The new year came, with the old but we still said goodbye. A good opportunity to consider the most futuristic discovery and development 2015. This year has been very fruitful on the part of the great scientific and technological achievements, was marked by a real working hoverboards and cybernetic brains. Before you eighteen bold predictions that came true in 2015.
It is time to think about AI safety
Artificial intelligence is not a threat at the moment, but that doesn’t mean that we can’t see the day when he becomes more powerful and dangerous. With the aim of raising awareness and attracting public attention to risks associated with AI, this year filed the voices of a number of prominent thinkers and experts.
In January, Stephen Hawking, Elon Musk and other prominent figures have signed an open letter warning about the risks of AI. This letter, prepared by the Future of Life Institute, called for accountability for the development of AI in order to mitigate risks and ensure the “social utility” of this technology. Recognizing the huge advantages the AI, not the signatories called for a moratorium. They wrote that “I read that study on how to make AI systems robust and beneficial is important and timely, and there are specific directions to be followed today.”
A few months later FLI has released another open letter, this time calling for a direct ban weapons with AI, or “lethal Autonomous weapons operating in the absence of significant human control”. Among the VIPs who signed the letter were Hawking, Musk, Steve Wozniak, Noam Chomsky, Max Tegmark and Daniel Dennett. The main concern is that when the weapon AI will go beyond the “human loop”, it will be difficult to control and may — accidentally or intentionally — to turn against us.
“We believe that military race the AI will not benefit humanity. There are many ways that AI can make the battle safer for people, particularly civil, without the creation of new tools for killing people,” was written in open letter from FLI on Autonomous weapons.
In October, experts warned the UN about the dangers of artificial super-intelligence. In response, the UN decided that artificial sverginare has the potential to transform human society into something good, but also raises questions about what the technology can quickly spiral out of control.
Also been running a campaign to ban sex robots. Academics Kathleen Richardson, and Eric Billing stated that the development of sex-robots must stop, because it reinforces or reproduces the existing inequalities. Others, however, believe their idea is short-sighted, because it does not help us to understand how these technologies can change human society.
We finally got something like a working hoverboard
Back in June, Lexus released promovideo, which showed a functioning hoverboard which floated an inch from the ground. He even steam went out.
The company stated that its hoverboard SLIDE uses superconductors cooled with liquid nitrogen, and permanent magnets to support the real rider, which explains the foggy haze. Gizmodo turned to Lexus for more information, and the company confirmed that the teams from Germany and London worked on this device in the last year and a half. Later we learned that the Board only works on special metallic surfaces, not concrete, as shown in the video. So, although it is not a holiday, but the promise of the holiday for sure.
The game of twenty questions was played with linked brains
In an attempt to develop something similar to technological telepathy, scientists at the Institute of brain Sciences and education at the University of Washington have developed a system that allowed the pair of participants to play the game question and answer (say 20 questions), passing signals from one brain to another via the Internet.
Remarkably, this system is completely non-invasive, works from the device, EEG, transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) and computer for processing and translation. Sending mental signals “Yes” and “no”, participants in a pair were able to correctly identify objects of type dog, being a mile away from each other.
Two year-old girl was subjected to chrysochroini
In January two Thai girl named Matrin Navaratan became the youngest man who has been frozen. This case showed that cryonics — the practice of including a person in a VAT of liquid nitrogen in the hope to bring him back to life in the future — gradually flows into our lives. Also it shows what can desperate parents who face the loss of their own child.
Company Alcor explains this unique occasion:
“Matrin was diagnosed with a rare form of pediatric brain cancer (ependymoblastoma). Her parents, both with doctorates in mechanical engineering, went to great lengths in the search for an effective treatment, tried and aggressive chemotherapy and radiation therapy high-dose, and various microsurgery, but Matrin health deteriorated. When it became clear that Motrin there are only a couple of months or weeks with the current level of medicine and treatment, the parents came to Alcor… to implement high-quality cryopreservation — including createsite her brain.
In conversation with the BBC the girl’s father said: “As scientists, we are 100% sure that one day her resuscitation will be carried out — it is not clear when. In the past we would call a figure of 400-500 years, but today, this seems possible in next 30 years”.
In 2013, 23-year-old Kim Suozzi passed through cryogenic preservation after a successful fundraising campaign. As Matron, she too was dying of brain cancer. Matrin — 134th “patient” Alcor.
In US presidents nominated by the transhumanist
For the first time in history, to claim the White house will be a transhumanist.
Writer, philosopher and futurist Zoltan Istvan is running on a platform that openly supports the development of technologies for improving human rights and extreme life extension. He believes that technology can and should be used to increase human intellectual, physical, and psychological capacities, and that death must be eradicated. The advertising campaign includes Stephen’s old school bus that looks like a coffin on wheels.
But not all transhumanists want to take a ride on the “bus of immortality.” He was rejected by many key thinkers in the field of transhumanism and transhumanist self-recognized groups. Critics complain that the positions and actions of Stephen is not consistent with the Declaration of Transhumanists, and that man is himself a transhumanist — an opportunist, which sends the wrong signal.
