Category Archives: society

Here Space of Memory: Conserving, Presenting and Elaborating the Memory of the Holocaust

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blog by Paul Verschure [@Paul.Verschure]

Soon after liberation, camp survivors await their ration of potato soup. Bergen-Belsen, Germany, April 28, 1945. — US Holocaust Memorial Museum

Soon after liberation, camp survivors await their ration of potato soup. Bergen-Belsen, Germany, April 28, 1945.
— US Holocaust Memorial Museum

“Wir wissen nur dass wenn wir hier rauskommen, das wir alles dass wir hier erlebt haben in die Welt hinaus schreien müssen, anders kann man nicht leben”

“We only know that when we get out of here, we must shout out into the world about everything that we have experienced here. Otherwise one cannot live.”

These are the words of Charlotte Grunow recorded on April 20, 1945 by BBC reporter Patrick Gordon Walker.

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An ecology of robots built using principles of biomimetics

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More then ever scientists are using a nature-inspired approach to build biomimimetic robots. Developed after through investigation of biological systems, these robots are a wonder of engineering and artificial intelligence research.

RoboLobster

Robotic Lobster by Prof. Josef Ayers at Northeastern University. Photography Jan Witting

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The robot will see you now…

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Article by Michael Szollosy

Where have all the workers gone?

Where have all the workers gone?

The idea that robots will replace human labour hasbeen around since, technically, before there was even such a thing as robots. It is an intriguing history: We can trace our fears of being displaced by mechanised labour back to the earliest days of the Industrial Revolution, as automated looms, powered by the magic of steam engines, meant less employment for skilled workers. Continue reading →

The Human Brain project needs to take ‘corrective actions’

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Article by Michael Szollosy

brain_shutterstockIn a bit of breaking news, a report by a review panel looking into the Human Brain Project (HBP) has determined that ‘corrective actions’ need to be taken in restructuring the communications and operations of the project. The HBP was set up to make new contributions to neuroscience, develop new treatments for brain disease and, most directly of interest to robotics, develop new computer technologies modelled on these new discoveries. In 2013 the HBP received €1.2 billion in EU funding under the Future and Emerging Technologies Flagship initiative, and includes 112 organisations in 24 different countries with 183 principle investigators working towards a number of very laudable objectives.

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