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Technology of the New Era


The following are substantive articles - certainly the Part 2 is, with so many graphics and illustrations that it's best left as a link for you to explore. I hate doing that as I am well aware how often links break and articles get taken down, but for now it is what it is - too much to post all the text cum graphics. ;)

Part 1: Elon Musk: The World’s Raddest Man By Tim Urban
LINK: Elon Musk: The World's Raddest Man - Wait But Why


Part 2: How Tesla Will Change The World
By Tim Urban
LINK: How Tesla Will Change The World - Wait But Why
 
While I laud the vision and idea - even I don't quite believe the headline on the time-line. ;) One has to admire his pluck and optimism. I was thinking he'd use it for commutes between his Nevada Tesla plant and the San Francisco Bay area - with a 30-minute commute, anyone could work in Nevada and live in Sausalito. :cool:

Elon Musk to build Hyperloop bullet train 'within weeks' - By Taku Dzimwasha October 24, 2015
LINK: Elon Musk to build Hyperloop bullet train 'within weeks'
TEXT: "Engineers in California are to build a transportation system that propels passengers through an airless tube at the speed of sound. Hyperloop Transportation Technologies (HTT) will build a five-mile "hyperloop" which will allow the bullet train to reach speeds of 760mph.

"The transport system works by using vacuum-sealed tubes and magnetic levitation to create an almost frictionless train. It will be able to make the 380-mile journey from Los Angeles to San Francisco in about 30 minutes, according to Wired.

"The project is the brainchild of the Silicon Valley tycoon and engineer Elon Musk, who is also the chief executive of the electric car company Tesla and the space rocket venture SpaceX. Musk proposed the concept in 2013, but has been too busy to build the system.

"The project will be managed by Hyperloop's chief operation officer Bibop Gabriele Gresta. He told delegates at the Transport to the Future event in London that the transport system will be powered by renewable energy and will generate surplus solar, wind and kinetic power. "It will consume less electricity than we produce. We can resell electricity," Gresta told Dezeen magazine. "In this model it will allow us to recoup the entire investment in six to eight years depending on where you build it."

"HTT has applied for permission to build the track from the state authorities, and construction can start as early as next month. Testing of the new system will be limited to 160mph with passengers on board but empty carriages will be tested at speeds up to 780mph.

"The project is expected to cost about $150 million. HTT secured investment from private entrepreneurs and employees are being paid through stock options in the company, Wired reported. The vacuum pumps will be produced by the Swiss company Oerlikon, which also makes the particle accelerators at CERN.

"If the testing phase is successful, then Hyperloop will build permanent pods that will be used to transport time sensitive objects, such as organs that are needed for transplants. It will also have the capacity to carry an estimated 3,400 passengers per hour across the Los Angeles region to the San Francisco Bay Area."
 
Ah, hadn't heard about this aspect: HTT has been seriously at work on the idea of the Hyperloop Bullet Train. Hmmm......right here in El Segundo CA. Just might happen. Would love for it to happen cross country! I am waiting for that train since I stopped flying. Looks like they are right on schedule - here it is 2015 and they announce they are ready to build.

Elon Musk's hyperloop is actually making progress - 19 DECEMBER 14
LINK: Elon Musk's hyperloop is actually making progress (Wired UK)
TEXT: "When Elon Musk unveiled his idea for the Hyperloop in August of 2013, no one seemed sure what the next step would be. The Tesla Motors and SpaceX CEO dropped a 57-page alpha white paper on us, noting he didn't really have the time to build a revolutionary transit system that would shoot pods full of people around the country in above-ground tubes at 800 mph.

"Fortunately for futurists and people who enjoy picking apart complicated plans, an El Segundo, California-based startup has taken Musk up on his challenge to develop and build the Hyperloop. JumpStartFund combines elements of crowdfunding and crowd-sourcing -- bringing money and ideas in from all over the place -- to take ambitious ideas and move them toward reality.

"When Musk proposed his idea, JumpStartFund was fresh off its beta launch, and taking on the Hyperloop seemed like the perfect way to test the company's approach (and drum up headlines), says CEO Dirk Ahlborn. So they reached out to SpaceX, proposed the project on their online platform, and created a subsidiary company to get to work: Hyperloop Transportation Technologies, Inc.

"The incorporated entity has a fancy name and all, but it's less a standard company than a group of about 100 engineers all over the country who spend their free time spitballing ideas in exchange for stock options. That said, this isn't a Subreddit trying to solve the Boston Marathon bombing. These gals and guys applied for the right to work on the project (another 100 or so were rejected) and nearly all of them have day jobs at companies like Boeing, NASA, Yahoo!, Airbus, SpaceX, and Salesforce. They're smart. And they're organized.

"The team is split into working groups, based on their interests and skills, that cover various aspects of the massive project, including route planning, capsule design, and cost analysis. They work mostly over email, with weekly discussions of their progress. Hierarchy is minimal, but leaders have naturally emerged, says Ahlborn. And if a decision needs to be made, as CEO, he makes the call.

"A lot of the work is being done by 25 UCLA students. The school's SUPRASTUDIO design and architecture program partnered with JumpStartFund, and now the students are working on all the design solutions the new transit system would require.

"Ahlborn doesn't expect to have the technical feasibility study finished until mid-2015, but he decided to show off what his team has done so far to coincide with the midterm break of the design group at UCLA. So far, the team has made progress in three main areas: the capsules, the stations, and the route.

"Here's what we know so far about the Hyperloop JumpStartFund wants to build.

