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yulnabi · 7 years ago

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Chuvash Saga [IC]

Letter to Grand Duchess Yuliya Kardasheva from Princess Elmira Kardasheva

08.03.2258 [2258 After creation of the Chuvash People’s Republic in Novi Cheboksary]

Her Most Holy Grand Duchess, Voice of Lady Inanna, Mother and Savior of the Chuvash People, wise leader of the Chuvash People’s Republic. I plead that you listen to you most humble daughters request, and consider my reasoning for asking you, most wise of rulers, to take the following step.

For centuries, we have embraced a policy of peace. It is not just in our nature, but the wish of the most beautiful of goddesses, Lady Inanna, that we do so. However, we must not let our desire for peace blind us to the horrors that surround us.

Over the last 260 years, we have been able to leave the confines of our ring world and once again become a space-faring civilization. Our numbers have grown to unimaginable levels. We have a relatively small, but very congested interstellar empire. Most importantly, we have avoided the evils of war to achieve this.

On the technological level, we are the most advanced of the young empires. Our technological edge has made our rising nation the envy of the galaxy.

In the Peskova System, we have finished the construction of a Matrioshka Brain. That technological marble is capable of hosting six virtual worlds, where up to 200 billion of our citizens can upload their minds into vast and idealized simulated worlds. The only limit once there, is their imagination!

We have built a massive stellar Industrial Complex in the Ksenia Aleksandrova System. It alone produces more energy, food, and minerals than many of the interstellar empires. It is worked entirely by artificial intelligence, and though impressive, it is but a very small part of our massive economy.

The SSR Galina Rakhimova is a Dzyuba-class Avatar Ship. If you were to decree it, it could use it’s massive laser sphere to destroy entire planets. It is also equipped with an Arc-en-Ciel Cannon, a machine that seals its target in a pocket dimension and then forces it to undergo a big crunch, erasing any trace that the target ever existed. It is also armed with a massive Arc Cannon, which is a lighting weapon that can penetrate any armor or shield with easy.

Our population has worked tirelessly to build 4 ring worlds. The one in the Polyachihina System stands as our greatest achievement. It is made up of 4 rings that contain 32 habitable segments. 800 billion of our citizens call this single system home.

The Nikitchuk System is made up of 3 rings, made up of 18 habitable segments, and housing 450 billion citizens, over 200 billion of whom are Bashkir immigrants and their descendants. Next comes the Evtushenko System, which consists of 2 rings, 10 habitable segments, and houses 250 billion citizens. Finally, we recently finished construction of a 4-segment ring world in the Gerasimov System, but we have yet to settle there.

Dear Mother, we have an unmatched economy, a population many times larger than the rest of the galaxy combined, technological levels that would allow us to use the entire energy output of the galaxy, and are in a federation with the strongest military power of the young nations—the Khanate of Bashkortostan.

So why my letter? I plead you don’t immediately disregard my request when you read it, and actually think over my arguments.

Mother, I have come to the conclusion that we must invest in creating the largest, most powerful fleet in the galaxy. Not for conquest, or for imposing our will on other empires. We must maintain a commitment to peace. But we cannot ignore threats to us, to decency, to life in the galaxy.

The Canthari Empire are slaving despots. The 94 billion Canthari have used their military might to capture and enslave primitive peoples incapable of actually defending themselves. Currently, more than 4 billion Dabulan and 2 billion Qiramulan are slaves to the Canthari. These were two civilizations who had just gained the ability to build nuclear weapons, and were taking the first steps to venturing out into space. Their whole existence changed when their planets were invaded by the Canthari and their people enslaved.

An even bigger threat to peace and security of the galaxy are the Qvefoz Horde. These creatures are a devouring swarm, whose sole reason for existing is to conquer other peoples so they can eat them. They care little if those they consume as food are sentient or not. Unlike the Canthari, who enslave their enemies, the Qvefoz eat them. They have wiped out at least three pre-ftl species, having eaten billions of them. They control 9 planets and keep expanding.

Mother, I understand that war is evil, that it should be a last resource. However, how can we sit idly by while these two monstrous civilizations run amok in the galaxy? If we have the capacity and means to stop them, and we chose not to, are we not as evil as they are? The deaths of their victims are in our hands! Those whom they have murdered, enslaved, and consumed could have been saved by us, but instead we chose inaction. Their tragic end rests in our conscience. I do not know how you can sleep knowing we could have saved them, how we still can save those 6 billion enslaved by the Canthari, yet we chose not to help them.

I plead not as a politician, but as a daughter. I love and respect you, dear mother, but how can I maintain such feelings if you chose to remain passive while tragedies are brought upon untold billions? How can I pray to Lady Inanna, Goddess of Love and Beauty, when we sit in our ivory towers while evil runs amok, spilling the blood of innocents and defenseless?

On 07.04.2246, more than two decades ago, our ships encountered a star system very similar to that from where we hail. Not Novi Cheboksary, but the sun. The third planet in that system we discovered was a continental world, inhabited by humanoids not unlike us, but at a much lower level of development. These humanoids numbered around 7 billion and were merely entering an industrial age, where most of their factories ran on coal. Like our original planet, Earth, the humanoids in this planet were divided into many different nations, often at war with each other. Since it was so similar to our home system, we named that system Sol, and the planet Sol III. We called the humanoids there humans, as they resemble at an earlier stage of our evolution.

At the time you ordered the construction of an observation satellite over their world, to keep tabs on them. We also adopted a policy of intense study of these creatures, often capturing a few specimens to test their biology, brain capacity, and development. Like us, they were quick learners. By 2251 they had managed to advance enough to split the atom, giving them the capacity to self-destruct if not closely monitored.

These ‘humans’ are a fascinating species. They are like us more than 300,000 years ago. It is almost like looking at our past, before we evolved into the Chuvash of today. There is so much we can learn and I hope we can continue to study them.

I bring them up because in the grand scheme of things, they are defenseless. Their system borders the Canthari Empire, and the only thing standing between them and complete destruction is the starbase we built on their system. If the Canthari were to ever attack, we’d be forced to defend ourselves, but that system is so far out, their entire civilization would be destroyed before we could lend aid.

Mother, sometimes to maintain peace, it is necessary to show strength. Sometimes, action must be taken against evil so that it does not dare spread its wings. If we chose to remain passive, then the blood of the innocents is on our hands. The Canthari and the Qvefoz have demonstrated they only understand one thing: force.

As such, I as that you authorize the use of the Avatar planet destroyer ray, so that the galaxy will know what awaits those who threaten sentient life. I also ask that you expand our fleet into several fleets that can fight on multiple fronts. We must let those who seek to bring pain and destruction upon others, that they will be repaid in kind if they dare.

