Category Archives: Futurism

In Brief Facebook founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg learned a thing or two about universal basic income from his recent trip to Alaska. The entrepreneur believes the rest of the U.S. should take a closer look at how the northern state makes basic income work. An Approach Worth Emulating

An excursion is always a learning experience. That was certainly true for Facebook founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg and his wife Priscilla Chan when they visited Alaska. The social media entrepreneur was impressed by the various social programs he found in Americas Last Frontier, particularly a basic income initiative that Alaskas been running since 1982.

The Alaska Permanent Fund Dividend (PFD) is a basic income program that allots $1,000 or more per citizen. [A] portion of the oil revenue the state makes is put into [the PFD], Zuckerberg wrote in a Facebook post. Rather than having the government spend that money, it is returned to Alaskan residents through a yearly dividend.

Another basic income Zuckerberg learned about is by Native Corporations in Alaska. These privately owned corporations that develop land run and owned by Native Alaskans give annual dividends to to their native shareholders according to the resources they develop. So if youre a Native Alaskan, you would get two dividends: one from your Native Corporation and one from the state Permanent Fund, Zuckerberg wrote.

Under a universal basic income (UBI) program, individuals receive a fixed amount of income regardless of their social or employment status. UBI is an old idea thats become more popular recently as a potential response to unemployment due to automation, but it is not without critics. An issue these critics often bring up is funding. Zuckerberg was impressed by howthe Alaskan basic income model solves this. [I]ts funded by natural resources rather than raising taxes, he wrote.

This means that running a UBI program isnt impossible, at least in some cases. In fact, a number of countries already have trial programs to test UBI most notably Finland, which launched the program in 2016. Canada has two initiatives in the works, while Hawaii recently passed legislation that will study implementing UBI in the state.

In the end, Zuckerberg thinks its all about mentalities. [W]hen youre profitable, youre confident about your future and you look for opportunities to invest and grow further. Alaskas economy has historically created this winning mentality, which has led to this basic income, he noted. That may be a lesson for the rest of the country as well.

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Mark Zuckerberg: The US Should Learn From This State's Basic Income Program - Futurism

In BriefThe adoption of digital currencies on both the individual andinstitutional level in China and Japan is propellingcryptocurrencies to ever greater heights. However, some are stillskeptical that they are the finance systems of the future due totheir current volatility. China and Japans Crypto Craze

The age of cryptocurrencies is upon us, and two countries in particular have been instrumental in their stratospheric rise: China and Japan.

Cryptocurrencies have become popular in China due to the governments stringent control of the yuan a power they occasionally exercise by artificially devaluing the currency for trading purposes. With private wealth in China growing, affluent individuals have found a more stable and accessible alternative to the yuan in cryptocurrencies.

Additionally, China has an abundance of cheap energy and hardware, which facilitates crypto mining (the process throughwhich new blocks in the blockchain are created and transactions are verified). Chinese exchanges runmining poolsto generate these blocks, and these efforts constitute 60 percent of Bitcoins total hashrate (the speed at which Bitcoin operations are completed).

Japan got its foot in the cryptocurrency door at the beginning of 2017 when the market in China experienced an institutional and systematic crackdown, with the most potent measure being a ban on all cryptocurrency withdrawals. This caused an increase in Japans trading volume, which grew from one percent to as high as six percent.

Cryptocurrency adoption was further amplified by currency turbulence in the country. Quantitive easing lead to extremely low interest rates, which have occasionally even become negative, meaning that it costs an individual to save money. As in China, cryptocurrencies therefore became viewed as a more stable asset than the native currency, so morepeople have chosen to invest and store their money in them.

The final piece in the cryptocurrency success puzzle for both countries is increasing institutional acceptance. In China, this takes the form of the countrys Royal Mint, which has invested resources and money into digitizing the yuan and promoting blockchain technology. Japan, meanwhile, began accepting payments in stores using cryptocurrencies earlier this year, and its three largest banks MUFJ, Mizuho, and SMBC have all backed the countrys largest Bitcoin exchange, bitFlyer.

The enthusiasm with which China and Japan have embraced cryptocurrency systems has contributed totheir worldwide success. Virtual currencies have become more popular and valuable than the vast majority of people could have anticipated upontheir inception around a decade ago. The value of a single bitcoin has risen from roughly $0.00075 to $2,500, and the market cap for all cryptocurrencies has exceed $100 billion.

