Category Archives: Futurism

An artists impressions of the Flamingo Land plans.

Scarborough Councils leader, Cllr Steve Siddons, has revealed that new options for the site, whose permanent use has yet to be identified, will go before councillors in the new year.

The move comes after a review of the deal between the council and theme-park operator Flamingo Land, which unveiled plans earlier this year to build a rollercoaster, a 60m-high cliffhanger tower ride and a four-storey building housing restaurants and play areas on the former Futurist site.

Cllr Siddons said: Were listening to what people have said to us and were looking at the planning options that are available to us.

We will work with Flamingo Land, if Flamingo Land are happy to work with us and at this stage they are, and in the new year, either January or February, we will bring a paper to Full Council that sets out some new options for that site.

The first artists impressions of the attraction, branded Flamingo Land Coast, divided public opinion. Although a number of people welcomed the investment, saying it will boost the towns tourism, many thought it looked out of place. Some even went as far as saying it was a monstrosity.

Despite suggesting Flamingo Lands plans didnt come with a great deal of detail, Cllr Siddons admitted that the scheme was very much disliked. Should Flamingo Land refuse to make changes to its proposal, he said, the council will look for another developer.

He added: Lots of people are telling us that different scale of buildings might be more appropriate there but Flamingo Land have said theyre happy to work with us if they can.

Obviously theyll have their own views of what they need to deliver from a business perspective but they are our preferred developer and its only right that we work with them to start with.

If they can deliver what we want for the future after talking to residents, then were happy to work with them. If they say thats not what we want to do well have to look for someone else to develop that site.

Cllr Siddons made the remarks shortly after launching the councils new Building a Better Borough strategy which focuses on delivering on peoples priorities and listening to residents views. The scheme will start with a wide public consultation in the new year.

We cant please everybody all the time you ask 100 people what they think and youll get 100 different asnwers but what weve got to try and do is pull that together in a way that thinks about the heritage of that seafront location and to do something that helps our aspirations to deliver better quality jobs for people.

See more here:
'New options' for former Futurist site to go before Scarborough councillors in the new year - The Scarborough News

Finish Him

When Ludwig van Beethoven died in 1827, the famous German composer left behind a few musical fragments of what would have been his 10th symphony.

Now, a group of musicologists and computer programmers is developing an artificial intelligence to finish the composition and in April, a full symphony orchestra will perform it live in Beethovens birthplace of Bonn, Germany.

To train the AI, the team is feeding it a diet consisting of finished Beethoven works, earlier versions of those compositions, and the works of composers who influenced Beethoven.

Take a particular Beethoven work, one for which extensive drafts still exist, like the Eroica Symphony, project contributor Christine Siegert, who heads up the Beethoven Archive in Bonn, told German broadcaster Deutshe Welle. If you feed the computer both the sketches and the final product, it can figure out how Beethoven works with sketches and where he goes from there.

After the AI finishes writing the music, a human composer will take over to orchestrate it for the live performance. According to British composer and musicologist Barry Cooper, who wrote his own first movement for Beethovens 10th in 1988, the team still has a lot of ground to cover before April.

I listened to a short excerpt that has been created, Cooper told Agence France Press. It did not sound remotely like a convincing reconstruction of what Beethoven intended. There is, however, scope for improvement with further work.

READ MORE: Computer is set to complete Beethovens unfinished symphony [The Telegraph]

More on musical AIs: Heres What an Album Between a Musician and an AI Baby Sounds Like

See the rest here:
An AI Is Completing Beethovens Unfinished Symphony - Futurism

Part One: Creating A New Normal For A New Decade

At the most recent Democratic Presidential Debate this December, candidate Andrew Yang stood on stage before a nationally televised audience and in talking about his son who has special needs declared that disability will become the new normal. While this statement may seem radical to some, it is a truism that needs to be embraced in the coming decade and beyond. Disability is not only part of the human condition, it is an essential mechanism in the worlds of business, innovation and culture that will be a basic necessity for the continued evolution of each of these areas and be a central player in shaping society as a whole.