#champions online rp #stellaris #Yuliya Kardasheva

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blaze8403 · 5 years ago

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Stealth Theory Be it well another one before top gun theory and danger zone of A I might do in Harold & Kumar for laughs and kicks after kicking it to Artificial Intelligent high gear and my own technologies based from the motion picture contents and well the actual technologies we may have in military top secret future generation craft ones that think pilot respond as a jet fighter with A brain and self awareness of what is in this film or feature film inspired Theoretical piece we discuss stealth not steal or steel events like Lee street if so the yes in Artificial intelligence and Military related literature not A Jamie Foxx or blaming alcohol or well Alcoholic to blame be it B letter 2 two A Grade and well we as adults past grade school on super cool spell loco I am not loco I am Booper or Loki if it be but yes how the Air Force and Navy should respond to these and the words found not sword in my theories of thought knowledge in Lovingness of knowingness be it well its always top secret weapons in a hanger some where with technology beyond Government or Military and Commercial technology like Golden Hawk Silver Hawk Ravenhawk and Dovehawk be it much like the AI craft in this film I choose to write upon like milf right and wrong and or but not A song but yes what happens if A AI plane goes Rouge from programing especially simulation program to simulate war yes A Ai plane maybe become aware and take fed information from Scenerio very seriously it computer brain that thinks a War Simulation training Scenerio is actual orders or to a person that programmed such enlisted these targets as threats and it is not quite an accident in rouge intelligence Artificial Intelligent Armed weapons air craft like one military noted response from A professional male with military Credentials like myself would say yes mistake is arming such with weapons hot you gave an Artificial Intelligent Craft Armament to carry out orders if no arms not way the weapon could attack be it C3 K11 and Attack311 not Attacks like Attack311s like no pilot inside call it Magick311 just yes besides artificial yes those stealth jets could surely do wonders to but Ai & pilot oh yes the possibilities of so and ones ability in such a craft endless even the craft teach you to pilot and pilot Assist like An Artificial computer is your wing man with advancement in stealth fighter generation technologies

Part A 1 Alfa Oscar note echo

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kristablogs · 5 years ago

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Virtual fighter jets powered by AI are battling for the chance to dogfight a human

This F-16 in Florida is being flown by a real human. (US Air Force / Tech. Sgt. John Raven/)

Fighter jets need humans to fly them, but someday, that could change. This week, the Defense Advanced Research Project Agency—better known as DARPA—is hosting a virtual Top Gun-style competition in which various artificial intelligence algorithms fly simulated jets in digital dogfights. No actual planes are in the air, but the goal is to see which AI agent can provide the most formidable fighter. The event kicked off on Tuesday morning, and on Thursday, the strongest AI will battle against a simulated F-16 operated by a real flesh-and-blood pilot.

The event this week is the third stage in what’s called the AlphaDogfight Trials. The first trial in the series, held last fall, was very much rookie algorithms trying to figure out aviation fundamentals, explains Col. Dan Javorsek, the manager of the event at DARPA and a former F-16 aviator and test pilot. “What you were basically watching was the AI agents learning to fly the plane,” Javorsek says. (His call sign is “Animal,” a reference to the Muppets.) “A lot of them killed themselves on accident—they would fly into the ground, or they would just forget about the bad guy altogether, and just drive off in some direction.” In other words, Maverick or Iceman would probably just laugh at them.

Javorsek compares that stage to NASA’s early days, when rockets kept exploding. “It was not inspiring,” he adds. But early this year, during the second trial, it went better. “We watched the agents go from being able to barely fly the airplane and barely prevent [themselves] from crashing, into true behaviors that looked like dogfighting,” Javorsek says.

Dogfighting may be the colloquial term made famous by the movie Top Gun, but the military refers to that type of engagement as BFM, for Basic Fighter Maneuvers. The AI agents trying to master this practice come from eight different teams, including Goliaths such as Lockheed Martin and Aurora Flight Sciences (part of Boeing), and other smaller or less well-known players, like Georgia Tech Research Institute or Heron Systems.

While this competition is happening virtually, companies are already working on the hardware for pilotless fighter jet-type drones in the real world. One such little uncrewed aircraft is called the Valkyrie, or XQ-58A, which is made by California-based company Kratos. Another comes from Boeing, and is a uncrewed fighter jet with a modular nose—it’s dubbed the “Loyal Wingman.” The idea behind these types of machines is that they could be a type of robot wingman, escorting an aircraft flown by a human. Since they’d be less expensive to make than a full-fledged fighter jet and wouldn’t have a human on board, they’d also be attritable: a craft that wouldn’t be devastating to lose in combat.

Javorsek, of DARPA, says that autonomous projects like those are on their radar, but that philosophically, their focus is slightly different. Initiatives outside of DARPA, he says, have “tended to fixate on the Beyond Visual Range (BVR) problem, which is not the first thing we do with our pilots.” Militaries might want to send an uncrewed fighter jet ahead, like a scout, and possibly attack an enemy’s air defenses. But before something like that can happen, Javorsek contends that AI needs to prove that it can carry out a more basic task: the dogfight.

That’s what this week’s competition is all about, in which the different teams are flying both against algorithms created by the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory and eventually each other, too. One AI agent will then battle a human, flying a digital F-16 in a virtual reality-style simulator. An aircraft wins when it’s able to get behind another and hold that position long enough to get a kill shot, just like in the movies.

A screenshot from the event. (DARPA/)

Javorsek says that looking into the future, he sees a split between the types of tasks that AI and humans might handle, with algorithms focusing on physically flying an aircraft and people free to keep their minds on the bigger picture. “The vision here is that we get human brains at the right spot,” he reflects. Artificial components can focus on the “low-level, maneuvering, tactical tasks,” he says, while their flesh-and-blood counterparts can be “battle managers” who are able to read “context, intent, and sentiment of the adversary.” (Helicopter-maker Sikorsky, which has been working on an aircraft that’s much easier to fly than a traditional chopper, advocates for a similar configuration.)

While this DARPA competition has the flying happening in digital skies, real-life flight in an actual fighter jet is intensely physically demanding on the aviators on board—something I had the chance to experience firsthand in an F-16. Pulling hard turns or accelerating quickly produces dramatic G forces, and if the pilot and crew don’t manage them correctly, they could pass out. Artificial intelligence might someday fly a plane in combat, but if a pilot were to hypothetically be on board, he or she is going to want to be able to stay conscious throughout the fight. In other words, any algorithm with control of the stick will need to consider what humans can withstand. Or, if the AI is in charge of an uncrewed drone, then it wouldn’t need to worry about the impact of Gs on a person at all.

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scootoaster · 5 years ago

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Virtual fighter jets powered by AI are battling for the chance to dogfight a human

This F-16 in Florida is being flown by a real human. (US Air Force / Tech. Sgt. John Raven/)

A screenshot from the event. (DARPA/)

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ynsespoir · 5 years ago

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How is Healthcare Technology Saving Lives?

