Lifeboat Foundation

An older article but something the world is facing just like in certain sci-fi movies.

The reference publication of the movement in the 80s, the Earth First journal, featured a column called Ask Ned Ludd, in reference to the mythical character that gave name to the luddites. Jones thinks that neo-luddites are in fact misreading the original luddites, but he believes that understanding the difference between the old and modern ones tells us a lot about the ideology of the latter.

“Luddites were not anti-technology: they were skilled craftsmen, involved in a labour movement aimed at keeping their machines and their jobs,” he says. “That’s very different from the neo-luddites ideas of relinquishing civilisation and [of] nature as the supreme good.” Jones thinks neo-luddism is fed rather by “the idea of technology as a disembodied, transcendent, terrifying force outside the human”, which emerged in the mid 20th century, with the bomb and the rise of large-scale computing.

Is Director of the Division of Research, Innovation and Ventures (DRIVe — https://drive.hhs.gov/) at the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (https://aspr.hhs.gov/AboutASPR/ProgramOffices/BARDA/Pages/default.aspx), a U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) office responsible for the procurement and development of medical countermeasures, principally against bioterrorism, including chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear (CBRN) threats, as well as pandemic influenza and emerging diseases.

Dr. Patel is committed to advancing high-impact science, building new products, and launching collaborative programs and initiatives with public and private organizations to advance human health and wellness. As the DRIVe Director, Dr. Patel leads a dynamic team built to tackle complex national health security threats by rapidly developing and deploying innovative technologies and approaches that draw from a broad range of disciplines.

Continue reading “Dr. Sandeep Patel, Ph.D. — BARDA — Developing Effective Life-Saving Medical Countermeasures For All” »

When a German security researcher, Matthias Marx, found a United States military device for sale on eBay—an instrument previously used to identify wanted individuals and known terrorists during the War in Afghanistan—Marx gambled a little and placed a low bid of $68.

He probably didn’t expect to win, since he offered less than half the seller’s asking price, $149.95. But win he did, and after that, he had an even bigger surprise coming, The New York Times reported. When the device arrived with a memory card still inside, Marx was shocked to realize he had unwittingly purchased the names, nationalities, photographs, fingerprints, and iris scans of 2,632 people whose biometric data had allegedly been scanned by US military.

The device allegedly stored not just personal identifiable information (PII) of seemingly suspicious persons, but also of US military members, people in Afghanistan who worked with the government, and ordinary people temporarily detained at military checkpoints. Most of the data came from residents of Afghanistan and Iraq.

The method, which works in conjunction with a deep-learning AI, identifies materials by their texture.

Building A More Secure World — Dr. James Revill, Ph.D. — Head of Weapons of Mass Destruction & Space Security Programs, UNIDIR, UN Institute for Disarmament Research United Nations.

Dr. James Revill, Ph.D. (https://unidir.org/staff/james-revill) is the Head of the Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD) and Space Security Program, at the UN Institute for Disarmament Research (UNIDIR).

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Russia had banned Facebook and Instagram in March after accusing their parent company of tolerating ‘Russophobia’.

Norn, the brainchild of a former leading Microsoft developer, feels like a human and is integrated with software previously used for hunting terrorists.

Maximizing Benefits Of The Life Sciences & Health Tech For All Americans — Dr. Andrew Hebbeler, Ph.D., Principal Assistant Director for Health and Life Sciences, Office of Science and Technology Policy, The White House.

Dr. Andrew Hebbeler, Ph.D., is Principal Assistant Director for Health and Life Sciences, Office of Science and Technology Policy at The White House (https://www.whitehouse.gov/ostp/ostps-teams/health-and-life-sciences/), and has extensive foreign affairs, national security, global health, and science and technology (S&T) policy experience.

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“If we get a similar hit rate in detecting texture in tumors, the potential for early diagnosis is huge,” says scientist.

Researchers at University College London.

The potentially early-stage fatal tumors in humans could be noticed by the new x-ray method that collaborates with a deep-learning Artificial Intelligence (AI) algorithm to detect explosives in luggages, according to a report published by MIT Technology Review on Friday.