Category Archives: Mind Uploading

We all know that no matter whatbusiness services you are looking for, you must keep the exact requirements of your business in mind even when picking an Internet connection for your business.

Here are a few things you must consider:

Its important to note that most internet connections download files/data much faster than uploading them. Thats because most of the day to day activities on the Internet (which include video streaming, loading of web pages etc.) involve downloading of data. The low upload speed can cause serious issues for businesses that use Internet connection primarily for uploading data. These include tasks like loading data to the weekly or daily business reports, backing up information to the cloud and so on.

A standard connection that promises to offer a maximum speed of 50 Mbps is unlikely to allow you upload at that speed; 50 Mbps would be the maximum download speed you will be enjoying when using that connection. Upload speed offered by the same connection would never be able to match that speed.

If your business connectivity is required primarily for uploading data, you would require symmetrical bandwidth, which is provided by use of Ethernet solutions. Symmetrical bandwidth would allow you to enjoy same upload and download speeds.

Internet connection types commonly used by businesses

ADSL Broadband - This is possibly the most cost effective option you would come across when looking for a suitable Internet connection for your business. This connection type is available in almost every area and offers bonded solutions that would allow you to enjoy high speeds. Another feature thats worth a mention is ADSLs impressive latency. However, the option wouldnt suit you if you are looking for a connection offering fast upload speed.

Fiber broadband - This is a great option if you have a small office and a handful of employees. It would offer you a download speed of as high as 80 Mbps. However, fiber broadband is an expensive option if you have low bandwidth requirements.

Leased lines - This one is surely rated among the best possible network connectivity your business can have. With a leased line, you will enjoy dedicated and high-speed Internet connection that would be completely private. It would offer you 99.9 percent up-time and symmetrical bandwidth. The only thing you will have to remember before picking this option is that it would cost you significantly more money that ADSL. Also, you must also be careful about cable theft.

Wireless (3G & 4G where possible) - As a result of being wireless, this connectivity option would allow you to use the Internet on the go. A business WiFI has several benefits and it might be the most popular internet connection business opt in. WiFi allows you to connect your device, or devices, and let you roam free through the office. Considering that BYOD trend is increasing over the globe, it would explain the increased demand for wireless business solutions.

The other benefits of this option include high availability in metropolitan locations and easy deployment. Also, you can get hold of some truly low-cost packages when using this connectivity type. However, you should check the efficacy of the connection well before picking it for business connectivity as its latency or performance is often variable.

Why opting for managed network services would be a good decision?

Heres how managed network services can help your business

By controlling operating expenses of the entire IT network- A managed service would reduce operational, hardware, service, maintenance, infrastructure, and software costs. Also, all these costs would be controlled better and become more predictable.

By maintaining network and preventing network issues proactively- The managed network service provider would free you up for focusing on the primary goals of your business. These service providers ensure that their clients can use high-performance networks boasting high flexibility and speed. They even possess the infrastructure required for supporting faster upgrades and implementations. A Managed network service provider would carry out preventive and proactive maintenance checks on a regular basis and keep making improvements to the network.

By offering more comprehensive network security- With managed network services, your business will be enjoying a higher level of security for your entire data and voice network. Your business would be protected from spam, intrusions, viruses, malware, as well as inappropriate content.

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The Most Suitable Connection for Your Business - BusinessZone (blog)

Not everyone feels comfortable sharing every bit of their lives to social media. Some people arent even comfortable uploading a profile photo for fear of them being misused, but now Facebook is trying to give users a bit more peace of mind.

The company is testing a new feature in India that allows you to add an extra degree of protection to your profile photo. Tap on your profile photo and select turn on profile picture guard. In the companys own words, once activated:

Profile (and cover) photos are normally forcibly public on Facebook, so this gives users a bit more flexibility for adding a profile photo without worrying that every passing creep will try to share it with someone or keep it in some creeptastic collection.

Well cant they just take a screenshot (if not on Android) or use a camera? Of course. But much like Snapchats screenshot alert, the point is deterring misuse, not stopping it completely.

Also notable, Facebook found it could also deter misuse by applying overlay filters:

Based on preliminary tests, weve learned that when someone adds an extra design layer to their profile picture, other people are at least 75% less likely to copy that picture.

