OpenAI’s GPT-5 Aardvark scans, exploits, and patches software flaws autonomously—marking a leap in AI-driven cybersecurity.
Category: robotics/AI – Page 24
Researchers realize a driven-dissipative Ising spin glass using a cavity quantum electrodynamics setup
Spin glasses are physical systems in which the small magnetic moments of particles (i.e., spins) interact with each other in a random way. These random interactions between spins make it impossible for all spins to satisfy their preferred alignments; a condition known as ‘frustration.
Researchers at Stanford University recently realized a new type of spin glass, namely a driven-dissipative Ising spin glass in a cavity quantum electrodynamics (QED) experimental setup. Their paper, published in Physical Review Letters, is the result of over a decade of studies focusing on creating spin glasses with cavity QED.
“Spin glasses are a general model for complex systems, and specifically for neural networks—spins serve as neurons connected by their mutually frustrating interactions,” Benjamin Lev, senior author of the paper, told Phys.org.
Benchmarking large language models for personalized, biomarker-based health intervention recommendations
The use of large language models (LLMs) in clinical diagnostics and intervention planning is expanding, yet their utility for personalized recommendations for longevity interventions remains opaque. We extended the BioChatter framework to benchmark LLMs’ ability to generate personalized longevity intervention recommendations based on biomarker profiles while adhering to key medical validation requirements. Using 25 individual profiles across three different age groups, we generated 1,000 diverse test cases covering interventions such as caloric restriction, fasting and supplements. Evaluating 56,000 model responses via an LLM-as-a-Judge system with clinician validated ground truths, we found that proprietary models outperformed open-source models especially in comprehensiveness. However, even with Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG), all models exhibited limitations in addressing key medical validation requirements, prompt stability, and handling age-related biases. Our findings highlight limited suitability of LLMs for unsupervised longevity intervention recommendations. Our open-source framework offers a foundation for advancing AI benchmarking in various medical contexts.
Silcox, C. et al. The potential for artificial intelligence to transform healthcare: perspectives from international health leaders. NPJ Digit. Med. 7, 88 (2024).
Homo Invocator
We live immersed in a persistent illusion: the idea that consciousness arises from the brain like the flame from a candle. Contemporary science, constrained by the very instruments it creates, proclaims that the mind is merely the result of electrical impulses and chemical reactions — an epiphenomenon of flesh.
Yet a deeper look — one that doesn’t reject science but rather transcends it — reveals a more radical reality: we, living beings, are not the origin of consciousness, but rather its antenna.
We are hardware. Bodies shaped by millions of years of biological evolution, a complex architecture of atoms and molecules organized into a fractal of systems. But this hardware, no matter how sophisticated, is nothing more than a receptacle, a stage, an antenna. What truly moves, creates, and inspires does not reside here, within this tangible three-dimensional realm; it resides in an unlimited field, a divine matrix where everything already exists. Our mind, far from being an original creator, is a channel, a receiver, an interpreter.
The great question of our time — and perhaps of all human history — is this: how can we update the software running on this biological hardware without the hardware itself becoming obsolete? Herein lies the fundamental paradox: we can dream of enlightenment, wisdom, and transcendence, yet if the body does not keep pace — if the physical circuits cannot support the flow — the connection breaks, the signal distorts, and the promise of spiritual evolution stalls.
The human body, a product of Darwinian evolution’s slow dance, is both marvel and prison. Our eyes capture only a minuscule fraction of the electromagnetic spectrum; our ears are limited to a narrow range of frequencies; our brains filter out and discard 99% of the information surrounding us. Human hardware was optimized for survival — not for truth!
This is the first major limitation: if we are receivers of a greater reality, our apparatus is radically constrained. It’s like trying to capture a cosmic symphony with an old radio that only picks up static. We may glimpse flashes — a sudden intuition, an epiphany, a mystical experience — but the signal is almost always imperfect.
Thus, every spiritual tradition in human history — from shamans to mystery schools, from Buddhism to Christian mysticism — has sought ways to expand or “hack” this hardware: fasting, meditation, chanting, ecstatic dance, entheogens. These are, in fact, attempts to temporarily reconfigure the biological antenna to tune into higher frequencies. Yet we remain limited: the body deteriorates, falls ill, ages, and dies.
