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A Google self-driving car goes on a test
Automakers intending to bring driverless cars to market need to work as much on software design as mechanical engineering, the researcher leading Nissan Motor Co.’s automated-vehicle program said.

Making cars that are “deliberative” in assessing road conditions, rather than just reactive, requires artificial intelligence, Maarten Sierhuis, director of Nissan’s Silicon Valley research center in Sunnyvale, California, said in an interview. The carmaker, which aims to sell vehicles that can drive themselves by 2020 or sooner, is developing software to read and filter sensor data much as a human brain does, he said.

“What the auto industry has to come to is a shift from thinking about the car as a physical, mechanical system,” Sierhuis said in an interview Tuesday during the Automated Vehicles Symposium in San Francisco. “Autonomy, autonomous systems, is about understanding how humans do that, and then replicating it with software.”

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Gene Therapy Is Used to Adjust Pigs’ Heartbeat http://www.nytimes.com/2014/07/17/health/gene-therapy-used-to-create-biological-pacemaker-in-pigs.html?_r=0

Gene Therapy Is Used to Adjust Pigs’ Heartbeat http://www.nytimes.com/2014/07/17/health/gene-therapy-used-to-create-biological-pacemaker-in-pigs.html?_r=0

Can Tetrahedrite Help Generate Cheap Thermoelectric Energy? http://www.21stcentech.com/tetrahedrite-generate-cheap-energy/

The Future Air Force Is Cooler Than Science Fiction http://www.bloomberg.com/video/the-future-air-force-is-cooler-than-science-fiction-myRkbUytQq2XCBpmp7qzpQ.html

How Superstorm Sandy Gave Rise to Wireless Startup http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-07-17/how-superstorm-sandy-gave-rise-to-wireless-startup.html

REUTERS: Malaysian airliner downed in Ukraine war zone, 295 dead http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/07/17/us-ukraine-crisis-airplane-idUSKBN0FM22N20140717

Pakistan and China: A Precarious Friendship? http://thediplomat.com/2014/07/pakistan-and-china-a-precarious-friendship/

China’s Role in the Middle East http://thediplomat.com/2014/07/chinas-role-in-the-middle-east/

China’s Goals in South America http://thediplomat.com/2014/07/chinas-goals-in-south-america/

Hunting American Spooks: Germany Prepares Further Spying Clampdown http://www.spiegel.de/international/germany/expulsion-of-cia-head-a-sign-of-tougher-german-response-to-spying-a-980912.html

Lunar pits could shelter astronauts, reveal details of how ‘man in the moon’ formed http://phys.org/news/2014-07-lunar-pits-astronauts-reveal-moon.html

Tiniest catch: Scientists’ fishing expedition reveals viral diversity in the sea http://phys.org/news/2014-07-tiniest-scientists-fishing-reveals-viral.html

Microsoft Research demos Project Adam machine-learning object-recognition software http://www.kurzweilai.net/microsoft-research-demos-project-adam-machine-learning-object-recognition-software

The world’s largest domed city http://www.kurzweilai.net/the-worlds-largest-domed-city

Global Trade Forecast Report — HSBC Global Connections https://globalconnections.hsbc.com/global/en/tools-data/trade-forecasts/global

Meet Sverker Johansson, The Man Responsible For Writing 10% Of Wikipedia http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2014/07/15/sverker-johansson-wikiped_n_5587008.html

How Big Data Brings Marketing and Finance Together http://blogs.hbr.org/2014/07/how-big-data-brings-marketing-and-finance-together/

LIRR doc involved in $1 billion disability scam gets 8 years in prison http://www.nydailynews.com/news/crime/lirr-doc-1-billion-scam-8-years-prison-article-1.1628516

Feds declare big win over Cryptolocker ransomware http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/9249728/Feds_declare_big_win_over_Cryptolocker_ransomware

Why enterprise IT pros should fear Apple and IBM http://blogs.computerworld.com/big-data/24150/why-enterprise-it-pros-should-fear-apple-and-ibm

