Bill Gates and Elon Musk Will Save the World from AI? - http://clapway.com/2016/01/21/bill-gates-elon-musk-stephen-hawking-will-save-the-world-from-ai-123/

Bill Gates, Elon Musk and Stephen Hawking have all done their part in warning the world of the true power of artificial intelligence. All three men were actually awarded the 2015 Luddite Award, which is given by the Information Technology & Innovation Foundation.

Luddite Award is Given to People Who Stir Fear and Hysteria

Because of their honest assessment on the power of new technology, these three men have been called alarmists who spread horror. There were 10 total nominees to the prices, and all three received them after getting more 3,680 votes.

Luddite is a word from 19th century England, and it is used to describe someone who is opposed to advances in technology. This is hardly an appropriate denomination for any of these men. Bill Gates is almost single-handedly responsible for putting PC computers in homes, Elon Musk has made a revolution with electric vehicles. Volumes can be written on the impact Stephen Hawking has had on the world.

Artificial Intelligence Can Ruin or Save the World

None of these figures have been shy about their opinions on the potential of artificial intelligence. Elon Musk has publicly claimed that he believes AI to be more dangerous than nukes, and Hawking co-wrote an article where he expressed that there may come a point where AI can’t be controlled at all.

Musk and Hawking actually signed an open letter from the Future of Life Institute. The letter pledged that advancements in artificial intelligence would not be able to grow beyond human control. They later signed another later banning the use of automatic weapons that were able to choose and shoot targets without approval from a human. Gates has claimed before that he is in full agreement with their beliefs.

Unfortunately, Gates, Musk and Hawking Are Quite Right

Artificial intelligence is a lot more dangerous than people give it credit for. It could well exceed the control of humans. Soon enough, it won’t need it. We already see this in self-driving cars, which need no input from humans to work. Will machine win over man? Probably not anytime soon.

The truth is that Bill Gates, Elon Musk and Stephen Hawking are right on the money on the potential of technology. They are only encouraging caution.

 

Bill Gates and Elon Musk Will Save the World from AI?

NASA Might Drop SpaceX for Blue Origin This Year - http://clapway.com/2016/01/19/nasa-might-drop-spacex-for-blue-origin-this-year-123/

After one successful rocket landing, SpaceX has failed to land a second one this past Sunday. Will NASA drop the firm for Blue Origin? For years, Elon Musk’s SpaceX has been able to move forward at Blue Origin’s expense. Though the levels are slightly different, Blue Origin has a lot of pros on their belt compared to SpaceX.

SpaceX Rocket Crashes and Explodes, Again

Technically speaking, this is SpaceX’s third failed attempt at a landing of a reusable rocket. The launch looked fine, but trouble started when the rocket landed on the droneship. The Falcon 9 landed upright, but only for a moment. Then it tipped over and exploded.

Elon Musk explained later that one of the legs on the rocket failed to lock, which caused the rocket to tip over completely. The man even posted a video of the landing on Instagram. Speculation would indicate that the reason why the leg didn’t lock was because there was ice built up from condensation. This condensation would have come from the heavy fog surrounding the rocket before it launched.

Mission Was a Success, Landing Was a Mess

The mission itself was successful. The launch was also a success, and the rocket even landed 4 feet of the droneship’s exact center. The video of the crash and explosion is almost funny in how dramatic it is, but Elon Musk maintains his faith in reusable rockets. According to its partnership with NASA, SpaceX is to commercialize space travel. Using reusable rockets would cut the cost of space travel by as much a factor of one hundred.

Blue Origin managed to launch and land a smaller reusable rocket. Although the scale was slightly smaller, it’s clear that Blue Origin has the right blueprint to develop perfectly functional reusable rockets. SpaceX also succeeded at landing their much larger Falcon 9 just this past December.

Will NASA Drop Elon Musk for Blue Origin?

NASA has a steady partnership with Airbus, Boeing, and SpaceX to develop commercial space travel. How many more crash landings will it take for NASA to rethink this partnership?

It doesn’t seem feasible to drop Elon Musk’s company just yet – they have big scale projects that have great potential for success. It’s much more likely that NASA brings in Blue Origin, headed by Jeff Bezos, to join the team. Two heads are better than one, even though Musk and Bezos are famous for butting them.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9pillaOxGCo

NASA Might Drop SpaceX for Blue Origin This Year

NASA, Elon Musk and SpaceX vs ESA and China: The Race to Mars - http://clapway.com/2016/01/10/nasa-elon-musk-and-spacex-vs-esa-and-china-mars-edition-123/

NASA is committed to putting a man on the Martian atmosphere. Recent announcements from ESA, China and Elon Musk’s SpaceX are bringing out doubts. Analysts are predicting that NASA’s ambitions would need a budget of $100 billion to $1 trillion. The agency’s budget for 2016 is just $19.3 billion.

Is the Martian Price Tag Too Big?

There’s very low chances that NASA will get to Mars on their own. The majority of the space exploration community would agree that an international collaboration would increase the chances of success significantly. If not, NASA risks having another Apollo-like run on their hands.

ESA, China and Russia Have Eyes Set on the Moon

ESA and NASA have no problem forming an alliance, but the difference in their interests is halting the process. The European Space Agency is now joining Roscosmos and CNAS in efforts to build a colony on the moon for future human inhabitants.

However, that doesn’t mean that this is their only goal. The ESA actually covered $470 million of the expenses to build a space capsule for NASA’s Orion mission. The Airbus Group is building this initial module, which will serve as a stepping stone in getting men to Mars.

Roscosmos and the Chinese National Space Program are fully capable of helping to carry out a Mars mission. However, Russia’s declining economy is forcing it to reduce spending on space efforts. China and the United States have struggled to form successful partnerships for security reasons. In fact, China has been barred from the ISS since 2011. Since that date, the United States has been banned from collaborating with China on any space-related programs.

