Category Archives: Post Human

"I want you to hold off on your intellectual gag response," the speaker told us. "I want you to stay with me through this 'til we get to the end."

The speaker was Paul Horn, former executive director of research at IBM. He's the man behind Watson, the machine that beat humans at Jeopardy. Horn is a highly informed, deep thinker on future technology. His talk was called "The Co-Evolution of Humans and Machines." His purpose was to get us thinking more deeply about a revolution that, if it comes, would be unlike anything humanity has experienced so far in its long history.

Horn's main argument was that, in the near future, we will build machines surpassing us in intelligence. What the machines those machines then build will surpass their own creator's intelligence. This process will rapidly continue until, very soon, it yields a new force on the planet superintelligence. This runaway process is often called the "singularity" and Horn's main job was to argue that, given current trends in technology, something more or less like it is coming.

What happens next (not the subject of Horn's talk), depends on your level of optimism. If you think things will turn out badly, well, then, you know the story. Skynet. The Matrix. Robot overlords.

But if you're an optimist, then you think something wonderful is going to happen. With the help of our super-intelligent machines we become more.

"More what?" you ask. Well, more than human. We become the next step in evolution and that will mean humanity, as we know it, will come to an end. What comes next will be a new post-human era (transhumanism, the step in between, is an idea we've covered before in this blog).

But now comes the real question. Even under the most optimistic scenario where a post-human transformation is available to everyone regardless of race, creed or (the more likely stumbling block) economic status, is it still a good idea? More to the point, is actively developing technologies to put us at the intellectual level of a schnauzer relative to future post-human beings ethical, just and proper?

Nick Bostrom, a philosopher at Oxford, identifies the core value of transhumanism in the ideal of human potential. Thus, for a transhumanist, raising future generations to the heights our current potential is all that matters. As Bostrom puts it:

"This affirmation of human potential is offered as an alternative to customary injunctions against playing God, messing with nature, tampering with our human essence, or displaying punishable hubris."

Bostrom runs through the limits that can be overcome when we transcend the current version of humanity: lifespan, intelligence, bodily functionality, sensory modalities, special faculties and sensibilities. Thus, in a post-human world our children's' children may live for centuries, see in all wavelengths of the spectrum and think trillions of times faster and more deeply than we can even imagine.

Excerpt from:
Should Science End Humankind?

Windie Lazenko, sex trafficking survivor and victim crisis caregiver, wants people to remember one thing about victims of human trafficking: Theres always a back story.

Lazenko said those words to a roomful of politicians and prosecutors, law enforcement officers and outreach workers Thursday, at the first statewide summit on human trafficking hosted by North Dakota FUSE.

For nearly 20 years, Lazenko, 46, worked in the game, a victim of human trafficking since she was 13 years old, ending when she was 32.

She spoke of how fleeing a homelife of sexual abuse led her straight into the sex trade, where pimps sold her like a commodity.

Lazenko said that, when law enforcement and caregivers encounter victims of human trafficking, they arent seeing the people for who they really are, but rather the result of years of trauma and abuse.

Worse, victims often dont see themselves as such and resist help, she said.

I didnt know I was a victim of sex trafficking, Lazenko said.

Even after she left prostitution, something she credits to finding God, Lazenko said she tried to keep her past a secret.

Well, God had a different plan, she said.

At 40, Lazenko said she accepted that she had been a victim and began working to help other victims of human trafficking. Today, she advocates for a greater focus on services for those victims.

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Bismarck hosts states first summit on human trafficking

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POLICE in Bristol are tackling a surge in human trafficking and modern day slavery. Figures obtained by the Bristol Post show Avon and Somerset constabulary is dealing with 153 tip-offs so far this year, more than double the number for the whole of 2012.

A Freedom of Information request to the force's specialist human trafficking team also revealed arrests and charges have more than quadrupled.

The force is referring dozens of victims to the National Crime Agency each year and a number of high-profile cases have come to court.

Victims have been recorded from Eastern Europe, China, Vietnam and the UK and have been linked to forced labour, sexual exploitation, domestic slavery.

