Category Archives: Transhuman News

In Brief In a time of financial instability, many individuals are turning to the decentralized bitcoin to store their wealth. Due to this as well as its potential to revolutionize the finance system, bitcoin has enjoyed stratospheric growth in recent years. Modern Gold

Tom Lee, a Wall Street strategist who works at Fundstrat, has predictedthat the price of bitcoin will continue its exponential rise until it reaches $55,000 by 2022. He bases his prediction on the economic principles of scarcity and market instability.

Lee argues, essentially, that bitcoin is subsuming the role that gold previousplayed in the economy. It has become a solid and dependable store of wealth in a time when we have seen recessions and market turbulence effecting peoples savings in their own currency. This is particularly the case in countries where the government controls the currency to achieve a desired effect, as is the case in China and Japan.

Many have criticized bitcoin for its turbulence it has now reached a volatility of 75 percent and argue that, for this reason, it cannot be the safe store of value that Lee sees it as. Lee, though, told Coin Telegraph that golds volatility approached 90 percent from 1971 to 1980 as the U.S. abandoned the gold standard hence, we expect this [bitcoins volatility] to improve over time. Coincidentally, bitcoin exceeded the value of gold earlier this year.

Bitcoins rise has been so meteorotic that it is quite unlike any other currency or asset, depending on who you ask in recent memory. To give a quirky example, in May of 2010, a developer bought two pizzas for 10,000 bitcoin. These, in total,would now be worth around $25 million, which is enough to buy a 720-year-old Magna Carta given that one sold for$21 million in 2007.

Bitcoin arguably lead the vanguard for cryptocurrenies moving from a quirky financial system in tight-knit tech communities to a talking point for major financial planners. It is now fundamentally changing the way we look at economiesin addition tobeing the leading example of blockchain technology.Simon Taylor, co-founder of a blockchain venture capital fund,said in an interview with Government Office for Science that the techbrings us near instant asset transfer, asset movement, and security of data movement, and that blockchainwill have a similar effect on exchange that the internet did on communication.

Bitcoin has now become large enough for entire countries to consider upending transaction systems that have been in place since the advent of currency itself.India and Sweden in particular are looking to mimic the systems to produce the first cashless societies in modern history. This is perhaps the ultimate testament to how significant the cryptocurrencyhas become.

Read more from the original source:
Wall Street Expert Predicts Bitcoin Will Reach $55,000 in 5 Years - Futurism

A Timely Move

On Friday, the United Nations passed the first-ever treaty imposinga total nuclear weapons ban. With North Korea openly continuing totest its arsenal of intercontinental ballistic missiles, each capable of carrying a nuclear warhead, the decision couldnt be more timely. In a press briefing Thursday, U.N. conference president Elayne Whyte Gomezsaid thatwe are on the verge of adopting the treaty on the prohibition of nuclear weapons.Click to View Full Infographic

This will be a historic moment and it will be the first multilateral nuclear disarmament treaty to be concluded in more than 20 years, Gomez added, according to Time. The world has been waiting for this legal norm for 70 years.

The decision to pass this treaty is a historic one:the U.N. recently reopened discussions of a global nuclear ban back in March, after more than 2,500 scientists from 70 countries signed a petition in favor of total nuclear disarmament.

I am really confident that the final draft has captured the aspirations of the overwhelming majority of those participating in the conference, including civil society, Gomez said, referring to the final review of the draft last Wednesday. After Fridaysvote to formally adopt it, the draft is now a 10-page documentcalled the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons.

More than 120 countries are ready to adopt the treaty despite a boycott from countries that are supposedly armed with nuclear weapons: theUnited States, Russia, Britain, France, China, India, Pakistan, and, as we already know,North Korea. These countries have proposed strengthening the almost 50-year old Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty that gives only the five original nuclear powers the U.S., Russia, Britain, France and China the right to keep their destructive arsenal.

The voting results, however, seemed to be more encouraging: 122 member states voted in favor of negotiating a legally-binding instrument to prohibit nuclear weapons. Of the nine supposed nuclear-armed nations, only North Korea didnt participate in the voting. Eightnationsvoted yes, the Netherlands voted against the decision, while Singapore abstained.Still, the U.S., Britain, and France released a joint statementafter the treaty was adopted, stating We do not intend to sign, ratify or ever become party to it.The three nations explained that a purported ban on nuclear weapons that does not address the security concerns that continue to make nuclear deterrence necessary cannot result in the elimination of a single nuclear weapon and will not enhance any countrys security, nor international peace and security.

Would the U.N.s historic treaty be a wasted effort? As the executive director of the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons Beatrice Fihn said, If the world comes together in support of a nuclear ban, then nuclear weapons countries will likely follow suit, even if it doesnt happen right away.

Read the original post:
The UN Passes the First-Ever Treaty Banning Nuclear Weapons Worldwide - Futurism

In Brief Digital camera maker RED wants to make it possible for you to produce holograms from the palm of your hand. The company's first phone, the Hydrogen One, is being touted as the world's first glasses-free hologram projector, and it should be ready to ship by early 2018.

With all the confirmed and unconfirmed leaks circulating on the internet, the iPhone 8 might be the frontrunner for most highly anticipated phone of the year. However, a newly announced device might be more worthy of your attention than Apples 10-year-old phone this ones got holograms.

Professional digital camera maker REDjust announced that its building the Hydrogen One, and theyre calling itthe worlds first holographic phone.It is expected to have a retina-display screen that can switch from 2D content to holographic multi-view content, 3D content, and interactive games.

