Tobias S. Buckell's Blog, page 52
August 6, 2013
700K in the US file for medical bankruptcy every year. In Japan 0. Germany: 0. This.
This:
“‘Without insurance, we would have lost our house, decimated the college funds, spent every bit of savings we had, and, six years later, I’m sure we’d still be paying off those bills. Or we would have gone bankrupt. Some 700,000 Americans every year declare bankruptcy because of medical bills. The number in Japan? Zero. The number in Germany? Zero.’”
(Via Cory Doctorow: Without insurance, we would have lost our house,….)
1 second of human brain activity simulated
A step toward AI?
“Is it really possible to simulate the human brain on a computer? AI researchers have been investigating that question for decades, but Japanese and German scientists have run what they say is the largest-ever simulation of brain activity using a machine.
The simulation involved 1.73 billion virtual nerve cells connected by 10.4 trillion synapses and was run on Japan’s K computer, which was ranked the fastest in the world in 2011.”
August 5, 2013
Basic Income Plan: a thought experiment
Charles Stross posted this thought experiment recently:
“As automation of mind-work bites, sooner or later we’re going to need to switch from a work-to-live-and-pay-taxes-on-income economy to a basic-income-and-work-to-add-luxuries economy. Otherwise we’re going to end up with a vast majority of the population who are immiserated and have nothing to lose from violent unrest, and whose immiseration means they can’t provide the level of consumer spending that supports the profits of the business...
John Carmack’s private space program shutters up
Well, it had been fun to watch as it went:
“Armadillo Aerospace, the private rocket-building enterprise founded by gaming godfather John Carmack, is being put on hold. At QuakeCon, Carmack told New Space Journal that in the face of a failed landing in January and growing organizational problems, ‘things are turned down to sort of a hibernation mode.’ Armadillo, the Journal reports, had hit a snag after giving up private contract work to chase a reusable cargo craft of the kind used by NASA. Th...
August 2, 2013
Sense of wonder and awe in a cute space program video game? Check out this trailer for Kerbal Space Program
The last video I posted of Kerbal Space Program really doesn’t get across the sense of wonder and fun you experience KSS. I found one today that really gets across what is so amazing about this game for me. It pushes the same buttons I get when watching a SpaceX launch, or Dragon docking, or old footage of the moon landings. Check it:
Asteroid lasso by Nasa in jeopardy
“It is known, informally, as the asteroid-lasso plan: NASA wants to launch an unmanned spacecraft in 2018 that would capture a small asteroid — maybe 7 to 10 yards wide — haul it closer to Earth, then send astronauts up to examine it, in
But the space agency has encountered a stubborn technical problem: Congressional Republicans.”
(Via Plan to Capture an Asteroid Runs Into Politics – NYTimes.com.)
Sigh.
On the other hand, Obama switched the plan from Bush’s moon base, changing NASA direction. NA...
Consumer solar is in the computer hobby kit stage: a metaphor
This is interesting. The other week I was talking to someone, describing solar as not a power technology, but a silicon valley technology. This was why it was important to think of adoption rates in computer uptake speeds. I pointed out that solar installation was done by experts, or really dedicated hobbyists and tinkerers. There was no ‘snag one at Wal-mart’ solution, or being installed on campuses (like early computers were). They’re still in the computer-kit stage.
This Bosch continues my...
A nation of hamburger flippers
Why the recovery doesn’t feel like a recovery…
“‘Really we have become a nation of hamburger flippers, Wal-Mart sales associates, barmaids, checkout people and other people working at very low wages.’
The growth of low-wage jobs helps explain why the majority of Americans continue to believe the economy is in recession, despite a falling unemployment rate – now down to a four-year low of 7.4% – a record-setting stock market rally and a rebound in the housing market.”
August 1, 2013
Pot legalisation in Uruguay
This isn’t just decriminalization (like Portugal), but a full on legalization. People will be studying the hell out of this:
“AFTER more than a year’s public deliberation and a 14-hour parliamentary debate, on July 31st Uruguay took a big step to becoming the first country in the world to legalise marijuana (cannabis). The lower house of Congress voted on party lines, by 50 to 46, to approve a bill from the left-wing Broad Front government to legalise and regulate the production and sale of th...