If the body is hardware, then the mind — or rather, the set of informational patterns running through it — is software: human software (and a limited one at that). This software isn’t born with us; it’s installed through culture, language, education, and experience. We grow up running inherited programs, archaic operating systems that dictate beliefs, prejudices, and identities.
Beneath this cultural software, however, lies a deeper code: access to an unlimited field of possibilities. This field — call it God, Source, Cosmic Consciousness, the Akashic Records, it doesn’t matter — contains everything: all ideas, all equations, all music, all works of art, all solutions to problems not yet conceived. We don’t invent anything; we merely download it.
Great geniuses throughout history — from Nikola Tesla to Mozart, from Leonardo da Vinci to Fernando Pessoa — have testified to this mystery: ideas “came” from outside, as if whispered by an external intelligence. Human software, then, is the interface between biological hardware and this divine ocean. But here lies the crucial question: what good is access to supreme software if the hardware lacks the capacity to run it?
An old computer might receive the latest operating system, but only if its minimum specifications allow it. Otherwise, it crashes, overheats, or freezes. The same happens to us: we may aspire to elevated states of consciousness, but without a prepared body, the system fails. That’s why so many mystical experiences lead to madness or physical collapse.
Thus, we arrive at the heart of the paradox. If the hardware doesn’t evolve, even the most advanced software download is useless. But if the software isn’t updated, the hardware remains a purposeless machine — a biological robot succumbing to entropy.
Contemporary society reflects this tension. On one hand, biotechnology, nanotechnology, and regenerative medicine promise to expand our hardware: stronger, more resilient, longer-lived bodies. On the other, the cultural software governing us remains archaic: nationalism, tribalism, dogma, consumerism. It’s like installing a spacecraft engine onto an ox-drawn cart.
At the opposite end of the spectrum, we find the spiritual movement, which insists on updating the software — through meditation, energy therapies, expanded states of consciousness — but often neglects the hardware. Weakened, neglected bodies, fed with toxins, become incapable of sustaining the frequency they aim to channel. The result is a fragile, disembodied spirituality — out of sync with matter.
Humanity’s challenge in the 21st century and beyond is not to choose between hardware and software, but to unify them. Living longer is meaningless if the mind remains trapped in limiting programs. Aspiring to enlightenment is futile if the body collapses under the intensity of that light.
It’s essential to emphasize: the power does not reside in us (though, truthfully, it does — if we so choose). This isn’t a doctrine of self-deification, but of radical humility. We are merely antennas. True power lies beyond the physical reality we know, in a plane where everything already exists — a divine, unlimited power from which Life itself emerges.
Our role is simple yet grand: to invoke. We don’t create from nothing; we reveal what already is. We don’t invent; we translate. A work of art, a mathematical formula, an act of compassion — all are downloads from a greater source.
Herein lies the beauty: this field is democratic. It belongs to no religion, no elite, no dogma. It’s available to everyone, always, at any moment. The only difference lies in the hardware’s capacity to receive it and the (human) software that interprets it.
But there are dangers. If the hardware is weak or the software corrupted, the divine signal arrives distorted. This is what we see in false prophets, tyrants, and fanatics: they receive fragments of the field, but their mental filters — laden with fear, ego, and the desire for power — twist the message. Instead of compassion, violence emerges; instead of unity, division; instead of wisdom, dogma.
Therefore, conscious evolution demands both purification of the software (clearing toxic beliefs and hate-based programming) and strengthening of the hardware (healthy bodies, resilient nervous systems). Only then can the divine frequency manifest clearly.
If we embrace this vision, humanity’s future will be neither purely biological nor purely spiritual — it will be the fusion of both. The humans of the future won’t merely be smarter or longer-lived; they’ll be more attuned. A Homo Invocator: the one who consciously invokes the divine field and translates it into matter, culture, science, and art.
The initial paradox remains: hardware without software is useless; software without hardware is impossible. But the resolution isn’t in choosing one over the other — it’s in integration. The future belongs to those who understand that we are antennas of a greater power, receivers of an infinite Source, and who accept the task of refining both body and mind to become pure channels of that reality.