Even more exciting is that it doesnt require special glasses. Its no longer necessary to carry (or charge) another device to enjoy multi-dimensional content, RED said in a press release. Experience look around depth in the palm of your hand, no glasses or headsets in sight.

As for specs, details are limited. What we know is that the Hydrogen One would be a 5.7-inch phone that runs Android and has a headphone jack. It comes in a low-tier version, priced at $1,195, and a higher-end one at $1,595. The phones expected to ship by early 2018.

If the Hydrogen One delivers, its going to be the device of our holographic dreams. Theyre talking about holograms in trueHelp me, Obi Wan fashion. Who doesnt want that? Most hologram technology today still requiresa separate viewing device, butsome studiesare working towardprojected holography RED just may have already figured it out.

Continued here:
You Could Own the World's First Glasses-Free Holographic Phone by Early 2018 - Futurism

In Brief An unknown cryptocurrency trader reportedly made more than $200 billion in earnings in just over one month. The anonymity of cryptocurrencies, however, raises a lot of questions about the use of bitcoin and ether in the mainstream. 0x00A651D43B6e209F5Ada45A35F92EFC0De3A5184

Nope, that header isnt a typo. Thats the identification code for the virtual wallet of an anonymous cryptocurrency trader thats made more than $200 million in just over a month. Supposedly, this unknown trader was able to raise their cryptocurrency assets from $55 million to $283 million in that short span of time; a 413 percent accumulated profit from Ethereum blockchains digital money, ether.

In an Instagram post, someone (or maybe several people)purporting to be the trader in question said, I get many private messages asking how much ether I have. One of the cool things about Ethereum is that all wallets around the world are transparent and open for everyone to see. And this is my wallets savings.

While the amount of earnings from cryptocurrency trading is incredible, it isnt at all impossible. Recently, the values of both bitcoin and ether have been going up. The total value of cryptocurrencies reached an all-time high on June 6 when it surpassed$100 billion,according to Bloomberg.

Faced with the growth of cryptocurrencies, experts are askingwhether anonymity is beneficial or not. Its certainly one of the key reasonscryptocurrencies are becoming so popular. One of its more important features is that you dont have identities tied to this, Spencer Bogart, research head at venture firm Blockchain Capital, said inBloombergThis financial privacy is an important characteristic.

Thatsalso the source of some of its troubles, though: there have been a handful of cyberattacks that asked for ransom inbitcoin, and that trend could continue as it becomes more widely used. The credibility of virtual currencies will not rise if they are used for criminal purposes, adraft online currency legislation by the European Parliament noted. In this context, anonymity will become more a hindrance than an asset for virtual currencies.

To this end, would tying digital wallets to identifiable persons be a problem for a mainstream adoption of cryptocurrencies? For a cryptocurrency like ether which is used to pay for applications that run on the Ethereum blockchain it may not be such a big deal. It could evenhelp ether avoid having its reputation sullied by cyberattacks like bitcoin. At present, ether seems to bemoving into themainstream. The rise of Initial Coin Offering (ICO) is helping, and Ethereum is working to make their transactions even more efficient and powerful.

For now, though, it wouldnt hurt to be careful. As Peter Denious from Aberdeen Asset Management told Bloomberg, A lot of lessons will be learned. A lot of money will be lost before a lot of money can be made.

Originally posted here:
An Anonymous Ether Trader Just Made $200 Million in One Month - Futurism

In Brief New research shows that the thin Mars atmosphere interacts with perchlorates, chemicals on the planet's surface, to create a toxic environment for bacteria. This confirms that the search for life on Mars should include digging beneath the surface. Toxic Cocktail

New research shows that our aspirations togrow potatoes on Mars may be a little premature. Results of a new study indicate that the thin Martian atmosphere and the ultraviolet radiation it allows to reach the planets surface interact with chemical compounds called perchlorates to create a deadly environment for bacteria.

We have known that there were perchlorates on the surface of the Red Planet since the 1970s when the Viking 1 and 2 spacecraft landed there. Weve confirmed this with other probes since that time, and until recently that fact has actually been viewed in an encouraging light. Thats because although perchlorates made from oxygen and chlorine are toxic to humans, bacteria tend to thrive in their presence, using them for energy. Perchlorates also lower the point at which water melts, which offered still more hope for the existence of bacterial life on Mars.

This, however, isnt the end of the search for life on Mars. I cant speak for life in the past, co-author of the study Jennifer Wadsworth said to The Guardian. As far as present life, it doesnt rule it out but probably means we should look for life underground where its shielded from the harsh radiation environment on the surface. The ExoMars rover will look for bacteria by digging approximately 12 feet into the ground during its 2020 mission.

Its also possible that an extremophile bacterium could survive these conditions. The common Bacillus subtilis is no extremophile, and the Martian environment may have created its own extremophiles that are even tougher than any found on Earth. Life can survive very extreme environments, Wadsworth told Popular Science. The bacterial model we tested wasnt an extremophile so its not out of the question that hardier life forms would find a way to survive.

Meanwhile, the ExoMars orbiter is on track to carry out its mission: finding biochemical signs of life on Mars, or beneath its surface. The Mars 2020 rover will also be digging deep in the search for past life. NASA is developing a lidar system for the search for life on Mars. Hopefully, with this many research irons in the fire, well get some exciting answers soon.

Read more:
This Mars Discovery Could Have Major Implications for Search for Alien Life - Futurism