Fwd: [shrimp] Sustainable aquaculture and other unicorns.

---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: 'Durwood M. Dugger' ddugger@biocepts.com [shrimp] <shrimp@yahoogroups.com> Date: Sun, Oct 16, 2016 at 11:45 AM Subject: [shrimp] Sustainable aquaculture and other unicorns. To: shrimp@yahoogroups.com   Patrick and Dallas, I would point out to you that the sum total of the current global anthropogenically impacted environmental situation - is the absolute result of individual decisions directly and indirectly, whether the voter or the politicians and or bureaucrats they tolerate. It would unrealistic, to think that good will alone will change the status quo. Regarding the lack of both human and indirectly aquaculture current lack of sustainability: Silly social definitions of sustainability don't count on a planet of finite resources. Real human sustainability only comes when the human population their necessary critical resources and planetary ecosystems are in a stable balance. Technology is not going to offset human overpopulation nor bring the necessary environmental balances. I recommend and interesting read on this subject for those who think technology will save our species again - as it admittedly has in the past. TechnoFix  is a 2011 book - "Techno-Fix shows why negative unintended consequences of science and technology are inherently unavoidable and unpredictable, why counter-technologies, techno-fixes, and efficiency improvements do not offer lasting solutions, and why modern technology, in the presence of continued economic growth, does not promote sustainability but instead hastens collapse." I've just completed helping put together some college graduate courses on anthropogenic impacts on the marine environment. It has produced some rude awakenings for me with regard my previous hopes that current environmental mitigation efforts might help. As it turns out population and consumption more than cancels all current mitigation efforts and then some. (see Key Findings: https://www.ipcc.ch/pdf/unfccc/sbsta40/SED/1_blanco_sed3.pdf).  Being able to continue to avoid basic biological paradigms that unerringly have caused population collapses in other species that grew past their critical resource availability on a planet of declining, ever diluted, increasing costly critical resources (primarily energy) has only temporarily delayed the human species collapse, not removed the possibility or the probability. At present human civilization survival depends on finding and replacing fossil fuel energy and all other current energy sources and finding one capable of supplying global energy demands at costs far below present energy costs - even considering present reduced petroleum fuel costs. The 1% solar (http://cleantechnica.com/2015/06/12/solar-power-passes-1-global-threshold/) and the 3.7% wind (http://www.gwec.net/global-figures/wind-in-numbers/) that currently contributes to global energy production are not going to be enough to off set fossil fuel energy replacement - either in quantity or cost of energy - ever. Additionally the bio-energy sources widely touted as renewable and sustainable are only renewable as long as petroleum and NPK are around to produce them at the scales needed for commercial reality - and consequently are far from sustainable. We need and energy source that satisfies global energy demands, we need one that changes the economics of recycling critical resources both at the raw product level and the molecular level. Anything less than this will ultimately result in a food shortage/economic/chaos collapse of global civilization. The points Dallas makes are absolutely correct regarding the higher efficiency of aquaculture over land based meat production. As resource scarcity raises costs higher than present (essentially when we go through the additional petroleum reserves that fracking technology has provided), RAS at huge integrated and economically optimized scales will surpass land and open ocean based aquaculture systems in economic efficiency. This higher economic efficiency is because RAS is the only food production concept wherein all the nutrients are already contained/entrained within the system making them much more economically efficient to recycle into other side stream income products.  L. (P.? which is it now) v. shrimp are an ideal first candidate species for this kind of integrated economically optimized RAS because of their omnivorous feeding habits and their ability to help constantly move particulates in recirculating systems preventing them from adhering and becoming anaerobic (and reducing comparative circulation energy costs). The RAS system has higher comparative efficiency as well because it already has the majority of the "sunk" costs (in properly designed systems) necessary to efficiently convert liquid and solid wastes into side stream incomes, with only minor increases in capital - compared to land based poultry, swine and dairy. Touching on the subject of food wastes, like much popular media data - it isn't necessarily accurate. For example unused food from restaurants and institutions (hospitals, military bases, an other concentrated food use centers) are generally counted as wastes, when in truth they are generally recovered by swine farmers. Same with spoiled vegetables at scale. Sometimes, blemished vegetables are counted as "wastes" only to have those same vegetables show up at the local farmers markets and road side sales. How much of the current "food waste data" is accurate is very difficult to determine, but it is quite obvious the real numbers are actually much lower. Additionally, the ability to reduce waste at scale below current levels within realistic economic boundaries is also exaggerated and even more difficult to change under current and aging infrastructure. The economics to change that infrastructure are also not available as more and more money is spent to pacify human overpopulation with no necessary contributions. It's a difficult and troubling problem. There are no easy solutions. One of the more surprising revelations in my recent research activities was to discover that much of the current conversation on climate change is driven not by real climate concerns, environmental concerns, not by social concerns, but rather by basic economics of the global governments needs for additional tax revenues. If you research "carbon taxes" one of the first consistency you find in their government support is that the governments primary interest in them is to solve government debt, especially social service debts. Like most past environmental taxes, basically specific problem taxes in general, only a minor amount of carbon taxes will be spent on reducing CO2 emissions and research for economically viable alternative energy solutions, and I guarantee you none will be spent on trying to reduce human overpopulation which by definition becomes the primary driver of all anthropogenic impacts. This just another indication of the lack economic reality we have in our ability of solving our many problems. There is hope of course. The simple hope is that we will actually do something about our problems rather continue to support the status quo. Best regards, Durwood M. Dugger, Pres. ddugger@biocepts.com BCI, Inc. __._,_.