"The Route
"The group working on finding a suitable route used algorithms that account for things like existing buildings, roads, and geography, and optimize the path for speed and comfort. That means keeping the line as straight as possible. Like in a plane, high speeds alone don't lead to nausea, but if you start turning, you feel the g-forces. The route won't be completely smooth, Ahlborn says, but contrary to the claim of one transportation blogger, "I don't think it's a barf ride."

"Musk's proposed Hyperloop route running from San Francisco to Los Angeles came under a lot of criticism: What about earthquakes? Right of way? Crossing the San Francisco Bay? How will you avoid the political struggles that have made the region's in-development high-speed rail system something of a punch line? Ahlborn has the answer: Pick a different route. Los Angeles to Las Vegas is being considered, as are other parts of the US and the world. "We would love to see LA to San Francisco, but our primary goal is to build the Hyperloop." Yes, there are political hurdles. But not everywhere. Not in Dubai.

"The UCLA students working on potential routes imagine networks criss-crossing the country, as well as Europe and Asia. This is where things get fanciful: we're at least 10 years away from a commercially viable Hyperloop, and the idea of a national network is hard to imagine. They tacked on the idea of a "Mini Hyperloop," which would offer shorter routes into and around cities.

"The Capsules
"The team had to make a few changes to the capsules Musk proposed. The Tesla CEO suggested doors that would open upward, but Ahlborn says that's hard to do, since the low-pressure environment of the tube requires fairly heavy doors. So the team decided on what it calls a "bubble strategy." There's the swanky capsule, the one with fancy doors and windows, that pulls into the station. It's the "bubble." Passengers get in, and that capsule enters an outer shell as it's loaded into the tube. The outer shell is built to handle the ride, and has the air compressor and other needed bits.

"Don't expect the Hyperloop to end the struggle between the bourgeoisie and proletariat: in addition to capsules made for freight, there will be economy class, and a roomier business class.

"The Stations
"As the UCLA students imagine it, a passenger would arrive at a station and drop her luggage off with a Kiva robot (the kind Amazon uses in its warehouse). She would pass through security on what seems to be a moving sidewalk going under a metal detector, an idea that sounds tricky when you consider how often people in airports forget to take coins or various terrifying objects out of their pockets. But once through, she would be able to kill time in the lobby doing some shopping, grabbing a bite, using the bathroom, or renting a tablet for the trip. Then she heads to her platform, gets in her assigned seat, and is whisked away.

"The Hyperloop would be made of two stacked tubes, in which the capsules travel in opposite directions. When a capsule reaches a station, the bubble slides out sideways and onto the platform, and the passengers unload. Then the capsule is moved to the opposite tube and ready to get going again.

"What Remains to Be Done
"So JumpStartFund and the UCLA students have made good progress, but there's a lot to figure out before anyone gets to tackle the really fun parts like testing, permitting, and construction. Ahlborn says the questions of how to build the low-pressure tube and the pylons that support it have mostly been solved, and creating the capsules shouldn't be too tricky. The hard part is moving the capsules within the tube, and seeing how fast they can go. To eliminate friction in the tube, Musk proposed using a compressor to create a pocket of air under the capsule. That's the cheapest approach, Ahlborn says, but it has its drawbacks. His team is looking at the possibility of using magnetic levitation and other alternatives. "We want to find the best possible way to make this work. I have almost no doubt that once we are finished, once we know how we are going to build and it makes economical sense, that we will get the funds," Ahlborn says, and Musk's cost estimate of $6-10 billion for a 400-mile stretch of Hyperloop is on point, based on the team's work.

"Considering the nonsense that's getting venture capital these days, that's not a crazy thing to say, though it will require unusually patient investors. Ahlborn expects to start building the first in a series of prototypes sometime in 2015. A final product "can be built within the decade," Ahlborn says. "That's for sure."

"At some point, Hyperloop Transportation Technologies will likely have to shift from this work-when-you-can-but-don't-expect-money model to something a bit more conventional with, you know, employees. But for now, it's a fitting approach: Bring in as many minds as possible to sort through the myriad questions an idea this ambitious presents. This is why Ahlborn's excited about the Hyperloop: It's a huge undertaking. That's why people like Elon Musk, he says: The dude wants to die on Mars and he's actually moving toward the awesome, if macabre, goal. "Other people work on their next app." "
 
Interesting article but "we're at least 10 years away from a commercially viable Hyperloop"?

Also hard to follow up on as there apparently is two similarly named companies, a Hyperloop Technologies and a Hyperloop Transportation Technologies, both right here in L.A. I found myself getting confused on who was what and where. From doing a Google search I don't think I am the only one.

How two L.A. start-ups are racing to develop transportation more amazing than self-driving cars

http://www.theverge.com/2015/10/22/9595378/hyperloop-questions-plans-elon-musk-transportation





"...HTT says it will not be publishing its own white paper on its technology — or at least not for the moment — for fear of its designs being copied. "We haven’t disclosed anything we are doing because there’s another company [Hyperloop Technologies] that came out months ago and we didn’t like their approach," says Gresta. "These guys came out and they used our same name and they used our logo. So this is kind of weird."
 
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Osh-Gosh-O-My-Gosh! the plot thickens! :confused: So Elon Musk is not really part of this whole thing. Just his initial idea.

Okay. We'll see, then.
 
