How observers shape reality through entropy
Category: singularity – Page 3
Near Space Labs nabs $20M to take its high-res imaging Swift robots into the stratosphere
When it comes to creating images of the earth from above, satellites, drones, planes and spacecraft are what tend to come to mind. But a startup called Near Space Labs is taking a very different approach to taking high-resolution photos from up high.
Near Space Labs is building aircraft that are raised by helium balloons and then rely on air currents to stay up, move around to take pictures from the stratosphere, and eventually glide back down to earth. On the back of significant traction with customers using its images, the startup has now raised $20 million to expand its business.
Bold Capital Partners (a VC firm founded by Peter Diamandis of XPRIZE and Singularity University fame), is leading the Series B round. Strategic backer USAA (the U.S. Automobile Association) is also investing alongside Climate Capital, Gaingels, River Park Ventures, and previous backers Crosslink Capital, Third Sphere, Draper Associates, and others that are not being named. Near Space Labs has now raised over $40 million, including a $13 million Series A in 2021.
Higgs Lecture 2025: The quantum black hole with (almost) no equations
The quantum black hole with (almost) no equations by Professor Gerard ‘t Hooft.
How to reconcile Einstein’s theory of General Relativity with Quantum Mechanics is a notorious problem. Special relativity, on the other hand, was united completely with quantum mechanics when the Standard Model, including Higgs mechanism, was formulated as a relativistic quantum field theory.
Since Stephen Hawking shed new light on quantum mechanical effects in black holes, it was hoped that black holes may be used to obtain a more complete picture of Nature’s laws in that domain, but he arrived at claims that are difficult to use in this respect. Was he right? What happens with information sent into a black hole?
The discussion is not over; in this lecture it is shown that a mild conical singularity at the black hole horizon may be inevitable, while it doubles the temperature of quantum radiation emitted by a black hole, we illustrate the situation with only few equations.
About the Higgs Lecture.
The Faculty of Natural, Mathematical & Engineering Sciences is delighted to present the Annual Higgs Lecture. The inaugural Annual Higgs Lecture was delivered in December 2012 by its name bearer, Professor Peter Higgs, who returned to King’s after graduating in 1950 with a first-class honours degree in Physics, and who famously predicted the Higgs Boson particle.
Projekt Humanoid 2050
Featuring LumaFusion, Waldorf Nave, In-Shot, Moodscaper, MultitrackDAW. I used In-Shot to assemble still collages and then imported them into LumaFusion with subtle zooming. I used some of the new LumaFusion transitions between these still images. I recorded Waldorf Nave and Moodscaper clips into MultitrackDAW and then exported them into LumaFusion for final blending and mastering.
I was going for a post-human world where the singularity has been achieved and humanoids benefit from the merger and constant stimulus of a fully integrated, technical, digital audio and visual experience. This experience can be named as Utopia, Xanadu or Heterotopia and, while I prefer the latter word, “heterotopia” is perhaps a little too obscure of a title. So, for the title I chose the spelling “PROJEKT” to indicate the scientific, technical feeling; and “HUMANOID” to indicate a better version of humankind; and “2050” as a nod to Bladerunner 2049, as well as a nod to the next generation of humanity. May it solve the problems that we are confronting today.
I hope you enjoy watching and listening!
Peace!
Tom.
The case for open decentralized beneficial general intelligence, with Ben Goertzel
We live at a time when humanity has never experienced such a rapid pace of change. We’re in the midst of unprecedented technological change, cultural change, political change, and philosophical change.
Some observers predict that the pace of change will slow down, but others anticipate that it will in fact increase — largely due to artificial intelligence leaping forward in capability, to the point where it exceeds human cognitive capabilities in every dimension.
How credible is such a possibility? How should humanity prepare for it? What values should guide us in our reactions and proactions to various new opportunities and potential threats that seem to be emerging almost daily?
The guest in this London Futurists webinar, Ben Goertzel, has arguably thought longer, harder, more creatively, and more boldly, about these questions, than anyone else on the planet. But he’s not just a thinker; Ben is very much also a doer — an organiser, an entrepreneur, an architect, an engineer, and a leader of too many initiatives to mention them all individually.