NASA Needs International and Private Partners

In addition to forming partnerships with international space agencies, NASA also greatly benefits from private sector collaborations. The most relevant to date are Boeing, Airbus and Elon Musk’s SpaceX. These two organizations are currently one of a handful in charge of commercializing space travel. Investment from these organizations help NASA out significantly. Reaching out to more relevant and interested parties will benefit the agency.

Getting aid from foreign governments is a harder but beneficial bet. But engaging the private sector is probably safer. Global companies are coming to terms with the real cost of space travel is. Now, some companies have even designed cheaper ways to do it.

SpaceX and Blue Origin Are NASA’s Best Allies

2015 hosted a safe launch and landing of reusable rockets by Elon Musk’s SpaceX and Blue Origin. These events prove that space travel doesn’t need to be expensive. It also brought NASA a recipe on how to make their resources reusable. The space agency has been looking for a greener option to using resources for 30 years. The private sector managed it pretty quickly.

NASA has a lot of work to do to if they really want to get the kind of budget to put men on Mars. Until then, it will greatly benefit from domestic and international partnerships. It’s going to be a slow run until we reach the Red Planet.

NASA, Elon Musk and SpaceX vs ESA and China: The Race to Mars

Elon Musk on SpaceX is Chasing Tesla - http://clapway.com/2015/12/23/elon-musk-on-spacex-is-chasing-tesla/

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Elon Musk on SpaceX is Chasing Tesla

Elon Musk on SpaceX is Chasing Tesla

The Successful Falcon 9 Rocket Landing Makes Elon Musk the Real Tony Stark - http://clapway.com/2015/12/23/the-falcon-9-rocket-landng-makes-elon-musk-the-real-tony-stark-123/

Elon Musk’s SpaceX has successfully landed a Falcon 9 rocket, so we can now officially call the CEO the real-life Tony Stark. Only a real world Iron Man could get into this many business ventures and actually succeed.

Clapway

It’s Been a Long Time Coming for SpaceX and the Falcon 9 Rockets

After two failed landings this year, SpaceX has finally done it. The astrological community is having a party over this successful landing. This December 21, the company launched a two-stage Falcon 9 rocket, and its second stage came back to Earth to land victoriously that night.

The first stage put 11 satellites in space for Orbcomm, a SpaceX customer. The footage of the rocket’s landing is all over the internet, and it brought Elon Musk and company an unexpected victory. The CEO did not believe at all that it could make a safe landing.

Elon Musk is Like a Real Life Tony Stark

The present-day Tony Star was quoted as having run out to the causeway just to watch the landing. At first, it seemed like the rocket wouls explode, but upon closer inspection, he saw the astounding video of the rocket landing on the pad.

SpaceX made a live webcast of the entire ordeal, as would be customary of any venture headed by Elon Musk. Hawthorne released amazing photos of the launch and landing shortly after the webcast ended, and it captures the entire journey for those who couldn’t watch the light show life.

There are two specific long-exposure views that show the Falcon 9 as arcs of brilliant light. The rocket left the launching pad at 8:29 PM EST from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, carrying 11 communication satellites for Orbcomm. After putting the satellites in orbit, the second stage of the rocket made its return to Earth surface.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZkOKRkI4Nw4

Elon Musk Could Not Believe the Falcon 9 Rocket Had Succeeded

Landing a Falcon 9 has been the company’s only ambition since 2002. Their goal is to mass produce a reusable rocket that would enable a city to be built in Mars one day. The rocket, which cost around $16 million to build has a propellant that only cost $200K. Space flight could actually be commercialized if they manage to make a reusable rocket.

All Other Falcon 9 Landing Attempts Ended in Dust

The two previous attempts to land a Falcon 9 ended in explosions, so there was little faith that this trial would succeed. In the end, it looks like the problem was with performance. The rocket launched yesterday received a performance upgrade and increased boost thrust, a deep cryo oxidizer and a bigger upper stage engine bell. It looks like it did the trick. The upgraded rocket also featured a few enhancements to its reliability, including better stage separation and better structural safety margins.

Upgrading the Falcon 9 was all they needed to do to make a successful landing. There has been a lot of arduous work put into these efforts, and they are finally paying off. SpaceX is proven to be more resilient than expected.

SpaceX Had To Move Fast to Catch Up to Blue Origin

The urgency to have a successful landing didn’t just come from Elon Musk’s promises to NASA and other clients. Last month, Blue Origin was able to successfully land a rocket that was perfectly reusable. Headed by Jeff Bezos, CEO of Amazon, this battle is akin putting Iron Man against The Mandarin. Blue Origin’s New Shepard spacecraft made a successful landing, but it did not reach orbit like the Falcon 9 did.

What’s Next for this Falcon 9 Rocket?

The next step is to test the returned Falcon 9 rocket for reuse. If it can fly again, then Elon Musk can really talk to NASA about commercializing space travel, and we could be seeing trips to the moon in the next ten years. It could even happen sooner. This particular rocket will probably be tested for flying in 2016 again.

Until then, it’s pretty much Elon Musk’s new teddy bear. It’ll keep investments coming, which will certainly help him sleep better at night.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1B6oiLNyKKI

The Successful Falcon 9 Rocket Landing Makes Elon Musk the Real Tony Stark

Self-Driving Technology is Cheaper than Google, Tesla, and Volvo Make it Look - http://clapway.com/2015/12/18/tesla-self-driving-cars-are-overpriced-and-outdated-123/

Tesla is getting into a fight with Bloomberg Business to defend that they aren’t overpricing self-driving technology, but the odds aren’t in their favor. George Hotz is Tesla’s prime target. He was the first person to hack the iPhone and PlayStation 3, and he’s coming at Elon Musk for putting a big price tag on something that should not have it.

Geroge ‘Geohot’ Hotz is 26 Years Old, and Made is Own Self-Driving Car

The young entrepreneur developed his own self-driving car kit, and during its release, he threw some shade at other car companies with autonomous driving ventures. He specifically targeted Tesla and Mobileye, saying that their technology is outdated and even he can come up with better gear. He has the proof, too, as he’s released footage of his Honda Acura driving itself on a highway in San Francisco. His next ambitious plan is to outrace a Tesla on Interstate 405 though he didn’t specify a date.

