Haiti Disaster Scale Update

BBC News – The confirmed death toll from Haiti’s devastating earthquake has risen above 150,000 in the Port-au-Prince area alone, a government minister has said. Many more remain uncounted under rubble in the capital and elsewhere, including the towns of Jacmel and Leogane. Leogane had a population of 134,000 and 90% of the buildings were …

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There was a problem with the Disqus Comments

Disqus Comments are not working in IE browser. Appear to work with Firefox. Hopefully the issue will be resolved on the Disqus end shortly. Apologies for any inconvenience. the problem lasted from Jan 21-23, 2010. It is fixed now Brian WangBrian Wang is a Futurist Thought Leader and a popular Science blogger with 1 million …

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2010 Edge Annual Question – How is the Internet Changing the Way You Think?

The 2010 Edge Annual Question – How is the Internet Changing the Way You Think? (H/T Eric Drexler at Metamodern who posted his answer – The internet helps you see what (you are missing) what is not there some of the 169 responses Science historian George Dyson asks “what if the cost of machines that …

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Economics of nanotech and AI

Robin Hanson forecasting the next mode of growth. Mode Doubling Date Began Doubles Doubles Grows Time (DT) To Dominate of DT of WP ———- ——— ———– —— ——- Brain size 34M yrs 550M B.C. ? “~16” Hunters 230K yrs 2000K B.C. 7.2 8.7 Farmers 860 yrs 4700 B.C. 8.1 7.5 ?? 58 yrs 1730 3.9 …

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Michael Anissimov on Friendly AI

Michael is reviewing development in AI up to this point. A lot of big developments in AI in the 2000’s and in the last few months. Discusses the use of AI by corporations and military and others. Provides another perspective on Hod Lipson’s work. Reviewing the mainstream recognition of AI Wired talked about Eureqa – …

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Liveblogging the Foresight 2010 Conference – Hod Lipson – Adaptive and Self Reflective Systems

Foresight 2010 Conference speaker Hod Lipson of Cornell University – Adaptive and Self Reflective Systems Talk about adaptation shape and behavior (AI and manufacturing) Adaptive Behavior – Self reflection and learning simulators Adaptive Morphology – Self assembly and programmable matter Most of work initiated in robotics and expanded beyond it. Industrial robots are super human …

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Avatar IMAX Passes $100 million Being Driven by 3D and Number One Possibilities after Avatar and the Future Movie Industry

Imax passes $100 mil globally with ‘Avatar 3D’ James Cameron’s sci-fi epic is still set to screen for seven more weeks on Imax’s giant screens, “Avatar” to date has raked in $68 million in premium North American ticket receipts and $33 million in overseas boxoffice. Imax is expecting a Avatar Halo effect with a boost …

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Gene Therapy and Stem Cell News – Molecular Security System, China Rising Star in Regenerative Medicine

1. Researchers at the University of Minnesota have discovered a molecular security system in human cells that deactivates and degrades foreign DNA. This discovery could open the door to major improvements in genetic engineering and gene therapy technologies. Led by Reuben Harris, associate professor of biochemistry, molecular biology and biophysics in the College of Biological …

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Tracking Prediction that Avatar will be World Number One Non-inflation Adjusted Box Office Champ

One week ago (Jan 3, 2010) Avatar had a domestic box office total: $352.1 million. and Foreign total: $670.2 million for a $1.02 billion world total This week (Jan 10, 2009) Avatar has over $300 million more worldwide at $1.33 billion with $430.8 domestic and $902.1 (67.7%) foreign There was only a 29% drop in …

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Memristor, Memcapacitor and Meminductor Research Update

In mid-2009, research was showing that memristors and memcapacitors are similar to synapses and can be made into neural networks There is an updated version of the paper Experimental demonstration of associative memory with memristive neural networks Abstract—Synapses are essential elements for computation and information storage in both real and artificial neural systems. An artificial …

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