___ Posted by: "Durwood M. Dugger" <ddugger@biocepts.com> Reply via web post • Reply to sender • Reply to group • Start a New Topic • Messages in this topic (1) Have you tried the highest rated email app? With 4.5 stars in iTunes, the Yahoo Mail app is the highest rated email app on the market. What are you waiting for? Now you can access all your inboxes (Gmail, Outlook, AOL and more) in one place. Never delete an email again with 1000GB of free cloud storage. Visit Your Group • Privacy • Unsubscribe • Terms of Use . __,_._,___

Fwd: presidential wisdom

Last week President Obama published an article in Wired titled, "Now is the greatest time to be alive." What he wrote, made my day, and putting aside politics, I feel obligated to share what he wrote, as it's beautifully done. I find it refreshing and inspiring to have a leader who understands and embraces science and technology This week's blog focus is my "cut down" (a readable, bite-sized chunk) of the President's article (read the original article here.) Enjoy and Share. Now Is the Greatest Time to Be Alive By President Obama We are far better equipped to take on the challenges we face than ever before. I know that might sound at odds with what we see and hear these days in the cacophony of cable news and social media. But the next time you're bombarded with over-the-top claims about how our country is doomed or the world is coming apart at the seams, brush off the cynics and fear mongers. Because the truth is, if you had to choose any time in the course of human history to be alive, you'd choose this one. Right here in America, right now. Let's start with the big picture. By almost every measure, this country is better, and the world is better, than it was 50 years ago, 30 years ago, or even eight years ago. Leave aside the sepia tones of the 1950s, a time when women, minorities, and people with disabilities were shut out of huge parts of American life. Just since 1983, when I finished college, things like crime rates, teen pregnancy rates, and poverty rates are all down. Life expectancy is up. The share of Americans with a college education is up too. Tens of millions of Americans recently gained the security of health insurance. Blacks and Latinos have risen up the ranks to lead our businesses and communities. Women are a larger part of our workforce and are earning more money. Once-quiet factories are alive again, with assembly lines churning out the components of a clean-energy age. And just as America has gotten better, so has the world. More countries know democracy. More kids are going to school. A smaller share of humans know chronic hunger or live in extreme poverty. In nearly two-dozen countries—including our own—people now have the freedom to marry whomever they love. And last year the nations of the world joined together to forge the most comprehensive agreement to battle climate change in human history." This kind of progress hasn't happened on its own. It happened because people organized and voted for better prospects; because leaders enacted smart, forward-looking policies; because people's perspectives opened up, and with them, societies did too. But this progress also happened because we scienced the heck out of our challenges. Science is how we were able to combat acid rain and the AIDS epidemic. Technology is what allowed us to communicate across oceans and empathize with one another when a wall came down in Berlin or a TV personality came out. Without Norman Borlaug's wheat, we could not feed the world's hungry. Without Grace Hopper's code, we might still be analyzing data with pencil and paper. That's one reason why I'm so optimistic about the future: the constant churn of scientific progress. Think about the changes we've seen just during my presidency. When I came into office, I broke new ground by pecking away at a BlackBerry. Today I read my briefings on an iPad and explore national parks through a virtual-reality headset. Who knows what kind of changes are in store for our next president and the ones who follow? Because the truth is, while we've made great progress, there's no shortage of challenges ahead: Climate change. Economic inequality. Cybersecurity. Terrorism and gun violence. Cancer, Alzheimer's, and antibiotic-resistant superbugs. Just as in the past, to clear these hurdles we're going to need everyone—policy makers and community leaders, teachers and workers and grassroots activists, presidents and soon-to-be-former presidents. And to accelerate that change, we need science. We need researchers and academics and engineers; programmers, surgeons, and botanists. And most important, we need not only the folks at MIT or Stanford or the NIH but also the mom in West Virginia tinkering with a 3-D printer, the girl on the South Side of Chicago learning to code, the dreamer in San Antonio seeking investors for his new app, the dad in North Dakota learning new skills so he can help lead the green revolution. That's how we will overcome the challenges we face: by unleashing the power of all of us for all of us. Not just for those of us who are fortunate, but for everybody. That means creating not just a quicker way to deliver takeout downtown but also a system that distributes excess produce to communities where too many kids go to bed hungry. Not just inventing a service that fills your car with gas but also creating cars that don't need fossil fuels at all. Not just making our social networks more fun for sharing memes but also harnessing their power to counter terrorist ideologies and online hate speech. The point is: we need today's big thinkers thinking big. Think like you did when you were watching Star Trek or Star Wars or Inspector Gadget. Think like the kids I meet every year at the White House Science Fair. We started this event in 2010 with a simple premise: We need to teach our kids that it's not just the