmaster

Clip Source: www.channelweb.com

As the IT industry continues to grow and become more profitable, the role of security will take on ever greater importance than it does today, and the human evolutionary process is a good place to look for guidance on what to expect.

Software security will be even more important as humans become more of a hybrid of non-biological and biological technology and intelligence, said Ray Kurzweil, inventor, author and futurist, in a keynote speech Wednesday at the RSA 2007 conference in San Francisco.

Computational power in the 21st century will have more than enough power to simulate all functions of the human brain, and reverse engineering these processes into software will be a key challenge for the developers of the future. Already, 20 of the hundreds of known regions of the brain have been simulated in this fashion, Kurweil said.

Although the complexity of the human brain may seem insurmountable, Kurweil said the basic design is relatively simple. For example, although it's incredibly complex intrinsically, the cerebellum has just a few genes that control it, which puts it within the realm of reverse engineering.

Tags: science, technology, it, computing, security, kurzweil, future, software

Quantum computer to debut next week

Thu, 08 Feb 2007 21:13:07 GMT

clipped by: taksmaster
clipper's remarks: Welcome to the future.

Clip Source: www.techworld.com

Twenty years before most scientists expected it, a commercial company has announceda quantum computer that promises to massively speed up searches and optimisation calculations.

D-Wave of British Columbia has promised to demonstrate a quantum computer next Tuesday, that can carry out 64,000 calculations simultaneously (in parallel "universes"), thanks to a new technique which rethinks the already-uncanny world of quantum computing. But the academic world is taking a wait-and-see approach.

Tags: technology, science, computers, quantum, singularity

Brilliant Minds Forecast the Next 50 Years

Wed, 22 Nov 2006 12:16:28 GMT

clipped by: taksmaster

Clip Source: www.newscientist.com

Instant Expert: Brilliant Minds Forecast the Next 50 Years

What will be the biggest breakthrough of the next 50 years? As part of our 50^th anniversary celebrations we asked over 70 of the world's most brilliant scientists for their ideas.

In coming decades will we: discover that we are not alone in the universe? Unravel the physiological basis for consciousness? Routinely have false memories implanted in our minds? Begin to evolve in new directions? And will physicists finally hit upon a universal theory of everything? In fact, if the revelations of the last 50 years are anything to go on - the internet and the human genome for example - we probably have not even thought up the exciting advances that lay ahead of us.

Delve into those visions of the future by author in the story list of this special report, or navigate forecasts by topic here: