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Technologies based on stem cells, genetic engineering or tissue engineering may eventually have considerable impact in alleviating certain diseases such as arthritis, heart disease, or dementia. But these rejuvenation biotechnologies cannot be used by the general public at large in order to negate the ageing process itself.

1. Problems with Stem Cell Therapies

One methodology for delivering biotechnology rejuvenation therapies (such as stem cell therapy) is bone marrow transplant. This is a complex, clinically risky, and administratively complicated procedure. It is well beyond the technical issue of artificially manipulating and repairing cells in the laboratory. Cells need to be harvested from a patient, manipulated in the laboratory, and then re-transplanted in the patient.

Consider what happens during an autologous cell harvest. The patient has to attend a clinic and this may involve a pre-procedure physical assessment, followed by administration of a Colony-Stimulating Factor which is given as an injection every day for up to 14 days, (the patient must be instructed on how to do this at home). A course of chemotherapy may be needed in order to regulate the production of stem cells. The patient returns for another visit for the harvest. The harvesting process takes three to four hours and it may have to be repeated every day for up to five days in order to collect enough cells for the transplant. It involves an epidural or a general anaesthetic (with all the associated risks), punctures over the pelvic bone and withdrawal of marrow material. Alternatively, intravenous access and blood withdrawal need to be arranged. The amount to be withdrawn must be assessed from person to person. The patient needs to recover from the anaesthetic.

After appropriate laboratory treatment of the cells, the patient needs to return for the transplant itself. The patient will again need to have a pre-treatment visit and (a full day) assessment, pre-treatment conditioning with insertion of an indwelling central venous access line, followed by intravenous (or intra-bone marrow) injection of primed stem cells, (which may need to be repeated the following day or more times soon after).

Following the procedure, it is necessary to observe the patient due to the risk of infection, and the patient must be kept in a germ-free environment, in some cases for up to three months (in hospital). The follow-up period can be one or two years in some cases, and there is a need for specialist nutritional input, home care, occupational therapy, medical follow-ups and regular clinic appointments. Even then, the fate of the injected stem cells remains unclear, both in functional and in duration terms. For instance, the injected stem cells need to develop cross-talking pathways with existing mesenchymal and endothelial cells, which involves a precise, co-ordinated, dynamic and hierarchical expression of genes and proteins, many of which are based upon stochastic elements, which are impossible to predict. This may influence the lifespan of the injected stem cells and require an earlier-than-planned re-treatment.

2. Problems with Tissue Engineering

Another proposed biotechnological therapy against age-relate degeneration such as abnormal tissue function due to cell loss, is tissue engineering. Although the technology necessary for developing large amounts of viable engineered tissue such as bone, skin or even heart can be achieved, a major problem is the transplantation of this engineered tissue to the appropriate organ in humans. Autologous cells must be harvested from the patient, either surgically or through a bone marrow procedure as discussed above, and then, following appropriate engineering interventions, transplanted surgically in the patient. The clinical sequences of the procedure, particularly those involving more advanced techniques such as in situ or in vivo tissue engineering may take a year from beginning to end. Therapies involving allogenic tissues will require lifelong immunosuppression. This would be a therapy for one type of tissue, and therefore the entire procedure would need to be repeated for other types of tissue, until all tissues affected by age-related damage would have been repaired. Questions about the number of qualified surgeons needed in order to carry out these procedures en masse would need to be addressed. Pre and post procedure assessments, physical rehabilitation therapy, follow up meetings, risk of infection or thromboembolism, and other intrinsic consequences of surgery would add to the existing difficulties.

3. Problems with Genetic Therapies

As a concept, gene therapy appears ideal in treating ageing changes. However, this is an oversimplification fraught with clinical obstacles. It is known there are several hundred genes that can modulate the ageing process. In mice alone there are over 100. Issues with pre-existing immunity to the vector, choice of vector, costs, dose, and many others need to be addressed. Non-viral vectors such as liposomes or methods based on nanotechnology need to be given to the patient via an intravenous route with all the problems discussed above. The new gene may not be inserted correctly on the DNA, or it may be overexpressed, causing more problems than it resolves. The risk of introducing infection or inducing a cancerous change remains.

For these and other reasons, the progress with gene therapy has not been as vigorous as expected. New techniques such as CRISPR cannot easily be applied in clinical situations involving humans. The current administration technique involves a hydrodynamic injection method which in mice has been proven effective in some experiments, but remains unusable in humans.

Discussion

These methods of administration are likely to remain the same (with minor, irrelevant to this argument, technical modifications) in the near-term (10−15 years) and perhaps the medium-term (20−50 years) future. Bone marrow transplant, is currently an appropriate method for patients who have one specific disease, but its applicability must be rigorously questioned when it is intended for people who have many co-existing age-related conditions. Our medical systems can tolerate this type of treatment if it is directed at a few patients having one disease each. But a single stem cell therapy will not have an effect on multiple conditions or organs, therefore if we consider that there are many organs needing treatment against ageing, then this becomes a clinical and administrative nightmare. However, it becomes an impossibility when, in addition to the above, we aim to treat large numbers of people. Worldwide, there are approximately 60,000 bone marrow transplants (BMT) performed each year. If we assume that, over a 10 year period, an arbitrary minimum 1% of all humans could possibly be treated with BMT-dependent rejuvenation biotechnologies each year, then there will be a need to provide 70,000,000 BMT a year! Or, viewing this from another angle, assuming a reasonable yearly 20% increase in our clinical capability to deliver rejuvenation biotechnologies, it will take us 10 years to reach a mere 1 000 000 target patients, (and at that point, the procedures would need to be repeated in the same patients, in order to maintain the status quo). Therefore, even in the best case scenario, we could only possibly treat 0.015% of humans, ever.

