Lifeboat Foundation

The relationship between the government and the auto industry is about to be transformed. But into what?

Eight years ago, that relationship hardly could have been more awkward. Two of the Detroit 3 were begging Congress for a lifeline. The federal government would later fire General Motors’ CEO, orchestrate a bankruptcy of GM and Chrysler and emerge as a shareholder in both — a highly un-American arrangement that would lead to a successful recovery, yes, but also lingering tensions and shame.

The relationship is different now, but it’s not necessarily better. The Obama administration shed the stake in the car companies but has wrapped its tentacles more tightly around the industry in many ways, including strict consent decrees to monitor safety and tough targets for fuel economy and greenhouse gas emissions.

Continue reading “DARPA races offer model for government-industry relations” »

Russian Quantum Center (RQC) said that it is ready to collaborate with India and offer its quantum technology that will prevent hackers from breaking into bank accounts. RQC plans to offer ‘quantum cryptography’ that could propel India to the forefront of hack proof communication in sectors such as banking and national and homeland security.

“We are ready to work with Indian colleagues. It (the technology) can’t be bought from the United States as it deals with the government and security,” said Ruslan Yunusov, chief executive at RQC, in an interview.

Established by Russia’s largest global technology hub, Skolkovo in 2010, RQC conducts scientific research that could lead to a new class of technologies. These include developing ‘unbreakable cryptography’ for the banks and the government organisations. It also involves research in areas such as materials with superior properties and new systems for ultrasensitive imaging of the brain. The research is mostly funded by the government money.

Continue reading “Russia offers technology to keep hackers at bay” »

There’s really no sector in the United States (or much of the world) that has been untouched by the development of advanced manufacturing technologies – and no one seems to be underestimating the importance of the further development of those technologies in order to keep the country competitive. To that end, in 2014 the government established the National Network for Manufacturing Innovation (NNMI), more commonly known as Manufacturing USA.

The program brought together the industrial, academic, nonprofit and governmental sectors to establish a network of advanced manufacturing institutes for the purpose of accelerating new manufacturing technologies. President Obama proposed that the network grow to 45 institutes over the course of 10 years, and as of today, 12 have been established. The 12th, which was just announced by the Department of Defense, will be the Advanced Tissue Biofabrication (ATB) Manufacturing USA Institute, and will be led by the Advanced Regenerative Manufacturing Institute (ARMI), based in Manchester, New Hampshire.

Continue reading “Advanced Tissue Biofabrication (ATB) Manufacturing USA Institute Will Focus on 3D Bioprinting Among Other Biofabrication Technologies” »

OPINION | Imagine if a member of Congress could don a headset and experience being a refugee.

Doesn’t pay to fraud the government. The real question is why it took so long (4 years).

Defendant submitted false data and information instead of building and testing experimental components

OAKLAND – S. Darin Kinion, Ph.D., was sentenced today to 18 months’ imprisonment for submitting false data and reports to defraud the United States in connection with a quantum computing research program announced United States Attorney Brian J. Stretch, U.S. Department of Energy Special Agent in Charge of the Office of the Inspector General Scott Berenberg, and Inspector General of the Intelligence Community I. Charles McCullough III. The sentence follows a guilty plea entered June 14, 2016, in which Kinion acknowledged submitting false data and reports to the Intelligence Advanced Research Projects Activity (“IARPA”) of the Office of the Director of National Intelligence in a scheme to defraud the government out of money intended to fund research.

Continue reading “Scientist Who Faked Research to Receive Grants, Sentenced to 18-Months” »

Scientists with the China Academy of Space Technology (CAST) claim NASA’s results ‘re-confirm’ what they’d already achieved, and have plans to implement it in satellites ‘as quickly as possible.’ China claims they’ve created a working prototype of the ‘impossible’ reactionless engine – and they say they’re already testing it in orbit aboard the Tiangong-2 space laboratory. The radical, fuel-free EmDrive recently stirred up controversy after a paper published by a team of NASA researchers appeared to show they’d successfully built the technology.

The implications for this could be huge. For instance, current satellites could be half the size they are today without the need to carry fuel.

Continue reading “China Trumps NASA With Working ‘StarTrek’ EM Propulsion Drive --‘Testing Now Aboard the Tiangong-2 Space Laboratory’” »

IEEE’s new standards for ethically aligned AI — it’s a start focuses a lot on building ethics/ Morales into AI and not promote the building of autonomous AI Weapons, etc. However, without government & laws on the books this set of standards are a feel good document at best. When it gets into morals, values, not breaking laws, etc. this is when the standard really must come from social and cultural order/ practices, government, and most importantly laws to ensure the standards have the buy in and impact you need. My suggestion to IEEE, please work with gov, tech, legal sys. on this one.

More than 100 experts in artificial intelligence and ethics are attempting to advance public discussion surrounding the ethical considerations of AI.

My new article on the future geopolitical challenges of genetic editing: http://motherboard.vice.com/read/genetic-editing-could-cause-the-next-cold-war #transhumanism

If China pursues human genetic enhancement and the US retreats under a conservative government, it could create a divide between the modified and the not, sewing the seeds of global conflict.

Glad that the author is highlighting the need for investment; however, the US government has had a quantum network since 1991. Wall Street, various overseas banks, ISPs, etc. well over a year to 2 years ago. And, tech has invested in QC for a decade or longer. So, the article raises the need for investing in QC; however, the investing is no longer experimental as it is now about the daily usage of this technology as well as planning for technical transformation that is coming in the next 5 to 7 years.

Researchers led by Lockheed Martin and IBM are pushing quantum computing prototypes and military applications.