Court documents show victims in Bristol have ended up working in massage parlours, nail bars, car washes, travellers' sites and in growing numbers of cannabis factories.

Unseen, a Bristol charity offering protection to victims, said the new figures were "the tip of the iceberg" and warned they are set to increase further.

Avon and Somerset police said the new figures followed a trend which is set to continue. The human trafficking team said detection rates were increasing alongside public awareness after a national publicity campaign.

A Post investigation found:

the number of intelligence reports received by police has risen from 67 in 2012 to 153 (so far) this year.

Link:
The Bristol Post published Police in Bristol tackling surge in human trafficking and modern...

The story of this startup begins with a murder.

Back in 2006, at Brown University, Professor Michael Black was investigating a homicide through whats called computer vision. The Virginia State Police had asked him to use his computer science skills to make sense of a grainy surveillance video of a suspect and his getaway car. If Black could come up with some key identifierslike the make and model of the car, or the guys heightit might help detectives nab the killer.

So, on the first day of his Topics in Computer Vision course, Black tossed aside the syllabus and set his students to work cracking the case. It was a decision that would prove rather fruitful.

In the end, they did indeed help the cops. A big drumroll moment was when the police were there on the last day of class, and we had to predict the height of the victim, says Eric Rachlin, one of Blacks students, who recently recounted the tale to WIRED. We nailed that height, so the height of the suspect was probably a good prediction, too. But the class had also stumbled upon research with applications far beyond the field of forensics.

In figuring out the killers height, they had essentially developed a way to guess, based on a few measurements, the shape of a human body. This may sound like a small thing. But Black realized that if he could develop a statistical model to predict the shape of someones body using a few measurements or a body scan, a world of companies could use it to cheaply and easily customize shirts, shoes, bras, sporting gear, and all sorts of other personal products.

Nearly a decade later, Black and his three co-founders have launched a startup to do just that. Called Body Labs and now backed by $2.2 million in funding, this New York City company uses Blacks statistical model of the human body to turn simple measurements and body scans into true-to-life 3-D digital avatars. Companies can use these avatars to customize products.

The trend toward personalized consumer products has been simmering for years. Today, you can get earbuds custom-molded to your ear canal, buy a data-driven bra for exactly your shape, or select a button-down shirt in one of 75 sizes. But even as this mass customization movement grows, making custom products remains slow and costly. And most of these custom products are only semi-custom.

Black realized a world of companies could use it to cheaply and easily customize shirts, shoes, bras, sporting gear, and more.

Now, imagine you could upload an individuals shape with a click. Suddenly, designing that bespoke suit becomes less time consuming. There are other possibilities, too. Hollywood could use these avatars to design more realistic effects at a fraction of the time and cost. Videogame brands could let gamers upload their avatars and drop them into the game for a more immersive experience. Health and fitness apps could use it to track not just a persons diet and weight, but the way their bodies physically change over time. Using Body Labs technology, the body can become a platform upon which other companies can build a range of new products.

We live in a world growing more and more customized, says CEO Bill OFarrell, who co-founded the company with Black and his former students Alex Weiss and Eric Rachlin.1 If you believe that technology is going to allow companies and businesses to provide goods and services that are more tailored to individuals, the body is the key component around which those goods and services have to be designed and manufactured.

Continue reading here:
This Startup Is Turning the Human Body Into a Next Gen Design Platform

Jamie Anfenson-Comeau/The Gazette

U.S. Marine Corps veteran Sam Hofberg of Lanham, at the Greenbelt American Legion Post 136 where he has served for over 60 years.

When the Greenbelt American Legion Post 136 remodeled their banquet hall last year, they decided to name it in honor of one of their longest-serving members and chaplain emeritus, Sam Hofberg of Lanham.

Post 136 Commander Michael Moore said Hofberg is modest about his own efforts on behalf of veterans, but the Post wanted to do something to honor Hofberg for his work with the Post, particularly as chaplain.

Hes one of the finest human beings Ive ever known, Moore said. Hes always been the first to volunteer, the first to reach out to help fellow veterans.

