29.4.10

Mittasuhteiden merkitys

Videoita Humanity+ UK2010 -konferenssista YouTubessa.



A sense of proportion - Anders Sandberg konferenssin annista.
When thinking about existential risks it is important to have a sense of what the stakes are, and not just think "that is bad" - some things can be many orders of magnitude worse than others. At the same time, as Nick Bostrom pointed out, we have rather minimal research on how to prevent human extinction, about the same size as the literature on dung beetle reproduction. Toby Ord has pointed out that some charities can be up to 10,000 times more efficient in providing health than others (in terms of years of life per dollar donated), just because they focus on particular very effective means. Aubrey de Grey showed a pretty minor advance in biogerontology that was hailed in the media as "the secret of ageing", while rattling of a series of papers with far more profound implications that nobody outside the field has heard of. A graph of cost and size of carbon abatement methods clearly shows that some fix a vastly bigger chunk than others.

25.4.10

Muistilinkkejä

Maxed out: Testing humans to destruction - Kuinka pitkään perusmallia oleva ihmiskeho selviää ilman ruokaa, juomaa ja unta? Kuinka paljon lihakeho kestää kylmyyttä, säteilyä ja tyhjiötä?

The science that stops us looking older
- 'cosmeceuticals’, which alter the DNA in your hair and skin.

Private Moon Bases a Hot Idea for Space Pioneer
3D printer could build moon bases
An Archaeological Approach to SETI

24.4.10

Humanity+ UK2010

Humanity+ UK2010 - Päivän konferenssi Lontoossa tänään. Livestream.

11.4.10

Muistilinkkejä

Richard Dawkins: I will arrest Pope Benedict XVI - Saakohan tämä paavin perumaan vierailunsa Britteihin?

Eroa kirkosta -sivua voisi mainostaa jälleen tässä välissä.

Your Life In 2020 - Vuonna 2020 robotit elävät puolestasi.

The Children of Cyberspace: Old Fogies by Their 20s - Minun nuoruudessani Facebookissa oli vain nuoria.

Synthesia - Pelaa peliä, opi soittamaan pianoa.

8.4.10

Muistilinkkejä

The Collapse of Complex Business Models - Clay Shirky muutosvastarinnasta ja vanhaan monimutkaisuuteen takertumisesta.
When societies fail to respond to reduced circumstances through orderly downsizing, it isn’t because they don’t want to, it’s because they can’t. -- Collapse is simply the last remaining method of simplification.
On space travel - Warren Ellis avaruusmatkailusta.
The single simplest reason why human space flight is necessary is this, stated as plainly as possible: keeping all your breeding pairs in one place is a retarded way to run a species.
Planning our next steps in space - David Brin valmisaterioiden lähettämisestä Marsiin etukäteen.

The mud creature that lives without oxygen - Sanoiko joku jotain hankalasta elinympäristöstä?
The beasts live in conditions that would kill every other known animal. As well as lacking oxygen, the sediments are choked with salt and swamped with hydrogen sulphide gas.
Cars that drive better than you

Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality - Eliezer Yudkowskyn fanifiktiota.

2.4.10

The NewOrgan Prize

Methuselah Foundation on luonut MPrizen kylkeen uuden palkinnon sille, joka rakentaa toimivan elimen potilaan omista soluista seuraavan kymmenen vuoden aikana.



The NewOrgan Prize will be given for successfully constructing a whole new organ – heart, kidney, lung, pancreas or liver - from a patient's own cells. The organ must be transplanted and have functioned properly for two years in order for the award to be granted. The dollar amount of the prize will grow with donations from the general public.