The futurist goal is to celebrate change, innovation, and originality through culture and society.As we look toward exploring predictions and possibilities for what will impact the future of the next decade it is essential that we take the following step in the natural evolution of disability as it continues to intersect between critical elements that define the society we live in. Disability must step beyond advocacy and be embedded in the very fabric of our society. It is only then when disability takes its rightful place as a new normal. To establish this foundation, the column will briefly examine several aspects of society that are at the epicenter of this paradigm shift creating a new sense of reality. In Part One, we look at the aspect of demographics, business, and innovation which provide touchstones for society to reinterpret disability and a way for business to seize upon the economic potential that this community can offer.

Demographics:

A futurist vision relies on a set of established data points that can help foster educated guesses for the outcome of what lies ahead. Entering this new decade, we see that it is no longer tenable for disability to be viewed from the perspective of the outsider. We have shown in previous Mindset Matter columns that the disability community is growing exponentially and will continue to grow across the globe through all facets of society. In the United States alone close to a quarter of the population are those with disabilities and a global footprint of over 1.3 billion people.

This critical information should not remain solely in the domain of statisticians and government officials to help craft and implement policy but should serve as the foundation for businesses to see the value that disability plays in the organizational environment of the next decade. If disability will become the new normal, businesses must be ready to take on a new philosophical stance that looks at how to reinterpret their own culture and integrate disability as a central focal point to help determine their future success.

Business:

This new normal needs to build off these demographics and rethink the value of disability to the future of their business strategy. Aligning their corporate culture and values with the changing definitions of disability in the new decade is essential for creating a framework of success on every level of the corporate structure, both internally and externally. In this new decade true leadership will not only see how the lived disability experience can be a valued asset in helping to define solutions from job design, talent management and other internal challenges, this new definition of disability will provide a spark to push businesses to not only embrace this new reality but also enlighten the potential of a market that should no longer be a niche, but very much part of the mainstream. In this new decade, businesses will finally come to their senses and see that supporting disability is not just a charitable endeavor, but rather a true business strategy that will open up new market opportunities and create an era of innovation that is essential for the growth and competitive advantage for any company in the decade ahead.

Innovation:

The lived experience of disability is predicated by innovation. Persons with disabilities have always had to adapt to the society around them, rather than society having to adapt to them. However, since the passing of numerous civil rights legislation across the globe from the Americans with Disabilities Act to United Nations Convention for The Rights of Persons with Disabilities there has been a shift which has lead to the push for new architectural design and a movement for Smart Cities that focuses on redefining an inclusive environment that is accessible for all. However, it is worth noting that persons with disabilities have always been deeply involved with the culture of innovation. As stated in previous Mindset Matters columns the numbers of entrepreneurs and founders who deal with learning disabilities, mental health issues far exceed the national average and understand that it is because of there very disability that innovation is essential to not only their personal growth, but also creating new innovative ideas that can be shared.

Developing a philosophical concept that creates a new normal is not an easy one. Here we are trying to start the conversation rolling for 2020 and think long and hard about what will be needed to push this forward. In Part Two, we will take a closer look solely at culture and why film, television, advertising and technology can be the great equalizer and the most powerful tool for normalizing our understanding of disability.

See more here:
Mindset Matters: A Futurist Vision For The Next Decade In Disability, Business, Innovation, And Culture - Forbes

Constant Surveillance

If you own a phone, its almost certainly tracking your every move and sending the information to a handful of private companies that operate with virtually no regulatory oversight.

Thats according to a massive investigation by the opinion desk at the New York Times, during which reporters gained access to a tiny slice of one companys massive stores of location data.

The investigation reveals just how much information these companies have on the average person and makes one thing very clear: any company claiming to protect or anonymize your data is either lying or being deliberately misleading.

