Classical Music Down-Regulates Genes For Neurodegeneration
Does classical music alter genetic regulation in a way that slows brain aging? Although listening to music is common in all societies, the biological determinants of listening to music are largely unknown. According to a latest study, listening to classical music enhanced the activity of genes involved in dopamine secretion and transport, synaptic neurotransmission, learning and memory, and down-regulated the genes mediating neurodegeneration. Several of the up-regulated genes were known to be responsible for song learning and singing in songbirds, suggesting a common evolutionary background of sound perception across spec...
Source: FuturePundit - March 16, 2015 Category: Research Authors: Randall Parker Source Type: blogs
Thinking About Robots And ZMP Workers
Some robots do not cause a productivity explosion because they replace low productivity workers and the quality of the task done does not improve much after the initial introduction of robots. The automated equipment that turns a worker into a zero marginal productivity (ZMP) ex-worker does not need to offer a large and growing impact on the firm's total productivity. It just has to lower total costs. I was thinking about that after reading what I think is a wrong argument from Larry Summers about robots and productivity. He's coupling rates of productivity growth with rates of worker displacement. Those two aren't necessa...
Source: FuturePundit - February 22, 2015 Category: Research Authors: Randall Parker Source Type: blogs
FAA Rules Open Up Some Flying Drone Apps, Not Delivery
The FAA new regulations do not allow for delivery drones. Delivery drones, autonomous vehicles, and rejuvenation therapies all seem like candidates for first introduction in smaller countries with low levels of regulation. Smaller EU countries are probably out due to EU-level regulations. Ideal countries will have a high enough per capita income to create enough demand. Taiwan? Singapore? Iceland? Another point about delivery drones: It isn't clear they can work in cities. The problem is the front door. If drones are going to deliver to your doorstep then you need to have an outside doorstep. Apartment buildings with apart...
Source: FuturePundit - February 15, 2015 Category: Research Authors: Randall Parker Source Type: blogs
Employment-Population Ratio By Education Level
There is concern that in the future robots, computers, and other forms of automation will cause mass unemployment. I share that concern but in the present I think it has already arrived among the less skilled and less talented. I think the use of unemployment rate as a measure of how many people aren't working has created a very widespread misconception about how this problem only lies in the future. Really, it has already happened. Lets have a look at US Bureau of Labor Statistics data on unemployment rate, labor market participation rate, and employment-population ratio. It is the last one that tells us the real story. A...
Source: FuturePundit - February 2, 2015 Category: Research Authors: Randall Parker Source Type: blogs
Telomere Lengthening RNA Treatment Lets Cells Divide More
Take away the threat of cancer and I'll sign up for telomere lengthening. Researchers delivered a modified RNA that encodes a telomere-extending protein to cultured human cells. Cell proliferation capacity was dramatically increased, yielding large numbers of cells for study. This result suggests that the Hayflick limit on how many times a cell can divide is caused by telomere shortening that happens every time a cell divides. Once the telomeres on chromosomes get too small the cell loses the ability to divide. This is an expected result. Telomere shortening has long been thought to be a defense mechanism against cancer by...
Source: FuturePundit - January 24, 2015 Category: Research Authors: Randall Parker Source Type: blogs
Automated Vehicles And Changes In Lifestyles
What will automated cars and trucks do to change society? First some uncontroversial changes: A big reduction in jobs driving taxis. A big reduction in jobs driving local delivery and long haul trucks. A big reduction in car accidents and deaths from car accidents. Greater mobility for the blind and other disabled. Greater fuel efficiency as cars drive themselves more optimally. Higher potential traffic volume on a freeway as cars do coordinated speed control and lane changes. But what about the impacts on personal decisions on whether to live in cities, suburbs, or rural environments? That one seems a lot harder to call. ...
Source: FuturePundit - January 18, 2015 Category: Research Authors: Randall Parker Source Type: blogs
Truck Drivers: How Many Will Lose Jobs To Automation?
According to the United States Department of Labor Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) heavy duty and tractor trailer truck drivers made $38.2k per year in 2012 and 1.7 million worked in that job in 2012. BLS projects that from 2012 to 2022 the number of truck drivers will grow by 11%, about in pace with overall employment. I looked into these numbers curious to see if BLS is considering any impacts on employment due to the rise of autonomous vehicles. Short answer: No. Yet long haul trucking seems like an ideal first use of autonomous vehicle technology. Long haul trucks are expensive pieces of capital equipment with high ra...