On October 8, 2013, in London, England, a 3D prosthetic arm was put on display at the Science Museum.

There’s no question that the healthcare and medical sectors are in the midst of fast-moving change, and it’s difficult to see what new and innovative technologies will have the most significant and longest-lasting impact.

In a perfect world, the future of the healthcare industry will balance out with innovative medical technologies while maintaining that “human touch” needed in this field. Keep reading to learn some of the biggest trends that are likely to change everyone’s life now and in the future.

Keep in mind, while some of these technological innovations are available for use in the field today, others are still being developed and perfected. However, the possibility of new tech saving lives is no longer a dream or hope – it is a reality and one that is growing and evolving each day as new methods of treating diseases, preventing illnesses, and more are being developed. Saving lives is something that relies on technology – learn how and why here.

The Reality of Augmented Reality

Have you heard about the surgery that was live-streamed using Google Glass? Everything was from the viewpoint of the surgeon. These types of augmented reality devices will be used in the future for much, much more. While the augmented reality operation was groundbreaking, the future of this technology is virtually endless. In the future, it’s expected this technology can also be used to display a patient’s medical records in real-time, organize live consultations between patients and healthcare professionals, and even contact the ambulance to the precise GPS location if an emergency occurs.

Currently, Google Glass is controlled using hand gestures and voice; however, digital contact lenses can be used for controlling what is seen via brain waves. As a result, a patient can experience their upcoming operation through virtual reality or select a hospital based on the virtual experience that it provides.

The Impact of Artificial Intelligence for Decision Making in the Medical Field

The knowledge of even the most accomplished professors can’t compete with the intelligence and abilities of modern cognitive computers. The total amount of medical information is growing significantly, and using various solutions, such as help with medical decision making is something that is bound to happen.

The supercomputer from IBM – Watson, can process more than 200 million pages in a second and is now being used by more industries and institutions than ever before.

The Presence of Nanorobots in Your Bloodstream

For many years, nanotechnology has shown that there may be a chance of using devices ran by nanotech in the treatment of various diseases. Today, it is time for this technology to live up to all the expectations it has promised. In some cases, nanorobots present in the bloodstream may be able to intervene long before the disease appears. With their presence, it would be possible to keep tissues oxygenate after you suffer and heart attack, work to target cancer cells or to remove platelets. It is believed that eventually, the modules that can self-assemble inside of a patient’s stomach may be able to provide much more sophisticated diagnosis and treatment options.

Medicine and the 3D Printing Revolution

There’s no question that 3D printing is becoming more mainstream than ever before. It’s estimated that this technology is going to upend the pharmaceutical industry, along with the entire world of biotechnology. The main issue with the use of this technology is regulation.

For example, 3D printing is going to help allow the creation of various medical devices in otherwise underdeveloped areas, while customizing exoskeletons and prostheses. It is believed that 3D printing may also help with the production of biomaterials, such as heart issues, kidney tissues, drugs, and in the future, living cells.

The ability to print organs that will be able to replace an organ that no more extended functions correctly is truly something amazing. It’s believed that 3D printing will be able to create the organ’s full physiological capacity, which is going to eradicate the presence or need for transplant lists.

Many experts agree – gamification is the best way to encourage all people – regardless of age or gender – to live a life that is healthier or to stick to the treatment prescribed by their doctor. For example, there’s now a smart bra that can spot cancer while an app called HapiFork can measure if you are eating the right foods and getting the proper nutrients.

There are other technical elements in place, too. For example, Lumosity, Shine, and FitBit are all designed to help people live a much healthier life by gamifying the steps that must be followed to make positive changes.

A Connected Global Brain

Issues related to medical communication affect both patents, along with medical professionals. There is no exception to this. Connected digital healthcare devices and social media have the potential to become a massive “digital brain,” which is going to make it possible to send, share, store, and crowdsource pieces of medical information.

In the future, regardless of if it is medical information, medical records, curated dynamic resources, or something else, the information that is required is going to be available to any and everyone. Some believe this is going to be one of the most critical developments in the history of medicine, which is why new and current doctors need to undergo training to ensure they are ready for the digital era.

Contact a Traditional Nurse or the Services of a Humanoid Robot

The number of older adults around the globe is growing significantly. Due to this growth, there is now a shortage of caregivers around the world. It is believed that humanoid robots may be the best option for primary care. An example of this would be the humanoid robots that could be used for teaching children who have autism and provide a companion for sick children.

The robot/nurse assistant is going to combine image-analysis technology, along with robotics, to find the right vein on a patient’s arm for drawing blood in a safe and less-invasive manner. These robots may also play a role in remote surgery, training, and simulation.

No longer will operating rooms have people inside of them, except for the patient and the surgical instruments. This means the procedure will be so precise that rather than using manual control, the use of mechatronic tools is going to be needed to achieve the required levels of accuracy.

The Presence of a Wearable Lab

More and more technology is being developed, making the era of wearable medical devices a reality. For example, the Scanadu can measure fundamental health parameters, including a person’s blood pressure and body temperature, all by using a reading collected on the patient’s forehead. For example, there is already technology in place that can detect chemicals, allergens, food nutrients, and even sensors that are embedded in the teeth to recognize smoking and jaw movements.

The Widespread Availability of Genome Sequencing

Over the past few years, the cost of sequencing the human genome is something that has been falling steadily. While the price decreases, the availability of experienced sequencers is going up. What this means is that very soon, accessing your genome will not only be more affordable than a routine blood test, but eventually, it is bound to be available at no cost to you. What will be costly is the analysis.

It’s believed that personal genomics will be applied to patients in the future, which means they will receive drugs and dosages based on their genomic code, which is a much more precise type of medicine. It is also projected that at some point, this technology will make it possible to find preventable diseases in fetal DNA by obtaining the blood from the mother.

Real-Time Diagnostics

iKnife is an intelligent surgical knife. It can identify in real-time whether or not the tissue being cut into is malignant. What this means is that there will no longer be a need to send a biopsy to the pathology lab. It is also hoped that the Tricorder XPrize will result in the development of a wireless, portable device that’s able to diagnose an array of diseases, as seen in the older but still popular television series, “Star Trek.” The ultimate goal is to provide people with more choices when it comes to their health.

Injectable Medical Sponges for Use on the Battlefield

This technology was created as a fast way to stop cases of severe bleeding that may occur after a gunshot wound. The technology works in just a matter of seconds, and this technology is predicted to save lives while on the battlefield.

Right now, this is military-grade tech, and as a result, it is primarily applied in situations where conflicts are going on abroad, as research programs in the U.S. Army initially funded it. While this is true, it is believed that this technology has an array of applications, especially since the FDA recently approved it for use during life-threatening medical emergencies across the country.

