Nancie Hunter – Lifeboat News: The Blog https://lifeboat.com/blog Safeguarding Humanity Sun, 20 Oct 2024 15:26:11 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.6.2 Tesla’s Optimus robots were controlled by humans #technology https://lifeboat.com/blog/2024/10/teslas-optimus-robots-were-controlled-by-humans-technology https://lifeboat.com/blog/2024/10/teslas-optimus-robots-were-controlled-by-humans-technology#respond Sun, 20 Oct 2024 15:26:11 +0000 https://lifeboat.com/blog/2024/10/teslas-optimus-robots-were-controlled-by-humans-technology

Tesla Inc. used humans to remotely control some capabilities of its Optimus robot prototypes at a recent event designed to generate investor enthusiasm for f…

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Upgraded AMECA Shows Shocking Signs of Human Emotions https://lifeboat.com/blog/2024/10/upgraded-ameca-shows-shocking-signs-of-human-emotions https://lifeboat.com/blog/2024/10/upgraded-ameca-shows-shocking-signs-of-human-emotions#respond Sun, 20 Oct 2024 15:25:54 +0000 https://lifeboat.com/blog/2024/10/upgraded-ameca-shows-shocking-signs-of-human-emotions

Upgraded AMECA, one of the world’s most advanced AI robots, is now showing human-like emotions, sparking fascination and unease. A viral video features AMECA and her companion Azi in a humorous interaction, highlighting their advanced facial expressions and lifelike movements. As AI robots like AMECA evolve, their emotional capabilities are raising questions about the future of human-robot interactions.

🔍 Key Topics Covered:
Upgraded AMECA and Azi showcasing human-like emotions, creating fascinating yet unsettling moments.
The viral interaction between two AI robots and how their expressions blur the line between human and machine.
How advanced facial expressions and conversational abilities are pushing AI robots closer to mimicking human emotions.

🎥 What You’ll Learn:
How AI robots like AMECA are displaying human-like emotions and what that means for the future.
Why AI robots’ interactions are becoming more relatable, raising new questions about human-robot connections.
The technological advancements behind AMECA’s lifelike movements and emotions, and their potential impact on society.

📊 Why This Matters:
This video explores the emotional capabilities of AI robots and the increasing realism in their interactions, sparking intrigue and concern about the role of AI in human-like communication. As AI continues to evolve, understanding its emotional and social impact is essential in navigating the future of human-robot relationships. The rise of AI with human emotions opens the door to exciting possibilities, but also raises important ethical and societal questions.

DISCLAIMER:
This video investigates the rapidly evolving emotional expressions of AI robots, analyzing the consequences of AI’s growing human-like behaviors. It brings attention to the unexpected shifts in AI technology and what it might mean for our future.

#ai.
#robots

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Neuroscience and Society, a Featured Article Series by the Hastings Center https://lifeboat.com/blog/2024/05/neuroscience-and-society-a-featured-article-series-by-the-hastings-center Sat, 11 May 2024 20:28:56 +0000 https://lifeboat.com/blog/2024/05/neuroscience-and-society-a-featured-article-series-by-the-hastings-center

This spring, the Hastings Center Report added a new series of essays named after the field its pieces aim to explore. Neuroscience and Society produces open access articles and opinion pieces that address the ethical, legal, and societal issues presented by emerging neuroscience. The series will run roughly twice a year and was funded by the Dana Foundation to foster dynamic, sustained conversation among neuroscience researchers, legal and ethics scholars, policymakers, and wider publics.

The first edition of the series focuses on the topic of research studies and what is owed to people who volunteer to participate in clinical trials to develop implantable brain devices, such as deep-brain stimulators and brain-computer interfaces.

Imagine you have lived with depression for most of your life. Despite trying numerous medications and therapies, such as electroconvulsive therapy, you have not been able to manage your symptoms effectively. Your depression keeps you from maintaining a job, interacting with your friends and family, and generally prevents you from flourishing as a person.

