Category Archives: Futurism

Futurism only supports companiesthat we trust. Disconnect is one of those companies. We may collect a share of the sales from the items featured on this page.Learn about Disconnect here. Privacy in the Age of Information

Once upon a time, the internet felt like a private and obscure place. But the reality of todays cyber climate is that every move we make is traceable and, in case you werent aware, that data is a desirable commodity. Whether its for innocuous advertisement purposes or for hacking crimes, all of our clicks are watched and collected.

This is an issue that has recently been brought to the forefront of conversations, as the Federal Trade Commission recentlyruled to letproviders sell users informationas long as there is some mention of it in the contract and the user can opt outa condition thats not very helpful, as the average internet user is often unaware of their rights or the current regulations.

In reaction, more and more people are talking about virtual private networks, or VPNs.

A VPN is a software tool used to create privacy on the web. It gives people the freedom to click without being tracked by creating an encrypted and secure network connection between the users device and the server.

To break this down a bit more, service providers are able to track our every move on the web, so are people who have access to public networks (AKA hackers) and the government. A VPN essentially scrambles our requests before sending them, which means that people who have access to our activity are unable to discern what were doing. Its basically like translating a transcript into a gibberish language that no one can decode, thus providing browsers with the reliable privacy theyre entitled to.

Security is the most alluring aspect of VPNs, but leading VPN providers like Disconnectoffer more than that. Disconnect, an app compatible with iOS, Android, Windows and Mac OS X, will block trackers from third parties that are harvesting data, but Disconnect goes a step farther by letting you know what tracking requests youre receiving, whether its social media, advertising, content, or analytics. It does this because not all tracking is dangerous or beneficial to block.

Some tracking helps to enhance your web experience and other tracking helps content providers keep track of their demographics if theyve stated so in their terms of use. A little tracking is respectful and useful, and Disconnect aims to bring transparency to both sides of the track.

The app will let you know what you cant see on the web, and in addition to giving you a sense of safety online, Disconnect will also increase your browsing speed. Trackers and malware puta huge strain on your device. By blocking tracking requests, Disconnect allows your web to process faster and, in return, it increases your battery life.

Moreover, while you might not often run into issues with this, Disconnect also unblocks locked content. Whether youre trying to watch Canadian Netflix and cant get to it because your location tag is routing you towards the United States Netflix, or whether youre searching for content that is blocked in the particular country youre browsing from, you wont have any trouble finding it with Disconnect.

For only $49 you can get a lifetime subscription to Disconnect so you can rest assured knowing that youre not being followed, your identity is private, and your webis operating at top speed.

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Why You Should Never Go on the Internet Without a VPN, and How ... - Futurism

On Wednesday, the price of Ether flash-crashed by over 99.9% in less than a second on GDAX, one of the largest cryptocurrency exchanges. This was due to a multi-million dollar sell order being placed on the exchange. Because the exchange did not have enough buy orders on its books to accommodate a sell this large, the price crashed immediately from $317.81 to $224.48; this movement was enough to then trigger a wave of about 800 automatic position liquidations due to margin calls and stop-loss orders, driving the price briefly as low as $0.10, and causing GDAX to suspend trading.

This is only the most recent of a series of similar events across crypto exchanges, and rather than being a reflection on GDAX in particular, its a symptom of the underlying problems created by the stress of capital flow increasing faster than market infrastructure development.

Although the price quickly returned back above $300, the millions of dollars that investors lost due to forced selling of their positions will not be recovered. This incident highlights the relative immaturity of the cryptocurrency trading ecosystem, which has been stressed by a 20x increase in daily trading volume since the start of 2017 without any fundamental change in market structures.

From the trader-in-questions side (assuming they were simply trying to get out of this position in a crude way and not a malicious actor or market manipulator) dumping the whole position at once will have likely incurred millions in liquidity costs. A single huge move like this is both bad for them and for the margin traders who were forced out of positions at even worse prices, all due to price actions that would be easily avoidable through more intelligent trading logic.