Think of it kind of like a stock photo with a watermark nobody wants to steal those.

I still think Facebook could solve a lot of trouble by simply letting you hide your profile photo altogether from strangers, or at least keep it to the smaller thumbnail size.

Even changing the privacy setting to be visible by only me simply hides details like comments and the date. The public still gets a full view of whatever you end up uploading.

But hey, its a step forward. The feature will remain limited to India for now, but Facebook says it hopes to expand it to other countries soon.

Giving People More Control Over Their Facebook Profile Picture on Facebook

Read next: YouTube's VR180 solves some of VR's biggest problems - by chopping it in half

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Facebook wants to stop creeps from downloading your profile picture - TNW

Sometimes a smiley or a meme isn't enough to convey your feelings on Facebook. We show you how to post a GIF to Facebook. Sometimes a smiley or a meme isn't enough to convey your feelings on Facebook. Here we show you how to upload a GIF to Facebook

By Mohamed Wahid | 21 Jun 2017

Facebook has in the pastavoided the use of GIFs on its social network, fearing that along with its autoplaying video the News Feed would become overly cluttered. But Facebook users love a meme, and memes and GIFs go hand in hand. Also see: How to stop autoplaying video on Facebook.

Uploading a GIF to Facebook is simple, although you can't simply attach a GIF to your post as you would do a photo or other image. Below we show you step-by-step how to start using animated images on Facebook. Also see: How to create a GIF.

A GIF is a short animated image that plays in a loop, and can be viewed anywhere. In comparison to a video, GIFs are much smaller files that are more suitable for viewing over slow internet or mobile connections. It's faster to upload, too.

1.As you can't upload your own GIF files to Facebook, you'll either need to create your own and upload it to another hosting site, or find a GIF you like on Tumblr, Imgur, Giphy or elsewhere. Open the GIF, then right-click on the image. Also see: Best Facebook tips and tricks.

2.In Google Chrome select the option to Copy Image URL. If you're using Firefox, instead look for and select 'Copy Image Location'. In Opera you want 'Copy Image Address'. Other browsers will have slightly different options, but in all cases you're looking for an option that allows you to copy the URL that takes you directly to the GIF.

3. Next, log into your Facebook news feed in a new browser window and paste the link into the 'What's on your mind?' status field at the top of the page. You can use Ctrl, V on your keyboard, or right-click in the box and select Paste.

4.Give it a second and the GIF will automatically appear below the URL. You can delete this URL or leave it there - it's up to you.

5.To post the GIF simply click Post - it's that easy!

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How to post a GIF to Facebook - Tech Advisor (registration)

There has been a lot of talk recently about the Singularity: the idea that were rapidly approaching a threshold event in history when artificial intelligence will transcend human intelligence, and the resulting transformation will lead to a new form of existence utterly different from anything that has come before. Discussions of the Singularity, however, sometimes miss the fact that there are very different ways it could happen, with different levels of likelihood.

One version that has received significant press lately is the emergence of a superhuman artificial intelligence (AI). Last year DeepMind, a Google-backed AI system, used deep learning techniques to teach itself Go, a game far more complex than chess, and then trounced world champion Lee Sedol. Prominent scientists, Stephen Hawking included, warn that the rise of self-organized machine intelligence could be the greatest existential threat facing humanity.

At the other end of the optimism spectrum, futurist Raymond Kurzweil dreams of immortality by downloading his mind and re-uploading it to new hardware after his deatha prospect he believes is closer than most people imagine, setting its date at 2045 in his bestseller The Singularity Is Near. Kurzweils ideas are gaining tractionhe is a director of engineering at Google, and his Singularity University boasts a faculty of some of Silicon Valleys leading entrepreneurs. But his vision may contain a fatal flaw: the human brain cannot be split, like a computer, between hardware and software. Rather, neuroscientists point out that a neurons biophysical makeup is intrinsically linked to its computations; the information doesnt exist separately from its material construction.

Will humans get there first?

