Peter Diamandis  

In a recent landmark talk, Peter Diamandis shared how we are rapidly heading towards a human-scale transformation, the next evolutionary step into what he calls a “Meta-Intelligence,” a future in which we are all highly connected—brain to brain via the cloud— sharing thoughts, knowledge and actions.

In a recent TEDx Talk, Peter Diamandis shared how we are rapidly heading towards a human-scale transformation, the next evolutionary step into what he calls a “Meta-Intelligence,” a future in which we are all highly connected—brain to brain via the cloud—sharing thoughts, knowledge and actions. Check out the video below.

People have no idea how fast the world is changing according to Peter Diamandis. Reviewing the history of computation on the planet, he describes how the deceptive nature of emerging exponential technology disguises their ever-increasing impacts. Initially with computers, the growth was slow, "it was beginning to change us, but we didn't feel it yet."

"We then entered a period of disruptive growth, where it is exploding onto the world," states Diamandis. He highlights the four driving forces as well as the four steps that is transforming humanity.

The exponential growth of technology promises a world of abundance, says Diamandis. Already global incomes are rising, lifespan is increasing, food price is dropping, energy production is increasing, with price reductions. These factors are contributing to a rise in literacy rates, a reduction and to the reducing cost of transportation and communications.

Related articles

• Peter Diamandis On The Promise Of Exponential Technology 
• Exponential Technology is Changing The World 
• How to Go Big, Create Wealth and Impact the World 

For Diamandis this means that above all, knowledge is a million-fold cheaper—for every single person on the planet.

"It's happening in our lifetime, it's happening in your lifetime, it's happening during the next thirty years."

Moveover, "besides creating abundance, and demonetizing the cost of living, we are also about to see the transformation of the human race," he states. Diamandis believes we will change how we raise and educate our children, how we govern ourselves, how we communicate, how we conduct work and business, and we will become a multi-planetary species.

"It's happening in our lifetime, it's happening in your lifetime, it's happening during the next thirty years—so don't blink," says Diamandis emphatically. As Moore's Law continues, technologies like networks, sensors, robotics, 3D printing, synthetic biology, materials science, augmented and virtual reality and artificial intelligence are combining and feeding off of each other, and combining, producing what Diamandis labels, "unexpected convergent consequences."

With billions of new users accessing the internet in the coming years, "we are about to see a massive explosion in innovation, like we have not seen yet," he states. What's more, is the Internet of Things (IoT) will bring billions of more sensors and devices on-line as well. Diamandis mentions how he and Ray Kurzweil predict that this connection will also be expanding to direct neural connections as well.

"AI is our most important tool ever," claims Diamandis, helping us bridge the other technologies with our minds. These will lead to what he calls the creation of a "Meta-Intelligence." What we about to do is to connect eight billion minds, allowing us to look out into the Universe.

Diamandis is the Founder and Executive Chairman of the XPRIZE Foundation which leads the world in designing and operating large-scale incentive competitions. Diamandis is a New York Times Bestselling co-author of two books: Abundance: The Future Is Better Than You Think and Bold: How to Go Big, Create Wealth and Impact the World. He is also the Co-Founder & Exec Chairman of Singularity University, a graduate-level Silicon Valley institution that counsels the world’s leaders on exponentially growing technologies.

As an entrepreneur, Diamandis has started 17 companies. He is the Co-Founder and Vice-Chairman of Human Longevity Inc. (HLI), a genomics and cell therapy-based company focused on extending the healthy human lifespan, and Co-Founder and Co-Chairman of Planetary Resources, a company designing spacecraft to enable the detection and prospecting of asteroid for fuels and precious materials.

SOURCE  TEDx Talks

By  33rd Square

Embed

 Hyperloop  

Another company has emerged from stealth with the goal of making Elon Musk's Hyperloop a reality.  Hyperloop Technologies is headed up by an all-star team of entrepreneurs, engineers and investors, and is looking to Hyperloop to revolutionize the future of cargo transportation.