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A brain implant changed her life. Then it was removed against her will https://lifeboat.com/blog/2023/07/a-brain-implant-changed-her-life-then-it-was-removed-against-her-will Thu, 20 Jul 2023 03:24:23 +0000 https://lifeboat.com/blog/2023/07/a-brain-implant-changed-her-life-then-it-was-removed-against-her-will

And the right to freedom of thought enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights is similarly open to interpretation. It was historically put in place to protect freedoms surrounding beliefs, religion, and speech. But that could change, says Ienca. “Rights are not static entities,” he says.

He is among the ethicists and legal scholars investigating the importance of “neuro rights”—the subset of human rights concerned with the protection of the human brain and mind. Some are currently exploring whether neuro rights could be recognized within established human rights, or whether we need new laws.


Her case highlights why we need to enshrine neuro rights in law.

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Tech that aims to read your mind and probe your memories is already here https://lifeboat.com/blog/2023/07/tech-that-aims-to-read-your-mind-and-probe-your-memories-is-already-here Thu, 20 Jul 2023 03:24:09 +0000 https://lifeboat.com/blog/2023/07/tech-that-aims-to-read-your-mind-and-probe-your-memories-is-already-here

https://youtube.com/watch?v=tU_0jU0mMLw

In recent years, we’ve seen neurotechnologies move from research labs to real-world use. Schools have used some devices to monitor the brain activity of children to tell when they are paying attention. Police forces are using others to work out whether someone is guilty of a crime. And employers use them to keep workers awake and productive.

These technologies hold the remarkable promise of giving us all-new insight into our own minds. But our brain data is precious, and letting it fall into the wrong hands could be dangerous, Farahany argues in her new book, The Battle for Your Brain. I chatted with her about some of her concerns.


We need new rules to protect our cognitive liberty, says futurist and legal ethicist Nita Farahany.

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A Chip Off the Old Eye: Device Mimics Human Vision and Memory https://lifeboat.com/blog/2023/06/a-chip-off-the-old-eye-device-mimics-human-vision-and-memory Fri, 16 Jun 2023 00:22:25 +0000 https://lifeboat.com/blog/2023/06/a-chip-off-the-old-eye-device-mimics-human-vision-and-memory

The team’s research demonstrates a working device that captures, processes and stores visual information. With precise engineering of the doped indium oxide, the device mimics a human eye’s ability to capture light, pre-packages and transmits information like an optical nerve, and stores and classifies it in a memory system like the way our brains can.


Summary: Researchers developed a single-chip device that mimics the human eye’s capacity to capture, process, and store visual data.

This groundbreaking innovation, fueled by a thin layer of doped indium oxide, could be a significant leap towards applications like self-driving cars that require quick, complex decision-making abilities. Unlike traditional systems that need external, energy-intensive computation, this device encapsulates sensing, information processing, and memory retention in one compact unit.

As a result, it enables real-time decision-making without being hampered by processing extraneous data or being delayed by transferring information to separate processors.

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New type of 3D printing uses sound waves to build up objects https://lifeboat.com/blog/2022/06/new-type-of-3d-printing-uses-sound-waves-to-build-up-objects Mon, 06 Jun 2022 11:33:16 +0000 https://lifeboat.com/blog/2022/06/new-type-of-3d-printing-uses-sound-waves-to-build-up-objects

“Ultrasonic frequencies are already being used in destructive procedures like laser ablation of tissues and tumours,” said Prof. Muthukumaran Packirisamy, who led the study along with Dr. Mohsen Habibi and PhD student Shervin Foroughi. “We wanted to use them to create something.”

For instance, utilizing the technique, aircraft mechanics could conceivably 3D-print repairs onto internal components, without opening the plane’s fuselage. It’s even possible that implants could be 3D printed within a patient’s body, without the need for surgery.

Besides the PDMS resin, the scientists have also successfully used DSP to print objects made of ceramic material. They now plan on experimenting with polymer-metal composites, followed by pure metal.