winner of the Super Bowl who deserves to be celebrated but the winner of the science fair. We must continue to nurture our children's curiosity. We must keep funding scientific, technological, and medical research. And above all, we must embrace that quintessentially American compulsion to race for new frontiers and push the boundaries of what's possible. If we do, I'm hopeful that tomorrow's Americans will be able to look back at what we did—the diseases we conquered, the social problems we solved, the planet we protected for them—and when they see all that, they'll plainly see that theirs is the best time to be alive. And then they'll take a page from our book and write the next great chapter in our American story, emboldened to keep going where no one has gone before. Join Me This is the sort of conversation we explore at my executive mastermind group called Abundance 360. The program is highly selective. If you'd like to be considered, apply here. Share this with your friends, especially if they are interested in any of the areas outlined above. P.S. Every week I send out a "Tech Blog" like this one. If you want to sign up, go to Diamandis.com and sign up for this and Abundance Insider. P.P.S. My dear friend Dan Sullivan and I have a podcast called Exponential Wisdom. Our conversations focus on the exponential technologies creating abundance, the human-technology collaboration, and entrepreneurship. Head here to listen and subscribe: a360.com/podcast If you wish to stop receiving our emails or change your subscription options, please Manage Your Subscription PHD Ventures , 800 Corporate Pointe, Suite 350, Culver City, CA 90230

Fwd: Abundance Insider: October 14 Edition

In this week's Abundance Insider: Self-driving gardens, the smallest transistor ever, and a Holocaust survivor experiencing her own rescue in VR. Cheers, Peter, Marissa, Cody, Kelley, Greg, Sydney and AJ P.S. Send any tips to our team by clicking here, and send your friends and family to this link to subscribe to Abundance Insider. Holocaust Survivor Experiences Her Own Rescue in Virtual Reality What it is: A Holocaust survivor recently watched the recreation of her rescue in virtual reality, and as you might imagine, it was a poignant digital experience that demonstrates the genre's transformative potential. LIFE VR produced the VR companion piece for the upcoming PBS documentary "Defying the Nazis: The Sharps' War," which depicts the 1940 journey of the Excambion, a ship that transported child refugees from Nazi-occupied France to the United States via Portugal. Amelie Diamant-Holmstrom, then aged 13, was one of Excambion's 29 child passengers, and watched the VR recreation this past summer. Her reaction, depicted in the video at this link, is a must-see. Why it's important: Virtual reality is a powerful tool that can help us heal the wounds of our past. On an individual basis, we've seen how VR therapy can help treat depression, PTSD and anxiety; however, this application shows VR can also help cultures around the world process and heal from horrific historical events. Join the Discussion Spotted by Elijah Allan-Blitz Autonomous Robotic Garden Drives Itself Around the City in Search of Sun What it is: Meet Hortum machina, B, the self-driving and self-cultivating garden designed by the University College London's (UCL) Interactive Architecture Lab. Hortum machina, B is made up of a robotic aluminum network of electrodes that monitors the garden's physiological responses to the environment. Using data gathered, the structure is then able to propel itself towards sunlight and to areas with lower air polution. The mobile ecosystem was tested in London in hopes to expand the city's green space to new terrain. Why it's important: As Peter has previously mentioned, as more people interact with robots, we must rethink the interfaces, rules and behaviors we exhibit around these technologies as they become more commonplace in our lives. How might people respond to the emergence of self-driving gardens in comparison to autonomous cars or delivery robots? Join the Discussion Spotted by Marconi Pereira Digital Graffiti Hidden in Augmented Reality at Washington State Art Museum What it is: The Holographic Type Sculpture digital graffiti art exhibit recently debuted at the Bellevue Arts Museum in Washington State -- but only for those looking at it with a Microsoft HoloLens headset. The tall structure, made up of letters and words, was placed in the museum by Microsoft user experience designer DongYhoon Park to demonstrate what the HoloLens can do -- for example, interact with another HoloLens user viewing the exhibit, or directly edit the graffiti that appears in the exhibit. Why it's important: The dematerialization of art in physical museums is just one opportunity for creative expression enabled by the convergence of augmented reality and culture. Imagine this approach used for billboard advertising, bus station advertising, physical storefront displays or public transit stations ads, as we rapidly enter a world where everyone has the option to see the world with a digital layer. Join the Discussion Spotted by Marissa Brassfield Seeking inspiration? Read all of Peter's 28 laws and be inspired to try that crazy idea of yours. Download Peter's Laws here. WaveNet: A Generative Model for Raw Audio What it is: Google's DeepMind team has announced its latest neural network AI, WaveNet, and it's the most realistic-sounding one yet -- performing 50% better than existing technology. Unlike most AI systems, which combine fragments of a single recorded human voice or a standard set of pronunciation rules, WaveNet can generate speech in multiple human voices, with variances in emotion and emphasis, and even auto-generate music. The key is in how DeepMind trained the AI: using raw waveforms, or the individual sound waves humans create. Why it's important: Neural networks like WaveNet are designed to process information similarly to the human brain, and digitizing the natural intonation of human speech enables machines to learn how to speak much like human babies do -- mimicry. While WaveNet currently requires far too much computing power to make it feasible for large-scale commercial applications, as Abundance Insider readers know, we're only a few exponential doublings away from massive price-performance improvements. Join the Discussion Spotted by Marconi Pereira Sundrop Farms Pioneering Solar-Powered Greenhouse to Grow Food Without Fresh Water What it is: Sundrop Farms has developed the first-ever solar-powered greenhouse to grow food