Category Archives: Transhuman News

I Said Yes Immediately

Stephen Hawking, the worlds most renownedphysicist and cosmologist, stated today that he is, in fact,heading to spaceand its happening all thanks to the Virgin group (and a bit of modern technology).

In astatementback in2015, Sir Richard Branson, founder of the Virgin group, said that, one day, he hoped to be able to carry Hawking to the stars. In the statement, Branson noted that this offer came as a result of the great respect and admiration that he has for Hawking:

Professor Stephen Hawking is one of the people I admire most in the world, an undisputed genius who has opened our eyes to the wonders of the universe, while also happening to be a kind and delightful man. He is the only person I have given a free ticket with Virgin Galactic, and he is signed up to fly as a Future Astronaut with us if his health permits it.

At 75 years of age, Hawking wont be the oldest astronaut ever (that designation belongs to John Glenn, who went to space at the age of 77), but he will be the first person to go to space with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS)also known as Lou Gehrigs disease. ALS is amotor-neuron disease that generally leads to death within five years of the initial diagnosis. Hawkings condition was first diagnosed when he was 21, and he was not expected to see his 25th birthday. Fast-forward 50 years, and here we are.

Traveling to space, of course, is risky business, even more so when health concerns come into play. Now, it seems that Hawking is set to go. Hawkings voyage to space will alsogive scientists an opportunity to study the effects of ALS in new ways, such as how it operates in zero-gravity.

When discussing the anticipated event, Hawking toldGood Morning Britain that he never dreamed hedhave such an opportunity, and that he said yes immediately. Hawking continued by noting that he looks forward to the voyage with great anticipation, comparing flying into space to the same joy that his three children have brought him. During the discussion, he stated, my three children have brought me great joy and I can tell you what will make me happy, to travel in space.

Of course, space is one thing, but this isnt the first time Hawking experienced Zero-G

Virgin Galactics SpaceShipTwoisa reusable, winged spacecraft designed to carry up to eight people (including two pilots) into space, and the link between Hawking and Virgin Galactic isnt exactly new. Just last year, Hawking unveiled the name of theSpaceShipTwo craft, the VSS Unity. During afour-minute recorded video, Hawking explained that the Unity: will help bring new meaning to our place on Earth and to our responsibilities as its stewards, and it will help us to recognize our place and our future in the cosmos which is where I believe our ultimate destiny lies.

Ultimately, Hawking has long been an advocate of commercial spaceflight, and to this end, he notes that he greatly admires Virgin Galactics role in democratizing space, specifically, he clarified hisrespect for enabling more of humanity to experience the true wonder of space.

I have said in the past Look up at the stars and not down at your feet, but I believe that looking up will no longer be a requirement to see the universe in all its glory.

In Hawkings interview withGood Morning Britain, he focused on the importance ofthe unifying power of space exploration, especially in terms of bringing together governments from across the globe and inspiring future generations.

As Alan Stern, head of the New Horizons mission to Pluto, famously stated, enterprises like this are worthy for a number of reasons, but that, for him, two stick out in particular: Beyond the obviousthat were creating new knowledgewe create a greater society. We do something which is, in the case of great exploration, historic. Its something people read about, not just days and weeks later, but decades and centuries later. It makes a mark for our time of what we aspire to be, which is a greater society.

In short, the things that we invest in (whether that is sports, or war, or science) are a direct reflection of both the values that we hold and the society that we are currently building. And as is clear from this revelation, Hawking truly believes in going where no ones gone beforeor at least, only a very few people.

Read more here:
Stephen Hawking is Going to Outer Space - Futurism

A Solar Scope

Each day we get closer to exploring farther reaches of our solar system and universe. We have come incredibly far and seem to make progress with each day. However, our ability to survey the outer corners of the cosmos is limited by our current telescopic technology. Now, modern telescopes are nothing to scoff at. As the iconic Hubble Telescope is phased out, the James Webb Space Telescope will continue to capture the beauty of outer space. But scientists have figured out a way to push the boundaries of telescopic technology even further: by turning the Sun (yes, that sun) into a telescope.

To use the sun as some sort of massive magnifying glass, scientists have deferred to Einsteins Theory of Relativity. According to the theory, large objects (like the Sun) bend the space around them, and so anything traveling in that space (even light) bends as well. In a phenomenon known as gravitational lensing, if light is bent around an object in a particular way, it can magnify the space (quite literally, space) behind it.

Scientists have previously used gravitational lensing to help telescopes to be more effective, but now, researchers aim to use this distribution of matter as a telescope. This new approach certainly has its pros and cons. In order to harness this lensing, the necessary instruments would need to approach pretty close to the sun, in order to reach a target 550 AU away. While humans and probes have traveled much closer to the sun than this, and plan to do so in the future, this difficult journey would take a long time and the equipment would have to be somehow placed into the middle of space.