Since Elon Musk teased the concept of the Hyperloop, there has been a lot of interest in the project.  When he opened sourced the concept to everyone, realizing that Tesla, SpaceX, and his other ventures would not permit him to develop the idea on his own, with a detailed 58-page white paper, Silicon Valley investors took notice too.

Now, in a feature article in Forbes, Hyperloop Technologies, an all-star group of entrepreneurs and investors, claims they can get the technology up and running in five years.

"We have the team, the tools and the technology. We can do this."

Starting with an $8.5 million pool of money and plans for an additional $80 million funding round later this year, the team of Shervin Pishevar, a major investor in Uber, Joe Lonsdale, co-founder of Palantir, Joe Messina, former White House deputy chief of staff, David Sacks, founder of Yammer, Peter Diamandis, founder of the X-prize, and Brogan BamBrogan, one of SpaceX’s key engineers, is poised to create the Hyperloop.

Related articles Elon Musk Reveals Hyperloop Concept Planetary Resources To Launch First Spacecraft Next Year  Ramez Naam Reminds Us That Innovation Is An Infinite Resource

BamBrogan is the interim CEO, CTO, Co-Founder of the start-up, which is recruiting mainly from SpaceX, the defense and energy sectors. “We have the team, the tools and the technology,” BamBrogan told Forbes. “We can do this.”

Hyperloop Technologies initial mission exceeds Musk’s original vision for the technology, first focusing on freight rather than human transportation. This high-speed “cargoloop” could go over land or under water. Container-loads of products could arrive overnight on such a system.

The company is not the only one trying to realize the Hyperloop, the similarly named, Hyperloop Transporation Technologies (HTT) was formed soon after Musk's announcement. Also despite claiming to not be involved in the development anymore, Musk announced plans to build a test Hyperloop track last month.


If built, the Hyperloop, would be as fast as a plane, cheaper than a train and continuously available in any weather while emitting no carbon from the tailpipe. It would theoretically allow people to get from Los Angeles to Las Vegas in 20 minutes, or New York to Philadelphia in 10. Our very notion of cities might evolve with the technology, becoming metro stops.

Some have even suggested Hyperloop would cause borders to evaporate, along with housing price imbalances and overcrowding. If this is grandiose futurism, or reality remains to be seen.

Diamandis tells Forbes, "It’s time to stop doing photo apps and start doing something for the planet."


SOURCE  Forbes

By 33rd Square

Embed

 Books  

Technology is democratizing the power to change the world. Peter Diamandis and Steven Kotler spells out how you can spy the opportunities and put your vision into action, blazing a path from mind to market in their new book, Bold.

The coauthors of the New York Times bestseller Abundance comes their much anticipated follow-up: Bold: How to Go Big, Create Wealth and Impact the World—a radical, how-to guide for using exponential technologies, moonshot thinking, and crowd-powered tools to create extraordinary wealth while also positively impacting the lives of billions.

Ray Kurzweil says, “If you read one business book in the twenty-first century, this should be the one. When Peter and I co-founded Singularity University, we based it on the ideas of exponential change and ‘learn by doing.’ This book clearly explains how to apply these concepts to change the world and overcome the age old afflictions of human civilization.”

Related articles Peter Diamandis and Eric Anderson on Planetary Resources  Humans Merged with Machines at Global Future 2045 Congress Peter Diamandis On The Eight Technologies That Are Making The World Better

Bold, which was written with the help of crowdsourcing, unfolds in three parts. Part One focuses on the exponential technologies that are disrupting today’s Fortune 500 companies and enabling upstart entrepreneurs to go from "I’ve got an idea" to "I run a billion-dollar company" far faster than ever before. The authors provide exceptional insight into the power of 3D printing, artificial intelligence, robotics, networks and sensors, and synthetic biology.

Part Two of the book focuses on the Psychology of Bold, drawing on insights from billionaire entrepreneurs Larry Page, Elon Musk, Richard Branson, and Jeff Bezos. In addition, Diamandis reveals his entrepreneurial secrets garnered from building fifteen companies, including such audacious ventures as Singularity University, XPRIZE, Planetary Resources, and Human Longevity, Inc.

