TERMINATOR: It Will Soon Be Coming To A Battlefield Near You

The Atlas Robot from Boston Dynamics: Its balance is so well engineered you can't easily knock it over. It can
effortlessly navigate doorways, walk up and down stairs and even through snow.

By Denise Chow
Robotics company Boston Dynamics released a new video showcasing its upgraded Atlas robot, and the footage features a slew of impressive (and somewhat unsettling) new capabilities.

The humanoid Atlas robot, which has been overhauled with a sleeker design, can be seen at the beginning of the video walking around untethered before it opens the front door to Boston Dynamics' office and steps outside. The bot is then seen walking on uneven and snowy terrain, maneuvering around trees and correcting its balance several times.The new-and-improved robot is "designed to operate outdoors and inside buildings," Boston Dynamics wrote in a description of the video posted on YouTube. "It is specialized for mobile manipulation. It is electrically powered and hydraulically actuated. It uses sensors in its body and legs to balance and LIDAR and stereo sensors in its head to avoid obstacles, assess the terrain, help with navigation and manipulate objects."

Indeed, the video goes on to show Atlas bending down to pick up 10-pound (4.5 kilograms) boxes and pivoting its torso to place each package on a shelf. In another instance, a human handler uses a hockey stick to push Atlas off balance. The robot stumbles backwards (but catches itself) before regaining its balance. Next, an employee pushes Atlas down from behind. The curled-up robot (lying flat on its robotic face) is able to push itself up -- first to its "hands" and "knees," before righting its torso and then pushing up on its feet-- all without help from a human or a tether.

Some commenters on the YouTube video expressed outrage at the guy pushing the robot with a hockey stick, with some saying they felt sad for the robot, some calling the guy a bully and even suggesting, perhaps with a grin, that he will be blamed for any robot uprisings.

"The guy who kicks the robot will be fully responsible [sic] from the forthcoming robot-human wars," wrote Alper ALT.

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Stephen Hawking Warns of Mankind Wiping Itself Out

Stephen Hawking spoke of a multitude of manmade threats encircling the planet in a recent BBC lecture. But how real are the risks, and what hope is there of mitigation?

Stephen Hawking
(Photo by Intel Free Press)

By Jason Thomson
Physicist Stephen Hawking has said the chances of cataclysmic events which could affect the survival of humanity are soaring, and we have only ourselves to blame.

In comments while recording the annual BBC Reith lectures, the renowned physicist asserted that disaster befalling planet Earth in the next 1,000 to 10,000 years is a “near certainty”, and that increasingly the threats facing humankind are of our own making.

Yet he also insisted that humanity will likely survive, because by the time catastrophe strikes, we shall have colonized other worlds.

"However, we will not establish self-sustaining colonies in space for at least the next hundred years,” said Prof. Hawking, “so we have to be very careful in this period".

The threats Hawking specified included nuclear war, global warming, and genetically engineered viruses, proposing that progress in science and technology is in some ways a gamble, improving the lives of billions, but also introducing the means to end humanity.

Yet this is no new debate. The idea that man’s advancement could be his very undoing has been with us for decades, centuries.

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Could This Be Humanity's Last Century?: Many Predict Man Will Soon Merge With Machine

The Borg: From the Star Trek television series. The Borg represented a hybrid of humans and machines.

By Seth Shostak

OK, quick: Name a few important things that happened in the 11th century.

If you're not tenured in medieval studies, that may be tough, although several modestly notable events took place in those hundred years -- for example, the Battle of Hastings and the launch of the Crusades. When we look back a millennium, even the highest parapets of history become hard to discern. Nonetheless, those long-ago happenings dramatically altered the future.

But what about the 21st century? What will your kids and grandkids do that will still be important a thousand years from now?

Let me suggest that they may trump every previous generation. They may go beyond simply changing society, and possibly usher in the last act for Homo sapiens.

That may strike you as a less-than-sunny prospect, but only because you're missing the big picture. I'm not talking about the various self-destructive threats of the moment -- the ones that fill the papers and spark pontification on the nightly news. Yes, both terrorism and climate change are serious matters, but the former is manageable and frankly, so is the latter. Alleviating environmental catastrophe requires modifications of behavior. Hard, sure, but we're not talking about violating physics.

No, the three big things that I believe will take place in the 21st century are more profound, and not necessarily bad.