However, if this is pulled off, it would be a massive leap forward in imaging technology. We could finally get a closer, clearer look at Trappist-1, and would be that much closer to discovering life outside of Earth.

As mentioned previously, this sun scope is not the only highly advanced space-imaging technology thats surfacing. The James Webb Space Telescope, set to launch in October of 2018, will hopefully continue and advance the incredible work of the Hubble Telescope. In fact, this telescope is so powerful that Lee Feinberg, an engineer and James Webb Space Telescope Optical Telescope Element Manager at Goddard, was quoted as saying. The Webb telescope is the most dynamically complicated article of space hardware that weve ever tested.

The technology that we use to capture the incredible images of space isimproving every day. Modern telescopes will continue to advance, becoming more powerful, more precise, and more detailed. So, while the idea of a sun-based telescope is incredible and could yield unprecedented images and information, even if it doesnt pan out, we will most certainly continue to find improved ways to look at the Universe.

Originally posted here:
NASA Plans To Turn The Largest Object in Our Solar System into a Telescope - Futurism

In Brief

In case you hadnt noticed, there are a lot of agencies and companies working hard to get humans to Mars. SpaceX says it will definitely launch their crewed mission by 2020. NASA has a mandate to get the US to Mars by 2033.

China will launch its first Mars probe by 2020 with the aim of becoming a frontrunner in space exploration by 2030. While that hasnt included explicit plans for Mars yet, other frontrunners in space will be there in the 2030s. Mars Ones goal is to establish a permanent human colony on the Red Planet. The UAE has also stated that it plans to place a human colony on Mars, with a safety goal date of 2117.

While getting to Mars may be the initial hurdle to overcome, the challenges wont stop oncewe get there. Humans living on Mars must be equipped to handlethe necessarysocial disruptions, potential emotional turmoil, medical dangers, and other potential hardships. Life on Marswould demand that humans adapt to the planet rather than expecting Mars to adapt to their presence. Physical health problems that arise on Mars could well beuntreatable, depending on the type of expertise, equipment, or other resources that would be needed to treat them. Further complications could arise on a genetic basis, as concerns of consanguinitycould be a threat to colonies if an insufficient number of people for propagation made the journey.

Mental health concerns could be even more salient for Mars colonies, which would essentially be cut off from the life they knew on Earth. Although results from NASAs HI-SEAS isolation experiment which seals off small crews near the top of Hawaiis Mauna Loa volcano have been promising, many believe that there is really no way to truly prepare humans mentally for life on Mars while theyre still on Earth.

The real, and perhaps simplest, answer may be that life on Mars wont be for everyone. Neither is life in New York City, or tattoos, or any number of lifestyles or practices. The beauty in the diversity of human experience is that all those things have theirloyal adherents and so will off-world living.

More here:
Space Agencies Want to Put Humans on Mars by 2033, but Will Humans Be Ready to Go? - Futurism

Deep Learning, Fast

Deep learning machines have been generating incredible amounts of buzz in recent months. Their extensive abilities can allow them to play video games, recognize faces, and, most importantly, learn. However, these systems learn 10 times more slowly than humans, which has allowed us to keep the creeping fears of a complete artificial intelligence (AI) takeover at bay. Now, Google has developed an AI that is capable of learning almost as quickly as a human being.

Claims of this advancement in speed come fromGoogles DeepMind subsidiary in London. They say that not only can their machine assimilate and act on new experiences much more quickly than previous AI models, it will soon reach human-level speeds.

If youre unfamiliar with how deep learning works, it uses layers of neural networks to locate trends or patterns in data. If one layer identifies a pattern, that information will be sent to the next layer. This process continues until all the information is collected.

Systems can be taught to learn differently depending on many different variables, such as the strength of the connection between layers. Significant changes in one layer can dramatically change how information is transmitted in other layers, or how it is learned. Deep neural networks have many layers, so when changes are present, the process of learning can take an incredibly long time.

However, Alexander Pritzel, one of the researchers at Google DeepMind, and his colleagues seem to have figured out a way around this issue. They call it neural episodic control.

Neural episodic control demonstrates dramatic improvements on the speed of learning for a wide range of environments,the team told MIT Technology Review. Critically, our agent is able to rapidly latch onto highly successful strategies as soon as they are experienced, instead of waiting for many steps of optimization. Their method mimics the processesof learning that occur in human and animal brains, replicating what happens first in the prefrontal cortex and then, as a backup, in the hippocampus.

It seems as though every day some new development in AI technology is being revealed to the world. From altruistic robot lawyers to predictions about the singularity, AI technology has been barreling forward. However, we have not yet reached true AI.No robots exist whose AI capacity matches the intelligence of the human brain.

And so, while the realities of job loss as a result of automation and AI are becoming clearer every day, a true AI is not predicted to arrive any time soon. However, this development from DeepMind could be a huge stepping stone on the path to that future.