"This book clearly explains how to apply these concepts to change the world and overcome the age old afflictions of human civilization."

Finally, Bold closes with a look at the best practices that allow anyone to leverage today’s hyper-connected crowd like never before. Here, the authors teach how to design and use incentive competitions, launch million-dollar crowdfunding campaigns to tap into ten’s of billions of dollars of capital, and finally how to build communities—armies of exponentially enabled individuals willing and able to help today’s entrepreneurs make their boldest dreams come true.

According to Eric Schmidt, Executive Chairman, Google, “Abundance showed us where our world can be in 20 years. BOLD is a roadmap for entrepreneurs to help us get there.”

The book cover show's the Earth being hit by an asteroid. According to Diamandis and Kotler, right now there is an asteroid impacting our world as it did in the time of the dinosaurs, and it is called “exponential technology.” And its awesome power is threatening a different breed of dinosaur—large and innovation-resistant companies. Yet there's a new breed of small, furry mammal starting to emerge. These mammals are today's exponential entrepreneurs—those using radically accelerating technologies to transform products, services and industries to pave the way for a world of abundance.

Bold is both a manifesto and a manual. It is today’s exponential entrepreneur’s go-to resource on the use of emerging technologies, thinking at scale, and the awesome power of crowd-powered tools.

Bold is available for pre-order now.

By 33rd Square

Embed

 Solar Energy  

Solar power has been doubling every two years for the past 30 years and the price has been falling dramatically. The technology is now set to dramatically change the world.

Some experts say today that solar power does not present any realistic chance of becoming a major source of energy for the world.  As Vivek Wadhwa points out in a piece for the Washington Post, this 'expert analysis' is similar to what some analysts were saying about cellular phones in the 1980's - in that case the report from McKinsey & Company was dead wrong.

After decades of development, solar power presently barely supplies one percent of the world’s energy needs.  Critics claim that solar is inefficient, too expensive to install, and unreliable, and will fail without government subsidies.

As anyone familiar with exponential growth is aware, one percent means halfway to 100 percent. Solar power has been doubling every two years for the past 30 years and the price has been falling dramatically.

New advances using graphene and other nanotechnology methods hold the promise for even more extreme gains in solar collection and power storage.

Related articles Japan Planning To Harvest Solar Energy from Space  New Battery Could Help Solar and Wind Energy Power the Grid  Inexpensive, Flexible Solar Panels Developed

According to Ray Kurzweil, solar energy is less than 14 years away from meeting 100 percent of today’s energy needs. Even then, we will be using only one part in 10,000 of the sunlight that falls on the Earth.

In places such as Germany, Spain, Portugal, Australia, and the Southwest United States, residential-scale solar production has already reached “grid parity” with average residential electricity prices.  In those areas it costs no more in the long term to install solar panels than to buy electricity from utility companies.

The prices of solar panels have fallen 75 percent in the past five years alone and will fall much further as the technologies to create them improve and scale of production increases.  By 2020, solar energy will be price-competitive with energy generated from fossil fuels on an unsubsidized basis in most parts of the world.  Within the next decade, it will cost a fraction of what fossil fuel-based alternatives do.

The average cost of solar panels has gone from $76.67/watt in 1977 to just $0.613/watt today according to PVinsights.

As Wadhwa explains, there is little doubt that we are heading into an era of unlimited and almost free clean energy.  This has profound implications.

The disruption will affect of the entire fossil-fuel industry, starting with utility companies. Countries such as Germany, China, and Japan are leading the charge in the adoption of clean energies.  Solar installations still depend on other power sources to supply energy when the sun isn’t shining, but battery-storage technologies will improve so much over the next two decades that homes won’t be dependent on the utility companies.

Today, the batteries needed to store a sufficient amount of solar energy are far too large for mass adoption by residential home users. However, Solar City and Tesla are now rumored to be working together to dramatically scale down the size of batteries.