To begin with, we're finally going to understand biology at a molecular level. DNA's double helix was discovered a mere six decades ago, and now -- for hardly more than a kilobuck -- you can sequence the genome of your yorkie or yourself.

The relentless interplay of science and technology ensures that genomic knowledge will spawn a growing number of applications. Curing disease is one of these, and it's obviously desirable. But our efforts won't be limited to merely fixing ourselves; we'll also opt for improvement. You may hesitate to endorse designer babies, but hot-rodding our children is as much on the horizon as the morning sun.

Number two on my list of major 21st century developments is expanding into nearby space. We need more resources -- both acreage and raw materials -- unless we're happy to condemn our descendants to a limited lifestyle and unlimited war. You may worry about running out of oil, but that's not the resource that should really make you antsy. We're going to eat through the easily recoverable reserves of stuff like copper, zinc, and the platinum group metals in a matter of decades.

We can find more of these elements in asteroids, and already several companies are planning to do so. But nearby space could also provide unlimited real estate for siting the condos of the future. Everyone expects our progeny to establish colonies on the moon or Mars, but the better deal is to build huge, orbiting habitats in which you can live without a spacesuit. Think of scaling up the International Space Station a few thousand times. We can put unlimited numbers of people in such engineered environments, and sometime in this century we'll start doing that. The days of being confined to the bassinette of our birth are coming to an end.

The third thing you can expect before the year 2100 is the development of generalized artificial intelligence (GAI). In other words, machines that don't just play games like chess or Jeopardy, but can do the thinking required for any white-collar job, including all the ones at the top. And such machines won't necessarily be large. A synapse in your brain is a few thousand nanometers in size. A transistor on a chip is hundreds of times smaller. The hardware necessary for human-level smarts -- even today -- could fit in an iPad.

These are developments that -- over the long term -- will dwarf such quotidian concerns as politics, war, or economics.

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Computers May be a Threat to Humans: Bill Gates Latest in High-Tech Field To Issue Warning About Computers

Science fiction often predicts the future: Three sci-fi flicks that predicted an overthrow of humankind by computers
and robots: Terminator (top left), I Robot (top right) and 2001: A Space Odyssey. (Screen captures from films)

 

Bill Gates is the latest brilliant person to warn artificial intelligence could kill us all

By Brad Reed
Worries about artificial intelligence possibly wiping out humanity aren’t just limited to science fiction writers — plenty of the world’s most brilliant people think developing AI could be a potentially catastrophic mistake as well. In addition to famed physicist Stephen Hawking and Space X CEO Elon Musk, Microsoft cofounder and philanthropist Bill Gates is now warning about the dangers of AI [artificial intelligence].

During a recent Reddit AMA, Gates was asked how he felt about the potential dangers of AI and he responded that it’s definitely a cause for worry.

“I am in the camp that is concerned about super intelligence,” Gates wrote. “First, the machines will do a lot of jobs for us and not be super intelligent. That should be positive if we manage it well. A few decades after that, though, the intelligence is strong enough to be a concern.”

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DEFINITION: "Technological Singularity" - The hypothesis is that accelerating progress in technologies will cause a runaway effect wherein artificial intelligence will exceed human intellectual capacity and control, thus radically changing or even ending civilization in an event called the singularity.

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We Are Summoning the Demon’ With Artificial Intelligence — Says Elon Musk, Tesla CEO

"I think we should be very careful about artificial intelligence. If I were to guess like what our biggest existential threat is, it’s probably that. So we need to be very careful with the artificial intelligence. Increasingly scientists think there should be some regulatory oversight maybe at the national and international level, just to make sure that we don’t do something very foolish. With artificial intelligence we are summoning the demon. In all those stories where there’s the guy with the pentagram and the holy water, it’s like yeah he’s sure he can control the demon. Didn’t work out."—Elon Musk

Watch the entire presentation: MIT AeroAstro Centennial Symposium

RELATED STORY: America's Coming Terror Drones — Won't Look Like Jets and Helicopters - They'll Pass for Insects and Birds, Operate Autonomously

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Stephen Hawking Says A.I. Could Be Our 'Worst Mistake In History'


By Rory Cellan-Jones
Prof Stephen Hawking, one of Britain's pre-eminent scientists, has said that efforts to create thinking machines pose a threat to our very existence.

He told the BBC:"The development of full artificial intelligence could spell the end of the human race."

