Transhuman

(cont'd)

Technology makes our lives better in lots of ways, everybody agrees. We want scientific medical breakthroughs, we want a better life. But transhumanists want to do more, to make humans "better than well."

What is better than well? That could be "a more symbiotic union with our machines."

Elon Musk (of SpaceX and Tesla) has been nervous about the rise of AI (artificial intelligence) for a while now. He doesn't hide his plan to counter the rise of robots. He told an audience in Dubai that  "to avoid becoming redundant in the face of artificial intelligence we must merge with machines to enhance our own intellect."

In other words, "We must all become cyborgs if we are to survive the inevitable robot uprising."

“Today, the idea of conquering death with science is still seen as strange. So is the idea of merging with machines – one of transhumanists’ most important long-term goals.

Truly weird stuff, truly serious people.

Transhumanism

What do humans need more than anything else? Some think it is intelligence. According to this thinking, there will come a point in history when scientific advances will reach critical mass, so to speak, and become unstoppable.

Then comes the "singularity," when transhumanists will be able to transform themselves into "post-humans."

"The transhumanist quest has two primary goals: radical life extension . . and the exponential increase of human intelligence (perhaps because it would better enable them to achieve the first goal)."

photo: https://www.extremetech.com/extreme/152240-what-is-transhumanism-or-what-does-it-mean-to-be-human

(cont'd tomorrow)

Dairy fat

In the category of surprising new food advice, it's now recommended that we eat "full fat dairy" foods for the sake of good health. That means milk, cheese, yogurt, etc., with all the fat naturally occurring in them.

photo: usnews.com

• "[A] 2013 review published in the European Journal of Nutrition found that people who eat full-fat dairy tend to be leaner than those who opt for low-fat versions."
• "15-year study from Tufts University researchers found that, compared to people who eat the least dietary fat, people who eat the most have a 46 percent lower risk of developing Type 2 diabetes."
• "The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition found that consumption of full-fat cheese raises healthy HDL cholesterol levels, which are associated with a decreased risk of heart disease, better than does consumption of low-fat varieties."

All the above is from this article.

Walk it off

"Feeling down? Walk it off! No really, walking is all you have to do"

"Our bodies were designed for near constant activity and yet, most of us today have trouble finding time in our day to exercise. This turn of events is really unfortunate, considering the fact that physical exercise has been shown time and time again to help alleviate depression — which a record number of people suffer from.

"But you don’t need hours at the gym to get a boost to your mood, University of Connecticut researchers report. Simply getting out of the chair and taking a walk around can reduce depression and give you a general state of well-being, they report."

All the above is from this article. It's good to know that you can get a little bit of help for your mood and energy level from such a simple decision, the choice to get up and move around.

photo: dailymail.co.uk

Social capital

Note: for reason/excuse why yesterday's post didn't come up, see Tuesday's post! Same thing, sorry.

Sometimes a young person looking for a toe-up in the job world feels inadequate or unqualified. There's advice offered in this article that could change things, because she/he has something to offer that goes beyond degrees or certificates. Here's how the author leveraged his value:

"I had met somebody . . with whom I kept in touch and I knew was building a company  . . I knew he had a ton of things to get done. He was busy launching a company while working at another company and taking care of his wife and kids.

"I offered to take some work – any work – off his plate.

You make deposits when you create surplus value for others that isn’t captured by cash money.

"In time, I learned new skills about writing copy, doing sales, and organizing content for the product and my role became more specialized, but I started with nothing to offer besides time and an extra set of hands.

In time, I was hired full-time and given equity in the company – something I could never have achieved in such a short time if I made my case based on “qualifications.”

"It is from this position that i've been able to publish a book, appear on major news networks, meet mentors and new business partners I would have never otherwise interacted with on my old track."

"Value-creation is the core of getting ahead. While your peers are busy racking up credentials, you can start racking up social capital."

Apprentice

About six million jobs are unfilled in the U.S. right now, the highest number since the 1980's. Employers complain about the lack of experience among applicants.

Apprenticeships could help students get into the job market and start learning the ropes earlier. And employers benefit when they help train their own workers and get to know them.
It's a path to both manual and white-collar work.

Private employers partner with colleges in programs where a student can be learning and earning a paycheck at the same time.

"The Department of Labor’s website says that the average starting wage for an apprentice is about $15.00 per hour. This figure rises over the course of the apprenticeship to an annual figure of about $50,000. That’s about the same as the average pay for 2017 college graduates. Programs last from one to six years, but the majority of programs take four years."

Teen job

Note: there was no post yesterday because we're at a family reunion out of town, and I assumed there would be internet! Big mistake.

Another note: there is a theme this week: the transition from dependent student to self-supporting grown-up. 