Sweden: Family designs greenhouse to wrap around home and warm it naturally
LINK
: Sweden: Family designs greenhouse to wrap around home and warm it naturally
TEXT: "While Charles Sacilotto and Marie Granmar’s home, encased in glass, may look like something out of a sci-fi movie, their life is far simpler than it appears. In a video uploaded on Nov. 11, the couple gives a tour of their house-in-a-greenhouse, located on the Stockholm archipelago, that uses natural solar power to provide heat and save energy.

"Rather than build from the ground up, Sacilotto and Granmar decided to purchase this small home and construct the greenhouse around it. The structure, built out of security glass 4 millimeters thick, is designed to withstand the elements, but will shatter into small harmless pieces if it does break. Fair Companies states that its warming effect produces a climate not unlike the Mediterranean, with Sacilotto adding, “At the end of January it can be -2°C outside and it can be 15 to 20°C upstairs.

"Click here to read the entire article at www.sfglobe.com "

Family wraps home in greenhouse to warm up Stockholm weather
TEXT: "Published on Nov 11, 2015: The average temperature in Stockholm in January is -3°C (27°F). For Marie Granmar and Charles Sacilotto it can be much warmer thanks to the greenhouse that blankets their home. “For example at the end of January it can be -2°C outside and it can be 15 to 20°C upstairs,” explains Sacilotto. He was inspired to build a house-in-a-greenhouse through his relationship with architect Bengt Warne who began designing the first Naturhus (Nature House) in 1974*.

"Originally Sacilotto looked for an empty lot to build an entirely new Naturhus, but he eventually settled on an old summer house on the Stockholm archipelago. Using Warne’s design, he covered the small summer house, plus an addition, in 4 millimeter glass. The footprint of the greenhouse is nearly double that of the home, leaving plenty of room for a wrap-around garden, and since inside the bubble it’s a Mediterranean climate, the couple now grow produce atypical for Sweden (e.g. figs, tomatoes, cucumbers).

"The favorite spot is the glass-covered roof deck. Since there’s no longer need for a roof, the couple removed it and now have a large space for sunbathing, reading or playing with their son on swings and bikes.

"The greenhouse isn’t the only novel point to the Granmar-Sacilotto home. They are also completely independent from city sewage. Built by Sacilotto- an engineer by training-, the sewage system begins with a urine-separating toilet and uses centrifuges, cisterns, grow beds and garden ponds to filter the water and compost the remains.

* In the video, Granmar mentions architect Bengt Warne's influence in the 1990s since this is the date he reached a larger audience with his book release."
 
An Innovation | Solar Powered Water Cleaner
November 26th, 2015
LINK: http://anonhq.com/innovation-solar-powered-water-cleaner/
TEXT: "Based upon the figures calculated by the United Nations World Health Organization (WHO), over a billion people worldwide do not have access to clean tap or drinkable water. Immediate help can be made available from desalination or treating sea water or brackish liquid. Plus, desalination machinery is very energy and repair intensive, making utilization in areas where there is a limited power supply very difficult. The places with the worst type of water shortages include the warm and dry countries throughout Northern and Central (including Middle Western and Middle Eastern) Africa. As these are also the territories with the most extreme solar emissions, using this power for the desalination and cleaning of contaminated or brackish water could create a realistic opportunity for a new source of clean drinking water.

"However, an innovative solar water distiller for families—which was named by its inventor Eliodomestico—has been designed to operate without filters or electrical power. The device is constructed from easily available materials including burnt clay and tin material, and can be entirely put together by the people it is designed for. [see linked article for embedded Vimeo Video]

"The product’s structure incorporates two ceramic pieces. The black boiler is the evaporator and the condenser contains tin fused metallic covers. The filtered water bowl is made of clay. The designer designed it that way because the locals often carry it over their heads. The choice of materials, shape and shades have also been selected for practical reasons—such as the thermal padding, ventilation, heat resistance, intake or vice versa.


Image Source: Google Image – A picture of the Eliodomestico.

"In the morning, the dirty or salty fluid is loaded in a water container. Within just a few hours, drinkable water can be poured out. The process used here is relatively straightforward, it evaporates and then re-condenses.

"The experimental model that incorporates a diameter of sixty centimeters and a surface area of point twenty-eight meters per square, can contain up to three liters every day.


Image Source: Google Image – The designer explaining how the product works.

"Eliodomestico is an efficient and an astonishing innovation that delivers clean drinking water in areas where salty or brackish water is prevalent. The introduction of Eliodomestico to such communities, can induce uplifting results for the local economies as it is intended to be entirely produced on location, thus, generating small establishments. Besides cleansing, the device does not require maintenance. The dimensions can be altered to adapt to the water demands; four to twelve litters every day can meet the needs of an average residence. Conventional modes and materials make the Eliodomestico highly familiar and easy to comprehend.

"If you would like to know more about the project, please click here. "
 
Clean Energy Could Fuel Most Countries by 2050, Study Shows
The main barriers to 100% energy from solar, wind and water sources are 'social and political,' said Mark Z. Jacobson, lead study author. BY ZAHRA HIRJI, INSIDECLIMATE NEWS NOV 27, 2015
LINK: Clean Energy Could Fuel Most Countries by 2050, Study Shows
TEXT: "A new study claims to leave little room for doubt that the world can run 100 percent on renewable energy, and it even maps how individual countries should best make this transition—by mid-century. The main barriers to overhauling the global energy system "are social and political," said Mark Z. Jacobson, lead study author. "They aren't technical or economic," added Jacobson, a professor of civil and environmental engineering at Stanford University.

