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The Transhumanists' Nominee for President

The New Yorker

Zoltan Istvan was in town recently, campaigning as the Presidential nominee of the Transhumanist Party. He was on track to appear on the ballot in zero states. "Politicians keep having the same old arguments about tax policy and Social Security," he said. "Transhumanists want to talk about how science can help us radically transform the human experience, how we can cure death and disease and upload our consciousness into the cloud, things like that." He was on a street corner in SoHo.


How Alphabet Picks Its Moonshot Projects

WSJ.com: WSJD - Technology

X is the "moonshot factory" for Google parent Alphabet Inc.--a place to work on projects, like autonomous vehicles, that have the potential to radically reshape the world. To get insights into how the operation works, and why it celebrates failure, The Wall Street Journal's Rebecca Blumenstein spoke with Astro Teller, captain of the factory. Here are edited excerpts of their conversation. BLUMENSTEIN: How do you decide which projects to tackle? TELLER: There has to be some huge problem with the world that we can name and say that we're excited about going to tackle.


A Computer Can Now Translate Languages as Well as a Human

#artificialintelligence

Have you ever been in a situation where knowing another language would have come in handy? I remember standing on the platform at Tokyo Station watching my train to Nagano -- the last train of the day -- pulling away without me on it. What ensued was a frustrating hour of gestures, confused smiles, and head-shaking as I wandered the station looking for someone who spoke English (my Japanese is unfortunately nonexistent). It would have been really helpful to have a bilingual pal along with me to translate. Bilingual pals can be hard to find, but Google's new translation software may be an equally useful alternative.


Cities like you've never seen them before: A Japanese artist's giant 'Diorama Maps'

Los Angeles Times

With GPS technology at our fingertips and Siri available to navigate our every turn, paper maps have been rendered obsolete. But that is exactly what Japanese photographer Sohei Nishino has created with his series of collaged "Diorama Maps," which went on view Friday at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. After initial research of a city, Nishino spends up to three months walking it while snapping photos in black and white. "He climbs up to rooftops and high floors of buildings to get a multifaceted bird's-eye view," curator Corey Keller said. "These vantage points give him an alternative perspective of the city."


Interview: Dan Rubins, Legal Robot โ€“ A Legal AI Start-up with a Global View

#artificialintelligence

Artificial Lawyer caught up recently with Dan Rubins, the Founder and CEO โ€“ and also the CTO โ€“ of Legal Robot, one of the new breed of AI-driven document review start-ups. We discussed how he moved from working in a medical services company to joining the fray as a legal AI pioneer, how working on smart contracts may be where the company eventually ends up and why there's a big world of opportunity out there. The San Francisco-based founder of Legal Robot, Dan Rubins, is not a lawyer by background. But, his experiences have taught him a lot about the inefficiencies of document review, while his long term interest in technology and programming has also helped. Perhaps, most fundamentally, Rubins is a self-proclaimed engineer.


Pegasystems' (PEGA) CEO Alan Trefler on Q3 2016 Results - Earnings Call Transcript

#artificialintelligence

At this time, all participants are in a listen-only mode. A brief question-and-answer session will follow the formal presentation. It is now my pleasure to introduce your host Ken Stillwell, CFO and Senior VP of Pegasystems. Before we begin, I'd like to read our Safe Harbor Statement. Certain statements contained in this presentation, including but not limited to, statements related to future earnings, bookings, revenue and mix of license revenue may be construed as forward-looking statements as defined by the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. The words expects, anticipates, intends, plans, believes, could, estimates, may, targets, strategies, intends to, projects, forecasts and guidance, and other similar expressions, identify forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date the statement was made and are based on current expectations and assumptions. Because such statements deal with future events, they are subject to various risks and uncertainties. Actual results for the fiscal year 2016 and beyond could differ materially from the Company's current expectations. Factors that could cause the Company's results to differ materially from those expressed in the forward-looking statements are contained in the Company's press release announcing its Q3 2016 earnings, and in the Company's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including its quarterly report on Form 10-Q for the quarter ended September 30, 2016, its Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2015 and other recent filings with the SEC. Although subsequent events may cause the Company's view to change, the company undertakes no obligation to revise or update forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, since these statements may no longer be accurate or timely. And with that, I'll turn the call over to Alan Trefler, Founder and CEO of Pegasystems. I'm pleased it was a strong Q3, overall. Q3 is generally provide limited visibility given vacations and schedules especially in Europe. And I had spoken about Brexit on the last call and I'm pleased to say that concerns have not materialized with the exception of currency of course. And I'm pleased to see the continued progress we're making towards having less lumpy quarters despite the inherent lumpiness of this business, even in the face of those currency headwinds. Those currency headwinds caught a couple of points off of our results.


