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NextSpace Berkeley: Free Coworking Day
Free coworking day on Jan 8th at Berkeley NextSpace. I’ve heard it’s a good shared office space. And it’s very close to MIRI and CFAR’s downtown office if you’d like to come see what…
New Paper: “Why We Need Friendly AI” – Machine Intelligence Research Institute
A new paper by Luke Muehlhauser and Nick Bostrom, “Why We Need Friendly AI,” has been published in the latest issue of the Cambridge journal Think: Philosophy for Everyone.
Are You a Transhuman?
This archive file was compiled from audio of a discussion futurist FM 2030 held at the University of California, February 6th, 1994.
Unfit for Work: The startling rise of disability in America
14 million Americans are on disability — even though the vast majority of those recipients didn’t qualify for disability the first time they applied. It turns out that hundreds of appeals lawyers have assisted millions…
New gesture interface can sense your movements — even through walls
Many of us want a “Minority Report”-style interface to control our computers. There are many options that are “almost ready” for prime time but all have their drawbacks (see below). In the mean time,…
Acupuncture, Real or Sham, Eases Chemo Hot Flashes
It says… something… about modern medicine that, (1) the default treatment for cancer patients is poisoning them, and (2) the most promising hypothesis that an actual researcher could locate for dulling the pain of…
17 ways that Training turns into Real World Performance
A literature review on training finds that only 17 traits and techniques are robustly associated with later real world performance. Popular things that *do not* have good evidence: Active Learning, Extroversion, Desire to Learn,…
Apply for a Thiel Fellowship
Still 2 days left to apply for a Thiel “20 under 20” fellowship in 2014! See on www.thielfellowship.org
Why a hydrogen economy doesn’t make sense
The fact that federal agencies ever allocated money to fuel cell research is pretty damning evidence that even the most elite scientists in US government don’t know how to fund science. Fuel cells aren’t a…
A pretend leap forward in X-ray technology
Glad that MIT researchers have demonstrated a proof-of-concept that you can accurately scan soft tissues and bones much better than current x-rays. Although, it would be much cooler if it didn’t crucially depend on…
Spaced Repetition for Learning
Anki decks are clearly the best way to commit a new corpus of knowledge to memory. I would certainly be using Anki more if I were in school and trying to stuff lots of…
Polydactyly @ Radiopaedia.org
Radiopaedia is pretty much my new favorite toy! See on radiopaedia.org
Survey reveals regulatory agencies viewed as unprepared for nanotechnology
“The people responsible for regulation are the most skeptical about their ability to regulate.” See on www.sciencedaily.com
Younger women should stop wearing bras
Last year, a researcher found that bras reduce breast tissue strength in young women, causing their breasts to sag more over time. Unlike earlier studies, this one had a decent sample size (n=330) and…
Delayed aging is better investment than cancer, heart disease research
“Recent scientific advances suggest that slowing the aging process (senescence) is now a realistic goal. Yet most medical research remains focused on combating individual diseases.” “Using the Future Elderly Model—a microsimulation of the future…
United Nations to Adopt Asteroid Defense Plan
Yay! X-risk from giant space rocks is going down a bit more. See on www.scientificamerican.com
Police say teen shot self in head — while hands cuffed behind back
“I know that it is hard for people not in law enforcement to understand how someone could be capable of shooting themselves [in the head] while handcuffed behind the back,” [Police Chief] Lopez said….