"Jacobson and his Stanford colleagues published the analysis in a draft paper online to coincide with the start of global climate talks in Paris on Nov. 30. In those vastly complicated negotiations, most of the world's nations have agreed on at least one thing: keeping the earth's warming to within 2-degrees Celsius compared to pre-industrial levels—a target that scientists agree is relatively safe for the planet––will require a wholesale transformation of the world's energy economy.

"The paper, which will likely be submitted to scientific journals for publication next year, offers detailed roadmaps showing how most countries can make the switch to run entirely on clean energy across all sectors, from electricity to transportation to agriculture, as early as 2050.

"Focusing on the 139 countries with available 2015 energy data, researchers first used computer models to calculate how each nation's energy demand and mix would change by 2050. This so-called "business-as-usual" scenario was based on the assumption that the countries would continue to rely on conventional fossil fuels such as coal, oil and natural gas.

"Next, the researchers determined how each country could meet its future energy demands using only renewable sources. Under this "wind, water and solar" scenario, every country's ideal renewable energy mix was calculated based on its existing energy infrastructure and available clean energy resources, such as sunlight and wind. The researchers concluded that making this switch would lower a country's total energy demands because clean energy sources are more efficient than fossil fuels. They also concluded the transition would curb global warming, create jobs, and reduce air pollution, which, in turn, would boost public health.

"Take the United States, for example. By pursuing business as usual, the U.S. would require a total power load of 2,310 gigawatts by 2050. Under a clean energy scenario, however, the country would need only 1,296 gigawatts of power, the study said. Most of the energy would come from onshore and offshore wind (48 percent), utility-scale and rooftop solar (40 percent), and a mix of other sources, including hydropower, geothermal and wave energy. The estimated total electricity, health and climate cost savings of this transition would amount to about $8,000 per American per year (in 2013 dollars).

"Jacobson's team has also conducted a parallel study, recently published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. That study dives deeper into the United States' clean energy transition, offering energy roadmaps for all 50 states, using the same modeling approach applied in the global study.

"If all the 139 countries succeed in getting 80 percent of their energy from renewables by 2030 and 100 percent by 2050, the Stanford researchers said, the world's warming would stay below the 2-degrees Celsius warming threshold. They also predict about 22 million net jobs would be created.

"Getting there won't be easy or cheap, Jacobson explained. The price tag of greening the world's energy system is $100 trillion, or $2 million per megawatt, over the next 35 years. Even without overhauling the energy system, the International Energy Association expects about $60 trillion should be invested during that same period to maintain electric grids and power plants and improve energy efficiency.

"The analysis doesn't say where the trillions should come from—or prescribe policies—but it shows "the burden of proof is now on the people who want to grow fossil fuels in any shape or form to explain to [the public] why they are doing something that we know is worse for the planet," Jacobson said.

"As of 2014, only 3.8 percent of the power capacity needed for 100 percent clean energy worldwide had been installed. Norway, Paraguay and Iceland lead the transition because they have successfully tapped their vast hydropower or geothermal resources. On the opposite end of the spectrum, there's a mix of developing nations such as Trinidad and Tobago and oil-rich countries such as Saudi Arabia and Qatar. The United States is in the middle, ranking 56th out of 139 countries in terms of its progress toward 100 percent renewables by 2050.

"Jacobson's study is not the only recent report drumming up support for renewables. Earlier this month, the International Energy Agency released its World Energy Outlook 2015 report, which demonstrated renewable energy is increasing. Despite that trend, the agency expects growth in coal and other fossil fuels unless other countries––notably India––change their policies.

"In addition, the International Renewable Energy Agency released a recent study suggesting renewables could make up 36 percent of the world's energy mix by 2030. Both reports said furthering the growth of clean energy is an essential piece in addressing climate change. "With the climate challenge in front of us, this can easily lead people to worry about our ability to meet that challenge," said Rachel Cleetus, lead economist and a climate policy specialist at the Union of Concerned Scientists. "The bottom line from all these studies is the challenge here is political will." "Mark's findings are not extreme,” said Karl Rabago, executive director of the Pace Energy and Climate Center at Pace Law School, in White Plains, N.Y. "They are well established," said Rabago, reflecting the latest science and experience in the lab and on the ground with how efficient and productive different clean energy sources can be.

"According to Rabago, "The real question now is: are we finally ready to get started?" "
 
New Invention Makes Ocean Water Drinkable - Original Post Date: July 2, 2013
LINK: New Invention Makes Ocean Water Drinkable
TEXT:


Chemists with the University of Texas and the University of Marburg have devised a method of using a small electrical field that will remove the salt from seawater. Incredibly this technique requires little more than a store-bought battery. Called electrochemically mediated seawater desalination (EMSD) this technique has improved upon the current water desalination method.

"Richard Cooks, chemistry professor at the University of Austin said : “The availability of water for drinking and crop irrigation is one of the most basic requirements for maintaining and improving human health.” Cooks continued: “Seawater desalination is one way to address this need, but most current methods for desalinating water rely on expensive and easily contaminated membranes. The membrane-free method we’ve developed still needs to be refined and scaled up, but if we can succeed at that, then one day it might be possible to provide fresh water on a massive scale using a simple, even portable, system.”

Electrochemically mediated seawater desalination
TEXT: "Published on Jun 26, 2013: By creating a small electrical field that removes salts from seawater, chemists at The University of Texas at Austin and the University of Marburg in Germany have introduced a new method for the desalination of seawater that consumes less energy and is dramatically simpler than conventional techniques. The new method requires so little energy that it can run on a store-bought battery. The voice is Kyle Knust, a graduate student in the lab of Richard Crooks, professor of chemistry at The University of Texas at Austin."

