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Four Days at the Frontiers of Ethiopian Futurism Ben Goertzel October 25, 2012 Last month I spent 4 days in Ethiopia -- Addis Ababa and surrounds -- soaking up the culture and getting to know the nascent Ethiopian futurist community. Inspired by this expedition, I've written an article for KurzweilAI on some of the potentials for AI and software development in Ethiopia. But I also thought it would be worthwhile to post a more personal record of what I saw and learned on this whirlwind tour; hence the current article.... As it happened, Ethiopia was sort of a convenient stop-off for me. I visited partly out of curiosity -- I'd never been to Africa south of the Sahara before (only to Morocco and Egypt) -- but mainly because of an intriguing invitation from a young Ethiopian named Getnet Aseffa to help him plan out the country's first AI R&D lab, and figure out how AI and Ethiopia might help each other. Evenings were spent mainly out listening to various forms of traditional or modern Ethiopian music. DAY 1: Sunday DAY 2: Monday
One giant leap for mankind: £13bn Iter project makes breakthrough in the quest for nuclear fusion, a solution to climate change and an age of clean, cheap energy - Science - News It is the place where 34 nations representing more than half the world’s population have joined forces in the biggest scientific collaboration on the planet – only the International Space Station is bigger. The international nuclear fusion project – known as Iter, meaning “the way” in Latin – is designed to demonstrate a new kind of nuclear reactor capable of producing unlimited supplies of cheap, clean, safe and sustainable electricity from atomic fusion. If Iter demonstrates that it is possible to build commercially-viable fusion reactors then it could become the experiment that saved the world in a century threatened by climate change and an expected three-fold increase in global energy demand. This week the project gained final approval for the design of the most technically challenging component – the fusion reactor’s “blanket” that will handle the super-heated nuclear fuel. Click here to see how the Iter Project could produce clean energy “Every single stage is inspected.
Let's All Shed Tears For The Crappy Startups That Can't Raise Any More Money Here’s some stunning, Earth-shattering news: You know all those hundreds of incredibly stupid startups that have been raising seed money in Silicon Valley despite the fact that the people running those startups have no experience doing anything, ever, and have no idea at all how to generate revenue (let alone profit) with their lousy ideas, because, in fact, there is no way to make money with their lousy ideas, because in fact their ideas are lousy? Well, nobody wants to give those dopes any more money. So now they're going to go out of business. I know. And the dopey angel investors who wrote the checks for those startups are going to lose their money. Believe it or not this is actually a big story in Silicon Valley right now. But who didn’t see this coming? How could this have ended in anything but a train wreck? We're Shocked -- Shocked! And remember when there supposedly was no bubble? I’m sorry but the whole thing is hilarious. A Confederacy of Dunces What Happens Now? So who knows.
AI and Ethiopia: an unexpected synergy Getnet Aseffa In February of this year, KurzweilAI.net’s Amara Angelica put me in touch with an enterprising young Ethiopian engineer named Getnet Aseffa, who was interested in advanced technologies and their implications, and especially in their potential application to help Ethiopia and other African nations. After some email dialogue, Getnet arranged for me to give a talk via Skype to an audience at Addis Ababa Institute of Technology. The themes of the talk were the Singularity and AGI; it was very well received, with many excellent questions at the end, covering everything from near-term practical AI applications to the potential risks of superhuman AGI. Inspired by the strong reception of my Skype talk, and based on an invitation from Getnet, I recently spent four days in Ethiopia — mostly in the capital, Addis Ababa — with a main mission of better understanding the science and technology scene there, and forming a picture of what sort of AI-related opportunities might be available.
How Many Planets are in the Solar System? I’m just going to warn you, this is a controversial topic. Some people get pretty grumpy when you ask: how many planets are in the Solar System? Is it eight, ten, or more? I promise you this, though, we’re never going back to nine planets… ever. As kids, memorizing this list was an early right of passage of nerd pride: Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune and Pluto. But then in 2005, Mike Brown discovered Eris, an icy object thought to be about the same size as Pluto, out beyond its orbit. That would bring the total number of planets to ten. The Solar System. In order to settle the dispute, the International Astronomical Union met in 2006, and argued for, and against Pluto’s planethood. In the end, they changed the definition of what makes a planet, and sadly, Pluto doesn’t make the cut: Here are the new requirements of planethood status: A planet has to orbit the Sun. The final decision was to demote Pluto from planet to dwarf planet. Ceres. Makemake. Pluto.
