cross pond high tech
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Elon Musk launches Neuralink, a venture to merge the human brain with AI

Elon Musk launches Neuralink, a venture to merge the human brain with AI | cross pond high tech | Scoop.it

SpaceX and Tesla CEO Elon Musk is backing a brain-computer interface venture called Neuralink, according to The Wall Street Journal. The company, which is still in the earliest stages of existence and has no public presence whatsoever, is centered on creating devices that can be implanted in the human brain, with the eventual purpose of helping human beings merge with software and keep pace with advancements in artificial intelligence. These enhancements could improve memory or allow for more direct interfacing with computing devices.

Musk has hinted at the existence of Neuralink a few times over the last six months or so. More recently, Musk told a crowd in Dubai, “Over time I think we will probably see a closer merger of biological intelligence and digital intelligence.” He added that “it's mostly about the bandwidth, the speed of the connection between your brain and the digital version of yourself, particularly output." On Twitter, Musk has responded to inquiring fans about his progress on a so-called “neural lace,” which is sci-fi shorthand for a brain-computer interface humans could use to improve themselves.

These types of brain-computer interfaces exist today only in science fiction. In the medical realm, electrode arrays and other implants have been used to help ameliorate the effects of Parkinson’s, epilepsy, and other neurodegenerative diseases. However, very few people on the planet have complex implants placed inside their skulls, while the number of patients with very basic stimulating devices number only in the tens of thousands. This is partly because it is incredibly dangerous and invasive to operate on the human brain, and only those who have exhausted every other medical option choose to undergo such surgery as a last resort.

This has not stopped a surge in Silicon Valley interest from tech industry futurists who are interested in accelerating the advancement of these types of far-off ideas. Kernel, a startup created by Braintree co-founder Bryan Johnson, is also trying to enhance human cognition. With more than $100 million of Johnson’s own money — the entrepreneur sold Braintree to PayPal for around $800 million in 2013 — Kernel and its growing team of neuroscientists and software engineers are working toward reversing the effects of neurodegenerative diseases and, eventually, making our brains faster and smarter and more wired.

Philippe J DEWOST's insight:

We are getting closer, totally unprepared : individuals, philosophers, society and even worse, politicians and policy makers are dramatically lagging behind, showing very limited interest, attention and focus...

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GDP revisions, news and noise and BigData

GDP revisions, news and noise and BigData | cross pond high tech | Scoop.it
The numbers guiding policymakers and experts are subject to revisions as "advance" estimates are based on incomplete source data. Until recently, most economists thought that data revisions were likely to be small and inconsequential. But the size of data revisions over the past few years have made a convincing case that data revisions may be large and have important implications for both policies (as exemplified by role of revisions in the debate about shifts in the Beveridge curve) and the variables we choose to measure output growth (GDP vs. GDI).

According to the BEA, the average revision in either direction is 0.5 points between the first and second estimate, 0.6 between the first and third, and 1.3 between the first and last. That’s a huge amount of error.
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The Creepiness Factor: How Obama and Romney Are Getting to Know You

The Creepiness Factor: How Obama and Romney Are Getting to Know You | cross pond high tech | Scoop.it

The presidential campaigns have the technology to know more about voters than any other bids in history...

 

"In recent primary states, Romney aired two very different ads on local news websites: one for supporters, and another for those who may not support him. This sort of thing could pop up on television as well very soon. Within five years, Will Feltus of the National Media predicts, advertisers and politicians will only target households where the messages can have maximum effect. And just like that, the days of shared commonality over a played-out commercial will be over. Women won't have to endure Cialis marketing, and men will be skipped when it comes time to air the Tampax ads."

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Lawrence Lessig et Flore Vasseur ce soir au Tank a Paris

A l’occasion de la diffusion sur Arte du documentaire « La Rébellion du Professeur de Harvard », Le Tank et Flore Vasseur reçoivent Lawrence Lessig, l’homme qui veut réduire l’influence de l’argent en politique.

Philippe J DEWOST's insight:

La salle est comble mais vous pourrez suivre @lessig et @florevasseur en direct sur ce lien à partir de 19h00. Pour les autres on peut utilement (re)voir le documentaire diffusé récemment sur Arte, et accessible sur https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rUlhQJ3fYyE

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A "sex vs money" look at French Entrepreneurs Revolt

A "sex vs money" look at French Entrepreneurs Revolt | cross pond high tech | Scoop.it
Interesting cross-pond analysis of the "pigeons revolt" by Jean-Louis who writes that "Considering sex and money, Americans and French cultures exhibit truly polar opposite behaviors. The French see nothing wrong with a President having a wife, a mistress and a love child, they revel in sexual and often sexist jokes. But, if you ask someone how much they paid for their apartment, they’ll react as if you’d touched them in boundary-breaking ways. Conversely, they perceive us Americans as demonizing sex — think a past President and his “oral” office — while being obscene with money."
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