"Kyle Krust, lead author of the study said: “We’ve made comparable performance improvements while developing other applications based on the formation of an ion depletion zone. That suggests that 99 percent desalination is not beyond our reach.”
This “water chip” method “could bring relief to millions around the globe who lack potable water.” This method “is much simpler and consumes less energy than other forms of desalination.”

"Crooks explained : “To achieve desalination, the researchers apply a small voltage (3.0 volts) to a plastic chip filled with seawater. The chip contains a microchannel with two branches. At the junction of the channel an embedded electrode neutralizes some of the chloride ions in seawater to create an ‘ion depletion zone’ that increases the local electric field compared with the rest of the channel. This change in the electric field is sufficient to redirect salts into one branch, allowing desalinated water to pass through the other branch.” The Ion depletion zone prevents salt from passing through which creates fresh water out of salt water.

"An estimated 780 million people across the globe do not have access to drinkable water. Of those estimated, 345 million reside in Africa.
There is an estimated 366 million, trillion gallons of water on planet Earth. That number appears to be fixed, according to UNESCO’s Intergovernmental Council of the International Hydrological Program (HIP). The HIP are a UN program system devoted to researching and finding natural water resources and managing those resources found. While the UN is well aware that the necessity of water as a vital source for life means the retention of power over all life, they are well into their schemes to develop global governance over all sources of fresh, clean water.

"The IPCC document HS 15332 Climate Change Impacts: Securitization of Water, Food, Soil, Health, Energy and Migration explains how the UN plans to secure resources to use at their disposal.
Through the International Monetary Fund (IMF) under-developed countries are forced to sell their resources to the global Elite as “full cost recovery” to the global central bankers. Once those resources are under the complete control of the IMF they become assets to be reallocated back to the enslaved nations for a price. This scheme makes water sources under central privatization cost more and become less accessible to those who desperately need it. Water prices rise while the quality of it diminishes. This forces natives in places like South Africa and India to collect water from polluted streams and rivers, which compromises their health. The cycle in complete when those who had their water stolen from them through coercion die from contaminated water that they were forced to use.

"At the High-Level International Conference on Water Cooperation (ICWC) conference, entitled “Water in the Anthropocene” states that humanity’s impact on freshwater resources were assessed and it was determined that a 3rd of the estimated 7 billion people on earth have limited access to clean water. Millions if individual local humans affect the regional, continental and global water cycles which facilitates a drastic shortage and untold damage of aquatic ecosystems. The document stated: “In the short span of one or two generations, the majority of the nine billion people on Earth will be living under the handicap of severe pressure on fresh water.”

"Human populations utilize water resources the equivalent of the size of South Africa to tend to the needs of crops. Another Africa-sized amount of water is used on the care of livestock. Fresh water makes up 2.5% of the total water supplies across the planet. It is estimated that 70% of it is snow and ice-pack. The document says that because of the impact of man on the planet, the earth’s chemistry and climate have been altered which has evidenced itself in the measureable hydrological cycles of the planet. This obviously unsustainable course is causing the contamination of our fresh water supply.

"UN-Water, a non-governmental organization (NGO), controlled by UNESCO, published the 4th edition of the UN World Water Development Report (WWDR4) in 2012. In this report, the world’s freshwater resources were analyzed. Internationally controlled infrastructure was recommended to save those resources from being depleted. Research data shows that nearly 1 billion people are using finite water resources. Therein lay a portion of the problem.

"Written by Susanne Posel of www.occupycorporatism.com "
 
Always interesting to read the visionaries, especially Fabrice Grinda, one who has "since 2009, invested 26 million euros in start-ups."

Life in 2030 by Fabrice Grinda

LINK: Life in 2030
TEXT: "November 5, 2015 - Alliancy magazine. What major changes do you envision in fifteen years?
Fabrice Grinda. The internet of things, such as refrigerators that order produce you run out of, deliveries by drones, etc. All of this is coming. However, I also see some major breakthroughs in five areas: cars, communication, health, education and energy. The technologies exist. The future is already here, it’s just not equally distributed yet. For large-scale deployment, costs need to come down and usage needs to be simplified.

Cars will become “shared”. Today, self-driving cars have already travelled millions of kilometers without an accident. But while the average price of a car in the United States is less than $20,000, the system that enables the car to drive itself costs around $100,000. Financially speaking, their general application is still not feasible. The legal framework is also missing. We need to determine who would be responsible in the event of an accident.

Will there be cost benefits?
The car is the second source of expenditure in the household budget, even though it is not actively being used 95% of the time. People continue to purchase a car because it is less expensive than using Uber and a driver, and the car is available at any time, especially in less-densely populated areas. But when the day comes that the cost for the driver disappears, when cars drive themselves, the main expense will become the depreciation of the asset over a few years. A shared vehicle, used 90% of the time, will become much cheaper. Thus, at all levels, owning a car will no longer make any sense. Companies will purchase fleets of cars and make them available to companies who will operate them like Uber, with a sufficiently dense network so that a car can be available in two or three minutes, eventually including even less-populated areas. This is especially going to change society. In the United States, a primary source of employment is driving. This is going to free up an enormous labor force. The cost of driving will go down, and we will have a lot of things delivered to our homes, even a coffee!