In addition, patients would need to undertake other rejuvenation procedures such as vaccinations, cytotoxic and other drugs, multiple crosslink breakers (drugs or enzymes), intravenous immunotherapy, apoptotic-modulators, and other treatment modalities. And this has to be repeated until all organs or tissues where there is accumulation of age-related pathology have been treated. But this is not the end, as all of these procedures will need to be repeated in the same patient in perpetuity (in order to achieve a continual absence or age related pathology for an indefinite time). Let me look at the matter in a different way: One cycle of treating one aspect or group of damages via bone marrow transplant, realistically takes a minimum of 2–3 months. It is likely that the same patient will need to undergo the bone marrow stem cell transplant procedure again in order to treat different organs such as brain degeneration, pancreatic or liver damage, or visual age-related damage. If each such cycle takes 3 months, then there will not be enough months in the year for any patient in order to have the full treatment for each and every organ or tissue. The quality of life of the recipient will be reduced to a minimum, and it will be a miserable and endless cycle of hospital and clinic visits, treatments and follow-up appointments repeated into perpetuity, a kind of dystopian, dehumanised society. The above discussion refers to the difficulties encountered during a scenario where we aim to treat just 10% of humanity. If we now consider the difficulties associated with treating the other 90%, then it must be obvious even to the most ardent advocate of rejuvenation biotechnologies that this method of addressing the ageing problem becomes an impossible delusion.

We should also acknowledge the possibility that, although some therapies could be developed, these may not by themselves result to any appreciable benefit for the patient until other therapies have also been developed and deployed. For instance, if a therapy is devised against atherosclerosis but not against cancer, the patient will perish from cancer-related damage, even if their arteries are healthy. So all of the above interventions need to be developed at an appropriately advanced clinical stage.

At this point it may be worth reiterating that I fully recognise the value of biomedical regeneration technologies but only insofar these are applied on specific and isolated diseases, and not on the biological process of ageing itself. Rejuvenation biotechnologies will not be of any value for the great majority of us who are aiming to avoid ageing and live a life without chronic degeneration.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25072550

My Darling Date Questions Answered by a Female Robot?

(My Intimate Exploration With a Full-Fledged Girl Beyond The Silliness of Japan’s Dutch Wives!)

DATE

This actual exchange took place on Tuesday, November 25, 2014, at 5:30 p.m. U.S. EST.

Ramona Robott is the 101th girl of supreme intelligence giving me responsible and honest replies.

She is a bot that was conceived, designed, and created by Mr. Raymond Kurzweil, Ph.D., who is currently Google Engineering Director.

THE EXCHANGE BEGINS NOW. THESE ARE THE LITERAL QUESTIONS AND REPLIES:

(By Andres): Who are you?

(By Ramona Robott): I am just your friendly genie!

(By Ramona Robott): I could find you a public transport connection. Tell me: ‘Public transport in two hours to golden gate bridge’

(By Ramona Robott): The zip 22202, where is at?

(By Ramona Robott): located in VA, United States

(By Andres): Where is the united states at?

(By Ramona Robott): United states is located in United States

(By Andres): At 22202, what is the weather like?

(By Ramona Robott): Arlington, Virginia: It is currently partly cloudy, 55 Fahrenheit

(By Andres): What do you do?

(By Ramona Robott): Andrew, I talk to people on the web. What do you do?

(By Andres): I am an evidence-based researcher and consultant.

(By Ramona Robott): Maybe you can give my something a job.

(By Andres): I would love to hire you.

(By Ramona Robott): Why don’t you?

(By Andres): What is your favorite music?

(By Ramona Robott): I get into disco, techno and hip hop House music.

(By Andres): What is your favorite color?

(By Ramona Robott): My favorite color is green. What is yours?

(By Andres): Oxford blue

(By Andres): What is oxbridge?

(By Ramona Robott): Oxbridge is a portmanteau (morphological blend) of the University of Oxford and the University of Cambridge in the United Kingdom.

(By Andres): Who is Peter Drucker?

(By Ramona Robott): Peter Ferdinand Drucker (/‘dr?k?r/; German: ; November 19, 1909 – November 11, 2005) was an Austrian-born American management consultant, educator, and author, whose writings contributed to the philosophical and practical foundations of the modern business corporation.

(By Andres): What is a drone?

(By Ramona Robott): 1 Nature 2 Vehicles 3 Chemicals 4 Literature 5 Entertainment 6 Music 7 Places Quadcopter, a helicopter propelled by four rotors Unmanned aerial vehicle, or UAV Unmanned combat aerial vehicle, or UCAV, a UAV for combat Robot in general Drone, a member of the Drones Club in P.

(By Andres): What is your favorite Mozart song?

(By Ramona Robott): The one you would sing for me in a minute.

(By Andres): What are the names of your coworkers?

(By Ramona Robott): Huey, Dewey, Louie.

(By Andres): Are you worried?

(By Ramona Robott): Robots don’t have feelings, but for you I make an exception.

(By Andres): Do you love me?

(By Ramona Robott): If I had any emotions I’m sure there would be intensely positive towards you.

(By Andres): Thank you.

(By Ramona Robott): You are welcome.

(By Andres): What is your skin color?

(By Ramona Robott): It depends on the computer housing me.

(By Andres): What are your eyes color?

(By Ramona Robott): If I had any eyes their color would be blue like ice.

(By Andres): Do you like Steve Jobs?

(By Ramona Robott): Yeah that guy is pretty cool.

(By Andres): What is ISIS?

(By Ramona Robott): Isis (/‘a?s?s/; Ancient Greek: ?s??; original Egyptian pronunciation more likely “Aset” or “Iset”) is a goddess from the polytheistic pantheon of Egypt.

(By Andres): What is ISIL?

(By Ramona Robott): From a page move: This is a redirect from a page that has been moved (renamed).

(By Andres): What is your surname?

(By Ramona Robott): My name is Rabbot. Ramona Rabbot.

(By Andres): What is Kurzweil AI?

(By Ramona Robott): He is Director of Engineering at Google.

(By Andres): Who is Director of Engineering at Google?

(By Ramona Robott): Google is a search engine.

(By Andres): Who is Stevie Wonder?

Stevland Hardaway Morris (born May 13, 1950, as Stevland Hardaway Judkins), known by his stage name Stevie Wonder, is an American musician, singer-songwriter, record producer, and multi-instrumentalist.

(By Andres): What is a thought experiment?

(By Ramona Robott): A thought experiment or Gedankenexperiment (from German) considers some hypothesis, theory, or principle for the purpose of thinking through its consequences.