Lancaster University hails potential of AI software to cut datacentre power consumption

#artificialintelligence

Lancaster University is developing artificial intelligence (AI) software for servers that could potentially drive down the amount of energy consumed by datacentres. A collection of our most popular articles on datacentre management, including: Cloud vs. Colocation: Why both make sense for the enterprise right now; AWS at 10: How the cloud giant shook up enterprise IT and Life on the edge: The benefits of using micro datacenters This email address is already registered. By submitting my Email address I confirm that I have read and accepted the Terms of Use and Declaration of Consent. By submitting your personal information, you agree that TechTarget and its partners may contact you regarding relevant content, products and special offers. You also agree that your personal information may be transferred and processed in the United States, and that you have read and agree to the Terms of Use and the Privacy Policy.


PROS Holdings' (PRO) CEO Andres Reiner on Q3 2016 Results - Earnings Call Transcript

#artificialintelligence

Greetings and welcome to the PROS Holdings Inc Third Quarter 2016 Earnings Call. At this time, all participants are in a listen-only mode. A brief question-and-answer session will follow the formal presentation. It is now my please to introduce your host Stefan Schulz, Chief Financial Officer. Good afternoon, everyone and thank you for joining us. With me on today's call is Andres Reiner, President and Chief Executive Officer. Before we begin, we must caution you that some of today's remarks, including our guidance, our strategy, our competitive position, future business prospects, revenue, bookings, market opportunities, as well as statements made during the question-and-answer session, contain forward-looking statements. These statements are based on present information and are subject to numerous and important factors, risks and uncertainties, which could cause actual results to differ materially from the results implied by these or other forward-looking statements. PROS does not assume any obligation to update the forward-looking statements provided to reflect events that occur, or circumstances that exist, after the date on which they are made. Additional information concerning risks and other factors that may cause actual results to differ can be found in the Company's filings with the SEC. Also, please note that a replay of today's webcast will be available in the Investor Relations section of our website at pros.com. We encourage everyone to review this additional information. Finally, I would like to point out that in addition to reporting financial results in accordance with Generally Accepted Accounting Principles, or GAAP, PROS reports certain financial results, as well as forward-looking guidance, on a non-GAAP basis. A reconciliation of each non-GAAP measure to the most directly comparable GAAP measure, to the extent available without unreasonable efforts is available on the press release distributed earlier today, and in the Investor Relations section of our website. Good afternoon, everyone and thank you for joining us on today's call.


Mankind extinction if the fictional scientist had also created a female Frankenstein

Daily Mail - Science & tech

If Victor Frankenstein had created a bride for his monster, mankind would have been wiped out within 4,000 years, a new research paper concludes. Dartmouth University scientists studied Mary Shelley's 1818 Gothic masterpiece and concluded that it could have had a much more horrific ending. If the fictional scientist had acquiesced to his creation's pleas and created it a bride, mankind would have been'wiped out' by the competition from the pair, the scientists say following the'thought experiment'. If Victor Frankenstein had also created a bride, mankind would have been fictionally wiped out by the competition from the pair within 4,000 years. In the novel, the creature pleads with Frankenstein to create a female partner in order to ease his loneliness and says they will live together in isolation in the wilds of South America.


A female Frankenstein would lead to humanity's extinction, say scientists

Christian Science Monitor | Science

Could a population of Frankenstein's monsters have driven humans to extinction? Nathaniel Dominy, an evolutionary biologist at Dartmouth College, and Justin Yeakel, an ecologist at the University of California, Merced, pose just that ghoulish question in a study published Friday in the journal BioScience ahead of Halloween. And, according to their research, the answer is yes. That scenario may have come to pass in the fictional world of Mary Shelley's novel "Frankenstein" had the monster's creator, Victor Frankenstein, kept a promise to his creation to build him a female companion. But fortunately for humans, say Dr. Dominy and Dr. Yeakel, Dr. Frankenstein went back on his word.