Intern Blog | How You Can Be A Thiel Fellow, Too: Interview with Danielle Strachman of the Thiel Fellowship Most of us have heard about the Thiel Fellowship: an innovative program created by brilliant investor Peter Thiel, set on empowering top students to push technological innovation. However, what most of us remember about the Fellowship is that it involves exceptionally brilliant students dropping out of universities like Harvard and MIT in order to pursue more entrepreneurial ideas. We could simply gape at the incredible qualifications of these “drop-outs,”who are programming, creating, and blazing through college courses at the ripe old age of age of…say, 15. Yet, what becomes clear is that their ideas unleashed by funding and support of the Foundation grants are even more amazing than prior accomplishments. Current fellows are working towards solving massive challenges; ranging from asteroid mining to extending the human life span by centuries. Fellows like Dale J. Are you salivating yet? Here’s how you can be exceptional, too. The Value of Pursuing One’s Passion Why do so?
MAX Hits 100 MPG, You Can Build It - Green Transportation In 2008, we set out to build a car that would get 100 miles per gallon. Because we wanted this to be something interested MOTHER EARTH NEWS readers could build for themselves, we also set the goals of using off-the-shelf parts and staying within a budget of $10,000 — a reasonable price for a car. And we’ve done it! MAX (MOTHER's Automotive eXperiment) has been demonstrating its 100-mpg capabilities for a full year. (Read more about the journey at 100-MPG Car: MAX.) Now, a few daring readers are making their own cars, and you can too. MAX’s remarkable fuel economy comes from the car’s 32-horsepower Kubota diesel engine and its streamlined body. We’re not done developing yet. MAX has toured 22 states to date, and while every state’s DMV has its own hoops to jump through, all states have ways to accommodate home-built automobiles, including MAX. So yes, it is possible to build an affordable car that gets 100 mpg.
Health Resources Superfoods Superfoods are a special category of foods found in nature. By definition they are calorie sparse and nutrient dense meaning they pack a lot of punch for their weight as far as goodness goes. They are superior sources of anti-oxidants and essential nutrients - nutrients we need but cannot make ourselves. Learn More Supplements Vitamin and mineral supplementation continues to be a contentious issue amongst health professionals. Learn More Organics The world wide debate on the effects of conventional farming practices on soil fertility is getting a lot of attention. Learn More Detox and Weight Loss In this section you will learn about the importance of Detoxification for Weight Loss and in supporting the body's immune system when suffering from chronic illness. Learn More Recommended Reading In this section we have listed the books and authors which have influenced us in creating 'Food Matters'. Learn More Juicer Buying Guide Learn More Practitioner Directory Learn More Healing Clinics
Why Learning Should Be Messy The following is an excerpt of One Size Does Not Fit All: A Student’s Assessment of School, by 17-year-old Nikhil Goyal, a senior at Syosset High School in Woodbury, New York. Can creativity be taught? Absolutely. The real question is: “How do we teach it?” “Today’s problems — from global poverty to climate change to the obesity epidemic — are more interconnected and intertwined than ever before and they can’t possibly be solved in the academic or research ‘silos’ of the twentieth century,” writes Frank Moss, the former head of the M.I.T. Schools cannot just simply add a “creativity hour” and call it a day. Principal at High Tech High, an innovative, project-based learning school in San Diego, California, Larry Rosenstock, points out, “If you were to hike the Appalachian trail, which would take you months and months, and you reflect upon it, you do not divide the experience into the historic, scientific, mathematic, and English aspects of it. Similarly, the M.I.T. Related
Scientists make fake skin that heals and feels Scientists have been cooking up all kinds of strange things in the lab lately, from diamonds to meat to human retinas. And now they’ve got a new one ready to roll out: Fake skin. But not just a reasonable facsimile of how skin might look or feel to the touch. The ersatz epidermis mimics some of the most impressive attributes of our largest organ, like the ability to sense subtle pressure and heal itself when cut. In the last decade, there have been major advances in creating synthetic skin — the scientific quest for "Terminator"-type self-healing materials has been many a researcher's mission. Some of the earlier attempts required impractical high temperatures for self-healing to occur. But now, Stanford chemical engineering professor Zhenan Bao and her team have come up with a design that offers both the self-healing ability of a plastic polymer and the conductivity of a metal. The team also explored how to use the material as a sensor.