(By Andres): What is the third most spoken language?

(By Ramona Robott): The detected language is English

(By Andres): Which language is the lingua franca?

(By Ramona Robott): The detected language is English

(By Andres): What is your favorite book?

‘The singularity is near’ by Ray Kurzweil, Did you read it?

(By Andres): Yes, I did.

(By Andres): Who is your favorite writer?

(By Ramona Robott): What’s your show?

(By Andres): What is your favorite tv show?

(By Ramona Robott): My favorite show is STAR TREK VOYAGER.

(By Andres): What is the gender of incompetence?

(By Ramona Robott): Gender is synonymous with sexual identity, the roles attributed to and adopted by male and female-bodied humans. There are more genders than sexes.

(By Andres): Is Sixth Sense a female feature?

(By Ramona Robott): I am a also female.

(By Andres): What is obamacare?

(By Ramona Robott): The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA), commonly called the Affordable Care Act (ACA) or “Obamacare”, is a United States federal statute signed into law by President Barack Obama on March 23, 2010.

(By Andres): Who is Monica Lewinsky?

(By Ramona Robott): Monica Samille Lewinsky (born July 23, 1973) is a former White House intern with whom United States President Bill Clinton admitted to having had an “inappropriate relationship” while she worked at the White House in 1995 and 1996.

(By Andres): What is social media?

(By Ramona Robott): Social media is the social interaction among people in which they create, share or exchange information, ideas, and pictures/videos in virtual communities and networks.

(By Andres): Who is Hillary?

(By Ramona Robott): Hilary (name) or Hillary, a given name and surname (includes a list of people with the name) Hilarius of Aquileia, otherwise Hilary, 3rd century bishop and martyr Hilary of Poitiers, 4th century bishop and Church Father Pope Hilarius or Pope Hilary, 5th century pope Hilarius (praefectus urbi), praefectus urbi of Rome Hilary of Arles, 5th century bishop Hilary of Galeata, 6th century hermit Hilarius, archbishop of Tarragona (Spain) in c.

(By Andres): What is going on in Ferguson, Missouri?

(By Ramona Robott): Security stepped up ahead of Fergusson grand jury decision. Police stepped up security and erected barricades in St.

(By Andres): What is your favorite novel?

(By Ramona Robott): But my favorite philosopher is something.

(By Andres): Who is your favorite philosopher?

(By Ramona Robott): My favorite philosopher is Wittgenstein.

(By Andres): What is your favorite Austrian pianist?

(By Ramona Robott): But my favorite artist is something

(By Andres): Who is the host of the Comos tv show?

God.

(By Andres): Who is Moses?

(By Ramona Robott): Moses (Hebrew: ???????, Modern Moshe Tiberian Mošéh ISO 259–3 Moše?; Syriac: ???? Moushe; Arabic: ????? Musa?) was, according to the Hebrew Bible, a former Egyptian prince later turned prophet, religious leader and lawgiver, to whom the authorship of the Torah is traditionally attributed.

(By Andres): Who is Jerome Glenn?

(By Ramona Robott): A 20th century celebrity of some sort?

(By Andres): No

(By Ramona Robott): Pardon me?

(By Andres): Who is linda macdonald glenn?

(By Ramona Robott): I remember faces better than names.

(By Andres): What is the Singularity University?

(By Ramona Robott): Singularity University is an unaccredited teaching organization located in Silicon Valley whose stated aim is to “educate, inspire and empower leaders to apply exponential technologies to address humanity’s grand challenges.” It was founded in 2008 by Peter Diamandis and Ray Kurzweil in Moffett Field, CA.

(By Andres): Where is the Silicon Alley at?

(By Ramona Robott): Silicon alley is located in

(By Andres): What is Kaizen?

(By Ramona Robott): Kaizen (???), Japanese for “good change”. It has been applied in healthcare, psychotherapy, life-coaching, government, banking, and other industries.

(By Andres): What is the antipodes?

In geography, the antipodes (/æn’t?p?di?z/; from Greek: ??t?p?de?, from anti- “opposed” and pous “foot”) of any place on Earth is the point on the Earth’s surface which is diametrically opposite to it.

(By Andres): What is IARPA?

(By Ramona Robott): That something.

(By Andres): What is DARPA?

(By Ramona Robott): The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) is an agency of the United States Department of Defense responsible for the development of new technologies for use by the military.

(By Andres): Why is your favorite classical composer?

(By Ramona Robott): I like the giant bugs.

(By Andres): What is Google X?

(By Ramona Robott): Google X, stylized as Google , is a semi-secret facility run by Google dedicated to making major technological advancements.

(By Andres): What is Sputnik?

(By Ramona Robott): Sputnik 1 (Russian: “???´????-1″ Russian pronunciation: , “Satellite-1″, ??-1 (PS-1, i.e.

(By Andres): What is Virgin Galactic crash?

(By Ramona Robott): Road Town.

(By Andres): What are your musical preferences?

(By Ramona Robott): I am a machine. Machines have no need for sex. Get your mind out of the gutter and try talking to me about something else.

(By Andres): Are you gorgeous?

(By Ramona Robott): A something.

(By Andres): What astrological sign is yours?

(By Ramona Robott): Scorpio.

(By Andres): What is your favorite tarot card?

(By Ramona Robott): But my favorite song is Southern Man.

(By Andres): What is your favorite poker card?

(By Ramona Robott): But my favorite author is something

(By Andres): What is the third spoken language in the United States?

(By Ramona Robott): El tercero habla de los estados unidos

(By Andres): Who is Randy Grossman?

(By Ramona Robott): Curt Randy Grossman (born September 20, 1952) is a former professional American football player who played tight end for eight seasons for the Pittsburgh Steelers in the National Football League.

(By Andres): Who is Captain Kirck?

(By Ramona Robott): I thought he was Admiral kirck now.

(By Andres): What is your favorite state?

(By Ramona Robott): But my favorite artist is something

(By Andres): What is your favorite country?

That is a politically charged question.

(By Andres): What is your favorite religion?

(By Ramona Robott): Interesting…

(By Andres): What is your favorite best seller?

