Robots may eliminate 50 million jobs

October 25 2008 / by John Heylin

ScenarioLand.com Year: Beyond   Rating: 5 Hot

Marshall Brain, founder of How Stuff Works, gave a presentation on how robots can easily eliminate half the workforce of the United States fairly soon.

He said that by 2042 there will be $500 desktop computers with computing power equal to the human brain. We can then put this into a robot which will have the power to do jobs that millions of people hold today. Robots can easily take over education, transportation, construction and retail jobs.

For example: Walmart alone has over 1.2 million employees, performing easy jobs. If robots take the jobs, “a million jobs at Walmart will evaporate.”

But what about the job market?

6.5 million in construction will be gone. 16.4 million in manufacturing will be gone. Retail/wholesale will lose 20 million jobs. Drivers will lose 3 million jobs. Education to lose 2 million.

“Half the jobs in the economy right now we can see robots taking over.”

He ended with the question displayed “What if 50-million people became unemployed?” He then said “there is no doubt these jobs will be gone fairly soon.” We have to start modifying our economy to deal with the mass unemployed.

Scientists make cousin of DNA for nanotechnology building block

Also see: National DNA Day

Biodesign Institute scientist John Chaput and his research team have made the first self-assembled nanostructures composed entirely of glycerol nucleic acid — a synthetic analog of DNA. The nanostructures contain… Click here for more info

In the rapid and fast-growing world of nanotechnology, researchers are continually on the lookout for new building blocks to push innovation and discovery to scales much smaller than the tiniest speck of dust.

In the Biodesign Institute at Arizona State University, researchers are using DNA to make intricate nano-sized objects. Working at this scale holds great potential for advancing medical and electronic applications. DNA, often thought of as the molecule of life, is an ideal building block for nanotechnology because they self-assemble, snapping together into shapes based on natural chemical rules of attraction. This is a major advantage for Biodesign researchers like Hao Yan, who rely on the unique chemical and physical properties of DNA to make their complex nanostructures.

While scientists are fully exploring the promise of DNA nanotechnology, Biodesign Institute colleague John Chaput is working to give researchers brand new materials to aid their designs. In an article recently published in the Journal of the American Chemical Society, Chaput and his research team have made the first self-assembled nanostructures composed entirely of glycerol nucleic acid (GNA)—a synthetic analog of DNA Read more

Nanotechnology: incredible products predicted for the future

April 10 2008 / by futuretalk / by Dick Pelletier

The late Arthur C. Clarke once said, ‘Any sufficiently advanced technology is virtually indistinguishable from magic.’ Enter humanity’s newest plunge into magic nanotechnology.

Imagine a world with billions of desktop-size machines that can create almost anything - clothing, furniture, electronics, and more - in just minutes. Today, such devices are not available, but one day soon, a small nano-factory will sit on your kitchen counter and let you order nearly anything you desire at little or no cost.

Computer, make me ham and eggs, home fries, wheat toast, and coffee. Although this may sound like something out of Star Trek, according to futurist Ray Kurzweil, nano-factories could be providing you and your family with meals, medicines, and most essentials by as early as mid-2020s.

Nano-factories operate similar to the way life creates its miracles. A plant grabs atoms from dirt, water, and air, and transforms them into a juicy red strawberry. Our bodies rearrange atoms in the food we eat to create new blood cells. And in similar fashion, nano-factories collect raw atoms from something as inexpensive as dirt, air, or seawater and produce clothes, food, medicine, or even another nano-factory.

A recent government report, “Nanotechnology: the Future is Coming Sooner Than You Think” outlined when we can expect nano-products to enter the consumer market:

2000-2005 - mostly passive nano items were developed during this period, including sunscreens, tennis rackets, stain/water-resistant clothing, and other high-tech products.

