“Last week, in the harsh desert climate of Abu Dhabi, construction started on a city that will house 50,000 people and 1,500 businesses but use extremely little energy, and what it does use will come from renewable sources. The initial building is a new research institute that the founders hope will be the seed for the equivalent of a Silicon Valley of the Middle East, only one centered not on information technology but on renewable energy.
The city, which is expected to cost $22 billion, will implement an array of technologies, including thin-film solar panels that serve as the facades and roofing materials for buildings, ubiquitous sensors for monitoring energy use, and driverless vehicles powered by batteries that make cars unnecessary. Indeed, the city’s founders hope that it will serve as a test bed for a myriad of new technologies being proposed to reduce greenhouse-gas emissions.
The new zero-emissions city, which is being built near the city of Abu Dhabi in the center of the United Arab Emirates (UAE), is part of the Masdar Initiative, a $15 billion government-funded investment program designed in part to ensure that the UAE’s prosperity won’t be linked exclusively to its oil. Its leaders say that the project will give the country a leadership position in renewable energy. If it’s successful, says Sultan al Jaber, Masdar’s CEO, “we’ll be sitting on top of the world.”
Why are we not doing this in America? High Tech is changing the world quickly, and old school thinking is going to get america left behind. Its time for Talented, Intelligent, Visionary people to take this country back, and help renew it and lead it into a Great Future. The current leaders, both on stage and behind the curtain only seek to enslave us and our DNA. Help me rise up and herald a new non violent revolution. One based on Human rights, renewed sense of ethics and spirituality, and “Green” Science/Technology.
And many more. The world we live in is changing drastically. It appears that this generation has been given the task to “program” the next epoch of Space/Time. Wielding God like power, we will create an exponential reflection of our intentions and resources. But my question is, Who or What are we Creating?
‘Engineers at Eyebeam, an art and technology center based in New York, have created a scaled-down open-source version of Surface, called Cubit. By sharing the Cubit’s hardware schematics and software source code, the engineers are significantly reducing the cost of owning a multitouch table. But they’re also fostering innovation by giving engineers an open platform on which to develop novel multitouch applications–something that they’ve previously lacked.
Engineers are building inexpensive, tabletop, touch-screen displays and sharing the instructions online. Addie Wagenknecht, a fellow at Eyebeam, designed Cubit in an attempt to “demystify multitouch.” She and her collaborator Stefan Hechenberger “wanted to prove that anyone could build [a multitouch table] if they had a few simple things,” she says. In addition to making Cubit software available online, Wagenknecht is selling various do-it-yourself kits that include parts and instructions, aimed at people with a range of engineering skills. Putting together a personal multitouch table could cost anywhere from $500 to $1,000, depending on the type of hardware used, Wagenknecht says.’
There’s blood in the water, and the sharks are circling. Why is it that when you mess up in this world, there is always someone there to make money? Why is it that when you are sick, there is always someone there to make money? Why is it that when God touches your heart, there is always someone there to make money? Our worlds belief structure creates a self perpetuating vicious cycle of greed and fear. Everyone alive has had a moment where they were down, whether physically or spiritually. Its what you do when you are down that this is all about. Most people break when they are down. They give up, succumb to control, and admit defeat. They allow their lives and energy to be leached off of by the vampires who set this whole system up. Most people become bitter, dwelling on what could have been, or stewing with envy and rage at someone who threw them off course. They forget that light kills Vampires… To have someone tell you about climbing a mountain is one thing, but to climb the mountain yourself, that is a whole other story. Tribulation brings understanding, and understanding brings true compassion. And The Compassionate ONE is what this world is starving for. The Compassionate ONE drives the sharks and vampires away with the power of thought, voice, and action. The power of inner light. Cry not for yourself, cry for the millions oppressed worldwide. Sing the Song of Their Liberty! Take the fear and greed of the vampires and sharks and let it fire up your will to succeed! For the Greatest Revenge is Success!
Will computers think for themselves? Will humans be able to reprogram our own biology, making us “super human”? Will our kids be born into a world where every item is “smart”. Michio Kaku, another one of my favorite modern philosophers and Great Minds tackles these questions in “Visions of the Future: The Intelligence Revolution“
This video does a great job illustrating the vast changes underway on our world. By 2020 a microchip with the computing power of a modern cellphone will cost about $.01. As this draws nearer, chips will begin to be embedded in everythingtruly leading to the “ubiquity era” with thousands of computers per user. Humans will then (if not already) begin hard-wiring our minds with more processing power and altering our DNA to dramatic results. Humans may no longer be Homo Sapien and may self selectively evolve into Cyber Sapiens.
THE SINGULARITY IS NEAR!
Question of the Day: Do you think humans will achieve this great change in our very essence?
Are we living in a computer generated “Matrix”? If so, why would machines, or our future descendants, build such a “Matrix”? One of my favorite modern philosophers and great minds, Nick Bostrom, tackles these very questions in “Why a Matrix? And why you might be in one.”
“Why might they choose to build a Matrix like our reality? One can think of many possible reasons—setting aside the daft idea of using human brains as batteries. But perhaps future historians would create a Matrix that mimicked the history of their own species. They might do this to find out more about their past, or to explore counter-factual historical scenarios. In the world of the Architect(s), Napoleon may have succeeded in conquering Europe, and our world might be a Matrix created to research what would have happened if Napoleon had been defeated. Or perhaps there will be future artists who create Matrices as an art form much like we create movies and operas. Or perhaps the tourist industry will create simulations of interesting historical epochs so that their contemporaries can go on themed holidays to some bygone age by entering into the simulation and interacting with its inhabitants. The possible motives are myriad, and if future people are anything like present people, and if they have the technological might and the legal right to create Matrices, we would expect that many Matrices would be created, including ones that would look like the world that we are experiencing.”