Elon Musk, the entrepreneur behind both companies, recently said Tesla is using SolarCity’s customers as a base to discover how to make battery packs that are small enough, light enough and powerful enough that they might one day sit comfortably in your garage, a mere four inches from the wall.

"The 'we have done it like this for a century' value chain in developed electricity markets will be turned upside down within the next 10-20 years, driven by solar and batteries."

Major companies like Walmart, IKEA, Google, Apple, Facebook, Costco, Kohl’s, Macy’s, Staples, and many others are starting to go solar in a big way.

A UBS study said it well: "Our view is that the 'we have done it like this for a century' value chain in developed electricity markets will be turned upside down within the next 10-20 years, driven by solar and batteries." The report also states that:

By 2025, everybody will be able to produce and store power. And it will be green and cost competitive, i.e., not more expensive or even cheaper than buying power from utilities. It is also the most efficient way to produce power where it is consumed, because transmission losses will be minimized. Power will no longer be something that is consumed in a 'dumb' way. Homes and grids will be smart, aligning the demand profile with supply from (volatile) renewables."

The environment will also benefit from the vast reduction of fossil fuels, which will also boost most sectors of the economy.  Electric cars will become cheaper to operate than fossil-fuel-burning ones, projects Wadhwa:

We will be able to create unlimited clean water — by boiling ocean water and condensing it.  With inexpensive energy, our farmers can also grow hydroponic fruits and vegetables in vertical farms located near consumers.  Imagine skyscrapers located in cities that grow food in glass buildings without the need for pesticides, and that recycle nutrients and materials to ensure there is no ecological impact.  We will have the energy needed to 3D-print our everyday goods and to heat our homes.

Solar energy has the potential to be a central driving factor in creating a world of Abundance, written about by Peter Diamandis.  Perhaps more importantly, as Diamandis points out in the video below, solar has the promise to be a great force for global democratization, because the countries that presently have the least economic power, have the most sunshine.

By 33rd Square

Embed

 Ray Kurzweil  

At the Exponential Finance conference earlier this summer Ray Kurzweil gave a teleprescence interview with CNBC's Bob Pisani where he discussed his familiar themes based around the power of exponential technology.

Ray Kurzweil is one of the world’s leading inventors, thinkers and futurists, with a thirty-year track record of accurate predictions.  At the Exponential Finance conference earlier this summer he gave a teleprescence interview with CNBC's Bob Pisani (video above).

CNBC and Singularity University partnered to create Exponential Finance, a two-day conference that addresses upcoming, game-changing technologies and their imminent implications for the financial world.

The event examined how technologies—such as artificial intelligence, quantum computing, robotics and synthetic biology—are disrupting business.

"This is ultimately going to transform every industry - health and medicine is now an information technology.  We're reprogramming the outdated software in our bodies that that's expanding exponentially and will ultimately transform our health and longevity."

No stranger to 33rd Square, Kurzweil has been called the ultimate thinking machine by Forbes magazine and was selected as one of the top entrepreneurs by Inc. Magazine, which described him as the rightful heir to Thomas Edison.

During his talk, he once again covered familiar themes, based on the Law of Accelerating Returns. He states that he (along with Peter Diamandis) founded Singularity University based around an appreciation of the powers of exponential growth.  "Information technology is not just things packaged like this," he says holding up a smartphone. "This is ultimately going to transform every industry - health and medicine is now an information technology.  We're reprogramming the outdated software in our bodies that that's expanding exponentially and will ultimately transform our health and longevity."

Related articles Ray Kurzweil On The Computers That Will Live In Our Brains  Ray Kurzweil Looks At Innovations in Innovation  Lew Keiler Draws Out What The Singularity Is

Kurzweil was the principal inventor of the first CCD flat-bed scanner, the first omni-font optical character recognition, the first print-to-speech reading machine for the blind, the first text-to-speech synthesizer, the first music synthesizer capable of recreating the grand piano and other orchestral instruments, and the first commercially marketed large-vocabulary speech recognition.