On the other side, the exchange doesnt have adequate safeguards to prevent such a flash-crash. When a participant has a margin position less than their margin requirements in traditional markets, they are typically given 2448 hours to post collateral. GDAX, on the other hand, seems to instantly liquidate you (with market orders) into their very thin order book. Some version of this problem exists on most crypto exchanges, although a few (like Poloniex) try to mitigate it with simple trading logic to soften the price impact of underwater margin position liquidations.

GDAX stop losses operate similarly. For major foreign exchange trading pairs in traditional markets, the largest differential between a persons stop loss and actual execution price is ~0.10%. On GDAX, people who had stop losses at $316 actually sold their ether at $0.10. Furthermore, GDAX does not specify if stop orders are time-priority based or price based. For example, if someone has a stop loss order at $50, and someone puts a stop loss order later at $100, when a flash crash occurs, who gets to sell their ether first?

While this creates a short term windfall in margin calls for the exchanges owners, they pay that price in reputation and deterring players from trading crypto on margin. The uncertainty a trader has to live with in this environment is one of the major barriers to entry for the large institutional pools of capital that can bring the crypto markets into maturity and raise the overall market cap to the size of traditional asset classes.

While these events are frustrating due to the negative impact they have on the space as a whole, they are also exciting because they illustrate the massive opportunity present for those willing to do the work to build out sophisticated financial infrastructure.

The Omega One platform, which will be launched later in 2017, will provide a structural solution to problems like this, protecting both traders and exchanges.

If the trader who put the $30m order on GDAX had put the order in on Omega One, the market would barely have moved at all. Instead, the Omega trading engine would have taken this traders order and broken it into thousands of tiny sell orders, and placed those orders intelligently over time across all the worlds liquid crypto exchanges.

The order books on GDAX, Poloniex, Bitfinex, Kraken, and other exchanges would each have seen a tiny increment of additional selling pressure in the first seconds after the order enough to absorb the available demand to buy on those exchanges, but not enough to force a price move.

As those initial sell orders were traded, the Omega One trading engine would have monitored the outcomes and adjusted behavior accordingly within milliseconds, releasing sell orders to the market at exactly the pace that the market could absorb. Instead of pushing the entire order into one place within one second and thus crashing the market, Omega One would have spread the order out over all the worlds crypto exchanges over the space of perhaps an hour, and nobody would be any the wiser for it.

In addition to not losing millions of dollars and crashing the market, the unknown trader from Wednesday would have also have avoided the risk of putting their millions of dollars worth of crypto in the hands of an exchange. In order to sell the Ether on GDAX, they first needed to send that Ether to GDAX, giving up custody of their funds and trusting GDAX not to be hacked or otherwise compromise their funds.

If the unknown trader had been using Omega One, they could have kept their funds on the Ethereum blockchain in a wallet under their control, right up until the point of settlement. The combination of security and cost benefits provided by Omega One will transform the crypto markets, facilitating the next level of maturity of the crypto trading ecosystem.

Disclosure: Futurism is exploring a financial relationship with Omega One and has a personal affiliation with ConsenSys. This is a piece of editorial content. Omega One and ConsenSys do not have any review privileges on editorial decisions.

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Why the Ethereum Flash Crash Isn't Surprising, and What It Means for Crypto - Futurism

In Brief Google is on schedule to produce a 49 qubit chip and achieve quantum supremacy by the end of 2017. This is a critical step along the way to functional quantum computers that can achieve problems far beyond the capacity of traditional systems. Googles 49 Qubit Chip

Google is maintaining its edge in the world of quantum computing. Its 20-qubit processor is currently undergoing tests, and the company appears to be on schedule to have its working 49-qubit chip ready by the end of 2017 as promised. Until it began trialing the 20-qubit chip, Googles most powerful quantum chip was the 9-qubit effort from 2015.

Traditional computer bits are binary, only existing as either 0 or 1; theyre like light switches that are either on or off. Qubits, on the other hand, can be 0 or 1 like regular bits, but can also have quantum properties that allow them to exist in a superposition where they are both 0 and 1 simultaneously. This makes qubits potentially far more powerful, because instead of figuring something out by trying each option one by one, they can simultaneously compute more than one possibility.

