H+ Weekly - Issue #41
ISSUE #41
This week we saw the result of the match between AlphaGo and Lee Sedol, so there will be a lot of articles covering this. Other than that - bionic fingertip that "feels" textures, AI plays Minecraft, Google hooked 14 robots to do things, strong microrobots and more!
More than a human
Bionic fingertip allows amputee to 'feel' textures
Researchers from Switzerland and Italy created an artificial fingertip, which is connected directly to the human nervous system and allows the patient to distinguish between rough and smooth surfaces with 96 percent accuracy.
U.S. military spending millions to make cyborgs a reality
The U.S. military is spending millions on an advanced implant that would allow a human brain to communicate directly with computers. DARPA hopes the implant will allow humans to directly interface with computers, which could benefit people with aural and visual disabilities, such as veterans injured in combat.
Zoltan Istvan's interview for London Real
Interesting interview with Zoltan Istvan, US Presidential candidate for the Transhumanist Party. He explains what is transhumanism, how it is going to make death obsolete. He also talks about human augmentations, AI, Singularity, cyborg laws and more. Worth watching or just listening (the interview starts at 6:22).
Artificial Intelligence
Google's AlphaGo gets 'divine' Go ranking
After winning 4:1 against Lee Sedol, AlphaGo as been awarded the highest Go grandmaster rank, reserved for those whose ability at the ancient board game borders on "divinity".
Yann LeCun on AlphaGo and AI
Here's what Yann LeCun, Director of AI Research at Facebook, has to say about AlphaGo's victory. In a nutshell - we haven't solved the unsupervised learning problem, which is a key milestone towards true AI.
Eliezer Yudkowsky on AlphaGo
And here's what Eliezer Yudkowsky has to say about AlphaGo. It is a rather long analysis.
AlphaGo is Not the Solution to AI
John Langford also sends his congratulations to the AlphaGo team, but he also emphasises that AlphaGo is not the solution to the AI and recommends a little bit more scepticism and not getting on the hype train, which might lead to a yet another big disappointment.
After AlphaGo, what's next for AI?
That's a good question. There are rumors that the next game that DeepMind would try to tackle might be StarCraft. Others would like to see the AlphaGo-like AI used in some real-life applications, like healthcare.
The momentous advance in artificial intelligence demands a new set of ethics
AlphaGo's victory also made some people to ask if are we going a bit too far. Like this article from Guardian, which is concern about the world ruled by AIs and calls to make sure that people will be able to control even more powerful AIs.
Project AIX: Using Minecraft to build more intelligent technology
Meanwhile, at Microsoft AI is playing Minecraft.
AI is closer than we know
Or how machine learning, deep learning and quantum computing together will change the computing and worlds as we know it.
What counts as artificially intelligent? AI and deep learning, explained
Artificial intelligence, machine learning, deep learning... we hear these phrases a lot recently. If you feel confused and don't know which means what, this article will explain it. Also, it will answer the question what the giants, Facebook, Google, Microsoft and others, use.
Artificial intelligence and language
This article explores the connection between AI and language understanding. It starts with Alan Turing and his famous test, which is basically a test of using language by a machine, and then goes through our current systems that understand speech and with which we can actually speak.
Robotics
Dubai wants to host robot Olympics every 2 years from 2017
Following the World Drone Prix in Dubai this weekend, which saw a 15-year-old British kid take home the top $250,000 prize, the gulf state has unveiled plans to hold a futuristic Olympics every two years starting in 2017.
Watch DARPA's Drone Dodge Obstacles, Fly At High Speed
DARPA has a little drone, that is able to dodge obstacles while flying really fast.
World First: Woman Has Tumour On Lung Removed By a Robot
27 year old Gemma Walker from the UK becomes the first patient to undergo a lung tumor removal with the help of a robot.
Google hooked 14 robot arms together so they can help each other learn
Some guys at Google took fourteen robotic arms, networked them together, and used convolutional neural networks to let these robots learn on their own how to pick up small objects like a cup, tape dispenser, and neon-green toy dolphin.
Drones Learn How To Find People Lost In The Woods
Soon, if you get lost in the woods, someone can send a squad of drones to find you.
Watch a team of 17-gram microrobots pull a full-sized car
Six 17-gram microTug robots were able to pull an 1,800 kg car. It's like six humans towing the Eiffel Tower. Strong little bots.
Robot Revolution: These Are the Breakthroughs You Should Watch
Peter Diamandis looks at robotics industry, shows the recent breakthroughs and shares what he thinks will change the robotics in the near future.
Development of a wall-climbing drone
Researchers from Korea have created a wall-climbing drone designed to fly from building to building, stick to its surface and perform close inspection and maintenance of the structure.
Biotechnology
Inside the cloning factory that creates 500 new animals a day
Korean lab led by Woosuk Hwang started as lab where bereaved dog owners could get their pup to "live" again. Now, he's aiming to clone endangered animals to preserve them.
Other
What Does Tomorrow Look Like? - How We Envision the Future
Guys from Extra Credits ask what does tomorrow look like. Literally, how does it look like visually? And by answering this question they also are able to tell something about our times.
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