W2C

"The power of molecular manufacturing – Nanotechnology – is huge. It has the potential to slow, stop, prevent or reverse aging. Yet, some fear that exploration in Nanotechnology may backfire and become a means of mass destruction. Is there a way to tap into the power of Nanotechnology without opening diabolical Pandora’s Box?"

Link
Source: SAGE Crossroads
[via Center for Responsible Nanotechnology]

See also:
Responsible Nanotechnology
Howard Lovy's NanoBot
Small Times
The Quantum Nightmare

"A variety of insights into and essays on the technical aspects of the death dealing technology of SKYNET and the war of survival being fought from 1997 to 2029 AD."

Link
Source: Goingfaster.com
[via Tech Central Station]

See also:
The Terminator - Wikipedia
The Machines Of Terminator 3 - Popular Mechanics
Terminator - Google Images
Terminator - Google News
The Matrix - Wikipedia
The Animatrix - Wikipedia
I, Robot (movie) - Wikipedia
Artificial intelligence - Wikipedia
Robotic Nation - Marshall Brain
DARPA - Wikipedia
Defense Tech
Technological Singularity - Wikipedia

Some words from Seth Lloyd, Professor of Quantum-Mechanical Engineering, MIT:

"JB immediately tossed me in a corner of the restaurant with Sergey Brin and Larry Page, who grilled me on the potential applications of quantum computation. They were shockingly knowledgeable on the subject and quickly pushed me like a novice sumo wrestler to edge of the ring that marks the boundary between the known and the unknown. That boundary is always closer than one thinks.

We agreed that quantum internet searches are a few years off. I had spent the afternoon in Jeff Kimble's lab at Caltech contemplating the first node of the the quantum internet — a single atom trapped in an optical cavity, capable of exchanging entangled photons with any other nodes, as soon as they are brought into existence. But when the quantum internet has only one node, containing one bit, Q-Google (Quoogle?) is not yet necessary. Sergey and Larry and I noted that when it is up and running, the quantum internet should offer all sorts of wacky possibilities for quantum internet search. Searches could be made significantly more efficient, for example, by using quantum parallelism to explore every node of the quantum internet simultaneously. Problems arise, however, from the fact that quantum bits can't be cloned. I cannot go further into our discussion as that would involve proprietary information concerning quantum internet protocols (e.g., Q-TCPIP).

Sergey broached the subject of massive entanglement and decoherence, a hot topic in quantum information these days (Entanglement is a peculiarly quantum-mechanical effect in which a bunch of quantum systems such as atoms share more information with each other than is possible classically. Entanglement is the branch of quantum weirdness that allows quantum computers to function. Decoherence is a process that destroys entanglement. As I said, these guys were really on top of their quanta).

We discussed recent experiments that Dave Cory and I had done at MIT, and Sergey made a rather fine suggestion for an experiment to test whether gagillions of entangled nuclear spins decohere faster than gagillions of unentangled nuclear spins. Dave and I will check it out.

At this point Jeffrey Epstein joined the conversation and demanded to know whether weird quantum effects had played a significant role in the origins of life. That question pushed me way out of the sumo ring into the deep unknown. We tried to construct a version of the question that could be answered. I was pushing my own personal theory of everything (the universe is a giant quantum computer, and to understand how things like life came into existence, we have to understand how atoms, molecules, and photons process information). Jeffrey was pushing back with his own theory (we need to understand what problem was being solved at the moment life came into being). By pushing from both sides, we managed to assemble a metaphor in which molecules divert the flow of free energy to their own recreational purposes (i.e., literally recreating themselves) somewhat in the way Jeffrey manages to divert the flow of money as it moves from time-zone to time-zone, using that money for his own recreational purposes (i.e., to create more money). I'm not saying it was the right way to describe the origins of life: I'm just saying that it was fun."

Link
Source: Edge
See also:
The Quantum Nightmare
Big Thinkers - KurzweilAI.net
Information and Entropy - MIT OpenCourseWare

"Looking forward to instantaneous travel? The Star Trek teleporter is one step closer to reality. Scientists have now teleported a laser beam. Could humans be next?"

Link
Source: HowStuffWorks
See also:
Quantum Teleportation - Google Search
Quantum Teleportation - Wikipedia
Quantum Teleportation - Google News
The Quantum Nightmare

" 'Ghost in the Shell 2: Innocence' is the story of a solitary cyborg who desperately wants to hold on to what’s left of his humanity in a world where the worth of the human soul is fading almost into obscurity.