without using fresh water. The greenhouse facility sits on a field of more than 23,000 mirrors to capture sunlight and direct it to a central receiver measuring 127 meters. It produces up to 39 megawatts of thermal energy to use for electricity and desalinating water from the Spencer Gulf. Why it's important: Sundrop Farm's groundbreaking greenhouse is an incredible example of how technological capabilities -- in this case, solar power and desalination -- enable abundance of food, water and energy. Join the Discussion Spotted by Bjorn Russell In Just 45 Seconds, This App Can Help Parents Diagnose Developmental Disorders in Children What it is: Eighteen-year-old Harsh Songra has released an app called My Child that, over the course of 45 seconds, helps parents identify developmental disorders in their babies. The app isn't meant to replace a doctor's assessment, but instead help recommend doctors based on the baby's needs. The app is a passion project: Songra grew up with dyspraxia, a developmental disorder that affects motor and cognitive abilities, but wasn't officially diagnosed until he was 9 years old. Why it's important: Developmental disorders are a billion-person problem, affecting 15% of the world's population according to The World Bank data. Songra's app has been downloaded in 140+ countries, demonstrating the massive impact a single passionate person can have in the planet, when armed with exponential technologies. Join the Discussion Spotted by Aryadeep S. Acharya Smallest. Transistor. Ever. What it is: Researchers at the Department of Energy's Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory have created the smallest working transistor ever -- with an incredible 1-nanometer gate. "The key was to use carbon nanotubes and molybdenum disulfide (MoS2), an engine lubricant commonly sold in auto parts shops," explains Berkeley Lab. "MoS2 is part of a family of materials with immense potential for applications in LEDs, lasers, nanoscale transistors, solar cells, and more." Why it's important: This development keeps Moore's Law alive a bit longer. "This work demonstrated the shortest transistor ever," said Ali Javey, who led the team's research. "However, it's a proof of concept. We have not yet packed these transistors onto a chip, and we haven't done this billions of times over. We also have not developed self-aligned fabrication schemes for reducing parasitic resistances in the device. But this work is important to show that we are no longer limited to a 5-nanometer gate for our transistors. Moore's Law can continue a while longer by proper engineering of the semiconductor material and device architecture." Join the Discussion Spotted by Gregory Scherf Boeing CEO Vows to Beat Musk to Mars What it is: Boeing CEO Dennis Muilenburg recently announced his visions for a commercial space-travel market, putting Boeing toe-to-toe with Musk in the initial push to send humans to Mars. Boeing's focus is on building out the commercial space sector near Earth and research technologies to travel far beyond the moon. Boeing has partnered with NASA to develop the Space Launch System for space exploration, but Muilenburg said costs will need to drop substantially before experimental spacecraft can be used for commercial use. Why it's important: In last week's Abundance Insider, we wrote about Musk's unveil of a SpaceX craft to haul travelers to Mars. With several proven exponential entrepreneurs all competing in a new space race, could the next era of space exploration and commerce come even sooner than we think? Join the Discussion Spotted by Cody Rapp "Smart Clothing" Could Someday Power Cell Phone With the Sun's Rays What it is: According to the journal ACS Nano, scientists reported the first fibers ever to be suitable for weaving into tailorable clothing and generating power using stored solar energy. Wenjie Mai and Xing Fan created the first fiber -- made of manganese-coated polymer along with zinc oxide, a dye and an electrolyte -- and interlaced it with copper-coated polymer wires to create the solar cell part of the textile. The second fiber they created was made of titanium, titanium nitride, a thin carbon shell to prevent oxidation, and an electrolyte. The two fibers were then woven with cotton yarn and made into a fully tailorable "smart garment," fully charged by sunlight. Why it's important: If we can create textiles that can power small electronics, we enable a true trillion-sensor economy. Imagine a near future where your curtains, blankets, gym clothing, tapestries and winter jackets can power wireless devices in your home and office. Join the Discussion Spotted by Aryadeep S. Acharya What is Abundance Insider? This email is a briefing of the week's most compelling, abundance-enabling tech developments, curated by Marissa Brassfield in preparation for Abundance 360. Read more about A360 below. Want more conversations like this? At Abundance 360, Peter's 250-person executive mastermind, we teach the metatrends, implications and unfair advantages for entrepreneurs enabled by breakthroughs like those featured above. We're looking for CEOs and entrepreneurs who want to change the world. The program is highly selective. If you'd like to be considered, apply here.  Know someone who would benefit from getting Abundance Insider? Send them to this link to sign up. If you wish to stop receiving our emails or change your subscription options, please Manage Your Subscription PHD Ventures , 800 Corporate Pointe, Suite 350, Culver City, CA 90230

Fwd: massive disruption – quantum computing

Next year, we may see the launch of the first true quantum computers. The implications will be staggering. This blog aims to answer three questions: What are quantum computers? What are their implications? Who's working on them? There's a lot to unpack here, so hang tight, and let's jump in! What is Quantum Computing? Moore's Law (or the exponential growth of integrated circuits) is actually referring to the fifth paradigm of computation. Here's the list of the underlying technologies: (1) Electromechanical; (2) Vacuum Tube; (3) Relay; (4) Transistors; and (5) Integrated Circuits. Quantum computers may well be the sixth paradigm, given that they work in a fashion that is entirely different from "classical" computers. A classical computer performs operations using classical "bits" – these "bits" can be in only one of two states: "0" OR "1." In contrast, a quantum computer uses 'quantum bits,' or 'qubits'. Thanks to a principle called quantum superposition, these qubits can have a value of "0", "1," or both "0 