In this article from AlterNet, a writer discusses the “Bizarre Libertarian Plan of Uploading Brains into Robots to Escape Society.” Setting aside his mistaken presumption that all transhumanists share a libertarian political persuasion (although several prominent voices do), he describes several advanced technologies and concepts central to transhumanist thought and comes to the following conclusion:

No one wants to die, but the thought of living forever among narcissistic libertarian cyborgs makes death’s cold embrace seem more like a squishy hug from the Easter Bunny.

Now AlterNet is a “liberal” blog, but I think this post would have been far more interesting had it compared the approach to transhuman concepts from both a libertarian viewpoint and a democratic transhumanist viewpoint as espoused by thinkers like Dr. James Hughes or George Dvorsky.

Politics aside, though, this article does illustrate how most people view transhumanism. First, these technologies are so radical it’s difficult for most people to wrap their minds around them As a result, transhumanist thinkers get labeled as, at best, idealists, and at worst, cranks. Second, even if you convince people that these technologies are feasible and are on their way, it’s a challenge to convince them that they’re desirable. I’m still amazed more people aren’t enthusiastic about the concept that they might never have to die a natural death.

Transhumanism’s struggle in the near future will be portraying itself in ways that aren’t scary, weird or off-putting. Even so, as transhumanist technologies advance I expect a much larger (and organized) backlash. Good, proactive PR can go a long way toward helping to mitigate negative sentiment.

The design, launch, and initial management of a new magazine, as with any startup, is the most exciting, but also the most risky period in the life of the project. When H+ Magazine was born, its publisher, Betterhumans,Inc., did a great job creating great design and content — and brought together a community around it.

After an initial period, the magazine has been donated to Humanity+.  We are very grateful for this. With the efforts of R.U. Sirius, who stays on as Editor, we hope to be able to continue attracting curious readers who want to learn about technology, society, the evolution of the human condition, and all the exciting topics that we will cover in the future.

Can’t wait to read the next issue.

HULC, or Human Universal Load Carrier, is an exoskeleton designed by Lockheed Martin to assist soldiers carrying heavy loads in the field. According to its manufacturer, HULC allows soldiers to carry up to 200 pounds for extended periods of time while preserving the user’s range of movement – including “deep squats, crawls and upper body lifting.”

As you can see in Lockheed’s promotional video above, HULC isn’t a bulky exoskeleton that provides strength in exchange for mobility. Users appear to be able to move quickly and easily even over rough terrain.

The U.S. Army is apparently intrigued by the concept, and this week announced a $1.1 million contract to actually field a few HULC units among active troops. While $1.1 million is a relative drop in the bucket as far as military spending goes, it may foretell a future in which assistive exoskeletons become common in the military for logistics staff and even soldiers engaged in combat.

New Zealand firm Rex Bionics took a different approach with their “robotic legs,” which are designed to allow the disabled to walk. The company notes the Rex is not intended to be a wheelchair replacement, but is instead a way to augment a chair – for instance, when needing to travel up and down stairs or access items stored at a standing height.

Having been in development for the last seven years. the Rex is expected to go on sale “soon” in its home country and is expected to cost $150,000.

Many people around the world (and in the United States) do not have reliable access to medical care. This may be due to geographical factors, financial factors, cultural factors, or a combination thereof. However, mobile phone adoption continues to grow rapidly in both developed and underdeveloped countries.

With fast rates of adoption and increasing levels of computing power available through mobile phones to people around the world, the X PRIZE Foundation is looking to “inspire creation” of “The AI Physician X PRIZE,” which would use artificial intelligence to “diagnose patients better than board certified doctors.”

While this technology would certainly be a boon for many, a diagnosis is only the first part in healing a patient. Those without access to care would still be left without a means of actual treatment due to the same three factors that would prevent them from getting diagnosed. Gotta crawl before you walk, though, I suppose.

(Via Scope)

The researchers, who studied more than 1,000 people over the age of 100, identified a set of 150 unique genetic markers that, taken together, are linked to extreme longevity. They acknowledged they didn’t know all the genes involved, nor their exact function in extending old age.

“This is an extremely complex trait that involves many processes,” said lead researcher Paola Sebastiani, a biostatistician at BU’s School of Public Health. Even so, “we can compute your specific predisposition to exceptional longevity.”

The researchers said they had no plans to patent the technique nor profit from it. Instead, they expect to make a free test kit available on the Internet later this month to foster longevity research.

The free test will be offered by the the New England Centenarian Study and can tell you whether you have the unique genetic characteristics that will increase your chances of living past 100. However, there’s a catch – you’ve got to provide them with your complete genome sequence, which will cost several thousand dollars. That said, the price has been rapidly falling, and you may be able to purchase this service for a mere $30 in the next few years.

In order to assist with deciphering writing systems, researchers and students at MIT have developed software that can decipher unknown scripts by comparing them to those we understand:

A computer successfully deciphered an ancient language Ugaritic in just a couple of hours.

Regina Barzilay, an associate professor in MIT’s Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Lab, Ben Snyder, a grad student in her lab, and the University of Southern California’s Kevin Knight are the creators. [...]

The system makes certain assumption of the language’s similarity to another, Hebrew in this case. It also depends on a systematic way to map the alphabet of one language on to the alphabet of the other.

And it assumes a similar mapping for parts of words. A word like “overloading,” for instance, has both a prefix – “over” – and a suffix – “ing.”

“We iterate through the data hundreds of times, thousands of times and each time, our guesses have higher probability, because we’re actually coming closer to a solution where we get more consistency,” said Snyder.

While the software isn’t threatening to put human deciphers out of work, the developers say it does have the potential to make their jobs a bit easier.

No word on when Book Place will be going live, although a a “coming soon” page is already online.

Quiz show Jeopardy! has been stumping human contestants and viewers for more than 45 years. Part of the show’s challenge lies in the way contestants are required to phrase answers, which must be in the form of a question. It can be flummoxing for humans, and would understandably be difficult for a machine.

Apparently IBM’s “Watson” supercomputer is not one of those machines.

Watson is the result of IBM’s effort to create a machine capable of understanding questions asked in “natural language” and responding in kind. In mock Jeopardy! matches, Watson has done remarkably well, handily defeating its human opponents. It’s been so successful, in fact, that IBM has agreed to feature the machine on an upcoming episode of Jeopardy! that could air as early as the fall.

Aside from racking up winnings on trivia game shows, Watson’s technology could revolutionize search engines, enabling computers to correctly interpret questions and provide more accurate answers, rather than require humans to phrase questions in ways machines can understand.

The New York Times has a fascinating feature on Watson, which is part of their ongoing series on artificial intelligence.

(Via Engadget)

If I were attending the H+ Summit at Harvard this weekend (and oh how I wish I were), I’d be sure to take in Hyena’s lecture on “Global TransHumanism: An Analysis of the Top H+ Nations. Praising Their Achievements and Goals.“