Domestic robots

Every single day the robotics industry makes increasing advances that take our breath away. Of particular interest are robots that can assist us with simple day to day tasks like...making a cup of tea for instance! Teforia is a tea-making robot that can brew tea at just the right temperature so that it does not lose any flavour. It's an impressive move towards producing practical robotic appliances that can be sold en masse to the public. It may only be a small and trivial advance compared to other technological breakthroughs that we experienced in recent years. Nonetheless, Teforia constitutes an undeniable step in the direction of making domestic robots that can make millions of people's lives easier. Will the likes of Teforia soon become commonplace? Time will tell. But there is no doubt that robotics is about to become a colossal worldwide industry. 

Cybersecurity

NSA director Richard Ledgett has warned of the increasing risk to cybersecurity from nation-state hackers. Ever since the Edward Snowden affair, the NSA has come under increasing scrutiny from the public amid accusations of invasion of data privacy. Intelligence services organizations have long used the internet as a surveillance mechanism. What differentiates cyber-espionage now is the sheer depth and breadth of its scope. The amount of intelligence data that can be gleaned from the web is disturbing. Every single thing we do online now leaves and audit trail. This is hugely advantageous for the likes of the NSA that relies upon profiling as a means of apprehending terrorists. Police investigators all over the world have systematically used online profiling to great effect in catching criminals. However, it is critically important that data privacy rights of the individual are never transgressed in the course of digital surveillance. This will prove very challenging to say the very least. This BBC interview with Richard Ledgett is interesting in this regard.

Artlifting

One of the most frequent and strident criticism of the internet is that it has the tendency to inspire greed and selfishness. There is no doubt that the web can and has inspired unscrupulous behaviour and provided scammers with opportunities galore to exploit the gullible and vulnerable. Nonetheless, the web has also facilitated many positive changes in society and inspired a great deal of generosity and altruism. Think of the enormous efforts made by people worldwide to make online donations for disaster relief in the aftermath of hurricanes or earthquakes. Think of how charities and human rights' organizations have benefited from being able to raise global awareness of their ideas and goals via the online spectrum. Another plight in our society that the internet can help to alleviate is homelessness. 
Artlifting is an online art marketplace for homeless people. Essentially, Artlifting is a benefit corporation that enables homeless and disabled people the opportunity to showcase their art online and make enough sales to be able to get off the streets. Of the original 48 people selling their art on Airlifting, 5 are no longer homeless and 10 of the artists have been selected to show their art at the Museum of fine arts in Boston. According to this article from Techcrunch, Artlifting has just raised $1.1 million in seed funding. This is a very exciting announcement for Airlifting. Needless to say, Artlifting still has a huge amount of work in front of it to truly benefit the millions of homeless people all over the world. But in a day and age where greed and cynicism abound, this is a very promising and admirable step in the direction of making the world a better place to live in for everyone. Let's hope that it continues to inspire people to take proactive action to tackle social problems using the most remarkable technological invention of our time.   

Apple launches renewable energy initiative

Renewable energy is generating more and more interest from the large tech companies. Apple is no exception. They have just invested billions in a solar energy initiative in China, in order to clean up its manufacturing operations in that country. China has been under the spotlight for a long time in regard to its carbon emissions, so it comes as no surprise that Greenpeace has applauded Apple's move. According to Apple, their operations in China are now carbon neutral because the company produces more electricity than it uses in China. This is a very admirable initiative by Apple, and one that will hopefully be emulated by other large companies. Climate change is a very serious issue and one that needs to be addressed right here right now. As we continue to build out our technological infrastructure, it is imperative that we keep a close eye on the environment and with that, renewable energy. Hopefully, this major investment in renewable energy is the first of many to come!

Crowdfunding

The crowdfunding sector has grown significantly in recent years. This is largely due to the fact that banks have tightened up in regard to lending and many people are seeking alternative means of sourcing funds for entrepreneurial projects. More and more people are now considering crowdfunding as a viable means of soliciting funds for startup enterprises. This short video gives an introductory overview of what crowdfunding is all about. Crowdfunding is likely to become a major phenomenon in the future.

Artificial Intelligence

There is no question that AI heralds huge opportunities and possibilities for the future. Big data and algorithms are just the beginnings. The next step will be Artificial General Intelligence. According to some estimates, this step is about thirty years away. Artificial General Intelligence will be machines that can mimic human beings in every way. One of the greatest paradoxes in regard to AI is the Moravec paradox. Simply put, this means that although machines can perform tasks that humans find extremely difficult (i.e. compute complex mathematical calculations), machines tend to struggle with tasks that humans find very simple (i.e. walking up steps). Machines also struggle with the ambiguity of language, whereas humans tend not to find this a challenge. 
Perhaps the greatest challenge of all will be programming machines to understand moral values and ethical principles. Given the fact that there is enormous dispute amongst human beings as to what constitutes an ethical or moral act (just watch a debate about euthanasia), this will be a difficult thing to do. Designing machines to understand Artificial Emotional Intelligence will be critical to ensure that machines never reach the stage where they could harm humans. The video below addresses many of this issues and more. 

 

Synthetic biology

One of the most extraordinary scientific and technological breakthroughs of our our time has been the emergence of synthetic biology. Simply put, synthetic biology refers to both the design and fabrication of biological systems that do not exist in the natural world, and the redesign and fabrication of existing systems. This opens up a plethora of exciting possibilities for the future of medical science, ecology and bio-engineering. Synthetic biology offers up exciting opportunities to redesign the human body and improve upon some of the design faults that have been the source of considerable human pain and discomfort (think of appendicitus, wisdom teeth, the male prostate gland or cancer cells). Synthetic biology presents us with the chance to design the kind of biological ecosystem we would prefer to live in. Needless to add, synthetic biology also brings with it opportunities for exploitation and harm (think of deadly dangerous viruses, or organisms that are maladapted to the environment in which they are released). But whatever risks or challenges are faced within this field, synthetic biology will be an extremely exciting field in the future. The video below is interesting and informative in this regard.