Free Republic

At the onset of the twenty-first century, humanity stands on the verge of the most transforming and the most thrilling period in its history. It will be an era in which the very nature of what it means to be human will be both enriched and challenged, as our species breaks the shackles of its genetic legacy and achieves inconceivable heights of intelligence, material progress, and longevity. For over three decades, the great inventor and futurist Ray Kurzweil has been one of the most respected and provocative advocates of the role of technology in our future. In his classic...

Brain in a Dish Flies PlaneBy Jennifer Viegas, Discovery News Oct. 22, 2004 A University of Florida scientist has created a living "brain" of cultured rat cells that now controls an F-22 fighter jet flight simulator. Scientists say the research could lead to tiny, brain-controlled prosthetic devices and unmanned airplanes flown by living computers. And if scientists can decipher the ground rules of how such neural networks function, the research also may result in novel computing systems that could tackle dangerous search-and-rescue jobs and perform bomb damage assessment without endangering humans. Additionally, the interaction of the cells within the lab-assembled...

I haven’t followed professional tennis for years, but as an aging baby boomer I acutely remember the Bjorn Borg – Jimmy Connors matchups of the late 70s and early 80s. These contests were the stuff of legend showcasing two of the most physically dominating players ever to take the court. What made the contests particularly watchable and fun was the sharp differences in the styles of play employed by the two men. Connors was the smaller man but his competitive fires were stoked to white-hot temperature that could blister the tele-ether and make viewers squirm in discomfort. Famous for his...

Thank you, everybody, for being here today. I'm very grateful you came out today to listen to me and hear my thoughts. We just spent a weekend in this country thinking about fatherhood. I couldn't be with my son this weekend, but he sent me the most beautiful picture. It's a picture of him in a James Bond costume. He's got an oversized tuxedo on, and he's got a hat that is way too big, and kind of askew. He's got this look on his face, and I think he's trying to be cunning, but he looks a little bit...

The esteemed Mr. Eastlund will, no doubt, attempt to spin his argument into one weighing the merits of Star Trek: The Next Generation against those of “classic” Star Trek. This is not an argument about the firepower of NCC-1701 versus that of NCC-1701-D or whether a Shakespearean actor who gave a great portrayal of Charles Xavier is a better actor than the toupee-wearing star of Kingdom of the Spiders. No, the issue at hand is simply whether the character of Captain Jean-Luc Picard of the 24th Century was a better Starfleet captain than the character of Captain James Tiberius Kirk...

Give police Star Trek-style weapons, says senior British officer Fri Feb 13, 7:33 PM ET LONDON (AFP) - A British police chief has revealed the type of weapon he would most like to see officers carry in the future, it was reported Saturday -- a disabling "phaser gun" of the sort used in television show "Star Trek". The gun -- which Deputy Chief Constable Ian Arundale admitted might not be developed for many years -- would be able to turn "someone's brain off", he was quoted as saying by The Guardian. Arundale, who is head of the Association of Chief...

The captain of the USS Enterprise thinks people should stay on Earth instead of going into space. Patrick Stewart, who plays Captain Jean-Luc Picard in the TV series Star Trek, says he thinks interplanetary travel for humans is a bad idea. "I'm a bit of a wet blanket when it comes to the whole business of space travel," Stewart told the BBC. "I would like to see us get this place right first before we have the arrogance to put significantly flawed civilisations out onto other planets - even though they may be utterly uninhabited," he said. Stewart said he...

<p>DALLAS, Texas (AP) -- With her sparkling blue eyes, wispy eyelashes and demure smile, Hertz is the center of attention wherever she goes.</p> <p>If you're lucky enough to meet her, try to ignore the tangle of wires slinking from behind her face. If you speak with her, talk slowly and loudly. And no matter what you say, don't be offended if she looks at you blankly and repeatedly asks, "What did you say?"</p>

The Slammer worm penetrated a private computer network at Ohio's Davis-Besse nuclear power plant in January and disabled a safety monitoring system for nearly five hours, despite a belief by plant personnel that the network was protected by a firewall, SecurityFocus has learned. The breach did not post a safety hazard. The troubled plant had been offline since February, 2002, when workers discovered a 6-by-5-inch hole in the plant's reactor head. Moreover, the monitoring system, called a Safety Parameter Display System, had a redundant analog backup that was unaffected by the worm. But at least one expert says the case...

SAN FRANCISCO — Just three weeks before Microsoft Corp. publicly details plans to create a secure operating mode for Windows PCs, two top cryptographers have raised concerns about Microsoft's approach. Whitfield Diffie, a distinguished engineer at Sun Microsystems Laboratories, said an integrated security scheme for computers is inevitable, but the Microsoft approach is flawed because it fails to give users control over their security keys. Ronald Rivest, an MIT professor and founder of RSA Security, called for a broad public debate about the Microsoft move. Microsoft first tipped its plans, formerly code-named Palladium, about a year ago. Since then some...

Are you a Star Trek Fan??? Ok, think of the Borg now. There center of life is a big black cube. Their purpose is to take other races of people and convert them to Borg. They convert people to Borgs or they are killed. The Borg will do whatever it takes to convert people and will go to the ends of the universe to promote their ideals. Remember, "Resistance is futile. You will be assimilated." Now think of the Islamist. What do we hear from the radical Islamist? Convert or you will be killed. The black cube in Mecca with...

In the 1950s kids hid behind the sofa when Professor Bernard Quatermass battled aliens on the BBC whilst ITV gave us Pathfinders in Space - the brainchild of Canadian Sydney Newman. Fast forward to 1962 and Newman, now promoted to Head of BBC Drama, needed a new Saturday night family series to fit snugly between Grandstand and Juke Box Jury. Concepts pitched for the show included telepathy, flying saucers, scientific trouble-shooters from the future - and a time machine. We all know who won. Main stars of the show would be a couple of school teachers - the square-jawed Ian...

US report foretells of brave new world By Nathan Cochrane July 23 2002 Next   A draft government report says we will alter human evolution within 20 years by combining what we know of nanotechnology, biotechnology, IT and cognitive sciences. The 405-page report sponsored by the US National Science Foundation and Commerce Department, Converging Technologies for Improving Human Performance, calls for a broad-based research program to improve human performance leading to telepathy, machine-to-human communication, amplified personal sensory devices and enhanced intellectual capacity.People may download their consciousnesses into computers or other bodies even on the other side of the solar system, or...