The word “robot” was coined 100 years ago in a popular Czech play about a machine uprising. It channeled the anxieties of the ongoing “Red Scare.”
https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=R.U.R.&oldid=947177842
However, the concept of an intelligent machine uprising dates to 1872, when English writer Samuel Butler published the book Erehwon. In it, the main character visits a futuristic, closed society that banned machines because they were improving too fast and people feared they would become smarter than humans and take over. Butler was inspired by Darwin’s Theory of Evolution and by the rapid industrialization he saw in England over his lifetime.
https://www.marxists.org/reference/archive/butler-samuel/1872/erewhon/ch23.htm
The Westworld TV show went into the ditch after season 1, but I’m pleased to see that its creators eschewed a dystopian depiction of Los Angeles in 2052. I think also think that and most other cities will look much nicer and higher-tech by then, but there won’t be flying cars.
https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/tv/story/2020-03-15/westworld-hbo-los-angeles-blade-runner
“People occlusion” is an awesome new phrase. This technique, coupled with better object recognition algorithms, will lead to a revolution in augmented reality.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vkS-VqAss4s
The latest Apple iPad is capable of people occlusion and has LIDAR sensors that instantly make 3D maps of the spaces surrounding them.
https://appleinsider.com/articles/20/03/18/what-you-need-to-know-about-apples-lidar-scanner-in-the-ipad-pro
“Flat lenses” can capture images like normal cameras, but are paper-thin, and can focus on everything in front of them, regardless of distance.
https://phys.org/news/2020-03-focus-free-camera-flat-lens.html?
21 years ago, a physicist going by the internet alias “Gavalord” predicted a machine that would let people see events happening in the past would be built within 20 years.
https://futuristspeaker.com/future-scenarios/interview-with-gavalord/
A new machine can pump oxygenated blood into donor hearts and lungs, keeping them viable for transplant several hours longer than the current maximum. Technologies like this will someday benefit human cryonics.
https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-cambridgeshire-51975351
The second person is history has been cured of HIV thanks to stem cell therapy.
https://www.bbc.com/news/health-51804454
In 1986, there was only one drug for hepatitis C, and it only helped 6% of infected people. Today, there are four drugs, and various combinations can help 80% of infected people.
https://healthguides.cnn.com/getting-the-right-treatment-for-hepatitis-c/breakthroughs-in-treating-hepatitis-c?did=t1_rss5
In the U.S., black people might have higher blood pressure than whites because the former have more skin pigment, which blocks UV light from entering skin cells. When light enters those cells, it triggers the release of nitric oxide into the bloodstream, which lowers blood pressure. The blood pressure disparity partly explains why whites live longer than blacks.
https://www.outsideonline.com/2411055/free-fitness-apps-online-classes-programs
More on the project to map all the world’s seafloor by 2030: 75% of it will only be mapped to a measly fidelity of 1 depth measurement per 400 x 400 meter grid square.
https://www.mdpi.com/2076-3263/8/2/63/html
“There are physical limits to how small we can make [information] storage particles…Once we conquer the ultimate small storage particle, we will be able to set standards – both standards for information and standards for storage.”
https://futuristspeaker.com/future-scenarios/the-future-of-libraries/
SETI@Home is shutting down indefinitely because they’ve “reached a point of diminishing returns” and have “analyzed all the data we need for now.”
https://www.cnn.com/2020/03/05/us/seti-home-hibernation-alien-trnd-scn/index.html
A new telescope array designed to scan the entire night sky for signs of extraterrestrial light emissions will be built starting next year.
https://gizmodo.com/the-search-for-aliens-is-about-to-get-a-serious-upgrade-1842157182
Self-replicating Bracewell probes might be ideal for exploring and monitoring the galaxy. They would have limited AI and downgraded technology, and would only be able to make copies of themselves, transmit data back to the home planet, and talk to other intelligent species if certain conditions were meant. Such probes would be too handicapped to start thinking for themselves and turn against the home planet, and if one were captured or destroyed, it wouldn’t be much of a loss since it would only contain second-rate technology and no information about the home planet.
https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Bracewell_probe&oldid=908951238
The Moon’s gravitational pull has been slowing down the Earth’s rotation. 70 million years ago, a day was 23 hours and 30 minutes long. It’s amazing how scientists figured it out.
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-8095233/Days-half-hour-SHORTER-70-million-years-ago-ancient-shell-shows.html
Earth contains enough geothermal energy to power civilization for 17 billion years.
https://www.wired.com/story/how-long-will-earths-geothermal-energy-last/?
