Category Archives: Transhuman News

Cloud kitchen start-up Rebel Foods, which runs some 350 internet kitchens housing 10-12 restaurant brands each, has turned to IoT-enabled smart cookware to ace the taste consistency test.

Imagine a wok that can cook, control temperatures, add ingredients and understand the speed of toss, all by itself. The employee managing the machine just has to choose the dish he wants it to cook. Thats Wokie, the IoT- enabled smart wok developed in-house by Rebel Foods, which owns brands including Faasos, Oven Story, Behrouz Biryani, Firangi Bake, Sweet Truth, and Mandarin Oak.

Raghav Joshi, Co-founder and CEO (India BU), Rebel Foods, told BusinessLine, Finding the right staff with the right skill-set across 350 locations and managing that skill level for consistency becomes an inherent challenge. This is where our investment in hardware is going in, to build capabilities like this wok, which can automatically regulate temperatures and the speed of the toss so that you get that perfect bowl of noodles.

Joshi says the company has also developed a fryer that knows how to maintain the temperature of the oil, how long to fry an item and then to bring it.

The company has applied for patents for these even as it is creating a few more such smart cooking utensils.

Not just the hardware, Rebel has been strengthening its play on the software side as well. It has created its own operating system and allows third party brands to use its OS and scale their business across the country using its cloud kitchen network.

Some time the chef isnt always 100 per cent sure about a particular recipe. The software, at a click of a button, lets the chef access the recipe and its video. The food gets bar-coded and scanned to ensure nothing gets missed out. The customer can also track the delivery boy, see his temperature in the EatSure app, he adds, describing how the companys technology team doubled in the last one year, and there are plans to hire more.

Including India, Rebel Foods operates in 10 countries across Europe, West and South-East Asia. Countries like Indonesia have emerged one of its top markets outside India. In the next 6-8 months, the company is looking to expand to another 10 countries with over 150 internet kitchens.

In the past 3-4 months, the company had expanded to 15 cities in India, taking the total to 50, and it wants to expand its footprint to 50 more cities in 6-8 months.

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Dont worry about taste, this futuristic wok will take care - BusinessLine

LONDON Some court rulings are an example of justices not wanting to set precedent. Often when they overrule a decision they try to avoid calling into question the competence of the lower court by framing their decision upon technical reasons, procedural grounds, or by emphasizing that the ruling applies to this one case alone (like the Supreme Court did in Masterpiece Cake Shop) to avoid assigning blame to lower courts.

The UK Court of Appeal didnt bother with any of these niceties in their decision overturning Bell vs. Tavistock.

In December 2020, the UK High Court ruled that transgender youth under the age of 16 were not competent to consent to treatment with puberty blockers. This was shocking, because in the UK previous case law had established that people under that age of 16 were capable of giving medical informed consent, under what is known as Gillick Competence.

The Gillick case was decided in 1985, and found that people under 16 could consent to taking birth control in the UK.

The UK High Court decided in Bell, however, that trans youth were the only class of people (aside from those with profound developmental delays) incapable of giving medical consent.

The decision was appealed immediately, but the harm was done. Professionals who work with trans youth in the UK described their patients internalizing a message that the world hates them, and the anger they felt at being treated as mental defectives incapable of knowing themselves. Some had puberty blocker treatment discontinued; others waiting on treatment were placed in limbo while the appeals process played out.

Transgender people (rightly) pointed out that Keira Bell had been 17 when she received blockers, and that the ruling would have had no effect on her (people 16 and over dont fall under Gillick Competence). It was also noted that the panel of experts brought in by Bells legal team didnt include anyone who actually works with trans youth, but did include a veterinarian, two doctors who work with the American anti-LGBT hate group Alliance defending freedom, and two Australian proponents of conversion therapy.

Additionally, Bells legal team was led by Paul Conrathe, who has spearheaded the religious right push in the UK to roll back abortion rights and ban LGBT content from schools. Trans people also pointed out that correlation is not causation when Bells team made the accusation that going on blockers causes youth to later go on to hormones.