Tesla was quick to shut these claims down, saying that most of Bloomberg Business and Hotz’s statements are completely unfounded. They claim that Tesla’s self-driving efforts have been years in the making, with arduous research and other components having come together to break serious ground in the automobile industry.

Tesla and George Hotz Have A Serious Feud Going On

Tesla went on to declare that there isn’t one person or company that can produce a self-driving car that is production-ready, and that Hotz’s attempt only works on a short stretch of road.

As it turns out, this fight is some time in the making. Elon Musk has had beef with George Hutz for a long time. According to Hotz, he was supposed to join Tesla’s team of self-driving car technology designers. The proposition fell through after three months.

Elon Musk isn’t Very Popular at Silicon Valley

The significance of these two names in the same sentence isn’t great. Elon Musk isn’t seen in a very good light by a lot of people, both for his narcissism and his incredible ability to make something really small sound grand.

However, it’s probably possible that self-driving technology is not as expensive to develop as these companies make it sound. Tesla is notorious for building cars that are six figures and over, so this is no surprise. Do they overprice the technology? Maybe. Does Google overprice the technology? Maybe not.

Google is, At Least, More Reliable than Tesla

Google’s approach to the self-driving car is very different from Tesla’s. Google is looking to provide people with transportation at the cost of any other form of public transport. Tesla is trying to market a product, as is the case with Volvo.

People have a lot of faith in Google, and Google is good at delivering. There’s a chance that thanks to George Hotz, a lot of people will start to question the true cost of self-driving cars. Companies need to make profits somehow, and it’s always at the expense of the client.

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When Other Car Makers Join the Race, The Truth Will Come Out

Once big car makers like Mercedez-Benz and others join the ranks to make their own self-driving car, the cats will get out of the bag. When the consumer has more options, then sellers are forced to share more information. How else will they compete with Tesla, who has been on the market for years?

We can also expect more flashy statements from Elon Musk. This is another great talent that Tesla has. They will continue to release cars with ridiculous specs and people will continue to buy them, at least until the big boys come around. Then, Elon Musk might have to scramble for attention for once.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KTrgRYa2wbI

Self-Driving Technology is Cheaper than Google, Tesla, and Volvo Make it Look

Open AI Will Go Head to Head With Facebook AI and Google AI - http://clapway.com/2015/12/16/open-ai-will-go-head-to-head-with-facebook-ai-and-google-ai-123/

Elon Musk and other Silicon Valley juggernauts are making a billion-dollar investment in Open AI, which is a non-profit company that doubles as a research lab. As the name would suggest, the company focuses on artificial intelligence research.

Is Tesla’s Next Target Artificial Intelligence?

People from all walks of life are coming together to invest in the research for artificial intelligence. Most are focused on molding it so it helps humans, like the self-driving car or supercomputers. But Open AI is focusing on finding out just how much good it can do, and how much bad.

Open AI Has Free Range to Investigate the Power of Artificial Intelligence

The new company has no financial obligations to their investors, so they intend to spend all of their time figuring out the extent of the damage that it can do. Open AI believe that AI should be helpful to humans, but should also have some kind of liberty. There are obviously dangerous implications with this kind of intent, as most sci-fi content has proven. Other backers for the company include Reid Hoffman, who co-founded LinkedIn, Peter Thiel, Y-Combinator, and Amazon Web Services.

This AI Could Even Be Used for Weapon Development and Military Capabilities

The danger with this kind of company is that it could go as far as becoming a nuclear weapon. It is a big leap from what AIs are now. Facebook and Google have given artificial intelligence a good-natured face, but this kind of effort may take it a bit too far.

Autonomous weapons aren’t a far-fetched idea, but they are a dangerous one. While Facebook and Google are focusing on understanding deep learning technology to aid the human experiences, Elon Musk is looking to find out how far it can be taken. They aren’t looking to make a profit from it, merely conduct research.

It’s Not Likely That We Hear Anything from Open AI

This kind of venture tends to be a secretive one. We shouldn’t expect to be getting the latest scoop on artificial intelligence in Open AI press releases. It may take decades for the intelligence to be advanced enough to become the stuff of nightmares, but it will inevitably happen.

On the venture, Elon Musk has said that he believes that so long as AI knowledge and technology remain within reach of the people, it really shouldn’t be a problem. The venture is no less dangerous and the risks are no less heavy, but this is a positive notion. Hopefully, experiments conducted at Open AI can find the ways AI can be harmful to people, and also figure out ways to counter any attacks courtesy of this intelligence.

In Twenty Years, AIs Could Be 100% Autonomous

Currently, any kind of artificial intelligence need input from humans in order to function properly. Whether or not this will change is still in debate. Artificial Intelligence is being researched by the most important companies in the world. We don’t expect much to be kept in the dark, but as the technology grows, things could go get covered in a lot of red tape.

Will Open AI Be Open?

Hopefully, Open AI remains with its transparent intentions. With investors like Elon Musk, who have been compared to Tony Stark in regards to his eccentric ventures, it’s likely that Open AI has a very big future ahead of it. It’ll soon enough come to be head to head with Facebook AI and Google AI, if we ever hear about it. This is the first venture to be so blatantly ambiguous about the up and coming technology, and it may get more spotlight than even virtual reality.

Read: Facebook AI Surpasses Microsoft AI

Read: Microsoft AI Will Beat Android, Facebook and Apple in 2016

Read: Facebook’s AI Beats Google’s Smart Reply

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=btda6infCeQ

 

 

Open AI Will Go Head to Head With Facebook AI and Google AI

SpaceX CEO, #ElonMusk, wants to #nuke #Mars to colonize it. - http://clapway.com/2015/09/11/mars-inhabitable-nuke123/

SpaceX and Tesla motors CEO, Elon Musk, has many plans. To start, he wants to colonize Mars by working with his company to create reusable SpaceX rockets that will allow people to travel to the Red Planet. Interestingly enough, this is not his most radical idea. As discussed on Late Night with Steven Colbert, his ambition to make Mars more inhabitable involves sending nukes up there and exploding parts of the planet in a process called terraforming.