Lifeboat Foundation Worldwide Ambassador White Swan Update and Published Amazon Author by Andres Agostini at www.amazon.com/author/agostini AND www.linkedin.com/in/andresagostini

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Nest’s Tony Fadell on Smart Objects, and the Singularity of Innovation http://mobile.nytimes.com/blogs/bits/2013/11/07/nests-tony-fadell-on-smart-objects-and-the-singularity-of-innovation/

Controlling the Home, Google Style http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2014/07/15/controlling-the-home-google-style/?_php=true&_type=blogs&_r=0

A Robot With a Little Humanity http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2014/07/16/a-robot-with-a-little-humanity/

Criminal Software, Government-Grade Protection http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2014/07/16/criminal-software-government-grade-protection/

Internet Of Things: What’s Holding Us Back http://www.informationweek.com/strategic-cio/it-strategy/internet-of-things-whats-holding-us-back/d/d-id/1235043

Microsoft Slicing 18,000 Jobs: More Change Ahead http://www.informationweek.com/strategic-cio/digital-business/microsoft-slicing-18000-jobs-more-change-ahead/d/d-id/1297364?

PayPal fuels higher eBay revenue even as cyber attack, rivals weigh http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/07/16/us-ebay-results-idUSKBN0FL2L420140716

Humans Already Use Way, Way More Than 10 Percent of Their Brains http://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2014/07/you-already-use-way-way-more-than-10-percent-of-your-brain/374520/

Lifeboat Foundation Worldwide Ambassador White Swan Update and Published Amazon Author by Andres Agostini at www.amazon.com/author/agostini

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Urban Skyfarm concept would provide inner city farming space http://www.gizmag.com/aprilli-design-studio-urban-skyfarm/32954/

Honda’s new ASIMO robot is all grown up http://www.gizmag.com/new-honda-asimo-robot/32977/

DARPA announces Phase 1 of its XS-1 spaceplane program http://www.gizmag.com/darpa-xs-1-spaceplane-phase-design-contracts/32965/

Morphing material could allow robots to switch between hard and soft states http://www.kurzweilai.net/morphing-material-could-allow-robots-to-switch-between-hard-and-soft-states

Stanford Microchip Identifies Diabetes Type, Works in Minutes http://www.medgadget.com/2014/07/stanford-microchip-identifies-diabetes-type-works-in-minutes.html

UK: Let’s Make a Spaceport! http://spectrum.ieee.org/tech-talk/aerospace/space-flight/uk-lets-make-a-spaceport

We Are a Year Away from Pluto Close-up and New Earth 20 Years Away http://www.21stcentech.com/space-updates-year-pluto-close-up-earth-20-years/

Pentagon Starts Space Launch Competition http://pearsonstrategy.com/partners/

Holographic Displays Coming to Smartphones http://spectrum.ieee.org/consumer-electronics/audiovideo/holographic-displays-coming-to-smartphones

Capturing value in global gas: Prepare now for an uncertain future http://www.mckinsey.com/insights/energy_resources_materials/capturing_value_in_global_gas

Digitizing the consumer decision journey http://www.mckinsey.com/insights/marketing_sales/digitizing_the_consumer_decision_journey

REUTERS: U.S. imposes toughest sanctions yet on Russia over Ukraine http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/07/16/us-ukraine-crisis-usa-idUSKBN0FL2AL20140716

REUTERS: PayPal fuels higher eBay revenue even as cyber attack, rivals weigh http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/07/16/us-ebay-results-idUSKBN0FL2L420140716

Where You Live on Earth Matters http://www.21stcentech.com/live-earth-matters/

Lifeboat Foundation Worldwide Ambassador White Swan Update and Published Amazon Author by Andres Agostini at www.amazon.com/author/agostini

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How machine learning is saving lives while saving hospitals money http://gigaom.com/2014/07/14/how-machine-learning-is-saving-lives-while-saving-hospitals-money/

Meet the algorithm that can learn “everything about anything” http://gigaom.com/2014/05/23/meet-the-algorithm-that-can-learn-everything-about-anything/

