Category Archives: Futurism

In Brief

If youre familiar with HBOs comedy series Silicon Valley, then you might know a thing or two about the importance of shrinking file sizes. Google clearly understands the value of file compression as they havedeveloped a new algorithm that takes it to the next level.

Guetzli is an open source JPEG encoder developed by Google Research, and the algorithm it employs can produce JPEGs that are 35 percent smaller while retaining the same level of clarity. To accomplish this,Guetzli trades visual quality for a smaller file size at the quantization stage of image compression.

According to Google, the psychovisual modeling of Guetzli approximates color perception and visual masking in a more thorough and detailed way than what is achievable in existing methods. Ultimately, that means these smaller images will look just as good to the average person. In fact, in experiments comparing compressed images, human raters preferred the Guetzli-produced images over those created by libjpeg, even when the latters images were a larger file size.

Guetzlis files are smaller, yes, but it takes the encoder a bit longer than other compression methods to shrink images. However, were left with smaller-sized images that dont sacrifice quality, and these compressed images will shrink the time it takes Google to load websites and services, which is a good thing for both internet users and Google.

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Google Has a New Algorithm That Shrinks JPEGs by 35% - Futurism

Kurzweils Predictions

Ray Kurzweil, Googles Director of Engineering, is a well-known futurist with a high-hitting track record for accurate predictions. Of his 147 predictions since the 1990s, Kurzweil claimsan 86 percent accuracy rate. Earlier this week, at the SXSW Conference in Austin, Texas, Kurzweil made yet another prediction: the technological singularity will happen sometime in the next 30 years.

In a communication to Futurism, Kurzweil states:

2029 is the consistent date I have predicted for when an AI will pass a valid Turing test and therefore achieve human levels of intelligence. I have set the date 2045 for the Singularity which is when we will multiply our effective intelligence a billion fold by merging with the intelligence we have created.

By 2029, computers will have human-level intelligence, Kurzweil saidin an interview with SXSW.

The singularity is that point in time when all the advances in technology, particularly in artificial intelligence (AI), willlead to machines that are smarter than human beings. Kurzweilstimetable for the singularity is consistentwith other predictions, notably those of Softbank CEO Masayoshi Son, who predicts that the dawn of super-intelligent machines will happen by 2047. But for Kurzweil, the process towards this singularity has already begun.

That leads to computers having human intelligence, our putting them inside our brains, connecting them to the cloud, expanding who we are. Today, thats not just a future scenario, Kurzweil said. Its here, in part, and its going to accelerate.

We all know it is coming sooner or later, but the question in the minds of almost everyone is: should humanity fear the singularity? Everyone knows that when machines become smarter than human beings, they tend to take over the world. Right? Many of the worlds science and technology bigwigs like Stephen Hawking, Elon Musk, and even Bill Gates warn about this kind of future.

Well, Kurzweil doesnt think so. In fact, he isnt particularly worried about the singularity. It would be more accurate to say that hes been looking forward to it. What science fiction depicts as the singularity at which point a single brilliant AI enslaves humanity is just that: fiction.

Thats not realistic, Kurzweil said during hisinterview with SXSW. We dont have one or two AIs in the world. Today we have billions.

For Kurzweil, the singularity is an opportunity for humankind to improve. He envisions the same technology that will make AIs more intelligent giving humans a boost as well.

Whats actually happening is [machines] are powering all of us, Kurzweil said during the SXSW interview. Theyre making us smarter. They may not yet be inside our bodies, but, by the 2030s, we will connect our neocortex, the part of our brain where we do our thinking, to the cloud.

This idea is similar to Musks controversial neural laceand to XPRIZE Foundation chairman Peter Diamandis meta-intelligence concept.Kurzweil expounded on how this technology could improve human lives.

Were going to get more neocortex, were going to be funnier, were going to be better at music. Were going to be sexier, Kurzweil said during the SXSW interview. Were really going to exemplify all the things that we value in humans to a greater degree.

To those who view this cybernetic society as more fantasy than future, Kurzweil pointing out that there are people with computers in their brains today Parkinsons patients. Thats how cybernetics is just getting its foot in the door, Kurzweil said.And, because its the nature of technology to improve, Kurzweil predicts that during the 2030s some technology will be invented that cango inside your brain and help your memory.

So, instead of the machines-taking-over-the-world vision of the singularity, Kurzweil thinks itll be a future of unparalleled human-machine synthesis.