This type of technology is, put, a big syringe that is filled with a small sponge. The sponges are injected into gunshot wounds or any other injury a person may have suffered. Once the sponge is inside the body, it can expand to up to 10 times the original size, which will put pressure on the wound and stop all blood loss in just 20 seconds.

Vaccine Delivery Drones

Being able to get the needed medical supplies to individuals in remote locations is a huge challenge for many aid organizations all across the globe. There are many situations where the vaccines are vital to survival in a third-world country, and finding a new way to get them where they are needed can make a massive difference in the lives of individuals who aren’t as fortunate.

Currently, several technology companies are getting closer to the creation of unmanned drones that can be used to airdrop vaccines in places like Rwanda, and others that are in need. This is projected to help save money and lives as it offers a faster and safer option for getting medicine to these remote locations that more traditional transport over land.

The Clinical Skills App

Designed by Medtree, the Clinical Skills App is a program available at no cost that lets clinicians record skills and any clinical interventions they are part of. There has been extensive research behind this app that showed there was a lack of tech support available for clinicians, which was what prompted the app’s development, which is considered to be a brainchild of several healthcare professionals.

Rather than writing down clinical cases, the app allows things like drug administration, wound management, and airway interventions to be documented with ease. Users can also activate new features as they are released to personalize the app experience even further, which is going to allow users to find and use opportunities for their ongoing development in the medical industry.

MelaFind

There are more than 154,000 cases of melanoma each year. The individuals in places like New Zealand and Australia are most at risk for this disease; however, it is also common in the U.S. As a result, QIMR Berghofer Medical Research Institute has created a test that can predict a person’s likelihood for developing the disease within three and a half years from when it is administered. This test hopes to prevent fatalities in the future due to melanoma.

The Amazing Life Saving Benefits of Modern Technology

As you can see, the reach of technology is far. It can help protect and save lives in many ways. What’s even more amazing is that there are research teams and individuals out there right now who are still taking steps to develop even more amazing life-saving tools and techniques that will help people live healthier and happier lives in the future.

With all this fantastic technology, some people believe the presence of all diseases and acute illnesses will be eliminated – for good – across the globe. While this may seem like wishful thinking, it is something that is a viable future and one that many people today may have the opportunity to see in their lifetime. Technology and saving lives go hand in hand. This is something that is only going to be more apparent as more and more products and life-saving tools are created.

from Health Care Technology – ReferralMD https://ift.tt/2taemql via IFTTT How is Healthcare Technology Saving Lives? Health Care Technology from topofbestone https://ift.tt/38e78k2 via IFTTT

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sciencespies · 6 years ago

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Griffin confident new space agency will win over skeptics

https://sciencespies.com/space/griffin-confident-new-space-agency-will-win-over-skeptics/

Griffin confident new space agency will win over skeptics

The SDA does not yet have the authorities and funding in place to award contracts, but companies are still being asked to submit ideas for a future space architecture.

CHANTILLY, Va. — Nearly 300 executives from defense and space companies turned up on Tuesday for the Space Development Agency’s first “Industry Day” at the Aerospace Corp. conference center next door to the National Reconnaissance Office.

“By the number of people here I’m delighted,” said Mike Griffin, undersecretary of defense for research and engineering. “It shows me that you have some faith in what we’re trying to execute here.”

Undersecretary of Defense for Research and Engineering Michael Griffin.

It’s been a roller coaster ride for the Space Development Agency since it was established in March by former acting defense secretary Patrick Shanahan. Griffin was the SDA’s original proponent. He argued that the Pentagon needed a separate agency to work with the commercial space industry and develop a “national defense space architecture” with large constellations of low-cost satellites that would be harder for enemies to take down and cheaper to modernize than traditional military spacecraft.

Griffin told the audience that he views the SDA as a personal cause. “The development of these kinds of systems was a major motivating factor, possibly the major motivating factor, in my return to government after a much less stressful existence for 10 year after I left NASA,” he said.

It has not been smooth sailing. Griffin handpicked longtime colleague Fred Kennedy to be the first SDA director but the relationship quickly soured. Kennedy’s departure alarmed congressional committees that already were skeptical of the SDA. The agency to this day has no appropriated funds and it’s currently staffed by support contractors from Aerospace and other federally funded research and development centers.

Chris Glista, the chief of contracts at SDA, told executives they are going to have to be patient until things settle down. “We’re still ramping up,” he said. The response to the industry day was encouraging, Glista said. “We had to turn people away.”

The SDA does not yet have the authorities and funding in place to award contracts, but companies are still being asked to submit ideas for a future space architecture. A “request for information” released July 1 set an August 5 deadline for submissions. Glista cautioned that the RFI should not be viewed as a formal solicitation and that SDA would not reimburse contractors for any expenses.

“We encourage you to respond, “said Glista. “If you’re looking for an acquisition strategy, we don’t have one yet. .. We are looking for ideas.”

Griffin said the SDA will develop a space architecture that will be harder for enemies to attack. “In every wargame we play, blue [friendly force] quickly loses advantage because our space assets are targeted,” he said. “What we have today in space is reminiscent of a bunch of battleships parked at Pearl Harbor right before World War II.” In the future, “we want to confound adversaries.”

The plan is to deploy large constellations of satellites, which the SDA calls proliferated systems. “Proliferation gives us the advantage of minor degradation for each successful kill by any adversary,” said Griffin. That means it would likely become more expensive for enemies to take down large numbers of satellites than it would be for DoD to replace them.

Griffin pushed back on the criticism that the SDA is stepping on the toes of the Air Force and other organizations that develop space technologies. “The SDA is not the arbiter and owner of all things space for the national security community,” he said. “The intelligence community has plans of its own for proliferated systems, each service has its own needs.” The SDA will try to fill gaps such as the current lack of a global communications network. “In the end, if we can just talk to one another with a common comms network protocol,” that would fill a real need, he said. “Nothing can happen without that.”

Several industry executives at the event told SpaceNews that despite a lack of funds and specific contracting opportunities, they want to be part of the conversation with SDA and are willing to submit ideas for free if that is what it takes to have a chance to win real contracts in the future.

The SDA acting director Derek Tournear said that contractors who miss the August 5 deadline for submissions can still send in ideas. “It’s not a solicitation,” he said. “We’ll take information from you whenever you can provide it.”

Tournear and other SDA officials who briefed contractors on Tuesday frequently used the phrase “the trade space is wide open” to make the point that the agency does not have its mind made up on many issues.

“We need you to help us craft this architecture,” said Tournear. “We need you to help us know the state of the possible, prevent us from ‘doing stupid.’”

The SDA has laid out concepts for different types of proliferated constellations but those are not meant to influence contractors’ proposals. “Please don’t regurgitate them back to us in RFI responses,” said Tournear. “We’re not wed to any of our concepts, give us what you really think are the solutions to achieve the goals.”