At 92, Hofberg is one of the longest-serving members of the American Legion Post 136 Greenbelt, having joined the post after returning from World War II.

During his time at the post, he has served twice as post commander, in 1983 and 1991, and held just about every other office available, according to Moore.

Hofberg doesnt like to talk about his own accomplishments, but he is proud of the time, over 25 years, that he served as chaplain for the Post.

I felt very dedicated to being chaplain. When you take that job, you have to take care of all veterans, of all nationalities and religions, Hofberg said. I performed services for everyone, no matter who they were.

Hofberg said not everyone was able to do that.

Originally posted here:
After serving country, Lanham Marine served fellow vets -- Gazette.Net

Originally published November 10, 2014 at 7:06 PM | Page modified November 10, 2014 at 8:50 PM

Lisa Brummel, leader of Microsoft human resources for nearly a decade, will step down at the end of the year.

Brummel, executive vice president for human resources, is a 25-year veteran of the company and part-owner of the Seattle Storm. She has held a variety of roles in management and marketing in Microsofts hardware, consumer and productivity businesses, and has led human resources since 2005.

She will be succeeded in the HR post by Kathleen Hogan, who currently leads Microsoft Services.

Microsoft Services, with about 21,000 employees, is Microsofts customer-support and consulting network and the largest single organization within the company.

Hogan joined Microsoft in 2003, and previously worked for the McKinsey consulting firm, as well as Oracle.

Kathleen is an accomplished, well-respected and well-rounded leader who obsesses over our customers and is motivated by peoples passion for how technology can change the world, Chief Executive Satya Nadella said. She is the right person to continue pushing our cultural transformation forward, and she will ensure Microsoft remains the best, most inclusive place to work.

Brummel grew up in Westport, Conn., and joined Microsoft in 1989 after receiving a masters in business administration from UCLA. An athlete during undergraduate years at Yale University, Brummel was part of a group of four Storm season-ticket holders who joined forces to buy the team from Clay Bennett in 2008.

Most of Brummels years at the helm of human resources came during Microsofts oft-criticized practice of stack-ranking, the process of ranking employees during performance reviews. Some employees said the system lowered morale and limited the incentives for workers to collaborate.

Under stack ranking, managers were required to designate their staff into five groups from top to bottom performers based on set percentages. Even if everyone in a team performed well, managers were required to designate some as underperformers.

Read the original:
Microsofts human-resources chief Lisa Brummel leaving

Jamie Anfenson-Comeau/The Gazette

U.S. Marine Corps veteran Sam Hofberg of Lanham, at the Greenbelt American Legion Post 136 where he has served for over 60 years.

When the Greenbelt American Legion Post 136 remodeled their banquet hall last year, they decided to name it in honor of one of their longest-serving members and chaplain emeritus, Sam Hofberg of Lanham.

Post 136 Commander Michael Moore said Hofberg is modest about his own efforts on behalf of veterans, but the Post wanted to do something to honor Hofberg for his work with the Post, particularly as chaplain.

Hes one of the finest human beings Ive ever known, Moore said. Hes always been the first to volunteer, the first to reach out to help fellow veterans.

At 92, Hofberg is one of the longest-serving members of the American Legion Post 136 Greenbelt, having joined the post after returning from World War II.

During his time at the post, he has served twice as post commander, in 1983 and 1991, and held just about every other office available, according to Moore.

Hofberg doesnt like to talk about his own accomplishments, but he is proud of the time, over 25 years, that he served as chaplain for the Post.

I felt very dedicated to being chaplain. When you take that job, you have to take care of all veterans, of all nationalities and religions, Hofberg said. I performed services for everyone, no matter who they were.

Hofberg said not everyone was able to do that.

See the original post:
After serving country, Lanham Marine served fellow vets

Forms of Life: a post human meditation

By: Ana Monteiro

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Forms of Life: a post human meditation - Video

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Book Review | The Future Of Post-Human Architecture By Peter Baofu
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Book Review | The Future Of Post-Human Architecture By Peter Baofu - Video