There is, however, another kind of Singularity that doesnt rely on a leap of faith. Instead, its a predictable outcome of technological enhancements already being designed and implemented. It relies on the very fact that makes Kurzweils version unlikely: that human consciousness is embedded in a physical network of neurons. In this form of Singularity, human nervous systems across the world could connect with each other through the internet, permitting a new type of human superorganism to emerge.

Last month, Facebook and Elon Musk separately announced investments in technologies that could lead humanity to this outcome. Facebook announced plans for a silent speech interface using neural signal receptors that could allow users to type words into their smartphone using only their thoughts.

Billionaire Elon Musk raised the ante even further, announcing a new company, Neuralink Corporation, that aims to merge human brains with computers with the ultimate goal of enabling what Musk calls consensual telepathy. In this scenario, you would be able to share your thoughts and feelings with another person through a neural-computer interface. As in his other ventures, Musk is acting according to what he perceives as a grand vision for humanity. In his view, there is a race to the Singularity between humans and AI, and he wants humans to get there first, thus becoming active participants in the post-Singularity world rather than useless bystanders as AI takes over.

Speculative as these ideas may appear, the first steps down this path have already been taken. Hundreds of thousands of profoundly deaf people now hear through neural implants that use electrodes to transmit sound waves directly to the cochlear nerve. Patients suffering from Parkinsons disease can control their tremors through deep brain stimulation, which sends electrical pulses that modulate the brains neural activity. Brain-controlled prosthetics are being developed to allow paralyzed patients to move artificial fingers, legs, and even cursors on a computer screen.

Currently this requires complicated surgery. However, Miguel Nicolelis, a pioneer in brain-machine interfaces, believes that by around 2030 noninvasive methods could enable people to communicate regularly with their computers using thought. Scientists have already programmed brain scanners to literally see an image someone has in their mind.

Human Superorganism?

The implications of an advanced neural-computer interface are so enormous that they challenge the imagination. People could use the interface to share ideas with each other merely by thinking them and transmitting those thoughts through a network. But the potential extends far beyond mere conceptual sharing. As technology improved, youd be able to share your emotions, feeling tones, and physical sensations with others. Emotional responses to public events could be uploaded and spread over the internet. Intimate relationships would be utterly transformed.

Its easy to see how the boundary lines between an individual, the computer interface, and the rest of humanity might become blurred. Once a critical mass of people is connected, would they eventuallybegin to identify more as a group of interconnected thoughts and sensations than as individuals? Unlike Kurzweils Singularity, this version would not provide immortality to any of us. It might, however, cause the emergence of a new, collective entity, a self-organized human intelligence that incorporates and reflects each of the billions of individuals comprising it, in much the same way that an ant colonysometimes referred to as a superorganismdemonstrates a collective intelligence far beyond the limitations of each individual ant.

Many people might recoil from this vision, fearing the loss of individuality it might entail. However, this wouldnt necessarily be the case. The urge to connect with each other is one of humanitys defining characteristics. Our most crucial inventionlanguageis essentially a vehicle to transcend each persons cognitive isolation. Another uniquely human capabilitymusicpermits us to share emotional experiences in a meaningful and exquisite way. From this perspective, its reasonable to see the emergence of a human superorganism as another evolutionary stage that could profoundly enrich, rather than detract from, the intrinsic experience of being human.

Or a swarm of programmed drones?

However, this vision could be hijacked by the same forces that are already steering the internet into disturbing territory. Data privacy concerns, already paramount, have been exacerbated by the recent decision of the U.S. Congress to permit internet service providers to sell detailed usage data without customers permission. How much greater would this concern be if our very thoughts and feelings could be used as marketing fodder?

Even with the limitations of current technology, social media innovators have found ways to manipulate our hormonal responses. Pioneers in the field of captologyfrom the acronym CAPT, or Computers As Persuasive Technologyhave learned to use what they call hot triggers, such as the thumbs-up icon or Like statistics, to spark micro-doses of endorphinsin our brains, causing subconscious addictive behavioral loops. It is hard to imagine the power these manipulations would hold over us if they had direct access to our brains.

Then there are concerns about what kind of forces an internet of emotions might unleash. Many observers have voiced apprehension about our post-factual world roiled by fake news stories that spread like wildfire across the internet. If raw emotions could be transmitted across humanity like a tidal wave without requiring even false facts to back them up, what would this do to the political makeup of a future neurally connected society?