Where the explosions would take place

The proposed explosions would occur at the poles of the planet, although this is not an easy task to carry out. Musk wants to send thermonuclear bombs up there and activate them one by one. He, along with other scientists, believe that this can ultimately help to raise the atmospheric pressure and surface temperature of Mars.

How would that exactly work? Well, the poles of Mars are comprised of water and carbon dioxide. The nuclear weapons could be used to vaporize and release them into the atmosphere; since CO2 is also a greenhouse gas, it can help insulate the planet and make it more hospitable after its initial release from the poles.

Are there other options?

Some scientists state that a technique like this could work. However, it is not the preferable way of terraforming Mars. Releasing greenhouse gases in the planet’s atmosphere, as a secondary option, would be less damaging to Mars’ surface. However, the process may take up to a few decades to complete.

Furthermore, there’s also the option of redirecting an asteroid to hit the poles (as a natural way of “nuking Mars”) and someone has even offered the suggestion of sending genetically modified microorganisms to the Red Planet, which could theoretically set up the beginnings of a more progressive life form.

When will this actually be a possibility?

It is obvious that Elon Musk is not alone in his idea of creating an inhabitable Mars. In fact, the idea is something that has been thought about frequently, due to the Earth’s current environmental condition.

At the moment, however, it is not something that is actually viable. As mentioned previously, even the quickest option of sending nukes to space could take several decades to complete. Regardless, Musk is optimistic about the possibility.

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Mars, we’re coming for ya:

Make Mars Inhabitable by Nuking And Exploding It

Massive Facebook Drone Plans to Blanket the World with Free Wi-Fi Ready for Testing - http://clapway.com/2015/08/01/massive-facebook-drone-plane-wi-fi-ready213/

According to Statista, Facebook had 1.49 billion active users as of the second quarter of 2015. With the company commanding over 20 percent of the world’s population, people have to wonder how a tech company can expect to grow when 60 percent of its prospective customers are missing a vital component to the service it offers: the internet. Well, Facebook has the answer, and it relies on flying a solar-powered Facebook drone over areas of the world that don’t have regular access to the web.

Facebook Throws in Its Bid to Power Free Wi-Fi Worldwide

The Boeing 737 is a passenger plane that boasts a respectable wingspan just under 120 ft. Facebook’s solar powered drone, sitting somewhere in the UK, that has a wingspan to match. Facebook calls this goliath Aquila, which is a reference to the eagle that carried Zeus’ thunderbolts in Greek mythology.

However, offering a sort of global blanket of Wi-Fi isn’t an idea that is unheard of. At the beginning of the year, SpaceX raised $1 billion in new funding from partners like Google and Fidelity in an effort to launch satellites into space to help broaden internet connectivity.

Additionally, Google also has a project called Project Loon that has a similar goal of floating balloons into the stratosphere. The plan is to partner with telecom companies to spread LTE around the world.

According to Facebook, Four Billion People Lack Internet Access

Building a Facebook drone with the same wingspan of a Boeing 737 sounds expensive, and giving out free internet access seems like a crazy idea, but Facebook says there are still four billion people in the world who lack regular access to the internet. Which for them means there are four billion potential customers to win over. For Facebook, this is an investment that they hope will bring in a large return.

How it All Works

Yael Maguire, Aquila’s project lead, stated that their goal is to have Aquila stay in the air for 90 days at an altitude between 60,000 and 90,000 feet. “We think this is a very ambitious goal, given that the world record, as far as we can tell, is about two weeks,” said Maguire.

Another group of Facebook engineers has been working on developing new laser networking technologies that will enable Aquila to send the drone’s internet signal back to Earth. The laser is designed to deliver data at speeds up to 10s of Gbits per second.

Development on Aquila has already been completed and Facebook is currently getting ready to launch test flights of the Facebook drone soon.

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Take a look at another incredible piece of technology, the Rwatch R10 smart watch.

Massive Facebook Drone Plans to Blanket the World with Free Wi-Fi Ready for Testing

China: Futuristic Youxia Ranger X Unveiled in China Looking a Whole Lot Like KITT from Knight Rider - http://clapway.com/2015/07/28/china-futuristic-youxia-ranger-x-unveiled-in-china-looking-a-whole-lot-like-kitt-from-knight-rider-235/

Tesla has led the market in high performance electric cars since they were introduced on the market, but now it seems as though the American car company has some healthy competition. Chinese auto manufacturer Youxia Motors unveiled this week its own version of the high powered electric car the Youxia Ranger X, and no big surprise here, it’s totally awesome. Whether it will be able to stand up against Elon Musk, and the team behind Tesla remains to be seen. Chances are you won’t be able to get one in America anytime soon, but for now we can all gawk at the Youxia Ranger X and dream of seeing them on roads near us in the future.

What makes the Youxia Ranger X different from other electric sports cars?

Youxia Ranger X is far from your average electric car, and is guaranteed to be the most innovative vehicle that you’ve ever seen. While some have begun to draw similarities between the Youxia Ranger X and Tesla’s cars, Several features make the car different from anything that Tesla has ever designed before. The car is capable of reaching 0-60 km in only 2.8 seconds, features a computer system that keeps the car from drifting into other lanes, a battery pack that sits under the chassis allowing more stable driving and longer battery life, and last but certainly not least you can actually talk to the car in the form of verbal commands.

A real life Knight Rider ‘Kitt’

According to the Youxia Motors website, “Speak with the car, 82-year US drama “Ranger X” fantasy, but now, we let it become real in Ranger X, you can use a variety of sentence, let the car for you to play your favorite music, send text messages , make phone calls, adjust the air conditioning and the like.” The Youxia Ranger X is essentially 100% hands-free, and instead operates by entirely verbal commands much like the car KITT from the popular television show ‘Knight Rider’. The car also allows the option to completely customize what is displayed on the front grill of the car as described by Youxia Motors, “Programmable front face display you can display any sign or animation you want the front face, whether Ranger LOGO, Ranger X flashing lights, or a Batman logo! None of the two people, nor the same two Ranger X.”