His warning came in response to a question about a revamp of the technology he uses to communicate, which involves a basic form of AI.

But others are less gloomy about AI's prospects.

[...]


"It would take off on its own, and re-design itself at an ever increasing rate," he said.

"Humans, who are limited by slow biological evolution, couldn't compete, and would be superseded."

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Are Car Companies Minipulating Car Gas Mileage to Line the Pockets of Oil Companies?: Average Fuel Economy (25 Miles Per Gallon) Hasn't Changed in 100 Years

"Infinity MPG" (Photo by Christopher)

Fuel Economy: 1908 Ford Model T - 25 MPG; 2013 EPA Average All Cars - 24.7 MPG


"The average fuel economy rating of all new cars and trucks sold in June [2013] was 24.7 miles per gallon. "  ~~   USA Today, 7/8/2013

"Ford's Model T, which went 25 miles on a gallon of gasoline, was more fuel efficient than the current Ford Explorer sport-utility vehicle -- which manages just 16 miles per gallon."  ~~  Detroit News, 6/4/03

"The Prius is the first significant departure from the combustion engine to make any major inroads in the auto industry since Henry Ford invented the Model T in 1908."  ~~  Newsweek, 9/6/04

By Fred Burks, From Want To Know
What happens when we compare technological advances in various fields over the last 50 to 100 years?

In communications, we've gone from the basic telephone of 50 years ago to answering machines, faxes, instant messaging, and wireless cell phones packed with cameras, GPS, and more. Just 50 years ago computers were huge, multi-million dollar monsters capable of only rudimentary mathematical problems. Today, the portable laptop on which I'm typing can perform functions literally millions of times faster and more complex than its ancestors, and connect me instantly to anyone in the world with Internet access.

In engineering and materials science, we have gone from basic woods and metals to sophisticated plastics, fiber optics, nanotechnology, and other high-tech manmade materials and technologies that perform all kinds of functions which would have been considered miraculous 100 years ago. Television, movies, microwave ovens, air conditioning, radar, and gameboys didn't even exist then. In astronomy, biology, medicine, agriculture, genetics, electronics, and most any other field you can think of, we are not only generations, but light years ahead in both knowledge and applications of what was available 100, and sometimes even 50 years ago.

Now consider the areas of energy and transportation, and the oil and automobile industries in particular. Technological progress in these sectors has moved at a snail's pace compared to the fields mentioned above. Most cars and trucks still use the same internal combustion engine on which the Model T depended 100 years ago. And while the Model T boasted gas mileage of 25 MPG in 1908, average fuel economy for 2013 according to the EPA was only 24.7 MPG."

And when it comes to energy, most of the world still depends largely on huge, polluting coal and oil generation plants not much more efficient than those of 100 years ago. How can it be that we've had such dramatic, almost miraculous advances in so many fields, while the energy and transportation sectors have made so little progress? Could it be that greed and the desire for economic and political control by the power elite of the world have kept the profit-rich energy and transportation sectors from developing as rapidly as they might have in a more open climate, where big money and political clout did not suppress technological breakthroughs?

Genius inventors for the past 100 years have made remarkable discoveries of new, more efficient energy sources, only to find their inventions either suppressed or not given the attention and funding needed to break us free of our dependence on archaic coal and oil-based technologies. Consider Nikola Tesla, the genius inventor of AC current, fluorescent light, and laser beams, who has over 700 patents to his name. Tesla proved in 1900 that the Earth itself could be used as a very cheap conductor of electricity. He successfully lighted 200 lamps without wires from a distance of 25 miles.

Why wasn't Tesla's wireless electricity developed and spread around the world? His main financial supporter, banking tycoon J.P. Morgan, withdrew funding with the classic comment, "If anyone can draw on the power, where do we put the meter?" For more on Tesla and his amazing inventions, see PBS's voluminous tribute available here, or the Tesla Society website. A Google search will turn up lots more. Hundreds of other inventions and inventors (including a personal friend of mine) have suffered a similar or worse fate.

Below are short excerpts from a number of major media articles which suggest major suppression of technological advances in the fields of energy and transportation. For an excellent two-page summary of this vital topic, click here. You can also find a wealth of reliable, verifiable information at our New Energy Information Center. By educating ourselves and our friends and colleagues on this crucial topic, we can build a critical mass of informed citizens who demand the release of suppressed inventions and technologies that will pave the way for a brighter, healthier future for us, for our children, and for our beautiful planet. Thanks for caring.