The issues that are hotly debated today have implications not just for how the internet will develop in the near future, but quite possibly for how humanity will evolve. Might we one day share the unimaginable experience of being part of a human superorganism while retaining individual autonomy? Or will we simply become programmed drones thinking were making our own choices that ultimately are driven by the objectives of corporate shareholders and unscrupulous politicians?

One thing is clear: discussions about the Singularity cannot be left to a few pioneering think tanks and billionaire entrepreneurs. The implications of these new developments are enormous. The future direction of humanity may well be at stake.

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A Meeting of Minds and Computers: What Are the Costs of Using Technology to Merge Humans with Machines? - Religion Dispatches

They'll be available starting Wednesday. Courtesy of Facebook

Facebook on Wednesday is unveiling new features that it hopes will make women in India feel safer on its platform.

The social network is introducing two tools that will give users in the country more control over who can download and share their profile photosimages that Facebook users can often see even if they're not friends with the person pictured.

Facebook's research in the Indian market revealed that some users, especially women, are uncomfortable uploading a profile picture of themselves for fear it might be distributed more widely than they wish or otherwise misused online, according to Facebook product manager Aarati Soman. Instead, they use photos of something elsesay a dog or other animalwhich can make it hard for friends to find them on the site.

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The first feature is a photo guard that users can trigger. It will keep others from being able to download, share, or send the photo in a Facebook message. The latest version of the Facebook app on Android devices will also prohibit users from screen-shotting a guarded photo. Profile pictures with the added security will be displayed with a blue border and shield, which Soman calls "a visual cue so people understand you would like your picture to be protected."

The second feature is a design overlay that users can put on their profile pictures. There are several different pattern options that Soman says mimic "traditional art designs from around India." Facebook's decision to add the feature stems from a research finding that an extra design layer on a profile picture made other users 75% less likely to copy it.

Both tools will be promoted in Indian users' news feeds, and they'll be available in over 30 local Indian languages. Their gradual rollout starts Wednesday; they'll be available throughout India by June 27.

India is one of Facebook's fastest growing markets in terms of users , but low internet speeds, weak infrastructure, and a lack of consumer trust remain challenges there, according to Quartz . In May, Facebook launched its Express Wi-Fi Internet service in India with 700 hotspots. The company partnered with 500 local entrepreneurs to sell the service through vouchers that are priced by the day or the month. It's Facebook's second attempt to promote universal connectively in India. Its first, called Free Basics, was blocked by India's telecom regulator last year for not supporting net neutrality since the service favored some sites over others.

In explaining the rationale behind the two new tools being introduced Wednesday, Soman pointed to CEO Mark Zuckerberg's February manifesto , which called for the creation of a worldwide community. In it, he also mentioned the "real opportunity to build global safety infrastructure." Soman says that in India in particular, the risk of photo misuse "is a top-of-mind concern for women."

"A lot of what affects women offline affects women online," she says.

Anshul Tewari of New Delhi is founder and editor in chief of Youth Ki Awaaz, a content publishing site aimed at India's youth. His organization helped Facebook in the development of the new tools, and he told Fortune about the online risks that many Indian women face.

"Gender-based violence and sexual harassment is a big problem in India," he said, due in large part to "an extremely patriarchal way of thinking." Those attitudes are also present online.

Many men feel they command power over women, even in a virtual setting, Tewari explains. One rampant problem is the unsolicited online messages that women receive on social media from men who try to befriend or control them. Pushback against such advances has, in some instances, prompted men to download women's photos, create fake profiles based on the woman's identity and post unflattering, even pornographic, content, Tewari says.

" There's not clear information on how much it happens," he says, but "a lot of people are struggling [with it]." A legal system in India that's ill-equipped to combat this kind of cybercrime only exacerbates that problem, according to Tewari.

"One thing that a platform like Facebook can do," he says, "is identify ways to protect aspects of your profile that can lead to such violence happening online."

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Facebook Is Introducing New Tools to Protect Women in India - Fortune

Daughter receives hilarious text from mum at her college.

