[Pretorian]

and more importantly, who will be paying your electricity bill?

[SeaGypsy]

I lasted a little more than 30 seconds on the 'blue brain' project. When the geezer said this thing will contain as much as 500 internets worth of information. Where is the energy going to come from? Doesn't the internet already account for 5% of global electricity use? The nanotech to do this thing with any efficiency will require a biological component/ effectively a human brain or something similar.

[Carlhole]

Nothing new about a lot of childish tantrums on PO.com.

I could have used any of hundreds of examples from all corners of science that show stunning progress - quantum mechanics, quantum computing, bioengineering, artificial life, nanotechnology...

So, make a prediction already - that's the point of the thread - when will we reach the apex of scientific achievement before plunging inexorably into the Olduvai Gorge?

Because it sure don't look like the progress of science if slowing down at all. If anything it's speeding up.

[Arthur75]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Carlhole', 'I') could have used any of hundreds of examples from all corners of science that show stunning progress - quantum mechanics, quantum computing, bioengineering, artificial life, nanotechnology...

[SeaGypsy]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Arthur75', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Carlhole', 'I') could have used any of hundreds of examples from all corners of science that show stunning progress - quantum mechanics, quantum computing, bioengineering, artificial life, nanotechnology...

[Carlhole]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('SeaGypsy', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Arthur75', 'W')hen you quote movies being made as proof that breakthrough are happening in this domain, you expect to be taken seriously ?

[SeaGypsy]

The Cambridge, Mass.-based start-up, which is backed by its founders and venture-capital firm Flagship Ventures, has developed a technology using microorganisms that make fuels and chemicals from the photosynthetic conversion of sunlight and CO2. Joule’s scientists incorporated solar converters into the technology to optimize the process that makes what the company calls “solar fuel.”

“We’re not a biofuel company, because biofuels are biomass-derived; our technology leverages a highly synthetic organism to create transportation fuels and chemicals,” said Bill Sims, Joule’s chief executive. “We don’t have an intermediary that has to be grown or transported, it’s a direct-to-product process.”

Highly sythetic is Newspeak for bioengineered. Effectively constructing organisms from the bits of other organisms. Not artificial life. (sorry to nitpick)

[Arthur75]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('SeaGypsy', '
')
Highly sythetic is Newspeak for bioengineered. Effectively constructing organisms from the bits of other organisms. Not artificial life. (sorry to nitpick)

[Carlhole]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('SeaGypsy', 'T')he Cambridge, Mass.-based start-up, which is backed by its founders and venture-capital firm Flagship Ventures, has developed a technology using microorganisms that make fuels and chemicals from the photosynthetic conversion of sunlight and CO2. Joule’s scientists incorporated solar converters into the technology to optimize the process that makes what the company calls “solar fuel.”

“We’re not a biofuel company, because biofuels are biomass-derived; our technology leverages a highly synthetic organism to create transportation fuels and chemicals,” said Bill Sims, Joule’s chief executive. “We don’t have an intermediary that has to be grown or transported, it’s a direct-to-product process.”

Highly sythetic is Newspeak for bioengineered. Effectively constructing organisms from the bits of other organisms. Not artificial life. (sorry to nitpick)

[SeaGypsy]

Ok it looks like a cool project; bravo. I just don't like the Newspeak lingo; personal bugbear of mine. Rings of scientists claming godlike power.
From what I can understand the real power in human hands is in a cooperative venture with nature rather than an opposed one.
A lot of these billion dollar projects are reinventing the wheel to some extent. I would like to see the tech we have had for decades to conserve energy as well as generate it put into practice myself; before worrying about pie in the sky antics which by current take up rates will never have a timely result likely to prevent forsaid collapse.

[Carlhole]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('SeaGypsy', 'F')rom what I can understand the real power in human hands is in a cooperative venture with nature rather than an opposed one.

[Arthur75]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Carlhole', 'O')nce scientists have figured out HOW the brain works (using a virtual copy of a brain existing inside a super-supercomputer), they can then use the discoveries to design a completely new generation of silicon chips which employ brain-derived information processing techniques.
The BBP is just one example of how science is progressing faster than ever. I mean, the BBP is a science project that promises to unleash tens of thousands of new Neuroscience and Artificial Intelligence projects that would not have been possible otherwise.

[Carlhole]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Arthur75', 'L')earn to use "if scientists figure out" instead of "once scientists have figured out" in such a sentence, that will be a first step, not to mention that this will never happen, as this sentence simply doesn't make sense (Gödel can help here, but having done something in your life also)

[Arthur75]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Carlhole', 'O')h sure! It's impossible for scientists to learn about biology. Yeah, there's a long historical precedent for that.

[Carlhole]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Arthur75', 'O')k keep talking like a charlatan and ignore basic scientiif methodology, honesty, and honour, no problem.

[SeaGypsy]

Yep OK there is a point. Do you have an opinion about inferred energy use?

[Carlhole]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('SeaGypsy', 'Y')ep OK there is a point. Do you have an opinion about inferred energy use?

[SeaGypsy]

A current bio engineering project:

http://www.abc.net.au/science/articles/ ... pic=enviro

Parallel processing
The research is a good example of how a bacterial computer could operate. Each E. coli cell detects light or detects the chemical cue at the same time and processes the information simultaneously to create an edge. If the bacteria were a computer, this would be called parallel processing.

A traditional computer traces the outline of an image using serial computing, making one calculation at a time. Each pixel of the image is compared with its eight neighbors, one at a time, until the entire image is scanned. The more pixels in the image, the longer the calculations take to compute.

Every E. coli, by contrast, compares itself to its eight neighbors constantly, performing millions of calculations simultaneously. The size of the image is irrelevant; postage stamp or poster size, an outline will appear at the same time.

[SeaGypsy]

Another on using yeast to custom make genetic material:

http://www.abc.net.au/science/articles/ ... 440454.htm

"Scientists have discovered a more efficient way of building a synthetic genome that could one day enable them to create artificial life, according to a study.

The method is already being used to help develop next generation biofuels and biochemicals in the labs of controversial celebrity US scientist Craig Venter.....

This enabled them to finish creating the synthetic genome using a method called homologous recombination, a process that cells naturally use to repair damage to their chromosomes.

[Ferretlover]

Ad hom attacks and off topic responses deleted. Please stay on topic. Thank you.