The Court of Appeal took note of these things, and more. The decision handed down on Friday, September 17th 2021 was a stinging rebuke of the lower court, finding that the original decision should be overturned for at least nine different reasons.

First, the Appeals Court noted that the case should never have been taken up in the first place, given that the treatment was always lawful. It also noted Bells age, pointed out that she was never a patient of the Tavistock Gender Identity Development Service, and that they doesnt administer blockers either.

The Appeals Court also found that Tavistock was providing sufficient information for informed consent under Gillick Competence and that this by itself was sufficient to overturn the original decision. They also found that the lower court overstepped its bounds by involving itself in medical matters it wasnt equipped to understand, nor legally allowed to intervene on. It found that blockers are not dangerous (based on actual expert testimony),that correlation is not causation, and noted that its likely clinicians have gotten better at diagnosis over the past 20 years.

The Court of Appeal notes that under UK law, it is not the place of the court to come between a patient and their doctor, and that they have no intention of overturning Gillick, which clearly applies to transgender people being offered these treatments. They essentially conclude that the case should have been thrown out day one, and the High Court had overstepped its bounds in ways that strain credulity.

The original Bell decision was so bad that the Appeals Court literally gave up after describing the 9th reason it was wrong, noting that they hadnt even gotten to the civil rights implications of the original decision, and that Bell would probably lose on those grounds too.

Essentially, the Appeals Court invoked the mercy rule usually reserved for lopsided T-ball games where one side is being so badly beaten the referees stop the game to prevent one side from being further humiliated. The effect is that the UK Supreme Court is highly unlikely to take up this case on further appeal.

Bells team recognized this was the end, and promptly announced that they would appeal because, The Gillick competency test is no longer fit for purpose. Gillick underlies much of UK law on reproductive rights, and undermining it is a holy grail of the religious right there, the same way overturning Roe v. Wade is in the US. Given the ties Bells team has to the global religious conservative movement, this development is unsurprising.

The Court of Appeals decision is great news for trans youth in the US. As Chase Strangio of the ACLU noted on Twitter:

State legislatures repeatedly cited to the decision in Bell v. Tavistock in support of bans on care for trans minors here in the US. In defense of their law banning care, Arkansas repeatedly cited to the High Court decision in court.

Efforts to ban health care for trans youth in the US are ongoing, including in Texas. However, the complete overturning of Bell v. Tavistock by the Court of Appeal undermines one of the key talking points used by anti-LGBTQ organizations in both the UK and the U.S.

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Amazon is selling books that promote violence from a neo-Nazi publisher - Los Angeles Blade

An experimental gene therapy that involves injectingCRISPR therapy directly into visually impaired patients eyeballs has vastly improved most volunteers vision even allowing some to see color more vividly than ever before.

Multiple study participants, all of whom had a severe type of genetic vision impairment called Leber congenital amaurosis, told NPR that they were thrilled with their improved vision. While their eyesight is still far from perfect, they can now safely navigate their surroundings with less assistance and find smaller objects.And one, Michael Kalberer, said that the treatment gave him the ability to see color for the first time in years.

In addition to now being able to navigate and discern food on a plate, Kalberer shared a story of getting dinner with a friend and being shocked by the sight of the color pink in the sky.

She goes, Yeah, you see the sunset. Thats the sunset,' he told NPR. And we both smiled at each other. It was a great moment.

Another patient, Carlene Knight, said she can now see colors far more vividly and feels safer walking around at work.

I was bumping into the cubicles and really scaring people that were sitting at them, patient Carlene Knight told NPR about working prior to the treatment. Its nice. I dont scare people and I dont have as many bruises on my body.

Knight has since dyed her hair green to celebrate her newfound ability to see her favorite color.