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Cyber Hijacking: Remote Control of Aircraft Begins With Radio-Controlled Vehicles During World War I

Remote control aircraft circa World War I. (Screen capture from YouTube video)

Scientists Engineer Bionic Plants With 'Super Powers'

Photo by Tatiana Gerus

By Kamal Nayan
Scientists have reportedly created bionic plants by placing tiny carbon nanotubes deep inside their cells which boosts their photosynthetic power by factor of three.

The new mechanism might sound like something belonging to a science fiction novel but these bionic plants are existing in real and are hugely in favor of humanity.

"Plants are very attractive as a technology platform," said MIT Carbon P. Dubbs professor of chemical engineering Michael Strano in the press release. "They repair themselves, they're environmentally stable outside, they survive in harsh environments, and they provide their own power source and water distribution."

Scientists have embedded carbon nanotubes in the plants' chloroplasts - plant organelles responsible for photosynthesis. They noted that the mechanism enabled plants to absorb 30 percent more light.

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Wireless Electricity: Demonstrated, Currently Deployed and in Preparation for Mass Production — The End of Wires!

Another Wireless Concept By Nikola Tesla Placed into Everyday Use

Meet Three Talented African Lady Geeks Involved in New Media

The new technology sector is booming on the African continent. The force behind this growth is mainly driven by the talent and passion of young Africans for innovation and information technology. However, these talented young people are also well aware that various areas of the tech industry in Africa are still a work in progress: skill development, competitiveness and equal opportunities for all.

By Rakotomalala
We asked three talented bloggers from Francophone Africa for their opinions on new media in their region and what being a female geek (known as a ‘geekette‘) means for them.

Mariam Diaby [fr], who is based in Côte d’Ivoire, defines herself above all as an entrepreneur interested in all things digital. Her studies took her as far as London to the London South Bank University.

Julie Owono is a lawyer at the Paris Bar. Originally from Cameroon, she contributes regularly to online publications such Global Voices and Quartz Magazine and is head of the Africa office of Internet Sans Frontières (Internet Without Borders).

Lalatiana Rahariniaina, based in Antananarivo, Madagascar, has been blogging since 2008. Passionate about writing and photography, Lalatiana shares her views on Malagasy society on her French-language blog Ampela Miblaogy (Woman Who Blogs). One of the winners of Radio France International's Mondoblog competition in 2011, she received training from the Atelier des Médias [fr] – RFI in Senegal. Atelier des Médias is a francophone social network that studies the evolution of media around the world.

Mariam Daby. Photo used with her permission

Google-Owned Robot Tops Robot Competition: Contest Included 8 Tasks - Driving, Climbing, Walking

Google robot zips around driving obstacle course.

(Screen Capture from SHAFT, Inc. video)

Google's Robot, "Shaft" Competes in DARPA'S Robotics Challenge - 8 Tasks

Former Slave Andrew Jackson Beard Patents An Improvement To The Rotary Steam Engine in 1892

Click to see full size. 
(Press Ctrl and + keys to see even larger image)
Andrew Jackson Beard and patent.

Andrew Jackson Beard (1849–1921) was an African-American inventor. He was inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame in Akron, Ohio for his work on railroad coupler design.

Born in Alabama in 1849, Andrew Beard spent the first fifteen years of his life as a slave on a small farm in Alabama. A year after he was emancipated, he got married and became a farmer in a small city outside of Birmingham. While in Birmingham, he was able to develop and champion his first invention (a plow). Three years later, he patented a second plow. These two inventions earned him almost $10,000, with which he began to invest in real estate.

Following his stint in real-estate, Andrew Beard began to work with and study engines. In 1892, he filed a patent for an improvement to the rotary steam engine.

Andrew Beard invented the JENNY coupler for railroad cars not to be mistaken with the JANNEY coupler which he is sometimes falsely cited as the inventor of the automatic railroad coupler, also known as the knuckle coupler, but this was invented by Eli H. Janney, a former Confederate Major who was awarded a patent for his revolutionary invention in 1873.U.S. Patent 138,405

Beard's patent relating to the automatic coupler was one of some 8,000 variant patents awarded between Janney's invention in 1873 and the turn of the 20th century.[1]

Little is known about the period of time from Beard's last patent application in 1897 up until his death. He died in 1921.