Set in 2032, when the line between humans and machines has been blurred almost beyond distinction. Humans have virtually forgotten what it means to be entirely human in both body and spirit, and the few humans that are left coexist with cyborgs (human spirits inhabiting entirely mechanized bodies) and dolls (robots with no human elements at all).

Batou is a cyborg. His body is artificial: the only remnants left of his humanity are traces of his brain…and the memories of a woman called The Major.

A detective for the government’s covert anti-terrorist unit, Public Security Section 9, Batou is investigating the case of a gynoid—a hyper-realistic female robot created specifically for sexual companionship—who malfunctions and slaughters her owner.

As Batou delves deeper into the investigation, questions arise about humanity’s need to immortalize its image in dolls. Together, Batou and his partner must take on violent Yakuza thugs, devious hackers, government bureaucrats and corporate criminals to uncover the shocking truth behind the crime."

Some words from Mamoru Oshii (Director/Screenwriter):

"This movie does not hold the view that the world revolves around the human race. Instead, it concludes that all forms of life—humans, animals, and robots—are equal. In this day and age when everything is uncertain, we should all think about what to value in life and how to coexist with others. We all need friends, family, and lovers. We can’t live alone. In the year 2032, when this movie takes place, robots and electronic beings have become necessary companions to people. Actually, that time has come already. What we need today is not some kind of anthropocentric humanism. Humanity has reached its limits. I believe that we must now broaden our horizons and philosophize about life from a larger perspective. With this film, I hope to reflect upon the uneasiness that pervades the world today. Under such conditions, what is the meaning of human existence?"

Link
Source: Anime - About.com
See also:
Ghost in the Shell - Wikipedia
Ghost in the Shell: Innocence - Google Search
Ghost in the Shell: Innocence - Google News
Ghost in the Shell: Innocence - Google Images
Anime - Wikipedia
Anime - Google News
The Giants of Anime are Coming - Wired
Anime and Robotics: A Symbiotic Relationship

"Brazil has become the global capital for computer hacking and internet fraud, according to experts meeting in the country's capital, Brasilia."
Link
Source: BBC News

Protecting the office from cyber-attack
"Companies are spending an increasing amount of time and money protecting their systems from viruses and spam -- and the problem is worsening."
Link
Source: CNN

Extortion Online
"Technology can help fight the growing cyberextortion threat, but experts say not enough companies are prepared."
Link
Source: InformationWeek

See also:
Brazil - Wikipedia
Country Briefings: Brazil - Economist
Hacker - Wikipedia
Internet fraud - Wikipedia
How Identity Theft Works - Howstuffworks
Security - E-Commerce News
Brazil - Google News
Bruce Schneier
CSO
CERT

"China's growth is a tougher event than anything we faced since World War Two" - Jeffrey E. Garten, Dean, Yale School of Management
Link
Source: World Economic Forum Weblog

"China is fast becoming a competitor with India for technological development."

"After two decades of pursuing high-tech investment, China is now home to dozens of R&D centres of multinationals – a phenomenon that has led to suggestions that China is competing with India as the technology hub of Asia. Almost all the global giants in automobile, telecommunications technology, computer, software, machinery, electronics, biotechnology, pharmaceuticals and other major industries have made such high-tech investments in China. These companies include General Electric (GE), General Motors, P&G, Unilever, Microsoft, Intel, IBM, Motorola, Siemens, Ericsson, Nortel, AT&T, Lucent Bell and Samsung."
Link
Source: fDi Magazine

China: the New Advanced Technology Research Hotbed
Link
Source: Slashdot

Eye on India
"Track the changes taking place in India today with a compelling series on the social, political and economic drivers from mega-malls to motor cars, and from Bollywood to broadband."
Link
Source: CNN

See also:
China - Wikipedia
India - Wikipedia
Country Briefings: China - Economist
Country Briefings: India - Economist
China- Google News
India - Google News
The Chinese Century
China - Moreover
China - Yahoo News
China- Topix.net
The Future of Outsourcing
Commanding Heights: Countries - PBS

"Investment is badly needed to unlock the commercial potential of nanotechnology developments. Karen E Thuermer reports on the collaborations, joint ventures, government funding and private investment that are beginning to push the science into mainstream industry.

As both a science and application, nanotechnology is on the verge of creating a global revolution for many industries. Large amounts of funding are needed to jump-start the technology from laboratory to commercialisation – money from federal or state sources, grants and venture capital. Consequently, despite the hype, true nanotech companies do not yet abound."

