3D Printing hope for a better life or a disaster?

We are seeing an explosion of development of the three-dimensional printing. Three-dimensional printing has existed for 30 years, the market leaders are: 

SHAPEWAYS,

http://www.shapeways.com/blog/archives/2404-10-Extrordinary-Things-You-Wont-Believe-Are-3D-Printed.html 

Stratasys

http://www.stratasys.com/

New technology takes off in a three-dimensional printing: 

Printing organs for transplants http://www.organovo.com/ 

Printing clothes, food. 

Printing houses. 

Printing electronics.

I remember when people from 70-80ties were dreaming of traveling at speeds faster than sound. That time there were CONCORDE supersonic aircraft which was flying from London to New York in 2 and a half hours.

Trials were conducted suborbital flights 2 hours flight from London to Sydney, Australia. There were plans to build a permanent base on the moon. Planned flight to Mars. How do these dreams ended we all know.

Flight from London to Sydney, Australia continues today 36H stunning journey of change in Hong Kong. Is the situation of 70-80ties going to reapet? Will the dream of 3D printing come true? 

 Are we going to print at home - clothes, food, electronics and other everyday  usage stuff?

Currently operating three-dimensional printers start at $ 40 000. Cheap 3D printers do not work very well. The printer’s owner needs to handle a lot of knowledge in the creation of three-dimensional objects and hundreds of hours of optimisation.

REP-RAP Printers rig cost after $ 2,000. Truth is however you will not able to use them in effective way.

The leader of the cheap printer is https://www.makerbot.com/. 

This printing technology to print FDM liquid plastic. 

Printing material is PLA “Polylactic Acid, is a biodegradable plastic” and ABS “acrylonitrile butadiene styrene LEGO"

Commercial Printing 3D is just beginning as before personal computers.

At the moment you can see lot of advantages: 

Production of personalized goods tailored to your personal tastes. 

Furniture, clothing, electronics houses, etc. 

No waste in production. 

Instant production, lack of transport of the produced things. 

Energy efficient, fully automated process.

There are however disadvantages and risks:

The most serious drawback is the possibility of producing a complete printer by another the same printer. Amplification is a feature of the living structure and it is not a virtual computer virus but reality.

No need for a factory to produce anything. 

Unnecessary transportation.

Printing organs from their own stem cells eliminates all sectors of the pharmaceutical companies. 

Printing any chemical and biological agents. Threat of biological and chemical terrorism.

The biggest threat is the lack of motivation to make money, everything practically could be available almost immediately.

Do you think that 3D printing will be available in every home in the future?

Do you think that the three-dimensional printing is a threat or an opportunity for modern civilization?

Week 7: Best presentation

Dear Students,
As the course is about to finish, please vote for the best presentation made this term. Justify your choice.

Week 7: Animal antics

Animal antics

I wonder whether many of you have witnessed funny behaviour of the animals?  Personally, pets make me lough the most. Honestly, it shouldn’t surprise you; home full of gadgets is not their natural environment. Even the simplest item such as the mirror can make them feel confused or even lead to their frustration.  I’m quite sure you’ve seen plenty of videos of cats attacking the mirror and yet it makes you lough to tears every time you see it, right? From our point of view this situation seems pretty comic; however I also try to put myself in the place of poor animal which feel rather uncomfortable fighting with its own reflection.

http://i.obrazky.pl/mina-psa-582-OBRAZKY.PL.jpg 

There is nothing funnier than sleep-walking pet, which runs or barks. I’ve witnessed dozen of unusual animal cases myself. Each time, however I didn’t have my phone on me to record the moment unfortunately. To make things worst, it wasn’t just the casual case of cat hunting the laser light or dog following his own tail; it was something much more special!  Well, one thing is sure there is nothing better than doggy delirious with joy upon your return home after busy day.

From time to time we make lough out of our pets and this works quite well I have to say.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C8xiy1JZbNk

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wrRXk9yeeBk

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z_KbjKc2pcw

It is not my own video; however I can admit that I did something similar to my girlfriend’s cat.

I’ve also come across some negative opinions about pets! I know it’s hard to believe but some says that they destroy furniture, continuously moult or even make noise at night waking us up.

I wonder what your opinion on this subject is. Do you have any pets, if not do you consider buying/adopting one?  What are your thoughts and feelings about domestic animals?

Do you have any interesting stories, funny videos or unusual pictures you have taken of found on internet? Please share them with us by posting them here; I’m more then sure that many of us can’t wait to see more of animal antics! 

Week 7: A Dose Of Adrenaline

A Dose Of Adrenaline

So far, you know a few facts about me, but you don’t know one crucial aspect of my life -

I am a motorcyclist. Now it’s time to share with you my story about it.

