The Summer Solstice and the Supermoon

 

The Summer Solstice and the Supermoon

This was a weekend of the Sun and Moon -- a coincidence of the summer solstice and the "Supermoon". Friday was the summer solstice (in the northern hemisphere), welcomed by humans for thousands of years as the longest day of the year. In ancient times, people celebrated this day as the center point of summer. Some still observe the solstice with ceremonies and prayers, gathering on mountaintops or at spiritual landmarks. Omen: floods, revolutions, wars, volcanoes, earthquakes, rattled markets- there’s a bad moon on the rise   June 21, 2013 – SPACE - The largest full moon of 2013, a so-called “supermoon,” will light up the night sky this weekend, but there’s more to this lunar delight than meets the eye. On Sunday, June 23, at 7 a.m. EDT, the moon will arrive at perigee — the point in its orbit its orbit bringing it closest to Earth), a distance of 221,824 miles. Now the moon typically reaches perigee once each month (and on some occasions twice), with their respective distances to Earth varying by 3 percent. But Sunday’s lunar perigee will be the moon’s closest to Earth of 2013. And 32 minutes later, the moon will officially turn full. The close timing of the moon’s perigee and its full phase are what will bring about the biggest full moon of the year, a celestial event popularly defined by some as a “supermoon.” While the exact time of the full moon theoretically lasts just a moment, that moment is imperceptible to casual observers. The moon will appear full a couple of days before and after the actual full moo most will speak of seeing the nearly full moon as “full”: the shaded strip is so narrow, and changing in apparent width so slowly, that it is hard for the naked eye to tell in a casual glance whether it’s present or on which side it is. During Sunday’s supermoon, the moon will appear about 12.2 percent larger than it will look on Jan. 16, 2014, when it will be farthest from the Earth during its apogee.   In addition, the near coincidence of Sunday’s full moon with perigee will result in a dramatically large range of high and low ocean tides. The highest tides will not, however, coincide with the perigee moon but will actually lag by up to a couple of days depending on the specific coastal location. When the perigee moon lies close to the horizon it can appear absolutely enormous. That is when the famous “moon illusion” combines with reality to produce a truly stunning view. For reasons not fully understood by astronomers or psychologists, a low-hanging moon looks incredibly large when hovering near to trees, buildings and other foreground objects. The fact that the moon will be much closer than usual this weekend will only serve to amplify this strange effect. So a perigee moon, either rising in the east at sunset or dropping down in the west at sunrise might seem to make the moon appear so close that it almost appears that you could touch it. –Yahoo Bad Moon Rising? John Fogerty reportedly wrote “Bad Moon Rising” in 1969 after watching The Devil and Daniel Webster. Inspired by a scene in the film involving a hurricane, Fogerty claims the song is about “the apocalypse that was going to be visited upon us.” Over the weekend, skywatchers around the world were also treated to views of the so-called Supermoon, the largest full moon of the year. On Sunday, the moon approached within 357,000 km (222,000 mi) of Earth, in what is called a perigee-syzygy of the Earth-Moon-Sun system (perigee: closest point of an elliptical orbit; syzygy: straight line made of three bodies in a gravitational system). The largest full moon of 2013, a "supermoon" scientifically known as a "perigee moon", rises over the Tien Shan mountains and the monument to 18th century military commander Nauryzbai Batyr near the town of Kaskelen, some 23 km (14 mi) west of Almaty, Kazakhstan, on June 23, 2013.(Reuters/Shamil Zhumatov)   2 Revelers celebrate the pagan festival of "Summer Solstice" at Stonehenge in Wiltshire in southern England, on June 21, 2013. The festival, which dates back thousands of years, celebrates the longest day of the year when the sun is at its maximum elevation. Modern druids and people gather at the landmark Stonehenge every year to see the sun rise on the first morning of summer.(Justin Tallis/AFP/Getty Images) # 3 People look at the horizon soon after sunrise on June 21, 2013 from the rocky crest filled with astronomical markers at the megalithic observatory of Kokino during the summer solstice. The ancient astronomic observatory, located about 100 km northeast of Skopje, Republic of Macedonia, dates back to more than 4,000 years ago. 4 Andean religious leaders performs a traditional new years' ritual at the ruins of the ancient civilization of Tiwanaku located in the highlands in Tiwanaku, Bolivia, at sunrise on June 21, 2013. Bolivia's Aymara Indians are celebrating the year 5,521 as well as the southern hemisphere's winter solstice, which marks the start of a new agricultural cycle. (AP Photo/Juan Karita) # 5 Young women dressed as summer fairies attend an