Among Kurzweil’s many honors, he is the recipient of the National Medal of Technology, was inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame, holds twenty honorary Doctorates, and honors from three U.S. presidents.Ray has written five national best-selling books, including New York Times best sellers The Singularity Is Near and How to Create a Mind: The Secret of Human Thought Revealed. He is now the Director of Engineering at Google heading up a team developing machine intelligence and natural language understanding.


SOURCE  Exponential Finance

By 33rd Square

Embed

 Exponential Technology  

Six key exponential technologies: 3D printing, robotics, artificial intelligence, the "Internet of Things," infinite computing and synthetic biology are described in a new Draw Shop video created for Peter Diamandis.

Armed with exponential technologies like artificial intelligence, 3D printing and cloud computing, today's entrepreneurs are poised to create abundance.

"In the future [AI] will look more like Jarvis from Marvel's Iron Man, quickly gathering incomprehensible amounts of data from the Internet to make incredibly accurate split-second decisions."

Related articles Gary Marcus Urges People To Think About The Threat of Artificial Intelligence   Daniel Dewey on the Intelligence Explosion  Founder of Skype Speaks About The Existential Risk Of AI

This Draw Shop video, originally created for entrepreneurs in Peter Diamandis' Abundance 360 coaching program, illustrates the powerful implications of six key technologies: 3D printing, robotics, artificial intelligence, the "Internet of Things," infinite computing and synthetic biology.

"Today's artificial intelligence exists in the forms like Siri and IBM's Watson which understood the nuances in human language," claims the video's narrator.  "In the future it will look more like Jarvis from Marvel's Iron Man, quickly gathering incomprehensible amounts of data from the Internet to make incredibly accurate split-second decisions."

Learn more about Abundance 360 and apply here: http://abundance360summit.com.


SOURCE  Peter Diamandis

By 33rd Square

Embed

 Exponential Technology  

Peter Diamandis, chairman and CEO X Prize Foundation spoke recently at the 2014 Global EDGE conference on how technology and innovation dramatically accelerate business objectives.

Peter Diamandis, chairman and CEO X Prize Foundation spoke recently at the 2014 Global EDGE conference on how technology and innovation dramatically accelerate business objectives.

"We haven't seen any of the innovation that's going to unfold over the next 20 years."

In the talk Diamanis, co-author of Abundance: The Future Is Better Than You Think, looks at his trademark themes of exponential growth and some of the key technologies that are undergoing this rapid development.

Related articles Hashem AL-ghaili The Future Is Now  Peter Diamandis and Eric Anderson on Planetary Resources  Ramez Naam Reminds Us That Innovation Is An Infinite Resource

"I believe that we are entering a world in which any problem can be solved," says Diamandis. "Where the biggest challenges are the world's biggest business opportunities, that today we haven't seen any of the innovation that's going to unfold over the next 20 years."

As this recording preceded the announcement of Human Longevity Inc. by Diamandis, Craig Venter and Robert Hariri, the question and answer section of the talk is particularly interesting.

 

SOURCE  YPO

By 33rd Square

Embed

 Aging  

Craig Venter, Peter Diamandis and Robert Hariri have teamed up to form a new company to fight aging. Human Longevity Inc. announced plans to sequence 40,000 human genomes in year to better understand age-related diseases like cancer and dementia.

Craig Venter, is now on a quest to conquor age-related disease.  The well-known scientist behind the successful completion of the Human Genome Project and the team leader of a project to create a custom-made lifeform has started a new venture, Human Longevity Inc.

Venter has teamed up with stem cell pioneer Dr. Robert Hariri and X Prize Foundation founder Dr. Peter Diamandis to form the company. Human Longevity Inc will use both genomics and stem cell therapies to find treatments that allow aging adults to stay healthy and functional for as long as possible.

"I haven't been a skeptic, but I have been one of the people complaining that too little has happened after the human genome was sequenced," Venter told National Geographic.

"We're hoping to make numerous new discoveries in preventive medicine. We think this will have a huge impact on changing the cost of medicine," Venter said on a conference call announcing his latest venture.

Fighting aging is increasingly becoming a scientific and business rallying point; Venter's transition into longevity follows the formation in September of Google-backed biotechnology company Calico.

