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Jan 19, 2016
The Dawn of the Singularity: A Visual Timeline of Ray Kurzweil’s Predictions
Posted by Shailesh Prasad in categories: engineering, Ray Kurzweil, singularity
The following predictions were made by Ray Kurzweil, now the Director of Engineering at Google. He has made 147 predictions since the 1990’s and has maintained an astonishing 86% accuracy rate.
Jan 19, 2016
Painless electrical zaps may replace dental anesthesia needles
Posted by Shailesh Prasad in categories: biotech/medical, materials
As much as some people fear getting dental fillings or root canals, what many of them are really afraid of is the needle that delivers the anesthetic into the mouth tissue. Even though the skin in the “jabbing area” is usually pretreated with a topical anesthetic, it can still hurt. Before long, however, a shot of electricity could make that topical treatment deep-acting enough that the needle isn’t even needed.
In a recent study, scientists from the University of Sao Paulo in Brazil combined two commonly-used anesthetic drugs – prilocaine hydrochloride and lidocaine hydrochloride – with a polymer to form a hydrogel. The polymer was included to make it sticky, so that it could be applied to the lining of a pig’s mouth.
Using a process known as iontophoresis, a mild and painless electrical current was then passed through the hydrogel. As a result, there was a 12-fold increase in how well the prilocaine hydrochloride permeated through the tissue. The anesthetic effect was claimed to be not only fast-acting, but also long-lasting.
Jan 19, 2016
LinkNYC’s free gigabit Wi-Fi is here, and it is glorious
Posted by Shailesh Prasad in categories: economics, habitats, internet, mobile phones
I’m standing on the corner of 15th Street and Third Avenue in New York City, and I’m freezing. But my iPhone is on fire. After connecting to one of LinkNYC’s gigabit wireless hotspots, the futuristic payphone replacements that went live for beta testing this morning, I’m seeing download speeds of 280 Mbps and upload speeds of 317 Mbps (based on Speedtest’s benchmark). To put it in perspective, that’s around ten times the speed of the average American home internet connection (which now sits at 31 Mbps). And to top it all off, LinkNYC doesn’t cost you a thing.
God does not exist. However, let’s grant for a moment that God is real. Religious texts and practices show that God is wicked, cruel, and immoral, and totally unworthy of affection by moral human beings.
For the sake of brevity, we’ll exclusively consider the God of the New Testament, and ignore the God of the Old Testament, Koran, and other books. This God is often portrayed as hip, cool, and loving. If we dig deeper into some of the basic tenets of Christianity held by mainstream Protestant, Catholic, and Orthodox churches, we’ll see that it’s an elaborate smoke screen. The God of the New Testament is a beast.
The Problem of Evil
Jan 19, 2016
Samsung announces mass production of next-generation HBM2 memory
Posted by Shailesh Prasad in category: computing
Samsung announced today that its next-generation HBM2 memory is in mass production. 4GB stacks are available now, with 8GB expected by the end of the year.
Jan 19, 2016
Peter H. Diamandis on why technology is accelerating
Posted by Shailesh Prasad in category: Peter Diamandis
Jan 19, 2016
The Blockchain is a New Model of Governance
Posted by Shailesh Prasad in categories: bitcoin, governance
While many people focus on bitcoin’s price fluctuations and potential increase in adoption, currency is just the first application of this game-changing technology. The core of the blockchain provides an alternative governance model to the current oligarchic control shown in the harsh austerity forced against the will of the Greek people.
In the six years of its existence, public awareness of this technology has grown by leaps and bounds. Now, most who are aware of this groundbreaking innovation know the blockchain is a ledger. Yet, this ledger is not simply for accounting monetary transactions.
At its core, it is a platform that allows people to come to agreement on virtually anything without intermediaries. It provides a foundation to make social contracts based on the principle of consensus. Foremost, it enables a larger function of accounting; performing checks and balance on the self interests and the corruptible tendencies that exist in society.