Googles 49-qubit chip will allow them to develop a 49-qubit quantum system that can solve problems that are far beyond the capacity of ordinary computers: Google calls this goal quantum supremacy. The 20-qubit system that the Google quantum computing team is now working on currently boasts a two-qubit fidelity of 99.5 percent. The higher the rating, the fewer errors the system makes. Quantum supremacy demands not only a 49-qubit system, but also sufficient accuracy to achieve a two-qubit fidelity of at least 99.7 percentwhich Google is on track to deliver by the end of 2017.

Google isnt alone in their quest for advancing quantum computing. In 2016, IBM was running a 5 qubit computer, but by May 2017, it was offering beta access to its 16 qubit platform to the public for testing purposes. Furthermore, qubits alone arent the only consideration for actually achieving working quantum computers; error correction and scaling will also be critical to quantum systems. However, if Google does achieve quantum supremacy, it will be a majorstep forward.

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Google is Closer Than Ever to a Quantum Computer Breakthrough - Futurism

In Brief China's central bank has developed its own cryptocurrency, which is now being tested. Cryptocurrencies have the potential to not only benefit China, but the rest of the world, due to their basis in blockchain. Benefits of Digital Currency

Chinas central bank thePeoples Bank of China has developed a prototype of a cryptocurrencythat it could end up in circulation in the nearfuture.It would beintroduced alongside the Chinas primary currency the renminbi (also called the yuan).Chinawill besimulating possible scenarios and running mock transactions using the cryptocurrency with some commercial Chinese banks. Click to View Full Infographic

The potential benefits of developing a digital currency are significant, particularly in China. First, it would decrease the cost of transactions, and therefore make financial services more accessible, which would be a big help tothe millions of people in the country who are unconnected to conventional banks. Second, as it would be supported by blockchain, it has the potential to decrease the rates of fraud and counterfeiting, which would be of service to thegovernments attempts to reduce corruption a key concern. Third, it would make the currency easier to obtain, which would increase the rate of international transactions, allowing for more trades and faster economic growth.

Since Bitcoins humble beginnings back in 2009 (when it was only valued at around 0.0007 USD) the digital currency, and the very idea of cryptocurrencies in fact,has grown monumentally. The total market cap of cryptocurrencies on April 1st of this year was over $25 Billion. A singleBitcoin is now worth more than $2,500. Now many national economies, as Chinas plan shows,areconsidering the idea of developing their own variant.

Although Chinas experimental approach to simulate a self-developed cryptocurrencys usage is the first of its kind, other countries and institutions have made strides in that direction as well. The Deputy of Russias central bank has emphatically statedthatregulators of all countries agree that its time to develop national cryptocurrencies. Over 260,000 stores in Japan will begin accepting Bitcoin as legal tender this summer, and big banks like Santander have announced plans to develop their ownversion.

Cryptocurrencies have the potential of revolutionizing not only the business world, but manymethods of transaction.There has already been talk of using cryptocurrencies to administer Universal Basic Incomesdue to their traceability, as well as for thedelivery of human aid; the potential for which was demonstrated bya recent experiment to help refugees in Jordan by the UN.

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China Becomes First Country in the World to Test a National Cryptocurrency - Futurism

Traveling to Deep Space

Weve spent a few articles on Universe Today talking about just how difficult its going to be to travel to other stars. Sending tiny unmanned probes across the vast gulfs between stars is still mostly science fiction. But to send humans on that journey? Thats just a level of technology beyond comprehension.

For example, the nearest star is Proxima Centauri, located a mere 4.25 light years away. Just for comparison, the Voyager spacecraft, the most distant human objects ever built by humans, would need about 50,000 years to make that journey.

I dont know about you, but I dont anticipate living 50,000 years. No, were going to want to make the journey more quickly. But the problem, of course, is that going more quickly requires more energy, new forms of propulsion weve only starting to dream up. And if you go too quickly, mere grains of dust floating through space become incredibly dangerous.

