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Laugh at Google's E-Tattoo All You Want, You'll Be Wearing One Soon
Hot off patenting some ridiculous hand gestures, Google has now made waves for an electronic version of a stick-on tattoo that could connect to a mobile device with, say, Bluetooth or NFC. People tend to assume that Google's team is capable of building any wild idea that pops into its collective head. But in this case, Google's e-tattoo has been met with an unusually skeptical response. E-tattoos are coming, along with other implantable devices. So why wouldn't one of the largest tech companies in the world try to be the first?
The patent comes from Motorola, which is now a Google company, and is aimed at eliminating background noise from a user talking on a phone or trying to communicate with his or her device. The stick-on "tattoo" would be applied to the neck, where it would transmit any sound "emanating from a throat" to a connected device. Not only could that help with killing room noise, it might also help with preventing random folks from walking by and shouting "OK Google" at your phone. The patent also mentions it could have its display directly incorporated or—why not?—used as a galvanic skin response detector.
Sticking a piece of circuitry to your neck seems a bit of an obtuse way to increase call clarity, but is the idea of the e-tattoo itself really so frivolous? A number of people who discussed the concept seems to think so.
At TechCrunch, Chris Velazco writes that "before you start freaking out at the mental visual of a tattoo artist weaving electronic components into your neck flesh, know that Motorola has a history of playing fast and loose with its interpretation of the word 'tattoo.'" Alexis Madrigal called it Google's "creepiest patent yet." Steve Dent at Engadget huffs, "Okay, where to start with this one?"
We're collectively at a strange point in our relationship with technology: Many of us have come to rely on gadgets so much that we're simply not the same without them, and yet we also don't admit we have such a techno-dependence. The integration of man and machine is a central tenet of futurism, and yet as folks like Kevin Warwick have argued, the tight integration of technology into our daily lives means we're already there.
Google may or may not be wrecking your memory, but the internet's vast stores of information are a significant upgrade that few of us are willing to do without. Every time humans get an easier method to access valuable information and tools, they jump on it en masse. It's happened with worldwide internet penetration, it's happened with broadband, and it's happened with smartphones.
Focusing on the latter, would you go back to a dumbphone? Would you go back to a beeper? Be honest with yourself: You probably wouldn't. Candy Crush (or whatever game is currently cool) aside, it's too important of a tool to give up. Just admit it: Your phone is part of you now. So if tattooing it on the side of your head meant a serious upgrade—eliminating typos and dead batteries, maybe—why wouldn't you go for it?
Source: http://motherboard.vice.com/blog/laugh-at-googles-e-tattoo-all-you-want-youll-be-wearing-one-soon
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Founded by Russian entrepreneur Dmitry Itskov in February 2011 with the participation of leading Russian specialists in the field of neural interfaces, robotics, artificial organs and systems.
The main goals of the 2045 Initiative: the creation and realization of a new strategy for the development of humanity which meets global civilization challenges; the creation of optimale conditions promoting the spiritual enlightenment of humanity; and the realization of a new futuristic reality based on 5 principles: high spirituality, high culture, high ethics, high science and high technologies.
The main science mega-project of the 2045 Initiative aims to create technologies enabling the transfer of a individual’s personality to a more advanced non-biological carrier, and extending life, including to the point of immortality. We devote particular attention to enabling the fullest possible dialogue between the world’s major spiritual traditions, science and society.
A large-scale transformation of humanity, comparable to some of the major spiritual and sci-tech revolutions in history, will require a new strategy. We believe this to be necessary to overcome existing crises, which threaten our planetary habitat and the continued existence of humanity as a species. With the 2045 Initiative, we hope to realize a new strategy for humanity's development, and in so doing, create a more productive, fulfilling, and satisfying future.
The "2045" team is working towards creating an international research center where leading scientists will be engaged in research and development in the fields of anthropomorphic robotics, living systems modeling and brain and consciousness modeling with the goal of transferring one’s individual consciousness to an artificial carrier and achieving cybernetic immortality.
An annual congress "The Global Future 2045" is organized by the Initiative to give platform for discussing mankind's evolutionary strategy based on technologies of cybernetic immortality as well as the possible impact of such technologies on global society, politics and economies of the future.
Future prospects of "2045" Initiative for society
2015-2020
The emergence and widespread use of affordable android "avatars" controlled by a "brain-computer" interface. Coupled with related technologies “avatars’ will give people a number of new features: ability to work in dangerous environments, perform rescue operations, travel in extreme situations etc.
Avatar components will be used in medicine for the rehabilitation of fully or partially disabled patients giving them prosthetic limbs or recover lost senses.
2020-2025
Creation of an autonomous life-support system for the human brain linked to a robot, ‘avatar’, will save people whose body is completely worn out or irreversibly damaged. Any patient with an intact brain will be able to return to a fully functioning bodily life. Such technologies will greatly enlarge the possibility of hybrid bio-electronic devices, thus creating a new IT revolution and will make all kinds of superimpositions of electronic and biological systems possible.
2030-2035
Creation of a computer model of the brain and human consciousness with the subsequent development of means to transfer individual consciousness onto an artificial carrier. This development will profoundly change the world, it will not only give everyone the possibility of cybernetic immortality but will also create a friendly artificial intelligence, expand human capabilities and provide opportunities for ordinary people to restore or modify their own brain multiple times. The final result at this stage can be a real revolution in the understanding of human nature that will completely change the human and technical prospects for humanity.
2045
This is the time when substance-independent minds will receive new bodies with capacities far exceeding those of ordinary humans. A new era for humanity will arrive! Changes will occur in all spheres of human activity – energy generation, transportation, politics, medicine, psychology, sciences, and so on.
Today it is hard to imagine a future when bodies consisting of nanorobots will become affordable and capable of taking any form. It is also hard to imagine body holograms featuring controlled matter. One thing is clear however: humanity, for the first time in its history, will make a fully managed evolutionary transition and eventually become a new species. Moreover, prerequisites for a large-scale expansion into outer space will be created as well.
Key elements of the project in the future
• International social movement
• social network immortal.me
• charitable foundation "Global Future 2045" (Foundation 2045)
• scientific research centre "Immortality"
• business incubator
• University of "Immortality"
• annual award for contribution to the realization of the project of "Immortality”.
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