Some parents don't want their kids to have a job as teenagers. They have good reasons, like focus on homework, clubs, etc. But teenagers could miss certain opportunities that come with a paying job out in the marketplace.

"[W]orking teaches us the joy of producing — of being useful to others — as opposed to merely consuming the goods and services produced by others. At work, it’s about the team, and what you’re contributing. At school, it’s about you, and what you’re getting. A student consumes an education provided by his or her teachers — folks who don’t need you to perform like a boss does. Teachers get paid the same whether their students earn As or Cs."

"So work is where teens are more likely to have their narcissism confronted. After all, working as a teen gives you a chance to fail when the stakes are relatively low. You’d rather make mistakes in part-time jobs, not in your first full-time gig. And it helps to receive clear correction when you fall short.

Less than 20% of teenagers today are employed while in school, an all-time low percentage.

DSA

Greenwood High School in the Mississippi delta could be the poster boy for a failing school, sounds like. The state regularly gives the school's results an F. One-third of the students drop out. It's in a poor district and 98% of the students are black. A state senator describes it, "Too much noise. Too little respect. Gotta have discipline."

One of the teachers there dropped out himself - to start a new school five years ago, Delta Streets Academy (DSA). Parents like it.  One mom says, “Whenever there’s a concern about a student, [he] is always there for a one-on-one conversation. He’s very compassionate  . .” 

The 55 black male students have mandatory study hall and access to tutors, must act respectfully, and tuck in their shirts.

Their mission statement: "[DSA] equips young men by providing Christ-centered disciplined education. We promote the highest achievement in academics, a biblical worldview, a competitive athletic environment and character development."

A donor is quoted on their website: "“If you care about education, leadership or youth in the Mississippi Delta, you need to know about this organization. They’re doing incredible work.”

(taken from  https://world.wng.org/2017/06/creating_a_new_pattern)

Kids listen

Kids listen when parents and teachers are confident in their authority.

Psychologist John Rosemond has a lot of experience with parents and children. He says that getting kids to listen and comply with your instructions can really be done.

Protection

(cont'd from yesterday's post)

The Nonhuman Rights Project exists to get fundamental (human) rights for animals. That means legal standing like people have before the law. It's in contrast to protection for animals, which was codified into law many years ago.

Protection for animals goes beyond the law to non-government organizations like American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA) which began in 1866.

Passionate care for animal welfare, a virtue, has been part of American life for a long time.  It "must always flow from our duties as humans, not the fiction that animals are capable of possessing [human] rights."

Nonhuman

Animals cannot be legally brought into court in America and accused of breaking any laws because only humans are held accountable for right and wrong. "Even chimpanzees which have caused death or serious injury to human beings have not been prosecuted."

photo: africatravelresource.com

Of course they haven't, and a New York court has just affirmed that. Thank goodness. Nonhuman animals have no "capacity or ability, like humans, to bear legal duties, or to be held legally accountable for their actions."

The Nonhuman Rights Project tried to get this court to rule that chimps have "fundamental rights," which wikipedia describes as fundamental human rights as stated by the U.N. Like the American Bill of Rights, those rights include freedom of religion, freedom of assembly, etc.

Since no "nonhuman animal" needs legal protection of its right to worship . . what's going on?

(cont'd tomorrow)

Art & nursing

Intensive Care Unit (ICU) is stressful for nurses and physicians, not the best place for many. Tilda Shalof, ICU nurse, did it for 28 years. She knew they were making a difference.

She saw a lot of caps, lids, coverings, tabs, and connectors in her daily work. They came in all colors, and she began to collect them. They were colorful, and they reminded her of the lives that were saved in ICU.

Eventually she made, with a friend's help, a mural out of the thousands she collected, and it is stunning. She says it reminds her of the patients she cared for.

She brought beauty and meaning together.

photo: treehugger.com

(from article at https://www.thestar.com/life/2017/04/04/toronto-general-hospital-nurses-plastic-collection-transformed-into-mural.html}

Kind strangers

After those barbarians attacked concert goers in Manchester, England, people needed all kinds of things, not just medical attention. Folks in Manchester stepped up.

One woman tweeted, "Anybody stuck in Manchester tonight I have a spare room and I just made some really nice soup. #roomformanchester please rt xxx"

Taxi driver AJ Singh offered what he could, “I’ve had people who needed to find loved ones, I’ve dropped them off to the hospital, they’ve not had any money, they’ve been stranded . . There’s no transport in Manchester, all the roads are closed, it’s really hard to get around.”

Lots of people gave blood. "In response to last night's tragic incident in #Manchester - we have all the blood required for hospital patients at the present time."

photo: nbcnews.com

(from article at stream.org/7-examples-people-heroes-manchester-bombing/)

Panera

Seven years ago, Panera had a problem that most restaurants would like to have. It was like a crisis, involving danger plus opportunity. Demand was higher than they could handle. People sometimes stood in line for eight minutes just to place their order. If you have a limited lunch hour, that's a problem. And then the order was wrong ten percent of the time.

