Lifeboat Foundation

Scientists from the University of Washington and Microsoft are improving their system for preserving digital data in strands of synthetic DNA — and they’re giving you the chance to participate.

The UW-Microsoft team laid out the method in a research paper published this week in Nature Biotechnology.

Continue reading “DNA data storage system is on the rise — find out how to store yours” »

“There’s no escape: the journey to a healthier society inevitably involves politics.”

Starting with these words, David Wood, Executive Director of Transpolitica and Chair of London Futurists, introduces his book “Transcending Politics: A Technoprogressive Roadmap to a Comprehensively Better Future”.

Continue reading “Transcending Politics Preview” »

#Transhumanism in the Sunday Times of London. 750,000 copies out today. My pres campaign in it briefly, as well as other transhumanists.

The new Netflix series Altered Carbon is set in a dystopian future where the super-rich can avail of technology that allows them to upload their consciousness to a new body every time they die, in effect giving them immortality.

It’s science fiction, of the kind previously explored in the novels of Philip K Dick and William Gibson, movies such as RoboCop and The Terminator, manga comics like Ghost in the Shell and even the Man-Machine album by German electronic music pioneers Kraftwerk — but only until it comes to pass.

Continue reading “It’s transhuman life, but not as we know it” »

A personal drone that i could eventually see as something that will follow you around all day and be rigged up as an AI assistant. Have it equipped with solar power skin so it could operate indefinitely. The video has the music cranked so it is probably super loud. Drones need to solve noise and power issues before this becomes practical, no one will want something as loud as a vacuum cleaner buzzing around their head.

This donut-shaped drone, not technically known as a dronut, offers a tasty combination of safety and ease of use.

Continue reading “Cleo Robotics Demonstrates Uniquely Clever Ducted Fan Drone” »

A team of researchers at UC San Diego and San Diego State University has developed a pair of “4D goggles” that allows wearers to be physically “touched” by a movie when they see a looming object on the screen, such as an approaching spacecraft.

The device was developed based on a study conducted by the neuroscientists to map brain areas that integrate the sight and touch of a looming object and aid in their understanding of the perceptual and neural mechanisms of multisensory integration.

But for the rest of us, the researchers said, it has a more practical purpose: The device can be synchronized with entertainment content, such as movies, music, games and virtual reality, to deliver immersive multisensory effects near the face and enhance the sense of presence.

Continue reading “New ‘4D goggles’ allow wearers to be ’touched‘” »

“In conversations with visionaries, decision makers, technologists, leading scientists, entrepreneurs, artists, and others around the world, the film gives insight into the global digital future, its most pressing challenges, and biggest opportunities. Interviews from the project are available in long form. This conversation took place in June 2017 with David Edgerton, Hans Rausing Professor of the History of Science and Technology and Professor of Modern British History at King’s College London.”

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“Rather than killing creativity, perhaps big data is fostering a new golden age of creativity.”

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The Google Arts & Culture app went viral over the weekend as people discovered the funny results it can provide. Some are accurate while others aren’t so much.

Here’s how to use it.

Over the past year, Google has demonstrated its desire to step up its hardware game. The company bought HTC’s Pixel team for $1.1 billion, designed its own imaging chip for the Pixel 2 and also hired a key Apple chip designer. Bloomberg reports that in its bid to gain an edge on the competition, Google has quietly snapped up UK startup Redux, a small team focused on delivering sound and touch feedback via mobile displays.

According to filings, Google took control of the startup back in August and then subsequently shut down the company’s website. Previous demonstrations show Redux playing back music via a tablet device, which possesses tiny actuators that vibrate the screen and effectively turn it into a loudspeaker. By eliminating the need for smartphone speakers, Google may be able free up more space for batteries and other important components inside future smartphones.