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Dear readers,

My son Ethan Kurzweil — who is a partner at Bessemer Ventures Partners — tracks the future of web innovation, social and legal concerns about privacy, and start-ups who have an edge with their business or consumer applications, like team sourcing or software-as-a-service.

He appeared on C • NBC business affairs show Power Lunch. Episode debated the recent news about the US government and law enforcement asking Apple to release private data on an iPhone used by terrorists.

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I am not in fact talking about the delightful Deus Ex game, but rather about the actual revolution in society and technology we are witnessing today. Pretty much every day I look at any news source, be it on cable news networks or facebook feeds or whathaveyou, I always see fear mongering. “Implantable chips will let the government track you!” or “Hackers will soon be able to steal your thoughts!” (Seriously, seen both of these and much more and much crazier.) …But I’m here to tell you two things. First, calm the hell down. Nearly every doomsday scenario painted by fear-mongering assholes is either impossible or so utterly unlikely as to be effectively impossible. And second… that you should psych the hell up because its actually extremely exciting and worth getting excited about. But for good reasons, not bad.

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“For the third time in less than a year, security researchers have found a method to attack encrypted Web communications, a direct result of weaknesses that were mandated two decades ago by the U.S. government”

This could have more than just security gap ripple effects; it could actually be a loophole for any claims/ lawsuits that consumers and others have with various organizations.


For the third time in under a year, security researchers have found a method to attack encrypted Web communications, a direct result of weaknesses that were mandated two decades ago by the U.S. government.

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I hear this author; however, can it pass military basic training/ boot camp? Think not.


Back when Alphabet was known as Google, the company bought Boston Dynamics, makers of the amazingly advanced robot named Atlas. At the time, Google promised that Boston Dynamics would stop taking military contracts, as it often did. But here’s the open secret about Atlas: She can enlist in the US military anytime she wants.

Technology transfer is a two-way street. Traditionally we think of technology being transferred from the public to the private sector, with the internet as just one example. The US government invests in and develops all kinds of important technologies for war and espionage, and many of those technologies eventually make their way to American consumers in one way or another. When the government does so consciously with both military and civilian capabilities in mind, it’s called dual-use tech.

But just because a company might not actively pursue military contracts doesn’t mean that the US military can’t buy (and perhaps improve upon) technology being developed by private companies. The defense community sees this as more crucial than ever, as government spending on research and development has plummeted. About one-third of R&D was being done by private industry in the US after World War II, and two-thirds was done by the US government. Today it’s the inverse.

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I like the concept; however, as long as “connected AI” is connected to the Net or any network infrastructure, or platform that is connected to a network and the network infrastructure/ net can be hacked; companies and consumers will still finding themselves closely monitoring the AI systems & machines which could cost companies more money and not less money. So, this does place a concern on the investments being made to develop technology that may not be fully adopted as it once was hoped.


Australians could be working alongside artificial devices and robotic devices within the next 20 years, according to a landmark report by the Federal Government’s agency for scientific research.

The CSIRO has launched a report claiming that rapid advances in automated systems and artificial intelligence meant that robotic devices would be able to perform many tasks more quickly, safely and efficiently than humans.

The report, commissioned by the Federal Government in partnership with the Australian Computer Society, Boston Consulting Group and ANZ, “mapped out the changing landscape of our workforce as we move through huge technological shifts”, according to Minister for Employment, Senator Michaelia Cash.

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Reminder to everyone who loves hearing about what NextGen Technologies that US Government has been working on: March 11th, US IARPA is hosting a conference on “Odin” (detection technologies to ensure biometric security systems can detect when someone is attempting to disguise their biometric identity.)


The Intelligence Advanced Research Projects Activity plans to hold a conference related to a biometric presentation attack detection programme called Odin.

The conference, to be held on 11 March in Washington, will be to provide information on Odin and the research problems the program aims to address, the agency noted.

The goal of the Odin programme is to develop biometric presentation attack detection technologies to ensure biometric security systems can detect when someone is attempting to disguise their biometric identity.

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https://youtube.com/watch?v=f8T8eWBmls0

As funny as this commercial is; if the ramp up of robotics continue for the next 30 years we could see humanoid robots needing counseling. However, like AI of our past, we’ll go through a 10 yr peiod of hype and interests, and when consumers, industries, and government do not see value or advance improvements beyond walking, lifting 20lbs boxes, being part of an assembly, etc. robotics will again fall again into the background. https://lnkd.in/bQyWgBq


Technically Incorrect: A new IBM ad, released to coincide with Sunday’s Oscars broadcast, shows Fisher entirely in her element, and robots who have a lot of problems.

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https://youtube.com/watch?v=9xlw5jAu4kc

Rather than risk the lives of their astronauts, Russian government scientists are now working to develop humanoid robots that can perform complex tasks on the outside of the International Space Station (ISS) while astronauts control them safely from within the station.

The Russian Foundation for Advanced Research Projects, Russia’s military research arm unveiled two prototype robot astronauts on February 13th to the media ahead of a public robotics exhibition in Moscow.

One robot, named Fyodor, has two arms and a torso, and is programmed to either mimic an astronaut’s actions, be under remote control by a human wearing a special suit, or work autonomously.

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1st; we all know in 30 years anything can change, wars can be fought & lost, natural disasters can occur, etc. However, posting for everyone’s amusement. 30 years ago which would be 1986; no one thought USSR would be broken up, 9/11 would happen creating the US Homeland Security, Lybia & Eygpt would overthrow their own leaders, that US Space missions would be outside the US Government, hacking at the levels we have today creating the CISO roles, of VR technology would exist, DNA and CRISPR would be discovered, etc.

So, who really knows what jobs will be fully automated v. not in 30 years or even created as a result of Quantum technology (Computing, Networking, Q-Dots for numerous thing that are not only technology, etc.). Just a fun article to share with everyone.


CSIRO says the Australian workplace of the future will be increasingly digitally-focused and automated, with titles such as online chaperone.

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I luv it — India get’s it. You have to make sure that your IT foundation is solid first before unleashing things like AI. Connected AI requires a solid and secured infrastructure foundation 1st. In order for customers to buy into Cloud & the whole IoT, and connected AI set of products and services; the customer must feel that they can trust you fully.


By Jayadev Parida

Take a stock of the past, analyse the present cliché and frame a strategy for future. In the recent years, India’s approach to cyber security has experienced a shift from style to substance. Prime Minister Modi’s foreign policy has made various strong interventions on cyber security matters. Those interventions need to be materialised to manoeuvre the interest. Presumably, the Prime Minister Office (PMO) is likely to invest both political and capital energy to enhance a cautious cyber-strategy. A dedicated Division in the Indian Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) for cyber security is a value addition to that. In 2015, Minister of Communications and Information Technology in a written reply to the Lok Sabha stated that government allocated Rs 755 crore to combat cyber security threats over a period of five years. But, this financial outlay is quite negligible as the nature of threat is quite huge and unpredictable.

Cheer up, the worst is yet to come! One of those famous words penned by noted American author and novelist Mark Twain a long ago. This sentence is a stark reminder of India’s dawdling approach to new threats. India’s cyber sleuth may be holding their nerves for the worst to frame a robust apparatus to secure cyber ecosystem. The Google Trends of 2015 demonstrated that Islamic State (IS) was a buzz word in India while terrorism continued to exist as the area of concern. Nonetheless, interest over the time for IS’ in Indian Cities is increasing significantly.

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