Guardian Award
The 2020 Lifeboat Foundation Guardian Award has been given to David Brin
in recognition of his long-term interest in existential risks including
his ongoing support of the Lifeboat Foundation.
David Brin is an American scientist and author of science fiction. He
has won the Hugo, Locus, Campbell, and Nebula Awards. His novel The
Postman was adapted into a 1997 feature film starring Kevin Costner.
As a scientist, tech-consultant, and world-known author, David speaks,
advises, and writes widely on topics from national defense and homeland
security to astronomy and space exploration, SETI and nanotechnology,
future/prediction, creativity, and philanthropy. Urban Developer
Magazine named him one of four World’s Best Futurists, and he was
appraised as the “#1 influencer” in Onalytica’s Top 100 report of
Artificial Intelligence influencers, brands, and publications. His
insights have been sought by groups such as Northrup-Grumman, Johns
Hopkins, the MIT Media Lab, Google, Microsoft, South by Southwest, IBM,
and more.
Learn more at
https://lifeboat.com/ex/press.releases....d.winner
James E. Gunn Memorial
James E. Gunn joins our Memorial Board at
https://lifeboat.com/ex/board.memorial after dying at age 97. James Gunn
contributed to our most recent book, “Visions of the Future” at
https://amzn.to/2N8X2X9. He was also one of our board members who
nominated David Brin for the Guardian Award so we were sad that he died
before he learned that we had gone with his suggestion.
James Gunn gave the Lifeboat Foundation financial backing and also
presented our Lifeboat to the Stars award as documented at
https://lifeboat.com/ex/press.releases.....winners. He
was also the person who named the award and he suggested the award
concept to us along with our board member Frederik Pohl.
Jim had many accomplishments including a Hugo Award and was President of
the Science Fiction Writers of America and of the Science Fiction
Research Association. The Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America
made him its 24th Grand Master in 2007, and he was inducted by the Science
Fiction and Fantasy Hall of Fame in 2015. His novel “The Immortals” was
adapted into a 1970–71 TV series starring Christopher George.
We will miss him!
Lifeboat Strategy
By James Blodgett
Our human future could be very good or very bad. We might settle the
reachable universe, we might live forever, or we might go extinct. What
we do right now might make the difference.
How can one human among billions make a difference? The “right stuff”
test pilots have an aphorism: when the airplane is about to crash, don’t
scream in terror, instead “fly the airplane”. Pilots have landed planes
with damaged aileron control by gunning the engines to climb, lowering
power to descend, and directing power to right and left engines, more to
one and less to the other, to turn. If nothing else can be done, it
might be possible to point the plane away from a city center and bail
out.
Humanity can also be steered, heroes of history have done so. We are
Lifeboat Foundation members, and we have something to contribute, or we
wouldn’t be Lifeboat members. If we can think of good ideas, we might
become heroes of history. Strategy is important, and is part of a good
idea. Not making mistakes is important, and is part of good strategy.
Books
Read “Alien Puzzle Boxes: Twenty short science fiction stories” by Jeremy Lichtman at https://amzn.to/3b9HX6R.
Papers
Read “Synthetic biology for Entrepreneurs: Innovations in the Healthcare Sector” by Guido Putignano at https://guido-putignano.medium.com/synt...7c249f24.
TransVision 2021
The TransVision 2021 Conference will be held June 4–6 at Ateneo de
Madrid. Our Didier Coeurnelle, José Luis Cordeiro, Felipe Debasa, Aubrey
de Grey, Ben Goertzel, Rodolfo Goya, Andrés Grases, Rudi Hoffman,
Charlie Kam, Ray Kurzweil, João Pedro Magalhães, Jim Mellon, Elena
Milova, Liz Parrish, David Pearce, Valerija Pride, Ramón Risco, Anders
Sandberg, Paul Spiegel, Melanie Swan, Sergio Tarrero, Philippe Van
Nedervelde, and Natasha Vita-More will be speaking at this global
futurist summit.
Learn more at http://www.transvisionmadrid.com.
Robin Hanson
Robin Hanson, author of “The Age of Em: Work, Love, and Life When Robots
Rule the Earth”, joins our Robotics/AI Board.
Learn more at https://lifeboat.com/ex/bios.robin.d.hanson.