STARTING at a new school, university or workplace can be quite daunting, especially if youre doing it all alone.

But for one student in the US the experience was completely different.

Avery Leilani attended the Texas State freshman orientation day with her mum you know those uncomfortable events where a really passionate student takes you on a tour and you try and make new friends? Well, yes those.

But as Avery went off to do her own thing she received a strange text from her mum.

The text said, I made some friends. Dont wait up.

And then the photos came.

The young students mum was pictured among some very toned members of the college football team.

My mum dropped me off today for College freshman orientation and she sends me this ... Avery posted the string of messages to Twitter and it quickly went viral.

Since uploading it online the post has been retweeted more than 97,000 times with nearly half a million likes.

One Twitter user responded our mums should be friends, and shared a photo of her mum doing the exact same thing. Youre not alone, Avery.

We dont know why, but this scene from Mean Girls comes to mind ...

The best scene in Mean Girls.Source:YouTube

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Mum drops off daughter at college then sends her hilarious texts with football team - NEWS.com.au

Today, well be taking a look at all the packages that Fiberlink offers. Fiberlink is the fastest broadband service in the Pakistan.

Internet quality and prices in Pakistan are always the hot topics. There are a number of ISPs providing their services in Pakistan like the PTCL and StormFiber. But as we know, PTCL is known for its frequent disconnections and unreliability but it is present in most areas of Pakistan while other ISPs are only available in big cities. 3G/4G Internet has also solved the issues for some users but due to limited data it prevents users from downloading big files.

Fiberlink is one of the major ISPs of Pakistan and provides the fastest Internet connections in Pakistan. It provides up to 400 Mbps download and upload speed. No other ISP is even close to this speed. Thats not all, the connection speed on all Fiberlink packages doubles at night, which makes it even more interesting. Just like the StormFiber, Fiberlink provides equal speed for uploading and downloading.

There is one big known issue with the Fiberlink. The service installation is a time-taking process and usually, requires a month. So you just have to be patient after ordering your connection.

You might also want to check:

Fiberlink offers high-speed internet packages at amazing price rates. We will be having a look on each one of them so that you can choose the package which suits you the most.

This package includes a 12 Mbps internet connection for a price of PKR 1,500 only. The internet speeds doubles to 24 Mbps at night (2:30 am to 9:00 am). One time installation charges of PKR 5,000 applies.

This package includes a 20 Mbps internet connection for a price of PKR 2,000 only. The internet speeds doubles to 40 Mbps at night (2:30 am to 9:00 am). One time installation charges of PKR 5,000 applies.

This package includes a 40 Mbps internet connection for a price of PKR 2,500 only. The internet speeds doubles to 80 Mbps at night (2:30 am to 9:00 am). One time installation charges of PKR 5,000 applies.

This package includes a 100 Mbps internet connection for a price of PKR 4,000 only. The internet speeds doubles to 200 Mbps at night (2:30 am to 9:00 am). One time installation charges of PKR 5,000 applies.

This package includes a 150 Mbps internet connection for a price of PKR 4,500 only. The internet speeds doubles to 300 Mbps at night (2:30 am to 9:00 am). One time installation charges of PKR 5,000 applies.

This package includes a 200 Mbps internet connection for a price of PKR 4,800 only. The internet speeds doubles to 400 Mbps at night (2:30 am to 9:00 am). One time installation charges of PKR 5,000 applies.

Keep in mind that all of the above-mentioned packages come with same upload and download speed.

You can get the Fiberlink connection by visiting their official website and signing up there. Or you can call and place your order on UAN: 111-456-123.

Make sure to check before applying that you are in the coverage area. The officials will also tell you if you are in the coverage area or not.

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Fiberlink Internet Packages & Prices 2017 - TechJuice (press release) (blog)

Humans are driven by emotions and sentiments. Their outlook to the surrounding is quite subjective rather than being driven algorithms or binary codes like 01101100011010010110011001100101. Being the most intelligent species on this blue planet, humans have sporadically played God. From cloning to genetic-level modifications, there are numerous such instances. Of late, the focus has shifted toArtificial Intelligence (AI). Perhaps your first-level interactions with AI have already happened. From Apples Siri to Amazons Alexa, the so-called assistants are actually your personal assistants, assisting you in your daily lives with bare minimum distraction.

