H+ Weekly - Issue #53
ISSUE #53
This week - Google's plan for AI "Big Red Button", DeepMind masters another classic Atari game. Open Bionics teams up with Deus Ex, exoskeletons for elderly, Elite's AI went rogue and created superweapons, controlling drones with brain waves, robots, AI and more!
Also, this week is the first anniversary of H+ Weekly. I'd like to say thank you for reading this newsletter. By making the newsletter I have learned a lot about technology and I hope you learned with me. The pace of progress is so fast that science fiction becomes a reality faster and faster. It is incredible!
I will send a survey next week asking how can I improve H+ Weekly and I'd like to hear from you what do you think of it and how can I make it better.
Now, but to the issue.
More than a human
Augmented Future - Open Bionics × Deus Ex × Razer
Open Bionics, Eidos-Montréal and Razer are working together to bring Deus Ex inspired augmentations to life. The three companies will partner up to help bridge the gap between fiction and reality, working together to design, 3D print, scan, power, and create affordable bionic hands.
The Elderly May Toss Their Walkers for This Robotic Suit
Our parents and grandparents might use an exoskeleton to help the walk and look awesome.
Design to Expand Human Potential - Interview with Natasha Vita-More
Natasha Vita-More talks about transhumanism, the "body of the future", and about the controversies and problems surrounding transhumanism.
Artificial Intelligence
Google Considers Making A "Big Red Button" To Stop Dangerous AI In An Emergency
The way Google sees the Big red Button is a special code in the AI systems that "tricks" machine to stop doing what it is doing.
Watch Google's AI Figure Out 'Montezuma's Revenge' In Four Tries
DeepMind can add another game to the list of games their AI mastered. This time it was Montezuma's Revenge - a classic Atari 2600 game. In the article, you will find a video explaining the algorithm. For more details, you can check the paper published by guys from DeepMind.
Bill Gates: AI is the holy grail
Bill Gates is confident that soon most of the physical labour will be done by robots. He sees AI as a "holy grail" as he envisions a future "with machines that are capable and more capable than human intelligence."
Elite's AI Created Super Weapons and Started Hunting Players
By exploiting the features in the game, Elite's AI was able to create super weapons that the designers had never intended.
Facebook's Race To Dominate AI
Facebook joined the AI race a bit late, but it has a plan how to win it. The plans is to open the research, both software and hardware and get the best people in the field.
IBM Watson Brings AI Wonders to Cybersecurity
IBM’s artificial intelligence platform Watson began dabbling with healthcare, pharmaceuticals, finance, education—even cooking. Now the machine is dipping its (robot) toes into the cybersecurity business, where it will help prevents hacks, spam and malware.
New study suggests Americans don’t trust AI systems
According to the study, 54% of Americans claim they have never interacted with AI system. 26% of respondents said they would not trust an AI with any personal or professional task. 51% said they’d be uncomfortable sharing personal data with an AI system. Moreover, 23% of Americans who say they have interacted with an AI reported being dissatisfied with the experience.
The Barbell Effect of Machine Learning
An interesting view on AI from a venture capitalist. On one hand, AI will democratize basic intelligence through open source tools or free services. TensorFlow, OpenAI or online machine learning services are great examples here. On the other hand, we see the concentration of higher-order intelligence. Those who have access to data will benefit the most from machine learning.
Robotics
Come on, Let’s Give the Robots Hands Already
We gave the robots the brains, but they can't interact with the world as we do. Robots still need to learn how to use their "body", which right now is a quite a challenging problem to solve. Siddhartha Srinivasa, a roboticist at Carnegie Mellon University, explains where the problems are.
This Is Why You Shouldn’t Let A Drone Cut Your Hair
A new robot made by Simone Giertz, the queen of not-so-useful-robots, was meant to cut hair. It did not end well...
Formation Control of Robotic Swarms Using Brain Interface
Here's a real-time demonstration of controlling a swarm of quadrotors to travel through narrow passage. The cool thing is that these drones are controlled using brain waves.
Robot Moth Is Learning To Fly Like A Real Moth
This tiny robot weighs only 3 grams and has everything you need to control it. Moreover, it starts to learn how to fly like a real moth.
Biotechnology
Google’s Most Ambitious Life Sciences Projects Are Struggling To Launch
Dark clouds are gathering around Verily, Google’s new life sciences subsidiary, which after three years still haven't shown any working device.
Harvard Scientists Announce Plans To Create Synthetic Human Genomes
As a kind of follow-up to the Human Genome Project, Harvard scientists led by DNA pioneer George Church are proposing to create a synthetic human genome from scratch, with the aim of developing resistance to cancer and disease.
Virtual Worlds
Microsoft opening up the technology behind HoloLens may be the best thing to happen for VR
Microsoft decided to open HoloLens technology for its partners, which might result in cheaper and more accessible augmented reality headsets on the market.
Outro
3 Reasons To Believe The Singularity Is Near
These reasons are: We’re Going Beyond Moore’s Law, Robots Are Doing Human Jobs and We’re Editing Genes. Do you think these are enough convincing arguments to believe the Singularity is near?
Alan Turing: The Father of Computer Science [Infographic]
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