How the winter solstice was hijacked
2045: A New Era for Humanity
In February of 2012 the first Global Future 2045 Congress was held in Moscow. There, over 50 world leading scientists from multiple disciplines met to develop a strategy for the future development of humankind. One of the main goals of the Congress was to construct a global network of scientists to further research on the development of cybernetic technology, with the ultimate goal of transferring a human's individual consciousness to an artificial carrier. 2012-2013. The global economic and social crises are exacerbated. The debates on the global paradigm of future development intensifies. New transhumanist movements and parties emerge. Russia 2045 transforms into World 2045. Simultaneously, the 2045.com international social network for open innovation is expanding. Here anyone interested may propose a project, take part in working on it, or fund it, or both. In the network, there are scientists, scholars, researchers, financiers and managers. 2013-2014. New centers working on cybernetic technologies for the development of radical life extension rise. The 'race for immortality' starts. 2015-2020. The Avatar is created -- A robotic human copy controlled by thought via 'brain-computer' interface. It becomes as popular as a car. 2020. In Russia and in the world appear -- in testing mode -- several breakthrough projects: Android robots replace people in manufacturing tasks; android robot servants for every home; thought-controlled Avatars to provide telepresence in any place of the world and abolish the need business trips; flying cars; thought driven mobile communications built into the body or sprayed onto the skin. 2020-2025. An autonomous system providing life support for the brain and allowing it interaction with the environment is created. The brain is transplanted into an Avatar B. With Avatar B man receives new, expanded life. 2025. The new generation of Avatars provides complete transmission of sensations from all five sensory robot organs to the operator. 2030-2035. ReBrain -- The colossal project of brain reverse engineering is implemented. World science comes very close to understanding the principles of consciousness. 2035. The first successful attempt to transfer one's personality to an alternative carrier. The epoch of cybernetic immortality begins. 2040-2050. Bodies made of nanorobots that can take any shape arise alongside hologram bodies. 2045-2050. Drastic changes in social structure, and in scientific and technological development. All the for space expansion are established. For the man of the future, war and violence are unacceptable. The main priority of his development is spiritual self-improvement. A new era dawns: The era of neohumanity.
Megaupload Founder Kim Dotcom Wins Back Assets
Although the taking down of Megaupload.com, coupled with Kim ‘Dotcom’ Schmitz’ arrest, made major news a couple months ago, things are starting to look up for the founder of this controversial file sharing website. After a recent New Zealand court hearing, it appears that Kim Dotcom has regained about $750,000 in assets. More details after the jump.
Megaupload Founder Kim Dotcom Wins Back Assets
Sam Harris
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ITTxTCz4Ums
Death and the Present Moment
Federal Reserve bank notes are widely used outside the United States. Knowing how much U.S. currency is abroad is important for a variety of reasons, but currency movements are notoriously difficult to measure, and estimates of the foreign component of currency stocks and flows have been subject to a great deal of speculation and uncertainty. Here we bring together several new methods and data sources to narrow the range of that uncertainty. According to our estimates, about $200 billion to $250 billion of U.S. currency was abroad at the end of 1995, or more than half the roughly $375 billion then in circulation outside of banks. Moreover, that proportion has been rising. Our calculations indicate that growth in foreign demand for U.S. currency--especially for hundred-dollar bills ($100s)--is far stronger than growth in U.S. demand. On average over the 1990s, the overseas stock has been growing at about three times the rate of growth of the domestic stock.
The location of U.S. currency: how much is abroad? – survey methods indicate 55% to 70% of all dollars located outside country – includes related articles
We Already Grow Enough Food For 10 Billion People -- and Still Can't End Hunger
Hunger is caused by poverty and inequality, not scarcity. For the past two decades, the rate of global food production has increased faster than the rate of global population growth. The world already produces more than 1 ½ times enough food to feed everyone on the planet. That's enough to feed 10 billion people, the population peak we expect by 2050. But the people making less than $2 a day -- most of whom are resource-poor farmers cultivating unviably small plots of land -- can't afford to buy this food.
We Already Grow Enough Food For 10 Billion People — and Still Can’t End Hunger
So Eager for Grandchildren, They’re Paying the Egg-Freezing Clinic
As the technology has evolved, more fertility clinics across the country have begun offering egg freezing to two groups: women preparing to undergo cancer treatment, which can affect fertility, and those seeking to expand their window for childbearing.
So Eager for Grandchildren, They’re Paying the Egg-Freezing Clinic
Is Child Marriage a Muslim Problem?
Loons often attribute child marriages exclusively to Muslims, but a Unicef report says 47 percent of married women in India wed before age 18. Unicef also says 40 percent of the world’s child marriages take place in secular, Hindu-majority India.
Is Child Marriage a Muslim Problem?
The Portable Light Project is a non-profit research, design and engineering initiative established by KVA MATx that creates new ways to deliver de-centralized renewable power and light to the developing world. Each Portable Light unit is a simple, versatile textile with flexible photovoltaics and solid state lighting that can be adapted to local cultures and customized by people using traditional weaving and sewing technologies in an open source model. This creates the opportunity for greater levels of cultural acceptance and stewardship of this technology, particularly for women who are often among the most vulnerable in developing countries.
FUTURE PRIMATE 