When can we expect to see the Youxia Ranger X on the road in the future?

It will be a while before Youxia Ranger X appears anywhere, because a Chinese release is slated for 2016, and when the car will appear on streets in the United States is still unknown. In the meantime we can watch reruns of ‘Knight Rider’ to prepare for a future where talking cars are driving up and down streets with pulsing animations glowing on their grills thanks to Youxia Motors team of innovators.

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For the latest in tech news, check out Clapway Trends:

China: Futuristic Youxia Ranger X Unveiled in China Looking a Whole Lot Like KITT from Knight Rider

The #scariest things about #AI... - http://clapway.com/2015/07/28/leaders-urge-against-arming-artificial-intelligence-344/

Experts within the artificial intelligence community are urging for a ban on research concerning autonomous weapons systems.

In an open letter titled, Autonomous Weapons: an Open Letter from AI & Robotics Researchers individuals concerned with the future of artificial intelligence make their concerns clear.

More than 1,000 experts in the artificial intelligence community have signed the open letter. Elon Musk, Stephen Hawking, and Steve Wozniak are among those experts.

In January 2015 founder of Tesla Motors and SpaceX, Elon Musk, donated $10 million to the Future of Life Institute to run a research program that aims to keep artificial intelligence beneficial to humanity. Musk claims the solution to weaponized robots is a ban on them similar to the ban on use of chemical weapons.

Potential for Increase in War

According to the letter, autonomous weapons “select and engage targets without human intervention.” Drones do not fall under the autonomous weapons category because humans are responsible for targeting decisions. Autonomous weapons would use pre-defined criteria to make targeting decisions.

While autonomous weapons systems have yet to be deployed, research indicates that it is only a matter of time before it becomes a feasible option.

The use of autonomous weapons systems has the potential to reduce casualties for the possessor. However, this would result in a lower threshold for initiating war and could cause an overall increase in war.

Global Arms Race

The letter states that the push for autonomous weapons could initiate a global arms race, which is why these experts are in support of this letter, to end it before it begins. “Starting a military AI arms race is a bad idea, and should be prevented by a ban on offensive autonomous weapons beyond meaningful human control.”

“It will only be a matter of time until they appear on the black market and in the hands of terrorists, dictators wishing to better control their populace, warlords wishing to perpetrate ethnic cleansing, etc. Autonomous weapons are ideal for tasks such as assassinations, destabilizing nations, subduing populations and selectively killing a particular ethnic group.”

Vulnerabilities in Automation

While automation has become a leading trend in the technology industry, it come with a set of vulnerabilities.

Earlier this year, a robot at a Volkswagen production factory killed a 22-year-old man in Baunatal, Germany. A VW spokesperson said that the robot grabbed the man and crushed him against a metal plate.

Last week two security researchers demonstrated their ability to hack into Jeep Cherokee and control its movements from a couch. They were able to control the vehicle’s entertainment system, speed, brakes etc.

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MUSIO is a great intro to AI:

 

 

Leaders Urge Against Arming Artificial Intelligence

What went wrong with #SpaceX #Falcon9 #rocket discovered. - http://clapway.com/2015/07/21/how-a-2-foot-strut-brought-down-spacexs-falcon-9-rocket-122/

Three weeks after the SpaceX rocket Falcon 9 blew up just minutes after launch, the company believes it’s finally found the culprit — a 2-foot steel strut.

The Weakest Link

Elon Musk, founder and chief executive of SpaceX, said on Monday that initial investigation has lead the company to believe that a 2-foot long steel strut is what inevitably brought down their latest unmanned rocket, the Falcon 9. This strut, measuring in at only an inch wide, had one job — to hold down a high-pressure helium bottle in the liquid oxygen tank. Engineers believe that the strut snapped, which launched the bottle to the top of the oxygen tank. The result of which can be seen here.

The faulty strut is manufactured to support 10,000 pounds of force, which is well above the 3,500 pounds of force that the struts handle during an actual launch. “The strut failed five times below its normal strength, which is crazy,” said Musk.

In the news conference, Musk iterated that these were only preliminary results and that nothing was exactly definitive yet. During the conference Musk also stated that the strut wasn’t manufactured by SpaceX and that they had tested “some enormous number” only to discover that some could only support 2,000 pounds of force. Musk declined to provide the name of the supplier.

Misplaced Confidence Could Also be the Blame

The Falcon 9’s original mission was to resupply the ISS, but also staying intact so that SpaceX could retrieve the rocket in order to reuse it. For commercial spaceflight companies, this is a way to decrease the cost of future missions. Unfortunately, this is the third time in the last eight months that the rocket has experienced a failed launch.

“To some degree the company became a little bit complacent in the course of 20 successes in a row,” said Musk. “This is certainly an important lesson and something we will take with us into the future.”

According to Musk, many of the company’s employees believed Musk was being “paranoid” by his stringent attitude towards potential flaws. A behavior that has proven to be well justified.

Looking Forward to the Future

All of SpaceX’s main systems and rocket engines are made in-house, and Marco Caceres, director of space studies for Teal Group, believes that this is an important achievement.

“There is not a fundamental flaw in the design of the rocket itself. A strut is a specific part… Going forward, they will be much more careful about testing everything that goes on the vehicle,” said Caceres.

SpaceX is currently still trying to retrieve Dragon, the cargo spacecraft attached to the Falcon 9, and currently has no plans to cease its mission, though the launch schedule will need to be revised.

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A space adventure that won’t go wrong awaits:

How a 2-Foot Strut Brought Down SpaceX"s Falcon 9 Rocket

Hyperloop Could Bring Los Angeles and San Francisco Closer - http://clapway.com/2015/07/08/hyperloop-could-bring-los-angeles-and-san-francisco-closer879/

Imagine it’s the year 2018, and your mind’s caught looping in a vicious circle between making three meetings, with the second one in Los Angeles, and the first and third in San Francisco. There’s no way you can make them all in your flying car because of a traffic jam, plus the plutonium shortage means you’ll have a net loss in your budget today. You would Skype via the heads-up hologram display in your glasses, but that second assistant of yours always seems to instill a kind of confusion at meeting’s end only reneged by your physical presence. But what if you could hyperloop between the cities in 30 minutes or less?