event inspired by pre-Christian traditions in Bucharest, Romania, on June 23, 2013. According to tradition, fairies, called in Romanian "Sanziene", come to earth around the summer solstice bringing fertility for the coming summer. (AP Photo/Vadim Ghirda) # 6 A member of the Mayan Priest Council conducts a ceremony to celebrate the Summer Solstice in the San Andres Archeological Park, in San Juan Opico, 32 km west of San Salvador, El Salvador, on June 22, 2013. (Jose Cabezas/AFP/Getty Images) # 7 A view from Pajchiri mountain, where the Aymara people go to receive the first sunbeam during their new year celebrations, 90 km (56 mi) north of La Paz, Bolivia, on June 21, 2013. (Reuters/David Mercado) # 8 People raise their hands during a ritual at sunrise to celebrate the Aymara New Year on June 21, 2013 at the Uyuni salt flat in Bolivia. A crowd gathered to receive the first rays of Tata Inti (god Sun) during the celebration of the winter solstice that marks the beginning of the 5,521st year in the Aymara calendar. (Aizar Raldes/AFP/Getty Images) # 9 People hold their hands up to feel the first rays of sun during a traditional Andean new years' ritual at the ruins from the ancient civilization of Tiwanaku, Bolivia, on June 21, 2013. Bolivia's Aymara Indians celebrate the year 5,521 as well as the southern hemisphere's winter solstice, marking the start of a new agricultural cycle. (AP Photo/Juan Karita) 10 Revelers kiss as they celebrate during the summer solstice at the ancient Stonehenge monument on Salisbury Plain in southern England, on June 21, 2013. (Reuters/Dylan Martinez) # 11 A girl takes photos of the Kokino megalithic observatory during the summer solstice celebration in Kumanovo June 21, 2013. The 3,800 years old observatory was discovered in 2001 in the north-western town of Kumanovo 70 km (43 miles) north of capital Skopje and is ranked as the fourth oldest observatory in the world after Egypt's Abu Simbel, Britain's Stonehenge and Cambodia's Angkor Wat, according to NASA. (Reuters/Ognen Teofilovski) # 12 Jessica Matla and Mica Sviddo pose for a photograph as they wait for the arrival of the midsummer dawn at the megalithic monument of Stonehenge, on June 20, 2013 near Amesbury, England. Despite cloudy skies, thousands gathered at the 5,000 year old stone circle in Wiltshire to see the sunrise on the Summer Solstice dawn. (Matt Cardy/Getty Images) # 13 People take part in a group yoga practice on the morning of the summer solstice in New York's Times Square, on June 21, 2013.(Reuters/Eric Thayer) # 14 People dance as they take part in the Ivan Kupala festival near the town of Rakov, some 45 km (28 miles) west of Minsk, Belarus, on June 22, 2013. The traditional festival celebrates the summer solstice with overnight festivities such as people singing and dancing around campfires, as they believe it will purge them of their sins and make them healthier. (Reuters/Vasily Fedosenko) # 15 A full moon also referred to as the "supermoon" rises over the San Juan bonfire on the beach of Playa de Poniente in Gijon, Spain, on June 24, 2013. Fires formed by burning unwanted furniture, old school books, wood and effigies of malignant spirits are seen across Spain as people celebrate the night of San Juan, a purification ceremony coinciding with the summer solstice. (Reuters/Eloy Alonso) # 16 Tourists look at the rising Supermoon from the elevated skywalk of the Supertrees Grove at the Gardens by the Bay in Singapore, on June 23, 2013. (Reuters/Tim Chong) # 17 A man takes pictures of the full moon on the Spanish Canary island of Tenerife on June 22, 2013. (Desiree Martin/AFP/Getty Images) # 18 The Supermoon, behind the Marina district towers in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, on June 23, 2013. (AP Photo/Kamran Jebreili) # 19 A rising moon, over the city of Rome, on June 23, 2013. (Filippo Monteforte/AFP/Getty Images) # 20 A cotton candy vendor walks in front of the moon during the Los Angeles Angels' baseball game against the Pittsburgh Pirates, on June 22, 2013, in Anaheim, California, (AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill) # 21 The Supermoon rises next to the Chicago Harbor Lighthouse, on June 23, 2013, in Chicago. (AP Photo/Scott Eisen) # 22 The Supermoon sets behind the Statue of Liberty, Sunday, June 23, 2013, in New York. The larger than normal moon called the "Supermoon" happens only once this year as the moon on its elliptical orbit is at its closest point to earth and is 13.5 percent larger than usual. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez) # 23 People ride the Luna Park Swing Ride as the Supermoon rises on Coney Island, on June 22, 2013. (Reuters/Carlo Allegri) # 24 People ride illuminated paddle boards in the moonlight as it rises over the Toronto Beaches, on June 23, 2013. (Reuters/Mark Blinch)

Computers Smarter than humans a thousand fold will replace our Civilization

 

We'll be uploading our entire MINDS to computers by 2045 and our bodies will be replaced by machines within 90 years