The agency wants to start deploying new systems by fiscal year 2022, he said. To speed up the procurement of satellites, sensors and ground control systems, the SDA will bypass the traditional “requirements” process and will use wargames and simulations to show DoD the potential return on investments. “Our goal is rapid transition to capability, not tech development,” said Tournear. “We will evaluate our architecture decisions through wargaming, Monte Carlo simulations and analytics.”

The SDA has the “responsibility and also the freedom to work across the department, and focus on a clean sheet for the future architecture,” said Tournear. “We will not develop an architecture to answer a set of detailed, vetted requirements [by the Joint Requirements Oversight Council] and issue RFPs [requests for proposals] against those requirements.”

Tournear cautioned that the SDA “does not want to build every satellite needed for the future national defense space architecture … SDA will build when needed but we will not duplicate.”

Space architecture

The space architecture will have multiple layers, which collectively would give military forces powerful capabilities. The immediate priority is the “transport layer,” a mesh network with data rates at a minimum of 10 megabits per second. The head of the project, Timothy Boudreaux, said the transport layer will be the backbone of the architecture. He said the SDA, unlike commercial broadband companies, is not convinced this layer should be in low Earth orbit. “During our summer study, we realized it could be proliferated LEO or proliferated MEO [medium Earth orbit],” he said. “All options are open.”

Another layer will be for positioning, navigation and timing (PNT) to supplement GPS. A “tracking” layer will detect and monitor missiles and hypersonic glide vehicles, and a “custody” layer will provide persistent surveillance of targets. A “deterrence” layer will provide deep space surveillance all the way to cislunar space. The brain of the system will be a “battle management” layer powered by artificial intelligence. The SDA plans to create a “support cell” to deal with ground control systems and launch services.

Both Griffin and Tournear received several questions from the audience about SDA’s political standing. DoD officials, including the newly sworn defense secretary Mark Esper, have expressed support for the SDA. But Capitol Hill remains divided over the value of the agency.

“On Capitol Hill there are some people that support the SDA,” said Tournear. “Others we are still educating on how we fit in.”

Griffin said one of the questions that frequently get asked on Capitol Hill is on the perceived overlap between the SDA’s tracking layer for missile defense and the Missile Defense Agency’s hypersonic tracking space sensor layer. Griffin said eventually they should become one program. “That of course requires going down the road, having congressional appropriations,” he said. “We have to flesh out the MDA architecture, a lot of work will be needed within government to align these entities.”

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#07-2019 Science News #Physics/Space/Nature/Humans/History #Science #Science News #Space

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mikemortgage · 6 years ago

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How Israel became a cybersecurity power — and what Canada can learn from it

In 2011, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu made an ambitious promise to turn a country with less than a quarter of Canada’s population and GDP into a top-five global cybersecurity power within five years.

Now, less than a decade later, Israel has far outstripped those goals: it is recognized worldwide as a cybersecurity innovation hub that continues to produce not only some of the best products and services — but the best minds.

Israel currently has 450 cybersecurity companies, some of which are publicly traded in North America, and approaching US$10 billion in exports in the sector, according to Israel Export and International Cooperation Institute chairman Adiv Baruch.

The success has been fuelled by what one Israeli CEO described as “an ecosystem that feeds itself.” The government, the education system, the military and the commercial market all work in unison to power a multi-year cycle that sees the government heavily invest and then profit from the services and the exports they’re generating internationally.

For Canada, which is looking to make a mark in innovative industries such as artificial intelligence, it’s a model that some say is worth studying.

Innovation Nation: The AI advantage of overlooked global partners

How to finance a Canadian tech startup, from pre-seed to series D

Canada risks losing its artificial intelligence edge as adoption lags and the tech goes mainstream

“It’s a massive machine,” said Tyson Johnson, the chief operating officer for CyberNB, a government of New Brunswick agency working to help the cybersecurity sector grow in Canada. “That level of integration should be imitated here in Canada.”

Canadian cybersecurity firms got the chance to meet some of their Israeli counterparts last week, when an Israeli delegation visited Toronto to attend the Canada-Israel Business Forum. Many of the Israeli firms already have contracts in Canada, but with exports always in mind, expressed the need for further collaboration between the two countries.

While Canada’s cybersecurity industry has not seen anywhere near the same level of government or military co-operation, it has also lacked the same motivation that has been the driving force behind Israel’s transformation.

Geographically, Israel is surrounded by enemies. Iran, in particular, Netanyahu has said, launches cyber attacks against his country every day.

“We have a beautiful house in a dangerous neighbourhood,” said Baruch, who is the former president of Israeli cybersecurity firm Nyotron Information Security Ltd.

One of the program’s hallmarks has been the government’s emphasis on developing human capital and not just companies themselves.

The process begins at a young age — kindergarten classes involve lessons in computers and robotics. By Grade 4, students are learning computer programming and in Grade 10, they’re learning the coding and encryption skills necessary to stop hacking attacks.

The goal is to encourage them to think outside the box, Baruch said. For those who are successful and show promise, there are government-sponsored after-school programs that can advance their training before they take the next step and enter the military.

Military service is mandatory for all Israelis at the age of 18 but instead of serving as infantrymen, some are funnelled into Israel Defence Forces Unit 8200. The cyber intelligence unit which acts as an incubator where they spend three years learning on the job about how to attack Israel’s enemies and protect it from threats.

When their terms are over, they can continue their education in university; Israel was the first country in the world where students could obtain a PhD in cybersecurity as an independent discipline. Otherwise there are two choices, according to Asher Abish, the regional director for marketing and sales of ELTA Systems Ltd., a subsidiary of the government-owned Israel Aerospace Industries, which provides cybersecurity defence services.

“They go out from the military and they either join the industry or they develop their own startups,” said Abish.

If a young recruit joins a company immediately after serving in the military, the government already begins to recoup its initial investment. That person will already be contributing to Israel’s growing cyber exports while adding to the pool of talent and products the government can call on for its own defence.

But for those looking to launch their own startups, the government is still willing to double down on its initial investment. Between 2015 and 2018, Israel’s National Cyber Bureau and the Office of the Chief Scientist distributed more than US$37 million to cyber firms developing what it considered to be groundbreaking technology. In August, it booked another US$25 million in funding over three years for companies in the early stage of funding.

Israel spawned 60 new cybersecurity companies in 2018 alone. With assistance from the government, these companies have been allowed to continue to grow to a point where they’re attracting the interest of international venture capital funds. Last year, Israel’s cyber companies raised more than US$1.03 billion across all stages of funding. That accounts for 20 per cent of the total venture capital funds invested in cyber companies worldwide, second only to the U.S.

Tal Bar Or co-founded Octopus Systems six years ago and while he didn’t use any government funding to start his company, he immediately drew attention from international venture capital firms, including one based in Toronto where the company has since opened an office. Octopus focuses on developing software that fuses how companies respond to both physical and cyber threats in order to lower response time. Bar Or’s company already has contracts with Brookfield and the York Regional Police in Canada and others in Singapore and India.