The success of cryptocurrencies is also reflected in their increasing adoption by formal institutions. Wall Street is making moves to start using cryptocurrency systems by next year, a Swiss town called Zug has begun to accept payments in bitcoins, and the Gemini Trust in New York has been licensed to trade ether.

However, some worrying news concerning cryptocurrencies has emerged as well. Recently, in spite of claims that the systems are highly secure, hacks have lead to personal information being leakedand exchanges have been robbed, one to the tune of$79 million.

In addition, while cryptocurrencies may be more stable assets than the native currency in Japan and China, they are not absolutely stable. In fact, they are currently far from it, and though prices continue to rise, rapid drops are not uncommon, and public opinion can have a major impact on value.

Mark Cuban illustrated the issue perfectly when he took to Twitter to assert that Bitcoin wasnt a currency, its valuation dropped rapidly. Even more recently, Ethereum lost $4 billion worth of market value when a bogus story that its founder, Vitalik Buterin, had died in a car crash was published on 4chan.

Cryptocurrencies are clearly on the rise, and due to their successes, they can no longer be dismissed as a niche monetary system. The pertinent question is will this rise will lead to the worldwide adoption of an entirely new currency and finance system?

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China and Japan Are Largely Responsible for the Current Success of Cryptocurrency - Futurism

In Brief The world is facing an overpopulation crisis that is only set to become more severe: the UN has predicted the global population will reach 9.7 billion by 2050. Thus far, proposed solutions to overcrowding on Earth has proven to be a knotty ethical problem. Musks Warning

Arecent article inNew Scientistgot the attention of Elon Musk on Twitter this week, prompting him to tweet out the link.

The article argues that decreasing fertility rates are indicative of the worlds population slowly imploding rather than exponentially rising a trend that will continue until we reach some form of crisis point. As it stands, half of the worlds countries have fallen below the replacement rate for developed nations (which is, on average,2 children per woman).If this trend continues on, countries like Germany and Italy will see their populations decrease by half over the next 60 years.

This is not the first time Elon Musk has discussed overpopulation: in March he warned that we face a demographic implosion, because in many countries you have a very high dependency ratio, where the number of people who are retired is very high relative to the number of people who are net producers.

The world isfacing an overpopulation crisis that is only set to become more severe:the UN haspredicted theglobal population will reach9.7 billion by 2050. In recent years therehave been a number of somewhat apocalyptic predictions and statements made by high profile members of the scientific community:David Attenboroughissued a warning in a 2013 Radio Times interview, saying thateither we limit our population growth, or the natural world will do it for us.

Population affectsevery resource imaginable: from our planets stores of energy and environment to the financial sector, to the amount of food we need to produce, and issues likegeographical overcrowding. As for theissue of limiting population, its proven to be aknotty ethical problem.So far, none of the proposed answers to itsuch as introducing a limited child policy, moving to new planets, or introducing a child tax have beenparticularly attractive or easily executable.

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Elon Musk: The World's Population is Accelerating Towards Collapse - Futurism

In BriefA study has found that it would be fairly simple to programautonomous vehicles to make similar moral decisions as humandrivers. In light of this, the question becomes whether we wantdriverless cars to emulate us or behave differently. Programming Morality

A new study from The Institute of Cognitive Science at the University of Osnabrck has found that the moral decisions humans make while driving are not as complex or context dependent as previously thought. Based on the research, which has been published inFrontiers in Behavioral Neuroscience,these decisions follow a fairly simple value-of-life-based model, which means programming autonomous vehicles to make ethical decisions should be relatively easy.

For the study, 105 participants were put in a virtual reality (VR) scenario during which they drove around suburbia on a foggy day. They then encountered unavoidable dilemmas that forced them to choose between hitting people, animals, and inanimate objects with their virtual car.

The previous assumption was that these types of moral decisions were highly contextual and therefore beyond computational modeling. But we found quite the opposite, Leon Stfeld, first author of the study, told Science Daily. Human behavior in dilemma situations can be modeled by a rather simple value-of-life-based model that is attributed by the participant to every human, animal, or inanimate object.

Alot of virtual ink has been spilt online concerning the benefits of driverless cars. Elon Musk is in the vanguard, stating emphatically that those who do not support the technology are killing people.His view is that the technology can be smarter, more impartial, and better at driving than humans, and thus able to save lives.