The leaked phone trackingdata the NYT gained access to through anonymous sources contains some 50 billion data points representing the exact locations of 12 million Americans phones during several months in 2016 and 2017.

Using the data, the investigators were able to track and identify senior government officials, celebrities, investigative journalists, and even an engineer who took a job at a rival company and thats all from a tiny fragment of the data collected and analyzed or sold by just one of dozens of similar companies.

While its unclear why the investigation was published by the NYTs opinion desk, it may have been so that the reporters could say in no uncertain terms: this is utterly terrifying.

READ MORE: Twelve Million Phones, One Dataset, Zero Privacy [The New York Times]

More on surveillance: The Pentagon Is Launching Mass Surveillance Balloons Over America

More here:
Phone Location Tracking Is Way Worse Than We Thought - Futurism

How long will it take until I can embrace it all?Surely, these feelings will...

Even if I squint my eyes, only a cruel darkness lies aheadSo why am I still trying to proceed onwardWith nothing but patchwork convictions?

I want to forget (deep deep deep inside)It's better that way (deep deep deep silence)But I can't forget (deep deep deep darkness)Because even if I did, I can't stop time

The violently blowing passion surrounding my feet as I step forwardBecomes a path that cuts through this rusted worldAm I right? Or am I wrong?There's never really an answerI can only proceed directly down the path I've chosen

The illusion of regret encroaches incessantlyI stop in my tracks again and againBut I want to see the scenery that lies beyond

I want to change (deep deep deep inside)But I can't change (deep deep deep silence)I don't want to change (deep deep deep darkness)The traces of these tears won't fade awayI want to turn back (deep deep deep inside)I could turn back (deep deep deep silence)I don't want to turn back (deep deep deep darkness)Once I open my eyes, I won't be able to look back

Yet again, brand new scars are mercilessly carved into meBestowing a grand power that pulls in my next dreamSo many mistakes and frustrationsBut I won't let a single one go to wasteNot until I smile someday, nodding in approval of my decision

If I had only ventured for a different sky at that time...There are days I spend imagining such thingsEven if I can't embrace anything with these two handsI'll live on through this future that's beginning

The violently blowing passion surrounding my feet as I step forwardBecomes a path that cuts through this rusted worldAm I right? Or am I wrong?There's never really an answerI can only proceed directly down the path I've chosen

Read the original here:
Futurism | Senki Zesshou Symphogear Wiki | Fandom

A first-of-its-kind health study has yielded bad news for e-cigarette users and even worse news for those who both vape and smoke conventional cigarettes.

On Monday, a team from the University of California, San Francisco, published the results of the first long-term study focused on the relationship between e-cigarettes and respiratory illness in theAmerican Journal of Preventive Medicine.

For the study, they analyzed data collected as part of a study called the Population Assessment of Tobacco and Health (PATH), which tracked the tobacco usage of more than 32,000 American adults from 2013 to 2016, noting any new lung disease diagnoses they received.

The UC San Francisco team looked at people who had no reported lung disease at the beginning of the PATH study and found that vaping alone increased their chances of developing chronic lung disease by about a third over the course of the studys three years.

We concluded that e-cigarettes are harmful on their own, researcher Stanton Glantz said in a press release, and the effects are independent of smoking conventional tobacco.

Using traditional cigarettes made a person 2.6 times more likely to develop lung disease, so it would seem that vaping is comparatively safer than smoking, as some vape manufacturers have claimed.

The problem, though, is that the vast majority of e-cigarette users dont fully give up smoking cigarettes and using both forms of tobacco more than triples a persons risk of developing lung disease.

Switching from conventional cigarettes to e-cigarettes exclusively could reduce the risk of lung disease, but very few people do it, Glantz said. For most smokers, they simply add e-cigarettes and become dual users, significantly increasing their risk of developing lung disease above just smoking.

See the original post:
Study: Just Three Years of Vaping Increases Lung Disease Risk - Futurism