What if?

Deus Ex’ Stunning Trailer for Human Revolution

September 18, 2010
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Last Friday I posted a 2009 TED presentation by Juan Enriquez called Homo Evolutis is the Ultimate Reboot. The videos below are 2 trailers for the new Deus Ex: Human Revolution video game. While none of the clips was a part of Juan’s presentation I thought that they could have been a stunning visual representation of at least one scenario of what The Ultimate Reboot may turn out to look like. You may say that this is nothing more but a fictitious trailer for a violent sci fi video game but, more-or-less, this is what others have said about their contemporary science fiction (such as Jules Verne). In time, what was crazy science fiction once has often become reality later. So, what do you think? What are the odds of those clips becoming reality? Will technology replace biology? Related articles [...]

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If Socrates were a Blogger

September 16, 2010

Socrates felt that even though he was born Athenian he was a citizen of the world. During his public trial he remarked that “A man who really fights for justice must lead a private, not a public, life if he is to survive for even a short time” (Plato. Apology. 32a) But what if Socrates were a blogger? Would he fare any better today than 2,500 ago? *** We do not like to be wrong. We rarely assume that we may be wrong. Human nature doesn’t let us feel wrong… When there is a chance that we may be wrong we get angry; we feel frustrated and threatened; our sub-conscious self-defensive mechanisms prevent us from taking the fault in us and thus our self-preservation instincts prevent us from seeing the truth. Even when we know or suspect that we are [...]

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Hawking, Sagan and Clarke on God, The Universe And Everything Else

September 11, 2010

As you know usually I try to leave you with something interesting for the weekend. Today I found this classic video of 3 of the best scientific minds of the 20th century - Carl Sagan, Stephen Hawking, Arthur C. Clarke, discussing God, the Universe and everything else. I enjoyed it immensely and was surprised to find out that Stephen Hawking and his jokes were almost as funny as Douglas Adams in his On Parrots The Universe And Everything… Hope you like it as much as I did. Enjoy!

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The Reuters News Kill-Bot Report

September 8, 2010
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I have posted before on different types of smart weapons for the 21st century. For example, in a 5 part series of articles titled Dawn of the Kill-Bots (see Part 1; Part 2; Part 3; Part 4; Part 5) I argued that despite the high media coverage of the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan what we are (not) witnessing is the rise of armed military robots capable of killing humans. There I claimed that within the history of the human species those conflicts may eventually turn out to be known as the dawn of the kill-bots – the period during which increasingly self-sufficient machines became capable of and started making increasingly autonomous decisions about killing human beings. Thus I speculated that the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan may turn out to be a lot more than merely a chapter in [...]

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Stephen Wolfram: Computing Life, the Universe and Everything

May 18, 2010

This is another cool TED video. Stephen Wolfram, the founder and creator of the Wolfram Alpha search engine, talks about computing the human condition, life, the universe and everything: As attested by the video below I was under the impression that all this has already been computed: But seriously, can we really “compute” (and answer) everything? Or is there more to it all than computation? Related articles by Zemanta Computing a theory of everything: Stephen Wolfram on TED.com (ted.com) Wolfram Alpha’s niche continues to elude (news.cnet.com) Wolfram Alpha Launches Mobile Site, Slashes iPhone App to $2 [Search Engines] (lifehacker.com) Wolfram Alpha Wants to Be a Google Maps for Data (gigaom.com)

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Singularity Art

April 6, 2010

PCB artist Steven Rodrig from PCB Creations makes beautiful sculptures from old printed circuit boards. Here are a few examples: Steve’s message: “Enjoy my sculptures and remember to recycle. There’s beauty within the electronic parts we throw away that’s waiting to be discovered.” To see more visit Steven Rodig’s Gallery here. Is this what one might call Singularity Art? In any case, I have to admit — I love it.

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Mobility 2088 documentary

March 1, 2010

Another one of Honda’s excellent series the Power of Dreams examines the potential modes of transportation in the year 2088. Mobility 2088 is a short doc that runs under 8 minutes yet it manages to take a really long-term look at the most imaginative but potential modes of transportation 80 years from now. Some of the things discussed are the internal combustion engine, alternative sources of fuel and energy, robotic cars, personal jet-packs, magnetic levitation, Google-maps directed personal space-ships and teleportation. What do you think? What will be the prevalent mode of transportation in the year 2088?

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Can you TRANSCEND biology and live long enough to live forever?

January 29, 2010

In 2004, Ray Kurzweil and Terry Grossman, MD, published Fantastic Voyage: Live Long Enough to Live Forever. Their groundbreaking book marshaled thousands of scientific studies to make the case that new developments in medicine and technology will allow us to radically extend our life expectancies and slow down the aging process. In 2009, Ray and Terry published Transcend: Nine Steps to Living Well Forever where they present what they believe to be a practical and enjoyable program which readers can follow in order to live long enough (and remain healthy long enough) to take full advantage of the biotech and nanotech advances that have already begun and will be occurring at an accelerating pace during the years ahead. The program aims to help us TRANSCEND biology and live long enough to live forever. In 2010, Ray and Terry give us [...]

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