Singularity Q&A Originally published in 2005 with the launch of The Singularity Is Near. Questions and Answers So what is the Singularity? Within a quarter century, nonbiological intelligence will match the range and subtlety of human intelligence. It will then soar past it because of the continuing acceleration of information-based technologies, as well as the ability of machines to instantly share their knowledge. And that’s the Singularity? No, that’s just the precursor. When will that occur? I set the date for the Singularity—representing a profound and disruptive transformation in human capability—as 2045. Why is this called the Singularity? The term “Singularity” in my book is comparable to the use of this term by the physics community. Okay, let’s break this down. Indeed. So how are we going to achieve that? We can break this down further into hardware and software requirements. And how will we recreate the algorithms of human intelligence? You mentioned the AI tool kit. Absolutely. But how can that be?
Dark web 'will evolve', warns UK cyber crime chief Andy Archibald 11 October 2013Last updated at 09:17 ET Andy Archibald, head of the UK's National Cyber Crime Unit, says the "dark web" of criminal activity will continue to evolve The "dark web" services used by criminals will continue to evolve in an attempt to evade authorities, the UK's cybercrime boss has warned. Last week, notorious drugs market place the Silk Road was shut down after a lengthy investigation. Andy Archibald, interim head of the National Cyber Crime Unit (NCCU), said officers identified individuals who were using the site. But he said new methods were needed to keep up with the threat. "[Online anonymity service] Tor evolves, and will resecure itself," Mr Archibald told the BBC's technology correspondent Rory Cellan-Jones. "The success we've had may not necessarily mean that by the same routes and same approaches we can get into other criminal forums. "We have to continually probe and identify those forums and then seek to infiltrate them and use other tools.
10 stratégies qui transforment l'expérience client A l’occasion d’une conférence organisée par Les Gaulois, PSFK a présenté la 5ème édition de son rapport Future of Retail. En explorant les dynamiques sociales, technologiques, et les forces physiques qui influenceront à la fois les habitudes du consommateur et son expérience shopping, l’étude revient sur 10 stratégies qui permettront de redéfinir l’expérience en magasin. Il s’agit pour les marques de tirer profit au maximum du temps de leurs clients, mais aussi de leur attention, en créant des expériences multicanales et arriver à l’équilibre parfait entre efficacité, plaisir, pertinence et surprise. 1. Be there & everywhere : Aujourd’hui, le monde entier est une plateforme d’achat. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. L’étude complète est disponible à l’achat sur le site de PSFK, et pour retrouver les 10 stratégies illustrées d’exemples, n’hésitez pas à consulter la présentation SlideShare ci-après.
A Rare Mix Created Silicon Valley's Startup Culture Courtesy of Intel The first in a 3-part series airing this week on Morning Edition. When Facebook goes public later this spring, its founder, Mark Zuckerberg, will be following in the footsteps of a long line of Silicon Valley tech entrepreneurs that includes Steve Jobs and Google's Larry Page and Sergey Brin. But there was a time when the idea of an engineer or scientist starting his or her own company was rare. In 1956, what is now called Silicon Valley was called the Valley of the Heart's Delight. Collecting Scientific Talent William Shockley was certainly brilliant, says Leslie Berlin, a historian and archivist at Stanford University. "People tend to collectively agree," she says, that "[Shockley] was one of the smartest people to walk about this valley for quite a long time." In 1956, Shockley won the Nobel Prize for co-inventing the transistor. "He'd grown up in Palo Alto," Berlin says. hide captionWilliam Shockley (at head of table) celebrates winning a share of the 1956 Nobel Prize.
Radiofréquences : le gouvernement ne se prononce pas sur les effets sanitaires L'Atelier: Disruptive innovation RIP, Aaron Swartz Click for ongoing posts about Aaron, his memorial service, his death, and the malicious prosecution brought by the DoJ against him To the extent possible under law, Cory Doctorow has waived all copyright and related or neighboring rights to "RIP, Aaron Swartz." Update: Go read Lessig: "He was brilliant, and funny. A kid genius. My friend Aaron Swartz committed suicide yesterday, Jan 11. I met Aaron when he was 14 or 15. But he was also unmistakably a kid then, too. I introduced him to Larry Lessig, and he was active in the original Creative Commons technical team, and became very involved in technology-freedom issues. This was cause for real pain and distress for Aaron, and it was the root of his really unfortunate pattern of making high-profile, public denunciations of his friends and mentors. Aaron accomplished some incredible things in his life. The post-Reddit era in Aaron's life was really his coming of age. This was so perfect that I basically ran it verbatim in the book.
