Globe Staff — The Boston Globe
A growing body of research suggests noninvasive brain stimulation, such as transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS), may improve specific cognitive skills in healthy subjects. Put another way, a small intermittent shock to your brain might keep your attention from eroding throughout the day.
by Eddie Krassenstein — 3DPrint.com
It’s always fun predicting the future. People do it all the time because it is entertaining to imagine a world that we or our children will one day have the chance to experience. We’ve seen fictitious movies do this from time to time since the beginning of film. There was the hoverboard in ‘Back to the Future’, the jet packs in ‘The Rocketeer’, teleportation in Star Trek, and the list goes on. Some of these inventions have already become a reality, while we are still awaiting the arrival of others.
Another Star Trek prediction, was that of the Replicator, which was used to basically 3D print objects, especially food. These have already begun to take shape in current times, in the form of 3D printers. MakerBot even calls their consumer level 3D printer the ‘Replicator’. Sure it may not work the exact same way, but its close enough.
Now, one video game development company, Sledgehammer Games, is trying to predict the future in their upcoming video game. We’re sure that most of you are well aware of the Call of Duty video game series. ‘Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare’ is currently scheduled for release this coming Novembmer. In the game, which takes place in the year 2054, Sledgehammer Games will try their hands at predicting the future themselves. One of the more notable futuristic ideas in the game, is that of the 3D-Printer Rifle.
Allen McDuffee — Wired
The U.S. Navy is tapping the power of the Force to wage war.
Its latest weapon is an electromagnetic railgun launcher. It uses a form of electromagnetic energy known as the Lorentz force to hurl a 23-pound projectile at speeds exceeding Mach 7. Engineers already have tested this futuristic weapon on land, and the Navy plans to begin sea trials aboard a Joint High Speed Vessel Millinocket in 2016.
“The electromagnetic railgun represents an incredible new offensive capability for the U.S. Navy,” Rear Adm. Bryant Fuller, the Navy’s chief engineer, said in a statement. “This capability will allow us to effectively counter a wide range of threats at a relatively low cost, while keeping our ships and sailors safer by removing the need to carry as many high-explosive weapons.”
The White Swan’s Beyond Eureka and Sputnik Moments: How To Fundamentally Cope With Corporate Litmus Tests and With The Permanent Impact of the Dramatic Highly Improbable And Succeed and Prevail Through Transformative and Integrative Risk Management! [TREATISE EXCERPT]. By © Copyright 2013, 2014 Mr. Andres Agostini — All Rights Reserved Worldwide — « www.linkedin.com/in/andresagostini AND www.AMAZON.com/author/agostini » — The Lifeboat Foundation Global Chief Consulting Officer and Partner, Lifeboat Foundation Worldwide Ambassador —
(An Independent, Solemn, Most-Thorough and Copyrighted Answer. Independence, solemnity, thoroughness, completeness, detail, granularity of details, accuracy and rigor, hereunder, will be then redefined by several orders of nonlinear magnitude and without a fail).
[TREATISE EXCERPT].
To Nora, my mother, who rendered me with the definitiveness to seek the thoughts and seek the forethoughts to outsmart any impending demand and other developments. To Francisco, my father: No one who has taught me better. There is no one I regard most highly. It is my greatest fortune to be his son. He endowed me with the Agostini family’s charter, “…Study and, when grown up, you will neither be the tyrants’ toy, nor the passions’ servile slave…” I never enjoyed a “…Mom…”, but considerably enjoyed a gargantuan courageous Mother, Father, Grandparents and Forbears.
By Evan Ackerman — IEEE Spectrum
Yesterday, DARPA announced the four companies that’ll be competing to develop a new experimental aircraft that combines the efficiency of an airplane with the versatility of a helicopter. It’ll be something like a V-22 Osprey, except that DARPA is hoping for “radical improvements in vertical and cruise flight capabilities.” Three of the companies provided concept art to DARPA; Boeing’s Phantom Swift is pictured above. And the thing that every proposal has in common? They’re all robots.
Robots weren’t a specific requirement for the VTOL X-Plane, but DARPA says that the best proposals ended up being unmanned. It shouldn’t be a surprise that this is the case; in a contest based on speed, efficiency, and payload, including a human pilot would be a significant disadvantage: humans are fragile and require a lot of maintenance, and it’s becoming increasingly arguable that a human in an aircraft has the potential to be more of a liability than an asset, at least in some cases, which may include (say) cargo delivery into dangerous areas.
For a glimpse at the future of human-robot interactions, it might be better to look at what’s happening in the United States military than analysing Her, in which Joaquin Phoenix’s character falls in love with an OS voiced by Scarlett Johansson.
Throughout every department of the US armed forces, autonomous robots are playing a larger role in every aspect of warfare than ever before, and soldiers are developing some unorthodox relationships with their machines.
Just ask Danielle.
By Cheryl Pellerin — American Forces Press Service
WASHINGTON, Feb. 14, 2014 – During a winter weekend in Pittsburgh, more than 50 cadets and midshipmen from three service academies sat elbow to elbow at nine round tables in a packed room. They’d been training since November to compete in a pilot program of the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency called the Service Academy Cyber Stakes.
Competitors at the Jan. 30-Feb. 2 event ranged from freshmen to seniors, 18 to 24 years old, from the U.S. Military Academy in West Point, N.Y., the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, Md., and the U.S. Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs, Colo.
DARPA officials said the Defense Department must train 4,000 cybersecurity experts by 2017. Meeting that goal requires building a pipeline for training and education, especially for future officers who will oversee protection of the cyber domain. DARPA had two requirements for the competition: impact to the warfighter and innovation.
The Future of Omniscient Scenario-Planning Methodology, Today! By Mr. Andres Agostini
This is a personal yet summarized and copyrighted P.O.V. that is professional, thorough and complete. This independent exploration is based on 30 years of stern practical experience and expertise.
When I was 25 I was fully introduced and indoctrinated on worldwide Royal Dutch Shell’s scenario-planning methodology by Shell’s nationalized company Maraven. That introduction and indoctrination came through the kind deeds and executive decision of and by Maraven President, Dr. Carlos Castillo and the high-ranking strategic planners under his command.
FEBRUARY 13/2014 LIST OF UPDATES. By Mr. Andres Agostini at The Future of Scientific Management, Today! At http://lnkd.in/bYP2nDC
Is your boss watching you? Surveillance device tracks employees’ movements in the office, sends details of conversations and even times their toilet breaks
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2552858/Workp…oilet.html
New software lets you mark places as off-limits for wearable camera gadgets like Google Glass.
http://www.technologyreview.com/news/523941/not-ok-glass/
Seeing as a Service. Forget Augmented Reality. What About Diminished Reality?
https://medium.com/futures-exchange/403771297f5f
Elon Musk plans to colonise Mars
http://futuretimeline.net/blog/2014/02/4.htm#.UvpE9oWGiHd
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FEBRUARY 11/2014 LIST OF UPDATES. By Mr. Andres Agostini at The Future of Scientific Management, Today! At http://lnkd.in/bYP2nDC
London’s first computer, the fastest in the world at 1MHz. May, 1950
London’s first computer, the fastest in the world at 1MHz. May, 1950 pic.twitter.com/OfUcNYmumX— History Photographed (@HistoryInPics) February 9, 2014
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