Lifeboat Foundation

Visual information from near and far space are processed with differing degrees of acuity.

Neuroscientists from Tübingen have discovered how our brain processes visual stimuli above and below the horizon differently. The researchers led by Dr. Ziad Hafed of the Werner Reichardt Centre for Integrative Neuroscience (CIN) at the University of Tübingen investigated non-human primates, ascertaining that different parts of the visual field are represented asymmetrically in the superior colliculus, a brain structure central to visual perception and behavior. More neural tissue is assigned to the upper visual field than to the lower. As a result, visual stimuli above the horizon are processed sharper, stronger, and faster: our brain is wearing bifocals, so to speak.

Seeing — arguably our most important way of perceiving the world — mostly happens without conscious intent. We see much better in the center of our visual field (along the visual axis) than in the periphery. So when our brain detects an object of interest in the periphery of our visual field, it immediately initiates an eye movement so our visual axis intersects with those objects. Once an object is in our direct line of sight, we can perceive it in far more depth and detail.

Continue reading “Neuroscientists discover how the brain processes upper and lower visual stimuli differently” »

Actually, it is proving to be more effective, cheaper and quicker to advance people with technologies such as BMI v. trying to create machines to be human. BMI technology started development in the 90’s for the most part; and today we have proven tests where people have used BMI to fly drones and operate other machinery as well as help others to have feelings in prosthesis arm or leg, etc. So, not surprised by Musk’s position.

Would you ever chip yourself? The idea of human microchipping, once confined to the realms of science fiction and conspiracy theory, has fascinated people for ages, but it always seemed like something for the distant future. Yet patents for human ‘implants’ have been around for years, and the discussion around chipping the human race has been accelerating recently.

Remember when credit and debit cards went from smooth plastic to microchipped? That could be you in a few years, as multiple corporations are pushing to microchip the human race. In fact, microchip implants in humans are already on the market, and an American company called Applied Digital Solutions (ADS) has developed one approximately the size of a grain of rice which has already been approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for distribution and implementation. Here is a video taken three years ago of DARPA Director and Google Executive Regina Dugan promoting the idea of microchipping humans.

Continue reading “Why Elon Musk Is Advocating For Brain Chipping The Human Race” »

For robots; the bigger question where is the bigger ROI? Robots trying to be built to out do people; or is it better to enhance people? DARPA is more focused on enhancing people such as soldiers; and I agree with DARPA.

Understanding the hierarchical structure of biological networks like human brain — a network of neurons — could be useful in creating more complex, intelligent computational brains in the fields of artificial intelligence and robotics, says a study.

Like large businesses, many biological networks are hierarchically organised, such as gene, protein, neural, a…

Continue reading “Biological networks can boost artificial intelligence” »

This is the only way out of the trap this universe puts on your brain.

AI escreveu este curta metragem e é surpreendentemente divertido.
Todo o roteiro do filme é o trabalho de uma rede neural treinada em scripts de sci-fi.

Fonte: Singularity Hub

Edwin E Klingman, [email protected]

PO Box 3000, San Gregorio CA 94074

Abstract.

Continue reading “Fundamental Physics of Consciousness” »

The Syntellect Hypothesis: Five Paradigms of the Mind’s Evolution, Book Trailer, more info: www.ecstadelic.net

I am not surprised at all by this finding given the other issues with pollution such as cancer from carcinogens, asthma, sinus infections, etc.

Air pollution is a known culprit in lung and heart disease. Fine particulate matter, tiny particles, 1/30th the width of a human hair, are released into the air by power plants, factories, cars and trucks. These fine particles somehow invade the body’s defenses and do the most damage. Air quality is worst in urban areas with increased traffic. New research points out that air pollution negatively affects brain and cognitive development in young children and teenagers.

Moreover, Jennifer Weuve, an assistant professor of internal medicine at Rush Medical College, found that older women who had been exposed to high levels of the pollution experienced greater cognitive decline compared with other women their age (Archives of Internal Medicine, 2012). Other studies cite black carbon in the form of soot as a cause of cognitive decline in an aging population for both men and women. Simply put: Dirty air messes up the brain.

Continue reading “Air pollution can mess up your brain” »

How do organisms without brains make decisions? Most of life is brainless and the vast majority of organisms on Earth lack neurons altogether. Plants, fungi and bacteria must all cope with the same problem as humans — to make the best choices in a complex and ever-changing world or risk dying — without the help of a simple nervous system in many cases.

A team of researchers from New Jersey Institute of Technology (NJIT), the University of Sydney, the University of Sheffield and the University of Leeds recently studied this problem in the unicellular slime mold, Physarum polycephalum, a single-cell organism that can grow to several square meters in size. This giant cell, which typically lives in shady, cool and moist areas of temperate forests, spreads out to search its environment like an amoeba, extending oozy tendrils along the forest floor in search of its prey of fungi, bacteria and decaying vegetable matter.

Neither plant, animal nor fungus, P. polycephalum has become an unlikely candidate for studies of cognition, due to its spectacular problem-solving abilities. In recent studies, Physarum has been shown to solve labyrinth mazes, make complicated trade-offs, anticipate periodic events, remember where it has been, construct transport networks that have similar efficiency to those designed by human engineers and even make irrational decisions — a capability that has long been viewed as a by-product of brain circuitry.

Continue reading “Slime mold gives insight into the intelligence of neuron-less organisms” »