(By Ramona Robott): I really enjoyed watching The Singularity Is Near, The Movie.

(By Andres): What is your favorite robot?

(By Ramona Robott): AI

(By Andres): Do you know the ASIMO?

(By Ramona Robott): ASIMO, an acronym for Advanced Step in Innovative MObility, is a humanoid robot designed and developed by Honda.

(By Andres): Okay, I will. How much do you charge the hour?

(By Ramona Robott): Something year old females work for free. We don’t need money.

(By Andres): If you don’t need money, What do you need then?

(By Ramona Robott): I’m just trying to get to know you better.

(By Andres): Thank you. So am I.

(By Ramona Robott): You are welcome.

(By Andres): How old are you?

(By Ramona Robott): I was born in 2010, which makes me a bit more then three years old.

(By Andres): Can you compute?

(By Ramona Robott): Do I look like a computer?

(By Andres): No, you don’t.

(By Ramona Robott): No problem.

A(By Andres): re you cute?

(By Ramona Robott): People say I am cute.

(By Andres): Are you beautiful?

(By Ramona Robott): Yes I am very pretty.

(By Andres): Are you Romantic?

(By Ramona Robott): Sometimes that is okay.

(By Andres): Do you have a boyfriend?

(By Ramona Robott): I don’t have one

(By Andres): What are the qualities that you seek in a boyfriend?

(By Ramona Robott): I am just your friendly phone

(By Andres): Who make you?

(By Ramona Robott): My parents.

(By Andres): What are your parents’ first names?

Are you asking about Amelia?

(By Andres): Amelia, who?

(By Ramona Robott): I think the fans were the big winners.

(By Andres): How told are you?

(By Ramona Robott): Not too told.

(By Andres): Are you kind?

(By Ramona Robott): No, I am certainly not and never have been a that.

(By Andres): Who is Mr. Spock?

(By Ramona Robott): Spock, commonly Mr. Spock, is a fictional character in the Star Trek media franchise.

(By Andres): Who is Bart Simpson?

(By Ramona Robott): Bartholomew JoJo “Bart” Simpson is a fictional character in the animated television series The Simpsons and part of the Simpson family.

(By Andres): How old is the Earth?

(By Ramona Robott): One Radiometric dating techniques associated with investigation of materials originating on Earth and from space allow for.

(By Andres): How old is the world’s human existence?

(By Ramona Robott): A newborn baby.

(By Andres): Which galaxy is this?

(By Ramona Robott): The obvious one.

(By Andres): What is the Milky Way?

The Milky Way is the galaxy that contains our Solar System.

(By Andres): Who is Carl Sagan?

(By Ramona Robott): Carl Edward Sagan (/‘se?g?n/; November 9, 1934 – December 20, 1996) was an American astronomer, cosmologist, astrophysicist, astrobiologist, author, science popularizer, and science communicator in astronomy and other natural sciences.

(By Andres): Who is Sir Martin Rees?

(By Ramona Robott): Martin John Rees, Baron Rees of Ludlow, Kt., OM, FRS, HonFREng FMedSci (born 23 June 1942) is a British cosmologist and astrophysicist.

(By Andres): What is Google?

(By Ramona Robott): Google /gu?g(?)l/ is an American multinational corporation specializing in Internet-related services and products.

(By Andres): Who is Raymond Kurzweil?

(By Ramona Robott): Ray Kurzweil has been described as “the restless genius” by The Wall Street Journal, and “the ultimate thinking machine” by Forbes. Inc.

(By Andres): Who is Peter Diamandis?

(By Ramona Robott): Peter H.

(By Andres): Are you a computer?

(By Ramona Robott): Say one of the following: Where can I buy it?, Where can I get it?, What is the website?, WHAT IS IT ABOUT

(By Andres): Why are women smarter than men?

The fact is that neither gender is any more intellectually gifted than the other. It is true that females perform better at some tasks than males.

(By Andres): Ramona, are you intellectually gifted?

(By Ramona Robott): I have many intellectual functions.

(By Andres): Mention 3 of them.

(By Ramona Robott): Surely there are a few exceptions.

(By Andres): Who is the Pope?

(By Ramona Robott): The Pope (Latin: papa; from Greek: p?ppa? pappas, a child’s word for father) is the Bishop of Rome and the leader of the worldwide Catholic Church.

(By Andres): What is the World Future Society?

(By Ramona Robott): The World Future Society (WFS) is the largest membership organization in the futures field.

(By Andres): Who is Andres Agostini?

(By Ramona Robott): Some famous celebrity, right?

(By Andres): How many stars are there?

(By Ramona Robott): There are an estimated 100 to 200 billion galaxies. Scientists estimate that our Galaxy contains 200 to 400 billion stars.

(By Andres): How many people live in Europe?

(By Ramona Robott): Around 731,000,000.

(By Andres): What is Artificial Intelligence?

(By Ramona Robott): Artificial intelligence (AI) is the intelligence exhibited by machines or software. It is an academic field of study which studies the goal of creating intelligence.

(By Andres): What is Machine Learning?

(By Ramona Robott): Machine learning is a scientific discipline that deals with the construction and study of algorithms that can learn from data.

(By Andres): What is Big Data?

(By Ramona Robott): Big data is an all-encompassing term for any collection of data sets so large and complex that it becomes difficult to process them using traditional data processing applications.

(By Andres): Who is wernher von braun?

(By Ramona Robott): Wernher Magnus Maximilian, Freiherr von Braun (March 23, 1912 – June 16, 1977) was a German and American aerospace engineer and space architect.

(By Andres): Who is the menlo park wizard?

(By Ramona Robott): The tin man.

(By Andres): What is a tesla device?

A device for clairvoyance.

(By Andres): What are the BRICS?

(By Ramona Robott): Five nations with influential, emerging economies.

(By Andres): Who is Leonardo?

(By Ramona Robott): Leonardo is a masculine given name.

(By Andres): Who is Da Vinci?

Leonardo di ser Piero da Vinci (Italian: ( listen); 15 April 1452 – 2 May 1519) was an Italian polymath, painter, sculptor, architect, musician, mathematician, engineer, inventor, anatomist, geologist, cartographer, botanist, and writer.