Source: FuturePundit - January 2, 2015 Category: Research Authors: Randall Parker Source Type: blogs
In Abu Dhabi Small Robots Replace Children As Camel Jockeys
In the United Arab Emirates camel racing has gone robotic. The use of robots in camel racing eliminated kidnapping and slavery of very little children, even 2 and 3 year olds! The little kids were sometimes injured or even killed. The replacement robots are really simple in function. What other forms of slavery could robotics help bring to an end? A Japanese restaurant uses fembots to dance for their customers. Robots that serve every human need are in our future. See this Youtube search for "Japan robot woman".... (Source: FuturePundit)
Source: FuturePundit - December 26, 2014 Category: Research Authors: Randall Parker Source Type: blogs
Robin Hanson On Very Advanced Aliens
Robin makes 5 points on what advanced aliens should be like. This is most worrisome: An old advanced alien race can be expected to make very careful calculations about whether to be friendly or hostile toward humans. ...very advanced aliens should not be either generically friendly or generically hostile to outsiders. Instead they should be very good at making their friendship or hostility appropriately context-dependent. That is, aliens should be very good at figuring out when and in what precise way being friendly or hostile will best achieve their ends. Such strategies should be far subtler than simple-minded ethnocentr...
Source: FuturePundit - December 25, 2014 Category: Research Authors: Randall Parker Source Type: blogs
Growing Olives In Bushes Like Grapes For Automation
Check out this Techcrunch article on how an olive growing company has made the job simpler by aggressive pruning. By growing olives in rows, like wine grapes, California Olive Ranch has taken most of the human labor out of the harvest. The company is also doing a large amount of data collection to drive alterations in how they do watering and fertilization. But what I find most interesting is the decision to heavily prune to enable use of automated grape harvesting equipment. Automation can come sooner if an environment can be shaped to be more regular and consistent. The amount of image processing goes down. Also, there's...
Source: FuturePundit - December 24, 2014 Category: Research Authors: Randall Parker Source Type: blogs
eBook Readers Suppress Melatonin And Reduce Sleep
This report is a reminder. Also see some earlier posts: Artificial Light Suppresses Melatonin, Boosts Cancer, Poor Teen Sleeping Due To Lack Of Blue Light?, and Television Watching Lowers Melatonin, Hastens Puberty. The Kindle Paperwhite comes with unadjustable color. But in theory a tablet's color should be adjustable to turn off blue. The problem I find on my Nexus 10 tablet is that both the Kindle Reader app and the Google Play Book app... (Source: FuturePundit)
Source: FuturePundit - December 23, 2014 Category: Research Authors: Randall Parker Source Type: blogs
Human Stem Cells Repair Mouse Corneas
Repair of body parts is good. Treating the potentially blinding haze of a scar on the cornea might be as straightforward as growing stem cells from a tiny biopsy of the patient's undamaged eye and then placing them on the injury site, according to mouse model experiments conducted by researchers at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine. Does normal aging cause any degree of scarring on the cornea? Since human stem cells were used this does not seem too far away from a human treatment. Though regulations over human trials probably make this years away from being tried in humans. The team then tested the human stem...
Source: FuturePundit - December 22, 2014 Category: Research Authors: Randall Parker Source Type: blogs
Robin Hanson: Something Out There Is Killing Everything
Robin Hanson says "and you're next". Robin offers a pretty interesting take on the Drake Equation. Since everything we can see looks dead it really is very dead out there. An intelligent civilization that grew very large and technologically advanced would create artifacts on such a scale that we could spot it. So why don't we see any? Robin asks a very interesting question: have we already gotten past all great filters that are preventing large scale space colonization. Is there a great filter ahead of us? Or have many civilizations gotten as far as us and got filtered out at later steps? Granted, some large number of inte...
Source: FuturePundit - December 16, 2014 Category: Research Authors: Randall Parker Source Type: blogs
23andMe Genetic Testing Approved In Britain
People in Britain can find out more about their DNA than people in the United States. Note to the FDA: I do not think you are protecting me by preventing me from seeing a profile of small changes in disease risks due to lots of single letters in my genome. I know you guys are immune to criticism. But I really wish that was not the case. The UK regulatory approval means Brits can do what Canadians already can do: get lots of disease risk information about genetic results. The vast majority of genetically caused changes in disease risks are very small. So you are unlikely to find out from 23andme that you absolutely will get...
Source: FuturePundit - December 13, 2014 Category: Research Authors: Randall Parker Source Type: blogs
Some People Ready For One Way Trip To Mars
The Dutch non-profit Mars One wants to sends 4 people on a one-way trip to Mars. They've had no shortage of volunteers.The goal: 2025. 2025 is much too soon. Consider what is needed to settle Mars. Then think about when that tech will be available. First, much better robots. A very small human team can't have that many skills. Worse, the humans can't live off the land the way settlers crossing oceans on Earth have done in centuries passed. Mars settlement requires ways to carry the skills. Robots seem the best way to bring a lot of skills. The robots should go first and build structures. The robots should be highly flexibl...
Source: FuturePundit - December 9, 2014 Category: Research Authors: Randall Parker Source Type: blogs