23andMe : un brevet sans intention de concevoir des bébés… à la carte 01net le 14/10/13 à 11h03 © Capture site 23andMe. Le brevet porte sur un système permettant de sélectionner les donneurs de sperme ou d'ovule en fonction de leur profil ADN. Choisir la couleur des yeux de son futur enfant, son poids, sa taille et même sa personnalité... Plus précisément, ce brevet porte sur un système permettant de sélectionner les donneurs de sperme ou d'ovule en fonction de leur profil ADN. La deuxième étape consiste à combiner les données génétiques du donneur avec celles de la mère ou du père. Un projet éthiquement et socialement dangereux Le brevet mentionne des risques médicaux, par exemple la probabilité de développer différents types de cancer, d'avoir une malformation cardiaque ou encore d'être sourd. Si plusieurs scientifiques ont publiquement remis en cause l'efficacité d'un tel système, cela n'a pas empêché le déclenchement d'un début de polémique sur les intentions de cette jeune société spécialisée dans le génome humain.
Huffington Post - Techno Robots on the rise in the workplace Technology has always been one of the great drivers of the U.S. economy, constantly creating jobs and eliminating some in the process. But recently, MIT professors tell Steve Kroft, technology has been eliminating more jobs than it creates -- a net loss that poses a danger to the delicate economic recovery. Kroft's report on this technological revolution, often characterized by advanced robotics, will be broadcast on 60 Minutes Sunday, Jan. 13 at 8 p.m. ET/PT. "Technology is always creating jobs. Fewer Americans on a percentage basis are holding jobs now than 20 years ago. The irony is that the economy is growing. One reason for this was automated warehouses, which surprised McAfee. Kroft visits a huge warehouse in Devens, Mass., where about 100 employees work with 69 suitcase-size robots that navigate the massive facility, moving product from shelf to shipping point faster and better than humanly possible.
A Point of View: Will machines ever be able to think? 18 October 2013Last updated at 10:53 ET The pursuit of artificial intelligence has long interested computer scientists, but will machines ever think for themselves, asks Lisa Jardine. In the early 1950s, "machine intelligence" was a favourite topic among those who wanted to put the war years behind them and look forward to a sparkling science-led future. From robots to electronic brains, the idea was that human beings would be able to concentrate on useful work, while programmable machines took care of useless toil. That unrealised dream still intrigues us today. In April 1951 I was taken by my parents on an outing to the Bristol laboratory of neuroscience professor William Grey Walter, to see his robotic tortoises. In a large room, half a dozen domed mechanised devices on wheels (roughly resembling tortoises) twirled and gyrated, avoided obstacles, backed away from the edges of their enclosure, and trundled apparently purposefully towards a light source beamed in their direction.
Les Echos - High Tech Elon Musk's Mission to Mars | Wired Science Maverick entrepreneur Elon Musk Photo: Art Streiber When a man tells you about the time he planned to put a vegetable garden on Mars, you worry about his mental state. But if that same man has since launched multiple rockets that are actually capable of reaching Mars—sending them into orbit, Bond-style, from a tiny island in the Pacific—you need to find another diagnosis. That’s the thing about extreme entrepreneurialism: There’s a fine line between madness and genius, and you need a little bit of both to really change the world. All entrepreneurs have an aptitude for risk, but more important than that is their capacity for self-delusion. I have never met an entrepreneur who fits this model more than Elon Musk. And he is leading the private space race with SpaceX, which is poised to replace the space shuttle and usher us into an interplanetary age. It’s no wonder the character of Tony Stark in Iron Man, played by Robert Downey Jr., was modeled on Musk: This is superhero-grade stuff.
Etude : le piratage ne tue pas l’industrie du divertissement 01net. le 04/10/13 à 16h17 Il faut repenser la culture numérique. Il est essentiel de prendre le recul nécessaire pour analyser une situation sans précédent. Il est impérieux de se détacher des seules études commanditées par les acteurs de la « création ». Revenus en hausse ou stables Ce sont ces divers points qu’une étude de la London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) passe au crible. Tendance des revenus totaux pour l'industrie musicale, en million de dollars. Evolution de paysage Et le rapport de la LSE argumente que contrairement à ce que les industries du cinéma et de la musique avancent, elles ne sont pas dans une phase de déclin terminal. Trouver de nouvelles voies Le rapport de la London School of Economics and Political Science met d’ailleurs en avant les bonnes performances de l’industrie du jeu vidéo qui a su « introduire de nouvelles méthodes pour générer des revenus […] en travaillant avec la culture participative en ligne et non contre elle ».