Lifeboat Foundation

Questions about using technologies like CRISPR to gene edit human embryos gained immediacy last month, when Chinese scientists claimed to have edited the genes of two babies in order to protect them against HIV — a move that prompted an international outcry, but also questions about when the technology will be ready for human testing.

“People appear to realize there’s a major question of how we should oversee and monitor use of this technology if and when it becomes available,” Columbia University bioethicist Robert Klitzman told the AP of the new research. “What is safe enough? And who will determine that? The government? Or clinicians who say, ‘Look, we did it in Country X a few times and it seems to be effective.

READ MORE: Poll: Edit baby genes for health, not smarts [Associated Press].

Continue reading “Poll: Two Thirds of Americans Support Human Gene Editing to Cure Disease” »

The countdown to the arrival of quantum computing has already begun. Here’s how the government can get ready.

With the price of a bitcoin surging to new highs in 2017, the bullish case for investors might seem so obvious it does not need stating. Alternatively it may seem foolish to invest in a digital asset that isn’t backed by any commodity or government and whose price rise has prompted some to compare it to the tulip mania or the dot-com bubble. Neither is true; the bullish case for Bitcoin is compelling but far from obvious. There are significant risks to investing in Bitcoin, but, as I will argue, there is still an immense opportunity.

Never in the history of the world had it been possible to transfer value between distant peoples without relying on a trusted intermediary, such as a bank or government. In 2008 Satoshi Nakamoto, whose identity is still unknown, published a 9 page solution to a long-standing problem of computer science known as the Byzantine General’s Problem. Nakamoto’s solution and the system he built from it — Bitcoin — allowed, for the first time ever, value to be quickly transferred, at great distance, in a completely trustless way. The ramifications of the creation of Bitcoin are so profound for both economics and computer science that Nakamoto should rightly be the first person to qualify for both a Nobel prize in Economics and the Turing award.

For an investor the salient fact of the invention of Bitcoin is the creation of a new scarce digital good — bitcoins. Bitcoins are transferable digital tokens that are created on the Bitcoin network in a process known as “mining”. Bitcoin mining is roughly analogous to gold mining except that production follows a designed, predictable schedule. By design, only 21 million bitcoins will ever be mined and most of these already have been — approximately 16.8 million bitcoins have been mined at the time of writing. Every four years the number of bitcoins produced by mining halves and the production of new bitcoins will end completely by the year 2140.

Continue reading “The Bullish Case for Bitcoin” »

Thanks to blockchain, internet users have achieved some victories in the fight against China’s strict internet censorship.

A historic moment was made on April 23. Peking University’s former student, Yue Xin, had penned a letter detailing the university’s attempts to hide sexual misconduct. The case involved a student, Gao Yan, who committed suicide in 1998 after a professor sexually assaulted and then harassed her.

The letter was blocked by Chinese social networking websites, but an anonymous user posted it on the Ethereum blockchain.

Continue reading “Chinese internet users turn to the blockchain to fight against government censorship” »

In my continuing work with the government of UAE / #Dubai, I have an article on #transhumanism that came out in a new portal launched with their recent World Government Summit 2019. Give it a read!

Everywhere around us a “super human” future is rapidly appearing. Sometimes called transhumanism, scientists, programmers, and engineers everywhere are working on radical technologies that not only become a part of our everyday reality, but also fit directly into our bodies.

Some examples are contact lenses that see in the dark. Others are endoskeletons attached to artificial limbs that can lift a half ton of weight. Still others are brain chip implants that read your thoughts and instantly communicate them with others. Sound like science fiction? Indeed, it does. Nevertheless, it’s coming very soon. In fact, much of the technology already exists. Some of it’s being sold commercially at your local superstore or being tested in laboratories right now around the world.

Continue reading “Radical New Technologies will Make People ‘Super Human’ and the Government More Efficient” »

TELL CONGRESS: PROTECT BIOIDENTICALS! The FDA is trying to take away our access to bioidentical hormones (also called BHRT). Like millions of you, I don’t want to live in a world without BHRThese life-saving hormones have made the aging process a joy! I have energy and vitality! I sleep great! My weight is under control! I have a healthy libido! My hair, skin and nails are strong! And my overall health is incredible. I attribute my successful aging to Bioidentical Hormone Replacement. The time to act is NOW! Visit: http://SaveBioidenticals.com/ and LET YOUR VOICES BE HEARD!

While it is not a government-led initiative, the state-owned Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) corporation joined as a partner. If the mission is successful, Israel will become the fourth country, after Russia, the US and China, to reach the moon.

Attempt to become fourth country to send spacecraft to lunar surface blasts off this week.

The National Weather Service will soon introduce a new forecasting model, but meteorologists are saying it’s worse than its predecessor.

Officials in Tokyo are testing a new technology that utilizes weather radar and terrestrial digital radio waves to “quickly and precisely predict torrential rain and tornadoes” up to 20 to 30 minutes in advance, the Mainichi reported on Sunday.

The new technology is being developed by “industry, government and academic bodies including the National Institute of Information and Communications Technology (NICT)” based in Koganei, the Mainichi wrote, and is hoped to be ready for deployment ahead of the 2020 Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics. Existing radar systems are limited in their ability to predict “guerilla rainstorms,” so called because they form quickly from rising, cooling water vapor and strike with little warning in specific areas. However, the new system is much more powerful and capable of estimating the size of raindrops and the structure of clouds, the Mainichi wrote:

Developers say the new “multi parameter phased array weather radar” (MP-PAWR) being tested can predict torrential downpours and tornadoes 20 to 30 minutes before they occur. This is because it has a flat antenna that emits radio waves over a wider range than the rotating bowl-shaped antennas used in traditional radars. It is a combination of an MP radar that enables observation of the size of raindrops, and a phased array radar that provides 3D scans of the structure of clouds in about 30 seconds.

Continue reading “Tokyo Is Testing a New System to Detect ‘Guerilla’ Rain and Tornadoes Up to 30 Minutes in Advance” »