Most gene therapies being tested are less direct. Researchers will remove cells from a volunteers body, treat them, and then reintroduce them into their system. But thats not possible with the retina, so the patients had to be treated with eye injections, NPR reports. But the treatment seems to work, as researchers announced at the International Symposium on Retinal Degeneration on Wednesday that most of their patients, who had a severe type of genetic vision impairment called Leber congenital amaurosis, were able to see far better than before.

Were thrilled about this, Harvard Medical School ophthalmologist Eric Pierce, whos helping run the experiment, told NPR. Were thrilled to see early signs of efficacy because that means gene editing is working. This is the first time were having evidence that gene editing is functioning inside somebody and its improving in this case their visual function.

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Gene Therapy Restored Vision To Patient Who Hadn't Seen Colors in Years - Futurism

The 32-metre high wheel, on the site of the former Futurist Theatre on Foreshore Road, has been giving visitors birds-eye views of the South Bay and North Sea.

Hull Fair is Europe's largest travelling fair and returns to the city on Friday, October 8 after being cancelled due to the pandemic last year.

After Hull Fair, the wheel will be moved to Liverpool for Christmas, outside of St George's Hall.

The wheel is operated by Observation Wheel UK and is capable of carrying a maximum of 144 passengers with six people seated in each of its 24 enclosed gondolas.

In 2020, Scarborough Council granted permission for the wheel to operate on the site of the former Futurist Theatre for the next three summers.

Last year, the wheel had been due to leave Scarborough in October, but instead it was given permission to remain in the town over the winter period after Christmas activities in its next destination, Liverpool, were cancelled because of the pandemic.

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Scarborough's controversial seafront observation wheel dismantled to head to Hull Fair - The Yorkshire Post

A Russian actress will play a surgeon who, much like herself, is suddenly dispatched to space.Movie Magic

The director and lead actress of what will become the first feature-length fictional film shot in space are set to blast off next week, on October 5.

The movie, titled The Challenge, is about a surgeon who finds herself dispatched to the International Space Station in order to save a cosmonauts life, according to the NYT.

The plan, as it stands right now, is to send actress Yukia Peresild, who plays the doctor, and director Klim Shipenko to the Russian portion of the space station for 10 days, according to the NYT. There, Peresilds lack of real-world experience in spaceflightis expected to convey the horror, challenges, and awe-inspiring experience of an everyday person having to suddenly journey to space.

The impromptu mission will also put Russia ahead of the US when it comes to each countrys goals to shoot a film in orbit, and its not clear how much of the motivation for the mission came from wanting to claim that distinction.

Turning the real space station into a film set will certainly create a more authentic portrayal of life in orbit than other science-fiction movies, but as Flinders University space studies expert Alice Gorman points out in IFLScience, there will still be some elements of the film that push the boundaries of real science.

Namely, Peresilds character will need to perform surgery, which is something thats only ever been conducted on animals for the sake of experimentation while in orbit. Its not clear what the fictional surgery setup will look like or if those scenes will filmed on the space station versus a set back on Earth but it will be interesting to see how fictionalized medicine blends with the ordeals of actually shooting in space.

READ MORE: Russia to Open New Frontier in Space, Shooting First Full-Length Movie [The New York Times]

More on the International Space Station: Russia Wants To Be the First To Shoot a Movie in Space

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A Film Crew Is Launching to the International Space Station Next Week - Futurism

Researchers warn of an earth that's "alien to humans."Planning Ahead

With climate change, we tend to worry about the present (are hurricanes getting worse?) and the medium-term future (what will the planet be like in the year 2100?)

Look a few hundred more years down the road, though, and the world will likely appear totally alien.

By the year 2500, the Amazon may become a barren hellscape and the midwestern United States could turn into a tropical jungle, according to a new set of far-reaching climate projections that a team of climate scientists from several Canadian and British universities published in the journal Global Change Biology on Friday. Its alarming research and, to be fair, by no means authoritative as well as a bleak look into the long-term repercussions of human industrialization.

