Quantum Computing "Today's conventional computing technology is compared to reading every book in a library, one by one. Set a reminder in 90 minutes... Is Jeff bezos a nice guy? Is arsenal winning the league? Ride the train, don't jump in front of it Thank You! @vhirsch me@vhirsch.com Sir Francis Bacon, 1561-1626 Is Knowledge still power? Quantum Computing "Today's conventional computing technology is compared to reading every book in a library, one by one.

FBI bosses have been grilled over a secret facial recognition program that allows agents to access photos of tens of millions of Americans. The agency came under fire for its unrestricted access to ID photos in 18 states to help identify potential suspects - including innocent people who have never been charged with a crime. Privacy advocates suggested the technology fosters racial bias and compared the system to'Nazi Germany', at a congressional hearing yesterday. The system allows agents to access and algorithmically match the photos of tens of millions of Americans. More than 400million pictures of Americans' faces are kept in local, state and federal law enforcement facial recognition systems, the Government Accountability Office reported last year.

Honda's revamped Clarity fuel cell sedan is a technological marvel, but hydrogen fuel stations remain scarce. The dogged persistence Honda has shown in its decades-long quest to perfect hydrogen as a zero-emission replacement for gasoline can be seen as quixotic or futile. But the quirky company that makes motorcycles, lawnmowers, jets, humanoid robots, boat engines and a few million cars soldiers on, along with GM, Toyota and Hyundai, in the face of haphazard government support for hydrogen, minimal consumer awareness and withering critics like Elon Musk, a tireless advocate for Tesla's battery-powered cars. All the sweat equity Honda engineers have invested in its fuel cell program, year after year, has yielded a remarkable new version of the Clarity sedan, the most compelling argument yet of the potential of hydrogen cars still hold. Yet for all its technological sophistication, Clarity's fate remains to a skinny network of California hydrogen stations that's expanding slowly, with new headwinds from a Trump Administration that's shown no willingness to aid carbon-cutting technologies.

In 2015, UN Member States unanimously adopted the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and, in doing so, pledged that "no one will be left behind." The more than 40 million men, women, and children displaced within their countries of residence as a result of conflict, disasters, development projects and other causes are among those most likely to be excluded from social and economic opportunities for development. Many face increased vulnerability to further cycles of displacement when durable solutions that reduce the risks they face are not found. Displacement is commonly addressed as a humanitarian problem, but it is also a sustainable development challenge. It is closely associated with poverty, inequality, insecurity, environmental degradation, exposure to hazards and the vulnerability of populations whose governments are unable or unwilling to protect them.

March 23, 2017 --If some NASA researchers have their way, Mars exploration technology of the future may rely on an art form from the past. NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) has developed a Pop-Up Flat Folding Explorer Robot (PUFFER) prototype that could change how we explore Mars. The rugged yet portable machine takes its inspiration from the art of origami, which, despite Americans' association with grade-school arts and crafts, is proving to be a cutting-edge design philosophy. Recent developments in the field have led to an explosion of uses ranging from solar panels to bulletproof barriers. What sets PUFFER apart from other rovers is that it folds flat, making its mini-profile even slimmer.

Artificial Intelligence could almost double the UK's economic growth rate and boost the country's labour productivity by up to 40 per cent by 2035, according to a research report from Accenture. The market report, 'Why Artificial Intelligence is the Future of Growth,' suggests AI is poised to fundamentally change the nature of work and create an entirely new level of interaction between man and machine, both in the UK, elsewhere in the EU and further afield. The net result could be a dramatically more productive economy in the UK, with the adoption of artificial intelligence technologies by the private and public sectors almost doubling the country's economic growth rate and thereby adding an extraordinary £650 billion to the UK economy by 2035. "AI is poised to transform business in ways we've not seen since the impact of computer technology in the late 20th century," explained Paul Daugherty, Chief Technology Officer at Accenture. "The combinatorial effect of AI, cloud, sophisticated analytics and other technologies is already starting to change how work is done by humans and computers, and how organisations interact with consumers in startling ways.

The great explorers Lewis and Clark knew the importance of team expeditions. Now, engineers at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California are developing a small scout robot called the Pop-Up Flat Folding Explorer Robot (PUFFER) to accompany the next generation of Martian rovers in their outer space explorations. Inspired by origami, the Japanese art of paper folding, PUFFER is designed to change shape in order to squeeze into small crevasses that are too tight for rovers to reach. So far the two-wheeled scout has been successfully tested in hostile and diverse terrains including the Mojave Desert and Antartica. Though rovers themselves are built to last, they're expensive and NASA engineers take care not to send them on overtly dangerous missions.

Max More runs Alcor, an American company which, in exchange for $200,000, will store your corpse in liquid nitrogen until the science exists to revive you. Tim Cannon is a computer programmer who implanted a device the size of a pack of cards into his arm, without the aid of anaesthetics. Zoltan Istvan recently ran for US president and publicised his campaign by driving across the country in a huge vehicle modified to look like a coffin. These are among the unusual individuals Mark O'Connell interviews in his travelogue-style exploration of transhumanism, the movement that campaigns for the direct incorporation of technology into our bodies and minds, and strives to remove ageing as a cause of death. "What are my chances, would you say, of living to a thousand?" the author asks Aubrey de Grey, an established figure in this strange world: "I would say perhaps a little better than fifty-fifty," is the serious reply.

Like a child learning about its parents, artificial intelligence has begun to study the human condition. An A.I. system created by a Boulder, Colorado-based company CaliberMind can form analytical judgments about how people think and communicate, with a text input of only 100 words. CaliberMind's software can rank someone on a spectrum of emotional versus analytical decision-making, then draw conclusions about their character traits. Culling these details into a snapshot of someone's personality, the software then makes recommendations on how to best communicate with that person. It's nothing less than an artificially intelligent effort to peer into a person's heart and mind.

SpaceX fans are excited about what is likely the first clear image of a robot that could be used on the company's autonomous spaceport drone ships. SpaceX's Of Course I Still Love You Drone Ship is seen at Port Canaveral on Monday, March 20, 2017. In the lower-right is what is believed to be a Falcon 9 first stage securing vehicle. CAPE CANAVERAL -- Stephen Marr had his suspicions when he photographed a mysterious piece of equipment atop SpaceX's drone ship at Port Canaveral on Monday. "I knew there was something different there," Marr, 34, said. So he did what any lover of space and social media would do: He posted it online.