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Category: government – Page 192

Transhumanism And The Future Of Humanity: 7 Ways The World Will Change By 2030

Innovation Group looked at three fundamental pillars of humanity and how they will evolve over the coming 10–15 years: our bodies, our thought, and our behavior. After identifying the driving forces that will transform these fundamental pillars, we extracted key themes emerging from their convergence. Ultimately our goal was to determine the ways in which the changing nature of humanity and transhumanism would affect individuals, society, businesses, and government.

A few of the trends that emerged from this study include the following seven trends. We hope they will spark discussion and innovation at your organizations.

Companies today are strategizing about future investments and technologies such as artificial intelligence, the internet of things, or growth around new business models. While many of these trends will make for solid investments for the next 5–10 years, fewer companies are considering the revolutionary convergence of disparate trends pulled from technology, behavioral and societal changes, and medical advances to understand how they will converge to transform society. This transformation will be messy, complex, and sometimes scary, but signals already point to a future of humanity that will blur our identities into “transhumanism.”

Philip Hammond pledges driverless cars by 2021 and warns people to retrain

Government of England pledges to roll out Level 5 Self Driving cars by 2021. And, they estimate 1 million people being left unemployed. Gives an idea of what will happen with automation of the Transportation Industry in the US.

UK chancellor says driverless vehicles will revolutionise people’s lives but says for some it will be ‘very challenging’.

Maximize the impacts of space science

In our view, to get the most from space-science programmes — in terms of impacts on research and reputation — government agencies and institutions need to choose, manage and assess missions in ways that optimize the scientific outputs. As heads of space-science agencies and institutes from around the world gather at a forum next week in Beijing to identify principles for maximizing returns on such missions, we call on them to put science first.

Put research goals first when prioritizing and managing national and international projects, urge Ji Wu and Roger Bonnet.

Fifty years since the first United Nations Conference on the Exploration and Peaceful Uses of Outer Space (1968 — 2018): UNISPACE+50 — United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs (UNOOSA)

“UNISPACE+50 will celebrate the fiftieth anniversary of the first United Nations Conference on the Exploration and Peaceful Uses of Outer Space. It will also be an opportunity for the international community to gather and consider the future course of global space cooperation for the benefit of humankind.

From 20 to 21 June 2018 the international community will gather in Vienna for UNISPACE+50, a special segment of the 61 st session of the Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space (COPUOS).”

Read more

UN panel agrees to move ahead with debate on ‘killer robots’

A U.N. panel agreed Friday to move ahead with talks to define and possibly set limits on weapons that can kill without human involvement, as human rights groups said governments are moving too slowly to keep up with advances in artificial intelligence that could put computers in control one day.

Advocacy groups warned about the threats posed by such ‘killer robots’ and aired a chilling video illustrating their possible uses on the sidelines of the first formal U.N. meeting of government experts on Lethal Autonomous Weapons Systems this week.

More than 80 countries took part.

Investigation: Radioactive leaks at Illinois nuclear plants

Radioactive waste continues to pour from Exelon’s Illinois nuclear power plants more than a decade after the discovery of chronic leaks led to national outrage, a $1.2 million government settlement and a company vow to guard against future accidents, an investigation by a government watchdog group found.

Since 2007, there have been at least 35 reported leaks, spills or other accidental releases in Illinois of water contaminated with radioactive tritium, a byproduct of nuclear power production and a carcinogen at high levels, a Better Government Association review of federal and state records shows.

No fines were issued for the accidents, all of which were self-reported by the company.

Warning: N. Korea mapping specific plan for ‘devastating’ EMP

Only a few weeks after a team of experts warned Congress that the nation faces an “existential threat” from North Korea from a possible electromagnetic pulse attack, a new report says the rogue nation is mapping a specific plan.

Paul Bedard at the Washington Examiner wrote in his “Washington Secrets” column that the White House “is being warned that North Korea is mapping plans for a ‘devastating’ attack on the United States with an atmospheric nuclear explosion that would disable the nation’s electric grid, potentially leading to the deaths of virtually all impacted.”

He said President Trump “is being urged to create a special commission to tackle the potential for an electromagnetic pulse attack, one similar to the iconic Manhattan Project.”

Why the rise of the robots won’t mean the end of work

For now, at least, we have better things to worry about.

Sources:
https://economics.mit.edu/files/11563
https://www.aeaweb.org/full_issue.php?doi=10.1257/jep.29.3#page=33
http://voxeu.org/article/how-computer-automation-affects-occupations
https://www.opensocietyfoundations.org/sites/default/files/f…150428.pdf
https://obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/sites/whitehouse.gov/fi…conomy.PDF
https://www.vox.com/2015/7/27/9038829/automation-myth



https://www.oxfordmartin.ox.ac.uk/downloads/academic/The_Fut…oyment.pdf

Clips:






Recent advancements in artificial intelligence and robotics have commentators worrying about the coming obsolescence of the human worker. Some in Silicon Valley are even calling for a basic minimum income provided by the government for everyone, under the assumption that work will become scarce. But many economists are skeptical of these claims, because the notion that the economy offers a fixed amount of work has been debunked time and time again over the centuries and current economic data show no signs of a productivity boom. Fortunately, we don’t need to divine the future of the labor market in order to prepare for it.

Vox.com is a news website that helps you cut through the noise and understand what’s really driving the events in the headlines. Check out http://www.vox.com to get up to speed on everything from Kurdistan to the Kim Kardashian app.

Boeing 757 controls remotely HACKED while on the runway

A group of security researchers has remotely hacked a Boeing 757 aircraft without the knowledge of the pilots, a US government official has claimed.

Robert Hickey, a Homeland Security cyber investigator, managed to take over the passenger jet on the runway at Atlantic City airport, New Jersey.

A Boeing official has said the test is unlikely to indicate a major threat to airliners, adding: ‘I’m not afraid to fly’.