I’m starting a new collection: Collective Endeavour, which is an enduring interest of mine – the things we can achieve together but not separately.
Here’s a good post to start it off.
Originally shared by David Brin
In the Atlantic, Eric Liu offers a suggestion for how folks depressed by the prospects of stunning levels of mal-governance can deal with the funk and malaise… start a club. One with some positive goal. Almost anything. Civic participation even at the lowest level can give people a sense of citizenship, involvement, even empowerment.
Moreover, unlike the tribal fury one finds in alt-right groups… and yes, a few leftist ones… something local and targeted can let you draw in people from all partisan leanings. Not fanatics or cultists, of course. But neighbors who might grow closer to you – and to reason – by participating in something cool and local, that makes sense. A school program like FIRST Robotics. A hunger program or Habitat construction.
One of my own activities for years was CERT – my local Community Emergency Response Team… all that is left of Civil Defense in the U.S.
Mr. Liu goes into more detail and offers many options, referring to such groups that were co-founded by Ben Franklin, long ago. A blending of optimism, activism and pragmatism that can not only lift your spirits and your neighbors, but give you both skills and the moral high ground, for battles ahead.
Equation for intelligence, Faces diagnose diseases, Deep learning everywhere, CRISPR inhibitors, Direct neural implants, Artificial blood nanoparticles, Zero-g experiments via drones, Ultrasound microbubbles open brain, Nanocrystal night vision, Energy technologies.
1. An Equation for Intelligence
A new theory of connectivity based on the equation N = 2^i – 1 attempts to describe very simply how neurons and their networks flexible assemble to gather knowledge and reason about concepts, in short how intelligence works https://singularityhub.com/2016/12/07/this-one-equation-may-be-the-root-of-intelligence/. Not only does the theory question the dogma of “cells that fire together, wire together” but many animal experiments show the equation at work many different brain regions that control key functions including feeding, behaviour, and fear. Basically core wiring is innately determined by genetics, with clusters or cliques of networks being combined to represent ever more greater conceptual complexity. We can expect this to be tested sooner rather than later in deep learning and neuromorphic chip applications.
2. Predicting Diseases from Facial Features
Dysmorphology, the practice of diagnosing disease by observing a patient’s features, exploits the fact that many genetic conditions have associated effects on face development – and new facial recognition software called Face2Gene automates this process, comparing features across a vast database to approach human expert level diagnoses https://www.technologyreview.com/s/603038/diagnosing-disease-with-a-snapshot/. Of 7,000 genetic syndromes, Face2Gene estimates that half have distinct facial patterns, and any tool that accelerates diagnoses to allow more rapid interventions will be a boon for patients and payers. This work relates to that from a couple of weeks ago in which, controversially, facial features were used to predict criminality.
Further boosting the safety and utility of the CRISPR genome engineering tool, new discoveries of anti-CRISPR protein inhibitors that turn CRISPR off should further reduce the risk of unwanted off-site changes at unwanted times https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/12/161208143535.htm. Isolated from viruses, and presumably evolved as part of the bacterial-viral CRISPR arms race, the three different inhibitors can be spliced into cells to ensure cell or tissue specificity and drastically minimise off-target cuts. In related news CRISPR editing of induced pluripotent stem cells shows immense promise for therapeutic development http://www.nextbigfuture.com/2016/12/genome-editing-of-pluripotent-stem-cell.html.
The latest advances with ErythroMer are showing promise as a genuine artificial synthetic blood substitute https://www.fightaging.org/archives/2016/12/erythromer-as-a-step-forward-in-artificial-blood/. ErythroMer uses synthetic nanoparticles to accomplish the functions of red blood cells, and freeze dried, stored, and reconstituted with water prior to use. The nanoparticles are about one fifth the size of a red blood cell and incorporate materials with pH dependent oxygen absorption ability that comes within 10% of normal red blood cell function. In animal tests ErythroMer performed indistinguishably from normal blood, and also resuscitated animals in shock after 40% blood loss. They’ll need chemistry for physiologically comparable carbon dioxide absorption and release before they can claim version 1.0 respirocytes however.
8. Targeted Ultrasound Microbubbles Open Blood Brain Barrier
Building on work that opens the blood brain barrier with ultrasound and microbubbles, the technique can now target the delivery of drugs just to certain brain regions and without exposing the rest of the body to the circulating drug http://www.agenciasinc.es/en/News/Microbubbles-and-ultrasound-open-the-blood-brain-barrier-to-administer-drugs. Drugs are now incorporated into the lipid-coated microbubbles, which are injected into the patient as before, while the desired region of the brain is targeted with focused ultrasound; the ultrasound causes the bubbles to temporarily open the blood brain barrier only in that region, also causing the drugs to be released only in that region. Experiments in mice and monkeys confirmed the effectiveness.
9. Nanocrystal Night Vision
Advances in nanophotonics have for the first time produced semiconductor nanocrystal antennas on optically transparent substrates http://www.anu.edu.au/news/all-news/anu-invention-to-inspire-new-night-vision-specs. Grown as arrays on a thin film and applied to normal glasses lenses the surface might enable cheap and easy night vision. The structures can be designed to shift the direction, frequency, and polarisation of light passing through the device, and might additionally find application in holography and optical computing.
10. Energy Technologies
A couple of unusual but interesting energy-related technologies this week. First, a new nanoceramic material would constitute safer casings for nuclear reactors, more safely handling liquid metal coolants such as sodium, and instead of becoming brittle over time like many other materials under intense radiation, actually becoming tougher and stronger from the radiation https://www.engr.wisc.edu/new-materials-safe-economical-nuclear-reactors/. Second, leading on from unconventional oil and gas fracking technology and the geological deposits that characterise these sources, there are different (vast) rock deposits embedded with hydrocarbons that cannot be obtained via fracking or any other technology, except for this new microwave technology that was developed that can effectively extract oil and water from these rocks http://www.nextbigfuture.com/2016/12/microwave-oil-recovery-could-unlock.html.
This whole article is very much of interest to me, since I have two close female colleagues, a woman boss and a number of female customers at my new day job. All the points are good, but here’s one that needs to be made more often:
“A man’s evolved frontal lobe — should he choose to use it — allows judgment, prudence, self-regulation and impulse control. Self-awareness means not pretending to be invulnerable to feelings of attraction, but also not giving into them and thereby putting the mentoring relationship, the female mentee and themselves in harm’s way.”
Having read The Economics of Machinery and Manufacture by Charles Babbage (yes, that one), I know that new manufacturing techniques and technological breakthroughs have been rapidly dropping the prices of goods for a couple of hundred years now. The article gives some good recent examples.
This reduction in the cost of living could make a big difference to the feasibility of a universal basic income, which wouldn’t have to be nearly as large.
John Ward speaks wisdom. And so do these comic strips.
Making is, indeed, better than complaining. My first semipro sale was of a story I wrote because I read one and thought it could have been done much better. One of my best books has the same backstory.
Originally shared by John Ward
If you do any type of creative work, please click this link. It will help you. It doesn’t matter if you’re an artist, a writer, a programmer, or a stay-at-home parent trying to figure out some innovative way to get your kids to eat broccoli, the comics posted on the linked webpage will help you flip your point of view and see things in a new light. It’s brilliant, brilliant stuff and deserves to be shared with anyone who struggles with these issues.
