Category Archives: Transhuman News

In BriefBitcoin is the world's most popular cryptocurrency, and itsvalue continues to reach new heights. Here are a few reasons thisrelatively unknown digital coin was able to make the climb fromobscurity to the mainstream consciousness. Outstanding Performance

So far, 2017 has been an eventful year for Bitcoin.

The platform recentlyendured a hard fork that saw it split in two and come out seemingly unscathed. Meanwhile, the cryptocurrency has risen from relative obscurity to become a popular topic of discussion in the mainstream, with everyone from Bloomberg to Forbes covering it regularly. The year isnt even over, and bitcoin has reached numerous milestonesalready, both in terms of its own history and that ofcryptocurrency in general.

Overall, Bitcoin seems to be steadily trending upward, with even greater heights predicted for the platforms future. So, how did a cryptocoin originally associated with the internets darkest corners become a popular contender for the future of financial and other transactions?

Longevity seems to play a factor. After years of trading, the coin has proven itself as here to stay, leading to years of value increases first a steady rise from 2012 through 2016, and then a more dramatic surge that is still ongoing today.

A cryptocurrency researcher who goes by the Twitter handle Jack Sparrow shared a comparative overview of just how fast bitcoins value has risen.

After it was created in 2009, bitcoin needed roughly seven years to reach a $2,000 valuation. However, the crypto saw the same level of increase from $2,000 to $4,000 in a matter of just 85 days.

The numbers are backed up, of course, by confidence fromlarger institutions. Big financial firms like Goldman Sachs, J.P. Morgan, and Fidelity Investments are now invested in the crypto, and nations such asChina, Japan, and, more recently, Australiahave started considering more permanent roles for cryptocurrencies in their respective economies as well.

All of this large-scale support is giving smaller organizations and individual investors confidencein the crypto.

The growing popularity of blockchain enterprise use has also contributed to the successes of Bitcoin and other platforms. As more institutions in the financial industry and beyondlook for ways to utilizethe decentralized and secure digital ledger, the cryptocurrencies that spring from these blockchains also get a boost.

Still, even with Bitcoins seemingly unstoppable successes, experts advise caution. As with any hot item, investing in bitcoin can be risky. Some, such as billionaire entrepreneur Mark Cuban and veteran investor Peter Schiff, even warn that the current cryptocoin craze is simply a bubble. However, while Schiff claims cryptocurrencies will never be money, many others thinkotherwise.

Are we witnessing the beginnings ofa truly cashless future? Only time will tell, and as with any revolution, Bitcoinhas many hurdles to overcome before it can truly transform our society. Right now, though, the crypto is clearly on the rise.

Disclosure: Several members of the Futurism team, including the editors of this piece, are personal investors in a number of cryptocurrency markets. Their personal investment perspectives have no impact on editorial content.

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Here's Why Bitcoin Rose More than $1000 in Two Months - Futurism

A New Kind of Composer

Break Free is the first sone released in a new album by Taryn Southern. The song, indeed, the entire album, features an artist known asAmperbut what looks like a typical collaboration between artists is actually much more than that.

Taryn is no stranger to the music and entertainment industry. She is a singer and digital storyteller who has amassed more than 500 million views on YouTube, and she has over 450 thousand subscribers. On the other hand, Amper is making his debutexcept hes (its?) not a person.

Amper is an artificially intelligent music composer, producer, and performer. The AI was developed by a team of professional musicians and technology experts, and its the the very first AI to compose and produced an entire music album. The album is called I AM AI, and the featured single is set to release on August 21, 2017.

Check out the song Break Free in the video below:

Asfilm composer Drew Silverstein, one of Ampers founders, explained to TechCrunch, Amper isnt meant to act totally on its own, but was designed specifically to work in collaboration with human musicians: One of our core beliefs as a company is that the future of music is going to be created in the collaboration between humans and AI. Wewant that collaborative experience to propel the creative process forward.

That said, the team notes that, contrary to the other songs that have beenreleased by AI composers, the chord structures and instrumentation of Break Free are entirely the work of Ampers AI.

Ultimately, Amper breaks the model followed by todays music-making AIs. Usually, the original work done by the AI is largely reinterpreted by humans. This means that humans are really doing most of the legwork. As the team notes in their press release, the process of releasing AI music has involved humans making signicant manual changesincluding alteration to chords and melodiesto the AI notation.

Thats not the case with Amper. As previously noted, the chord structures and instrumentationis purely Ampers; it just works with manual inputs from the human artist when it comes to style and overall rhythm.

And most notably, Amper can make music through machine learning in just seconds.Heres an example of a song made by Amper,andre-arranged by Taryn.

Yet, while IAMAI may be the first album thats entirely composed and produced by an AI, its not the first time an AI has displayed creativity in music or in other arts.

For example, an AI called Aiva has been taught to compose classical music, like how DeepBach was designed to create music inspired by Baroque artist Johann Sebastian Bach. With this in mind, the album is likely just the first step into a new eraan era in which humans will share artistry (and perhaps even compete creatively) with AI.

Editors Note: This article has been updated to clarify what songs were made by Amper and rearranged by Taryn.

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The World's First Album Composed and Produced by an AI Has ... - Futurism

In BriefAstrophysicists have discovered a probable Earth-likeexoplanet that is 23 light-years closer than the Trappist-1 system.It has sparked new hope for finding extraterrestrial life in theuniverse. Hope for Exoplanets

Last year, the Trappist-1 system was discovered, and it reignitedhumanitys hope of finding planets that could one day (or currently) sustain life. Butthere has been much debate over the probability that planets within that system, which is located 39 light-years away,could hold life as we know it. While Trappist planets might fall within what is known as the habitable zone, other factors, such as the factthat they orbit a red dwarf, might make them less prone to sustaining life than initially thought.