Robert Hariri, J. Craig Venter, and Peter Diamandis (right to left)
Image Source -Brett Shipe/Science

The company, which will be based in San Diego-based already has $70 million in private backing and has already purchased two ultrafast HiSeq X Ten gene sequencing systems from Illumina Inc, a leading manufacturer of DNA sequencing machines, with the option to buy three more.

Related articles Discovery Of Sirtuin Interactions May Open Up Molecular Fountain Of Youth  Research Into Engineering Genomes Advances  What Does The Exponential Growth Of Genomics Data Actually Mean?

The company plans to use that technology to map 40,000 human genomes in a push to build the world's largest database of human genetic variation. The database will include sequences from the very young through the very old, both diseased and healthy. 40,000 is the calculated number the two gene sequencing machines can complete in a year.

"This will be one of the largest data studies in the history of science and medicine," Venter told the conference call.

Along with gathering whole genome data, the company will collect genetic data on the trillions of microbes - including bacteria, viruses and fungi - living in and on humans.

By better understanding the microbiomes in the gut, in the mouth, on the skin and other sites on the body, the company said it hopes to develop better probiotics as well as better diagnostics and drugs to improve health and wellness.

The company's initial treatment targets will be some of the toughest age-related diseases: cancer, diabetes and obesity, heart and liver diseases, and dementia.

Venter said the company will start first with cancer. It has teamed up with the Moores Cancer Center at the University of California, San Diego, with the goal of sequencing the genomes of everyone who comes there for treatment, as well as doing a full genome sequence on their tumors.

"Cancer is one of the most actionable areas right now with genomic-based therapies," Venter said, adding that cancer is "just the first of a multitude of diseases we will be sequencing this year."

"Undoubtedly, important biologic discoveries will be made along the way, but it remains unclear whether such efforts like Human Longevity Inc and Calico can influence longevity," Dr. Eric Topol, Scripps Health chief academic officer and director of the Scripps Translational Science Institute said.

In addition to UCSD, the company has established strategic collaborations with privately held Metabolon Inc of North Carolina, a company that focuses on biochemical profiling, as well as his own J. Craig Venter Institute, a nonprofit genomics research institute.



SOURCE  Reuters

By 33rd Square

Subscribe to 33rd Square

 Futurism  

Recently, Peter spoke in the plenary session on the second day of The Government Summit in the United Arab Emirates about what the world would be like in 2050, and the technologies that will lead to a world of Abundance.

Peter Diamandis, Co-Founder of Singularity University, Planetary Resources and Founder of the X-Prize spoke in the plenary session on the second day of The Government Summit in the United Arab Emirates about what the world would be like in 2050, and the technologies and phenomena that would make it so. He shared insights on how bright the future looks and what are the trends that will shape the world as we know it in the next 25 years.

Related articles Dennis Hong On Robot Evolution and The DARPA Robotics Challenge  Hashem AL-ghaili The Future Is Now  Peter Diamandis and Eric Anderson on Planetary Resources  Peter Diamandis On The Eight Technologies That Are Making The World Better

Focusing on "breakthroughs leading to a world of abundance," Diamandis spoke of a world where the needs of every man, woman and child are met and spoke of a shift in thinking, from 150,000 years of linear and local human development that progressed in centuries and decades, to an exponential and global curve that is pushing progress in years and months.

Globally renowned as the founder of the X-Prize challenge as well as other initiatives that impact citizens globally and know no boundaries, Diamandis, co-author of Abundance: The Future Is Better Than You Thinkbased his picture of the future on trends that have shaped the previous 25 years, opening the audience up to some very striking possibilities.

"In 10 years from now, 40% of the current Fortune-500 companies will not exist," said Diamandis.

"We've seen a 150,000-times improvement in computing power in 25 years," he noted. "In next 25 years, computers will be everywhere," he said.

Talking about Linear vs. Exponential growth, he says, the difference is either "disruptive stress or opportunity," depending on the point of view. Using an example of a kid who has created a brand new technology in his garage juxtaposed the giant conglomerate this technology is going to drive out of business, Diamandis explains the different points of view of this disruption in human development.

