Lifeboat Foundation

A long-awaited space mission in the coming year could herald the start of a new era where so many science fiction dreams finally begin to cement themselves as science fact. But first we must pass a critical test of our own making that pits our technological expansion into orbit against the sun itself.

It’s not that difficult to predict what science stories we’ll be talking about over the next year: artificial intelligence, climate change and advances in biotechnology will remain front of mind. But there’s a pair of happenings just beyond our planet that I’ll be watching closely, because they amount to tests of a sort that could determine the trajectory of our species.

Continue reading “Two Space Stories In 2024 Will Determine The Future Of Humanity” »

Limitless Space Institute compares the travel time of spacecraft propelled by nuclear power to that of imaginative fusion propulsion. Credit: Limitless Space Institute.

Artificial intelligence is playing an ever-increasing role in our lives. But will this prove to be a blessing for humanity, or have we created a monster? We talk to leading futurists and experts to find out the impact they believe AI will have on our personal potential, jobs, and even safety.

Still agi could be a big problem because it could have 1 million iq and we barely have 140 iq maximum.

AI researcher Geoffrey Hinton, widely regarded as the “Godfather of AI,” is worried that AI might take over the world one day.

Within a tumultuous week of November 21 for OpenAI—a series of uncontrolled outcomes, each with its own significance—one would not have predicted the outcome that was to be the reinstatement of Sam Altman as CEO of OpenAI, with a new board in tow —all in five days.

While it’s still unclear the official grounds of Sam Altman’s lack of transparency to the board, and the ultimate distrust that led to his ousting, what was apparent was Microsoft’s complete backing of Altman, and the ensuing lack of support for the original board and its decision. It now leaves everyone to question why a board that had control of the company was unable to effectively oust an executive given its members legitimate safety concerns? And, why was a structure that was put in place to mitigate the risk of unilateral control over artificial general intelligence usurped by an investor—the very entity the structure was designed to guard against?

Sky News Australia investigates the dangers artificial intelligence poses against humans and the impending battle humanity faces.

Has OpenAI invented an AI technology with the potential to “threaten humanity”? From some of the recent headlines, you might be inclined to think so.

Reuters and The Information first reported last week that several OpenAI staff members had, in a letter to the AI startup’s board of directors, flagged the “prowess” and “potential danger” of an internal research project known as “Q*.” This AI project, according to the reporting, could solve certain math problems — albeit only at grade-school level — but had in the researchers’ opinion a chance of building toward an elusive technical breakthrough.

Continue reading “Contrary to reports, OpenAI probably isn’t building humanity-threatening AI” »

At the most recent H+ Academy discussion and debate on the topic of “anti-transhumanist” writings (video below), several transhumanists suggested that we reclaim “transhumanism” from the obfuscations and misrepresentations of the original meaning of transhumanism as a philosophy and worldview.

How did this happen? Over the years, there have been many “opinions” about what transhumanism is or isn’t. These opinions could be personal interpretations of the philosophy, some of which may or may not be true. While diversity is welcome and new ideas are highly valued, the philosophy of transhumanism does have principles that form the core of its meaning. With a lot of leeway for opinion, interpretations can go in directions that are counter to transhumanism. Some of the more extreme opinions have caused a flood of anti-transhumanist bias and even hate. This is not what we want.

What can we do? We need to make it very clear what transhumanism is and is not. And we need to state this publicly and make it available to everyone.

In its first 75 years, RAND helped shape how humankind thought about and used space for the benefit of humanity. And it intends to have a similar impact on the next 75 years of space sustainability, security, and governance. Researchers identified concepts worthy of future study.