Originally shared by Singularity Hub

22 people die every day waiting for organs.

http://bit.ly/2fptBii

Originally shared by Singularity Hub

“Can humans truly take the leap across a chunk of the solar system, a round-trip that would take more than a year to complete?…. Some humans are mentally capable to go to Mars; others may not be; and it’s been suggested that a few should be sent there regardless of their status.”

http://bit.ly/2eVrUZN

Originally shared by Singularity Hub

Neural prostheses directly interface the brain with computer to directly control your body

http://bit.ly/2felLtH

Originally shared by Singularity Hub

In the last hundred years, we’ve seen the average human life expectancy nearly double, the global GDP per capita rise exponentially, and childhood mortality drop 10-fold.

http://bit.ly/2eVYfAE

Originally shared by John Conway

http://news.nationalpost.com/news/canada/five-things-about-canadas-space-elevator-and-what-you-might-pass-while-going-to-the-top

Originally shared by Gideon Rosenblatt

Google Assistant: The Difference Between Knowing and Doing

As Google helps us to build “the containers of our collective intelligence,” one of the challenges is transforming the knowledge they contain into services that can be automated for us. This is the significance of Google’s Assistant.

Other important information will come as people ask the Assistant to perform actions for them. “In the search logs, we don’t see people asking to do things like, Book me a table at CasCal for 7 pm for two. Nobody’s going to say that to Google because Google is a search engine, right?” Pereira says. Actually, booking a table is one thing that Google Search can do, but that’s a rare exception: generally, Google search can give you answers, but can’t close the deal. So people don’t ask it to do things, and Google doesn’t get data on assistance. “That difference between knowing and doing is a big one,” says Pereira, “and only now are we only starting to get enough traffic and interaction to start understanding how we can make [an assistant] grow and become more robust, more general, more flexible. It’s going to be a long road to go from the information side where search comes from, to the doing side — to pervasive assistance.”

More on our “containers of our collective intelligence”:

http://www.the-vital-edge.com/machine-based-collective-intellige/

HT Eldon Edwards

https://backchannel.com/google-our-assistant-will-trigger-the-next-era-of-ai-3c72a4d7bc75#.risur0cxa

I’ll be closing in on 60 in 10 years’ time, so this is encouraging.

Also along these lines, I currently have a story out on submission about the “gene Amish,” who refuse genetic modification, and consequently place a burden on the health system. As is their civil right.

Originally shared by Singularity Hub

“Within a few years, our genome, microbiome, behavior and environment will all be mapped and measured, and prescriptive-medicine systems based on artificial intelligence will help us feel better and live longer.”

http://bit.ly/2dJp9i2

Originally shared by HACKADAY

The current trend of 3D printed prosthetic hands have one rather large drawback: you can’t use them if you already have two hands. This might seem like a glib objection, but one of last week’s Hackaday Prize posts pointed this out rather well – sometimes…

http://hackaday.com/2016/10/25/hackaday-prize-entry-a-cluster-of-exoskeletons