Science & Technology
New Defense secretary: 'We need to be very concerned about Chinese technology getting into our systems'
“I’ve been studying China for quite some time now and I’m big on China as well,” Secretary of Defense Mark Esper told a group of reporters at the Pentagon when he was asked about the escalating conflict between Washington and Beijing. “And I think we need to be very concerned about Chinese technology getting into our systems or the systems of our allies. Huawei is the poster child right now for that,” Esper said...
NASA details Artemis moon missions, named after Apollo's twin sister
"Similar to the 1960s, we too have an opportunity to take a giant leap forward for all of humanity," NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine said. "President Trump and Vice President Pence have given us a bold direction to return to the Moon by 2024 and then go forward to Mars. Their direction is not empty rhetoric. They have backed up their vision with the budget requests needed to accomplish this objective. NASA is calling this the Artemis program in honor of Apollo's twin sister in Greek mythology, the goddess of the Moon. And we are well on our way to getting this done."
What Will Astronauts Do on the Moon When Humans Go Back?
The timeline is set, and aggressively: Land humans on the moon again by 2024, just five years from Vice President Mike Pence's announcement earlier this year. Those humans have a general destination as well: the moon's south pole, a region no human has explored before. And the grand goal is well-touted: Draw on commercial and international partnerships to establish a sustainable human presence on the moon, one that lasts for more than a handful of years as Apollo did.
Amazon has 'destroyed the retail industry' so US should look into its practices, Mnuchin says
“I think if you look at Amazon, although there are certain benefits to it, they’ve destroyed the retail industry across the United States so there’s no question they’ve limited competition.” “I think it’s very good that the attorney general is going to look into this. I think it’s an important issue and I look forward to him reporting back to the president and hearing his recommendations,” said Mnuchin.
New missile defense tech destroys incoming nukes faster
If a nuclear-armed enemy Intercontinental Ballistic Missile were speeding its way through space towards a heavily populated U.S. target, commanders in charge of defending the homeland would at most have a mere 20-to-30 minutes to destroy the incoming weapon. With lives dangling upon a precipice of total devastation, and the earth’s future potentially in jeopardy, U.S. defenders would be tasked with finding, tracking and destroying the attacking nuclear missile.
Good for Google, Bad for America
In a scathing New York Times editorial on Friday, Thiel attacked Google for establishing an AI lab in Beijing in 2017 while ending its AI contract “Project Maven” with the Pentagon, after Google employees complained about the use of their research for defense purposes. “Perhaps the most charitable word for these twin decisions would be to call them naive,” Thiel wrote in the New York Times.
Microsoft invests $1 billion in OpenAI, vows to build AI tech platform of 'unprecedented scale'
Microsoft will invest $1 billion in OpenAI and work with the San Francisco-based artificial intelligence powerhouse to create a computational platform of “unprecedented scale” to accelerate the development of advanced forms of AI.
Democratic presidential candidate Tulsi Gabbard explains why she is suing Google
Rep. Tulsi Gabbard accuses search giant Google of censoring her message when it briefly suspended her campaign advertising account following the first Democratic presidential debate.
Elon Musk wants to hook your brain directly up to computers - starting next year
US entrepreneur Elon Musk and his tech start-up Neuralink have unveiled a new brain monitoring device that could one day enable paraplegics to use their thoughts to operate computers and smartphones.
'We are being outspent. We are being outpaced': Is America ceding the future of AI to China?
Two years since announcing a national plan to become the world leader in artificial intelligence by 2030, China is making progress toward its goal on an unprecedented scale, raising the question of whether America’s laissez-faire approach to technology is enough and whether another Sputnik moment is around the corner, according to interviews for the latest episode of POLITICO’s Global Translations podcast.
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