AND 1" at the same time. This capability allows quantum computers to solve certain types of complex problems that are intractable for conventional computers. Frankly, really exciting problems for society today, as you'll see below. For a tutorial on quantum computers, check out this short video: LINK The power of qubits is that they scale exponentially. A 2-qubit machine allows you to do four calculations at once. A 3-qubit machine can do eight calculations. A 4-qubit machine gives you 16 calculations, all simultaneously. By the time you get to 300 qubits, you've got a computer that can do more "calculations" than there are atoms in the universe. That's why the blog TechTarget described Quantum computing this way: "Development of a quantum computer, if practical, would mark a leap forward in computing capability far greater than that from the abacus to a modern day supercomputer, with performance gains in the billion-fold realm and beyond." What Are the Implications of Quantum Computing? The implications of true quantum computing at scale are staggering, of extraordinary impact to society today (which is why I'm tracking it). In my opinion, here are the Top 5 Applications: Machine Learning: Much of machine learning is about "pattern recognition." Algorithms crunch large datasets to find signals in the noise, and the goal is to maximize the number of comparisons you make between data to find the best models to describe that data. With quantum computing, we'll be able to do this processing orders of magnitude more effectively than with classical computing. Quantum computing will allow you to compare much, much more data in parallel, simultaneously, and all permutations of that data, to discover the best patterns that describe it. This will lead to fundamentally more powerful forms of AI, much more quickly than we expect. Expect Quantum Computing to cause a positive inflection point (upward) for the speed at which the world develops AI (which, by the way, is why Google is working so hard on it). Medicine: Quantum computing will also allow us to model complex molecular interactions at an atomic level. This will be particularly important for medical research and drug discovery. Soon we'll be able to model all 20,000+ proteins encoded in the human genome and start to simulate their interactions with models of existing drugs, or new drugs that haven't been invented yet. Based on the analysis of these drug interactions, we'll be able to find cures for previously incurable diseases and hopefully accelerate the time to market for new drugs. Using quantum computer simulations will be the way we design and choose our next generations of drugs and cancer cures. Chemistry (and Climate Change): Worried about the climate crisis? Wondering what we can do about it? Quantum computers may be our newest tool to understand what is going on and to fight it. They will allow us to unlock "simulation-driven" solutions, perhaps design new catalysts that actually capture carbon from the atmosphere and turn it into new and valuable products at low cost and energy use. Material Science & Engineering: Because we can simulate atomic interactions, we'll explore and invent entirely new, better materials. We might find better superconductors, better magnets, materials that will allow us to create much higher energy density batteries, and so on. Since 2011, the U.S. federal government has granted over $250 million to the Materials Genome Initiative in an effort to "discover, manufacture, and deploy advanced materials twice as fast, at a fraction of the cost." Biomimetics, Energy Systems & Photovoltaics: Scientists believe that much of the world is built atop quantum systems. Processes like photosynthesis, for example, are likely dependent on quantum mechanical systems. Thus, as we look to the natural world for inspiration to build better energy systems or stronger materials, we'll only fully realize their potential when we can model these processes with quantum computers. This will lead to many advances and discoveries across the board. Bottom Line: When quantum computing pans out, we'll be able to control the very building blocks of the universe. The question is who is going to figure it out first… Who's Working on Quantum Computing? There's a race going on – a race to prove something called "quantum supremacy." Quantum supremacy is essentially the test that validates that the computer you have is in fact a quantum computer. In the U.S., three major players are in the game right now: Google IBM Rigetti Computing, a startup out of Silicon Valley (And perhaps a fourth -- D-Wave Systems. They've developed chips with qubits, but these haven't yet been conclusively proved to operate as a quantum computer.) Both Rigetti Computing and Google believe they will reach "quantum supremacy" in the next 12 to 18 months. Think about that: the next one to two years… The revolution is coming fast. To put this into perspective, I had a chance to catch up with Chad Rigetti, the CEO of Rigetti Computing (he'll be one of our amazing mastermind participants at the 2017 Abundance 360 Summit this January). Below is a picture of the most powerful 'classical' computer on the planet, Tianhe-2 in Guangzhou, China. (Tianhe-2: The most powerful super computer on the planet) It costs $400 million. The computer burns about 20 megawatts of electricity – enough to power 20,000 households. And it's about half the size of a football field, with 3.2 million Intel cores. President Obama, in the attempt to drive America's return to high-performance computing supremacy, declared that the U.S. would build an exoscale computer, 30x more powerful than Tianhe-2, by 2020. The problem is this: With current technology, it will cost a billion dollars and will require a nuclear power plant to run the supercomputer. "We need to do this," explains Chad Rigetti. "But there is another path. Quantum computing." Below is a picture of two developmental systems in Rigetti's lab in Berkeley, CA. (Developmental quantum computing systems, Rigetti Computing) The big white cans about the size of a human are cooling systems, and inside each cooling system is a single quantum chip. In these machines today, there is a 5-qubit processor. The crazy part: A single chip with about 50 to 60 qubits on it would be more powerful than the entire Tianhe-2, a half-a-football-field-sized machine… This is what quantum computing unlocks. Rigetti is rapidly developing quantum integrated circuits and the software platform that will allow developers to build on top of them. Along with efforts at Google, IBM, D-Wave, and