Blog
Jeffery Pacheco joins our blog team with the post “Wormholes may be
lurking in the universe — and new studies are proposing ways of finding
them” at
https://lifeboat.com/blog/2021/01/wormh...ing-them
Recent interesting blog posts include:
“Accelerating AI computing to the speed of light” by Saúl Morales
Rodriguéz at
https://lifeboat.com/blog/2021/01/accel...of-light
“Apple’s 2021 chip strategy will create a massively parallel universe”
by Quinn Sena at
https://lifeboat.com/blog/2020/12/apple...universe
“Artificial cornea allows a blind man to regain his eyesight” by Raphael
Ramos at
https://lifeboat.com/blog/2021/01/artif...eyesight
“Artificial intelligence in longevity medicine” by Montie Adkins at
https://lifeboat.com/blog/2021/01/artif...medicine
“Black holes leak energy when they eat plasma near the event horizon” by Dan
Kummer at
https://lifeboat.com/blog/2021/01/black...-horizon
“Brain-to-brain communication demo receives DARPA funding” by Genevieve
Klien at
https://lifeboat.com/blog/2021/01/brain...-funding
“The Changing World Order: Why Nations Succeed and Fail” by Derick Lee
at
https://lifeboat.com/blog/2021/01/the-c...and-fail
“Clearance of senescent cells for improved cognition” by Quinn Sena at
https://lifeboat.com/blog/2021/01/clear...ognition
“CRISPR doubles lifespan of mice with rapid ageing disease progeria” by
Paul Battista at
https://lifeboat.com/blog/2021/01/crisp...progeria
“‘Designer baby’ book trilogy explores the moral dilemmas humans may
soon create” by Shailesh Prasad at
https://lifeboat.com/blog/2021/01/desig...n-create
“Facebook Knows What You Are Doing Even If The App Is Not Installed On
Your Phone” by Poopeh Morakkabati at
https://lifeboat.com/blog/2021/01/faceb...ur-phone
“Father of the Web Tim Berners-Lee prepares ‘do-over’” by Muhammad
Furqan at
https://lifeboat.com/blog/2021/01/fathe...-do-over
“The FBI is Secretly Breaking Into Encrypted Devices. We’re Suing” by
Brent Ellman at
https://lifeboat.com/blog/2020/12/the-f...re-suing
“How to get people from Earth to Mars (and safely back again)” by Montie
Adkins at
https://lifeboat.com/blog/2020/12/how-t...ck-again
“Inside Singapore’s huge bet on vertical farming” by Dan Kummer at
https://lifeboat.com/blog/2021/01/insid...-farming
“Is resurrection possible? Researchers catalogue the ways science may
achieve it” by Paul Battista at
https://lifeboat.com/blog/2021/01/is-re...hieve-it
“Jeff Bezos Is Backing an Ancient Kind of Nuclear Fusion” by Quinn Sena
at
https://lifeboat.com/blog/2021/01/jeff-...r-fusion
“Latest Starlink Satellites Equipped with Laser Communications, Musk
Confirms” by Muhammad Furqan at
https://lifeboat.com/blog/2021/01/lates...confirms
“Life Discovered in Deep Ocean Sediments at Temperatures Above Water’s
Boiling Point” by Genevieve Klien at
https://lifeboat.com/blog/2021/01/life-...ng-point
“Loneliness As Deadly As Smoking — How It Impacts Your Health &
Longevity” by Mark Parkins at
https://lifeboat.com/blog/2021/01/lonel...ongevity
“Meet Digit: A Smart Little Robot That Could Change the Way Self-Driving
Cars Make Deliveries” by Omuterema Akhahendra at
https://lifeboat.com/blog/2021/01/meet-...liveries
“Microbial Products Affect the Hallmarks Of Aging: 1) Mitochondrial
Function” by Mike Lustgarten at
https://lifeboat.com/blog/2020/12/micro...function
“NASA astronaut Kate Rubins harvests radishes grown in space” by
Genevieve Klien at
https://lifeboat.com/blog/2020/12/nasa-...in-space
“New technique builds super-hard metals from nanoparticles” by
Saúl Morales Rodriguéz at
https://lifeboat.com/blog/2021/01/new-t...articles
“The Physical Effects of Living in Space Could Create a New Human Species”
by Lola Heavey at
https://lifeboat.com/blog/2021/01/the-p...-species
“Police Robots Are Not a Selfie Opportunity, They’re a Privacy Disaster
Waiting to Happen” by Shailesh Prasad at
https://lifeboat.com/blog/2021/01/polic...o-happen
“Possibility of one-dose vaccine raises hopes for faster rollout” by
Poopeh Morakkabati at
https://lifeboat.com/blog/2020/12/possi...-rollout
“Rare quadruple-helix DNA found in living human cells with glowing probes”
by Saúl Morales Rodriguéz at
https://lifeboat.com/blog/2021/01/rare-...g-probes
“Scientists Create Underwater Internet” by Brent Ellman at
https://lifeboat.com/blog/2020/12/scien...internet
“Scientists develop new gene therapy strategy to delay aging” by Montie
Adkins at
https://lifeboat.com/blog/2021/01/scien...ay-aging
“Scientists Discover a Way to Control the Immune System’s ‘Natural
Killer’ Cells With ‘Invisible’ Stem Cells” by Paul Battista at
https://lifeboat.com/blog/2021/01/scien...em-cells
“Scientists ‘program’ living bacteria to store data” by Muhammad Furqan
at
https://lifeboat.com/blog/2021/01/scien...ore-data
“Shoot for the Moon: Its Surface Contains a Pot of Gold” by Lola Heavey at
https://lifeboat.com/blog/2021/01/shoot...-of-gold
“Sleep Deprivation Worse Than Being Drunk” by Mark Parkins at
https://lifeboat.com/blog/2021/01/sleep...ng-drunk
“Solar panels made from food waste win inaugural James Dyson
Sustainability Award” by Brent Ellman at
https://lifeboat.com/blog/2020/12/solar...ty-award
“Sweden: World’s First Cashless Society” by Roger Dufur at
https://lifeboat.com/blog/2020/12/swede...-society
“Ten Chinese chip start-ups whose founders have foreign experience” by
Derick Lee at
https://lifeboat.com/blog/2020/12/ten-c...perience
“This System Lets You Fly a Drone With Arm Gestures” by Raphael Ramos at
https://lifeboat.com/blog/2020/12/this-...gestures
“Tiny Nuclear Reactors Are the Future of Energy” by Derick Lee at
https://lifeboat.com/blog/2020/12/tiny-...f-energy
“US Department of Homeland Security warns American business not to use
Chinese tech or let data behind the Great Firewall” by Raphael Ramos at
https://lifeboat.com/blog/2020/12/us-de...firewall
“UV-LED disinfection of Coronavirus: Wavelength effect” by Omuterema
Akhahenda at
https://lifeboat.com/blog/2020/12/uv-le...h-effect
“VR leaps into the disruptive phase” by Omuterema Akhahenda at
https://lifeboat.com/blog/2020/12/vr-le...ve-phase
Growing Membership
We now have over 4,200 donors!