Based on our current technology, its more likely that were going to have to take our time getting to another star.

And if youre going to go the slower route, youve got a couple of options. Create a generational ship, so that successive generations of humans are born, live out their lives, and then die during the hundreds or even thousands of year long journey to another star.

Imagine youre one of the people destined to live and die, never reaching your destination. Especially when you look out your window and watch a warp ship zip past with all those happy tourists headed to Proxima Centauri, who were start enough to wait for warp drives to be invented.

No, you want to sleep for the journey to the nearest star, so that when you get there, its like no time passed. And even if warp drive did get invented while you were asleep, you didnt have to see their smug tourist faces as they zipped past.

Is human hibernation possible? Can we do it long enough to survive a long-duration spaceflight journey and wake up again on the other side?

Before I get into this, were just going to have to assume that we never merge with our robot overlords, upload ourselves into the singularity, and effortlessly travel through space with our cybernetic bodies.

For some reason, that whole singularity thing never worked out, or the robots went on strike and refused to do our space exploration for us any more. And so, the job of space travel fell to us, the fragile, 80-year lifespanned mammals. Exploring the worlds within the Solar System and out to other stars, spreading humanity into the cosmos.

Come on, we know itll totally be the robots. But thats not what the science fiction tells us, so lets dig into it.

We see animals, and especially mammals hibernating all the time in nature. In order to be able survive over a harsh winter, animals are capable of slowing their heart rate down to just a few beats a minute. They dont need to eat or drink, surviving on their fat stores for months at a time until food returns.

Its not just bears and rodents that can do it, by the way, there are actually a couple of primates, including the fat-tailed dwarf lemur from Madagascar. Thats not too far away on the old family tree, so there might be hope for human hibernation after all.

In fact, medicine is already playing around with human hibernation to improve peoples chances to survive heart attacks and strokes. The current state of this technology is really promising.

They use a technique called therapeutic hypothermia, which lowers the temperature of a person by a few degrees. They can use ice packs or coolers, and doctors have even tried pumping a cooled saline solution through the circulatory system. With the lowered temperature, a humans metabolism decreases and they fall unconscious into a torpor.

But the trick is to not make them so unconscious that they die. Its a fine line.

The results have been pretty amazing. People have been kept in this torpor state for up to 14 days, going through multiple cycles.

The therapeutic use of this torpor is still under research, and doctors are learning if its helpful for people with heart attacks, strokes or even the progression of diseases like cancer. Theyre also trying to figure out if there are any downsides, but so far, there dont seem to be any long-term problems with putting someone in this torpor state.

A few years ago, SpaceWorks Enterprises delivered a report to NASA on how they could use this therapeutic hypothermia for long duration spaceflight within the Solar System.

Currently, a trip to Mars takes about 6-9 months. And during that time, the human passengers are going to be using up precious air, water and food. But in this torpor state, SpaceWorks estimates that the crew will a reduction in their metabolic rate of 50 to 70%. Less metabolism, less resources needed. Less cargo that needs to be sent to Mars.

The astronauts wouldnt need to move around, so you could keep them nice and snug in little pods for the journey. And they wouldnt get into fights with each other, after 6-9 months of nothing but day after day of spaceflight.

We know that weightlessness has a negative effect on the body, like loss of bone mass and atrophy of muscles. Normally astronauts exercise for hours every day to counteract the negative effects of the reduced gravity. But SpaceWorks thinks it would be more effective to just put the astronauts into a rotating module and let artificial gravity do the work of maintaining their conditioning.

They envision a module thats 4 metres high and 8 metres wide. If you spin the habitat at 20 revolutions per minute, you give the crew the equivalent of Earth gravity. Go at only 11.8 RPM and itll feel like Mars gravity. Down to 7.8 and its lunar gravity.

Normally spinning that fast in a habitat that small would be extremely uncomfortable as the crew would experience different forces at different parts of their body. But remember, theyll be in a state of torpor, so they really wont care.