While that might seem like a science fiction nightmare on its surface, the possible benefits are enormous. Applications for advanced AI technology range from health and medicine to agriculture and even scientific research. As AI gets better at learning, it can be taught more and more ways to improve our lives.

More here:
Google Created an AI That Can Learn Almost as Fast as a Human - Futurism

Bill Nye the Educational Guy

Bill Nye, everyones favorite science guy, recently released a public video message for the current administration. Through his organization, The Planetary Society, Bill has stated (and included a written reportof) his official recommendations for the government in relation to their plans for NASA. The Planetary Society gave their 16-page report directly to the NASA transition team.

As many have already read and discussed, the current administration has their sights set on returning to the Moonand pushing forward the goal to put humans on Mars. In fact, many members of the House Science Committee think that not only should sending humans to Mars be an absolute priority, but we should be reaching this goal much sooner (something thatthose like Tom Young, a past director of Goddard Spaceflight Center, think is currently unrealistic). However, they have also decided that many other efforts of NASA, like climate change research, are less than necessary. In fact, recently, the President-Elect has announced possible plans to defund NASAs Earth Science Division.

Bill Nye, a longtime supporter of correct, up-to-date scientific information, has shown the current administration how they can tailor their plans to be less 1960s moonshot flashback and more scientifically-minded space research. Bill has laid out these recommendations fully and thoughtfully, and has specified fivekey suggestions (which he goes into great detail to explain). These suggestions are as follows:

1. Maintain the exploration of Mars as the organizing principle for NASAs human spaceflight program; 2. Direct NASA to plan an executable, affordable path for sending humans to Mars orbit by 2033; 3. Expand NASAs highly successful science portfolio; 4.Annual five percent increases to NASAs budget for five years; and 5. Continue to grow and support the commercial space industry.

These recommendations seem simple enough, but if followed correctly could be the key to a brighter (and scientifically-sound) future. Going far beyond the simple we want to get humans to Mars, this plan sincerely outlines and develops ways that could advance and modernize current NASA plans. As both government and private space organizations race to release the most exciting developments to help us achieve our goals of space exploration, guidelines like these will allow all of the excitement and planning to become more grounded in reality.

Unfortunately, and especially currently, there are many who do not see value or validity in science. Even those who are in charge of funding scientific programs and research are not always well-versed in the importance of science. Thankfully, these recommendations by Bill Nye avoid any condescending attitude or overly-technical terminology. It is a helpful guide that can be easily interpreted and implemented.

If these suggestions are followed, NASA will be able to continue searching for life outside of Earth, create safe and viable ways to extend the possibilities of human space travel, and support ongoing research. The James Webb Space Telescope, the Mars 2020 rover, Solar Probe Plus, and the Europa Multi-Flyby Mission are just a few of the many projects and programs that will be able to continue to flourish under these guidelines.

These recommendations will hopefully be viewed and taken seriously by the current administration. While many dismiss NASA and think that missions to space are somehow frivolous, the research that NASA has done in the past has been the basis for a huge percentage of modern innovation. From health and medicine to smartphone technology, NASA researchers have had an irreplaceable impact on scientific advancement. Additionally, as the realities of climate change grow more pressing, the data that NASA scientists obtain and analyze is crucial in understanding how we can improve the harsh truths of our environment.

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Bill Nye Just Wrote an Open Letter to the Trump Administration About NASA - Futurism

Lately, I can't help but notice the resurgence of the word "Afrofuturism" in cultural circles: at museums, in books, but maybe most importantly, on my social media feeds. In my own work as the founding curator of the Center for Afrofuturist Studies (CAS) in Iowa City, I've been inspired by artist Martine Syms' mundane Afrofuturism to think about art that deals with the future of black lives in an everyday way. I'm interested in a black future that includes, say, tomorrow and the next day, and that also includes the lives of black people on social mediathe futurity we all already live with. I wonder whether the space-based Afrofuturism of Sun Ra we saw in the mid-20th century has since given way to a new internet-based one: the millennials' Afrofuture.

Moor Mother, however, sees things a little differently. "I don't know anything about millennial culture," the Philly-based punk-poet, n Camae Ayewa, tells me over the phone when I ask her about Black Quantum Futurism, an offshoot of Afrofuturism she created with her partner Rasheedah Phillips. As Ayewa explains it, Black Quantum Futurism is "a new language of healing, memory, and justice that can be transmitted and used as a technology," one that exists at the intersection of activism, art, and DIY culture.

Ayewa emphasizes that access to the internet is itself a privilegein a way that, say, access to the ideas of space and of the future are not. Black Quantum Futurism, in other words, is a version of Afrofuturism that is expressly for the peopleespecially the people who can't afford to be online, and who therefore are all too easy to overlook when you spend most of your time in the privilege-dome of the internet.

