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POPSThe Evolving AI Ecosystem He takes his theory further, all the way in to the tubes of the internet. In collaboration with Professor Tim Berners-Lee – the co-inventor of the World Wide Web – the pair have been investigating the next generation Web. “What is emerging now is a digital ecosystem,’ says Professor Shadbolt, ‘involving lots of simple systems which connect millions of complex ones – humans!” And there begins to be a certain amount of logic and a lessening of the fear I feel for the day when I am some robots whipping boy. We see such developments already in websites such as Facebook and Flickr, and programs such as Google Earth and World of Warcraft. We are being linked together, ever so slowly by a collective consciousness.
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POPSArtificial predictions The more, we will be able (emotionally and technically) to reduce human behaviours and decision processes to finer approximations, then better performing robots will appear.
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POPSAnimoto Animoto is a web application that, with the click of a button, produces videos using images and music that a user selects. Using their patent-pending Artificial Intelligence developed to think like an actual editor & director, the resulting video has the emotional impact of a movie trailer and the visual energy of a music video.
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POPSArtificial Sand Dune to House New Museum According to this blog post on Gizmodo, the new Museum of Modern Arab Art in Doha, Qatar is being built in an artificial 350,000 square foot sand dune. It won't be completed until 2011, but in the meantime take a look at the mock-up.
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POPSSweet Misery: A Poisoned World [Aspartame documentary] That diet soda is probably destroying your brain. If you don't want to get overweight, drink water and get more movement into your life. But please, STOP DRINKING THIS CANCEROUS CHEMICAL THAT THE CORPORATIONS MAKE SO MUCH MONEY OFF! And for HEAVEN'S SAKE, please don't give this stuff to your kids. That's borderline abuse.
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POPSSearch Engine Optimization Consulting They say Search Engine Optimization services are adding “artificial” value to your site; I am sure it is a lot more. SEO has made a lot of progress these years and anyway, ii like artificial. LOL
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POPSMichael Phelps: ‘Naturally’ transhuman
* He has proportionately short legs relative to his long, powerful trunk; this large upper body is the engine that powers his long arms. Moreover, his unique physique reduces drag through the water and allows for maximum propulsion. * Phelps has a greater-than-average lung capacity allowing him to execute his underwater dolphin kicks longer than the competition. * He has a genetic advantage that cause his muscles to produce 50% less lactic acid than other athletes. This means he can work at higher work loads for longer periods. * With a low body fat of 4%, he is better able to convert his effort into speed. Looking at this list it’s as if Phelps was designed to swim. Which leads to an interesting question: Given the potential for genetic modification and gene doping, should it be acceptable for other athletes to acquire the same physiological endowments through artificial means? If not, what makes it so acceptable to come by these traits ‘naturally?’ And how
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POPSFuture for clean energy lies in 'big bang' of evolution For humans now there is the tantalising possibility of tweaking the photosynthetic reactions of cyanobacteria to produce fuels we want such as hydrogen, alcohols or even hydrocarbons, rather than carbohydrates. Progress at the research level has been rapid, boosting prospects of harnessing photosynthesis not just for energy but also for manufacturing valuable compounds for the chemical and biotechnology industries. Such research is running on two tracks, one aimed at genetically engineering real plants and cyanobacteria to yield the products we want, and the other to mimic their processes in artificial photosynthetic systems built with human-made components. Both approaches hold great promise and will be pursued in parallel, as was discussed at a recent workshop focusing on the photosynthetic reaction centres of cyanobacteria, organised by the European Science Foundation (ESF).
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POPSTransformers - The Nature of Alien Life
The driving factor is a pragmatic desire to improve mental capacity. Alien beings may have already reached a point in their evolution where, having exhausted the potential of their biological brains, they have taken the next logical step and opted for robotic brains equipped with artificial intelligence. This brain swap may not be as far off for humans as one might think. In only a few decades, the computer revolution here on Earth has produced supercomputers capable of performing more than a quadrillion calculations per second. According to research by Hans Moravec, an artificial-intelligence expert at Carnegie Mellon University, that rate trumps the human brain’s estimated top speed of 100 trillion calculations per second. Some scientists speculate that in a few decades, an event called the technological singularity will occur, and machines armed with computer brains will become sentient and surpass human intelligence. Civilizations equipped with technology light-years ahead
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POPSWhat are Political Philosophies? # Anarchism fails to minimize coercion because it favors liberty's theoretical inviolability over its practical protection. Anarchism fails to * Prevent coercion by strong persons and aggressive foreign states * Prevent aggressive use or pollution of unowned resources * Prevent unfair treatment of creditors by bankrupt debtors * Regulate natural monopolies * Prevent anti-competitive artificial monopolies * Provide aid and sustenance to the indigent * Prevent torture and extinction of organisms
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POPSBeautiful Observatory of Kielder Visit sites. It looks like a friendly resource for all sarlovers. They have camps in spring. The Kielder Forest in beautiful Northumbria is a great place to enjoy an outdoor holiday.
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POPSA Study of Women Inventors, Part 1 The social appeal for women to become inventors at that time was best expressed when Scientific American tried to assure them “that there was nothing inherently unladylike about the process of invention. Like novel writing, it could be done in the parlor at home, and did not require traffic in the factory or marketplace.” Follow to Part 2