many other companies and research labs around the world, we are rapidly approaching a quantum computing revolution. Get ready. Join Me This is the sort of conversation we explore at my 250-person executive mastermind group called Abundance 360. The program is highly selective. If you'd like to be considered, apply here. Share this with your friends, especially if they are interested in any of the areas outlined above. P.S. Every week I send out a "Tech Blog" like this one. If you want to sign up, go to Diamandis.com and sign up for this and Abundance Insider. P.P.S. My dear friend Dan Sullivan and I have a podcast called Exponential Wisdom. Our conversations focus on the exponential technologies creating abundance, the human-technology collaboration, and entrepreneurship. Head here to listen and subscribe: a360.com/podcast If you wish to stop receiving our emails or change your subscription options, please Manage Your Subscription PHD Ventures , 800 Corporate Pointe, Suite 350, Culver City, CA 90230

Fwd: Abundance Insider: October 7 Edition

In this week's Abundance Insider: Musk's Mars announcement, photon teleportation and reversing paralysis. Cheers, Peter, Marissa, Cody, Kelley, Greg, Sydney and AJ P.S. Send any tips to our team by clicking here, and send your friends and family to this link to subscribe to Abundance Insider. Hi gang! Here's our team sneak peek of this week's Abundance Digest. Cheers, Peter, Marissa, Cody, Kelley, Greg, Sydney and AJ Musk's Mars Moment: Audacity, Madness, Brilliance -- or Maybe All Three What it is: In a 90-minute speech given in Guadalajara, Mexico, Elon Musk voiced his intent to create a self-sustaining Mars colony with one million residents by the end of the century. It all starts with an initial mission to Mars in 2024 (yes, just eight years from now) via the Interplanetary System, a 100-person rocket built with 4X the power of the Saturn V booster. The rocket, at an estimated cost of $10 billion, would be able to propel space colonists into orbit at a per-person cost of $200,000. Starting sometime between now and 2020, SpaceX might "be able to spend about $300 million annually on the Mars launcher and spacecraft," as Ars Technica reports. Why it's important: Elon Musk has never been shy about his intent to help make humanity a multiplanetary species, and this announcement was the perfect example of Peter's notion of launching your idea above the line of supercredibility. Because of Musk's history of audacity and success, we're much more likely to believe in any "crazy ideas" he voices in the future. Join the Discussion Spotted by Greg O'Brien The Best News You Don't Know About Poverty What it is: The UN has announced its plans to eliminate extreme poverty (living on $1.90/day or less) by 2030, and according to the data in this article, it's possible. Trouble is, the public remains largely unaware. "A poll to be released Thursday by Motivaction, a Dutch firm, finds that only 1 percent of Americans surveyed realized that global extreme poverty had fallen by half over 20 years," the New York Times reports. Why it's important: In a previous blog, Peter mentioned how the share of the global population living in absolute poverty has declined from 53% to under 17% over the last 30 years. Although there is still more to do, the data show we've already made tremendous progress toward abundance. Join the Discussion Spotted by Peter Diamandis  Share This:      Facebook      Twitter       LinkedIn      Google+ Machine Learning & NLP: Key Tools for Diagnosing Alzheimer's Disease What it is: University of Toronto spinoff Winterlight Labs is using machine learning and natural language processing, or NLP, to analyze patients' recorded speech patterns to identify Alzheimer's disease and dementia faster and cheaper than existing methods. The tablet-based prototype displays an image and asks people to describe it; next, a machine learning classifier analyzes 1 to 5 minutes' worth of these speech samples (at an 81% accuracy rate). Why it's important: Some 47.5 million people in the world have dementia, according to the World Health Organization, and it's one of the costliest diseases to treat. Currently, most Alzheimer's screening tests require multiple visits, over 15 hours' worth of examinations, and a brain tissue examination, according to Tractica. Machine learning algorithms like this one could significantly demonetize and accelerate the pace at which we identify cognitive impairment. Join the Discussion Spotted by Gaetan Soltesz Researchers Teleport Particle of Light Six Kilometers What it is: Quantum scientists in Canada and the U.S. have successfully teleported a photon further than ever before -- 6 kilometers, or 7.3 miles -- using the fiber optic cable infrastructure at the City of Calgary. The news, which is published in Nature Photonics, comes just after Chinese researchers pulled off a similar demonstration in which they teleported a photon over 6.2 km in a metropolitan fiber network. Why it's important: While we still have a long way to go before we're able to teleport humans and objects, the ability to teleport light particles enables a future quantum Internet. "Such a network will enable secure communication without having to worry about eavesdropping, and allow distant quantum computers to connect," explained Wolfgang Tittel, a University of Calgary physics and astronomy professor who led the research. Join the Discussion Spotted by Aryadeep S. Acharya Paralyzed Man Regains Use of Arms and Hands After Experimental Stem Cell Therapy What it is: Doctors at the USC Neurorestoration Center and Keck Medicine of USC recently achieved a tremendous breakthrough in stem cell therapy, helping a paralyzed 21-year-old man regain control over his arms and hands. Kristopher Boesen, who was paralyzed in a car accident on March 6, received stem cell and other cell injections into his damaged spine. KurzweilAI reports that three months after the surgery, Boesen can "feed himself, use his cell phone, write his name, operate a motorized wheelchair, and hug his friends and family." Why it's important: We're rapidly entering an era in which paralysis is no longer permanent. Thanks to groundbreaking therapies like this experimental stem cell treatment, patients with spinal injuries can live more independent lives -- and even reverse their paralysis. Join the Discussion Spotted by Peter Diamandis Robots Will Soon Be Delivering Groceries in Washington, DC What it is: Starship Technologies is getting ready to test food-delivering robots in Washington D.C. Packed with