But this doesn't mean that if you are onlineas you are, right now, reading thisthat Black Quantum Futurism isn't also geared towards you. This May, Ayewa and Phillips are teaming with Philly-based collectives The Afrofuturist Affair and Metropolarity to curate the Black Quantum Futurism programming theme at Moogfest, which includes a series of performances, talks, and workshops that I'm pretty sure will draw crowds of phone-wielders like you and me. There's a workshop called "Discovering Your Secret Superpower," designed to help people develop their own superhero identities based on their own strengths and weaknesses. And there's another called "Deep Space Mind," inspired by a DIY approach to science-fiction that helps marginalized people "reclaim their own insane mindspaces while developing strategies for psychological survival in our age of warfare." On top of all that, Ayewa's working on a durational piece for Moogfest, in the spirit of her other durational piece, "14 Hours," a performance that lasts as long asyou guessed it14 hours.

So, if you find yourself in Durham, North Carolina in May at the Black Quantum Futurism stage, make sure you bring some snacks, and maybe a change of clothes. Oh, and make sure you turn your fucking phone offat least after you've got the whole thing documented on the gram. You won't want to forget it.

Below, Moor Mother explains Black Quantum Futurism, and what's in store for folks at Moogfest. The text combines our telephone interview with some follow-up questions she answered via email, and has been edited and condensed for clarity.

Moor Mother and Rasheedah Phillips outside the Black Quantum Futurism space in Philadelphia

Moor Mother: Afrofuturism is a lens to see things in a differen t way. It's a place for people out on the fringes who have a lot to offer, but may not be in the academic world. There may not be thousands of books on Afrofuturism, unlike the Italian Futurists or something, but it's coming.

The past and future are not cut off from the presentboth dimensions have influence over our lives, who we are, and who we become at any particular point in space-time. Our work [with Black Quantum Futurism] focuses on recovery, collection, and preservation of communal memories, histories, and stories.

One of our projects, "Community Futurisms: Time & Memory in North Philly," is a collaborative art and ethnographic research project exploring the complexities of history, time, temporalities, and futurities within a specific low-income community currently undergoing displacement and redevelopment. [The] project is an example of Afrofuturistic social practice, and how Afrofuturism can be used by disenfranchised communities to create safe space for dialogue, visioning, and testing of ideas around community sustainability, resilience, and resistanceand as a technology for the actual implementation of those visions and ideas. [It also sets] an example for other advocates and policymakers on how to creatively approach these issues using social practice and community-engaged art. That's what Black Quantum Futurism is. It's all practicalthat's the main point.

We have two volumes of [the book Black Quantum Futurism Theory & Practice] out right now that everyone can go and check out. We have a community space [Community Futures Lab] here in North Philly where we have interns that come and work. We've had people do residencies with us on a short term. We've traveled the world talking about these concepts. We just came back from Berlin giving workshops, talks, and performances on Black Quantum Futurism. We're here.

When Rasheedah started her blog, [The Afrofuturist Affair] on Tumblr [in 2011], I had never run into anything that was an Afrofuturist event or a workshop about Afrofuturism. Around that time, Tumblr was really popping. A lot of people that were just starting out on Tumblr [back then], I see them now being in the forefront of things, whether they are artists or activists. I want to move towards the people, and I see that the people are offline. I think that it's a privilege to be online. It's a privilege to be able to continue to tweet things all day to build up your followers. That's a privilege that takes money.

I do these durational performances. I did one called "14 Hours," which is a 14-hour performance to [protest] domestic violence and sexual assault. There's so many women in prison because they protected themselves from some abusive relationship. The next performance that I did was "The Resurrection of Potter's Fields." In the 1700s, 1800s, early even 1900s, there were fields of unmarked gravespeople that couldn't afford burialall different types of what they would call the "Negro Fields." So my durational piece was [an attempt] to resurrect those graves and return them back to their homeland. There's a tradition of people wanting to be buried where they're from, by their families and with their families. The good thing that came about that was in PhiladelphiaI don't know who was talking to whothey created a marker, just a few days ago, for the potter's fields here.

[For Moogfest, I'm going to be doing] a piece in the energy and tradition of what I've been doing. I'll be doing workshops too with Black Quantum Futurism, Metropolarity, and the S1 Library from Portland. I'll be doing a little bit of everything. [We're looking] at the underlying connections that hold us captive in literal and virtual prisons and through the Black Quantum Future lens, [breaking down] the linear dreams that have been etched in our psyche, the message that we are running out of time and toward a chaotic end.

It's interesting how communities all over the world are understanding how important it is to move [away] from social constructs. One model that you read in some book, or some person was talking about on Facebook, may not be the model for you. We have to take the agency to define our own thing that keeps us chill, keeps our head above water.

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Moor Mother Explains Black Quantum Futurism - THUMP