Ultimately, it will affect everything, Kurzweil said during the SXSW interview. Were going to be able to meet the physical needs of all humans. Were going to expand our minds and exemplify these artistic qualities that we value.

Editors note: This article has been updated to correct errors. A previous version of this article stated that Kurzweil predicted the singularity by 2029, rather than the date an AI will pass a valid Turing test.

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Kurzweil Claims That the Singularity Will Happen by 2029 - Futurism - Futurism

Mimicking The Human Brain

Since 2014, DeepMind has been playing Atari video games. Initially, its machine learning systems could learn to win games and beat human scores, but couldnt remember how it managed to do it. Therefore, for each Atari game, a new neural network was created. DeepMind never benefitted from its own experienceuntil now.

A team of researchers from DeepMind and Imperial College London created an algorithm that bestows memory on the system, allowing it to learn, retain knowledge, and reuse it. The system uses supervised learning and reinforcement learning tests to learn in sequences.

In the human brain, synaptic consolidation is the basis for continual learning. Saving learned knowledge and transferring it from task to task is critical to the wayhumans learn. The inability to do that has been a key failure in machine learning. The algorithm, called elastic weight consolidation (EWC), choosesthe most useful parts of what helped the machineplay and win games in the past, then transfers onlythose parts forward.

The system is impressive, but isnt perfect yet. DeepMind can now retain the most important information from its previous experiences in order to learn, but despite that huge bank of experiences, it still cant perform as well as a neural network that completes a single game. Efficiency of learning is the next step if machine learning is to match or eventually eclipse real-world learning.

Elastic weight consolidation is a core component of any intelligence biological or artificial because it enables the thinker to learn tasks in succession without forgetting. The new DeepMind algorithm supports continual learning just like the synaptic consolidation of the human brain, which is the next step for AI in terms of mastering more challenging tasks and learning contexts. In other words, it will mean that AI systems are better able to take on creative and intellectual challenges; previously thought to be the sole province of humankind.

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Google's DeepMind AI Now Has a Memory - Futurism

Budget Cuts

The new administration has big plans for space research and travel. It seems however, that NASA has some serious belt tightening to do, given that the 2017 budget proposal released by the White House will see $200 million cut from the space agencys current funding.

The budgetwould basically allotNASA $19.1 billion for the 2018 fiscal year. Thats $200 million less than the $19.3 the agency received last year.NASA administrator Robert Lightfoot did not seem surprised by the White House announcement in thestatementhe released.

While more detailed budget information will be released in May, we have received a top line budget number for the agency as part of an overall government budget roll out of more than $19 billion, Lightfoot said in the statement. This is in line with our funding in recent years, and will enable us to effectively execute our core mission for the nation, even during these times of fiscal constraint.

Lightfoot expressed hisconfidence that NASA will be able to continue with itswork, sustain research, and develop technologies that will broadenthe agencys capabilities to send humans deeper into space, even given the funding cut in the proposed budget.

While NASA isnt facing budgetary cuts as drastic as other federal agencies, the cuts do have implications on NASAsEarth science and education programs.

Overall science funding is stable, although some missions in development will not go forward and others will see increases, Lightfoot said. We remain committed to studying our home planet and the universe, but are reshaping our focus within the resources available to us a budget not far from where we have been in recent years, and which enables our wide ranging science work on many fronts.

Under the proposal, the Earth science division would take a$102 million cut compared to what it received in 2017. The budget would effectively end several Earth science initiatives, such as NASAs carbon monitoring program and NASAs involvement in the DSCOVR program.

Some of the other notable missions that are up for cancellation underthe new budget proposal includes NASAs Asteroid Redirect Missionand a mission to land on Europa, one of Jupiters moons. NASAs education program, which the proposal described asredundant to other parts of the agency, would now be completely be scrapped. The agencys human spaceflight program, fortunately, would mostly stay on track.

Despite these defunded programs andmissions, the new budget request does draw focus to other NASA initiatives, such as commercial space travel.

The budget supports our continued leadership in commercial space, which has demonstrated success through multiple cargo resupply missions to the International Space Station, and is on target to begin launches of astronauts from U.S. soil in the near future, Lightfoot said in the statement.

According to the proposal, NASAwill continue to support and expand private-public partnerships that hope to grow civilian space travel. It seems that the new budget would be opening options for NASA to engage incollaboration with industry in terms of running the space station and developing deep-space habitats.

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NASA Poised to Lose $200 Million in Funding Under the Trump Administration - Futurism

In Brief

Dubai-based construction firmCazza Technologies has announced plans to build the worlds first 3D printed skyscraper.