2005-2010 - active products that change states during use are typical for this group. These include materials that sense when a product is strained, such as cars that automatically repair dents; wiper-less windshield cleaners; materials that convert sunlight into electricity to power personal electronics; clothing that changes color and texture on command; and nanofoods such as fat-free donuts, cholesterol-lowering Read more

Clean Energy Research Centre set up in Shanghai

16:27, March 17, 2008

The Xinao Group and Shanghai Communications University jointly set up the Clean Energy Research Centre that was officially established on the 16th. The research center will focus on the research and applications of clean alternative energy sources: dimethyl ether (DME). At the same time, Xinao Group will also build a DME fuel station on the Shanghai Communications University campus and provide free bus fuel, according to Xinhua Net.

DME is an important chemical raw material that can be used in chemical synthesis; and could also serve as a supplementary fuel for motor fuel and civilian gas. Because of its unique advantages, DME is an important clean energy, an alternative to diesel and liquefied petroleum gas for industrial and civilian fuels; and can effectively reduce environmental pollution and resolve environmental problems triggered by the development of the petrochemical industry.

In early 2007, the Xinao Group and Shanghai Communications University have reached a clean energy strategic cooperation agreement: by effectively integrating their own respective resource advantages, they can jointly create a new pattern of energy research, development, and application. In 2007, the Xinao Group built the world’s first commercial operation motor vehicle DME station in Shanghai.

From People’s Daily Online

Large Hadron Collider - start this year sparks fear and lawsuits

Posted on CosmicLog:
Thursday, March 27, 2008 11:00 AM by Alan Boyle

EIROforum / CERN A hardhat worker is dwarfed by the inner workings of the Large Hadron Collider’s ATLAS detector. Click on the image for a larger version.

The builders of the world’s biggest particle collider are being sued in federal court over fears that the experiment might create globe-gobbling black holes or never-before-seen strains of matter that would destroy the planet.

Representatives at Fermilab in Illinois and at Europe’s CERN laboratory, two of the defendants in the case, say there’s no chance that the Large Hadron Collider would cause such cosmic catastrophes. Nevertheless, they’re bracing to defend themselves in the courtroom as well as the court of public opinion.

The Large Hadron Collider, or LHC, is due for startup later this year at CERN’s headquarters on the French-Swiss border. It’s expected to tackle some of the deepest questions in science: Is the foundation of modern physics right or wrong? What existed during the very first moment of the universe’s existence? Why do some particles have mass while others don’t? What is the nature of dark matter? Are there extra dimensions of space out there that we haven’t yet detected?

Some folks outside the scientific mainstream have asked darker questions as well: Could the collider create mini-black holes that last long enough and get big enough to turn into a matter-sucking maelstrom? Could exotic particles known as magnetic monopoles throw atomic nuclei out of whack? Could quarks recombine into “strangelets” that would turn the whole Earth into Read more

Mapping Depth

Posted Mar 19th 2008 7:07PM by Nilay Patel on Engadget: Digital Cameras

Stanford researchers cram 12,616 tiny lenses into a 3D camera

With the megapixel race already past the point of noticeable benefit to consumers, it looks like the next camera arms race will be the number of lenses your rig sports — a team at Stanford is working on a 3D camera that uses 12,616 micro-lenses to generate high quality 3 megapixel images with self-contained “depth maps” that measure the distance to every object in the frame. The system works by focusing each lens above four different overlapping sensor arrays, which work in concert to determine depth — just like your eyes.

The testing platform for the multi-aperture image sensor chip.

The camera you own has one main lens and produces a flat, two-dimensional photograph, whether you hold it in your hand or view it on your computer screen. On the other hand, a camera with two lenses (or two cameras placed apart from each other) can take more interesting 3-D photos.

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Tufts Biomimetic Devices Laboratory

A New Interdisciplinary Laboratory for Neuromechanics and Robotics.

About the Lab: The Tufts Biomimetic Devices Laboratory (BDL) is a University facility equipped for research and teaching in neuromechanics and robotics. Work in this laboratory specializes in using non-traditional animal models to develop new approaches to robot control and design. A key feature of the approach is that our machines are designed using biological principles rather than simply mimicking their performance. Click on the read more link below to learn more about the laboratory.

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