READING TOO MUCH ASIMOV?

No, hyperloop isn’t science fiction, and this isn’t Isaac Asimov. Elon Musk recently invested in the Hyperloop project, which plans to construct several circuits of low-pressure tubes, inside of which will travel bullet-shaped capsules. These capsules will ride self-generated cushion of air as they are propelled forward by magnetic linear acceleration, becoming the most ecologically-savvy form of transportation to grace the west side, according to a recent report by Reuters.

THE MAN WITH THE PLAN

Speaking from Hyperloop Transportation Technologies, Dirk Ahlborn described this new invention: “Well imagine a capsule filled with people that’s hovering inside the tube. Inside the tube you create a low pressure environment very similar to an airplane that’s at high altitudes. So now the capsule traveling inside the tubes doesn’t encounter as much [air] resistance, and so therefore can travel really fast with very little energy.”

HYPERLOOP MAY BENEFIT LOCAL ENVIRONS & COMMUNITIES

Among putative benefits to consumers and surrounding environs alike is the potential for hyperloop transit to be totally free, for the supporting concrete pylons to house bee hives, energy generators, gardens, et al to actually encourage local communities to celebrate the installation of new nearby pylons as a means for communion or trade.

Musk argues that Hyperloop would be a much better transportation system than the state’s concurrent plans for a high-speed rail system, e.g., hyperloop would be safer, faster, cheaper, and more efficient.

INITIAL TESTING AND COMPETITION

Space Exploration Technologies, i.e. SpaceX (the company currently launching supplies to the International Space Station), will construct a test track in California, and is already hosting a competition for prototype pods. We should keep in mind that neither SpaceX nor Elon Musk are directly affiliated with Hyperloop.

Hyperloop Technology will be completely solar powered, and is expected to break current speed records upon first tests. Such groundbreaking beginnings are sure to swell the confidence of investors and citizens affecting and effected by this project, alike.

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Well, there’s plenty of commuting hell time left until the hyperloop comes out. Make your trip to work fun and healthy with the Penny skateboard.

Hyperloop Could Bring Los Angeles and San Francisco Closer

University of Illinois in the running for Hyperloop design competition. - http://clapway.com/2015/06/29/university-of-illinois-students-create-functional-scale-model-of-hyperloop-design-234/

Elon Musk is changing to way we think about travel not only into space, but here on Earth as well. Musk’s idea for the super-fast and efficient Hyperloop transportation system has inspired students at University of Illinois to make a fully functional scale version of the Hyperloop design, making the concept one step closer to being no longer just a concept, but a fully functional mode of transportation and a part of our everyday lives.

Hyperloop is more than just a science project, it will change the way we travel

The Hyperloop design works in part by reducing the friction that various other forms of transportation experience, and thus increasing the speed at which it is capable of travelling. This has be theorized to eventually be accomplished by train like cars hovering over magnets, which will be transporting passengers in vacuum like tubes with reduced or airless tunnel systems in order to almost completely reduce friction, and reach speeds as high as 760 miles per hour. There is some debate over the cost effectiveness of the Hyperloop design, but Musk estimates that a track running from San Francisco to Los Angeles would cost around 7.5 Billion to implement.

University of Illinois’ Hyperloop agenda

Since Musk announced that he would not have the time to pursue the Hyperloop project, he has a created a competition in which teams are competing to design the best possible prototype design of the futuristic transport.

A senior design team from the University of Illinois took it upon themselves to attempt the ambitious effort, and building on the work of their senior predecessors successfully completed a 1:24 functional scale model of the Hyperloop.

University of Illinois’ ongoing project is offered to senior level students interested in having the opportunity to eventually build a prototype to test at the SpaceX Hyperloop testing facility in California. Thanks to the team of students at University of Illinois, the incredibly innovative Hyperloop transportation system is one step closer to moving us where we need to go everyday safer, and faster than we have ever been moved before.

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Students, wake up to design your Hyperloop with SensorWake:

University of Illinois Students Create Functional Scale Model of Hyperloop Design

You win some, you lose some. - http://clapway.com/2015/06/28/spacex-falcon-9-rocket-disintegrates-after-launch-234/

A SpaceX rocket launched from Cape Canaveral, Florida on the morning of Sunday, June 28. But it broke apart shortly after takeoff.

FALCON 9 ROCKET EXPLODES

SpaceX is the first commercial space company to successfully deliver cargo to the International Space Station (ISS). In 2012, the company made history when its unmanned Dragon capsule successfully docked with the ISS, delivered cargo, then safely returned to Earth.

The company attempted its seventh resupply mission on June 28. A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket blasted off with the Dragon spacecraft at 10:21 a.m. local time. But the rocket disintegrated just minutes after takeoff, destroying Dragon and its more than two and a half tons of equipment, experiments, and supplies.

Shortly after the incident, the company’s CEO, Elon Musk, posted on Twitter, “Falcon 9 experienced a problem shortly before first stage shutdown. Will provide more info as soon as we review the data.”

Falcon 9 experienced a problem shortly before first stage shutdown. Will provide more info as soon as we review the data.

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) June 28, 2015

After evaluating preliminary data, Musk reported, “There was an overpressure event in the upper stage liquid oxygen tank. Data suggests counterintuitive cause.”

The SpaceX anomaly team will investigate the incident further to determine precisely what caused the rocket to explode.

Watched #Dragon launch from @space_station Sadly failed Space is hard Teams assess below @NASAKennedy #YearInSpace pic.twitter.com/myi3col5Ix

— Scott Kelly (@StationCDRKelly) June 28, 2015

THREE ISS SUPPLY MISSION FAILURES

This failure is SpaceX’s first failed ISS mission. But, unfortunately for the astronauts aboard the space station, this isn’t the first failed resupply mission.