Current plans for sending colonists to Mars would require 40 ton habitats to support 6 people on the trip. But according to SpaceWorks, you could reduce the weight down to 15 tons if you just let them sleep their way through the journey. And the savings get even better with more astronauts.

The crew probably wouldnt all sleep for the entire journey. Instead, theyd sleep in shifts for a few weeks. Taking turns to wake up, check on the status of the spacecraft and crew before returning to their cryosleep caskets.

Whats the status of this now? NASA funded stage 1 of the SpaceWorks proposal, and in July, 2016 NASA moved forward with Phase 2 of the project, which will further investigate this technique for Mars missions, and how it could be used even farther out in the Solar System.

Elon Musk should be interested in seeing their designs for a 100-person module for sending colonists to Mars.

In addition, the European Space Agency has also been investigating human hibernation, and a possible way to enable long-duration spaceflight. They have plans to test out the technology on various non-hibernating mammals, like pigs. If their results are positive, we might see the Europeans pushing this technology forward.

Can we go further, putting people to sleep for decades and maybe even the centuries it would take to travel between the stars?

Right now, the answer is no. We dont have any technology at our disposal that could do this. We know that microbial life can be frozen for hundreds of years. Right now there are parts of Siberia unfreezing after centuries of permafrost, awakening ancient microbes, viruses, plants and even animals. But nothing on the scale of human beings.

When humans freeze, ice crystals form in our cells, rupturing them permanently. There is one line of research that offers some hope: cryogenics. This process replaces the fluids of the human body with an antifreeze agent which doesnt form the same destructive crystals.

Scientists have successfully frozen and then unfrozen 50-milliliters (almost a quarter cup) of tissue without any damage.

In the next few years, well probably see this technology expanded to preserving organs for transplant, and eventually entire bodies, and maybe even humans. Then this science fiction idea might actually turn into reality. Well finally be able to sleep our way between the stars.

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Reaching the Stars: Is Human Hibernation Really Possible? - Futurism

In Brief Tesla has released a statement confirming it is in talks with China to establish one of its Gigafactories in the region. The move comes as no surprise as Tesla's share of the electric vehicle market in the Asian country has been steadily increasing. Tesla in China

Rumors that Tesla islooking to establish a firmer foothold in China by building a factory in the region have been circulating all week. First,China Dailyshared the news, then both Bloomberg andReuterspicked it up. Now, the world has confirmation straight from Tesla that the electric vehicle (EV) manufacturer is indeed in talks with local government in China.

Tesla sent Electreka statement on the potential Chinese Gigafactory:

Tesla is working with the Shanghai Municipal Government to explore the possibility of establishing a manufacturing facility in the region to serve the Chinese market. As we have said before, we expect to more clearly define our plans for production in China by the end of the year.

Tesla is deeply committed to the Chinese market, and we continue to evaluate potential manufacturing sites around the globe to serve the local markets.

While details of a deal havent been confirmed, anonymous sources told both China Daily and Bloomberg that one would be signed yesterday.

Its no secret that Tesla has been searching for locations to build more of its Gigafactories, and China does seem like a very obvious choice. Tesla sales increased by 181.7 percent from 2015 to 2016according to LMC Automotive Consulting Shanghai, with the company selling 10,399 cars in the country last year, tripling its sales to more than a billion U.S. dollars in revenue.

By manufacturing cars for local distribution in China, Tesla could avoid the 25 percent import tariffs it currently pays, but the company stressed in its statement that it would continue manufacturing the bulk of its cars in the United States: While we expect most of our production to remain in the U.S., we do need to establish local factories to ensure affordability for the markets they serve.

The decision to allow a Gigafactory to be built inChina would affirm the nations commitment to eliminating pollution. Currently, renewable energy sources are booming in the Asian country its now the worlds biggest solar energy producer. Its also doubling up efforts to promote electric vehicle use in several key cities, and having locally produced Teslas would definitely give Chinamore muscle in itsfight against climate change.

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The Rumors Are True. Tesla Wants to Build a Gigafactory in China. - Futurism