/ News
Spaceship Earth Grants competition offers chance of a trip into space
Spaceship Earth Grants (SEG), a US public-benefit organization and an affiliate of the Buckminster Fuller Institute, has launched a contest that aims to give away one space flight for every 50,000 applications it receives. With a judging panel made up of former NASA astronauts, industry experts, space enthusiasts, and others, this new program aims to be a crowd-driven and crowd-funded effort to send private citizens into space.
The winner (or winners) will receive a trip aboard a spaceflight provider flight available at the time of the award announcement. In other words, should the likes of space tourism companies like Virgin Galactic or Space Adventures be capable of offering trips into space at the time, then the winning candidate would be booked aboard one of their flights. Subject, of course, to availability and the various restrictions one or all of these companies may impose, along with the rider that no promise is made to be able to fly on a particular carrier.
Included in the major prize will be a Spaceflight Training package from SEG's Star Harbor Space Training Academ, and all travel expenses, including basic airfare to and from the participants home country or state, along with meals, ground transport, and accommodation.
To be eligible, applicants need to be at least 18 years of age. To enter, participants must first create an account on the SEG website and then pen a short essay (with the option to also submit a 90-second video) in answer to the question: "How will you use this experience to better yourself, your community or our planet?" The answer to this question will form the primary selection criteria regarding the applicant’s demonstration of a clear ability to communicate this benefit to the judges.
As SEG claims to be committed to providing this opportunity to a diverse range of people across a range of different cultural and economic backgrounds, the application fee required when you apply to enter the competition will vary dependent upon the relative wealth of the nation in which you live. This will range from (a non-refundable) US$15 to US$90, which will go into a combined fund made up of all participants' entry fees to pay for the eventual spaceflights and other SEG flights, programs, and training.
"Space is thrilling; however, this is not just about creating thrill rides for people," says former NASA Astronaut Leland Melvin, President of Spaceship Earth Grants. "There are aspects of spaceflight that can generate shifts in perspective to positively and profoundly influence the way people behave and think about our world. We want to facilitate that positive impact by awarding space travel to enthusiastic individuals who will be influential ambassadors by sharing their new insights with others in a compelling and inspiring way."
As an added incentive – if the idea of flying into space wasn’t enough – SEG also plans to give away an in-atmosphere, parabolic flight, weightlessness experience ride to one in every 100 of the first 5,000 applicants. These people will also receive a $500 discount for entry into the (yet to be announced) Star Harbor Space Training Academy program, one-year membership to the Planetary Society, and a Certificate of Application emblazoned with a unique "SEG Crew member ID."
Applications close December 31, 2014 and – in line with SEG's fair and open worldwide inclusion policy – may be submitted in English, Spanish, French, Japanese, Arabic, Russian, or Mandarin.
This will be followed by what SEG calls a "Media Rally Period" running from January 5 to February 28, 2015, where applicants will be encouraged to use the influence of social media networks to gather greater attention and support as to why they should be chosen to win.
A list of finalists will then be made March 2, 2015 by the SEG council, with winners to be announced April 12, 2015 – the 54th anniversary of the first human space flight.
SEG’s promo video for the competition can be viewed below.
Source: Spaceship Earth Grants
Source: http://www.gizmag.com/spaceship-earth-grants-competition-spaceflight/33832/
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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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