Government – Lifeboat News: The Blog

Apr 13
2017

Climate change, other concerns fuel scientists’ in-your-face activism

While many scientists have shied away from explicitly political actions in recent decades, the community throughout history has spoken publicly on a wide variety of social, technological and ideological issues.

That has included everything from opposing fascism, nuclear proliferation and the Vietnam War to sitting on government panels that advise elected leaders on stem-cell research involving human embryos.

In U.S. history, scientists have been vocal about fascism, nuclear proliferation, the Vietnam War, stem cells and more.

Apr 11
2017

Technology|Canada Tries to Turn Its A.I. Ideas Into Dollars

In its new budget, the government of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau pledged $93 million ($125 million Canadian) to support A.I. research centers in Toronto, Montreal and Edmonton, which will be public-private collaborations.

Today’s striking advances in artificial intelligence owe a lot to research in Canada over the years. But the country has so far failed to cash in.

Apr 10
2017

Is monetizing federal land the way to pay for basic income?

Here’s a very important article to me—and a part of my platform moving forward. Automation is coming, but we don’t need to raise taxes to pay for a Basic Income. There are other ways to deal with our jobless future and poverty in America.

Like the Titanic, capitalism is sinking, but few passengers are wondering yet if there are enough lifeboats.

I recently declared my run as a Libertarian for California governor in 2018, and I gently support the idea of a state-funded basic income to offset the effects of ubiquitous automation. A basic income would give every Californian some money — and it makes sense to start such a dramatic program here in the Golden State, since this is where much of the human-job-replacing-tech is created.

My Libertarian friends are skeptical of my support for a basic income. They insist the only way to pay for such a program is via higher taxes. This is not true; other ways exist. California could potentially cut deals with the federal government to lease its empty land and natural resources to help pay for a basic income.

After all, state and federal resources belong to the people, and 45 percent of California (more than 45 million acres) is government-controlled land, leaving vast areas idle and mostly undeveloped.

Apr 6
2017

Continued claims that the EMDrive is being tested on the X-37B

In November 2016 the International Business Times claimed the U.S. government was testing a version of the EmDrive on the Boeing X-37B and that the Chinese government has made plans to incorporate the EmDrive on its orbital space laboratory Tiangong-2. In 2009 an EmDrive technology transfer contract with Boeing was undertaken via a State Department TAA and a UK export licence, approved by the UK MOD. The appropriate US government agencies including DARPA, USAF and NSSO were aware of the contract. However, prior to flight, the propulsion experiment aboard the X-37B was officially announced as a test of a Hall-effect thruster built by Aerojet Rocketdyne.

China Topix repeated the claim that the X-37B was testing an EMDrive.

Apr 3
2017

Climate of Hope — By Michael Bloomberg and Carl Pope

“Bloomberg, an entrepreneur and former mayor of New York City, and Pope, a lifelong environmental leader, approach climate change from different perspectives, yet they arrive at similar conclusions.”

Apr 1
2017

Killing Science and Culture Doesn’t Make the Nation Stronger

Scientists throughout the country across a wide spectrum of fields, from biochemists to physicists, are bemoaning the potentially devastating impact on science and technology in the United States of President Trump’s proposed budget request to Congress.

Massive funding cuts in the president’s proposed budget could be more devastating than any threat posed by illegal immigrants.

By Lawrence M. Krauss on March 21, 2017

Mar 31
2017

The World’s First Flying Taxis Will Take to the Skies in Five Months

We’re a lot closer to flying cars that we think. In fact, Dubai has already begun testing a prototype of a self-driving hover-taxi with the hope of launching an aerial shuttle service by July.

“The autonomous aerial vehicle exhibited at the World Government Summit is not just a model. We have already experimented (with) the vehicle in a flight in (the) Dubai sky. RTA will spare no effort to launch the AAV in July 2017,” shares director general of the Roads and Transport Authority (RTA) Mattar Al-Tayer.

To avail of the taxi service, passengers will simply select a destination before they board the vehicle with the help of a ground control center. The EHang 184 quadcopter can travel on a programmed course at 100 km an hour (60 mph) at an altitude of 300 meters (1,000 feet), the authority said in a statement.

Mar 31
2017

Who’s Tracking Your Faceprint?

Advertising companies, tech giants, data collectors, and the federal government, it turns out.

Mar 30
2017

Congress Deletes Internet Privacy: 5 Things You Have to Know

The House of Representatives approved a measure rolling back Obama-era FCC regulations about internet privacy. Here are five things you now need to know.

Mar 29
2017

Cycon: Taking place in Tallinn from May 30th to June 2nd 2017 2017 will cover issues ranging from international cooperation and conflict in cyberspace to technical challenges and requirements

Legal frameworks, regulations and standards under the topic Defending the Core.

2017 will focus on the fundamental aspects of cyber security with a theme of Defending the Core. The 9^th International Conference on Cyber Conflict will be held in Tallinn from May 30 through June 2, 2017.

CyCon is organised by the NATO Cooperative Cyber Defence Centre of Excellence. Every year, over 500 decision-makers and experts from government, military and industry from all over the world approach the conference’s key theme from legal, technology and strategy perspectives, often in an interdisciplinary manner.