In the area of communication, has the revolution already occurred?
No. The most common tool – the one that it’s difficult to imagine living without – the cell phone, is going to completely disappear. In fact, we are making considerable progress in “brain reading”. We are at the stage where we had voice recognition fifteen years ago. At the time, you needed a powerful dedicated card and hours of repetition in order for your voice to be recognized effectively. Today, by wearing a helmet with 128 electrodes on your head and hours of training, you can be taught to use your thoughts to pilot a plane, move a pointer on a screen, etc. In 2013, a brain-to-brain connection was even made. Someone, using the power of thought, was able to move another person’s arm…

“In 2030, we will work where we want, when we want and as much as we want.”

So what are we waiting for?
In fifteen years, it is conceivable that we will have one or two transparent and invisible electrodes on our brain that will allow us to use our thoughts to give instructions to a miniature computer to show us emails, texts, using lasers on our glasses that write on our retina or through intelligent contact lenses . This will be superimposed over our vision.

We will have a sort of “enhanced telepathy”. We will exchange information via thought: I think of a text, I send it to you, you read it on your retina, or your contact lenses. We will no longer need to have a portable device with our head constantly looking down at this little screen that distracts you and limits your field of vision. But, in fifteen years, we will still be at the very beginning. Lasers that write on retinas exist, but intelligent lenses are still of poor quality. Thought reading is still approximate and requires a super computer and 128 electrodes. In 2030, the equivalent of today’s super computer will cost fifty dollars. The development of electrodes sufficiently small and efficient and effective transcription software will perhaps take 20 to 25 years. However, it’s inevitable that smartphones will become extinct.

And in the health sector…
Today, five doctors can make five different diagnoses of the same illness: humans are not good at diagnostics. So far, Watson, IBM’s super computer, is better at detecting certain cancers than doctors. This is only logical because it reads each micron of an MRI or an X-ray, while a doctor only looks at them for a few minutes. In five years, diagnostics will mainly be left up to computers. In ten years, we will have a universal diagnostic machine for all common diseases, such as the common cold, HIV, etc. This will be even more useful in places like Africa where there is a shortage of doctors. At the same time, surgery is also being revolutionized. Da Vinci’s “robot doctor” has already conducted five million operations. Surgery will continue to become more robotized or automated and this is going to minimize performance gaps between surgeons. For the first time, the cost of medicine will start to go down. In addition, all of the paperwork and administrative inefficiency is going to disappear with online medical files, etc. In fifteen years, we will be continually diagnosed with constant feedback about what we need to do in terms of nutrition, medication, etc., all while having more effective surgery and a much lower cost structure for medicine.

Another coming revolution – education?
If we were to teleport Socrates into today’s world, he would recognize almost nothing… except the way we educate our children: a teacher of variable quality speaks to a class of 15 to 35 students. It makes no sense to continue educating our children the same way it was done 2500 years ago, when each student has different skills and interests. And now that the world changes so quickly, just consider how ridiculous it is that education is time limited and stops after school or university is over. Education should be an on-going process that takes place throughout our life and it should be more efficient.

How will this change our potential?
With sites like Coursera [that offers the best courses in the world for free, editor’s note], the best professor in the subject area provides online courses to 300,000 students. It’s so much more logical to have the best teacher educate the largest number of students! Only those who want the degree pay to take the exams. It’s a much more egalitarian system.

And at the elementary or high school level?
Automated learning systems are currently being tested in some schools. The teacher is no longer a fact spewing maching, but a coach. The course is provided by the software that then asks questions and adapts to the student. If the student makes mistakes, the software reiterates the material differently, then advances to the next level when the student has understood. In the same class, each student goes at his/her own pace. This is not the end of school. Beyond knowledge, we need to learn to socialize and interact and we need be surrounded by other children. Humans are quintessentially social beings.

Anything else?
The largest breakthrough will be in continued education. All careers are currently being reinvented. In marketing, a few years ago, you needed to know how to optimize your visibility on search engines (SEO). Today, you need to understand app store optimization (ASO). How do you learn this? You take specialized courses on sites like Udemy, the leader in the area. They are created by users and are then available from 1 to 10 dollars…

In other words, the working world will inevitably be changed…
The generation of millenials [editor’s note: born starting in the year 2000] hates the idea of a nine-to-five work routine, the idea of working for a boss, of having a boss. We are currently witnessing the explosion of entrepreneurship in the United States, empowered by the arrival of a number of on-demand service applications. Half of all jobs created after the 2008 crisis are people who are self-employed and who work for Uber, Postmates (meals delivered to your home), Instacart (meals delivered by a neighbor).

These are services that are personalized and available on-demand…
Beauty treatments, manicures, haircuts, transportation, etc. All of these services have been reinvented with a lot of flexibility. This is also true for programming, editing and design services. Work is becoming increasingly less incremental, less time based. Millenials can work day and night for a week, then five hours the next week; they want to work where, when and how much they want. For them, money is only a means to have life experiences. In 2030, they will represent half of the working population.

And will we be happier in 2030?
Not necessarily because people adapt rapidly to changes in their circumstances through a process called hedonic adaptation. However, we will be the master of our own destiny. We will work as much – or also as little – as we want. The average population will be in better health and better educated. The cost of most things will be lower and this will result in a vastly superior quality of life.

So, there is no social divide?
There is talk about widening inequalities, but the reality is that there is a convergence of social classes. In 1900, rich people went on vacation, not poor people. Today, one travels on a private jet and the other on EasyJet, but both of them take a plane and take a vacation. 99% of the American poor have water and electricity, and 70% have a car. With regard to criteria such as infant mortality and life expectancy, inequality is decreasing.