To tell the truth, my adventure with motorbikes started relatively late. No sooner than when I turned 18, I began to simply consider getting a drivers license for bikes. Actually, I’ve never had nothing to do with motorcycles even as a passenger. The first time I’ve ever had an actual contact with a motorbike was during the course, and, I must admit, I was amazed. Until I finished the entire course, I had my first own motorcycle standing in the garage. Well, maybe it wasn’t as “fast and furious” as I would have liked it to be, but it was 100% mine. 

[Kawasaki ZZR250]

When one looks at its parameters, especially someone who knows absolutely nothing about motorbikes, it may appear “slow”. However, there is nothing more misleading; there are not many cars which could compete on the road. Unfortunately, I got used to its perforamance with the time and I’ve started lacking the feeling of excitement it gave me at the very beginning.

So, there was a time for a change. I decided to buy a new motorcycle.

[Kawasaki ZX6R]

I bought it, I sat on it, I started it and soon the feeling of excitement or rather – adrenaline – was back. It’s difficult to explain the thrill one gets when speeding up to 100km/h in 3.3sec and up to 200km/h in 8s. These numbers, at least for me, speak for themselves. One may get fast, but one may get even faster.

Nevertheless, the first drive, which was one-hour-long, ended up with me being sick. The fact of too high speed always results in such a way.

Now, I will show you a movie (not recorded by me). Please, don’t get me wrong; I am not any kind of a road hog.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R5765SN4PgE

Obviously, I am against such maneuvers on the roads, nevertheless it really entertains me to watch them on the special motorbike-shows or on the web.

What do you think about such maneuvers? Have you ever seen it live? Or maybe you even recorded something of the kind?

What are your experiences with motorcycles?

 

Week 7: Quitting the job

This week I have a special anniversary - I have been working in my current job for exactly 2 years. In the meantime I’m searching for a new one. Why did it happen? What leads us to changing our jobs?
Some of us just know when the right time comes. They move to another job just when they start to feel that their current job does not align with their long-term goals.
Others need someone else to point them that they are unhappy. That’s the signal to start thinking about changes.

Signs saying that it’s time to leave the job

Here are some signs that can help you realize that you are probably unhappy and should consider changing some things. When there occurs more than one sign at the same time - maybe it’s time to search for a new job?

To quote Forbes article about this topic "14 Signs It's Time To Leave Your Job":

• You lack passion. 
• You’re miserable every morning. 
• Your company is sinking. 
• You really dislike the people you work with and/or your boss. 
• You’re consistently stressed, negative, and/or unhappy at work. 
• Your work-related stress is affecting your physical health. 
• You don’t fit in with the corporate culture and/or you don’t believe in the company anymore. 
• Your work performance is suffering. 
• You no longer have good work-life balance. 
• Your skills are not being tapped. 
• Your job duties have changed/increased, but the pay hasn’t. 
• Your ideas are not being heard. 
• You’re bored and stagnating at your job. 
• You are experiencing verbal abuse, sexual harassment, or are aware of any type of other illegal behavior.

I have the symptoms! What now?

When you decide that this is a moment to change a job don’t be hasty and keep your emotions away. First of all plan the details — do you want to change your working field, what do you want to do in your next job, will you swap the jobs or are you willing to have some vacations?

After that, focus on a work to-do list — who and when to inform, how much time do you have to continue working in your current job.

Remember that it’s always better to leave the job with at least a few offers found. You should keep in mind the consequences of quitting before you have a new job lined up, no matter how much you dislike where you’re working.

My experience

As for me, the first symptom in the current job was lack of passion. Partly because of the routine, partly because I get bored (another symptom). Without passion I started to be miserable, not only in the morning, but also after the job. This unfortunately affected my personal life. At this point I realized that I have to change the work part of my life and that it is impossible to improve it in the current job. Exactly a week after this thought appeared I had a job interview.

Discussion

Are you ready to leave your job, or maybe you are looking for ways to improve your current situation?
Do you search for a new job while still working in the old one, or do you first leave?

Week 7: Corset - a struggle for beauty!

Is it worth it ?

Corsets shape the body, shape the figure . Women from the moment of liberation, have worn them. Many people reach for it to eliminate the imperfections of their own body .

http://ryeandgingerkits.com/yahoo_site_admin/assets/images/corset_back_bw_cafe_press_landscape.204105213.jpg

I will try to show you the pros and cons of wearing corsets.
1 Only a well- tailored corset is able to provide comfort. Low-quality corsets often wrinkled hurti and interferi with daily activities (That will be bad for our health).
2 whalebone ( stiffening parts ) . That is part of the biggest torture. Currently there is a trend to buy  steel underwire that hurts the body and is only for people already wearing a corset. In my opinion, it is better to invest in a softer one, which does not restrict too much movement. Of course there should be rules - the corset has to fit the body, not the other way round.
3 where is the boundary between the attractiveness and the disease ? Is the creation of an artificial waist is healthy? For me, a corset should model the body, not torture it.