If we succeed, perhaps one day we’ll look back and realize that humanity’s destiny was never to conquer Earth or colonize Mars — but to become a conscious vehicle for the divine within the physical world.
And on that day, we’ll understand that we are neither merely hardware nor merely software. We are the bridge.
Deep down, aren’t we just drifting objects after all?
The question is rhetorical, for I don’t believe any of us humans holds the answer.
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Copyright © 2025, Henrique Jorge (ETER9)
Image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay
[ This article was originally published in Portuguese in Link to Leaders at: https://linktoleaders.com/o-ser-como-interface-henrique-jorge-eter9/]
Chimpanzees rationally revise their beliefs
The study, titled “,” was conducted by a large research team that included UC Berkeley Psychology Postdoctoral Researcher Emily Sanford, UC Berkeley Psychology Professor Jan Engelmann and Utrecht University Psychology Professor Hanna Schleihauf. Their findings showed that chimpanzees — like humans — can change their minds based on the strength of available evidence, a key feature of rational thought.
Working at the Ngamba Island Chimpanzee Sanctuary in Uganda, the researchers presented chimps with two boxes, one containing food. Initially, the animals received a clue suggesting which box held the reward. Later, they were given stronger evidence pointing to the other box. The chimps frequently switched their choices in response to the new clues.
“Chimpanzees were able to revise their beliefs when better evidence became available,” said Sanford, who is a researcher in the UC Berkeley Social Origins Lab. “This kind of flexible reasoning is something we often associate with 4-year-old children. It was exciting to show that chimps can do this too.”
To ensure the findings reflected genuine reasoning rather than instinct, the team incorporated tightly controlled experiments and computational modeling. These analyses ruled out simpler explanations, such as the chimps favoring the latest signal (recency bias) or reacting to the most obvious cue. The models confirmed that the chimps’ decision-making aligned with rational strategies of belief revision.
“We recorded their first choice, then their second, and compared whether they revised their beliefs,” Sanford said. “We also used computational models to test how their choices matched up with various reasoning strategies.”
The study challenges the traditional view that rationality — the ability to form and revise beliefs based on evidence — is exclusive to humans.
“The difference between humans and chimpanzees isn’t a categorical leap. It’s more like a continuum,” Sanford said.
As AI grows smarter, it may also become increasingly selfish
New research from Carnegie Mellon University’s School of Computer Science shows that the smarter the artificial intelligence system, the more selfish it will act.
Researchers in the Human-Computer Interaction Institute (HCII) found that large language models (LLMs) that can reason possess selfish tendencies, do not cooperate well with others and can be a negative influence on a group. In other words, the stronger an LLM’s reasoning skills, the less it cooperates.
As humans use AI to resolve disputes between friends, provide marital guidance and answer other social questions, models that can reason might provide guidance that promotes self-seeking behavior.
Glowing Green: A Quantitative Analysis of Photoluminescence in Six North American Bat Species
WhatsApp is rolling out passkey-encrypted backups for iOS and Android devices, enabling users to encrypt their chat history using their fingerprint, face, or a screen lock code.
Passkeys are a passwordless authentication method that allows users to sign in using biometrics (such as face recognition or fingerprint), PINs, or security patterns instead of traditional passwords. They enable logging into websites, online services, or apps without needing to remember complex passwords or use a password manager.
When creating a passkey, your device generates a unique cryptographic key pair consisting of a private key stored on the device and a public key sent to the website or app. Because of this, passkeys provide significantly improved security over regular credentials, seeing that they can’t be stolen in data breaches because the private key never leaves your device.
Massive surge of NFC relay malware steals Europeans’ credit cards
Near-Field Communication (NFC) relay malware has grown massively popular in Eastern Europe, with researchers discovering over 760 malicious Android apps using the technique to steal people’s payment card information in the past few months.
Contrary to the traditional banking trojans that use overlays to steal banking credentials or remote access tools to perform fraudulent transactions, NFC malware abuses Android’s Host Card Emulation (HCE) to emulate or steal contactless credit card and payment data.
They capture EMV fields, respond to APDU commands from a POS terminal with attacker-controlled replies, or forward terminal requests to a remote server, which crafts the proper APDU responses to enable payments at the terminal without the physical cardholder present.