He cited Kodak's fall from imaging giant in 1999, with a $28B market cap and 140,000 employees, to bankruptcy in 2012, put out of business by the same technology developed within their offices, by engineer Steven Sasson. Sasson developed a ".01 megapixel camera the size of an oven toaster and showed it to Kodak," Diamandis noted, who turned it down because of its infantile capabilities, choosing instead to focus on their high-resolution film photography.

Diamandis calls this the, "New Kodak Moment."



SOURCE  The Government Summit

By 33rd Square

Subscribe to 33rd Square

 Global Future 2045  

The Global Future 2045 Congress took place this month, bringing together a mix of roboticists, neurologists, genome researchers, and engineers to map out the entirety of human consciousness.

Will humans ever conquer death and achieve immortality?

That's the goal of the Global Future 2045 Congress, which brings together a mix of roboticists, neurologists, genome researchers, and engineers to map out the entirety of human consciousness. Annie Colette Gaus from Tech Feed attended the 2013 congress earlier this month to talk to the speakers and check out the androids and robotics on display.

Related articles Peter Diamandis On The Eight Technologies That Are Making The World Better  Theodore Berger On Neuro Engineering  Videos from Global Futures 2045

Global Futures 2045 is organized annually (this was the second) by the 2045 Initiative and its founder, Russian tech entrepreneur Dmitry Itskov, who at 32 years of age has turned his vast financial resources and dogged determination toward understanding and conquering some of the 21st century's most challenging and exciting frontiers, including human consciousness, brain-machine interfaces, and the integration of biology and technology.

The ultimate goal of Itskov's Avatar Project (part of the 2045 Initiative) is to free humankind from the limitations imposed on it by the body, first by figuring out how to remove the brain (and the conscious self) from the body and keep it alive in a robotic surrogate, and ultimately how to upload the mind -- consciousness and all -- to a computer. The deadline for delivering this kind of digital immortality: 2045.

Peter Diamandis at the Global Futures 2045 congress - Image Source AP Photo/Mary Altaffer

One of the most dynamic and inspirational talks was by Peter Diamandis, co-author of Abundance, who as well as talking about backing ourselves up, brought up the notion that we have the ability, within our lifetimes, to back-up all the biology of earth off-world in the form of the genetic information we are now collecting.

The congress was also one of the last public appearances of Dr. James Martin, who sadly passed away this week.  He will be sorely missed.

SOURCE  Tech Feed

By 33rd Square

Subscribe to 33rd Square

 GF2045  

For those of us who couldn't make it to the Global Futures 2045 Congress this month, videos of the speakers and activities are now being released online.  Included speakers are Ray Kurzweil, Peter Diamandis and prosthetics pioneer Nigel Ackland.

The second international Global Future 2045 Congress took place on 15-16 June 2013 at the Lincoln Center in New York, and focused on discussion of a new evolutionary strategy for humanity aimed at overcoming the 21st century’s civilization challenges.

The congress also showcased the Avatar science mega-project, aimed at accelerating the creation of technologies enabling a gradual transition from our biological bodies to an increasingly advanced artificial carrier of the human self.

For those of us who couldn't make it to the event, videos of the speakers and activities are now being released online.

Jonathan Granoff spoke about risk mitigation as technology, science, and biology evolve. This video also shows a round table discussion on Interfaith Dialogue about Science, Spirituality, Evolution of Humanity and the Avatar Project


Nigel Ackland told the story of how he lost his arm in an accident and how awkward previous prosthetics were. He said that his new prosthetic had dramatically changed his life as people who used to shy away were now intrigued by his new arm.

Peter Diamandis spoke about the future of humanity, advancements in technology including, theTricorder XPRIZE, the XPRIZE for Literacy - launching this year, Planetary Resources, and the Arkyd Spacecraft.

Ray Kurzweil discusses his observations and predictions of the evolution of technology, biology, and science. (Pretty fascinating information if you've never heard him speak before.)