But let’s briefly highlight:
• Ben’s role as the long-time champion of the concept of AGI, artificial general intelligence;
• his role as the founder and leader of SingularityNET, with its mission to create a decentralized, democratic, inclusive and beneficial AGI;
• his leadership roles at Humanity+, the international transhumanist organisation, where he has served since 2008 as either Vice Chair or Chair;
• and his commitment to the writing and publication of mind-expanding ideas, such as his 2010 book \.
The Physics of Time | Deep Dive AI Podcast
This Deep Dive AI podcast discusses my book The Physics of Time: D-Theory of Time & Temporal Mechanics, an insightful exploration into one of the most profound mysteries of existence: the nature of time. As part of the Science and Philosophy of Information series, this book presents a radical reinterpretation of time grounded in modern physics and digital philosophy. It questions whether time is a fundamental aspect of reality or an emergent property of consciousness and information processing. Drawing on quantum physics, cosmology, and consciousness studies, this work invites readers (and listeners) to reimagine time not as a linear, absolute entity, but as a dynamic, editable dimension intertwined with the fabric of reality itself. It challenges traditional views, blending scientific inquiry with metaphysical insights, aimed at both the curious mind and the philosophical seeker.
#PhysicofTime #TemporalMechanics #DTheory #consciousness #DigitalPresentism #TimeFlow #EmergentTime #TimeTravel #ArrowofTime #SyntellectHypothesis
In this episode, we dive deep into The Physics of Time: D-Theory of Time & Temporal Mechanics by futurist-philosopher Alex M. Vikoulov. Explore the profound questions at the intersection of consciousness, quantum and digital physics, and the true nature of time. Is time fundamental or emergent? Can we travel through it? What is Digital Presentism?
The Physics of Time: D-Theory of Time & Temporal Mechanics by Alex M. Vikoulov is an insightful exploration into one of the most profound mysteries of existence: the nature of time. As part of the Science and Philosophy of Information series, this book presents a radical reinterpretation of time grounded in modern physics and digital philosophy. It questions whether time is a fundamental aspect of reality or an emergent property of consciousness and information processing.
The book introduces the D-Theory of Time, or Digital Presentism, which suggests that all moments exist as discrete, informational states, and that our perception of time’s flow is a mental construct. Vikoulov explores theoretical models of time travel, the feasibility of manipulating time, and the concept of the Temporal Singularity, a proposed point where temporal mechanics may reach a transformative threshold.
AI Singularity Shock: Tech Titans Predict Unstoppable Intelligence Explosion Within 12 Months, Sparking Global Fear and Frenzy
IN A NUTSHELL 🤖 The concept of singularity involves AI reaching a level of intelligence that surpasses that of humans. 🚀 Recent advancements in large language models and computing power have sparked debates about the possibility of achieving singularity soon. 🧠 Experts face technical and philosophical challenges, questioning whether AI can truly replicate human intelligence.
Singularity Salon — Ben Goertzel & Hugo de Garis
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When AI builds AI: The next great inventors might not be human
In the paper accompanying the launch of R1, DeepSeek explained how it took advantage of techniques such as synthetic data generation, distillation, and machine-driven reinforcement learning to produce a model that exceeded the current state-of-the-art. Each of these approaches can be explained another way as harnessing the capabilities of an existing AI model to assist in the training of a more advanced version.
DeepSeek is far from alone in using these AI techniques to advance AI. Mark Zuckerberg predicts that the mid-level engineers at https://fortune.com/company/facebook/” class=””>Meta may soon be replaced by AI counterparts, and that Llama 3 (his company’s LLM) “helps us experiment and iterate faster, building capabilities we want to refine and expand in Llama 4.” https://fortune.com/company/nvidia/” class=””>Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang has spoken at length about creating virtual environments in which AI systems supervise the training of robotic systems: “We can create multiple different multiverses, allowing robots to learn in parallel, possibly learning in 100,000 different ways at the same time.”
This isn’t quite yet the singularity, when intelligent machines autonomously self-replicate, but it is something new and potentially profound. Even amidst such dizzying progress in AI models, though, it’s not uncommon to hear some observers talk about the potential slowing of what’s called the “scaling laws”—the observed principles that AI models increase in performance in direct relationship to the quantity of data, power, and compute applied to them. The release from DeepSeek, and several subsequent announcements from other companies, suggests that arguments of the scaling laws’ demise may be greatly exaggerated. In fact, innovations in AI development are leading to entirely new vectors for scaling—all enabled by AI itself. Progress isn’t slowing down, it’s speeding up—thanks to AI.