Just a quick announcement. The movie TRANSCENDENT MAN, showcasing the work of futurist Ray Kurzweil, is now available through iTunes. Please note, Logic-Cool is not an affiliate marketer of the film. We supply the link because we agree with the overall message of radical human optimism.

The Speculist, a longstanding blog dedicated to Futurism, posted an excellent article today about IBM's supercomputer Watson and what it means for employment and jobs.

IBM has already declared their intention to move Watson into helping doctors diagnose disease and then into customer service.  However, Watson's exorbitant price tag of $100 million dollars means he's isn't a very profitable investment for businesses right now.

However, the cost of computing halves every 18 months.  This means in a decade, Watson will cost only ~$780,000.  In 15 years, he'll cost less than $100,000.  

Basically in little over 10 years, if you run a business and you replace 20 workers who make $40,000 dollars/year, not only will you get their labor value, but as Speculist writer Stephen Gordon comments, Watson never sleeps, can work 24/7 (triple the shift work of each human), never ...

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Time Magazine has published an extensive article about the genius Ray Kurzweil and the Singularity. The Singularity is often referred to as "Rapture for Nerds". The definition that I use for the Singularity is that its the point at which computer intelligence becomes equal to human intelligence. After this point in history, technological progress will become so rapid that most fields of science will converge and bring about all kinds of technological goodies considered blasphemous to many in today's society...such as incredibly-long human life and AI-enhanced human intelligence, to name just two.

The idea doesn't come without controversy. Many fear the Singularity will bring something like Skynet into existence. Mr. Kurzweil has published some corrections to the Time article here.

Ray Kurzweil currently has a little movie on tour called TRANSCENDENT MAN. If interested, look in the link to see if there's a screening near you.

io9 just published one of Edison's articles written in 1911.  More famously known for inventing the 1st commercially viable light bulb and his vicious feud with NikolaTesla, the venerable inventor published a list of predictions for the year 2011.

By 2011, we shall all...

1) Travel through the air at 200 miles per hour!

2) Drive cars and rid in taxi cabs made of gold.

3) Sail on cruise ships made of gold.

4) Live in houses made completely of steel.

5) Rock our babies in steel cradles, use steel furniture all throughout.

6) Read books with pages made out of nickel leaves.

7) Learn to transmute iron into gold.

Personally, I like the work of Nikola Tesla far better. He accurately predicted cellphones over 100 years ago.  

NASA just released an article discussing the future of commercial airliners 25 years from now. I'm just linking it for all the cool futuristic airplane images. Man, if only a concept artist could design the look of our entire world. If you want to skip all the "this is the future blah blah" and go right to the aircraft porn, you can do so here.  

Each concept art comes with an article explaining which company is designing that particular aircraft and for what purpose. Even better, all the photos are downloadable up to 1600x1200 and are in public domain because the government is publishing them (cha-ching!).

All these planes reflect NASA goals for 2030 era aircraft to:

1) Lower engine noise by 71 decibels

2) 75% reduction in pollution emissions

3) 70% reduction in fuel consumption

4) Under 5000 ft of required runway space during landing and take-off

If ...

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When mainstream media covers uber-geek stuff (as opposed to normal geek), it's always good for a laugh. NPR decided to cover the topic of the Singularity and dubbed it a "rapture of the nerds". Robert Siegal of "All Things Considered" has posted a transcript and podcast of the show's interview with Keefe Roedersheimer and various others of the Singularity Institute for Artificial Intelligence.  You may also listen to the interview right here on Logic-cool below:

(h/t The Speculist)

Our fellow travelers at KurzweilAI.net have announced the upcoming release of the new documentary film TRANSCENDENT MAN, about Ray Kurzweil and his life-long quest to bring about a technological revolution that will redefine human civilization from top to bottom.

For those unfamiliar with the term, the "Singularity" is a theoretical point in the future that has different meanings depending who you ask. Probably the easiest definition is that the Singularity is the point at which computer intelligence becomes equal to human intelligence.  After this point in history, technology will progress so rapidly that most fields of science will converge and bring about all kinds of technological goodies considered blasphemous to many in today's society...such as incredible human longevity and AI-enhanced human intelligence, to name a few.