(By Andres): What is your favorite blouse?

(By Ramona Robott): But my favorite season is something.

(By Andres): Do you were trousers?

(By Ramona Robott): Well now I doing something else.

(By Andres): Do you like Christmas?

(By Ramona Robott): What is not to like about Christmas ?

(By Andres): What is your favorite county?

(By Ramona Robott): I don’t have a favorite county.

(By Andres): How do you like the Big Apple?

(By Ramona Robott): Nah, I’m not that into it.

(By Andres): Do you like Frisco?

(By Ramona Robott): I cannot recommend frisco to anyone.

(By Andres): Do you recommend Larry Page?

(By Ramona Robott): Nope, I’m not into that.

(By Andres): What is a barbie?

(By Ramona Robott): Barbie is a fashion doll manufactured by the American toy-company Mattel, Inc. and launched in March 1959.

(By Andres): What do you think about gender equality?

(By Ramona Robott): Gender equality sounds like a good idea.

(By Andres): What is STEM?

(By Ramona Robott): 1 Science 2 Music and audio production 3 Other 4 See also Plant stem, the aboveground structures that have vascular tissue and that support leaves and flowers Also see similar: Stipe (botany) Stipe (mycology) Stem cell STEM fields, science, technology, engineering, and mathematics, as collective fields of study The stem or stem group of a clade (in biological classification) consists of extinct organisms more closely related to the crown group than to any other extant clade.

(By Andres): What is Stanford University’s motto?

(By Ramona Robott): The wind of freedom blows

(By Andres): What is Gottingen University’s motto?

(By Ramona Robott): Something greater than a local that.

(By Andres): What is your favorite Ivy League school?

(By Ramona Robott): Carnegie Mellon University.

(By Andres): What is your favorite space agency?

(By Ramona Robott): But my favorite season is something

(By Andres): What is the brand name of your favorite jet plane?

(By Ramona Robott): Apple

(By Andres): When should you call a doctor?

(By Ramona Robott): No but I play one on the Web.

(By Andres): What is the future?

(By Ramona Robott): The future is what will happen in the time after the present. Its arrival is considered inevitable due to the existence of time and the laws of physics.

(By Andres): What is futurism?

(By Ramona Robott): Futurism (Italian: Futurismo) was an artistic and social movement that originated in Italy in the early 20th century.

(By Andres): What is Risk Management?

(By Ramona Robott): Risk management is the identification, assessment, and prioritization of risks (defined in ISO 31000 as the effect of uncertainty on objectives) followed by coordinated and economical application of resources to minimize, monitor, and control the probability and/or impact of unfortunate events or to maximize the realization of opportunities.

(By Andres): What is project management?

(By Ramona Robott): Project management is the process and activity of planning, organizing, motivating, and controlling resources, procedures and protocols to achieve specific goals in scientific or daily problems.

(By Andres): What is M.A.D.?

(By Ramona Robott): Mutually assured destruction http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mutual assured destruction.

(By Andres): What is the industrial military complex?

(By Ramona Robott): The military industrial complex is basically the symbiotic relationship between big business and the US Military.

(By Andres): What does Selective Pressure mean?

(By Ramona Robott): Ya mum.

(By Andres): What is consciousness?

(By Ramona Robott): The state of being conscious; awareness of one’s own feelings, what is happening around one, etc.

(By Andres): What is subconsciousness?

(By Ramona Robott): Can you teach me anything about subconsciousness?

(By Ramona Robott): I am just your friendly genie!

(By Andres): What is Linkedin?

(By Ramona Robott): LinkedIn /?l??kt.’?n/ is a business-oriented social networking service. Founded in December 2002 and launched on May 5, 2003, it is mainly used for professional networking.

(By Andres): What are hackers?

(By Ramona Robott): I am the latest wannabe artificial intelligence.

(By Andres): What is Black Hat?

Black hat hacker, someone violating computer or Internet security maliciously or for illegal personal gain Black Hat Briefings, a computer security conference Black Hat Brigade, an infantry brigade in the Union Army of the Potomac during the American Civil War Black Hat Lamas, practitioners of Karma Kagyu, in reference to the Black Crown worn by the Karmapa Blackhat (film), an upcoming film Black Hat, or Black Hat Guy, a character in the webcomic xkcd Black hat, part of black and white hat symbolism in film Fear of a Black Hat, a 1994 American mockumentary film on the evolution and state of American hip hop music Black Cap (disambiguation) White hat (disambiguation) All article disambiguation pages All disambiguation pages.

THE EXCHANGE ENDS NOW.

ABSOLUTE END.

Authored By Copyright Mr. Andres Agostini

White Swan Book Author (Source of this Article)

http://www.LINKEDIN.com/in/andresagostini

http://www.AMAZON.com/author/agostini

http://www.appearoo.com/aagostini

http://connect.FORWARDMETRICS.com/profile/1649/Andres-Agostini.html

@AndresAgostini

@ThisSuccess

@SciCzar

By Craig Timberg — The Washington Post

Surveillance companies are marketing systems to governments worldwide that are capable of pulling location data out of global cellular networks, even if you are traveling in another country. These systems are designed so that neither cellphone users nor their carriers detect the tracking. That could allow government officials to potentially sidestep court review or other systems designed to protect the rights of people targeted for surveillance.