3D printing typically involves depositing layers of molten plastic, laser-melting powdered metal, or using UV light to harden gelatinous resin. A new technique takes yet another approach, however, by utilizing sound waves.

Developed by a team of scientists at Canada’s Concordia University, the technology is known as direct sound printing (DSP).

In the current version of the technique, a transducer is used to send focused pulses of ultrasound through the sides of a chamber, into liquid polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) resin contained within. Doing so produces ultrasonic fields, which cause rapidly oscillating microscopic bubbles to temporarily form at specific points in the resin.

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Step forward in quest to develop living construction materials and beyond https://lifeboat.com/blog/2021/12/step-forward-in-quest-to-develop-living-construction-materials-and-beyond Wed, 22 Dec 2021 10:22:37 +0000 https://lifeboat.com/blog/2021/12/step-forward-in-quest-to-develop-living-construction-materials-and-beyond

Some engineered living materials can combine the strength of run-of-the-mill building materials with the responsiveness of living systems. Think self-healing concrete, paint that changes color when a specific chemical is detected or material that could reproduce and fill in a crack when one forms. This would revolutionize construction and maintenance, with wide-reaching economic and environmental implications.

Seeing this new category of adaptive materials on consumer shelves may be a ways off. Still, critical early research from the University of Minnesota sheds new light on this exciting advancement, which shows promise beyond building materials, including biomedical applications.

In a new study in Nature Communications, researchers from the College of Biological Sciences demonstrate how to transform silica — a common material used in plaster and other construction materials — into a self-assembling, dynamic and resilient material.

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FDA clears Synchron’s brain-computer interface device for human trials https://lifeboat.com/blog/2021/07/fda-clears-synchrons-brain-computer-interface-device-for-human-trials Thu, 29 Jul 2021 07:22:17 +0000 https://lifeboat.com/blog/2021/07/fda-clears-synchrons-brain-computer-interface-device-for-human-trials

A company that makes an implantable brain-computer interface (BCI) has been given the go-ahead by the Food and Drug Administration to run a clinical trial with human patients. Synchron plans to start an early feasibility study of its Stentrode implant later this year at Mount Sinai Hospital, New York with six subjects. The company said it will assess the device’s “safety and efficacy in patients with severe paralysis.” https://www.engadget.com/fda-brain-computer-interface-clinic…ml?src=rss


A company that makes an implantable has been given the go-ahead by the Food and Drug Administration to run a clinical trial with human patients. Synchron plans to start an early feasibility study of its Stentrode implant later this year at Mount Sinai Hospital, New York with six subjects. The company said it will assess the device’s “safety and efficacy in patients with severe paralysis.”

Synchron received the FDA’s green light ahead of competitors like Elon Musk’s. Before such companies can sell BCIs commercially in the US, they need to prove that the devices work and are safe. The FDA will provide guidance for trials of BCI devices for patients with paralysis or amputation during a webinar on Thursday.

Another clinical trial of Stentrode is underway in Australia. Four patients have received the implant, which is being used “for data transfer from motor cortex to control digital devices,” Synchron said. According to data published in the Journal of NeuroInterventional Surgery, two of the patients were able to control their computer with their thoughts. They completed work-related tasks, sent text messages and emails and did online banking and shopping.

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FDA approves video game for treating ADHD in kids https://lifeboat.com/blog/2020/06/fda-approves-video-game-for-treating-adhd-in-kids Tue, 16 Jun 2020 18:04:50 +0000 https://lifeboat.com/blog/2020/06/fda-approves-video-game-for-treating-adhd-in-kids

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has for the first time approved a video game for treating attention deficit hyperactivity disorder in children.

The FDA said Monday the game built by Boston-based Akili Interactive Labs can improve attention function.

The game, called EndeavorRx, requires a prescription and is designed for children ages 8 to 12 with certain symptoms of ADHD.

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