Ask some silly questions to Siri, get some witty responses, and no harm done. Right? Of course, AI is at a very nascent stage but quite smart or dumb, as you may perceive, even in its budding years. The different forms of AI around us are constantly improving, getting upgrades and more importantly getting smarter. Like most of you, even I dread the day AIs get better than us and then get better of us. Even though I hail accomplishments like Google DeepMinds victory over Go Player champion, I seriously dont want AIs to peak after a certain level, where we have lost control only to be left as the second most intelligent species on this planet.

Even as tech companies are working, at surprisingly good pace, to improve the current AI, a few have envisioned slightly different versions. Elon Musk, the man who is known for his ambitious plans like electric cars, solar-powered homes, reusable rockets, sending people to Mars and so on, has also joined the fray with Neuralink. His idea of AI is building an interface between your brains and the computer. Elon Musks AI is more of an extension of yourself that is most probably bit more smart and efficient. I am sure youre already wondering if its something like The Matrix. Perhaps. Musk hopes to build something that will keep a check on AI an apprehension raised by the likes of Stephen Hawking and Bill Gates.

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According to Tim Urban of Wait But Why, Musk is working to merge human brains and AI that will cope with the super-intelligent AIs. He [Musk] believes that the solution to reduce existential risk is to be able to high bandwidth interface with AI. He thinks that if we can think with AI, it allows AI to function as a third layer in our brain, where we could have AI thats built for us. So we have human intelligence and then we have artificial intelligence, and theyre both us and so we become AI in a way, Urban is quoted as saying. ALSO READ: Neuralink and the Brains Magical Future

Urban admits this is indeed creepy but hopes that with everyone having his own AI, there will be nothing for the AI to conquer anything. Its much safer in a weird way, even though it gives us all a lot more power. Its like you dont want one Superman on earth, but if you have a billion Supermen then everything is okay because they check and balance each other, he adds.ALSO READ: A quick guide to Elon Musks new brain-implant company, Neuralink

Essentially, Urban is saying that if each country on the planet had a nuclear bomb, thered be no nuclear war ever. Well, the AI is not like the nuclear bomb, but the fear from it, in my opinion, is quite at the same level. At the moment, when we think about the AIs, we think of a smarter holographic image of a person that has all the answers and knowledge. But would we want to give away everything that our brains have to create a smarter version of yourself? I would not, for one. Perhaps I am okay to see an AI as a third person and neutral face rather blended with my personal history, dark desires, and fears that Id never acknowledged or even document. Most probably Id be livid and submerged into inferiority complex after seeing a smarter version of myself.

In case youre wondering, brain-computer interface concept is not really new. The basic versions of the interface are already lending support to people with disabilities, allowing hearing capabilities to auditory impaired, letting visually challenged to see, and lending a limb with prosthetics. Researchers are already working to connect the 100 billion neurons in our brain to make us do things that seem super human at the moment. Making an AI out of the brain-computer interface, of course, seems plausible but will be an overkill.

Fortunately, Musks plans dont involve connecting wires to the back of your neck to summon the AI, but wirelessly with the cloud. That being said, Musks few observations about us are quite intriguing. One of them is that we are already becoming a cyborg. Youre already a different creature than you would have been 20 years ago, or even 10 years ago. I think people theyre already kind of merged with their phone and their laptop and their applications and everything, he mentioned.ALSO READ: Google I/O 2017: Artificial Intelligence-first finally becomes a thing

Contrary to his opinion, Id like to believe our dependence on internet, smartphones, and applications is more based on our necessities rather the novelty. The apps and the magical world of the internet are just filling gaps that we perhaps had overlooked for a while. For an example, before Facebook, there was Orkut or Myspace, and after Facebook, therell be something else. But I doubt we are ready now or will ever be in at least the next decade, to give away everything we possess to upload our brains to the cloud. Had the Man of Steel been real, and I were the Kal-El, Id be freaked out to see my dead father, wandering around in the abandoned ship. Perhaps, I am okay to talk to an invisible AI with robotic-accent.Mind uploading in fiction Wikipedia