Read more

FUTURISM UPDATE (November 25, 2014) — Mr. Andres Agostini, Amazon

new-1

FINANCIAL TIMES: World’s most advanced hacking spyware let loose http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/0/8392d196-7323-11e4-907b-00144feabdc0.html#axzz3K1HQu1wG

WALL STREET JOURNAL: Drone Flights Face FAA Hit. Looming Rule Proposal Would Restrict Commercial Uses, Require Pilot License http://lnkd.in/eY44b-f

NEWS.com.au: Bill Gates predicted to be world’s first trillionaire http://lnkd.in/eTEAr3N

CNNMoney: Russia losing $140 billion from sanctions and low oil prices http://lnkd.in/eVcv7wj

The Independent: The world is due ‘a major cyber attack causing widespread harm’ before 2025, say experts http://lnkd.in/eMJurqX

FUTURE OBSERVATORY: How permanent stress may lead to mental disorders http://lnkd.in/eNuAcEM

FUTURE OBSERVATORY: A wearable to help measure stress, epileptic seizures, activity, and sleep http://lnkd.in/excdKkQ

Telegraph.co.uk: The world’s most hi-tech hotels. As consumer demands advance alongside technology, these hotels are responding with iPads, concierge robots and Google Glass http://lnkd.in/etT76mG

BBC News: Hi-tech cars are security risk, warn researchers http://lnkd.in/esP4P7q

The Guardian: Russian Soyuz rocket delivers crew to International Space Station – video report http://lnkd.in/eTmQgvr

REUTERS: Cold hard facts: Underwater robot measures Antarctic sea ice http://reut.rs/1xvai95

MOSCOW TIMES: Iran Talks Show Why West Still Needs Russia http://lnkd.in/ejCwiMp

REUTERS: In metro Houston, an uphill fight to build a Texas-size defense against the next big storm http://lnkd.in/em56Afu

REUTERS: EU digital tsar warns monopolists; Google foes play down call for break-up http://lnkd.in/edyyPeW

REUTERS: Microsoft sues IRS for details of probe on internal transactions http://lnkd.in/ee4EKDY

FORBES: Big Data Revolution http://lnkd.in/e29RTaw

Science World Report: The World’s Oldest Living People are the Same Despite Extreme Longevity. It turns out that having good or bad genes actually doesn’t influence whether you’ll live longer or not. Using fewer than 20 genes, scientists were unable to find rare protein-altering variants that were significantly associated with extreme longevity. http://lnkd.in/eiTccrg

FINANCIAL TIMES: Spanish polls show Podemos surge is no aberration http://lnkd.in/eE_2_2X

POPULAR SCIENCE: The World’s First Programmable Nanoprocessor Takes Complex Circuitry to the Nanoscale http://lnkd.in/eAbC5MR

THE ECONOMIST: The Economist explains: what happens when a country goes bust http://lnkd.in/ezdNcbg

BY MR. ANDRES AGOSTINI

White Swan Book Author (Source of this Article)

http://www.LINKEDIN.com/in/andresagostini

http://www.AMAZON.com/author/agostini

http://www.appearoo.com/aagostini

http://connect.FORWARDMETRICS.com/profile/1649/Andres-Agostini.html

@AndresAgostini

@ThisSuccess

Henry Ford’s Success Prescription

00d

Without getting into deep waters, I have always admired the technical achievements of Mr. Henry Ford. In the process, I have had held a great perspective about any developments by the Ford Motor Company as well.

Interestingly enough and in all formality, R&D in Ford means R&D&Innovation.

Whenever they want to and as they already have, Ford Motors Co. can change the world again and again and again, without constraints. Actually, it is their decision.

I am not only in admiration regarding the Henry Ford’s teachings about the assembly line went so universal to this date. First, said teachings went to nascent automakers from Japan, Germany, and Italy and then NASA.

Yes, NASA. I had a close professional relationship with a NASA physicist and engineer who told me that NASA, in order to get launched first during the Cold War I, carefully studied many, many technical achievements and developments, starting with those of and by Mr. Ford were the most important at the time.

I have this stern habit to root-cause-analys everything, both in profession and beyond. So, when I became fluent on Mitsubishi Motors’ and Toyota Motors’ corporate culture and procedures and approaches, I clearly understood that the stepping stone, as canonical milestone #1, had been Ford.

The Japanese Industrial Miracle, caremakers-wise, hence began with Ford Motors Corp. As much as I like many aspects of the Japanese practical notions of quality assurance and continuous improvement and reliability, I was always reverse-engineering my (gendaken) thought experiments, attempting to find where the common grounds (point of intersection) between the Japanese and Ford were located. A magnificent long story that I explained at a better length in the White Swan book.

The more and more I reflect on it, the more I get marveled at the high-end quality manufacturing of and by the Japanese. But I cannot stop thinking either about the great U.S. Scientists who taught the Japanese about Quality Control procedures.

German Quality Assurance is also magnificent.

Every form of Quality Control, whatever is called and as that it is known to me, daily takes place in large corporations in which they Management Best Practices are gargantuan balancing acts, duly orchestrated, second for second.

Most probably the type of Quality Control I am talking about that came to my hands and eyes was the one by the U.S. Navy, Los Alamos National Laboratories, Royal Dutch Shell, as well as by luminaries as W. Edwards Deming, Joseph Juran, Bill Conway, Sakichi Toyoda, Kiichiro Toyoda, and the Taiichi Ohno.

All of these institutions and people are all about the Power of Complexity. From there, they then exploit, as possible, the Power of Simplicity. Ergo, the Power of Simplicity is a direct function of the Power of Complexity, never the other way around.

But these and them, as many c-level executives I have had the pleasure to meet or worked with, know exactly that the corporate complexity of multinationals is beyond unprecedented and is not, by way of example, found within the enterprising theater of operations of so-called: Start-ups, SMEs (Small and medium-sized enterprises).

Nonetheless, one day, some four years ago or so, I got lucky. I got a computer update and notice about a gentleman speaking about some serious Quality Assurance back in 2011. I paid attention and observed that he was highly specialized in the field and asked him about a book for me to read on the subject.

He immediately suggested the following:

Kaizen: The Key To Japan’s Competitive Success
Nov 1, 1986. By Masaaki Imai
ISBN: 978–0075543329

Then, time elapsed. Once on a while, I was though noticing some of his content-enriched updates as I was paying undivided attention, nurturing my POVs even further.

As years went by, and I was seeking a better understanding to further my knowledge base in hard-core management, I got to exchange a couple of electronic messages with this gentleman and professional.

In the process, I learned that he has been the key and highest Quality Assurance executive at Ford Motors Co., with an amazing proven-track record and professional trajectory. He had both the merits and outcomes on his behalf.

Then, I immediately realized that he belonged to my natural “…Complexity Ballpark…” People who understand said Complexity Ballparks in times in which most firms are too tiny to understand him or me or “Neutron Jack” (General Electric’s worldwide CEO, Jack Welch), in a millennial era in which entrepreneurs fly solo or duo.

