DO YOU THINK WE RUN THE RISK OF “TECHNOLOGICAL UNEMPLOYMENT” WHERE MACHINES TAKE ALL OF OUR JOBS? HAWKING: The outcome will depend on how things are distributed. Everyone can enjoy a life of luxurious leisure if the machine-produced wealth is shared, or most people can end up miserably poor if the machine-owners successfully lobby against wealth redistribution. So far, the trend seems to be toward the second option, with technology driving ever-increasing inequality. Source: Highlights from Stephen Hawking’s Reddit AMA: ‘Women’ are the most intriguing ‘mystery’ – The Washington Post I’m not a fan of Stephen Hawking, he just seems … Continue reading Artificial Intelligence… and the Second Industrial Revolution

U.S. consumers on Thursday will have a new way to protect themselves against cybercrime. Instead of the familiar magnetic stripe, their armor will take the form of credit and debit cards with a built-in chip, which retailers must be able to read as of October 1…. Experts say the slow rollout could be due to the cost of new card-reading equipment. Merchants must weigh the expense of buying new payment systems and training employees on that gear against the unknown hit from fraudulent charges. Some may even consider their new liabilities the cost of doing business. Source: New credit cards … Continue reading Those New Credit Cards 

We’re still pretending that we’re inventing a brain when all we’ve come up with is a giant mash-up of real brains. We don’t yet understand how brains work, so we can’t build one. We bolded that last sentence because it pretty much explains the predicament for AI. Until we more fundamentally understand that which we’re trying to clone, everything else is an impressive attempt up Everest that never totally summits. This jibes with a sentiment that renowned author and cognitive scientist Douglas Hofstadter posed earlier this year. He calls current prominent pursuits in the artificial intelligence arena “vacuous” [IBM’s “Jeopardy!”-winning … Continue reading Why We Can't Yet Build True Artificial Intelligence…

source:  15 technologies of today we’ll still be using in 2030 – Gadgetbox on NBCNews.com. This is a very interesting article about what the author thinks will still be around in 18 years.  It is kind of risky making these types of predictions but since money is not on the line there isn’t much to be lost by the author. For the most part I agree with him but there are some items that I don’t think will make the cut. But like the author, I remember going to the World’s Fair of 1960 and believing as they showed there … Continue reading 15 technologies we’ll still be using in 2030…

Source:  Scientists invent lightest material on Earth. What now? – latimes.com. This is a fascinating article about a new material. The picture at the right says it all. It sits peacefully on top of a fluffy dandelion.  And proudly it was invented by a U.S. institution at CalTech.  I just hope that some U.S. firm can manage to take this concept into a usable stage. It seems that many of these types of things have to leave the country lately in order to find practical applications. Being a retired engineer my mind leaps to see all the practical uses. What if the … Continue reading Scientists invent lightest material on Earth. What now?

via Will bank branches wither away? – USATODAY.com. In the past year, the number of bank customers who prefer to bank online has jumped sharply, according to a survey conducted in August by the American Bankers Association. Sixty-two percent of bank customers said they prefer banking online to all other methods, up from 36% in 2010. Only 20% of customers said they preferred using a branch, down from 25% last year. I can remember as a youngster taking some of my hard earned grass mowing money to the bank to open a savings account. The lady there that handled all … Continue reading Will bank branches wither away?