But what about climate change and the cost of energy, wouldn’t they affect these advances?
That is going to be solved without regulation, without government intervention. We’re going to move towards a non-carbon economy, but for purely economic reasons. One megawatt of solar energy already costs less than one dollar compared to $100 in 1975. This reduction is a result of improvements in production processes and productivity. We’ve already reached parity in solar energy costs in some regions of the world, far from cities, where the creation of a power station is expensive. In 2025, the costs of one kilowatt produced with solar energy will be less than that produced with coal, without a subsidy. Once that happens, tens of billions of dollars will be invested in it. In 2030, we will start accelerating solar deployment. The megawatt costs will be much lower. And that will in turn lower the costs of a lot of things and improve the quality of life. I am very optimistic.

* According to the classification of FundMe and France Digitale (April 2015), since 2009, Fabrice Grinda has invested 26 million euros in start-ups.

Read the full interview with Fabrice Grinda at ALLIACNY.FR
 
Ray Kurzweil Predicts Three Technologies Will Define Our Future
by McShane and Dorrier, April 19, 2016
LINK: Ray Kurzweil Predicts Three Technologies Will Define Our Future
TEXT: "Over the last several decades, the digital revolution has changed nearly every aspect of our lives. The pace of progress in computers has been accelerating, and today, computers and networks are in nearly every industry and home across the world. Many observers first noticed this acceleration with the advent of modern microchips, but as Ray Kurzweil wrote in his book The Singularity Is Near, we can find a number of eerily similar trends in other areas too.

According to Kurzweil’s law of accelerating returns, technological progress is moving ahead at an exponential rate, especially in information technologies. This means today’s best tools will help us build even better tools tomorrow, fueling this acceleration. But our brains tend to anticipate the future linearly instead of exponentially. So, the coming years will bring more powerful technologies sooner than we imagine.

As the pace continues to accelerate, what surprising and powerful changes are in store? This post will explore three technological areas Kurzweil believes are poised to change our world the most this century.

[Read more about exponential progress in computing, Kurzweil’s law of accelerating returns, and how to think think exponentially and better predict the future.]

Genetics, Nanotechnology, and Robotics
Of all the technologies riding the wave of exponential progress, Kurzweil identifies genetics, nanotechnology, and robotics as the three overlapping revolutions which will define our lives in the decades to come. In what ways are these technologies revolutionary?
  • The genetics revolution will allow us to reprogram our own biology.
  • The nanotechnology revolution will allow us to manipulate matter at the molecular and atomic scale.
  • The robotics revolution will allow us to create a greater than human non-biological intelligence.
While genetics, nanotechnology, and robotics will peak at different times over the course of decades, we’re experiencing all three of them in some capacity already. Each is powerful in its own right, but their convergence will be even more so. Kurzweil wrote about these ideas in The Singularity Is Nearover a decade ago.

Let’s take a look at what’s happening in each of these domains today, and what we might expect in the future.

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The Genetics Revolution: ‘The Intersection of Information and Biology’
“By understanding the information processes underlying life, we are starting to learn to reprogram our biology to achieve the virtual elimination of disease, dramatic expansion of human potential, and radical life extension.”–Ray Kurzweil, The Singularity Is Near

We’ve been “reprogramming” our environment for nearly as long as humans have walked the planet. Now we have accrued enough knowledge about how our bodies work that we can begin tackling disease and aging at their genetic and cellular roots.

Biotechnology Today
We’ve anticipated the power of genetic engineering for a long time. In 1975, the Asilomar Conference debated the ethics of genetic engineering, and since then, we’ve seen remarkable progress in both the lab and in practice—genetically modified crops, for example, are already widespread (though controversial).

Since the Human Genome Project was completed in 2003, enormous strides have been made in reading, writing and hacking our own DNA.

Now, we’re reprogramming the code of life from bacteria to beagles and soon, perhaps, in humans. The ‘how,’ ‘when,’ and ‘why’ of genetic engineering are still being debated, but the pace is quickening.

Major innovations in biotech over the last decade include:
Many challenges still need to be overcome before these new technologies are widely used on humans, but the possibilities are incredible. And we can only assume the speed of progress will continue to accelerate. The surprising result? Kurzweil proposes that most diseases will be curable and the aging process will be slowed or perhaps even reversed in the coming decades.

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The Nanotechnology Revolution: ‘The Intersection of Information and the Physical World’

“Nanotechnology has given us the tools…to play with the ultimate toy box of nature atoms and molecules. Everything is made from it…The possibilities to create new things appear endless.”
- Nobelist Horst Störmer, The Singularity Is Near

Many people date the birth of conceptual nanotech to Richard Feynman’s 1959 speech, “There’s Plenty of Room at the Bottom,” where Feynman described the “profound implications of engineering machines at the level of atoms.” But it was only when the scanning tunneling microscope was invented in 1981 that the nanotechnology industry began in earnest.

Kurzweil argues that no matter how successfully we fine tune our DNA-based biology, it will be no match for what we will be able to engineer by manipulating matter on the molecular and atomic level.

Nanotech, Kurzweil says, will allow us to redesign and rebuild “molecule by molecule, our bodies and brains and the world in which we live.”

Nanotechnology Today
While we can already see evidence of the ‘genetics revolution’ in the news and in our daily lives, for most people, nanotech might still seem like the stuff of science fiction. However, it’s likely you already use products on a daily basis that have benefitted from nanotech research. These include sunscreens, clothing, paints, cars, and more. And of course, the digital revolution has continued thanks to new methods allowing us to make chips with nanoscale features.