Three Teams To Develop Spaceplane Concepts for DARPA http://www.spacenews.com/article/military-space/41263three-teams-to-develop-spaceplane-concepts-for-darpa

Wisconsin scientists find genetic recipe to turn stem cells to blood http://www.news.wisc.edu/22991

Novartis to license Google “smart lens” technology http://www.marketwatch.com/story/novartis-to-license-google-smart-lens-technology-2014-07-15

Google Unveils Smart Contact Lens Project to Monitor Glucose http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-01-17/google-unveils-smart-contact-lens-project-to-monitor-glucose.html

GE to Develop High-Volume 3-D Printer Plant for Jet Engine Parts http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-07-15/ge-to-develop-high-volume-3-d-printer-plant-for-jet-engine-parts.html

FORBES: Leadership, Talent And Personality: Three Lessons From The World Cup Final http://onforb.es/1mOqgte

REUTERS: HP interim Chairman Ralph Whitworth resigns to focus on health http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/07/15/us-hewlettpackard-chairman-idUSKBN0FK1DU20140715

REUTERS: U.S. FCC extends 1st deadline to comment on net neutrality http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/07/15/us-usa-internet-neutrality-idUSKBN0FK28J20140715

Lifeboat Foundation Worldwide Ambassador White Swan Update and Published Amazon Author by Andres Agostini at www.amazon.com/author/agostini

.@hjbentham . @clubofinfo. @dissidentvoice_ . @ieet. #scifi. #philosophy. #ethics.
Literature has served an indispensable purpose in exploring ethical and political themes. This remains true of sci-fi and fantasy, even if there is such a thing as reading too much politics into fictional work or over-analyzing.


Since Maquis Books published The Traveller and Pandemonium, a novel authored by me from 2011–2014, I have been responding as insightfully as possible to reviews and also discussing the book’s political and philosophical themes wherever I can. Set in a fictional alien world, much of this book’s 24 chapters are politically themed on the all too real human weakness of infighting and resorting to hardline, extremist and even messianic plans when faced with a desperate situation.

The story tells about human cultures battling to survive in a deadly alien ecosystem. There the human race, rather than keeping animals in cages, must keep their own habitats in cages as protection from the world outside. The human characters of the story live out a primitive existence not typical of science-fiction, mainly aiming at their own survival. Technological progress is nonexistent, as all human efforts have been redirected to self-defense against the threat of the alien predators.

Even though The Traveller and Pandemonium depicts humanity facing a common alien foe, the various struggling human factions still fail to cooperate. In fact, they turn ever more hostilely on each other even as the alien planet’s predators continue to close in on the last remaining human states. At the time the story is set, the human civilization on the planet is facing imminent extinction from its own infighting and extremism, as well as the aggressive native plant and animal life of the planet.

The more sinister of the factions, known as the Cult, preaches the pseudo-religious doctrine that survival on the alien world will only be possible through infusions of alien hormones and the rehabilitation of humanity to coexist with the creatures of the planet at a biological level. However, there are censored side effects of the infusions that factor into the plot, and the Cult is known for its murderous opposition to anyone who opposes its vision.

The only alternative seems to be a second faction, but it is equally violent, and comes under the leadership of an organization who call themselves the Inquisitors. In their doctrine, humans must continue to isolate themselves from the alien life of the planet, but this should extend to exterminating the alien life and the aforementioned Cult that advocates humans transmuting themselves to live safely on the planet.

I believe that this aspect of the story, a battle between two militant philosophies, serves well to capture the kind of tension and violent irrationality that can engulf humanity in the face of existential risks. There is no reason to believe that hypothetical existential risks to humanity such as a deadly asteroid impact, an extraterrestrial threat, runaway global warming, alien contact or a devastating virus would unite the planet, and there is every reason to believe that it would divide the planet. It is often the case that the more argument there is for authority and submission to a grand plan in order to survive, the greater the differences of opinion and the greater the potential for divergence and conflict.

