Electric flying cars. Surprisingly, not all self-driving.

Originally shared by Greg Batmarx

The once fanciful concept of flying cars appears to be a step closer to reality, after a German company completed successful test flights of a “flying taxi”.

Munich-based Lilium backed by investors who include Skype co-founder Niklas Zennström, said the planned five-seater jet, which will be capable of vertical take-off and landing, could be used for urban air-taxi and ride-sharing services.

In flight tests, a two-seat prototype executed manoeuvres that included a mid-air transition from hover mode, like a drone, to wing-borne flight, like a conventional aircraft, Lilium said.

Potential competitors to Lilium Jet include much bigger players such as Airbus, the maker of commercial airliners and helicopters that aims to test a prototype self-piloted, single-seat “flying car” later in 2017.

But makers of “flying cars” still face hurdles, including convincing regulators and the public that their products can be used safely. Governments are still grappling with regulations for drones and driverless cars.

Lilium said its jet, with a range of 190 miles and cruising speed of 186mph, is the only electric aircraft capable of both vertical take-off and jet-powered flight.

The jet, whose power consumption is comparable to an electric car, could offer passenger flights at prices comparable to normal taxis but with speeds five times faster, Lilium said.

Other potential rivals include the crowd-funded e-volo, a firm based near Mannheim that has said it expects to receive special regulatory approval for its two-seat “multicopter” with 18 rotors to be used as flying taxis in pilot projects by 2018.

Terrafugia, based outside the US city of Boston and founded 11 years ago by MIT graduates, aims to build a mass-market flying car, while the US-Israeli firm Joby Aviation has said it is working on a four-seater drone.

Google, Tesla and Uber have also reportedly shown interest in the new technology.

https://www.theguardian.com/business/2017/apr/21/electric-flying-car-lilium-google-uber-vtol-jet-taxi

Ultra-cool dwarf stars may live up to their name.

Originally shared by Singularity Hub

Dwarf Planetary Systems Will Transform the Hunt for Alien Life http://suhub.co/2p9XIim

Big changes are coming. We’re not ready for them, we may not like them, and many of our most powerful institutions are actively but ineffectually resisting them, but the outcome could be wonderful.

(Warning: fixed-size font, unsuitable for people with visual impairment.)

Originally shared by Jennifer Ouellette

History gives us some perspective. The Day Before the Renaissance. The only antidote for 100-days mania and 24-hour news cycles is to shift focus from the urgent to the important. “An epochal change is coming, a transformational tsunami is on the horizon, and most of our leaders and many of us have our backs to it. We’re looking in the wrong direction. Indeed, many of those in positions of power and their supporters are so actively trying to cling to the past we can almost hear their fingernails clawing at the earth as they try to avoid accepting the inevitable and momentous changes to come.” http://foreignpolicy.com/2017/05/01/the-day-before-the-renaissance/

http://foreignpolicy.com/2017/05/01/the-day-before-the-renaissance/

Laura Gibbs will have opinions about this, I’m sure.

Originally shared by Singularity Hub

These 5 Big Tech Trends Are Changing the Way We Learn http://suhub.co/2qAojqa

The article (and, indeed, the ethicists who are quoted) quite rightly raise the phenomenon of “rights inflation” – the current tendency to classify anything that one considers morally desirable as a human right.

I don’t know that their approach is necessarily the best one, but I do commend the fact that they’re starting to think about these issues. As the lead researcher says, in the closing sentence of the piece: “It’s always too early to assess a technology until it’s suddenly too late.”

Originally shared by Singularity Hub

4 New Human Rights for When Our Brains Are Hooked Up to Computers

http://suhub.co/2pQ74EJ

This is an idea whose time is coming, but it requires that we value citizens over corporations.

Originally shared by Jane Rakali

May 1st is coming up, a day to share links and promote the idea of Universal Income worldwide. This article describes what it is, how it can be paid for and the benefits.

https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2017/01/why-we-should-all-have-a-basic-income

Via Singularity Hub, a story from 27 April that sounds like it should have been published 26 days earlier. I’m profoundly skeptical that this approach is feasible, but if you waved your hands hard enough you could probably sell it in a story.

https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/facebook-launches-moon-shot-effort-to-decode-speech-direct-from-the-brain/