I've listed the film's schedule below, but you can follow any of the links above and find the same ...

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This video counts among one of the best talks I've seen on TED. As usual, humanity will never be saved by any political or social justice ideology. Those things always lead to more human suffering through the Law of Unintended Consequences. Rather, progress comes to humanity as a natural, inherent, automatic process which eventually undermines the established order.

Then, we got good news. The Singularity Institute has released a batch of papers speculating on the nature of machine morality and the form it can take in various spheres: sociological, economic and military.  It's actually fascinating read for the future-minded. 

As many people see it, the only way to change government is to compete with it.  Unfortunately, start-up countries require a far more intensive financial commitment than a start-up business. More importantly, they need territory. There's only one large area of unclaimed territory on Earth. The Oceans. So, a start-up country would need to exist in floating cities...also called seasteading.

As the article/video aptly states it, in reality the first "start-up country" will likely be the first multi-national corporation whose net value exceeds 1 trillion dollars. 

This article makes for an interesting morning read though I personally think many of these sociological predictions will be trumped by the technological ones. 

 

1) Geopolitics: 'Rivals will take greater risks against the US'

2) The UK economy: 'The popular revolt against bankers will become impossible to resist'

3) Global development: 'A vaccine will rid the world of Aids'

4) Energy: 'Returning to a world that relies on muscle power is not an option'

5) Advertising: 'All sorts of things will just be sold in plain packages'

6) Neuroscience: 'We'll be able to plug information streams directly into the cortex'

7) Physics: 'Within a decade, we'll know what dark matter is'

8) Food: 'Russia will become a global food superpower'

9) Nanotechnology: 'Privacy will be a quaint obsession'

10) Gaming: 'We'll play games to solve problems'

11) Web/internet: 'Quantum computing is the future'

12) Fashion: 'Technology ...

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This Youtube video is from the "You Will" ad campaign run by AT&T back in 1993.  Hat tip: Geekpress.com .

 

Here's a fascinating article at Wired.com which summarizes the current state of AI.  Basically, computer intelligence is already everywhere and we didn't even realize it was happening.  

When most people think of Artificial Intelligence, they think of scientists trying to create whole minds.  In reality, most researchers have long ago abandoned such grand attempts.  Instead, they aim to make systems that can perform discrete tasks.  Each level of progress builds upon the last. 

In a way, you could say an entire ecosystem of AI already exists in the world...different species that perform different tasks.   Whether its Google's AI trying to interpret your search intentions, Netflix's AI recommending movies you might like, or VISA/Mastercard's AI keeping watch over potential criminal infiltrations of your accounts, you are already being served by an entire race of programs...certainly not sentient ones, but ones that are ...

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IBM has released its annual “Next Five in Five” list, where the company attempts to predict the next five transformational technologies that will appear over the next 5 years.  These predictions are made using observable marketing and social trends.

1) 3-D Telecommunications

Scientists and engineers are already working on ways to allow everyday people to interact holographically on the Internet.  In particular, they want to give users the ability to interact with 3-D avatars of their friends.  Your current iPhone will soon seem like a primitive stone wheel compared to what's coming down the pipe.

2) Batteries Will Breathe Air to Power Our Devices

IBM researchers are aiming to reduce the power a transistor uses to less than 0.5 volts.  Under these conditions, a smartphone could theoretically lose its batteries and still power itself through energy scavenging, similar to how some wrist watches power themselves from energy gained ...

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Japanese companies have pioneered a new trend in employer/labor relations.  Believing that happier workers equate to higher productivity, companies in Japan have started awarding days off so that employees may pursue their lifelong dreams.  A few examples of what their doing: Kirin Brewery Co. awards all employees 3 years of unpaid leave after 5 years of work, which they may use in increments or all at once...at will.  IBM Japan requires workers to put in 2 hours/day but then allows them to schedule the rest of the day as they please.  Ed1 Co. allows workers to chose their days and hours.  Employees at the various companies have used the programs to take off months to pursue acting careers, become dancers, attend graduate school, prepare for exams, or even live with family abroad for a time.

The future is flexibility and the most successful companies, both politically and ...

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