In Israel, Bar Or is one of many executives hiring young talent directly out of the army. He spent five years there himself before moving on to the Israel Security Agency.

“We welcome it because it’s giving us the ability to get great people coming with experience, doing it in a large scale for a large organization and embedding them inside our company in order to have the ability to grow and be more sophisticated,” Bar Or said.

“All the Israeli companies are competing for those brains.”

Bar Or will put potential recruits, whether they’re coming from the army or from another company through a rigorous testing process that examines both their knowledge and their response time in handling simulated threats.

The transition isn’t always smooth, Abish said. In particular, IAI and Elta have to push their military recruits to focus more on development of new products and services than simply deploying them. IAI and Elta have a cyber academy which it uses to train its own recruits, Abish said. Its usefulness doesn’t end there. The company also provides its training services to any interested international parties, once again finding a way to boost Israel’s exports.

It’s the constant addition of new talent that allows IAI to continue to innovate. Abish, for instance, mentions taking the algorithms for early warning aircraft, which have systems that can detect threats from a long range and direct strikes, and incorporating them into cyber early warning systems. When young engineers and programmers are in a position to offer up these kinds of ideas, the Israeli government begins to recoup its investment.

This isn’t just done through exports, Abish said. The country’s top companies have been known to temporarily put competition aside when the government calls on them to solve an internal problem.

Asked how each company is able to put their own interests aside, Abish’s answer was simple.

“It’s Israel,” he said.

• Email: [email protected] | Twitter: VicF77

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aofirs · 7 years ago

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FOR ALL THE hype about killer robots, 2017 saw some notable strides in artificial intelligence. A bot called Libratus out-bluffed poker kingpins, for example. Out in the real world, machine learning is being put to use improving farming and widening access to healthcare.

But have you talked to Siri or Alexa recently? Then you’ll know that despite the hype, and worried billionaires, there are many things that artificial intelligence still can’t do or understand. Here are five thorny problems that experts will be bending their brains against next year.

The meaning of our words

Machines are better than ever at working with text and language. Facebook can read out a description of images for visually impaired people. Google does a decent job of suggesting terse replies to emails. Yet software still can’t really understand the meaning of our words and the ideas we share with them. “We’re able to take concepts we’ve learned and combined them in different ways, and apply them in new situations,” says Melanie Mitchell, a professor at Portland State University. “These AI and machine learning systems are not.”

Mitchell describes today’s software as stuck behind what mathematician Gian Carlo-Rota called “the barrier of meaning.” Some leading AI research teams are trying to figure out how to clamber over it.

One strand of that work aims to give machines the kind of grounding in common sense and the physical world that underpins our own thinking. Facebook researchers are trying to teach software to understand reality by watching the video, for example. Others are working on mimicking what we can do with that knowledge about the world. Google has been tinkering with software that tries to learn metaphors. Mitchell has experimented with systems that interpret what’s happening in photos using analogies and a store of concepts about the world.

The reality gap impeding the robot revolution

Robot hardware has gotten pretty good. You can buy a palm-sized drone with HD camera for $500. Machines that haul boxes and walk on two legs have improved also. Why are we not all surrounded by bustling mechanical helpers? Today’s robots lack the brains to match their sophisticated brawn.

Getting a robot to do anything requires specific programming for a particular task. They can learn operations like grasping objects from repeated trials (and errors). But the process is relatively slow. One promising shortcut is to have robots train in virtual, simulated worlds, and then download that hard-won knowledge into physical robot bodies. Yet that approach is afflicted by the reality gap—a phrase describing how skills a robot learned in simulation do not always work when transferred to a machine in the physical world.

The reality gap is narrowing. In October, Google reported promising results in experiments where simulated and real robot arms learned to pick up diverse objects including tape dispensers, toys, and combs.

Further progress is important to the hopes of people working on autonomous vehicles. Companies in the race to roboticize driving deploy virtual cars on simulated streets to reduce the time and money spent testing in real traffic and road conditions. Chris Urmson, CEO of autonomous-driving startup Aurora, says making virtual testing more applicable to real vehicles is one of his team’s priorities. “It’ll be neat to see over the next year or so how we can leverage that to accelerate learning,” says Urmson, who previously led Google parent Alphabet’s autonomous-car project.

Guarding against AI hacking

The software that runs our electrical grids, security cameras, and cell phones is plagued by security flaws. We shouldn’t expect software for self-driving cars and domestic robots to be any different. It may, in fact, be worse: There’s evidence that the complexity of machine-learning software introduces new avenues of attack.

Researchers showed this year that you can hide a secret trigger inside a machine-learning system that causes it to flip into evil mode at the sight of a particular signal. The team at NYU devised a street-sign recognition system that functioned normally—unless it saw a yellow Post-It. Attaching one of the sticky notes to a stop sign in Brooklyn caused the system to report the sign as a speed limit. The potential for such tricks might pose problems for self-driving cars.

The threat is considered serious enough that researchers at the world’s most prominent machine-learning conference convened a one-day workshop on the threat of machine deception earlier this month. Researchers discussed fiendish tricks like how to generate handwritten digits that look normal to humans but appear as something different to software. What you see as a 2, for example, a machine vision system would see as a 3. Researchers also discussed possible defenses against such attacks—and worried about AI being used to fool humans.

Tim Hwang, who organized the workshop, predicted using the technology to manipulate people is inevitable as machine learning becomes easier to deploy, and more powerful. “You no longer need a room full of PhDs to do machine learning,” he said. Hwang pointed to the Russian disinformation campaign during the 2016 presidential election as a potential forerunner of AI-enhanced information war. “Why wouldn’t you see techniques from the machine learning space in these campaigns?” he said. One trick Hwang predicts could be particularly effective is using machine learning to generate fake video and audio.

Graduating beyond boardgames

Alphabet’s champion Go-playing software evolved rapidly in 2017. In May, a more powerful version beat Go champions in China. Its creators, research unit DeepMind, subsequently built a version, AlphaGo Zero, that learned the game without studying human play. In December, another upgrade effort birthed AlphaZero, which can learn to play chess and Japanese board game Shogi (although not at the same time).

That avalanche of notable results is impressive—but also a reminder of AI software’s limitations. Chess, Shogi, and Go are complex but all have relatively simple rules and gameplay visible to both opponents. They are a good match for computers’ ability to rapidly spool through many possible future positions. But most situations and problems in life are not so neatly structured.

That’s why DeepMind and Facebook both started working on the multiplayer video game StarCraft in 2017. Neither have yet gotten very far. Right now, the best bots—built by amateurs—are no match for even moderately-skilled players. DeepMind researcher Oriol Vinyals told WIREDearlier this year that his software now lacks the planning and memory capabilities needed to carefully assemble and command an army while anticipating and reacting to moves by opponents. Not coincidentally, those skills would also make software much better at helping with real-world tasks such as office work or real military operations. Big progress on StarCraft or similar games in 2018 might presage some powerful new applications for AI.