 Social habits, politics, beliefs and even the cultural trappings of the different human cultures clinging to the alien planet are fully represented in the book. In all, the story has had significant time and care put into refining it to create a compelling and believable depiction of life in an inhospitable parallel world, and readers remarked in reviews that it is a “masterclass in world-building”.

 The central character of the story, nicknamed the Traveler, together with his companion, do not really subscribe to either of the extremist philosophies battling over humanity’s fate on the alien planet, but their ideas may be equally strange. Instead, they reject the alien world in which they live. With an almost religious naïveté, they are searching for a “better place”. It is through this part of the plot that the concepts of religious faith and hope are visited. Of course, at all times the reader knows they are right – there is a “better place” only not the religious kind. Ultimately, the quest is for Earth, although the characters have never heard of such a place and have only inferred that it might somehow exist and represent an escape from the hostile planet where they were born.

 Reviewers have acknowledged that by inverting the relationship of humanity and nature so that nature is on the advance and humans are receding and diminishing in the setting of this science-fiction novel, a unique and compelling setting is created. I believe the story offers my best exploration of a number of political and ethical themes, such as how people feel pressured to choose between hardline factions in times of extreme desperation and in the face of existential threats. Science fiction is a worthy medium in which to express and explore not only the future, but some of the most troubling political and philosophical scenarios that have plagued humanity’s past.

By Harry J. Bentham - More articles by Harry J. Bentham

Originally published at Dissident Voice on 9 July 2014

It is a nice game: Pretend that c, the speed of light in the vacuum, were a global constant of nature. Then the Einstein equation assumes a more compact form. And black holes acquire radically new properties. One should not try to produce them down on earth, for example.

Fortunately, this simple game is pure fiction. Presently, Stephen Hawking’s safety guarantee to the planet – the rapid “evaporation” he described – renders miniature black holes innocuous, his recent modifications notwithstanding.

There are some voices that c is indeed globally constant (http://eujournal.org/index.php/esj/article/view/2608/2469 ). Would this be a reason to look at the issue anew for Hawking and others?

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Small E-Airplanes Take Flight but No Commercial Passenger Planes in the Near Future http://www.21stcentech.com/electric-airplanes-flight/

The End of Retirement http://harpers.org/archive/2014/08/the-end-of-retirement/

Roger Schell on long-term computer security research http://intelligence.org/2014/06/23/roger-schell/

Samsung Suspends Ties With Chinese Supplier Over Child Labor http://www.inc.com/associated-press/samsung-suspends-china-supplier-over-child-labor.html?cid=sf01001

Students Create a Bio Printer To Test Drugs on Your Own 3D Printed Human Cells Rather than Animals http://3dprintingindustry.com/2014/07/15/3d-bio-printer-test-drugs/?utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=3dpi%2Btwitter

Survey Roundup: Cybersecurity Complacency Threatens M&A http://blogs.wsj.com/riskandcompliance/2014/07/11/survey-roundup-cybersecurity-complacency-threatens-ma-deals/

Greenland Thaw http://blogs.ei.columbia.edu/tag/greenland-thaw/

Emerging Internet Trends that will Shape the Global Economy http://live.worldbank.org/emerging-internet-trends-global-economy-vint-cerf?hootPostID=0e16e6da8adef766d4c06f002f0dce5b

To Build a Robot Like Star Trek’s Data We Need to Perfect Soft Machine Technology http://www.21stcentech.com/build-robot-data-perfect-soft-machine-technology/

The next big thing in wearable tech may be ear computers http://bit.ly/1nyYu4C

MIT Is Working On T-1000 Style State Shifting Robots With Google’s Robot http://techcrunch.com/2014/07/14/mit-is-working-on-t-1000-style-state-shifting-robots-with-googles-robot-company/Company
To Garden in Space We Need All Kinds of Robots http://www.21stcentech.com/garden-space-kinds-robots/

IBM’s $3 Billion Investment In Synthetic Brains And Quantum Computing http://www.fastcompany.com/3032872/fast-feed/ibms-3-billion-investment-in-synthetic-brains-and-quantum-computing