The CEO and the Chairman started looking for solutions and solutions started showing up. Online ordering was a big part of their strategy, along with order kiosks inside the restaurant, plus delivery of orders. But that wasn't enough.

Kitchen routines were changed so that employees made fewer mistakes on those customized orders. An executive at Papa John's, Inc., was recruited to help with overhauling Panera. He says, “It was literally hundreds of these little things that we did.”

All together Panera invested $100 million in technology to take their business to the next level. After a few years of flat sales and persistence, sales picked up in 2015. Today, their industry is lackluster but Panera is out in front with sales growing considerably faster than typical of their industry.

That's free enterprise. The store that does the best job of serving its customers earns their business because uncoerced-customers make their own choice.

D-Day plus 73

Yesterday, June  6, marked the 73rd anniversary of D-Day. Hitler's armed forces had rolled over most of Europe since 1939, taking France in 1940. But on this day in 1944, the largest invasion force in history landed on  some beaches in France to end Hitler's tyranny.

Over 129,000 troops landed on those beaches. Over 6000 ships and more than 10,000 aircraft were involved. Winston Churchill, the prime minister of Britain at the time, said, "This vast operation is undoubtedly the most complicated and difficult that has ever occurred."

The sheer scale of the operation was audacious. And they did it without computers. Or cell phones, or anything else invented in the last 73 years.

Commander of the invasion Dwight D. Eisenhower was all in. He said, “This operation is not being planned with any alternatives. This operation is planned as a victory, and that’s the way it’s going to be. We’re going down there, and we’re throwing everything we have into it, and we’re going to make it a success.”

Dragon #2

(cont'd from yesterday's post)

SpaceX's Falcon 9 rocket took the Dragon capsule into space on Saturday, where it docked yesterday with the International Space Station (ISS) to unload its 6000 lbs. of supplies.

That webcast in yesterday's post starts its launch coverage at 10 minutes, and it's really enjoyable. But in case you want to skip it, here's information from the video:

• it took off from the historic launch pad 39A, where the Saturn 5 rocket once stood
• it had to take off at the precisely correct second in order to match its orbit with ISS
• part of the payload is the Rollout Solar Array (ROSA) which will unfold in orbit to try out its flexible solar panel
• the first stage of the rocket is loaded with a million pounds of space-grade kerosene, liquid oxygen, and gaseous helium
• watch earth falling away after lift off (camera on exterior of rocket)
• watch Stage One come back to earth and land safely at Cape Canaveral

photo: spacex.com

Dragon reflight

SpaceX was started by Elon Musk to accomplish his vision of making space vehicles re-usable, thus making space exploration cheaper and more do-able, thus enabling humans to go to Mars. Bringing used space vehicles back to earth in one piece was the first essential task, and they've done that.

Another step was just accomplished on Saturday - the first ever "Dragon Reflight." Their Dragon capsule (originally launched as CSR-4) was launched a second time (CSR-11) to take supplies to the International Space Station (ISS).

Here is the 45-minute webcast released by SpaceX. This one, unlike their previous videos, has lots of info about the science involved.



Why the business label? SpaceX is a business. It makes a product, space flight, which its customer (NASA) wants and is willing to pay for.

(cont'd tomorrow)

Self-driving $

(cont'd from yesterday's post)

Several times you've read in this blog that almost all the car companies - plus Google, Uber, etc. - have a self-driving project. Millions and billions of dollars are being invested. Do you think they believe in the concept?

These are for-profit companies and they're not going to invest unless they're very confident. There's a study that confirms these projects will pay off.

"The race to be the first to deploy autonomous vehicles is on among carmakers, emerging startups, and tech giants . . What exactly are these companies racing for?"

"[A]ccording to a study released Thursday by Intel . . a $7 trillion annual revenue stream.The companies that don’t prepare for self-driving risk failure or extinction, Intel says."

Traffic better

(cont'd from yesterday's post)

Japanese physicists set up an experiment in 2008 to study traffic. Even with every driver trying to drive a consistent speed, "jamitons" occurred - waves of slowing traffic, though there is no obstacle. Watch the pattern:



Recently researchers re-created the experiment . . but with one difference. An autonomous car was included. After jamitons started forming, the self-driving feature was activated on the one autonomous car, and it changed the pattern:



"What this means in reality is that the presence of just one autonomous car can reduce congestion for all drivers . . "

Practical improvements? According to researchers' calculations, reducing excessive braking will result in a 40% reduction in fuel consumption, and the throughput of the road goes up by about 14%.

(cont'd tomorrow)