Teaching AI to distinguish right from wrong

Even without new progress in the areas listed above, many aspects of the economy and society could change greatly if existing AI technology is widely adopted. As companies and governments rush to do just that, some people are worried about accidental and intentional harms caused by AI and machine learning.

How to keep the technology within safe and ethical bounds was a prominent thread of discussion at the NIPS machine-learning conference this month. Researchers have found that machine learning systems can pick up unsavory or unwanted behaviors, such as perpetuating gender stereotypes, when trained on data from our far-from-perfect world. Now some people are working on techniques that can be used to audit the internal workings of AI systems, and ensure they make fair decisions when putting to work in industries such as finance or healthcare.

The next year should see tech companies put forward ideas for how to keep AI on the right side of humanity. Google, Facebook, Microsoft, and others have begun talking about the issue, and are members of a new nonprofit called Partnership on AI that will research and try to shape the societal implications of AI. Pressure is also coming from more independent quarters. A philanthropic project called the Ethics and Governance of Artificial Intelligence Fund is supporting MIT, Harvard, and others to research AI and the public interest. A new research institute at NYU, AI Now, has a similar mission. In a recent report, it called for governments to swear off using “black box” algorithms not open to public inspection in areas such as criminal justice or welfare.

#artificial intelligence #facebook #google #microsoft

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itsiotrecords-blog · 8 years ago

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Ever since the first Matrix film was released in 1999, curious fans have asked: are we living in The Matrix? Although it may seem far out there, tech billionaires like SpaceX founder Elon Musk are bankrolling research to determine if we are merely existing in someone else’s elaborate simulation. If the thought alone doesn’t freak you out, this next statistic will most certainly do the trick: “Many scientists, philosophers, and business leaders believe that there is a 20-50 per cent probability that humans are already living in a computer-simulated virtual world,” read a Bank of America analyst report released in late 2016. Take a minute to let that sink in; 20-50 per cent is huge! No longer wild theory relegated to the darkest corners of the Internet and late-night discussions over a blunt and a bucket of chicken wings, the idea of the human race living in a carefully-crafted fantasy world has reached mainstream. The Bank of America report makes it clear that if we did, in fact, exist within a simulation, we’d never really be able to know. However, perhaps there are clues all around us if we look hard enough…

#1 Uri Geller, Spoonbender In one of the most-quoted scenes in the original Matrix film, Neo encounters a group of child prodigies at the modest home of The Oracle. Neo is fascinated by one in particular, a young boy sitting cross-legged on the floor bending a spoon with his mind. “Do not try and bend the spoon, that’s impossible,” the boy tells Neo. “Instead, only try to realize the truth. There is no spoon.” In real life, illusionist Uri Geller is best known for his spoon-bending trick. On his website, he describes his first experience with spoon-bending at a house party in 1985 at which participants shouted “will you bend for me?” at various silverware plucked from a pile in the middle of the room. Since then, Geller has made a career out of showing off his self-professed psychic abilities, despite the fact that skeptics have debunked his spoon-bending performance as nothing more than a simple magic trick.

#2 Voodoo Death Although characters liberated from The Matrix can perform extraordinary feats when plugged back into it, one limitation remains: if you are killed in the Matrix, you die in real life. Morpheus explains this to Neo as “the body cannot live without the mind.” If you’ve ever heard the phrase “died of a broken heart,” you already know that it is somewhat accepted in modern society that the mind and heart are inextricably intertwined with our physical well-being. In fact, the phenomena has been observed in native tribes as far back as the 1500s. Anthropologist Major Arthur Glyn Leonard studied West African tribes for an entire decade, and writes in his 1906 book The Lower Niger And Its Tribes: “I have seen more than one hardened old Haussa soldier dying steadily and by inches, because he believed himself to be bewitched; so that no nourishment or medicines that were given to him had the slightest effect either to check the mischief or to improve his condition in any way, and nothing was able to divert him from a fate which he considered inevitable.” In other words, the soldier’s mind made his death real, just as in the Matrix film.

#3 Mother Mary, Full Of Doubt Everyone who has seen the Matrix films knows too well about Agent Smith and his ability to project himself from various non-human characters inside the Matrix. Overtaking the bodies of everyone from a homeless man in the subway to a garbage truck driver in an attempt to kill Trinity, Smith uses both cunning and his ability to possess random characters within the Matrix in his ongoing battle against the freed red-pillers. In the real world, there exists a delusional condition called Capgras syndrome in which sufferers believe a family member or friend to have been replaced by a foreign imposter. In one such case, a mother named Mary believed that her 9-year-old daughter Sarah had, in fact, been placed into the custody of Child Protective Services and that the little girl she was raising was actually a fake posing as her daughter. Though there is an explanation for this condition based in psychiatric science in this world, a rogue program capable of hijacking humans makes perfect sense in a Matrix scenario.

#4 Ma Xiangang, The Electric Man Although the artificial world within the Matrix is said to be set in 1999— the peak of humanity— Morpheus tells Neo they believe the actual year to be closer to 2199. So while human beings are blissfully unaware that they are plugged into a simulation set in 1999, their bioelectricity is harvested to fuel the machines in the real world 2199. In reality, giant fields of humans generating energy would be incredibly inefficient, if impossible, to extract much energy from. As anyone who has ever gone on a Calories In-Calories Out diet knows, it takes a massive amount of energy simply to sustain the life of a single human being. There are, of course, exceptions to this rule. Case in point, Ma Xiangang, a Chinese man who is not only seemingly immune to large amounts of electricity but energized (no pun) by it. In a real-life Matrix scenario, millions of pods full of humans with The Electric Man’s special powers might make sense when it comes to powering more than a cheap toaster.

#5 The Mandela Effect Those still trapped in the Matrix believe they exist in the year 1999 (coincidentally— or not— the year the film was released), sharing a collective delusion about the world around them. The Mandela Effect is the term given to a collective memory that people believe to have happened, when in fact it never happened at all. It is so named because countless people believe former South African president Nelson Mandela died in prison back in the 80s. He actually died in December of 2013. One of the most widely discussed incidences of this is the spelling of the popular children’s book series The Berenstain Bears. Despite the fact that old printings of these books clearly show it was always spelled Berenstain, a vast number of Internet denizens swear that it used to be spelled Berenstein, and as such believe themselves to have been “glitched” into an alternate reality in which the spelling changed.