Low-Power Color Displays http://www.technologyreview.com/news/528816/low-power-color-displays/?utm_campaign=socialsync&utm_medium=social-post&utm_source=linkedin

Miami, the great world city, is drowning while the powers that be look away http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/jul/11/miami-drowning-climate-change-deniers-sea-levels-rising

THE GUARDIAN: How technology in the home can improve health and social care http://www.theguardian.com/business/2014/jul/13/technology-home-improve-health-social-care?CMP=twt_gu

Getting a charge out of water droplets http://newsoffice.mit.edu/2014/getting-charge-out-water-droplets-0714

Qatar spends big on American choppers and missiles http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/checkpoint/wp/2014/07/14/qatar-spends-big-on-american-choppers-and-missiles

Rupert Murdoch Thinks You’re Overreacting About Climate Change http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/checkpoint/wp/2014/07/14/qatar-spends-big-on-american-choppers-and-missiles

Super Size Me: Now You Can 3D Print a Life-sized Model of Yourself http://www.inside3dp.com/super-size-now-can-3d-print-life-sized-model/

BUSINESS INSIDER: Google Has A $500 Million War Chest To Stop Amazon’s Plan For The ‘Showrooming Of Groceries’ http://www.businessinsider.com/google-shopping-express-blocks-amazon-2014-7

Why Is Google Investing Half a Billion Dollars in Shopping Express? http://www.fool.com/investing/general/2014/07/13/why-is-google-investing-half-a-billion-dollars-in.aspx

BBC: WTO rules against US in trade spat with China and India http://www.bbc.com/news/business-28301144

BBC: Sotheby’s and eBay join to offer online auctions http://www.bbc.com/news/business-28301139

BBC: 100 years of commercial aviation http://www.bbc.com/news/business-28295039

BBC: China’s high-speed rail revolution http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-28299462

BBC: Inside the latest Boeing Dreamliner http://www.bbc.com/news/business-28299549

Anti-Missile Defense Systems – Can they work? http://www.21stcentech.com/anti-missile-defense-systems-work/

IBM Pours $3 Billion Into Future of Nanoelectronics http://spectrum.ieee.org/nanoclast/semiconductors/nanotechnology/ibm-pours-3-billion-into-future-of-nanoelectronics

Researchers demonstrate novel, tunable nanoantennas http://phys.org/news/2014-07-tunable-nanoantennas.html

Computer memory that can store about one terabyte of data on a device the size of a postage stamp http://www.kurzweilai.net/rices-silicon-oxide-memories-catch-manufacturers-eye

Harvard Scientists May Have Just Unlocked the Secret to Staying Young Forever http://mic.com/articles/88851/harvard-scientists-may-have-just-unlocked-the-secret-to-staying-young-forever

Get Inside Whisper’s Secret Economy http://www.fastcompany.com/3032951/welcome-to-the-secret-economy?partner=newsletter

This Bot Has Written More Wikipedia Articles Than Anybody http://www.popsci.com/article/science/bot-has-written-more-wikipedia-articles-anybody?src=SOC&dom=fb

REUTERS: Experts report potential software “back doors” in U.S. standards http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/07/15/us-usa-nsa-software-idUSKBN0FK02V20140715

REUTERS: U.S. web companies press demands for net neutrality with FCC http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/07/14/us-usa-internet-neutrality-idUSKBN0FJ0VP20140714

Lifeboat Foundation Worldwide Ambassador White Swan Update and Published Amazon Author by Andres Agostini at www.amazon.com/author/agostini

Written by — Inside 3DP

http://www.inside3dp.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/human-skeleton-163715_640.jpg

Forget those eight-inch mini-me models you can get for £60 if you happen to live near an Asda in Manchester, offering the service. Now, thanks to a firm in China, you can actually own a fully life-sized replica of yourself.

The company is called Qingdao Unique Products Develop Co. Ltd, and in order to print a life-size model, they have developed the world’s largest 3D printer. The Chinese company revealed their life-size 3D printed model and their 3D Wax Statue Printer at the World 3D printing technology Industry Conference and Exposition held in Qingdao in June.

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