Currently, however, the cars are large pieces of hardware supported byrudimentary driverless technology. The question of how many lives they could save is contingent upon how we choose to program them, and thats where the resultsof this study come into play. If we expect driverless cars to be better than humans, why would we program them like human drivers?

As Professor Gordon Pipa, a senior author on the study, explained, We need to ask whether autonomous systems should adopt moral judgements. If yes, should they imitate moral behavior by imitating human decisions? Should they behave along ethical theories, and if so, which ones? And critically, if things go wrong, who or what is at fault?

The ethics of artificial intelligence (AI) remains swampy moral territory in general, and numerous guidelines and initiatives are being formed in an attempt to codify a set of responsible laws for AI.The Partnership on AI to Benefit People and Society is composed of tech giants, including Apple, Google, and Microsoft, while the German Federal Ministry of Transport and Digital Infrastructure has developed a set of 20 principles that AI-powered cars should follow.

Just how safe driverless vehicles will be in the future is dependent on how we choose to program them, and while that task wont be easy, knowing how we would react in various situations should help us along the way.

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Study Finds That Human Ethics Could Be Easily Programmed Into Driverless Cars - Futurism

In Brief Swedish startup Einride has unveiled a prototype for their T-Pod self-driving truck. It doesn't have space for a human driver, but can be remotely controlled if need be.

At present, there are already a number of vehicles that feature autonomous driving softwares. As advanced as they are, these vehicles still havent attained Level 5 autonomy reserved for truly autonomous systems. For Swedish startup Einride, however, this is the bar to meet, and they have developed a prototype vehicle that fully embraces the autonomous future.

Einrides T-Pod is an all electric truck built for long-haul deliveries. The trailer, which is a little over 7 meters (23 feet) has space for cargo but lacks a cabin for a human driver or operator as well as everything else that goes in a driving space, i.e. pedals, a steering wheel, and a windshield. It can be remotely controlled by a human operator or run completely free of human control.

The goal is to setup a complete transport system running between the cities of Gothenburg and Helsingborg, Sweden, and the first active system will cover a capacity of 2,000,000 pallets per year, according to an Einride press release. The prototype, unveiled at a week-long Swedish political event, is set for testing this year. If all goes well, international distribution would soon follow.

Long-haul trucking has always been the number one industry that seemed viable for a full autonomous takeover, as its mostly confined to the highway. Back in 2016, Uber demonstrated the potential for driverless trucks. Einride wants to turn that potential into reality.

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This Swedish Startup Could Automate the Trucking Industry - Futurism

In BriefIBM representatives are meeting with congress to challenge thelawmakers' apocalyptic perceptions about artificial intelligence(AI). IBM paints a different picture of the future in which AI willcreate jobs, drive progress, and help us develop as a species. IBM to Meet Washington

IBMis taking a stand for artificial intelligence (AI). The technology giant islobbying Washington with the hope of challenging the view of fearful prophets envisioning massive job loss, or even an eventual AI overlord that controls humanity as David Kenny, the vice president for IBM Watson, wrote in an open letter to congress.

He went on towritethat the real disaster would be abandoning or inhibiting cognitive technology before its full potential can be realized. Kenny is also participating with the bipartisan Artificial Intelligence Caucus.

Kennys arguments center around three core principles. The first is that past technologies likethe bar code scanner and ATM have vastly improved efficiency and drove job creation. The second is that taxing or otherwise inhibiting the process of AI will cost the U.S. its competitive advantage. Instead, there should be a change in education and training to prepare the country for the technology. The third is any AI company should be transparent about their systems decision-making process and promote a principle of individual data governance.

IBM isweaved into the history of AIs development. Its engineerspioneered some of the earliest AI systems, including Deep Blue, which was responsible for beating world chess champion Gary Kasparov one of AIs greatest achievements to date. Currently, IBMs Watson is one of the leading cognitive computing systems in the world, with applications stretching from diagnosing disease, to writing cookbooks and creating recipes, to tackling the data-heavy tasks of the federal government.

IBMs proposal to inform congress about AI is not the first high-profile venture to do so. Numerous think tanks, meetings, and summitshave occurred to discuss the ethics of AI and promote responsible integration of the technology.

Last year, representatives from Google, Amazon, Microsoft, IBM, and Facebook formed the Partnership on AI to Benefit People and Societywith the goal of developing a possible set of guidelinesfor AI development. There have also been more individual attemptsto investigate AI such as those by Pierre Omidyar, the founder of eBay, and Reid Hoffman, co-founder of LinkedIn, both of whom have invested millions in AI research.