Many climate models predict environmental change up to the year 2100, so it makes sense that we try and understand what the world will look like farther down the road, the researchers argued in an essay in The Conversation.

This is surprising because people born now will only be in their 70s by 2100, the scientists wrote. What will the world look like for their children and grandchildren?

Looking that far into the future is a fairly speculative affair, the scientists noted. But they did find that their projections align with existing, robust models for the nearer future, lending more credibility to their predictions.

As temperatures continue to rise, the scientists found, much of the planet will become inhospitable to humans and coastlines will continue to be reshaped by rising sea levels, causing huge changes in terms of both geography and human society.

Further, we found heat stress may reach fatal levels for humans in tropical regions which are currently highly populated, the team wrote. Such areas might become uninhabitable.

Ultimately, the researchers hope theyre proven wrong. They ended their Conversation essay with a plea to drastically reduce carbon emissions or face the consequences.

The Earth of our high-end projections is alien to humans, they wrote. The choice we face is to urgently reduce emissions, while continuing to adapt to the warming we cannot escape as a result of emissions up to now, or begin to consider life on an Earth very different to this one.

READ MORE: Our climate projections for 2500 show an Earth that is alien to humans [The Conversation]

More on climate projections: UN Says Its Code Red for Humanity in Alarming Climate Change Report

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The Climate Projection for 500 Years From Now Is Unbelievably Bad - Futurism

One of them soared through the upper atmosphere at 32,000 mph.Fireball Alert

NASAs Meteor Watch confirmed sightings of at least five fireballs soaring through the evening sky over the US last Friday night.

In a Facebook post, the Meteor Watch noted that there were at least 80 eyewitness accounts of a massive fireball soaring over the North Carolina coast, becoming visible at around 7:40 pm.

The giant space rock eventually disintegrated after covering 26 miles through the upper atmosphere at an estimated 32,000 mph. Its unclear from the Facebook post whether a single meteor broke up to form multiple smaller fireballs during its descent, or if multiple fireballs blazed through the upper atmosphere a spectacular sight nonetheless for those lucky enough to be staring at the night sky at the right time.

The fireballs trajectories remain ambiguous.

There is more than the usual amount of uncertainty in the trajectory solution due to all the observers being located to the west of the fireball, reads NASAs post.

There were up to 150 reports of the fireballs across Maryland, South Carolina, Virginia, and West Virgina.

A video linked by Meteor Watch shows one of the massive fireballs burning bright in the distant sky. Several other videos were shared by the American Meteor Society as well.

Fireballs are exceptionally bright meteors, burning brighter than the planet Venus in the night sky, according to the American Meteor Society.

Several thousand meteors of fireball magnitude occur in the Earths atmosphere each day, the American Meteor Societys FAQ on fireballs reads. The vast majority of these, however, occur over the oceans and uninhabited regions, and a good many are masked by daylight.

READ MORE: NASA reports multiple fireballs hurtling through the sky over US [The Hill]

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NASA Puzzled by Five Fireballs Over America in One Night - Futurism

Born in the 90s, the adidas Ozweego continues to be a beloved silhouette known for its futuristic, chunky style. The Three-Stripes Brand takes the Ozweego to the next level by introducing the adidas Ozrah, which will soon be seeing a sleek purple and black pairing.

A dusty lavender dubbed Carbon tints the neoprene-like upper, which is wrapped by a black TPU cage. The wavy lines of the TPU elements and its cage-like design bring about a bold 360-degree look. To continue the space-age aesthetic, the heel features translucent wire-inspired details while branding on the tongue opts for a bubbled delivery. Even the sole exhibits a unique appearance as a chunky unit that sees perforations at the heel. A Carbon-tinted outsole rounds out the futuristic style for yet another impressive arrangement by adidas.

Enjoy official images of the adidas Ozrah below, which will hit adidas.com and the listed retailers on October 3rd at a price of $130.

