Lifeboat Foundation: Safeguarding Humanity
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Category: futurism – Page 5

Are humans the real ancient aliens?

Sadly quite a realistic view.

How special are we? A recent research paper suggests that terrestrial-style biology may be rare, and Earth may be among the first examples of a planet able to sustain life in the cosmos. Even as the new kids on the block, humans are seemingly one of the precious few instances of intelligence to arise in the universe since the Big Bang did its thing.

Related: The Search For Life Starts With Human Missions to Mars

Harvard Astronomer Avi Loeb and his colleagues in the U.K. have argued that the halcyon days for life are still to come. It’s not even morning in the universe; it’s pre-dawn. Biology may erupt like weeds on an untold number of worlds, but if so, the infestation will take place tens of billions of years in the future.

We may never be able to tell if AI becomes conscious, argues philosopher

A University of Cambridge philosopher argues that our evidence for what constitutes consciousness is far too limited to tell if or when artificial intelligence has made the leap—and a valid test for doing so will remain out of reach for the foreseeable future.

As artificial consciousness shifts from the realm of sci-fi to become a pressing ethical issue, Dr. Tom McClelland says the only “justifiable stance” is agnosticism: we simply won’t be able to tell, and this will not change for a long time—if ever.

While issues of AI rights are typically linked to consciousness, McClelland argues that consciousness alone is not enough to make AI matter ethically. What matters is a particular type of consciousness—known as sentience—which includes positive and negative feelings.

New moonquake discovery could change NASA’s Moon plans

Moonquakes shook Apollo 17’s landing zone—and they could challenge the safety of future lunar outposts. Scientists have discovered that moonquakes, not meteoroids, are responsible for shifting terrain near the Apollo 17 landing site. Their analysis points to a still-active fault that has been generating quakes for millions of years. While the danger to short missions is low, long-term lunar bases could face increasing risk. The findings urge future planners to avoid building near scarps and to prioritize new seismic instruments.

A recently published study reports that shaking from moonquakes, rather than impacts from meteoroids, was the main force behind the shifting terrain in the Taurus-Littrow valley, the site where Apollo 17 astronauts landed in 1972. The researchers also identified a likely explanation for the changing surface features and evaluated potential damage by applying updated models of lunar seismic activity — results that could influence how future missions and long-term settlements are planned on the moon.

The work, conducted by Smithsonian Senior Scientist Emeritus Thomas R. Watters and University of Maryland Associate Professor of Geology Nicholas Schmerr, appeared in the journal Science Advances.

Are talented youth nurtured the wrong way? Top performers develop differently than assumed, says study

Traditional research into giftedness and expertise assumes that the key factors to develop outstanding achievements are early performance (e.g., in a school subject, sport, or in concerts) and corresponding abilities (e.g., intelligence, motor skills, musicality) along with many years of intensive training in a discipline. Accordingly, talent programs typically aim to select the top-performing youth and then seek to further accelerate their performance through intensive discipline-specific training.

However, this is apparently not the ideal way to promote young talent, as a team led by Arne Güllich, professor of sports science at RPTU University Kaiserslautern-Landau, has recently discovered.

The work is published in the journal Science.

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