Despite the minds and the money devoted tosolving the problem, the ethics of AI remains a remarkably sticky moral bog, which involves questions of personhood, sentience, and rights that have troubled philosophers for centuries.

However, IBMsefforts represent a positive step toward apragmatic approach to solve a problem before we are amidst it. Our regulation of and relationship with AI is likely to govern our future. We can take solace that the industry leaders are at least taking it seriously and thinking about the implications of their decisions.

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IBM is Challenging Congress's Apocalyptic Perceptions of AI - Futurism

In Brief A decrease in vaccination levels has lead to an increase in measles and other preventable diseases taking lives across Europe. To combat this, numerous countries are implementing legislation to ensure their citizens are protected. Europes Vaccine Nightmare

Frances Prime Minister douard Philippe has announced that the government will make the 11 vaccines universally recommended by health authorities mandatory from 2018 onward. The announcement comes in response to measles outbreaks across Europe, with 79 cases reported in France in January and February alone. Philippe branded the state of affairs unacceptable.

The resurfacing of diseases like measles is believed to be caused by people believing less and less in the power of vaccines. In France, a recent surveyfound that three in 10 people dont trust vaccines, with only 52 percent stating they believed that the benefits outweighed the risks.

Italy has also seen a worrying increase in measles infections the number of cases in April was five times higher than the same month in 2016. Beatrice Lorenzin, the Italian health minister, said that the rapid increase was an emergency generated by fake news and cited the Five Star Movement (MS5), a political party that opposes vaccines, as a contributing factor.

The shift in public perception in Italy and France is symptomatic of a Europe-wide trend that has been attributed to the growing anti-vaccine movement. The genesis of the skepticism was Andrew Wakefield, who stated in a1998 research paper that there was a link between the measles, mumps, and rubella vaccine and the development of autism. The claim has been irrefutably debunked, although dubious science and scare tactics like those used by MS5 are perpetuating the findings of the report.

The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that vaccines saved more than 10 million lives between 2010 and 2015, and thanks to vaccines, were on the brink of completely eradicating some diseases, such as polio.Despite this, countries in both the developing and developed world remain doubtful of their effects.

In response, many countrieshave taken measures to increase the use of vaccines. Italy has made 12 vaccinations obligatory for children, whileAustralia has introduced a financial incentive by offering parents $129 for every child who meets recommended vaccination levels between the ages of 18 months and 24 months, with the payment being repeated if the same requirements are met between the ages of four and five.

Slovenia, in Eastern Europe, has the worlds strictest vaccination policy, with fines being issued to any parents who fail to provide their children with the nine mandatory vaccines. This has resulted in a compliance rate of 95 percent.

Dr. Farah Jameeltold doctors attending the British Medical Associations annual meetingin June that deaths in Wales from measles in 2013 were a waste of life. This is arguably true for all deaths that could have been easily prevented through vaccination, especially giventheir ever-decreasing price and new delivery methods.

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France Just Announced a New Law Making 11 Vaccines Mandatory - Futurism

In Brief Bitcoin's stunning year continues as Goldman Sachs head of technical strategy Sheba Jafari predicts a fifth wave for the cryptocurrency. After a temporary drop, Bitcoin could hit a record-high value of almost $4,000 per coin, according to Jarari.

Were barely past the halfway mark, and already Bitcoin is having a big year. The value of the cryptocurrency soared past $1,000 in January and then again in February. By March, its value surpassed that of gold, and on May 10, it hit what was then a record-high value of more than $1,700 per coin. In June, Bitcoin set a new record, closing above$3,000 beforefinishing the month at close to $2,500.

In all, Bitcoins first-half gain was approximately 168 percent this year, which has led various commentators,including Mark Cuban and Charles Schwab chief global investment strategist Jeffrey Kleintop, to suggest that the cryptocurrencyis in a bubble.

The latest expert to weigh in on the future of Bitcoin is Goldman Sachs head of technical strategy Sheba Jafari, who sent a note to clientson Sunday, July 2, advising that while the value of Bitcoin may drop, it is ultimately likely to go even higher.

According to Jafaris note, which waspublished by Zero Hedge, Bitcoin is still in the midst of a corrective 4th wave during which the value may fallas low as $1,857 a drop of around 25 percent.According to Jafari, Bitcoin investors shouldnt worry about this drop very much, though, because the currency couldhit a record value during its fifth wave, perhaps as high as $3,915.

