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His entire body and identity have become the property of a collective human-machine network.
Hawking’s persona, his disability, and his embodied network thus becomes a window on our machines, the nature of work, and even our representation of scientific heroes.
In fact, it’s precisely because of his disability that we get to see how all scientists work … and how the entire world will work one day.
Robots with enhanced “senses,” dexterity, and intelligence
No voice, no other sounds, no facial expressions. His sole means of communicating is through infrared connection to his computer.
HÉLÈNE MIALET | Wired Magazine
NASA / Flickr
James Manyika, Michael Chui, Jacques Bughin, Richard Dobbs, Peter Bisson, and Alex Marrs | McKinsey Global InstituteNew technologies are unfolding that have the potential to disrupt the status quo, alter the way people live and work, and rearrange value pools.
McKinsey Global Institute identifies 12 technologies that could drive truly massive economic transformations and disruptions in the coming years, including:
Advanced robotics
Automation of Knowledge Work
Internet of Things
3D Printing
Robot Imitates Tumbleweed
McKinsey
Researchers at Columbia University Medical Center, working with their collaborators at the Hospital for Special Surgery, have created a fleet of molecular “robots” that can home in on specific human cells and mark them for drug therapy or destruction.
The nanorobots—a collection of DNA molecules, some attached to antibodies—were designed to seek a specific set of human blood cells and attach a fluorescent tag to the cell surfaces.
"most debated nonfiction book ... this year." - David Brooks
Watch the Animation: A molecular robot (automaton) in action. Image: Milan Stojanovic.
A team at NASA’s Ames Research Center in Mountain View has devised a strange, flexible "super ball bot" concept that could take a rough landing on another world’s surface and use the same structure to start rolling like a tumbleweed around the terrain.
This system would be completely different. It sports a semi-rigid but flexible structure, that can distribute the force from an impact at one point all over its system.
Nanorobots Seek Human Blood Cells
Columbia University College of Physicians & Surgeons | YouTube Channel
Amina Khan | The Los Angeles Times
NASA
A steady, secure life somewhere in the middle—average—is over.
Widely acclaimed as one of the world’s most influential economists, Tyler Cowen:
High earners are taking ever more advantage of machine intelligence. This fact is forever changing the world of work and wages.
Next-generation sex toys have started to appear in the marketplace. Here's the list:
1) RealTouch, a USB-connected sex toy said to have been designed by a former NASA engineer that promises “interactive sex” with another person over the Internet ....
History Suggests an Optimistic Possibility
"Interactive" Gets a New Meaning
ALEX HAWGOOD | The New York Times
Warner Brox. Pictures
Wages for ordinary workers in textile mills were stagnant for the first few decades of the Industrial Revolution. But as the technology matured, wages rose more quickly.
JAMES BESSEN | The Washington Post
H.C. Williams)
Thanks to technology, the average wage in the United States today is over 10 times what it was 200 years ago, after adjusting for changes in the cost of living
Robots or Airport-security Screeners?
Aviation and government authorities are starting to use machines in lieu of people to verify the identities of fliers by scanning their faces, irises or fingerprints.
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Next to have their jobs automated: airport-security screeners?
JACK NICAS | The Wall Steet Journal
Rob Hart | The Wall Street Journal