In addition to already having practical applications today, there is much research and testing being conducted into groundbreaking (if still experimental) nanotechnology like:
Though we continue to improve at manipulating matter on nanoscales, we’re still far from nanobots or nanoassemblers that would build and repair atom by atom.

That said, as Feynman pointed out, the principles of physics do not speak against such a future. And we need only look to our own biology to see an already working model in the intricate nano-machinery of life.

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The Robotics Revolution: ‘Building Strong Artificial Intelligence’
“It is hard to think of any problem that a superintelligence could not either solve or at least help us solve. Disease, poverty, environmental destruction, unnecessary suffering of all kinds: these are things that a superintelligence equipped with advanced nanotechnology would be capable of eliminating.”–Ray Kurzweil, The Singularity Is Near

The name of this revolution might be a little confusing. Kurzweil says robotics is embodied artificial intelligence—but it’s the intelligence itself that matters most. While acknowledging the risks, he argues the AI revolution is the most profound transformation human civilization will experience in all of history.

This is because this revolution is characterized by being able to replicate human intelligence: the “most important and powerful attribute of human civilization.”

We’re already well into the era of “narrow AI,” which is a machine that has been programmed to do one or a few specific tasks, but that’s just a teaser of what's to come.

Strong AI will be as versatile as a human when it comes to solving problems. And according to Kurzweil, even AI that can function at the level of human intelligence will already outperform humans because of several aspects unique to machines:
  • "Machines can pool resources in ways that humans cannot."
  • "Machines have exacting memories."
  • Machines "can consistently perform at peak levels and can combine peak skills.”
Artificial Intelligence Today
Most of us use some form of narrow AI on a regular basis — like Siri and Google Now, and increasingly,Watson. Other forms of narrow AI include programs like:
  • Speech and image recognition software
  • Pattern recognition software for autonomous weapons
  • Programs used to detect fraud in financial transactions
  • Google’s AI-based statistical learning methods used to rank links
The next step towards strong AI will be machines that learn on their own, without being programmed or fed information by humans. This is called ‘deep learning,’ a powerful new mode of machine learning, which is currently experiencing a surge in research and applications.

Why Is This Important?
Kurzweil calls genetics, nanotechnology, and robotics overlapping revolutions because we will continue to experience them simultaneously as each one of these technologies matures.

These and other technologies will likely converge with each other and impact our lives in ways difficult to predict, and Kurzweil warns each technology will have the power to do great good or harm—as is the case with all great technologies. The extent to which we’re able to harness their power to improve lives will depend on the conversations we have and the actions we take today.

“GNR will provide the means to overcome age-old problems such as illness and poverty, but it will also empower destructive ideologies,” Kurzweil writes. “We have no choice but to strengthen our defenses while we apply these quickening technologies to advance our human values, despite a lack of consensus on what those values should be.”

The more we anticipate and debate these three powerful technological revolutions, the better we can guide their development toward outcomes that do more good than harm.

To learn more about the exponential pace of technology and Ray Kurzweil's predictions, read his 2001 essay "The Law of Accelerating Returns" and his book, The Singularity Is Near.​
 
"Read the signs of your times" said the wise old (esoteric) teacher - and I am struck by how much the future is clamoring around us: Climate Change, economic deconstruction, political reconstruction, energy shifts (e.g. solar), localization, regionalization, radioactive pollution, pollution in general, resource scarcity (fresh water), acidification of the oceans and the depletion of the food chain, migrating human populations.....it's all there, married to the technological advances.....
 
That previous video is a PERFECT example of what could happen with the genetic altering of DNA in automotive embryos if left unchecked.
 
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If an electrical current is passed through water between electrodes (the positive and minus poles of a battery), the water is split into its two parts: oxygen and hydrogen. This process is called electrolysis and is used in industry in many ways, such as making metals like aluminum.
Science Projects - Splitting Water - Energy Quest - California
www.energyquest.ca.gov/projects/split_h2o.html

Human life .............The average adult human body is 50-65% water, averaging around 57-60%. The percentage of water in infants is much higher, typically around 75-78% water, dropping to 65% by one year of age. Body composition varies according to gender and fitness level, because fatty tissue contains less water than lean tissue


Technology.....the destruction of life on Earth.

Atmospheric body that interacts with our own organic body.
Gaseous water represents a small but environmentally significant constituent of the atmosphere. The percentage water vapor in surface air varies from 0.01% at -42 °C (-44 °F) to 4.24% when the dew point is 30 °C (86 °F). Approximately 99.13% of it is contained in the troposphere.

Black Triangular UFO condition......burning of the atmospheric gases to produce converting SION wavelength for nuclear fuel power plants......users of hydrogen.
black triangle ufo - Google Search

ATMOSPHERE = blue gases
io9.com/5855700/10-cases-of-spontaneous-human-combustionNov 4, 2011 - People found the burned body of an elderly man lying with his head near the ... In 1967, a passenger on a bus in England noticed blue flames in the ... There is only one case of human combustion for which there is a witness.
 
Innovative Moving Platforms
TEXT: "Published on Sep 24, 2016: Moving Platforms allow transferring passengers to local services while still in motion."
 
This is a bit of fun. No prototype. Theory. Still fun. :)

NASA’s starship could reach Alpha Centauri in just two weeks

TEXT: "Published on Sep 21, 2016: NASA’s starship could reach Alpha Centauri, the closest star system to our sun, in just two weeks!"
 
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