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Elon Musk's brain-computer interface plans are creepy and exactly the kind of AI you dread - BGR India

Richard Westlund, For Progress & Innovation 8:00 a.m. ET June 19, 2017

Jeff Leslie is CEO of ITS Telecom and ITS Fiber, LLC.(Photo: HOBIE HILER/FOR PROGRESS & INNOVATION)Buy Photo

If you were listing Floridas technology hubs, Indiantown is probably not the first name that comes to mind. But ITS Fiber, LLC, has brought national recognition to this small Martin County community for its state-of-the-art data center, high-speed fiber network and array of managed services.

Businesses today need powerful, secure IT solutions, along with the ability to easily send and share large data files, such as videos and presentations, said Jeff Leslie, president and CEO. We support their operations by offering enterprise-level network, broadband, voice, data center and cloud services.

In 2013, ITSopened its co-location facility and network operations center in Indiantown, following its deployment of a high-speed fiber network for the region.

That year, the company was honored with the Smart Rural Community Award from NTCA the Rural Broadband Association, and received an innovation awardfrom Calix, a national telecom supplier and an expansion award from the Business Development Board of Martin County.

ITS Telecom and ITS Fiber's Customer Service & Sales Center is in Indiantown. The sister companies offer services in Martin, St. Lucie and northern Palm Beach County.(Photo: HOBIE HILER/FOR PROGRESS & INNOVATION)

ITS is an early adopter and industry leader in the growing movement toward edge computing, and should be an example for other rural telephone companies to follow, said Mark Hurley, data center solution architect withSchneider Electric, which partnered with ITS Fiber in deploying the data center.

Leslie says ITS was the first company in South Florida to offer symmetric bandwidth with speeds up to 1 gigabit (1000 mbps) to both residents and businesses, rivaling large national competitors.

Thathigh speed is important for uploading large digital files, as well as streaming videos at home or at work, he said.

Rudy Hernandez, voice engineer, works at his desk at ITS Telecom and ITS Fiber.(Photo: HOBIE HILER/FOR PROGRESS & INNOVATION)

ITS Fiber, along with its sister company, ITS Telecom, offers a full suite of communications services in Martin, St. Lucie and northern Palm Beach County.

Using the Indiantown network operations center, the company also offers hosted voice services in seven states.

We can put voice service on any device desktop, laptop, smartphone or tablet so its available wherever you travel, Leslie said. Its like putting everyone in the same office, even if the business has locations outside Florida.

Thats one of the many ways ITS Fiber is growing in the cloud services market.

Many small to mid-size businesses dont have the capital to constantly invest in their on-premise infrastructure, Leslie said. We can take care of their network needs and offer software as a service . With our fiber connections, its like having our data center right there on site.

Currently, ITS has about 30 employees, a number that Leslie expects to grow in the next few years as the company expands its fiber network on the Treasure Coast and adds more business and residential customers.

We think the Treasure Coast is an excellent place for technology companies in todays digital era, he said. Fiber is the key to connectivity and collaboration, and we bring that to a region with a warm climate and a great lifestyle.

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RESEARCH & TECHNOLOGY/INNOVATION: ITS Fiber brings fast connections, data center services to local business - TCPalm

Some futurists predict humans will be able to upload their consciousness to computers in the near future.

NEW YORK By 2045, humans will achieve digital immortality by uploading their minds to computers or at least that's what some futurists believe. This notion formed the basis for the Global Future 2045 International Congress, a futuristic conference held here June 15-16.

The conference, which is the brainchild of Russian multimillionaire Dmitry Itskov, fell somewhere between hardcore science and science fiction. It featured a diverse cast of speakers, from scientific luminaries like Ray Kurzweil, Peter Diamandis and Marvin Minsky, to Swamis and other spiritual leaders.

In the year 2045

Kurzweil an inventor, futurist and now director of engineering at Google predicts that by 2045, technology will have surpassed human brainpower to create a kind of superintelligence an event known as the singularity. Other scientists have said that robots will overtake humans by 2100. [Super-Intelligent Machines: 7 Robotic Futures]

According to Moore's law, computing power doubles approximately every two years. Several technologies are undergoing similar exponential advances, from genetic sequencing to 3D printing, Kurzweil told conference attendees. He illustrated the point with a series of graphs showing the inexorable upward climb of various technologies.