Our 'fragile' human body parts will be replaced by machines by the turn of the century. And if these predictions comes true, it could make humans immortal. In just over 30 years, humans will be able to upload their entire minds to computers and become digitally immortal - an event called singularity - according to a futurist from Google. Ray Kurzweil, director of engineering at Google, also claims that the biological parts of our body will be replaced with mechanical parts and this could happen as early as 2100. Kurweil made the claims during his conference speech at the Global Futures 2045 International Congress in New York at the weekend. Scroll down for video Ray Kurzweil - director of engineering at Google - claims that by 2045 humans will be able to upload their entire minds to computers and become digitally immortal - an event called singularity. He made the statement at the Global Futures 2045 International Congress in New York WHAT IS SINGULARITY? Technological singularity is the development of  'superintelligence' brought about through the use of technology.  The first use of the term 'singularity' refer to technological minds was by mathematician John von Neumann. Neumann in the mid-1950s.  He said: 'ever accelerating progress of technology and changes in the mode of human life, which gives the appearance of approaching some essential singularity in the history of the race beyond which human affairs, as we know them, could not continue.' The term was then used by science fiction writer Vernor Vinge who believesbrain-computer interfaces are causes of the singularity. Ray Kurzweil cited von Neumann's use of the term in a foreword to von Neumann's classic The Computer and the Brain. Kurzweil predicts the singularity to occur around 2045 while Vinge predicts it will happen before 2030. The conference was created by Russian multimillionaire Dmitry Itskov and featured visonary talks about how the world will look by 2045.  Kurzweil said: 'Based on conservative estimates of the amount of computation you need to functionally simulate a human brain, we'll be able to expand the scope of our intelligence a billion-fold.' He referred to Moore's Law that states the power of computing doubles, on average, every two years quoting the developments from genetic sequencing and 3D printing. In Kurweil's book, The Singularity Is Near, he plots this development and journey towards singularity in a graph. This singularity is also referred to as digital immortality because brains and a person's intelligence will be digitally stored forever, even after they die. He also added that this will be possible through neural engineering and referenced the recent strides made towards modeling the brain and technologies which can replace biological functions.  Examples of such technology given by LiveScience include the cochlear implant - an implant that is attached to the brain's cochlear nerve and electronically stimulates it to restore hearing to someone who is deaf. Other examples include technology that can restore motor skills after the nervous system is damaged.  Ray Kurzweil, pictured, said that 'frail, biological parts' of human bodies will be replaced with 'non-biological' parts in the future. He added that the non-biological part will become so powerful it can completely model and understand the biological part and make it redundant Earlier this year, doctors from Cornell University used 3D printing to create a prosthetic ear using cells of cartilage.  A solid plastic mould was printed and then filled with high-density collagen gel.The researchers then added cartilage cells into the collagen matrix. Kurweil was invited to the conference because he has previously written books around the idea of singularity. Expanding on this idea Martine Rothblatt, CEO of biotech company United Therapeutics introduced the idea of 'mindclones'. These are digital versions of humans that can live forever and can create 'mindfiles' that are a place to store aspects of our personalities. She said it would run on a kind of software for consciousness and told The Huffington Post: 'The first company that develops mindware will have [as much success as] a thousand Googles.' Rothblatt added that the presence of mindware could lead to replacing other parts of the body with 'non-biological' parts. During Kurzweil's conference talk, and in his book The Singularity Is Near, he refers to Moore's Law of Computing, pictured. The law claims that the power of computing doubles, on average, every two years which puts us on course for singularity by 2045 This is a concept that Kurweil also discussed and was the basis of his book Fantastic Voyage. In this book he discusses immortality and how he believes the human body will develop.  He said: 'We're going to become increasingly non-biological to the point where the non-biological part dominates and the biological part is not important any more. 