This uncertainty might get you down until you read that astrophysicistsat the University of Texas at Arlington(UTA) have predicted the existence of a much closer planet that is Earth-like in nature. Published as Dynamics of a probable Earth-Like Planet in the GJ 832 System in The Astrophysical Journal, this planet is only 16 light-years away, within the star system Gliese 832, and it appears to be both stable and Earth-like.

Lead author Suman Satyal, UTA physics researcher, stated in an UTA press release that, According to our calculations, this hypothetical alien world would probably have a mass between 1 to 15 Earths masses.

This is an important breakthrough demonstrating the possible existence of a potential new planet orbiting a star close to our own, UTA Physics Chair Alexander Weiss said in the press release.The fact that Dr. Satyal was able to demonstrate that the planet could maintain a stable orbit in the habitable zone of a red dwarf for more than 1 billion years is extremely impressive and demonstrates the world class capabilities of our departments astrophysics group.

According to Satyal, The existence of this possible planet is supported by long-term orbital stability of the system, orbital dynamics and the synthetic radial velocity signal analysisAt the same time, a significantly large number of radial velocity observations, transit method studies, as well as direct imaging are still needed to confirm the presence of possible new planets in the Gliese 832 system.

So, it is not yet 100 percent certain that this unicorn of a planet exists. However, these predictions are strongly supported by evidence garnered by the research group. But what could this mean if and when these scientists prove the existence of such a planet?

Technologies which allow us to explore further and further into the cosmos continue to develop. From SpaceXs advances to the Breakthrough Initiatives, it is becoming ever-more possible to reach previously unseen corners of the universe. Now, Mars is only an average of 12.5 light-minutes from Earth, so 16 light-years might seem like an unconquerable distance.

However, compared to the distances of other promising exoplanets, this could be one of the best shots we have to survey and study an exoplanet that fits many habitable criteria. The exploration of the universe is a never-ending journey that will only continue to further our knowledge and curiosity.

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Astrophysicists Believe They've Found Another Earth-Like Planet in ... - Futurism

In Brief In an open letter addressed to a special convention set up by the United Nations to study the implications of autonomous weapons, a group of 116 AI experts urged decisive and immediate regulation. A Clear Danger

Elon Musk has long been warning us against the dangers he believes to be inherent to unregulated artificial intelligence (AI) development. Hes called the threathumankinds biggest risk, and even said that its greater than any threat posed by North Korea. While some AI experts have criticized Musk for this, the OpenAI CEO is hardly the only one in the industry thats offered warnings about the potential danger of AI systems.

In fact, 115 other experts including DeepMind co-founder Mustafa Suleyman have joinedMusk in calling for stronger regulation for AI. As companies building the technologies in Artificial Intelligence and Robotics that may be repurposed to develop autonomous weapons, we feel especially responsible in raising this alarm, the group wrote in an open letter to the United Nations Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons (CCW). Lethal autonomous weapons threaten to become the third revolution in warfare.

The UN has just created the Group of Governmental Experts (GGE) on Lethal Autonomous Weapon Systems (LAWS), which will discuss and study the implications of modern weapons powered by AI. Musk, Suleyman, and the other experts urge the UN to act decisively and clearly on the matter, urging them to work hard at finding means to prevent an arms race in these weapons, to protect civilians from their misuse, and to avoid the destabilizing effects of these technologies.

The group of experts, obviously, arent against developing AI after all, theyre all involved in AI work from 26 countries. The problem is how AI is used: the group is wary of is using the technology to build autonomous weapon systems, a trend thats already begun.

Unlike other potential manifestations of AI which still remain in the realm of science fiction, autonomous weapons systems are on the cusp of development right now and have a very real potential to cause significant harm to innocent people along with global instability, Clearpath Robotics founder and one of the signatories Ryan Gariepytold The Guardian.

Their letter continues: Once developed, they will permit armed conflict to be fought at a scale greater than ever, and at timescales faster than humans can comprehend. These can be weapons of terror, weapons that despots and terrorists use against innocent populations, and weapons hacked to behave in undesirable ways.

And asMusk has been sayingin regards to AI all along nows the best time do implement all the regulation necessary. We do not have long to act, he said earlier this month, Once this Pandoras box is opened, it will be hard to close.

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Elon Musk Leads AI Experts With Letter Urging UN to Consider Threat of Autonomous Weapons - Futurism

In Brief After 6 years, China is reclaiming its title for the world's fastest train. In September, a new series of bullet trains capable of reaching speeds of 400 km/h (248 mph) will go into operation.

China once held the title for the worlds fastest train, but a devastating crash in 2011 forced the country to slow down their transits, lest they experience another tragic event.

Next month, however, China will regain is lost title, as it plans to introduce several new bullet trains that will move at the speeds necessary to once again be the worlds fastest. Prior to the aforementioned accident, Chinas bullet trains traveled at 350 km/h (217 mph), but were then reduced to 250-300 km/h (155-186 mph).

Come September 21, when the new trains are up and running, speeds will return to 350 km/h, but will be capable of going 400 km/h (248 mph). For comparison, the still-in-development Hyperloop One recently reached speeds of 308 km/h (192 mph), though the plan is to hit 402 km/h (250 mph) while still in testing.

Zhao Jian, Beijing Jiaotong University professor and a leading researcher on Chinas high-speed railway network, told the South China Morning Post that in order to avoid more accidents at higher speeds, the railway operator will need to reduce the number of trains in use at one time.

According to the Associated Press, China has laid over 20,000 kilometers (12,400 miles) of high-speed rail, and intends to add another 10,000 kilometers (6,214 miles) by 2020. To date, over $360 billion has been spent on the railways creation.

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China Is Reviving the World's Fastest Train - Futurism