For more by the Three Stripes, check out Kawasakis Ninja-inspired adidas ZX 8000.

Where to Buy

Make sure to follow @kicksfinder for live tweets during the release date.

Mens: $130Style Code: H04206

After MarketAvailable Now

North AmericaOct 3rd, 2021 (Sunday)

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The New adidas Ozrah is Getting A Futuristic Carbon And Core Black Pairing - Sneaker News

While Jeff Bezos Blue Origin is directly impeding NASAs efforts to get the first astronauts back to the Moon since 1972, the space company is facing some serious inner turmoil.

An essay signed by 21 current and former employees paints a bleak picture of what its like to work at Blue Origin,a company that the signers say is rife with sexism and often pushes employees to their limits.

Many of us have spent our careers dreaming of helping to launch a crewed rocket into space and seeing it safely touch back down on Earth, the employees wrote in the essay. But when Jeff Bezos flew to space this July, we did not share his elation. Instead, many of us watched with an overwhelming sense of unease. Some of us couldnt bear to watch at all.

Alexandra Abrams, the former head of Blue Origin Employee Communications and the only former employee whose name appeared on the letter, was dismissed for cause in 2019 after repeated warnings for issues involving federal export control regulations, Blue Origins vice president of communications Linda Mills told CNBC.

Ive gotten far enough away from it that Im not afraid enough to let them silence me anymore, Abrams told CBS.

Its a turbulent time for Blue Origin, a company that is actively seeking to overturn NASAs decision to chose SpaceX for developing a Moon lander. Bezos sued the space agency over the decision last month, causing plans to return astronauts to the Moon to be put on hold.

The last couple of months, since Jeff Bezos went to space, have been shockingly terrible for his space companys public image,Ars Technica space reporter Eric Berger wrote today. They have fallen so far, so fast, its difficult to really wrap my head around it.

Its also not the first time weve heard about harsh working conditions inside Blue Origin. Last year, employees spoke out about being put under immense pressure to launch the companys New Shepard rocket during the COVID-19 pandemic, as The Verge reported at the time.

The new revelations paint a dire picture of the working conditions inside Blue Origin. In the essay, the employees argued that the companys culture and work environment reflects the worst of the world we live in now, and sorely needs to change.

The former employees also mentioned several instances of alleged sexual harassment including by senior level managers inside a company run by an overwhelmingly white and male workforce.

Blue Origin also failed to consider the environmental impact of its operations, the former employees wrote. We did not see sustainability, climate change, or climate justice influencing Blue Origins decision-making process or company culture, the essay reads.

The letter also claimed that teams are stretched beyond reasonable limits, leading to compromises in flight safety of the companys New Shepard spacecraft.

The company was also reportedly very stingy with its resources. Employees are often told to be careful with Jeffs money, to not ask for more, and to be grateful,' reads the letter.

It should not take loss of life to turn our eye toward what goes on behind closed doors at space companies, the essay reads. Lack of rules and regulation has helped the commercial space industry thrive, but the time has come now that the public is boarding flights to allow accountable oversight.

Worse yet, all employees were apparently asked in 2019 to sign new contracts with a non-disparagement clause binding them and their heirs from ever saying something that would hurt the goodwill of the company,' according to the former employees.

Blue Origin maintains that the company has no tolerance for discrimination or harassment of any kind, Mills wrote in her statement to CNBC. We provide numerous avenues for employees, including a 24/7 anonymous hotline, and will promptly investigate any new claims of misconduct.

All told, the former employees lay out some pretty serious allegations. Blue Origins PR department has its work cut out for it especially given the companys already tarnished reputation.

READ MORE: Jeff Bezos Blue Origin is a toxic workplace, some current and ex-workers claim in essay [CNBC]

More on Blue Origin: In Newly-Released Documents, NASA Scoffed at Jeff Bezos Moon Lawsuit

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More Than 20 Blue Origin Employees Say It's a Horrible Place to Work - Futurism