Lifeboat Foundation

By Evan Ackerman — IEEE Spectrum

Yesterday, DARPA announced the four companies that’ll be competing to develop a new experimental aircraft that combines the efficiency of an airplane with the versatility of a helicopter. It’ll be something like a V-22 Osprey, except that DARPA is hoping for “radical improvements in vertical and cruise flight capabilities.” Three of the companies provided concept art to DARPA; Boeing’s Phantom Swift is pictured above. And the thing that every proposal has in common? They’re all robots.

Robots weren’t a specific requirement for the VTOL X-Plane, but DARPA says that the best proposals ended up being unmanned. It shouldn’t be a surprise that this is the case; in a contest based on speed, efficiency, and payload, including a human pilot would be a significant disadvantage: humans are fragile and require a lot of maintenance, and it’s becoming increasingly arguable that a human in an aircraft has the potential to be more of a liability than an asset, at least in some cases, which may include (say) cargo delivery into dangerous areas.

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Kyle Chayka — The Sydney Morning Herald

For a glimpse at the future of human-robot interactions, it might be better to look at what’s happening in the United States military than analysing Her, in which Joaquin Phoenix’s character falls in love with an OS voiced by Scarlett Johansson.

Throughout every department of the US armed forces, autonomous robots are playing a larger role in every aspect of warfare than ever before, and soldiers are developing some unorthodox relationships with their machines.

Just ask Danielle.

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By Cheryl Pellerin — American Forces Press Service

WASHINGTON, Feb. 14, 2014 – During a winter weekend in Pittsburgh, more than 50 cadets and midshipmen from three service academies sat elbow to elbow at nine round tables in a packed room. They’d been training since November to compete in a pilot program of the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency called the Service Academy Cyber Stakes.

Competitors at the Jan. 30-Feb. 2 event ranged from freshmen to seniors, 18 to 24 years old, from the U.S. Military Academy in West Point, N.Y., the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, Md., and the U.S. Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs, Colo.

DARPA officials said the Defense Department must train 4,000 cybersecurity experts by 2017. Meeting that goal requires building a pipeline for training and education, especially for future officers who will oversee protection of the cyber domain. DARPA had two requirements for the competition: impact to the warfighter and innovation.

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The Future of Omniscient Scenario-Planning Methodology, Today! By Mr. Andres Agostini

This is a personal yet summarized and copyrighted P.O.V. that is professional, thorough and complete. This independent exploration is based on 30 years of stern practical experience and expertise.

When I was 25 I was fully introduced and indoctrinated on worldwide Royal Dutch Shell’s scenario-planning methodology by Shell’s nationalized company Maraven. That introduction and indoctrination came through the kind deeds and executive decision of and by Maraven President, Dr. Carlos Castillo and the high-ranking strategic planners under his command.

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FEBRUARY 13/2014 LIST OF UPDATES. By Mr. Andres Agostini at The Future of Scientific Management, Today! At http://lnkd.in/bYP2nDC

Is your boss watching you? Surveillance device tracks employees’ movements in the office, sends details of conversations and even times their toilet breaks
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2552858/Workp…oilet.html

New software lets you mark places as off-limits for wearable camera gadgets like Google Glass.
http://www.technologyreview.com/news/523941/not-ok-glass/

Seeing as a Service. Forget Augmented Reality. What About Diminished Reality?
https://medium.com/futures-exchange/403771297f5f

Elon Musk plans to colonise Mars
http://futuretimeline.net/blog/2014/02/4.htm#.UvpE9oWGiHd

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FEBRUARY 11/2014 LIST OF UPDATES. By Mr. Andres Agostini at The Future of Scientific Management, Today! At http://lnkd.in/bYP2nDC

London’s first computer, the fastest in the world at 1MHz. May, 1950

London’s first computer, the fastest in the world at 1MHz. May, 1950 pic.twitter.com/OfUcNYmumX— History Photographed (@HistoryInPics) February 9, 2014

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FEBRUARY 08/2014 LIST OF UPDATES. By Mr. Andres Agostini at The Future of Scientific Management, Today! At http://lnkd.in/bYP2nDC

MITRE-Harvard nanocomputer may point the way to future computer miniaturization
http://www.kurzweilai.net/mitre-harvard-nanocomputer-may-poi…turization

New form of graphene allows electrons to behave like photons
http://www.kurzweilai.net/new-form-of-graphene-allows-electr…ke-photons

The first flexible, transparent, and conductive material
http://www.kurzweilai.net/the-first-flexible-transparent-and-conductive-material

Adidas Says Under Armour Infringed Its Wearable-Tech Patents
http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2014-02-05/adid…ch-patents

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FEBRUARY 07/2014 LIST OF UPDATES. By Mr. Andres Agostini at The Future of Scientific Management, Today! At http://lnkd.in/bYP2nDC

The Ryno Microcycle is a Sci-Fi Inspired Single Wheeler
http://www.engineering.com/DesignerEdge/DesignerEdgeArticles…eeler.aspx

Rigged rules mean economic growth increasingly “winner takes all” for rich elites all over world
http://www.oxfam.org/en/pressroom/pressrelease/2014-01&#…ich-elites

Economist Debates: Democracy economist.com
http://www.economist.com/debate/overview/196

Behavioral Economics Gives The Advertising Industry A Nudge In The Right Direction
http://www.forbes.com/sites/johnowrid/2014/02/05/behavioural…direction/

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by Brittany Hillen- SlashGear

DARPA has announced the launch of a public website offering anyone access to its open source offerings, the Open Catalog. With this comes the hope easy access will facilitate more rapid development of software that meets government needs, allowing experts to build upon the foundation laid by others.

This movement meets the long-standing requests by the public for results on its research and development efforts. The Open Catalog aims to solve this by providing the results via data gathered, details on experiments, various publications, and software. Anyone can access it.

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