The doctors carried out the most serious face transplant in medical history
Firefighter-volunteer from Mississippi became the recipient in the most serious face transplant in medical history. 41-year-old Patrick Hardison now has the face of a 26-year-old man who died in a tragic Bicycle accident. The procedure for a million dollars, which was conducted by the medical team of 150 people from Luganskogo medical center at new York University, 26 hours required for completion. Hardison got a whole head and face, including the ears, nose, lips and lower eyelids.
The future has opened a crack in the motorbike running robots
Yamaha introduced the robot Motobot, which can drive the fastest motorcycle on Earth. Robotic division of the company hopes to process Android to such an extent that he can control unmodified motorcycle without protective gear, at speeds above 200 km/h.
Yes, we are impressed.
The war in Syria triggered the first conclusion from the “seed Bank”
Arctic seed vault in Svalbard currently 619 820 protects the seeds of plants in case of a massive ecological catastrophe, pandemics, nuclear war or asteroid. This is insurance for the future, which, unfortunately, took faster than expected.
The ongoing civil war in Syria led to the first in the history of the withdrawal of precious content, in particular samples of wheat, barley and grasses suitable for arid regions. Scientists in the middle East were forced to conclude after near the city of Aleppo during the war had damaged the Bank of genes.
The robot passed a rudimentary test on the self-consciousness
Robotics from the artificial intelligence Lab and thinking at the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute have adapted three old robot NOA to pass a simple test demonstrating identity. As in “the mystery of the king to the wise men,” all except one of the three robots, gave “mind-numbing pill,” which did not allow them to speak. The robots had to identify which of them were given a placebo and which therefore can still talk.
The one who was given placebo, in the end said “I don’t know” when he asked the question — and at this moment “realized” that he had been given a placebo. Hearing his own voice, he said, “I’m Sorry, now I know!”. This is an example of self-consciousness, albeit very simple. Not that there is too admire this achievement or be afraid of it, it just shows how you can program in our technologies simulation of self-consciousness AI.
Innovative therapy gene editing has saved your child from cancer
Annual Leyla Richards from London, England, became the first patient in the world to receive pioneering gene therapy conducted by doctors at the Great Ormond Street hospital. The girl was diagnosed with an incurable aggressive leukemia, but is now in remission after receiving a “designer cells” from the donor. The mainstay of therapy was the new powerful technique of editing genes, which eventually can be used for mass treatment of hereditary diseases.
By the way, about editing genes: scientists in China genetically modified human embryos. This is a turning point in the history of biotechnology, the achievement that topped all lists scientific events in 2015. Being controversial, it nevertheless may lead to the emergence of the so-called “designer babies”.
In the workplace appeared bosses with artificial intelligence
Japanese firm Hitachi uses managers with artificial intelligence, which not only control the workflow and responsibilities of staff in real time, but also find ways to increase the efficiency of employees. In one case, the AI, the inventory system has increased its efficiency by 8%.
Chinese manufacturers are gradually moving in the direction of plants with “zero labor” that will totally work on robots. The automation revolution is on the way.
Cybernetic implant helped paralysed rats begin to walk again
Scientists from Federal Polytechnical school of Lausanne (EPFL) were able to restore the ability to walk in paralyzed rats by implanting soft and flexible neural implants directly into their spinal cord.
A technology called e-Dura uses both chemical and electrical stimuli and does not cause inflammation. It ultimately could be used on humans, but it requires a set of multifunctional implants that will be set in long course.
New social network promises digital immortality
Learning all there is to know about you and your online habits, start ETER9 promises a kind of digital immortality in which the artificial intelligence agent will continue to post in social networks on your behalf when you are away from your computer or, theoretically, after your death.
The web is still in beta test, but people began to connect. Digital version users remain active, even when the real user is offline, clicking on “likes” or posting content.
Injection brain implant
Harvard scientists have developed electric forest that you can enter directly into the mouse brain with a syringe. Ciborinia the brains of mice with a soft polymer network that researchers can use this technology to perform a number of tasks, like monitoring brain activity and stimulating brain functions. In a further improved version of this device can be used for the treatment of Parkinson’s disease and other cognitive disorders.
Researchers have taught a robot bad
Sounds ridiculous, but scientists from new Zealand Touchpoint Group has used machine learning to teach the AI to recognize — and even imitating — the anger. The idea is to help companies to deal with common customer complaints. The Radiant system will be able to generate over hundreds of millions of angry interactions. Touchpoint hopes to create a system that can autonomously find the best answers to typical customer complaints.
Artificial skin with sense of touch
Will be a long time before we see artificial skin, which will feel and react like a real, but scientists from Stanford University have taken an important step in this direction. Their stretchable artificial leather called DiTact equipped with mechanoreceptors, which can sense force of static objects. Scientists were able to transmit incoming sensory input his brain cells grown mouse. The ultimate goal of the project is the equipping of prosthetic human artificial skin, allowing to feel the touch.
The world is finally thinking about global poteplenii
What could be more futuristic than what the international community comes together and finally makes something meaningful (at least potentially) with the continuing crisis, linked to climate change? Let’s hope that the “Paris accord” will guide us along the path, at the end of which we will come to future, which today can only dream of.