Lifeboat Foundation: Safeguarding Humanity
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Category: finance

When it comes to obtaining new energy, solar energy now costs less than fossil fuels, according to a report by the World Economic Forum (WEF). Data from Bloomberg New Energy Finance (BNEF) also show decreased prices, with the mean price of solar power in about 60 countries dropping to $1.65 million per megawatt, closely followed by wind at $1.66 million per megawatt.

Michael Drexler, Head of Long Term Investing, Infrastructure and Development at the World Economic Forum, found the downturn in prices to be an encouraging sign.

“Renewable energy has reached a tipping point—it now constitutes the best chance to reverse global warming. Solar and wind have just become very competitive, and costs continue to fall. It is not only a commercially viable option, but an outright compelling investment opportunity with long-term, stable, inflation-protected returns.”

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KOCHI: HDFC Bank has deployed an interactive humanoid at its Kamala Mills branch in Mumbai. Intelligent Robotic Assistant (IRA) was developed in partnership with Kochi-based startup Asimov Robotics. IRA will be used for customer service.

With the launch of IRA, HDFC has become the first bank in the country to deploy humanoid for customer service. “Our first humanoid is unique and will serve as a technology demonstrator in the field of artificial intelligence and robotics,” said HDFC Bank digital banking country head Nitin Chugh.

Developed using robotics and artificial intelligence technology, IRA will be initially positioned near the bank’s welcome desk where it will display the services, greet customers and guide them to the counters — cash deposit, foreign exchange, loans etc.

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This talk was given at a local TEDx event, produced independently of the TED Conferences. Karl explains how the wisdom of crowds can be harnessed in powerful new ways.

Karl is the Founder of slowXchange a London based Internet platform that crowdsources forecasts on the financial performance, creditworthiness and management quality of the world’s top 2,000 listed companies. A CPA with an MBA [Deans List] from Columbia University, he is an inveterate optimist when it comes to the capacities of people and technology to solve today’s problems.

About TEDx, x = independently organized event In the spirit of ideas worth spreading, TEDx is a program of local, self-organized events that bring people together to share a TED-like experience. At a TEDx event, TEDTalks video and live speakers combine to spark deep discussion and connection in a small group. These local, self-organized events are branded TEDx, where x = independently organized TED event. The TED Conference provides general guidance for the TEDx program, but individual TEDx events are self-organized.* (*Subject to certain rules and regulations)

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No other metric of the state of #transhumanism (or science) says more than a healthy technology stock market. Complain all you want, but the smart money knows what’s happening. And smart money begets innovation—and innovation improves lives. Also, Obama in his 2nd term was a poor ad seller for media—it’s because he was stable and offered few surprises. However Trump (and his dramatic actions) might save and transform the entire media industry, as press bash and explore him relentlessly (and make a fortune in ads doing so as liberals and conservatives eat it up and fight over it all). However, always remember, media companies, whether they’re liberal or conservative, do not exist to serve you and deliver news, but to sell ads to shareholders (like Facebook too which is also near an all time high in stock price) so they can get richer. Media companies that were once struggling are doing better now. I’m not taking sides on any of these issues…I’m just reminding you of a few simple truths on how the world works. Have a nice day!

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Too many people spend their whole life on a treadmill striving for financial success and/or fame.

People often take a job or start a company because they think it’s a quick way to get rich or get noticed, i.e. to be successful.

Throughout my career, whenever I’ve started a company just to make money, it’s been a mistake. Starting any successful company is always hard work, and if my heart isn’t in it, the effort becomes hard, unfulfilling work, and I give up before the job is done.

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Daniela Rus loves Singapore. As the MIT professor sits down in her Frank Gehry-designed office in Cambridge, Massachusetts, to talk about her research conducted in Singapore, her face starts to relax in a big smile.

Her story with Singapore started in the summer of 2010, when she made her first visit to one of the most futuristic and forward-looking cities in the world. “It was love at first sight,” says the Andrew (1956) and Erna Viterbi Professor of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science and the director of MIT’s Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (CSAIL). That summer, she came to Singapore to join the Singapore-MIT Alliance for Research and Technology (SMART) as the first principal investigator in residence for the Future of Urban Mobility Research Program.

“In 2010, nobody was talking about autonomous driving. We were pioneers in developing and deploying the first mobility on demand for people with self-driving golf buggies,” says Rus. “And look where we stand today! Every single car maker is investing millions of dollars to advance autonomous driving. Singapore did not hesitate to provide us, at an early stage, with all the financial, logistical, and transportation resources to facilitate our work.”

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Nice try; no faith it will succeed long term with QC.

Singapore-based Quantum Foundation announced that it is working on a new project called Qtum, which combines the technology of both bitcoin and ethereum to facilitate blockchain technology adoption for corporations. Qtum is an open-source blockchain project that aims to build smart contract functionalities that can be implemented at an enterprise level.

The initial financial backing of $1 million by several industry leaders is a testament to the validity of the technology that the Qtum project is creating but also demonstrates full faith in its team of developers. Early-stage angel investors in the project include ethereum co-founder Anthony Di Iorio, Fenbushi partner Bo Shen, and OKCoin CEO Star Xu, among others. The Qtum project also intends to launch its native cryptocurrency to support the project through a crowd sale to raise further funds.

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“His body, along with the others, will remain frozen indefinitely, with enough ongoing financial support to sustain its current state, news.com.au reported.

Last year, a Massachusetts Institute of Technology graduate successfully froze and reanimated a rabbit brain”.

Since his death, James Bedford’s body has been cryogenically frozen and awaiting reanimation on the edge of the Sonaran Desert in Arizona. This week marks the 50th year of Bedford’s deep freeze, making him the oldest “de-animated” human being on earth.

Bedford’s body is stored in the Alcor Life Extensions Foundation in Scottsdale, where it’s kept alongside 146 other frozen bodies, news.com.au reported.

Along with the Cryonics Institute in Michigan and KrioRus in Russia, Alcor is one of three cryogenic facilities worldwide.

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“Jia Jia” can hold a simple conversation and make specific facial expressions when asked, and her creator believes the eerily life-like robot heralds a future of cyborg labour in China.

Billed as China’s first human-like robot, Jia Jia was first trotted out last year by a team of engineers at the University of Science and Technology of China.

Team leader Chen Xiaoping sounded like a proud father as he and his prototype appeared Monday at an economic conference organised by banking giant UBS in Shanghai’s futuristic financial centre.

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https://youtube.com/watch?v=AkLs9nVHv28

In Brief

  • Numerai is making a collective artificial intelligence in order to make stock market predictions.
  • So far, their data scientists have submitted over 12 billion equity price predictions in less than a year

There’s a new way to make stock market predictions. One company, Numerai, is synthesizing machine intelligence to command the capital of an American hedge fund.

The team outlines the focus of their work, asserting that they take the most accurate and original machine learning models from the world’s best data scientists and synthesize them into “a collective artificial intelligence.” This AI controls the capital in Numerai’s hedge fund.

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