MIT Technology Review August 14, 2018 According to the author of a recent book, Army of None: Autonomous Weapons and the Future of War, AI researchers must be a part of thes conversations, as their technical expertise is vital to shaping policy choices. We need to take into account AI bias, transparency, explainability, safety, and other concerns. AI technology has these twin features today—it’s powerful but also has many vulnerabilities, much like computers and cyber risks. Unfortunately, governments seem to have gotten the first part of that message (AI is powerful) but not the second (it comes with risks). AI […]
Category Archives: S&T Policy
Analysis Chronicles Changes in US Investment in R&D
R&D Magazine August 03, 2018 The distribution of U.S. investment in R&D across countries and industries has undergone a dramatic shift since the 1990s, with R&D becoming less concentrated geographically and growing rapidly in less developed markets such as China and India. A team of researchers in the US (Carnegie Mellon University, Georgetown University) documents three important issues: the growing globalization of R&D, the increasing importance of software and IT to firms’ innovation, and the rise of new R&D hubs and the differences in the types of activity done there. Based on their analysis, the researchers conclude that the United […]
DARPA has an ambitious $1.5 billion plan to reinvent electronics
MIT Technology Review July 30, 2018 To move beyond Moore’s Law the chances are that radically new materials, and new ways of integrating computing power and memory, will be needed. Shifting data between memory components that store it and processors that act on it sucks up energy and creates one of the biggest hurdles to boosting processing power. DARPA launched a $1.5 billion, five-year program known as the Electronics Resurgence Initiative (ERI) to support work on advances in chip technology. The agency has just unveiled the first set of research teams selected to explore unproven but potentially powerful approaches that […]
Key Researchers on the Pace and Peculiarities of Developing Quantum Computing—and the Possible End of Bitcoin
IEEE Spectrum July 27, 2018 Researchers from IBM, Microsoft and Google talked about the hopeful but unpredictable future of the technology, as well as the unique quirks of managing quantum computing projects. With basic science involved, it is hard to predict we will make this great invention next year. Companies are looking for people who are mathematicians, and physicists, and chemists, and engineers, but mostly people who have an open mind and who can solve problems… read more.
Mass effective adoption of the right technologies is the key to growth
Next Big Future July 27, 2018 China had far faster growth without innovation. China had less patents and fewer innovative services. All the high growth Asian countries copied technology from foreign countries and were successful in adopting the technology. Later after they are rich enough accusations of theft become internalized… read more.
Where do ideas come from?
Arxiv June 26, 2018 Ideas are nurtured by informal dialogues in environments where mistakes are tolerated, and critical thinking is encouraged. It is therefore crucial to create a space in which challenges are discussed openly and without fear, stimulating new solutions. An excellent historic example was Bell Labs which for decades in the mid-20th century, assembled creative physicists and engineers into a single corridor, where their daily conversations led to the inventions of radio astronomy, the transistor, photovoltaic cells, CCDs and many other breakthroughs. It is essential to include young people in the conversation, since they lack baggage and are […]
Institute launches the MIT Intelligence Quest
MIT News February 1, 2018 MIT has launched the MIT Intelligence Quest, an initiative to discover the foundations of human intelligence and drive the development of technological tools that can positively influence virtually every aspect of society. The Intelligence Quest will encourage researchers to investigate the societal implications of their work as they pursue hard problems lying beyond the current horizon of what is known. To power the Quest and achieve results that are consistent with its ambitions, the Institute will raise financial support through corporate sponsorship and philanthropic giving… read more.
Senate bill would direct DOD to create a quantum computing consortium
Fed Scoop June 8, 2018 The consortium would be a partnership of various defense, federal, industry and academic research entities selected by the chief of the Office of Naval Research in the eastern half of the nation and the director of the Army Research Laboratory in the western half. Those two would oversee the consortium with the assistant director for quantum information science at the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy and other experts. The board would award grants, facilitate partnerships and assist in quantum information science research within the group… read more.
Shake-up to US graduate education needed, panel warns
Physics World June 01, 2018 A report published on 29 May by the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine calls for increased emphasis on teaching and mentoring of students as well as recognition that increasing numbers of graduate students will find careers outside of academia. A panel of 17-strong held focus groups with students, faculty members, university administrators, industry leaders, and policymakers. The report lists characteristics of ideal graduate education and a list of core competencies that all Master’s degree and PhD students should develop. These include developing a broad technical literacy coupled with deep specialization in an area of […]
All Scientific Research Funded by NASA Is Available For Free
Science Alert May 26, 2018 It was a particularly special moment when NASA announced open access to PubSpace in 2016. The public can access NASA-funded research articles in it by searching for whatever they’re interested in, or by just browsing all the NASA-funded papers. Patents and material governed by personal privacy, proprietary, or security laws are exempt from having to be included in PubSpace… read more.