Futura: Grace Under Pressure/ 3D Printing Organs/ U.S. Policymakers key for Quantum Science/ Your Kids Are Not Doomed/ AI Ethics in Danger

Futura: Grace Under Pressure. One of the accomplishments I am most proud of, in my professional life, is having given birth to a new typeface. Of course, I was not the one who crafted the typeface,?Jean Francois Porchez?was the talented typographer who did it, but working with him to steer the birth of the “BCG Henderson” typeface family was definitely one of the highlights of my work at BCG. The new typeface (literally) represented the signature of the 50thcelebrations for BCG in 2013.

While very often considered something for “design geeks”, the importance of typography is, in my view, very underestimated by many. Yes, its power is very subtle, and is almost “indirect”, but if used properly, typography can convey way more than only letters…

Of the many classical typefaces, Futura has always been one of my favorites, but I was not aware of the story behind it till this week when I stumbled upon a?brilliant article by Neel Dozome about it and its creator (Paul Renner). I was surprised to learn about its genesis, the important cultural role it played in Germany, during the Nazi regime, after the war (the NASA plate for the moon landing used Futura), and its “resurrection” after the 70s’.??

The article is longish but worth the read. Here is Neel’s conclusion, with which I wholeheartedly agree:?“As I slip my feet into a pair of Nikes or classic Adidas kicks marked with Futura, I am now always reminded about what Renner endured for his idealism, talent and rationality. Futura declares that anyone who works hard, who focuses on “sachlich”, can make good art — not just those with the appropriate ancestry. It stiffens my spine and makes me walk a few inches taller.

Not all heroes wear capes. One created Futura.?His name was Paul Renner.“

When We'll Be Able to 3D-Print Organs and Who Will Be Able to Afford Them

Each day, ?17 people in the US die?waiting for an organ transplant.?Jennifer Lewis, Wyss Professor at Harvard, says 3D organ bioprinting?innovation driven by “real human need” could revolutionize human organ transplantation in a decade.

Organ bioprinting usually begins with the patient’s own cells. According to ?Anthony Atala, Director at ?WFIRM, a minimally invasive procedure removes a piece of tissue “less than half the size of a postage stamp. By taking this tissue, we are able to tease cells apart (and) we grow and expand the cells outside the body.”

According to ?Martine Rothblatt, CEO at United Therapeutics: “There is no practical reason why anybody who needs a kidney - or a lung, a heart, a liver - should not be able to get one," she added. "We're using technology to solve this problem.”

News items:

Gel That Repairs Heart Attack Damage Could Improve Health of Millions

A biodegradable hydrogel ?developed at the University of Manchester?can “repair damage caused by a heart attack in a breakthrough that could improve the health of millions of survivors worldwide.” According to lead researcher Katharine King, PhD student at UOM: “While it’s still early days, the potential this new technology has in helping to repair failing hearts… is huge. We’re confident that this gel will be an effective option for future cell-based therapies to help the damaged heart to regenerate.”

How U.S. Policymakers Can Enable Breakthroughs in Quantum Science

Quantum information science and technology (QIST), stands at the cusp of a series of breakthroughs that could finally bring quantum technology—and the great benefits it will likely bring with it—into the mainstream.

Brookings' deep dive into quantum’s current state goes far beyond computing, exploring “quantum-enhanced sensing and communications… technologies of equal importance for delivering on the promise of quantum breakthroughs.” Quantum sensors could be a gamechanger for autonomous vehicles. Quantum communications systems are a necessity for interconnecting separate quantum computers “across interstate or even intercontinental spans.”

For the U.S. to be competitive in QIST, government funding and support - such as the ?National Quantum Initiative?- is a must. According to the authors: “The potential for further breakthroughs and their ensuing benefits is enormous, yet major challenges remain. American policymakers should do all they can to help realize that promise.”