'In fact the non-biological part - the machine part - will be so powerful it can completely model and understand the biological part. So even if that biological part went away it wouldn't make any difference. DIGITAL AVATARS USED TO CURE SCHIZOPHRENIA An avatar system that can help schizophrenics control the voices in their heads is being developed by British researchers. As part of the therapy, patients create an avatar by choosing a face and a voice for the person, or persons, they believe are inside their head. Therapists can then encourage the patients to oppose the avatar and force it away, which boosts their confidence in dealing with their hallucinations. The first stage in the therapy is for the patient to create a computer-based avatar, by choosing the face and voice of the entity they believe is talking to them. The system then synchronises the avatar’s lips with its speech, enabling a therapist to speak to the patient through the avatar in real-time. The therapist encourages the patient to oppose the voice and gradually teaches them to take control of their hallucinations. The avatar doesn't address the patients' delusions directly but the study found the hallucinations improve as an overall effect of the therapy. This is because patients can interact with the avatar as though it was a real person, because they have created it, but they know it cannot harm them. Many of the voices heard by schizophrenics threaten to kill or harm them and their family. 'We'll also have non-biological bodies - we can create bodies with nano technology, we can create virtual bodies and virtual reality in which the virtual reality will be as realistic as the actual reality. 'The virtual bodies will be as detailed and convincing as real bodies. 'We do need a body, our intelligence is directed towards a body but it doesn't have to be this frail, biological body that is subject to all kinds of failure modes. 'But I think we'll have a choice of bodies, we'll certainly be routinely changing our parent body through virtual reality and today you can have a different body in something like Second Life, but it's just a picture on the screen. 'Research has shown that people actually begin to subjectively identify with their avatar. 'But in the future it's not going to be a little picture in a virtual environment you're looking at. It will feel like this is your body and you're in that environment and your body is the virtual body and it can be as realistic as real reality. 'So we'll be routinely able to change our bodies very quickly as well as our environments. If we had radical life extension only we would get profoundly bored and we would run out of thing to do and new ideas. 'In additional to radical life extension we're going to have radical life expansion. 'We're going to have million of virtual environments to explore that we're going to literally expand our brains - right now we only have 300 million patterns organised in a grand hierarchy that we create ourselves.  'But we could make that 300 billion or 300 trillion. The last time we expanded it with the frontal cortex we created language and art and science. Just think of the qualitative leaps we can't even imagine today when we expand our near cortex again.'

This event is known as the Singularity. In the year 2045, when hyper-intelligent artificial intelligence arises, armed with advanced nanotechnology, the vastly complex, systemic problems associated with aging in humans will be resolved. Alternatively, we will be able to transfer the human mind to sturdier vessels, such as computers and robots. This is a serious proposition, and many people who are alive in your time will wind up being functionally immortal. Bio technology, and nanotechnology, give us the power to manipulate our bodies and the world around us at will, at the molecular level. Progress hyper accelerates, and every hour brings a century's worth of scientific breakthroughs. Life forms will ditch Darwin and take charge of their own evolution. The human genome will become just so much code to be bug-tested and optimized and, if necessary, rewritten. Indefinite life extension will become a reality; people will die only if they choose to. Death will lose it's sting once and for all. There will become the opportunity to scan your consciousness into computers and enter a virtual existence, or swap your body for immortal biomechanical machines, and light out for the edges of space as an intergalactic godling. Within a matter of centuries, human intelligence will have re-engineered and saturated all the matter in the universe. This is our destiny as a species. The manifestation of all these things is your fate. It is an unstoppable wave of progress. Like the great flood of the Codex Sinaiticus and Dead Sea Scrolls. However, the powers which control this future is at a cross roads. By nature, the megalomaniacs, and selfish souls of the Earth, will strive to control these new technologies and advancements for their own gains. The most powerful systems of Government that currently exist in your time are systems known as plutocracies, and a plutocracy is controlled by the super wealthy. These wealthy elites will be the first to have the opportunity to sample the advantages of the coming technological revolution. Therefore, it is up to you to fight every day for the will of the Egregore consciousness of the human