We get the science fiction we need at the time we need it. When "Star Trek" premiered on Sept. 8, 1966, the United States was escalating its involvement in the Vietnam War while also reckoning with the civil rights movement -- not to mention waging a cold war with the Soviet Union that seemed always on the verge of heating up. Right along with that tumult was the beacon of scientific hope that was NASA's space program, which in turn stoked the passion of an America obsessed with tomorrow. World's fairs were in the business of showing us the cars, kitchens and cities of tomorrow. Writer-producer Gene Roddenberry channeled those twin poles of the human condition -- strife and hope -- into "Star Trek," the show he pitched to NBC as " 'Wagon Train' to the stars."

SAN FRANCISCO – September 8, 2016 – TechCode, a global network of startup incubators and entrepreneur ecosystems, today announces its new accelerator program called the Global AI Accelerator. This new accelerator program is now accepting applications and is open to startups across all industry verticals who are utilizing artificial intelligence in their technology, such as voice recognition, machine learning, natural language processing and more. Applications for the accelerator program are due no later than October 10, 2016. "This program is unlike any other, as it not only has a niche focus on artificial intelligence, but is also the first global accelerator program, which means startups can participate from a number of different locations all over the world," said Luke Tang, General Manager of TechCode's U.S. Accelerator program. "Our global presence puts us in a unique position to offer this type of accelerator and help startups in the fields of robotics, virtual and augmented reality, smart home, IoT, medical devices, wearables and more, to build international relationships."

Japanese government and business leaders have teamed up to map their capital in 3D and turn the soon-to-be host city into a haven for autonomous vehicles.

Recently I posted an article by Jeff Selingo to my LinkedIn feed entitled "What happens when millions of jobs are lost to automation." Predictably, those who actually read the article decided it was about education -- specifically, how a lot of people are being educated to do things that no one will be doing after a few years. Meanwhile, people who read only the title commented that even more jobs will be created in our hyperautomated future. The issue is more complicated. When we defund education and fail to address long-standing social issues, we simply don't prepare future generations (or even much of the current one) for this future.

In Contact, Sagan also explores the fracturing of the human race in the aftermath of the discovery that humans aren't alone. International politics become a free-for-all, as astronomers from around the world work to harness and decode the signals amid fears that countries with tepid relationships with the U.S. might withhold or alter data. America and Russia compete to build the spacecraft depicted in the transmitted blueprints. International debate rages over who will comprise the five-person crew, and countries trade seats for other privileges. The heightened tensions culminate in the bombing of the first craft and crew, for which dozens of international political, religious, and military organizations take credit.

Three military veterans once involved in the U.S. drone program have thrown their support behind a Yemeni man's legal fight to obtain details about why his family members were killed in a 2012 strike. The former soldiers' unusual decision to publicly endorse the lawsuit against President Obama and other U.S. officials adds another twist to Faisal bin Ali Jaber's four-year quest for accountability in the deaths of his brother-in-law and nephew, who he believes needlessly fell victim to one of the most lethal covert programs in U.S. history. The former enlisted service members told the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit in a recent filing that they believe the 2012 drone strike serves as a case study of how mistakes frequently occur in the nation's targeted-killing program, where life-or-death decisions are based upon top-secret evidence. The veterans say they "witnessed a secret, global system without regard for borders, conducting widespread surveillance with the ability to conduct deadly targeted killing operations." Though the veterans did not disclose any personal knowledge of the strike that is alleged to have killed Jaber's relatives, they claim the military frequently labels the deaths of unknown victims as "enemy kills."

IBM has launched a new range of Linux-based servers which have been specifically engineered for high performance in tasks related to artificial intelligence, deep learning and advanced analytics – with a central mission to increase data centre efficiency. Early tests with Tencent reveal a threefold performance increase, even at 2/3rds deployment. The perhaps inelegantly named IBM Power Systems S822LC for High Performance Computing represents a collaboration with Nvidia, with the latter's NVLink high-speed interconnect facilitating a far greater CPU/GPU throughput than is currently possible over a PCIe bus. The servers have been developed in collaboration with the OpenPower Foundation (OPF), which was set up in 2013 as an accelerator for innovation of custom data centre systems, with a particular remit for workload acceleration via GPU, FPGA or advanced I/O, as well as platform optimisation for SW appliances and advanced hardware technology exploitation. IBM conducted preliminary tests on the new OpenPOWER servers in China with Tencent and was able to run workloads three times faster than on its previous x86-based infrastructure even whilst running a third fewer total number of servers.

Today on In Case You Missed It: The SIGNL strap Kickstarter campaign wants to put a private phone speaker at the tip of your finger. Plus, Japan combines its two favorite past times -- the graceful art of sumo and autonomous robots -- into a kickass, white-knuckle sport.

The U.S. has been using drones more and more frequently since the Sept. 11 attacks. They have been highly effective on the battlefield, but have raised legal and ethical issues. The U.S. has been using drones more and more frequently since the Sept. 11 attacks. They have been highly effective on the battlefield, but have raised legal and ethical issues. Today in the skies over New Mexico, Air Force students are practicing for the kill.

ARMONK, NY - 08 Sep 2016: IBM (NYSE: IBM) today revealed a series of new servers designed to help propel cognitive workloads and to drive greater data center efficiency. Featuring a new chip, the Linux-based lineup incorporates innovations from the OpenPOWER community that deliver higher levels of performance and greater computing efficiency than available on any x86-based server. The three new systems are an expansion of IBM's Linux server portfolio comprised of IBM's specialized line of servers co-developed with fellow members of the OpenPOWER Foundation. The new servers join the Power Systems LC lineup that is designed to outperform x86-based servers on a variety of data-intensive workloads. Early testing with Tencent, one of the world's largest Internet service providers based in China, has shown that a large cluster of the new IBM OpenPOWER servers was able to run a data-intensive workload three times faster than its former x86-based infrastructure.