When we first thought of implementing 3D printing technologies, we were mostly thinking of houses and low-rise buildings. Developers kept asking us if it was possible to build a 3D printed skyscraper. This led us to begin researching how we could adapt the technologies for taller structures, Chris Kelsey, CEO of Cazza,explained to Construction Week Online.

The companys large robotic 3D printers already allow them to construct architecturally complex buildings at unprecedented speeds.All of the essential structural components for tall buildings, including reinforcements with steer rebar, can be 3D printed using this system.

For the skyscraper project, the system will simply be merged with existing cranes, which means theres no need to build specialized cranes from scratch. Any construction elements for the skyscraper that cant be 3D printed will be completed using traditional construction methods.

While Cazza has confirmed that the first 3D printed skyscraperusing its novel construction method will be built in Dubai, details such as the buildings height or when the project will begin are still under wraps.

3D printing technology has already established a foothold in numerous fields. Its particularly prevalent in the medical industry, where it is being used to build organs and human cells, but the techs application in housing and construction hasnt exactly been moving at the same rate. Nevertheless, ambitious 3D projects such as Cazzas are set to shine a spotlight on the technologys potential. Once others see this potential for speed and cost efficiency, they will be more likely toadopt the tech themselves.

Cazza may be the first company to attempt to 3D print a skyscraper, but others have successfully completed smaller projects, includinga tiny guesthouse in Amsterdam and aSuzhou-style Chinese villain Binzhou. As more projects such as those are undertaken, the technology will become cheaper, further speeding up the pace of adoption. It is all about economies of scale where the initial high technology costs will reduce as we enter the mass-production phase, explains Kelsey.Eventually, 3D printed skyscrapers could be the norm.

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Dubai is Going to Be Home to the World's First 3D Printed Skyscraper - Futurism

AI Will Lead to Big Money

Mark Cuban is a self-made billionaire. The worlds first trillionaires, however, will be made by artificial intelligence (AI).

Thats what the Dallas Mavericks owner reportedly said Sunday night at the 2017 SXSW Conference. He believes that, givenall the advances in technology today, AI entrepreneurs are bound to be the worlds first trillion-dollar men.

I am telling you, the worlds first trillionaires are going to come from somebody who masters AI and all its derivatives and applies it in ways we never thought of,Cuban said. We should expect to see more technological advances over the next ten years than we have over the last 30. Its just going to blow everything away.

Cuban believes that, if you want a shot at being one of those future trillionaires, you need to prepare for it right now. Whatever you are studying right now, if you are not getting up to speed on deep learning, neural networks, etc., you lose, said Cuban.

The star investor of ABC reality show Shark Tank expanded in his vision of the future during the talk:

We are going through the process where software will automate software, automation will automate automation. I would not want to be a CPA right now. I would not want to be an accountant right now. I would rather be a philosophy major. Knowing how to critically think and assess them from a global perspective I think is going to be more valuable than what we see as exciting careers today, which might be programming or CPA or those types of things.

This change in which skills will be relevant in the coming years is born from the expectation that AI and automated systems will replace human workers in a range of jobs, both blue- and white-collar. Automation, strengthened by better AI, will disrupt the workforce, potentially taking over about 47 percent of jobs in the U.S. and 40 percent in Canada, according to studies. One possibleanswerto the widespread unemployment this will causeisuniversal basic income (UBI), butCuban doesnt believe that UBI would be a great solution.

What he does believe is that automation is inevitable and that we need to be prepared for it. What kind of opportunity can I create that gives these people hope for jobs and the ability to live a valuable life? Thats what people in this room can help think of, because our current administration is not going to solve that problem by thinking they are bringing back factories, Cuban said, obviously referencing President Trumps labor plans.

Governments role remains crucial, however. Theres a need for well-informed and research-based policies to guide the development of AI systems a task the Obama administration beganand thatseveral private institutions are actively pursuing.

Theres more to AI, of course, than just taking over jobs. In fact, the technology is already transforming the way we go aboutour day-to-day lives, as we become increasingly dependent on devices that rely on machine learning systems and deep learning algorithms. AI is transforming the medical field, bringing better diagnosis and more effective treatments, and soon, our cars will drive themselves. Given the innumerable ways AI tech could disrupt our world, the idea that the first person to cross into trillionaire territory will do so while riding the AI wave isnt far-fetched at all.

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Mark Cuban: Tech Will Advance More in the Next Decade Than It Did in the Last Three - Futurism