“China has proclaimed itself the world’s largest Internet market, with 221 million Internet users, state media reported Thursday.
With its large population, China made reaching the world’s top mark look easy. China currently has only 16 percent Internet penetration — below the world average of 19.1 percent, and well below the approximately 50 percent penetration in the U.S.”
Below is this week’s summary of pending state and federal legislation and tips to help you become involved in the legislative process.
Washington, DC: US Congressman Barney Frank (D-MA) introduced legislation in Congress Friday to strip the federal government of its authority to arrest responsible adult cannabis consumers. The measure, H.R. 5843, known as an “Act to Remove Federal Penalties for Personal Use of Marijuana by Responsible Adults,” is the first federal decriminalization legislation introduced in 24 years. Frank’s pending bill, co-sponsored by presidential candidate Rep. Ron Paul (R-TX), seeks to eliminate all federal penalties prohibiting the personal use and possession of up to 100 grams (3 1/2 ounces) of marijuana. Under this measure, adults who consume cannabis would no longer face arrest, prison, or even the threat of a civil fine. The bill also eliminates all penalties for the not-for-profit transfers of up to one ounce of pot. All are encouraged to write their representatives in support of this important legislation via NORML’s online advocacy system.
Washington, DC: Representative Ron Paul (R-TX) introduced H.R. 5842, the “Medical Marijuana Patient Protection Act,” earlier today. This bill would make federal authorities respect states’ current laws on medicinal cannabis and end DEA raids on facilities distributing medical marijuana legally under state law. Representative Paul, whose presidential campaign prominently featured the ending of the drug war as a platform plank, was joined by Representative Barney Frank (D-MA) in sponsoring this bill. All NORML supporters are strongly encouraged to write their Representatives in favor of this important bill via NORML’s online advocacy system.
New Hampshire: House Bill 1623, which would decriminalize the possession of small amounts of cannabis, was passed by the House on March 18. The Senate Judiciary Committee will now hold an important hearing on this bill at 3:00 PM on April 22. All supporters are encouraged to attend. Additionally, our allies at NH Common Sense are now encouraging supporters to contact Governor John Lynch directly and urge him to rethink his assertion that he will veto HB 1623 if it reaches his desk. New Hampshire supporters are strongly encouraged to urge their Representatives and the Governor to support these bills via NORML’s online advocacy system.
Big Thanks to Ron Fisher of NORML for this article!
A computer system that can carry on a discussion with a human being by reacting to signals such as tone of voice and facial expression, is being developed by an international team including Queen’s University Belfast.
Known as SEMAINE, the project will build a Sensitive Artificial Listener (SAL) system, which will perceive a human user’s facial expression, gaze, and voice and then engage with the user. When engaging with a human, the SAL will be able to adapt its own performance and pursue different actions, depending on the non-verbal behaviour of the user.
It currently costs roughly $60,000 to sequence a human genome, and a handful of research groups are hoping to achieve a $1,000 genome within the next three years. But two companies, Complete Genomics and BioNanomatrix, are collaborating to create a novel approach that would sequence your genome for less than the price of a nice pair of jeans–and the technology could read the complete genome in a single workday. “It would have been absolutely impossible to think about this project 10 years ago,” says Radoje Drmanac, chief scientific officer at Complete Genomics, which is based in Mountain View, CA.
The most recent figures for sequencing a human genome are $60,000 in about six weeks, as reported by Applied Biosystems last month. (That’s down from $3 billion for the Human Genome Project, which was sequenced using traditional methods and finished in 2003, and about $1 million for James Watson’s genome, sequenced using a newer, high-throughput approach and released last year.) But scientists are still racing to develop methods that are fast and cheap enough to allow everyone to get their genomes sequenced, thus truly ushering in the era of personalized medicine…
The technology necessary to achieve a $100 genome is still at least five years away, says George Church, a geneticist at Harvard Medical School, in Boston, and a member of Complete Genomics’ scientific advisory board. “But [it's] coming from a company that has an almost-as-good technology coming out this year.”
Both Drmanac and Boyce-Jacino say that one of the biggest advantages of their technology will be the ability to sequence very long strands of DNA. The newest sequencing technologies in use today read DNA in fairly short spurts, from about 30 to 200 letters, which are then stitched together by a computer. This approach works well for some applications, such as resequencing a known genome. But a growing number of studies suggest that the small structural changes in DNA, such as deletions or inversions of short sequences, play a significant role in human variability, says Jeff Schloss, program director for technology development at the National Human Genome Research Center, in Bethesda, MD. “Those are much harder to pick up with short reads.”
Longer reads will also allow scientists to look at collections of genetic variations that have been inherited together, known as haplotypes. This kind of analysis can determine if a particular genetic variation has been passed down from the individual’s mother or father. Recent research suggests that in some cases, maternal or paternal inheritance can impact the severity of the disease. With new tools to better track inheritance patterns, scientists may discover that this phenomenon is more common than previously thought. “That’s one reason we’re hoping that several of the emerging methods will allow long reads,” says Schloss.