By 2045, "based on conservative estimates of the amount of computation you need to functionally simulate a human brain, we'll be able to expand the scope of our intelligence a billion-fold," Kurzweil said.

Itskov and other so-called "transhumanists" interpret this impending singularity as digital immortality. Specifically, they believe that in a few decades, humans will be able to upload their minds to a computer, transcending the need for a biological body. The idea sounds like sci-fi, and it is at least for now. The reality, however, is that neural engineering is making significant strides toward modeling the brain and developing technologies to restore or replace some of its biological functions.

Brain prostheses

Substantial achievements have been made in the field of brain-computer interfaces, or BCIs (also called brain-machine interfaces). The cochlear implant in which the brain's cochlear nerve is electronically stimulated to restore a sense of sound to someone who is hard of hearing was the first true BCI. Many groups are now developing BCIs to restore motor skills, following damage to the nervous system from a stroke or spinal cord injury.

Jos Carmena and Michel Maharbiz, electrical engineers at the University of California, Berkeley, are working to develop state-of-the-art motor BCIs. These devices consist of pill-size electrode arrays that record neural signals from the brain's motor areas, which are then decoded by a computer and used to control a computer cursor or prosthetic limb (such as a robotic arm). Carmena and Maharbiz spoke of the challenge of making a BCI that works stably over time and does not require being tethered to wires.

Theodore Berger, a neural engineer at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles, is taking BCIs to a new level by developing a memory prosthesis. Berger aims to replace part of the brain's hippocampus, the region that converts short-term memories into long-term ones, with a BCI. The device records the electrical activity that encodes a simple short-term memory (such as pushing a button) and converts it to a digital signal. That signal is passed into a computer where it is mathematically transformed and then fed back into the brain, where it gets sealed in as a long-term memory. He has successfully tested the device in rats and monkeys, and is now working with human patients. [Bionic Humans: Top 10 Technologies]

Mind uploading

The conference took a surreal turn when Martine Rothblatt a lawyer, author and entrepreneur, and CEO of biotech company United Therapeutics Corp. took the stage. Even the title of Rothblatt's talk was provocative: "The Purpose of Biotechnology is the End of Death."

Rothblatt introduced the concept of "mindclones" digital versions of humans that can live forever. She described how the mind clones are created from a "mindfile," a sort of online repository of our personalities, which she argued humans already have (in the form of Facebook, for example). This mindfile would be run on "mindware," a kind of software for consciousness. "The first company that develops mindware will have [as much success as] a thousand Googles," Rothblatt said.

But would such a mindclone be alive? Rothblatt thinks so. She cited one definition of life as a self-replicating code that maintains itself against disorder. Some critics have shunned what Rothblatt called "spooky Cartesian dualism," arguing that the mind must be embedded in biology. On the contrary, software and hardware are as good as wet ware, or biological materials, she argued.

Rothblatt went on to discuss the implications of creating mindclones. Continuity of the self is one issue, because your persona would no longer inhabit just a biological body. Then, there are mind-clone civil rights, which would be the "cause clbre" for the 21st century, Rothblatt said. Even mindclone procreation and reanimation after death were mentioned.

The quantum world

In parallel with the talk of brain technologies and mind-uploading, much was said about the nature of consciousness in the universe. Physicist Roger Penrose of the University of Oxford and others disagree with the interpretation of the brain as a mere computer. Penrose argued that consciousness is a quantum mechanical phenomenon arising from the fabric of the universe. Those of the "Penrose school" think uploading the brain would have to involve quantum computers a development unlikely to happen by 2045.

But Itskov thinks otherwise. The 32-year-old president of the Global Future 2045 Congress is dead set on living forever.

Editor's Note: This article was updated on June 19, 2013, to correct the dates of the Global Future 2045 International Congress (it was held June 15-16, not June 14-15, as previously stated.)

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The Singularity Is Near: Mind Uploading by 2045?