Link
Source: fDi Magazine

"Halley Suitt sits down with Bob Metcalfe to learn more about his early days at MIT, wiring up the ARPAnet when it was only 14 nodes old, Harvard, Xerox PARC, inventing Ethernet, founding 3Com, up to the present day and his work at Polaris Venture Partners as a VC."

http://www.itconversations.com/shows/detail200.html

"For three centuries scientists have looked to mathematics to understand how nature works -- and to create the foundations for technology. But based on his surprising discoveries about simple computer programs, Stephen Wolfram, creator of Mathematica and author of A New Kind of Science, has developed a radically new approach. From the IT Conversations and SDForum Distinguished Speaker Series."

http://www.itconversations.com/shows/detail202.html

"It's been seven months since the Pentagon pulled the plug on LifeLog, its controversial project to archive almost everything about a person. But now, the Defense Department seems ready to revive large portions of the program under a new name.

Using a series of sensors embedded in a GI's gear, the Advanced Soldier Sensor Information System and Technology, or ASSIST, project aims to collect what a soldier sees, says and does in a combat zone -- and then to weave those events into digital memories, so commanders can have a better sense of how the fight unfolded."

http://wired.com/news/privacy/0,1848,64911,00.html?tw=wn_tophead_1

See also:
http://divedi.blogspot.com/2004/06/lifetime-digital-memory.html

High Definition Will Have to Wait
"Yes, HDTV is the wave of the future and I'm positive the SCI FI Channel will eventually convert, but, unless you somehow haven't noticed (which I doubt, since you own one), HDTVs are still very expensive, and many people don't have the resources to buy them. When given the choice between $350 for a 27-inch flat-screen TV and up to $5,999 for an HDTV (some are even higher in price), most people will go for the $350 flat screen."

Low-Quality TV Doesn't Deserve HD
"I have long thought that the SCI FI Channel should make every effort to join the HDTV world ('SCI FI Should Broadcast in HD'); but then I reconsidered, thinking over exactly what they offer to the viewing public most of the time.

Theodore Sturgeon coined a famous maxim which goes: 90 percent of everything is crap. Sadly, that is more than true for the SCI FI Channel. For every Stargate SG-1, Stargate Atlantis, Farscape and Invisible Man, we get get entire warehouses of straight-to-video (or is it straight to DVD by now?) crap.

If they don't care about the low-quality of the majority of their programming, why would they care about their signal quality?"

HDTV Is Tech Snobbery
"Lots of us in the sci-fi demographic are very much into high-tech, but that does not necessarily mean that we value television so much that we'll sink four-digit amounts to watch HDTV."

http://www.scifi.com/sfw/current/letters.html

How can we deal with the accelerating change and the coming Robotic World?

http://www.accelerating.org
http://www.kurzweilai.net
http://singularitywatch.com
http://www.futuresalon.org
http://roboticnation.blogspot.com
http://marshallbrain.com/robotic-nation.htm
http://concentrationofwealth.blogspot.com

Outsourcing and the concentration of wealth
http://concentrationofwealth.blogspot.com/2004/09/outsourcing-and-concentration-of.html

China's growth
"China's growth is a tougher event than anything we faced since World War Two" - Jeffrey E. Garten, Dean, Yale School of Management
http://wef.typepad.com/blog/2004/09/chinas_growth_i.html

Today's chatbots seem to be stupid, right? But in 10 years? What could we expect?

Agents of change
"Autonomous agents could one day play a key role in everything from setting market prices to creating more resilient networks."

"Over the past year, NASA has been uploading software into the Earth Observing-1 satellite, turning it into a testbed for autonomous agents. The agents -- software programs that are able to learn and can function independently -- are used to manage experiments and operate the spacecraft."
http://www.computerworld.com/softwaretopics/software/story/0,10801,95672,00.html

Immaterial Girl Speaking of the Future with Ramona
"Surprise, embarrassment, and misunderstanding are all hallmarks of a real conversation, a journalist notes after conversing with KurzweilAI.net's chatbot host, Ramona."
http://www.kurzweilai.net/meme/frame.html?main=/articles/art0617.html

Beware of Bots Bearing Messages
"If you get an instant message from someone with an unfamiliar screen name in the near future, you might want to think twice before getting emotionally invested in the conversation.

That's because you may be talking with Chatting AIM Bot, a free service that lets anyone play a devious practical joke on a friend, in which an artificially intelligent AOL instant message, or AIM, bot carries on an innocuous, 10-minute conversation before finally lowering the boom and informing the unwitting human at the other end they've been had."
http://wired.com/news/culture/0,1284,64888,00.html?tw=wn_tophead_4

Chatterbot - Wikipedia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chatbot

Robotic Nation Evidence
http://roboticnation.blogspot.com

Alice chatbot wins for third time
"A computer chat program called Alice has won a prestigious prize for human-like conversation for the third time."
Link
Source: BBC News