Critical Thought
Night & Day. Up & Down. Before & After.
Art & Science.
You get the idea. Aside from the increasing melding of science, technology and art – such as the transmodern molecular modeling-based art forms created by Shane Hope – Art and Science are often viewed as being different in so many ways […]
We’re obsessed with time. We spend, waste, count, measure, invest, lose, and take it. We think and write about time to no end.
And then there’s time travel.
Long the realm of science fiction and theoretical physics, we may be closing in a a way to determine if it’s actually possible. Enter Vanderbilt University theoretical […]
On May 3, 2010 the New York Academy of Medicine (NYAM) held the Update on Medical IT: What Every Health Professional Needs to Know sponsored by NYAM Informatics Special Interest Group and Columbia University’s Center for Advanced Information Management (CAIM). The speakers were Dr. Edward H. Shortliffe, President & CEO American Medical […]
In Technology Review: Cell on a Chip, Lauren Gravitz reports that researchers at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, NY, have created the first artificial cellular organelle. This “cell on a chip” will help researchers understand how our bodies produce the widely-used blood thinner heparin.
This is a critical step. After its discovery nearly a […]
Experimental set-up at the FLASH laser used to discover the new state of matter.
University of Oxford scientists have created a transparent form of aluminum (across the pond, it’s “alumimium”) by bombarding the metal with the world’s most powerful soft X-ray laser. ‘Transparent aluminum’ is an exotic new state of matter that previously existed […]
First used in its current sense by mathematician and scifi writer Vernor Vinge in 1993, and introduced to popular culture by technology futurist Ray Kurzweil 1n 2005, the Singularity is the theoretical future point of hyper-accelerating societal, scientific and economic change made possible by the emergence of machine superintelligence.
The premier dialog on the Singularity, […]
Does Bond need Q when there’s real-world computer-mediated telepathy? With its Silent Talk program, DARPA (the Pentagon’s Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency) proudly says nope.
Start by scanning and mapping the brain’s electric signals via EEG. Analyze said signals and convert ’em into words. Beam these to the soldier of your […]
Everyone’s soooo scared of gray goo – ya know, wantonly self-replicating, nanofabricating killer nanobots run amok and end all life on Earth through an orgiastic wave of ecophagy (literally, “eating the environment”). These pesky critters would be based on the molecular assemblers and nanfabricators envisioned by nanotech pioneer Eric Drexler, which “would join […]
Not just a sci-fi fantasy…
Abstract
We have improved upon the methodology and dramatically shortened the time required for accurate assembly of 5- to 6-kb segments of DNA from synthetic oligonucleotides. As a test of this methodology, we have […]
The Federation of American Scientists’ Digital Human project is laying the groundwork for designing artificial organs of all types – check out this excerpt:
Artificial Organs and Prostheses
Computer models are already being used to design artificial hips, hearing aids, prostheses and other devices fitted precisely to the requirements of individual patients. The […]
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CRITICAL THOUGHT | TV
Ben Goertzel | Cosmist & Singularitarian
The present, near-term and distant future of Artificial General Intelligence
Aubrey de Grey | Biomedical Gerontologist
Combating aging through biomolecular engineering
Mark Wigley | Architectural Theorist, Scholar & Author
Crafting forms that allow others to see the world differently
Lina Srivastava | Transmedia Activist
Harnessing cultural context and artistic expression to create change
Jesse Prinz | Culturalist & Neurophilospher
Empirical philosophy, evolution, culture, emotion, morality and consciousness
Randal Koene | Neuroscientist & Neuroengineer
Substrate Independent Minds and Whole Brain Emulation
Alex Gabbay | Filmmaker & Director
What do Art and Science have to say about Consciousness?
Jason Silva | Filmmaker & Futurist
Passion and artistic sensibility to inform the coming Singularity