The 2045 Initiative

Founded by Russian entrepreneur Dmitry Itskov in February 2011 with the participation of leading Russian specialists in the field of neural interfaces, robotics, artificial organs and systems.

Related articles Boston Dynamic's Big Dog Gets An Arm For A Head  What Is The 2045 Initiative All About?  Robots with Brains; Russian Tycoon Revealed Timetable Through 2045  Is It Humanity's Fate To Be The 'Mitochondria' of Super-Intelligent AIs?

The main goals of the 2045 Initiative: the creation and realization of a new strategy for the development of humanity which meets global civilization challenges; the creation of optimal conditions promoting the spiritual enlightenment of humanity; and the realization of a new futuristic reality based on 5 principles: high spirituality, high culture, high ethics, high science and high technologies.

The main science mega-project of the 2045 Initiative aims to create technologies enabling the transfer of a individual’s personality to a more advanced non-biological carrier, and extending life, including to the point of immortality. We devote particular attention to enabling the fullest possible dialogue between the world’s major spiritual traditions, science and society.

A large-scale transformation of humanity, comparable to some of the major spiritual and sci-tech revolutions in history, will require a new strategy. We believe this to be necessary to overcome existing crises, which threaten our planetary habitat and the continued existence of humanity as a species. With the 2045 Initiative, we hope to realize a new strategy for humanity's development, and in so doing, create a more productive, fulfilling, and satisfying future.



SOURCE  Athena Business

By 33rd Square

Subscribe to 33rd Square

 Film  

Following up on his popular "This Week In Science,"infographics, Hashem AL-ghaili is working in video media as well. He has created a short video entitled "The Future is Now" featuring Peter Diamandis and Kevin Kelly.

You love his "This Week In Science," and other infographics, now, Hashem AL-ghaili is working in video media as well. He has created this short video entitled "The Future is Now" featuring Peter Diamandis and Kevin Kelly.

This is Al-ghalli's first short video which will be followed by some other short videos he says.

So far so good!

An example of Hashem AL-ghaili's "This Week In Science" infographics

SOURCE  Hashem AL-ghaili

By 33rd Square

Subscribe to 33rd Square

 Asteroid Mining  

In a recent Google Solve for X talk, Planetary Resources founders, Peter Diamandis and Eric Anderson took the opportunity to describe the company's vision and plans.

Planetary Resources is establishing a new paradigm for resource discovery and utilization that will bring the solar system into humanity’s sphere of influence.

Using the technical principals and extensive experience in all phases of robotic space missions, from designing and building, to testing and operating the newly-formed company is working towards its mission of mining asteroids.

In a recent Google Solve for X talk, Planetary Resources founders, Peter Diamandis and Eric Anderson took the opportunity to describe the company's vision and plans.

Diamandis showed a demonstration of the tremendous number of near-earth asteroids available to be mined.  As the image below shows, the opportunity is very large.

When describing  the LL Chondrite asteroid, the company projects the value of the platinum available from the space rock between $300 billion to 5.4 trillion US dollars.Tongue-in cheek, Diamandis states that that much platinum on earth would depress the market, so Planetary Resources' financing plan will be "to place put options on the market, announce the mission, finance it and go."

In the eyes of Planetary Resources, the tremendous investment required in asteroid mining is mirrored by the tremendous profits that may come from the endeavor.  Diamandis states that the phases for asteroid mining are the same as they are for mining projects on earth: detect, prospect, claim, mine and deliver.

Anderson wants Planetary Resources to be able to build hundreds and thousands of spacecraft per year to meet the goals of the company.  Anderson further wants to make asteroid mining an information technology, so that the industry can become exponential.

Interestingly, the name of the Arkyd probes that Planetary Resources is building is named after Arkyd Industires, a fictional company from Star Wars that makes the Imperial probe droids.  As asteroid mining is, in fact, the realization of a science fiction concept emerging into reality, this seems wholly appropriate.



SOURCE  Solve for X

By 33rd Square

Subscribe to 33rd Square