Russia’s Progress cargo spaceship was lost shortly after its launch in April 2015. And Orbital Sciences’ Antares rocket at Cygnus capsule broke apart near its launch platform in October 2014.

Although these missions deliver important scientific research projects to the ISS, they also supply the astronauts with important basics like food and oxygen. So the failure of these missions and the loss of necessary cargo makes things difficult for the space station’s inhabitants. The astronauts would reportedly need to tap into reserve supplies if no cargo arrives by September 2015. But two supply missions are scheduled before then.

NO LANDING TEST

Part of SpaceX’s recent mission was supposed to include an attempted vertical landing of the Falcon 9 on a platform in the Atlantic Ocean following the separation of the Dragon capsule. But, obviously, the mission didn’t get that far.

SpaceX wants to master the process of landing its rockets in order to reuse them for future missions. Reusable rockets will considerably reduce launch expenses.

The company attempted a landing in January 2015, but that attempt failed. The company tried again in April 2015 with better results. The rocket got within ten meters of its target, but it descended too hard and couldn’t stick its landing.

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For more adventures in space, see Space Scouts Summer Adventure:

SpaceX Falcon 9 Rocket Disintegrates After Launch

The future of bullet trains could end up in the hands of someone you know. - http://clapway.com/2015/06/15/start-planning-your-design-spacexs-new-competition-for-hyperloop-competition-this-month-340/

Today, Monday, June 15, 2005, SpaceX announced the start of their competition for designing and building pods for Hyperloop. It should begin this month and appears to target university students, university engineering and engineering-related organizations and clubs, and independent engineering teams. Even so, the Hyperloop competition is open to everyone all around the world. Details of the competition are also listed here.

What is Hyperloop?

Hyperloop is Elon Musk’s theoretical transportation design concept first introduced in August 2013. In early stages as of yet, it plans to revolutionize the world, creating an automobile high-speed rail like the world has not seen. Musk offered the concept in the form of an an open-source document. He described that this transportation design concept would incorporate reduced-pressure vacuum tubes to transport anything or anyone between Los Angelos and San Francisco in about 30 minutes. What bullet train?

SpaceX Competition in Support of Transportation Needs

It turns out, SpaceX, Elon Musk’s rocket making company, and Musk are not actually affiliated with Hyperloop companies. They support Hyperloop and created this competition in order to help this concept come alive, recognizing there’s a place for it in the world. SpaceX proclaims on the competition webpage that their interests lie “in helping accelerate development of a functional Hyperloop prototype.”

The Future of Transportation is in Hands of Anyone

One rule of the competition is that people are not to ride in any of the pods during it. Private companies may choose which teams to sponsor and invest in (similar to the races much?). They will have the chance to learn more at a design weekend at Texas A&M University, set to take place in January 2016. There has not been much said on the prize for the winner, but glory is sure to be one of them. In reality though, this provides a stellar opportunity to the ambitious engineers and designers who believe they have what it takes to win.

SpaceX is set to build (at undisclosed costs) a 1-mile test track for the competition right beside their headquarters in Hawthorne, California. As a bonus, Musk’s company might also include an example pod but not competitively, of course.

The Official SpaceX Hyperloop Pod Competition starts this month and ends September 15th, 2015. So get working!

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Start Planning Your Design for SpaceX"s New Hyperloop Competition This Month

Will astronauts soon have to share their Internet from space? - http://clapway.com/2015/06/10/spacex-internet-from-space-means-internet-to-all-123/

Will Astronauts Soon Have To Share Their Internet From Space?

Astronauts may have to share their rapid-fire interconnectivity. Elon Musk, the founder of SpaceX plans to bring high-speed Internet from space to the rest of the world. In his project to bring internet from space to all parts of the globe — even the most remote of them — Internet might be an equal opportunity feature.

Internet Would Be Equal Access

In order to steep this ambitious project in reality, a web of satellites would have to wrap around the world to provide Internet from space to areas all across the globe. If this works out, Internet would be more cost efficient and higher speed than the Internet we get from existing satellites today.

This is an unusual project for SpaceX as it is primarily a rocket company. But it could put SpaceX on the map as a huge high-speed Internet provider that gives equal access to Internet. Why is this worthwhile? Upon project success, SpaceX could be responsible for helping billions of people access Internet for the first time! The only entities that may not be too happy about this might be AT&T and Comcast as SpaceX’s success would put these companies in direct competition with one another.

How SpaceX Will Test This Project

U.S. government must permit federal approval in order to begin testing on this project. Once this is approved, what awaits is still quite a long journey. They submitted their proposal to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) late last month.

The proposal submitted to the the U.S. government requesting for approval describes the testing phase. There would be a web of about 4,000 smaller, cheaper satellite prototypes that would beam high-speed Internet from space to all regions of the world. The web of satellite prototypes would launch from SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket. It would orbit the Earth and connect to three ground stations located on the West Coast. The goal of the testing is to figure out if their technology is capable of beaming reliable, efficient Internet from space to the ground.

Space Internet Has A Future

If not Musk, it may have been someone else. Richard Brandon, Virgin Group’s founder had similar ambitions. The same goes for Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg and Bill Gates also wanted to bring Internet to all. It’s possible that Musk will take from any roadblocks these businessmen encountered, and become the one who is able to persist and find success. According to the Washington Post’s reports, Google and Fidelity have invested $1 billion into funding for SpaceX’s–part of the investment was specifically for this groundbreaking Internet project.

If all goes well, SpaceX would begin testing phase for their ambitious Internet project starting 2016. We could be seeing this service publicly available as soon as within the next five years. While this is a branch out from Musk’s usual ambitions of space travel and exploration, it’s not entirely unrelated. Musk describes his vision as “rebuilding the Internet in space.”