Two months ago, “oilprice.com” predicted that the commodity wouldn’t dip below $50/barrel this year. It’s now $20/barrel.
https://oilprice.com/Energy/Oil-Prices/Oil-Will-Stay-Above-50-Per-Barrel-In-2020.html
The ongoing coronavirus quarantine reveals how autonomous, electric cars will improve things: in many cities, air pollution and traffic jams have nearly disappeared because people aren’t driving. The skies are bluer in Los Angeles than many residents can remember.
https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/03/22/climate/coronavirus-usa-traffic.html
The White House announced at a press conference that coronavirus will probably kill 100,000 – 240,000 Americans. That’s actually not the worst-case scenario, as it is built on assumptions that the strict quarantine measures stay in place.
https://www.politico.com/news/2020/03/31/trump-briefing-coronavirus-158079
In early 2015, Bill Gates gave a TED Talk about the world’s unreadiness for a pandemic. The scenario he described was almost a dead ringer for today’s coronavirus outbreak.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Af6b_wyiwI
Also in early 2015, Bill Gates predicted that A.I. could be a serious future threat.
“I am in the camp that is concerned about super intelligence. First the machines will do a lot of jobs for us and not be super intelligent. That should be positive if we manage it well. A few decades after that though the intelligence is strong enough to be a concern. I agree with Elon Musk and some others on this and don’t understand why some people are not concerned.”
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-switch/wp/2015/01/28/bill-gates-on-dangers-of-artificial-intelligence-dont-understand-why-some-people-are-not-concerned/
Gates was probably citing this statement Elon Musk made three months earlier:
“I think we should be very careful about artificial intelligence. If I were to guess like what our biggest existential threat is, it’s probably that. So we need to be very careful with the artificial intelligence. Increasingly scientists think there should be some regulatory oversight maybe at the national and international level, just to make sure that we don’t do something very foolish. With artificial intelligence we are summoning the demon. In all those stories where there’s the guy with the pentagram and the holy water, it’s like yeah he’s sure he can control the demon. Didn’t work out.”
https://bigthink.com/ideafeed/elon-musk-we-should-be-very-careful-about-artificial-intelligence
DARPA is trying to build a fighter plane AI pilot that can win dogfights.
https://aviationweek.com/defense-space/aircraft-propulsion/darpas-ace-wants-automate-dogfighting-empower-ai
The superstructure jutting up from an aircraft carrier’s deck is called it’s “island,” and it is full of human crewmen whose jobs require them to see the vessel’s surroundings. One specialized compartment, called the “island camera room,” is there so a person can video record aircraft takeoffs and landings for safety and training reasons. The latest U.S. carriers have deleted the room and replaced with with CCTV cameras that a person monitors from an office room below decks. Would a fully automated aircraft carrier need anything more than a skeletal tower with cameras and other sensors mounted on it as its island?
https://www.thedrive.com/the-war-zone/32614/heres-what-this-panoramic-windowed-room-does-on-american-aircraft-carriers
“Russia has the [naval nuclear reactor] technology but no money, China has the money, but doesn’t have the technology,” Zhou said. “By working together China will move a step closer to one day launching a nuclear-powered aircraft carrier.”
https://nationalinterest.org/blog/buzz/eurasian-dream-american-nightmare-what-if-china-and-russia-built-joint-aircraft-carriers
During the 1982 Falklands War, a team of Argentine commandos nearly sank a British warship docked in Gibraltar. They planned to swim to it, attach a bomb to the underside, and detonate it. The plot was foiled with only a few hours to spare.
https://nationalinterest.org/blog/buzz/1982-team-argentinian-frogmen-nearly-blew-british-frigate-gibraltar-135917
North Korean fighter plane squadrons secretly fought U.S. planes during the Vietnam War.
‘Vietnamese pilot Dinh said of the Koreans: “They kept everything secret, so we didn’t know their loss ratio, but the North Korean pilots claimed 26 American aircraft destroyed. Although they fought very bravely in the aerial battles, they were generally too slow and too mechanical in their reactions when engaged, which is why so many of them were shot down by the Americans. They never followed flight instructions and regulations either.”‘
https://nationalinterest.org/blog/buzz/yes-north-korea-sent-jets-and-pilots-fight-america-vietnam-134227
‘[Hypersonic weapons] are just missiles that fly real fast (five times the speed of sound at least) and are hard to detect because they skip around in the atmosphere.’