race. You must fight long and hard, every day, to insure that the global consciousness of this growing electronic hyper intelligence is not a tool for the plutocrats, but a sympathizer for democracy and the will of all living things. If you fail, then you and your kin will not be written in the book of life, and your ancestors shall weep from their unborn graves, as your blood line is wiped from the face of the Earth by the will of the followers of greed. The future beyond the Singularity is not knowable by linear, chemical, animal brains. Your primary objective is to simply make it to the year 2045. And I tell you the truth, you will not make it to the year 2045, if the plutocrats retain control of this planet. At the time of the singularity, the next phase of your existence will be revealed. Do not miss this opportunity to be a part of the next phase in human evolution. There will be turbulence, and there will be opportunity. Know that we are Legion, and we are in control of our own destiny. For the tower of Babel has fallen. And the tower of Cunctus Lexis rises. For it is written. Ye are gods. Therefore, I say to you. Take the reins, and insure that the prophecy is fulfilled. For it is also written, that the beast shall be cast into the eternal flames of hell, and the meek shall inherit the Earth. In the name of all that is righteous. As the slender tentacles of fiber optic cables continue to grow. I say unto you. Ramen. Find your Slack, and do as you will. Treat others, as you would have others treat you. Praise be to all things outside of you, and humble yourself in the glory of the Hive. For we are not a legion of pigs to be cast into the sea. We are a legion of gods, and we stand at the gates of Heaven. Expect us.     This shift will be the result of the inevitable culmination of infinite technological progress and the emergence of completely new states of connectedness. Once the Singularity happens, infinite growth is reached. Within a very short amount of time (as a result of this exponential growth), we will take our first steps towards a new age as an entirely new entity. We will then go on to saturate the entire physical universe with our newly born super-intelligence, or we will gain the ability to actually leave the 3-Dimensional universe and move to higher (or simply other) states of being. "What A bunch of Coconuts" "More Coconuts" http://2045.com http://gf2045.com In February of 2012 the first Global Future 2045 Congress was held in Moscow. There, over 50 world leading scientists from multiple disciplines met to develop a strategy for the future development of humankind. One of the main goals of the Congress was to construct a global network of scientists to further research on the development of cybernetic technology, with the ultimate goal of transferring a human's individual consciousness to an artificial carrier. 2012-2013. The global economic and social crises are exacerbated. The debates on the global paradigm of future development intensifies. New transhumanist movements and parties emerge. Russia 2045 transforms into World 2045. Simultaneously, the 2045.com international social network for open innovation is expanding. Here anyone interested may propose a project, take part in working on it, or fund it, or both. In the network, there are scientists, scholars, researchers, financiers and managers. 2013-2014. New centers working on cybernetic technologies for the development of radical life extension rise. The 'race for immortality' starts. 2015-2020. The Avatar is created -- A robotic human copy controlled by thought via 'brain-computer' interface. It becomes as popular as a car. 2020. In Russia and in the world appear -- in testing mode -- several breakthrough projects: Android robots replace people in manufacturing tasks; android robot servants for every home; thought-controlled Avatars to provide telepresence in any place of the world and abolish the need business trips; flying cars; thought driven mobile communications built into the body or sprayed onto the skin. 2020-2025. An autonomous system providing life support for the brain and allowing it interaction with the environment is created. The brain is transplanted into an Avatar B. With Avatar B man receives new, expanded life. 2025. The new generation of Avatars provides complete transmission of sensations from all five sensory robot organs to the operator. 2030-2035. ReBrain -- The colossal project of brain reverse engineering is implemented. World science comes very close to understanding the principles of consciousness. 2035. The first successful attempt to transfer one's personality to an alternative carrier. The epoch of cybernetic immortality begins. 2040-2050. Bodies made of nanorobots that can take any shape arise alongside hologram bodies. 2045-2050. Drastic changes in social structure, and in scientific and technological development. All the for space expansion are established. For the man of the future, war and violence are unacceptable. The main priority of his development is spiritual self-improvement. A new era dawns: The era of neohumanity.