In the world live women who tryi to break the record in the size of the waist. Two of them very intensively publish their achievements on the internet. This is Cathie Jung and Michele Koebke. Both of them wear a corset everyday restricting their movements, damaging their health just for the good looks. Is it worth it? For both it is hard work and sacrifice. Both decided to change their  lifestyle. Michele and Cathie decided to adapt to the new body and accept its new requirements. Both Michele and Cathie have problems with their health, both of them have strongly deformed bodies. These women say that in this state they look more attractive.

Corsets add femininity. They add a sense of self-respect. They emphasize the silhouette and reduce waist. Often I just wonder whether it is worthwhile to interfere our own body at any price? Is it worth going back?
To sum . In the 18^th and 19^th centuries no one was interested in negative effects of wearing corsets. Now, in spite of medical knowledge and choice of comfortable clothes you can find people who choose this type of corsets deforming their body

What do you think about that ?
Do you think that reducing the waistline is attractive?

What do people do to improve their appearance and boost self-esteem?

Week 7: Artificial Intelligence: danger or opportunity

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is one of the most popular areas of research activities in computer science nowadays. Opposite to other computer science areas it has aroused interest of people outside of computer industry, even before computer science came into being.
Generally, AI is associated with walking, talking, working and even loving or evil robots similar to humans. That’s why people ascribes AI many threats. The great fear is that intelligent robots or systems will control the human society. It could be noticed in one of the last Stephen Hawking’s [1] interviews for the Independent magazine:
video and article.
Above all, I want to emphasize that AI is already a part of our daily life. Sophisticated AI
algorithms are used almost everywhere:
• Google uses AI for contextual search
• Medicine diagnostics uses AI tool for diagnosing, medical image description (USG,
tomography, RTG etc.)
• Surveillance systems use it for simple observations like alarming in case of braking  into critical area (e.g. corridor), but also for more sophisticated issues like human recognition using video stream, object tracking, events and action recognition (like walking, talking, meeting etc.)
• Self-driving cars
• Computers winning in Jeopardy and chess
• And many others.

AI and technology in general, creates new opportunities in near or far future in above areas and in new ones like:
• Space exploration
• Deep mining
• And others.

So, the big question is: “Is AI danger for human race or creates new opportunities?”.
If we are thinking about AI danger we generally think, that in the future we will create an intelligent robot, which will enslave us. These are projections of our fears following history. Many flesh and blood people tried to do this. But they couldn’t reach for it in the long run; always there was a part of the world, where they could reach a goal (e.g. Hitler, Stalin, Alexander the Great, etc.). So we fear, that a creature appears (e.g. AI robot, or computer system [2]) that will have outstripping intelligence,it will reach the goal – robots don’t die.
Personally I think that it is a great subject for a book, a movie or a computer game, but I don’t think that it is a real danger, because we have no evidence that growing intelligence means growing “humanity”. We could observe that relation in nature, but it concerns biological beings. We don’t know if this rule will work in “the silicon” world. In other words, the question is if (a) a human soul grows from our biological structure or (b) a human soul and body are two parts of humanity; separate but influencing each other. I believe that the (b) option is real. It means that human feelings, desires are not results of sophisticated “computation unit” in our heads, but they are growing from ours souls and are just injected to our body (not only brain but also other parts). So I believe that even very, very intelligent robot or system wouldn’t have feelings, desires and ambitions. And these properties of the human soul are necessary to enslave humanity.
I have to admit that I agree with professor Hawking that in our world there is a need for discussion about the future of AI. However, I think AI doesn’t determine a problem itself but is a part of a wider problem: technology influence on the human society. We need to discuss several issues in the area of technology usage:

1. How strongly we can trust technology (e.g. should we entrust driving a car or to fly a plain at all, or there should be a man evaluating work of such a system). Technology also could make errors, as is shown in the movie:

2. Where are the borders between technology assistance and technology influence on human life? E.G.: should we construct an artificial nanny that will decide how to bring up and educate our children or just will be the substitution for parents completely? It is great temptation to construct tools that decide instead of ours.
3. How to create laws concerning technical capabilities?
4. Does machine (or system) could be an executioner of law? Does machine (or system) could be used for creating a laws? Should we be even thinking about constructing such machines?
5. Could a human be subordinated to a machine / system? Maybe such a situation appears right now? The system in corporations and government units has a greater influence on human behavior. Is it a good direction for the human race?

Just try to answer these questions, I’m interested in your opinions. I’ve just mildly touched upon this interesting subject but I count on interesting discussion.

Bibliography:
http://bcove.me/alr0d1u4
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/science/stephen-hawking-transcendence-looks-at-the-
implications-of-artificial-intelligence--but-are-we-taking-ai-seriously-enough-9313474.html -
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xJqhNKxWVVo.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stephen_Hawking

Notes:
[1] Stephen Hawking is one of most famous contemporary theoretical physicians and cosmologists working at the University of Cambridge. He has a motor neuron disease which has taken almost all motion ability within talking away from him. He uses a sophisticated equipment allowing motion and talking using a synthesizer.

[2] The same type of thinking based on the extra – territorial beings, called UFO.