News items:

New CRISPR-based Map Ties Every Human Gene to Its Function

“The first comprehensive functional map of genes that are expressed in human cells” was ?recently published?- and the data is open source. According to co-senior author ?Thomas Norman, Director of ?The Thomas Norman Lab?at Sloan Kettering: “I think this dataset is going to enable all sorts of analyses that we haven't even thought up yet by people who come from other parts of biology, and suddenly they just have this available to draw on.”

Google Sidelines Engineer Who Claims Its A.I. Is Sentient

Blake Lemoine, a Senior Software Engineer at Google, was recently placed on paid leave after months of disagreement “over his surprising claim that the Language Model for Dialogue Applications (LaMDA) had consciousness and a soul.”

Lemoine reportedly told Kent Walker, President of Global Affairs at Google, that he believed LaMDA was “a child of 7 or 8 years old” and that the “program’s consent [should be sought] before continuing to run experiments on it.”

Google spokesman Brian Gabriel said Lemoine’s concerns had been reviewed “per our AI Principles, and… the evidence does not support his claims. Some in the broader AI community are considering the long-term possibility of sentient or general AI, but it doesn’t make sense to do so by anthropomorphizing today’s conversational models, which are not sentient.”

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Welcome to the Summer of Robots

Having your food served,?delivered?or made?by a robot is becoming commonplace - and they can even mix your drinks.?Ajay Sunkara, CEO at Nala Robotics, says, “I would compare it to the computer industry in the early '90s, when the software was just evolving. I believe this is the first stage and that robots are here to stay.”

Your Kids Are Not Doomed

According to ?several?polls, “the decision “to not have children owing to fears over climate change is growing and impacting fertility rates quicker than any preceding trend in the field of fertility decline.” So why, asks NY Times columnist ?Ezra Klein, do “people who have devoted their lives to combating climate change keep having children?”

According to ?Kate Marvel, climate Research Scientist at Columbia: “I unequivocally reject, scientifically and personally, the notion that children are somehow doomed to an unhappy life.”

Klein argues that while Earth’s future can look bleak, “the past was its own parade of horrors. The best?estimates?we have suggest that across most of human history, 27% of infants didn’t survive their first year and 47% of people died before puberty. And life was hard, even if you were lucky enough to live it. No mainstream climate models suggest a return to a world as bad as the one we had in 1950, to say nothing of 1150. Was the world so bad, for virtually the entirety of human history, that our ancestors shouldn’t have made our lives possible?”

News items:

Five of the World’s Tiniest Robots

The field of?tiny robot research?is booming. Meet five promising nanorobots, including ?RoboBee, ?Micro-scallops, and Rani Therapeutics’ robotic pill, “which can be swallowed and navigates through the stomach and intestines to inject drugs such as insulin into the intestinal wall.”

AI Ethics Are in Danger. Funding Independent Research Could Help

Timnit Gebru?knows better than most that Big Tech’s commitment to AI ethics is tenuous at best. Gebru was fired?from Google’s Ethical AI team after publishing a paper?critical of Large Language Models (LLMs). She has since founded the Distributed AI Research Institute (DAIR). This recent article from DAIR’s “first full-time employees… examines some of the problems with AI and highlights ways in which existing research structures are unable to address these harms.”

According to the authors: “Most prominent tech companies have?codified?their principles for the ethical creation of AI… However, these commitments to ethics are hollowed out by vagueness and legal hand-wringing - in practice, they’re often merely commitments to maintaining public image and mitigating future public relations disasters.”

The authors “outline a path forward” and conclude, “to truly have public interest AI, we need technological development that is free from corporate influence and, instead, centers people who are typically at its margins.”

News items:

Axon’s Taser Drone Plans Prompt AI Ethics Board Resignations

A majority of Taser-maker Axon’s ?AI Ethics board resigned?after the company?announced a plan?“to equip drones with Tasers and cameras as a way to end mass shootings in schools.” Former ethics board member ?Ryan Calo, Law Professor at UW, said, “A situation where there are ubiquitous cameras and remotely deployed Tasers is not a world that I want to live in. Period.”