SOURCE: Wikipedia

AMERICA'S COMING TERROR DRONES: New Generation of Drones Won't Look Like Jets & Helicopters - They'll Pass for Insects & Birds, Operate Autonomously

By Ronald Jackson
Because of past publicity received by America's drones, most believe that when drones inevitably show up in the skies of their country these drones will resemble mini-jets and mini-helicopters.  In fact, nothing could be further from the truth.  Today's cutting edge drones are just as likely to resemble a roach, bird, horse, dog, or even a human. And plans are afoot to deploy these robots everywhere, including within the United States.

Bird or Machine?: From an Air Force Research Lab Video.

Let's take a look at some of the drone-spy equipment that high-tech weapons corporations are creating and intend to sell world-wide to any nation with the ability to buy. First let's look at "Micro Air Vehicles" (MAVs) brought to you by the 'Air Force Research Laboratory"

According to their own video the small size of MAVs allows them to be "hidden in plain sight." Once in place a MAV can "enter a low power surveillance mode for missions lasting days or weeks." It will harvest power from sunlight, wind or man made sources such as power lines. A swarm of MAVs will provide a 'big picture' point of view of the field of battle.

Tiny 'robot insects' will be deployed as a swarm.

Some MAVs will be used merely for visual reconnaissance, other individual MAVs will perform "direct attack missions" (a bug will land on your head and explode, or inject a deadly venom). The maker of these MAVs sound almost giddy as they brag about all of the potential military applications. These tiny but deadly drones will fly around your local park, sit on your window sill, crawl under the door into your home or place of work, or swim up threw your plumbing. And what happens if your dog or cat eats one of these by mistake?

Watch the video:

Now you are probably thinking, "That's just a video, a corporation's dream packaged and marketed with animations but representing nothing more than future hopes."  Guess again. Such technology has been under development in some form or another for decades now and the technology will be available for deployment as a weapon in the very near future. In fact, we can assume that the military has secret projects that are far ahead of what is being done publicly at universities and corporations.  Take for example the robot drones already operational and programmed to fly in formation as a "swarm" of robots capable of taking off, flying and landing in unison - a literal coordinated team of flying robots.

Watch the video:

Ghoulish geeks have even turned living insects into half-live/half-machine entities under their full control. In this case, researchers at the North Carolina State University have planted circuits into the body of a roach, claiming such half-live/half-machines could be used to "explore and map disaster sites."

Photo from the 'RoboRoach' Surgery Kit.

Really? It's pretty easy to imagine what the military will use this technology for. You can even buy a "insect surgery kit" from a company called Backyard Brains which has been selling kits for turning insects into robots and are now seeking funding for "educational materials" for their surgery kits




Watch the video:

Scientists at the Argonne Natl Lab have been developing robots that are just a half millimeter wide and composed of "micro-particles." These "micro-bots" are  small enough to climb into your ear or nose while you are sleeping; small enough to be placed on your food or in your drink; or perhaps they can be flushed into the water supply of a nuclear plant after which they can be made to perform "certain tasks" before anyone even realizes that "something is amiss." This particular research is being funded by the Department of Energy Office of Science. In this video micro-drones perform a task (picking up a glass bead) at the behest of their giant masters. What happens if (or when) humans lose control of such "drones?" Nobody, it seems, is bothering to ask.

Unfortunately, it doesn't stop there. Not satisfied with robots that can pass for birds or insects, or robots that "swarm" and act in unison, or robots that can barely be seen by the human eye - scientists (Should the word "mad" be placed before the word "scientist?") are developing a wide variety of robots that are capable of "self assembling," like the Pentagon's "shape-shifting robot" that can "fold into a boat or an airplane."

These "smart pepples" will get smaller and smaller.

Such robots are made of "programmable materials" that can create any shape the scientists designate.  One such "shape shifting, self assembling" robot under developing at MIT is "self-sculpting sand" that can "selectively, intelligently" replicate objects. This technology is being called "smart sand." Imagine a "pile of sand" that suddenly turns into a tank or missile, or human-like robot. It should come as no surprise that one of the key funders of this "research project" is the US Army Research Office.

Watch the video:

Here's perhaps the most important aspect of this new generation of drones: What you have seen here represents only the tip of the iceberg.  Try to imagine the kinds of devices the US military and intelligence services don't want you to know about and you begin to get an inkling of what's in store for the future of humankind.