Whether the value of Bitcoin does soar toward the $4,000 mark or not, 2017 will still go down as a historic year for digital currency.

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Finance Expert Predicts Bitcoin's Value Could Soar as High as $4000 - Futurism

In Brief Starting 2019 onwards, all vehicles manufactured by veteran automaker Volvo will either be hybrid or electric. According to Hkan Samuelsson, Volvo Car Group's president and CEO, "We are convinced that the future of Volvo is electric." Committed to Electrification

Electric vehicles are quickly becoming the future of automobiles, thanks to efforts by both veteran car manufacturers and startups. Perhaps taking acue from electric car manufacturing leaderslike Tesla, traditional auto industry heavyweight Volvo has decided to focus on electric and hybrid vehicles from 2019and beyond.

Volvo cars is taking a bold step forward, the company explained in a video onVolvos official Twitter account,heralding the end of an era for the pure internal combustion engine.

While other companies have yet to take the leap,Volvo knows investing in electric car production makes good sense from a business perspective: This is about the customer, Hkan Samuelsson, Volvo Car Groups president and CEO,said in a press release. People increasingly demand electrified cars and we want to respond to our customers current and future needs.

Its also a decision rooted in a sense of environmental responsibility,We are determined to be the first premium car maker to move our entire portfolio of vehicles into electrification, Samuelsson said in the video. This is a clear commitment towards reducing our carbon footprint, as well as contributing to a better air quality in our cities.

For a car company like Volvo to commit to hybrids and EVs is no small feat. It could easily translate to over 500,000 cars turned electric, if we base the numbers on Volvos 2016 sales. According to the EPA, a single passenger vehicle produces an average of 4.7 metric tons of carbon dioxide each year. With their committment to electric vehicles, Volvo could potentially remove about 2.3 million metric tons of carbon emissions in just one year. The company hasalready set a sales target of 1 million hybrid and electric cars by 2025.

Will other car manufacturers follow suit?Several other companies already have their own EVs in the works: German automaker Volkswagen aims to produce one million EVs by 2025and already hasthree concept vehicles. Chevrolet has also been working to perfect its Bolt EV, and Honda is hard at work on anew charging system that could give electric cars unlimited range.

This could, indeed, herald a new era for passenger vehicles. At the very least, this proves that EVs are no longer just a pipe dream.They are the future of clean transportation at least for these automakers. As Samuelsson said, We are convinced that the future of Volvo is electric.

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Volvo Becomes the First Premium Car Maker to Go All Electric - Futurism

In Brief The quirky bus that went viral last year when videos appeared showing it straddling two lanes of traffic is no more. Reports have emerged that, in light of the company's illegal investments, the project has ground to a halt and the tracks have been dismantled. Bus Bust

Chinese officials in Qinghuangdao have stated that the Transit Elevated Bus (TEB) which made headlines after it conducted its first road test in August 2016 was probably a scam, along with the platform it used to attractinvestment. The officials have made over 30 arrests in connection to the hoax, including Bai Zhiming CEO of the company and patent owner of the bus.

Specifically, the company behind the TEB isbeing investigated for illegal fundraising on Huaying Kailai, an online fundraising platform, which was using private investment opportunities to finance the development of the bus, promising investorsthat they would see a 12 percent return. Law suits against the company are already being filed by 72 individual investors, and Autek, the company that designed the bus, is still owed money.

The 300-meter (985-foot) stretch of track that the bus traveled on has started to be dismantled, and any investors in the project have been advised to approach authorities with any complaints or queries.

While this is sad news for what appeared to be a promising solution to Chinas traffic congestion crisis, it is a small failure in the much wider field of innovative transportation which is currently booming. There are still numerous viable options fordealing with congestion: most of which, like the TEB, seek to make use of developing transports for spaces other than on roads.

Dubai has targeted the skies as the next arena for transportation by developing autonomous flying taxis that will follow set routes: they are rumored to begin testing later this year. In a sense, this is the extreme version of the TEB, travelling hundreds of meters above traffic instead of two or three.

In the U.S., we can see the emergence of the inverse of the TEB: Elon Musks boring tunnels, which opt for traveling under traffic rather than over it. The tunnel system will contain a hyperloop, sleds, and elevator shafts, as well as roads for the cars of the future to travel.

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Owners of China's Traffic Hopping Bus Project Arrested - Futurism