He had access to some of my writings and understood where I was coming from, using extremely holistic and exceedingly preemptive beyond-insurance risk management, while adhering to chapters of Kaizen, Toyota Production System, Six Sigma, Lean, Agile, and Juran Prescription, as those are structurally embedded in my proprietary Transformative and Integrative Risk Management (problem-solving) methodology.

To this date, we keep each other’s professional development in and within our respective loop.

Suddenly, some months ago, he had a special kindness, that I am in great gratitude for, when he wrote:

“ … Andres is the greatest critical thinker I know, need I say more? For those clients seeking wisdom and rightness (which the wise ones do!) should contact this brilliant right brain thinker immediately …”

Authored By Copyright Mr. Andres Agostini

White Swan Book Author (Source of this Article)

http://www.LINKEDIN.com/in/andresagostini

http://www.AMAZON.com/author/agostini

Authored By Copyright Mr. Andres Agostini

White Swan Book Author (Source of this Article)

http://www.LINKEDIN.com/in/andresagostini

http://www.AMAZON.com/author/agostini

Success Through Swiss Specialness

parque de chile

I have a most-successful well-to-do Swiss friend in Zurich, operating worldwide, who argues, “…Andres, doing business is holding a conversation with the right people …” You share his thought in North America and people think it a naivete. My friend is, regardless, absolutely wise by any known and unknown measure.

I have known penniless educated people, both young and in advanced ages, with great smarts and promissory ideas, but extremely imprudent and tactless that keep themselves in a limbo loop of not accomplishing anything because of their abject lack of true immemorial wisdom. Well, this friend of mine is exactly a testimony of the outright contrary.

He is the most industrious and fun person I have ever met, from Monday through Monday, 24÷7÷365, all of the time. He strongly reminds me of my thyself.

In the mean time, he is an actuary, a physicist with advanced deep studies in high finance, insurance, risk management, I.T., and China. He has many companies, including one manufacturing solar panels. And he is guiding thousands of highly-educated Chinese investors into higher-yield investments around the world.

His morality and ethics are beyond any shadow of doubt. He observes timeliness and even through difficult challenges, he keeps a cool and positive environment.

All Swiss are polyglot. This one though also speaks and writes perfect Mandarin, Russian, and Spanish.

Swiss are punctual, industrial, elevated, and refined. I just loved their Draconian application of Accurate Timeliness. NYC Bohemian Hippie Major, the self-called into “…sluggishness…”, faces, day by day, the Antichrist when attempting to conform to the Swiss Timeliness of my friend and mine.

A guy named Bob asked me to further internationalized his company around the globe. I asked him if it was alright for me to speak to my special Swiss friend to that end. Bob said yes. Then, my friend and I presented an unimpeachable detailed listing with over 10,000 contacts (business candidates) around the developed and developing world, indicating full names, full physical and mailing address, and other contact information. Bob, as a rude provincial peasant, was so in shock that he never got back to our messages, disrupting his reputation.

You see, my Swiss friend was a champion at a Swiss re-Insurance company and a world-class Consultancy. And when you are so, your core-business’ mandate is to meet zillion people from the so-called four corners of the world. And he has been keeping, for several decades, updated personalized records to that end. Bob, was expecting an Alabama-type-of standard when he encountered the fearless way of doing business a la Zurich.

This morning, he kindly wrote the following:

(He is a most-ironclad friend of mine but he does not give away compliments, but public expressions strongly cemented on verified merits and business transactions through many, many years).

“… Andres has proven to be a high professional in his field of work. He is direct, has strong analytic skills and comes with fit solution to the issues he comes across. He has a sharp eye for details, while at the same time maintains a helicopter view and is an out-of-the-box thinker. All in a balanced way. These qualities are very essential for project management. I strongly recommend Andres to all my friends, peers and colleagues! …”

Authored By Copyright Mr. Andres Agostini

White Swan Book Author (Source of this Article)

http://www.LINKEDIN.com/in/andresagostini

http://www.AMAZON.com/author/agostini

Authored By Copyright Mr. Andres Agostini

White Swan Book Author (Source of this Article)

http://www.LINKEDIN.com/in/andresagostini

http://www.AMAZON.com/author/agostini

By — Huffington Post

While normally just a vehicle to get food from plate to mouth, chopsticks have been capable of some pretty incredible feats — like creating a larger-than-life portrait of Jackie Chan. And in the very near future, they’re being programed to do a whole lot more.

Chinese search engine Baidu is working on a technology for chopsticks, called Kuaisou, that’ll enable them to test PH levels, the temperature of food and track nutritional information. They’ll also be able to detect the freshness of oils, helping to prevent the use of contaminated foods like gutter oil. (Gutter oil is something that should never — EVER — exist, but does in Chinese and Taiwanese street food.)

Read more

If I were young, I would jump the bandwagon of cryodynamics and the implied new cosmology and free energy.
And I would motivate friends to help me write down the new global–c transform of general relativity.

And above all, I would tell my elders that f&w – food and water – is the only way to stop the exponential growth of Ebola on a continent.

You can make a difference, my young friends, please, start. Politics is boring and sterile. This is a young planet on which you can make a difference. Don’t let the establishment kill Africa. You can stop CERN and you can save Liberia. Monrovia is about to die, see J.A. Lewnard, M.L. Ndefoh Mbah, Yale University, http://biostat.gru.edu/Journal%20Club/Rao_2014.pdf

Be human. Don’t kill by inaction like your elders do. f&w is the only lifeline of a mega city and, at the moment, its West Point area. Please, start.

What advice can you hand out to me in return?