With so many reasons to get excited about space technology, why not share the fun with your youngsters with Space Scouts Summer Adventure?:

SpaceX: Internet from Space Means Internet to All

SpaceX Becomes Certified For Military Missions - http://clapway.com/2015/05/27/spacex-becomes-certified-for-military-missions-123/

For the first time since 2006, a private enterprise space company is about to travel into military missions, as SpaceX becomes certified to provide services to the US Air Force. Prior to now, the partnership of Lockheed Martin-Boeing has held a monopoly on things like the launch of spy satellites, but next month in June, SpaceX will get a chance to launch the GPS III satellite.

As SpaceX becomes certified, it is the first commercial space mission launch provider in practically ten years. Having a commercial source of space travel will help lower the cost of space travel in the future.

SpaceX Becomes Certified in a Two Year Process

SpaceX and the US Air Force are calling the partnership a milestone and it culminates two years of work to get SpaceX the needed certification via the Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicle (EELV) program.

The partnership started in January with an announcement about the EELV, which they hope will aid in the improvement of the competitive process and also attain missions guaranteed for SpaceX to be involved in future national security space launches.

SpaceX Falcon 9 Rocket to Provide Services for USAF

As SpaceX becomes certified, they are now eligible for other military space missions, which could be valued at $70 billion dollars by 2030, says Air Force Secretary Deborah Lee James. SpaceX has spent time testing and evaluating their Falcon 9 rocket. They estimate they can provide launch travel missions for a mere $100 million dollars or less, which is a major savings.

The new partnership between SpaceX and the USAF will also help relieve the dependence for using the Russian RD-180 engines on their Atlas-5 rockets. The U.S. government forbade using the Russian engines for military space missions travel after 2019 due to Russia annexing Crimea in 2014.

SpaceX Could Become Head Launch Mission Company

Now that SpaceX becomes certified, they have a great advantage over everyone else to grow into the chief space travel company for the USAF after 2019. That is because besides the end of working with the Russians by then, Lockheed Martin-Boeing won’t have certified their Vulcan rocket until 2022 and the CEO of SpaceX, Elon Musk, hopes their Falcon heavy rocket will get approval by 2017.

Musk said that as SpaceX becomes certified he thanks the USAF for having confidence in SpaceX, and the company will continue to compete for future military space travel missions.

SpaceX Becomes Certified For Military Missions

Crucial NASA Data Returns to Earth Aboard SpaceX Dragon - http://clapway.com/2015/05/21/crucial-nasa-data-returns-to-earth-aboard-spacex-dragon-123/

Today, at 12:42 PM EDT, SpaceX’s spacecraft, the SpaceX Dragon, had successful splashdown in the Pacific Ocean. The craft was carrying over two tons of NASA cargo from the International Space Station, including important research on how life in space affects bone health and the aging process. The 3,100 lbs of cargo made it down to Earth safely, and will be unloaded from the SpaceX Dragon and received by NASA as soon as it makes its 155-mile trip to Long Beach, California. From there, the SpaceX Dragon will be taken home to SpaceX’s McGregor, Texas-based test facility.

Important NASA Data Was Quite Varied in Nature

Some data was on the aging of roundworms, which can be used as a model for larger organisms. Scientists can observe certain physiological changes in the worms that are a result of space life, which may affect aging rates.

Other data came from the Osteocytes and Mechanomechano (Osteo-4) transduction investigation.

The Osteocyte investigation gathered data about what happens to osteocytes, the most common cells in bone, under microgravity. This information is important for two reasons. First, it helps us better understand what happens to humans during long periods in space. Bone density in astronauts tends to decrease at a much higher rate than in people living on Earth. Scientists hope that the findings can be used to better prepare astronauts for the effects of future long-term missions, such as NASA’s Mars journey. Second, the data may also be useful to treating patients on Earth who are rendered immobile or inactive as a result of illness or old age.

Another set of data, along with equipment, came from the SpinSat, or Special Purpose Inexpensive Satellite. The SpinSat is a spherical satellite less than two feet in diameter, with new thrusters that allow it to move and position itself. One proposed future use for the SpinSat data is to get high-resolution atmospheric data from the thermosphere, one of the highest levels in our atmosphere. Scientists hope that this data will help design future generations of satellites and telecom technology.

SpaceX has had numerous successes lately, and is currently the only company that makes a high-capacity vessel for supply trips to the International Space Station.

Crucial NASA Data Returns to Earth Aboard SpaceX Dragon

#SpaceX gets the okay from #NASA for its space missions. - http://clapway.com/2015/05/18/falcon-9-rocket-a-go-for-category-2-space-missions123/

The SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket has been given the okay by NASA to be used in their Category 2 missions. The spacecraft, however, will not be used for manned missions; rather, it will be utilized for space missions that are deemed a medium risk – generally for satellite launches or cargo missions. It has taken the company three years to receive approval for the Category 2 space missions.

SpaceX is an independent, American aerospace company space agency led by Elon Musk. The first big Falcon 9 contract was back in 2012, when it was awarded the opportunity to launch Jason 3 satellites for France and the United States. Jason 3 measures the height of waves, as well as sea level, and obtains other data used for weather studies. The Falcon 9 rocket has also flown six resupply missions to the International Space Station.

The Goal of the Falcon 9 Rocket Goal To Save Money in Space

SpaceX’s goal is to make space travel less expensive by producing reliable rockets. NASA’s certification will now allow the Falcon 9 rocket to earn other kinds of contracts. In fact, another space mission in lined up for 2017, which is the Florida launching of TESS, a satellite that looks for new planets.

Other Certifications for Falcon 9 Rocket

The Falcon 9 rocket expects other types of certification in the near future, as the U.S. Air Force is predicted to give it the okay by early June to launch its national security satellites. This is a government certification so it will help SpaceX achieve its future space-related goals.

Both SpaceX and NASA, for example, have their eyes set on the exploration and possible colonization of Mars. The company’s CEO, Elon Musk, has high hopes for a manned space mission to Mars by 2026. While it isn’t likely man will go to Mars onboard the Falcon 9 rocket, this rocket still marks a great achievement for SpaceX.

Falcon 9 Rocket A Go For Category 2 Space Missions