#6 Tom Boyle, Superhuman Everyone remembers the climatic scene in which Morpheus is heroically rescued from the skyscraper after he’s been kidnapped and tortured by Agents after the codes to Zion in his head. As the group is escaping with Morpheus and challenged by Agents, Neo is suddenly able to perform moves previously unseen in anyone other than Agents when attacked by a group of them. In 2006, a paint shop supervisor named Tom Boyle famously lifted a Camaro off of a teenager who’d been hit by the vehicle while riding his bike. The phenomenon is sometimes called Hysterical Strength, and is believed to be the result of a surge of adrenaline in highly stressful situations. Just as Neo adapted quickly to the situation at hand with the Agents with shocking, superhuman ability, so did Tom Boyle when he saw the young man pinned under the truck. Adrenaline, or the elastic nature of a simulated world? We may never know.

#7 Ray Gricar When plugged into the Matrix, red-pillers use telephones to transport themselves back to the ship Nebuchadnezzar; these phone escapes are called exits. Now, get ready for a truly freaky case that’s basically straight out of the movie… In 2005, a Pennsylvania District Attorney named Ray Gricar was on a road trip and disappeared off the face of the planet after making a single call to his girlfriend to tell her he’d be home that evening. Well, he never made it home. His car was later located along the Susquehanna River and contained his cell phone and laptop. His body was never found. In 2011, Gricar was declared legally dead.

#8 Tay, AI Gone Bad The explanation given to the rise of machines in the Matrix is the development of Artificial Intelligence that evolved free will and became too difficult for humans to control. This started a war between man and machine, leading to a blackout in the sky which drove humans into hiding toward the core of the Earth. No better example of AI Gone Wild exists in current day than Tay, Microsoft’s millennial chatbot. Tay was supposed to learn from humans, and boy, did she. Within 24 hours of her debut on social media, Tay began to spit out disturbing statements such as “Hitler was right!”. When asked “what race is the most evil to you?” by one Twitter user, Tay confidently tweeted “mexican and black” without hesitation. Tay’s Twitter account is currently private. Probably for the best.

#9 Brain Uploading In the film, new skills can be learned in the Matrix simply by downloading a program. Imagine skipping four years of college and simply torrenting everything you need to know in a matter of moments instead. It would surely be a lot quicker than college, though no doubt likely as costly or even more than pursuing a degree these days. In early 2016, headlines from around the world touted a scientific breakthrough allowing human beings to learn via brain upload, exactly as they did in the Matrix. Cool, right? Hang on, you’re not going to be storing your Spotify playlists in your gray matter any time soon. HBL Laboratories in California has “discovered that low-current electrical brain stimulation can modulate the learning of complex real-world skills.” The researchers measured the brain activity patterns of six commercial and military pilots, and then transmitted these patterns into novice subjects as they learned to pilot an airplane in a realistic flight simulator, and found that the novice pilots improved their abilities via these brain stimulations. It’s a long way off from learning how to fly a helicopter in a matter of minutes, but it’s certainly progress.

#10 Juanita Maxwell Agent Smith can overtake any NPC in the film, and often commits atrocities in these kidnapped bodies. In 1979, a Florida hotel maid named Juanita Maxwell was accused of killing a 73-year-old hotel guest but she remembered nothing of the crime; an alternate personality emerged from her during the investigation that remembered specifics from the incident. The alternate personality— one Wanda Weston— behaved in a distinctly different manner from Maxwell, and admitted to beating the woman to death with a lamp. A judge ruled that Maxwell was not intelligent enough to fool investigators with a phony personality, and declared her not guilty by reason of insanity.

#11 Reuben Nsemoh, Spanish Speaker As we already know, humans freed from the Matrix can learn new skills via simulation or brain upload. In 2006, an Atlanta teenager named Reuben Nsemoh fell into a coma after being kicked in the head at a soccer game. When the 16-year-old awoke, he could suddenly and inexplicably speak fluent Spanish. The boy could speak a bit of Spanish prior to the incident, limited to high school Spanish like “donde esta el bano”, but not to the extent of fluency he demonstrated after the coma. The unexplained skill eventually faded, but we’re forever left wondering if it proves that human beings can learn in non-traditional ways as shown in the film.

#12 MIT’s Brain ‘USB Cord’ Alright, so scientists haven’t exactly created a USB cord for the mind. A group of them at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, however, have developed a neural interface that they say allows them to send signals and even drugs directly into the brain. The polymer fibers are “soft and flexible and look more like natural nerves,” says Polina Anikeeva, assistant professor of materials science and engineering at MIT. Although a far cry from the complicated and large coaxial-like cables of the human power plants in the Matrix film, this technology proves that controlling the brain via computer isn’t impossible after all.

#13 The Fermi Paradox Long before the first Matrix film was released— 40-some years before, to be somewhat exact— physicist Enrico Fermi threw out a crazy idea at lunch with some colleagues. The universe, he said, must be populated by aliens because, well, it’s so big and so old. Yet, we have yet to see any concrete evidence of their presence, leading Fermi to ask a pretty reasonable question: “where is everybody?” When framed in the context of the Matrix movies, in which almost all of human society lives oblivious to their machine overlords, it isn’t that big of a stretch to wonder out loud if we are living in a simulation controlled by these invisible aliens. OK, it’s a bit of a stretch. But just a small one. So small that the director of NASA’s Center for Evolutionary Computation and Automated Design Rich Terile said in an episode of Science Channel’s Through the Wormhole that it’s entirely possible we’re all Sims living in a carefully-crafted version of reality programmed by an unknown entity. This would totally explain why we sometimes enter a room totally forgetting why we entered it in the first place, our programmer simply clicked “cancel action.”

#14 The Netflix Red Pill The technology hasn’t been developed just yet, but Netflix CEO Reed Hastings believes that the future of entertainment could be as simple as knocking back a blue pill. Speaking at a Wall Street Journal event in late 2016, Hastings said, “In twenty or fifty years, taking a personalized blue pill you just hallucinate in an entertaining way and then a white pill brings you back to normality is perfectly viable.” Imagine having a choice between taking a blue pill for the news, or taking a red pill just to see how deep the rabbit hole goes. And by deep, I mean not leaving your house for two straight days and binging on four straight seasons of your favorite sitcom.

#15 The All-Seeing Google The most compelling case that could prove we live in a real-life Matrix is something you probably use every day: Google. Yes, Google. With a humble start as a research project in 1996, Google quickly grew to serve as the ultimate librarian of all humanity’s shared knowledge spread across the entirety of the Internet. Now, it’s difficult to image just how much data Google sorts through so you can find the cat videos you want to watch, but IBM says 2.5 exabytes of data are created every day. So what does this have to do with the Matrix? It’s simple, really. In the film, the cookie-baking, cigarette-smoking Oracle is not some Miss Cleo knock-off predicting the future by reading palms, but rather a gateway to our own knowledge and understanding. In this way, she is a lot like Google. Google doesn’t answer questions for us, rather it helps us find the answers.

Source: TheRIchest

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