Brian Wang

a long time futurist (he won second place in the Honeywell University Futurist contest). Listed as a big Thinker on the KurzweilAI site Member of the Center for Responsible Nanotechnology taskforce. Advisor to the Nanoethics Group. Director of Research for the Lifeboat Foundation.


http://nextbigfuture.com
http://www.aboutsf.com/speakers/speakerinfo.php?speakerID=147
http://www.kurzweilai.net/bios/frame.html?main=/bios/bio0261.html?

Tracking progress to controlling light, life and matter
Towards room temperature superconductors, new forms of matter, finer slices of time and measurement with attosecond lasers
by brianwang    0 comments   
HP lab's new memristor could help with pattern recognition and AI
Memristor will make computers more energy efficient and faster, but should also enable highly efficient pattern recognition and pattern memory in circuits. Retention/memory as a fundamental component. As computer designs get adjusted to take advantage of this over the next 5-9 years.
by brianwang    2 comments   
Nanodiamonds 100 times cheaper, track cells in the body and deliver drugs and genes
Taiwanese scientists have found a way to slash the cost of making the diamond chips by around 100 times to $300 per 10 milligrams
by brianwang    0 comments   
GNA: Glycerol nucleic acid, synthetic version of DNA a new nanotechnology building block
The first self-assembled nanostructures composed entirely of glycerol nucleic acid (GNA, —a synthetic analog of DNA)have been made. New structures from alternative to DNA able to take higher temperatures and other slightly different features
by brianwang    0 comments   
New easy to make superlens able to focus 10 times better than diffraction limit
Currently working for microwaves (1-300 millimeters). Researchers believe visible light is doable which would focus to 19-39 nanometers. If they can get to ultraviolet that could allow nanometer focus. Expect to improve lithography and wireless power transmission and much more.
by brianwang    0 comments   
Artificial intelligence milestone - a computer beat a human master in a 9X9 game of GO
This was the first ever officially sanctioned 'non blitz' victory of a 'machine' over a Go Master. Although Catalin Taranu beat the computer in a 19x19 configuration with a nine-stone handicap, the Go Master nevertheless rated the IA system as 'approaching Dan standard' in a performance that promises some formidable battles to come between man and machine.
by brianwang    0 comments   
Thin film domes over cities ($153 million) for protection from nukes and providing high speed communication
Thin film domes using todays technology can provide simple protection from nuclear devices and high speed communication for less than the cost and more convenience than a communication satellite
by brianwang    0 comments   
Survey shows 20% usage of cognitive enhancers and generally favorable views of enhancers
New methods with superior performance improvements and greater safety will increase the adoption of enhancements of all kinds
by brianwang    0 comments   
More details on technical challenges and solutions for exaflop and zettaflop machines
on chip photonic communication (80 Terabytes/second) and nanomemories are critical enabling technology for full speed chips
by brianwang    0 comments   
Intel forecasts Moore's law to continue to 2029 and zettaflop computers (million petaflops)
Pat Gelsinger, head of the Digital Enterprise Division at Intel, says that Moore's Law will continue until 2029 with zettaflop supercomputers at that time.
by brianwang    0 comments   
Transhumanist comic book
Transhumanist fiction and reality
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zyvex's Atomically precise manufacturing effort received $15 million in funding
Zyvex presented their APM plan at the Productive Nanosystems: Launching the Technology Roadmap a conference held by the Society of Mechanical Engineering. Uses atomic layer epitaxy and selective removal of hydrogen and building up atomically precise layers.
by brianwang    0 comments   
Whole genome sequencing costs continue to fall: $300 million in 2003, $1 million 2007, $60,000 now, $5000 by year end
Inexpensive costs that will accelerate the transformation of medicine into personal genomics and personal medicine. Prices are going to keep falling with better nanopores and highly parallel approaches. Easy and widespread differential genetic analysis will provide more and better targets for gene therapy and modification.
by brianwang    5 comments   
room temperature superconductor from supercompressed silicon and hydrogen [premature]
This would be huge [premature announcement]. They have a new class of superconductors which have a shot at reaching higher temps because of the [unproven] theory of metallic hydrogen being a room temp superconductor. Other news still awaiting confirmation is unpressurized superconductors at 185K.
by brianwang    3 comments   
Artificial Intelligence ? You are soaking in it
Most financial transactions are made by program trading systems which use classic artificial intelligence methods. Google uses AI for search and to match ads with results. More AI and more power AI is being adopted all the time. Its influence is huge and increasing.
by brianwang    0 comments   
More details on the promising new molecular devices and architecture
Anirban Bandyopadhyay expects to make spherical devices with more connections and to connect 1024 devices within 18 months. They may be working with Nanoink (massively parallel AFM arrays for input and output). That pace of progress would be better than most other molecular electronic approaches. 2 inch sphere of the devices would equal power of the human brain (direct singularity tie in)
by brianwang    1 comment   
Making affordable exaflop and petaflop supercomputers with custom chips
Custom chips by Tensilica and others could make supercomputers ten to one hundred time cheaper and twenty to forty times more energy efficient.
by brianwang    0 comments   
Reverse engineering the brain is where MIT Tech Review Emerging tech 2008 intersects NAE grand challenge
A crossover between the two lists is The Grand challenge of reverse engineering the human brain and Connectomics, map all connections between neurons in the mammalian brain, on the MIT Tech list. This is the key to Ray Kurzweil vision of the technological singularity and for one path to the development of Artificial General Intelligence (AGI)
by brianwang    0 comments   
Implantable device can extract stem cells, killing cancer and rejuvenating stem cells
A coatd microtube device has isolated and collected adult stem cells to eight times greater purity than can be obtained through traditional centrifugation. Could be used to kill cancer cells and to enable better transplants and combined with other methods to provide an unlimited supply of your rejuvenated cells
by brianwang    0 comments   
Dwave is indicating 2000-4000 qubits for quantum computer by end of 2008
Dwave Systems closed a $17M financing round as of the end of January 2008. These funds will be used primarily to push the level of integration of our chips into the low thousands of qubits by the end of the year.
by brianwang    3 comments   
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