Karl Schroeder on Singularity 1 on 1:
Karl Schroeder: The Singularity is an Old Idea. Keep Moving Forward!
Karl Schroeder: The Singularity is an Old Idea. Keep Moving Forward!
Posted 9 days ago
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Karl Schroeder: The Singularity is an Old Idea. Keep Moving Forward!
What is the best definition of Singularity?
17 Definitions of the Technological Singularity
17 Definitions of the Technological Singularity
Posted 32 days ago
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17 Definitions of the Technological Singularity
The Singularity 101 eBook is Near
The Singularity 101 Free eBook is Near
The Singularity 101 Free eBook is Near
Posted 34 days ago
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The Singularity 101 Free eBook is Near
Socrates' Top 5 Tips for Applying to Singularity University
Top 5 Tips for Applying to Singularity University
Top 5 Tips for Applying to Singularity University
Posted 119 days ago
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Top 5 Tips for Applying to Singularity University
Richard Feynman – The Uncertainty Of Knowledge
The Importance of Doubt, Asking Questions and Not Knowing
The Importance of Doubt, Asking Questions and Not Knowing
Posted 122 days ago
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The Importance of Doubt, Asking Questions and Not Knowing
A Transhumanist Manifesto
A Transhumanist Manifesto
A Transhumanist Manifesto
Posted 530 days ago
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A Transhumanist Manifesto
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Elon Musk to Launch SpaceX Tomorrow Morning

by Socrates
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Tomorrow May 19th, SpaceX will become the first commercial company in history to attempt to visit the International Space Station. You can watch the launch live on SpaceX.com beginning at 1:15 AM Pacific / 4:15 AM Eastern / 08:15 UTC. Billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk hopes to make history when his SpaceX Dragon Capsule attempts to become the first privately-built spaceship to dock with the International Space Station. President Kennedy: “I believe that this nation should commit itself, to achiving the goal, before this decade is out, of landing a man on the moon and returning him safely to the earth.” Elon Musk: “It’s it’s been 43 years since 1969 and what have we done?!” Well, tomorrow morning we are all going to see if SpaceX did it or not. If the launch of the Falcon 9 rocket is successful and the Dragon capsule docks safely with the International Space Station, then, the era of commercial space travel has officially arrived. Good luck Elon, it is time to show the world what you have done!

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PAL-V: The Dutch Flying Car

by Socrates
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This flying car is made by Dutch company PAL-V, or Personal Air and Land Vehicle. It took its maiden flight in March, and is certified for the air as well as the road. It needs only 165 metres to take off and, depending on weight, can fly for up to 500 kilometres, or 315 miles. The top speed is the same on the ground as in the air, around 180 kilometres an hour, or 110 miles an hour. Lift is generated by an auto-rotating rotor on top, forward speed from a propeller on the back. This configuration is known a gyrocopter, and the company says it’s quiet, easy to fly and safe. Before taking the controls customers must get their private pilot’s license. But PAL-V hope to attract buyers beyond weekend flying enthusiasts.

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An Atheist Who Wears a Cross and a Verb! What About You?!

by Socrates
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The issue of religion is one of the more common questions that I ask most of my guests on Singularity 1 on 1. But this is hardly the most important thing during any conversation. Still, if we are talking about the future of humanity, it may be relevant to know a little more about the person’s past and present religiosity. In this way when we move on to topics such as cosmology, metaphysics, ethics or epistemology, we are more mindful of our own implicit presumptions. The danger in the above approach is that one might embrace the label a bit too tightly and thereby ruin the potential for a genuine conversation and exchange of ideas. Thus we must also be aware of all the religious, intellectual, political or other such shortcuts we are using. While they can be useful in the short term, in the longer term they omit so [...]

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The BrainGate Project: Paralysed Woman Moves Robot Hand With Her Mind

by Socrates
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Cathy Hutchinson has been unable to move her own arms or legs for 15 years. But using a pioneering brain-machine interface she can steer a robotic arm towards a bottle, pick it up, and drink her morning coffee. The interface utilizes the BrainGate implant system – a sensor chip implanted in Cathy’s brain, which ‘reads’ her thoughts, and a decoder, which turns her thoughts into instructions for the robotic arm. In this video you can watch Cathy control the arm and hear from the team behind the pioneering study.   You can check out the original research paper here: http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v485/n7398/full/nature11076.html   The same story on Reuters News: Groundbreaking new research is allowing quadriplegics to control objects with a robotic arm and the power of their thoughts. A study involving a brain-computer interface developed at Brown University in Rhode Island, shows that people who have [...]

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iPads for Apes: Did Arthur C. Clarke Get It Right Again?!

by Socrates
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The very first Arthur C. Clarke book I ever read was a 1963 edition of Dolphin Island. This science fiction novel is about a runaway teenager who gets shipwrecked in the Pacific Ocean where he is eventually saved by “the people of the sea”: dolphins. The protagonist – Johnny Clinton, ends up on a mysterious island of Australia’s Great Barrier Reef where a brilliant Professor invents a small handheld device that is used to communicate with dolphins… *** Orangutans at the Jungle Island Zoo in Florida are learning to use iPads to identify object like body parts and food. The hi-tech approach to communication is modeled on a system used successfully with autistic children. The zoo is hoping it will help visitors connect with the apes and promote awareness of their endangered status in the wild. Original story by Ben Gruber for Reuters News:

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Douglas Rushkoff: Our On-Line Interactions Occur on Platforms Whose Function Is To Exploit Them

by Socrates
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Douglas Rushkoff is one of my favorite social ctitics on media, technology, culture and money. In this interview with Motherboard TV Rushkoff talks about technology, social media, the zombie apocalypse and the occupy movement. My favorite quote from Rushkoff’s interview: “Our interactions on line occur on platforms whose function, whose purpose is not to promote our social interaction, but to exploit our social interaction. So you have the average kid using Facebook believes that he is the customer of Facebook and that Facebook is there to help him make friends. And it’s not. The corporation is paying Facebook for Johny’s social graph. To reduce human interraction to that which is marketable to Facebook’s customers. Now, you are inhabiting a comercial environement that was constructed by people and companies in order to promote certain behaviors and attitudes from you. We have an entire way of life that is predicated on a faulty [...]

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Human Placenta Stem Cells Save Girl With Bone Marrow Disease

by Socrates
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An experimental stem cell treatment has, according to doctors, saved the life of a seven-year old Romanian girl with a deadly bone marrow disease. The treatment was used as a last resort after two bone marrow transplant operations failed and has proven so successful that the little girl is getting ready to return home from hospital.

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Did The 1st Little Piggy Have It Right All Along? Joost Bakker’s Straw House Shows It Did!

by Socrates
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An Australian environmentalist, designer and entrepreneur is catching the eye of policy-makers in his home country and around the world with his innovative straw-insulated house designs. Joost Bakker says his houses are affordable, sustainable and — in a country plagued by bushfires — fire resistant. Original story by Tara Cleary for Reuters News: So, what do you think – Did the 1st little piggy have it right all along?! Can we really build affordable, sustainable, durable and fire-resistant houses out of straw?

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