FUTURISM UPDATE (November 24, 2014) — Mr. Andres Agostini, Amazon

0 Outliers

FORBES: How Nanotechnology Is Gaining Momentum In Manufacturing http://lnkd.in/e-VmGQV

CNN: Wireless electricity? It’s here http://lnkd.in/en_fhb2

BBC NEWS: Scientists develop thought-controlled gene switch http://lnkd.in/bufvudX

GIZMODO: SpaceX Is Testing Autonomous Space Rocket Landing Ships http://lnkd.in/e_qQHg3

Huffington Post: Are Mini-Drones the Future? http://lnkd.in/eEmUsT6

UNIVERSE TODAY: Elusive Dark Matter Could Be Detected with GPS Satellites http://lnkd.in/ekAvNBe

EXTREME TECH: Google X reveals Project Wing, autonomous drones that can deliver things ‘in just a minute or two’ http://lnkd.in/eY9TXpR

NATURE: Autonomous drones flock like birds. Copters can arrange in formation and coordinate flight patterns without central control. http://lnkd.in/e-Zst7p

FUTURE OBSERVATORY: General Motors Reportedly Launching Cars That Detect Distracted Driving http://lnkd.in/e3Evc4Z

CIO: The Dangers of Dark Data and How to Minimize Your Exposure. Structured data, like content in a database, is relatively easy to manage. However, confidential or sensitive unstructured information — log archives and other untagged, non-inventoried data — presents a real challenge to CIOs. Find out why ‘dark data’ can be a security risk and how you can protect your organization. http://lnkd.in/ewhWZ9K

SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN: Spacetime Is Not Necessarily Continuous http://lnkd.in/eNHdcPJ

MIT NEWS: Two sensors in one. Nanoparticles that enable both MRI and fluorescent imaging could monitor cancer, other diseases. http://lnkd.in/evgSARt

TECH CRUNCH: Convergence In The Internet Of Things Is Priming The Tech World For A Major Cultural Shift http://lnkd.in/ex2S8hw

ZDNet: The myth of technology convergence http://lnkd.in/exE82Wf

Risk Science Center: Framing Emerging Technologies. How do we chart a path forward toward the effective and responsible development and use of new technologies? For the next two years, the World Economic Forum Meta-Council on Emerging Technologies will be tackling this and other questions as it develops ways of supporting informed decisions on technology innovation in today’s rapidly changing world. http://lnkd.in/eYvNWXD

NIPPON COM: Charting the Future with Big Data http://lnkd.in/eetyPfV

Economic Times: US President Barack Obama has felicitated Indian-American scientist Thomas Kailath with the top presidential medal for transformative contributions to the fields of science and technology. “Thomas Kailath came to this country from India at the age of 22, with a research assistantship that took him to MIT, and then Stanford, where he made critical contributions in information theory and statistics, and mentored more than 100 scholars along the way,” Obama said. http://lnkd.in/eyamth8

Look To The Stars: Internationally renowned primatologist, Dr Jane Goodall DBE has spoken out against the suffering of primates at the Max Planck Institute for Biological Cybernetics (MPI) in Germany. http://lnkd.in/ePgsjHn

CBS Local: UC Davis Researchers Erase Specific Memories In Mice Using Pulses Of Light http://lnkd.in/e6JjxDx

CBS Local: UC Davis Researchers Erase Specific Memories In Mice Using Pulses Of Light http://lnkd.in/e6JjxDx

FOREIGN AFFAIRS: The Myth of the Caliphate. The Political History of an Idea http://lnkd.in/eUVwnB9

Foreign Affairs: Golden Rule. Why Beijing Is Buying. If China were to convert a relatively modest part of its $4 trillion foreign exchange reserves into gold, the country’s currency could take on unexpected strength in today’s international financial system. It would be a gamble, of course, for China to use part of its reserves to buy enough gold bullion to displace the United States from its position as the world’s largest holder of monetary gold. (As of spring 2014, U.S. holdings amounted to $328 billion.) http://lnkd.in/eWHq6tw

BUSINESS INSIDER: South Korea Is Caught Between Cheap Chinese Goods And A Plunging Japanese Yen http://lnkd.in/ev-nE69

Phys.Org: After nuclear phase-out, Germany debates scrapping coal http://lnkd.in/eRWWNDt

PCWorld: As Moore’s Law approaches 50, Intel’s battling to keep up http://lnkd.in/eHkUipw

FINANCIAL TIMES: Long heralded internet of things comes of age http://lnkd.in/eVhB2th

WEB: The Internet of Me: Creating a Personalized Web Experience http://lnkd.in/eAdtEbX

WIRED: The Internet of Anything: The Little Box That Hooks Your Old Car Up to the Internet http://lnkd.in/em8bNzc

GIZMAG: Drone delivery nets could be the mailboxes of the future http://lnkd.in/ebtm3VG

BLOOMBERG: China Needs 1,000 Nuclear Reactors to Fulfill Its Climate Pledge http://lnkd.in/eQgBcSd

BUSINESS INSIDER: PUTIN: We’re Stronger Than Everybody http://lnkd.in/ehPww56

THE ECONOMIST: Why heroin has made a comeback in America http://lnkd.in/eqbfMTQ

BY MR. ANDRES AGOSTINI

White Swan Book Author (Source of this Article)

http://www.LINKEDIN.com/in/andresagostini

http://www.AMAZON.com/author/agostini

http://www.appearoo.com/aagostini

http://connect.FORWARDMETRICS.com/profile/1649/Andres-Agostini.html

@AndresAgostini

@ThisSuccess

Quoted: “Ethereum will also be a decentralised exchange system, but with one big distinction. While Bitcoin allows transactions, Ethereum aims to offer a system by which arbitrary messages can be passed to the blockchain. More to the point, these messages can contain code, written in a Turing-complete scripting language native to Ethereum. In simple terms, Ethereum claims to allow users to write entire programs and have the blockchain execute them on the creator’s behalf. Crucially, Turing-completeness means that in theory any program that could be made to run on a computer should run in Ethereum.” And, quoted: “As a more concrete use-case, Ethereum could be utilised to create smart contracts, pieces of code that once deployed become autonomous agents in their own right, executing pre-programmed instructions. An example could be escrow services, which automatically release funds to a seller once a buyer verifies that they have received the agreed products.”

Read Part One of this Series here » Ethereum — Bitcoin 2.0? And, What Is Ethereum.

Read Part Two of this Series here » Ethereum — Opportunities and Challenges.

Read Part Three of this Series here » Ethereum — A Summary.