The manufacturing sector is following the same trend that agriculture has been following for a much longer period: increased productivity with reduced labour input. Manufacturing productivity per worker has increased five times since 1980.

That trend isn’t going away. As this article points out, the need is not to fiddle with the economics of the manufacturing sector or international trade; that isn’t going to change the underlying technological reality. A much more effective response would be to provide a better safety net for the workers who will inevitably be displaced, and better retraining to fit them for new jobs (since technology does tend to produce new jobs even as it removes old ones; they’re just different kinds of jobs).

A lot of current thinkers are also suggesting that the increased productivity per worker, instead of going to benefit mostly the owners of the manufacturing companies, should be partly redirected into a Universal Basic Income to provide stability independent of employment. (This particular article doesn’t go into that question directly.)

https://www.technologyreview.com/s/602869/manufacturing-jobs-arent-coming-back/

Just had an idea that someone is probably working on already. If they’re not, it wouldn’t be hard to do if you were a decent maker.

You run a rail the length of the ceiling in your room.

On it, you mount a mobile crossbar that reaches the width of the room.

On the crossbar, you mount a mobile unit that can move to each end of the bar or any point in between. Think industrial hoist, inkjet, 3D printer, or CNC machine working head – only this one is a grabbing hand and some cameras, mounted on three or four retractable cables so that it can descend to floor level at any point of the room and move around in three dimensions. You might want it on some kind of flexible arm, so it could reach into cupboards and the like, but that’s an elaboration of the basic idea.

Let’s say you’re a disabled person, or old, or just have a cat on your lap, and you want to get something that’s in another part of the room without getting up. You direct the hand to pick it up – early on, using your tablet and looking through the cameras, but this is the kind of thing AI could learn to do in the next few years. The hand positions itself over the item, descends on the cables, grabs securely, reels in, moves over to where you are, descends to within your grasp, and gives you the item.

Congratulations, you have an aerial servant. One that, within a few years, will be able to respond to voice commands, and a few years after that to your mental commands.

Eventually, I can imagine it bringing you a glass of water when you weren’t consciously aware you were thirsty, because the tech now embedded in your body told it you needed to drink.

If you showed it to someone from the Renaissance, they’d think you were a sorcerer.

One of my hopeful scenarios for the future: we integrate our bodies and minds with both our technology and our environment, so that it all becomes one thing. Or rather, so that we perceive the fact that it’s already one thing.

https://beta.liu.se/en/research-activities/organic-bioelectronics

Though these bots were “shouting fools,” AI is getting better all the time.

The tech companies are responding, at least, with action to reduce the impact of fake news, but too late this time round.

Originally shared by Raja Mitra

The use of automated chatbots on social media to spread propaganda, disinformation and fake news.

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/11/18/technology/automated-pro-trump-bots-overwhelmed-pro-clinton-messages-researchers-say.html?smid=tw-nytimes&smtyp=cur&_r=0

The title is poorly chosen; the article is about the possibilities of virtual reality, including large-scale collaboration to solve real-world problems. A nice mix of optimism and caution.

Originally shared by Singularity Hub

Is Choosing Your Own Reality All It’s Cracked Up to Be? http://bit.ly/2g1ftQj

Starts out utopian (as articles from Singularity Hub tend to), but does sound some warning notes at the end.

Personally, I think fixing the food supply and defeating obesity is likely to be a lot easier than fixing social media and online interaction to produce a saner and better-informed society; but my perspective there has probably been soured by recent events.

Originally shared by Singularity Hub

“In every field, machines and robots are beginning to do the work of humans.”

http://bit.ly/2ghL5BW

Forget gladiatorial tribute, here’s your real YA dystopian story seed.

Originally shared by Daniel Lemire

Blood from human teens rejuvenates body and brains of old mice https://www.newscientist.com/article/2112829-blood-from-human-teens-rejuvenates-body-and-brains-of-old-mice/

https://www.newscientist.com/article/2112829-blood-from-human-teens-rejuvenates-body-and-brains-of-old-mice/

As someone who now works for a concrete company, in a country where earthquakes are relatively common, I found this relevant.

Originally shared by Singularity Hub

Learn about the benefits of biocement.

http://bit.ly/2eybESW

Laura Gibbs will be interested in this one, I think.

Originally shared by Singularity Hub

Overhauling How We Teach Our Kids in a World of Accelerating Change http://bit.ly/2fzOrwz

Originally shared by Daniel Lemire

Mark Zuckerberg: Humans Living Past 100 ‘Will Be Pretty Normal’

https://www.inverse.com/article/23603-zuckerberg-humans-100-normal-century

https://www.inverse.com/article/23603-zuckerberg-humans-100-normal-century