nine cameras, numerous sensors and an incredibly accurate GPS system, the wheel-based autonomous robot travels at a max speed of 4 mph. To combat the robots' slow speed, Starship Technologies has partnered with Mercedes-Benz to design a van customized to hold eight of these delivering robots, enabling a swarm-based approach to streamline deliveries. Why it's important: In Abundance Insider's July 15 edition, we shared Starship Technologies' plans to expand testing to include food-delivering robots. In just a matter of months, the company is about to make robot-integrated societies a reality. An important question remains: How will delivery bots get treated in real-world environments? Join the Discussion Spotted by Clyde Dennis 'Perfect' Low-Cost, Defect-Free Graphene Directly From Graphite What it is: Chemists from the University of Erlangen-Nürnberg (FAU) in Germany and the University of Vienna have created flawless, high-quality graphene from graphite -- a world first. By adding the solvent benzonitrile in the production process, they were able to cut graphene in a non-destructive fashion and set specific electronic properties. "That makes this new scalable, inexpensive method for graphene production a significant improvement over previous wet-chemical approaches, which have size limitations and excessive defects, lowering the conductivity," explained KurzweilAI. Why it's important: The ability to produce graphene cheaply and at scale enables a variety of breakthroughs: electric cars that recharge in minutes, consumer gadgets that charge in seconds, flexible e-paper and tech-savvy clothing, 99% cheaper reverse osmosis desalination and much more. Join the Discussion Spotted by Peter Diamandis DataWind to Launch $45 Smartphone With Free Unlimited Internet Plan in India Next Month What it is: Datawind has announced the launch of three 4G LTE capable phones next month in India, all priced between 3,000 and 5,000 rupees ($45 - $75 USD). The tablet manufacturer also revealed that it's applied to become a virtual network operator, boasting unlimited data plans that cost 99 rupees a month ($1.50 USD). Why it's important: We're witnessing the race for global connectivity, with India at the epicenter. As we reported just last month, India's Reliance Jio will offer free voice calls on its network. What will happen to our global economy when previously unconnected parts of the world -- the group Peter referred to as the Rising Billion in Abundance -- come online and begin to create, share, buy and sell? Join the Discussion Spotted by Peter Diamandis Google Translate Just Got 60% Better By Working On Whole Sentences What it is: Google's new Google Neural Machine Translation (GNMT) system works on whole sentences instead of its previous phrase-based machine translation (PBMT), improving accuracy results by 60% on average. This neural network improves efficiency by refining data through successive layers of neurons, then stacking, decoding and composing the layers into a translated sentence. The system's limited leniency for error in each layer enables Google Translate to provide results with greater accuracy than ever before. Why it's important: Peter's blog on learning mentioned how AI will be able to personalize learning platforms to each individual in the near future. As Google Translator's accuracy continues to improve, is it possible that the learning of a foreign language is becoming more irrelevant? Or could Google expand into the education space and use AI to deliver personalized learning experiences? Join the Discussion Spotted by Marissa Brassfield What is Abundance Insider? This email is a briefing of the week's most compelling, abundance-enabling tech developments, curated by Marissa Brassfield in preparation for Abundance 360. Read more about A360 below. Want more conversations like this? At Abundance 360, Peter's 250-person executive mastermind, we teach the metatrends, implications and unfair advantages for entrepreneurs enabled by breakthroughs like those featured above. We're looking for CEOs and entrepreneurs who want to change the world. The program is highly selective. If you'd like to be considered, apply here.  Know someone who would benefit from getting Abundance Insider? Send them to this link to sign up. If you wish to stop receiving our emails or change your subscription options, please Manage Your Subscription PHD Ventures , 800 Corporate Pointe, Suite 350, Culver City, CA 90230

Fwd: designer babies?

In our last blog, we looked at how exponential tech impacts sex and dating. In this blog, we'll look at: Reproduction without sex Freezing your eggs to extend your reproductive timeline Designer babies Making babies without eggs Imagine a near future where the process of having a child is not left up to the vagaries of Mendelian genetics. After all, we strive to give our children the best possible education, clothing, food, and upbringing… why not have them start with the best possible genetic code as well? Is this heresy or common moral sense? Let's dive in -- there's a lot to consider. Reproduction Without Sex Making a human is pretty straightforward -- it happens daily with no training. :) Traditionally and evolutionarily, sex has been how humans have reproduced for millions of years… but this is changing fast. Today, more couples than ever are turning to in vitro fertilization, or IVF, to conceive children. IVF is an assisted reproductive technology where fertilization happens by manually combining an egg and sperm in a laboratory dish, and then transferring the embryo to the uterus. In 2014, more than 65,000 babies were conceived with the help of IVF representing 1.6 percent of the 4.0 million births in the U.S.  (IVF trends over time) Over the past decade, the number of IVF procedures have skyrocketed nearly 50% from 113,000 in 2003 to over 165,000 today. This trend has been catalyzed on the back of decreasing costs of the procedure and increased pregnancy rates. Over the past 10 years, IVF costs have fallen from $20,000 to ~$10,000 per procedure while pregnancy rates have increased from 20% to >50%. IVF in combination with an egg donor is creating an opportunity for the 6.1 million women in the United States who suffer from infertility issues or are too old to have a baby. In 2015, over 17,000 IVF procedures used an egg donor. IVF also allows couples to fertilize many eggs at a time (eight to 10 on average), grow them to the blastocyst stage, sequence a cell from each blastocyst and then select the healthiest for implantation into the mother's womb. I believe that eventually IVF might in fact be the "standard" and most widely accepted way to reproduce. Egg Freezing As women continue to further their education and their careers, many women face deep anxiety when considering having children later in life since fertility rates decrease by two-thirds by the age of 40. (Successful assistive reproductive technological pregnancies by age of women) But one new technological solution might help solve this problem: the ability to freeze one's healthy eggs earlier in life. Egg freezing has started to become a way for women to reproduce on a timetable of their own choice -- not dictated by their own biology. The number of women choosing to freeze their eggs at fertility clinics in the U.S. grew more than sevenfold between 2009 and 2013. (Egg freezing trends over time) Carl Djerassi, inventor of the contraceptive pill, commented on this trend, saying, "In the next 20 years, more young people will freeze their eggs and [sperm] in their 20s, and bank them for later use. They will do away with the need for contraception by being sterilized, and withdraw their eggs and sperm from the bank when they are ready to have a child via IVF." Designer Babies If you had the ability to tinker with the genetics of your baby, would you? What if you could prevent a hereditary disease? Might it become 'unethical' to NOT correct genetic errors? Since we discovered CRISPR/Cas9, a tool used to "edit" the human genome with incredible precision, these questions are no longer theoretical and philosophical – they are very, very real. Just three years after its initial development, CRISPR technology is already widely used by biologists as a kind of search-and-replace tool to alter DNA, even down to the level of a single letter. By editing the DNA of these cells or the embryo itself (germline engineering), it could be possible to correct disease genes and pass those genetic fixes on to future generations. Such a technology could be used to rid families of scourges like cystic fibrosis and muscular dystrophy. This history-making medical advance could be as important to this century as vaccines were to the last. By some measures, U.S. public opinion is not particularly negative toward the idea of genetically modifying babies. (Genetic modification of babies, survey results) A Pew Research survey carried out last August found that 46 percent of adults approved of genetic modification of babies to reduce the risk of serious diseases. Interestingly, the same survey found that 83 percent said genetic modification to make a baby smarter would be "taking medical advances too far." At least three other centers in the United States are working on germline engineering, as are scientists in China, in the U.K., and at a biotechnology company called OvaScience, based in Cambridge, Massachusetts, that boasts some of the world's leading fertility doctors on its advisory board and has raised over $132 million. The objective of these groups is to demonstrate that it's possible to produce children free of specific genes involved in inherited disease. If it's possible to correct the DNA in a woman's egg, or a man's sperm, those cells could be used in an in vitro fertilization (IVF) clinic to produce an embryo and then a child. It might also be possible to directly edit the DNA of an early-stage IVF embryo using CRISPR. Life as we know it is becoming programmable. These changes are happening fast, in the next decade, or so… beyond that, in the far future, things get even crazier. Reproduction and Exponential Tech Exponential technologies in the next 20 years are going to play a huge role in the way in which we decided to bring life into this world. Here are three amazing new approaches that may represent the future of reproduction: Making Babies With More Than Two People: This April, the world's first baby was born from a new procedure that combines the DNA of three people. Nuclear DNA came from a mother and a father, and mitochondrial DNA was transferred into the fertilized egg from a third donor. Making Babies Without Eggs: Scientists out of the University of Bath say early experiments suggest it may one day be possible to make babies without using eggs. They have succeeded in creating healthy baby mice by tricking sperm into believing they were fertilizing normal eggs. In this scenario, two men could have a child, with one donating an ordinary cell and the other donating sperm. Or one man could have his own child using his own cells and sperm, with that child being more like a non-identical twin than a clone. Artificial Wombs: In the mid-1990s, Japanese investigators succeeded in maintaining goat fetuses for weeks in a machine containing artificial amniotic fluid. Today, it is possible for a preterm fetus to survive when removed from the mother at a gestational age of slightly less than 22 weeks. That's only a little more than halfway through the pregnancy (normally 40 weeks). For moms reading this blog, imagine not having to carry a baby around for nine months at a time. Implications Humanity is moving from evolution by natural selection (Darwinism) to evolution by intelligent direction at an accelerating pace. From the advent of birth control in 1960, to CRISPR/Cas9 today, we as humans are being given tremendous control on how and when we choose to reproduce. Technologies like CRISPR/Cas9 cut to the core of who we are as people, and it makes us ask whether humans should be exercising that kind of power, especially with features like eye color, hair color, height, intelligence, and athletic ability. These are moral and ethical issues – but in any case, it's clear that technology is forever changing the course of human development and procreation. Join Me This is the sort of conversation we explore at my 250-person executive mastermind group called Abundance 360. The program is highly selective. If you'd like to be considered, apply here. Share this with your friends, especially if they are interested in any of the areas outlined above. P.S. Every week I send out a "Tech Blog" like this one. If you want to sign up, go to Diamandis.com and sign up for this and Abundance Insider. P.P.S. My dear friend Dan Sullivan and I have a podcast called Exponential Wisdom. Our conversations focus on the exponential technologies creating abundance, the human-technology collaboration, and entrepreneurship. Head here to listen and subscribe: a360.com/podcast If you wish to stop receiving our emails or change your subscription options, please Manage Your Subscription PHD Ventures , 800 Corporate Pointe, Suite 350, Culver City, CA 90230