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Palo Alto, CA - June 22, 2015 - D-Wave Systems Inc., the world's first quantum computing company, today announced that it has broken the 1000 qubit barrier, developing a processor about double the size of D-Wave’s previous generation and far exceeding the number of qubits ever developed by D-Wave or any other quantum effort. This is a major technological and scientific achievement that will allow significantly more complex computational problems to be solved than was possible on any previous quantum computer.
D-Wave’s quantum computer runs a quantum annealing algorithm to find the lowest points, corresponding to optimal or near optimal solutions, in a virtual “energy landscape.” Every additional qubit doubles the search space of the processor. At 1000 qubits, the new processor considers 21000 possibilities simultaneously, a search space which dwarfs the 2512 possibilities available to the 512-qubit D-Wave Two. In fact, the new search space contains far more possibilities than there are particles in the observable universe.
People have asked how will it be possible for us to connect to the technology? Well we are starting to figure it out!
SWEDISH SCIENTISTS BUILD ARTIFICIAL NEURONS ABLE TO COMMUNICATE WITH ORGANIC NEURONS
Scientists at Karolinska Institutet in Sweden have built a fully functional neuron by using organic bioelectronics. This artificial neuron contain no "living" parts, but is capable of mimicking the function of a human nerve cell and communicate in the same way as our own neurons do.
The title of article is misleading, Ray says 2030s so it can be any date from 2030-2039 when such tech appears. However, I doubt most people would trust such tech in the beginning; considering all the hacking that has been going on and the trouble Google has gotten into with the European Union in regards to them manipulating searches, etc.
The title of article is misleading, Ray says 2030s so it can be any date from 2030-2039 when such tech appears. However, I doubt most people would trust such tech in the beginning; considering all the hacking that has been going on and the trouble Google has gotten into with the European Union in regards to them manipulating searches, etc.
2030 is the start of the so called nanotech revolution. However if you look at what is coming in the next 5-10 years we will already start to merge with the internet so by 2030 I can see starting to merge with nanotech computers although it will be more expensive and become for affordable as the decade goes on. So maybe the 1% first then quickly more and more people.
Why would anyone want to turn themselves into a machine?
CN.......
We've already started. Artificial hearts, hip replacements, etc. The list is already quite long. As for why, the answers seem obvious: People want to live longer and have a better quality of life. But perhaps the major key is that the line between "biology" and "machine" will continue to blur. You won't just wake up one day and be composed of plastic and metal. Being "artificial" does not necessarily imply being "non-biological". There are gradations on a spectrum. And you probably wont' have an obvious choice like "Do you want to be a machine?" The transformation process will mostly sneak up on us, just as it is doing right now - albeit at an increasing faster rate.
Something else to consider: It is possible that "being a machine" and "being an old-fashioned human" might not feel so radically different for many people - aside from some overall improvements to bodily functions. It's hard to tell, at the moment, what it would be like to be mostly composed of artificial parts, but the main point is that your "humanity" and "sense of self" etc., probably depend on more than just the history of the parts you are composed of. There might be thresholds in the transformation process, or there might be virtually infinite degrees in the transformation of "essence" or identity. We don't have good enough theories to answer these questions at the moment.
If you could look better, feel better, and live longer, wouldn't you want to do so? Most people would. So the answer to your "why" question is easy. The harder question is whether - or to what extent - our "essential selves" will survive the transformation to fully artificial form. That's a huge question mark at the moment.
Last edited by Gaylenwoof; 06-30-2015 at 06:07 AM..
We've already started. Artificial hearts, hip replacements, etc. The list is already quite long. As for why, the answers seem obvious: People want to live longer and have a better quality of life. But perhaps the major key is that the line between "biology" and "machine" will continue to blur. You won't just wake up one day and be composed of plastic and metal. Being "artificial" does not necessarily imply being "non-biological". There are gradations on a spectrum. And you probably wont' have an obvious choice like "Do you want to be a machine?" The transformation process will mostly sneak up on us, just as it is doing right now - albeit at an increasing faster rate.
Something else to consider: It is possible that "being a machine" and "being an old-fashioned human" might not feel so radically different for many people - aside from some overall improvements to bodily functions. It's hard to tell, at the moment, what it would be like to be mostly composed of artificial parts, but the main point is that your "humanity" and "sense of self" etc., probably depend on more than just the history of the parts you are composed of. There might be thresholds in the transformation process, or there might be virtually infinite degrees in the transformation of "essence" or identity. We don't have good enough theories to answer these questions at the moment.
If you could look better, feel better, and live longer, wouldn't you want to do so? Most people would. So the answer to your "why" question is easy. The harder question is whether - or to what extent - our "essential selves" will survive the transformation to fully artificial form. That's a huge question mark at the moment.
Artificial hearts are currently temporary though, for those who need a transplant but don't have a donor at hand. People with them rarely live more than a few months. I also wouldn't go as far as calling those people cyborgs or hybrids.
Also would becoming machines really be necessary for immortality? Some of these researchers believe that nanotechnology could make us immortal without turning us into cyborgs or full fledged machines. The idea is having nanobots flowing through our blood with the task of monitoring our cells, tissues, organs and repairing or eliminating any threat our body sustains.
Artificial hearts are currently temporary though, for those who need a transplant but don't have a donor at hand. People with them rarely live more than a few months. I also wouldn't go as far as calling those people cyborgs or hybrids.
Also would becoming machines really be necessary for immortality? Some of these researchers believe that nanotechnology could make us immortal without turning us into cyborgs or full fledged machines. The idea is having nanobots flowing through our blood with the task of monitoring our cells, tissues, organs and repairing or eliminating any threat our body sustains.
That is still by definition transhuman as we transcend our biology and that is all most people like me are looking to do, at least for now.
Immorality is economically unsustainable for most of the Earth inhabitants, and there's also the fact that your brain aging can't at the present be reversed and so limits the lifespan of an individual.
As things progress, I can see a small percentage of super rich becoming immortal gods and the rest of humanity becoming irrelevant and obsolete. Welcome to the great tomorrow.
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