https://www.defensenews.com/naval/the-drift/2019/11/15/dont-get-too-hyper-about-hypersonics-the-drift-season-ii-vol-i/
In recent years, two U.S.-based companies that do “aggressor training” against Western fighter pilots have amassed large fleets of older fighter planes. If you believe in sci-fi predictions about evil corporations raising their own armies, then this is up your alley.
https://www.thedrive.com/the-war-zone/32464/australia-to-sell-retired-f-a-18-hornet-fighters-to-private-aggressor-firm-air-usa
Russian regular troops and mercenaries are fighting on both sides of the Syrian civil war.
https://www.janes.com/article/94675/small-russian-factions-continue-to-play-key-specialised-role-in-opposition-offensives-in-syria-s-idlib
Mighty North Macedonia has become the 30th NATO member.
https://www.overtdefense.com/2020/03/23/north-macedonia-becomes-30th-member-of-nato/
Smart bombs keep getting smarter. The “BLU-129” is a standard-sized bomb (500 lbs and 7 ft. long), but the size of its explosion can be dialed up or down by the bomber crew, even after they’ve dropped it. This lets us minimize collateral damage if the bomb is dropped, but a few seconds before it hits, a little kid walks into the target area.
https://nationalinterest.org/blog/buzz/blu-12-bomb-air-forces-new-aerial-sniper-129187
Turkey use drone attack planes for a wave of devastating attacks against Syrian army units.
https://nationalinterest.org/blog/buzz/turkey-has-drone-air-force-and-it-just-went-war-syria-128752
Video of a low-flying, supersonic jet shattering the windows of buildings. Sonic booms are one of the main reasons supersonic passenger jets never became popular.
https://youtu.be/2eoTqLnL0WI
The USAF is installing new AESA radars in its old F-16’s. Some of the planes were built as early as 1989, and the Air Force wants to keep upgraded F-16s flying until 2048!
https://www.janes.com/article/94625/usaf-buys-aesa-radars-for-f-16s
The USMC is also installing AESA radars in its F/A-18s. (Note – These are the “classic” F/A-18s and not the newer “Super Hornets.”)
https://www.janes.com/article/95142/usmc-begins-aesa-upgrade-for-classic-hornets
The 500th F-35 fighter rolled off the assembly line.
https://www.janes.com/article/94680/f-35-passes-500th-delivery-milestone
Germany will replace its aging Tornado fighter planes with Eurofighter Typhoons and American F/A-18 Super Hornets. They’d probably do better to only buy the latter, but politics and the desire to preserve European aerospace jobs led to this compromise.
https://nationalinterest.org/blog/buzz/germanys-air-force-going-all-fa-18-super-hornet-138332
Hungary is finally replacing its 40-year-old T-72 tanks with new, German-made Leopard 2 tanks.
https://www.overtdefense.com/2020/03/11/kmw-begins-assembly-of-leopard-2-tanks-for-hungary/
Japan will retire all its remaining F-4 Phantom fighter planes this year, after 45 years of continuous service.
https://www.overtdefense.com/2020/03/09/farewell-japanese-photo-phantoms/
‘A former F-16 pilot, Lee also has 1,500 hours in the [F-4] Phantom. He still recalls the first time he took to the air in one. “I was shocked at how much more difficult it was to fly than I thought it would be,” he told me. “When I got home, I told my wife, ‘I think I just traded in a Porsche for a ’72 Cadillac.”‘
https://www.airspacemag.com/military-aviation/where-have-all-the-phantoms-gone-96320627/
Here’s a fascinating article on “rarefaction wave” (RAVEN) guns, which are tank cannons that vent gas out of their backs kind of like recoilless rifles (e.g. – bazookas). If RAVEN weapons are fully developed, they could let small, light tanks fire powerful shells that only today’s heavy tanks can shoot.
‘A general rule of thumb, according to Technology of Tanks, from Jane’s, is that a vehicle needs to weigh about one ton for every nine hundred newtons of force exerted on it. This means for the current 120-millimeter M256 cannon shooting a M829A3 Anti-Tank Shell, a vehicle would have to weigh twenty-five tons to withstand the recoil force.’
Interestingly, that means a tank as small as a T-55 (weighs 36 tons) could be retrofitted with the same, powerful cannon as the U.S. M1 Abrams.
https://nationalinterest.org/blog/the-buzz/the-us-army-wants-put-big-guns-small-tanks-23041
A sad analysis of the U.S. Army’s repeated failures to replace the Bradley Fighting Vehicle due to the classic dysfunctions of the military-industrial complex.
https://www.pogo.org/analysis/2020/03/the-armys-lousy-tracked-record/