Recent donations/pledges we have received since our last newsletter:
Dave Davies: $200,
Michael Dickey: $85,
Kenneth P. Weiss: $85,
Anonymous: $60,
Sam Gutterman: $50,
Thomas Weiser: $30,
Bill Barbour: $25,
Hamilton HVAC Pros: $25,
Alexia Idoura: $25,
Matthew L. McGuirl: $25,
Allt Om Smslån: $20,
Rebecca R. Cooper: $10,
Susan Cutforth: $10,
Dog Bite King Las Vegas: $10,
FastBay: $10,
Anthony L. Haynor: $10,
Tommy Ledbetter: $10,
Alexander Macrae: $10,
Craig Olschansky: $10,
Patrik Sandin: $10,
Roland Schiefer: $10,
David Shumaker: $10,
CouponsXDeals: $5,
Dart Bars: $5,
Fluffy Favourites Slot Sites: $5,
iBEE Digital Solution: $5,
Knife Guardian: $5,
NC Paving Services of Burlington NC: $5,
Sånghäfte.se: $5,
St George Towing: $5,
Buffalo Appliance Repair: $2,
CBD TopReview: $2,
Charles County DUI Attorney: $2,
Citrus Heights Tree Service: $2,
Cleanline Builders: $2,
Dynamic Home Remodeling: $2,
EwalletVIP: $2,
FarmFoodFamily: $2,
Frisco Appliance Repair: $2,
Grindago: $2,
Manifest Like Whoa!: $2,
Metro Queens Epoxy CO.: $2,
Mets Minor League Blog: $2,
Mmosky Game Service: $2,
OvrClock: $2,
Sober Alley: $2,
True Appliance Repair: $2,
247 Electric Expert Electrician: $1,
Air Duct / Dryer Vent Cleaning Glendale: $1,
Air Duct / Dryer Vent Cleaning Mesa: $1,
Air Duct / Dryer Vent Cleaning Phoenix: $1,
Air Duct / Dryer Vent Cleaning Surprise: $1,
Air Duct / Dryer Vent Cleaning Tempe: $1,
Bakersfield Car Detail: $1,
Bakersfield Concrete: $1,
Bitnewsbot: $1,
Broadway Interiors: $1,
Bunbury Dog Grooming and Washing: $1,
Cash Jargon: $1,
Casino Dino: $1,
Casinos Ohne Deutsche Lizenz: $1,
Controllo A Distanza: $1,
Delian Restorations: $1,
Dimension7.ch: $1,
Dumpster Rental Brooklyn: $1,
Electrical Services: $1,
El Paso Appliance Repair: $1,
El Paso Carpet Cleaning: $1,
El Paso Landscaping: $1,
El Paso Windshield Repair: $1,
Epoxy Xpert Resources: $1,
Fastest YouTube Downloader: $1,
French Hair Couture: $1,
GadgetsToCompare: $1,
The Golfing Pro: $1,
Home Tune Little Rock: $1,
Kayakiye.com: $1,
Laatukasinot: $1,
Laatukasinot.com: $1,
Lelaki.my: $1,
Lokasi Percutian: $1,
Los Angeles Concrete Contractors: $1,
Mackay Pro Painters: $1,
McKinney Car Detail: $1,
MyBangla24: $1,
Nakupodbornik.cz: $1,
nSpek: $1,
Oregonized Accounts: $1,
Riva Cnc: $1,
Rochester Towing Service: $1,
Roofing South Bend: $1,
Sacramento Drywall: $1,
Sacramento Roofer Co.: $1,
Steuerberater Offerten: $1,
TipsMotion: $1,
Up Digital: $1,
The World Wide Directory: $1,
Yonip Network: $1,
and Zdrav Stil Zivota: $1.
