To explore the trillions of worlds in our galaxy, we will need space probes far more sophisticated than any craft we’ve ever built, including the ability to…
Category: space – Page 294
Scientists find evidence of ‘very recent’ running water flowing on Mars
Gullies on the slopes of Martian craters were likely created by the “very recent” flow of water, according to a new study that sheds more light on whether life could exist on the Red Planet.
The presence of life on a planet, as it is seen on Earth, goes hand in hand with the existence of liquid water.
Researchers have previously shown that there may have been past periods on Mars when liquid water likely formed gullies if Mars tilted enough on its axis.
Scientists use chemical mapping to study the spiraling arms of the Milky Way
A researcher has used the technique of chemical mapping to study the spiral arms of our home galaxy: the Milky Way. According to Keith Hawkins, assistant professor at The University of Texas at Austin, chemical cartography might help us better grasp the structure and evolution of our galaxy.
“Much like the early explorers, who created better and better maps of our world, we are now creating better and better maps of the Milky Way,” mentioned Hawkins in an official release.
NASA/JPL-Caltech.
According to Keith Hawkins, assistant professor at The University of Texas at Austin, chemical cartography might help us better grasp the structure and evolution of our galaxy.
The world’s fastest supercomputer with a processing power of 4 exaflops unveiled
The supercomputer is part of the larger constellation of inter-connected supercomputers with a combined capacity of 36 exaFLOPS.
Abu Dhabi-based technology holding group G42 has unveiled the world’s fastest supercomputer, the Condor Galaxy-1 (CG-1), which has 54 million cores and a processing capacity of four exaflops, a press release said. The supercomputer is located in Santa Clara, California, and will be operated by Cerebras, a US-based AI firm under US laws.
As artificial intelligence (AI) technology takes center stage, there is a strong demand for supercomputers to help businesses train their own models. Companies like Microsoft have offered to build the extremely expensive infrastructure and rent it out for companies to work on them.
Cerebras Systems signs $100 million AI supercomputer deal with UAE’s G42
July 20 (Reuters) — Cerebras Systems on Thursday said that it has signed an approximately $100 million deal to deliver the first of what could be up to nine artificial intelligence (AI) supercomputers in a partnership with United Arab Emirates-based technology group G42.
The deal comes as cloud computing providers around the world are searching for alternatives to chips from Nvidia Corp (NVDA.O), the market leader in AI computing whose products are in short supply, thanks to the surging popularity of ChatGPT and other services. Cerebras is one of several startups looking to challenge Nvidia.
Silicon Valley-based Cerebras said that G42 has agreed to purchase three of what it calls its Condor Galaxy systems, all of which it will build in the U.S. to speed up the roll out. The first one will come online this year, with two more coming in early 2024.
Is this hat conscious? | Ben Goertzel on consciousness, panpsychism, and AGI | Big Think
Is this hat conscious?
New videos DAILY: https://bigth.ink.
Join Big Think Edge for exclusive video lessons from top thinkers and doers: https://bigth.ink/Edge.
Panpsychism is the idea that there is an element of consciousness in everything in the universe. The theory goes like this: You’re conscious. Ben Goertzel is conscious. And his hat is conscious too. What if consciousness isn’t about the brain at all, but it’s as inherent to our universe as space-time?“Now, panpsychism, to me, is not even that interesting, it’s almost obvious — it’s just the foundation, the beginning for thinking about consciousness… ” says Goertzel. It’s what comes after that excites him, like the emerging technology that will let us connect our minds to bricks, hats, earthworms, other humans, and super AGIs like Sophia, and perhaps glimpse at the fabric of consciousness. Goertzel believes brain-brain interfacing and brain-computer interfacing will unfold in the coming decades, and it’s by that means that we may finally crack the nut of consciousness to discover whether panpsychism makes any sense, and to learn why humans are so differently conscious than, for example, his hat.
Ben Goertzel is CEO and chief scientist at SingularityNET, a project dedicated to creating benevolent decentralized artificial general intelligence. He is also chief scientist of financial prediction firm Aidyia Holdings and robotics firm Hanson Robotics; Chairman of AI software company Novamente LLC; Chairman of the Artificial General Intelligence Society and the OpenCog Foundation. His latest book is AGI Revolution: An Inside View of the Rise of Artificial General Intelligence.
TRANSCRIPT:
BEN GOERTZEL: Consciousness is one of these great vexing and confusing words and concepts, which intelligent people take different positions on and could argue about forever. My own perspective on consciousness is rooted in what you could call a sort of panpsychism, by which I mean the idea that consciousness is in essence a property eminent in existence, as much as space and time are. I mean everything that we see around us somehow is situated in time and in space, in our space-time continuum; panpsychism is the idea that everything around us and within us has some element of consciousness to it also, so that it’s not really meaningful to think of: ‘Here’s this non-conscious matter and then there’s this thing called consciousness, which is attached to some matter and not to others.’ Now panpsychism to me is not even that interesting, it’s almost obvious — it’s just the foundation, the beginning for thinking about consciousness because then you have interesting questions like why is the consciousness associated with my brain so much more self-reflective and dynamic and in some senses intense than, say, the consciousness associated with my hat? I mean, it’s a cool hat, it may be more conscious than the average hat, but in the end the brain has these complex feedback loops, the brain can model itself, the brain responds very differently to slightly different stimuli coming in and many properties of the brain seem associated with the more powerful and dynamic states of consciousness that it has relative to other things. So, if you accept panpsychism, that everything is imbued somehow with an element of consciousness, some things can still be more conscious than others and some things are differently conscious than others. And then that’s where things get interesting.
Nancy Roman Space Telescope holds potential to find 400 rogue planets in Milky Way
The estimate of 400 rogue planets comes from a nine-year-long survey called Microlensing Observations in Astrophysics (MOA).
The Nancy Roman Grace Telescope, an upcoming space observatory, might aid in the discovery of hundreds of rogue exoplanets.
Planets of this sort float freely through galaxies and are not gravitationally tied to any star system.
A strong commercial space industry secures America’s future
The United States remains the only nation to have landed humans on the Moon and returned them safely to Earth. It is among the greatest achievements in human history, and it has significantly contributed to America’s leadership on the world stage. As a young man I had the opportunity of working on the Apollo program as an inspector with McDonnell Douglas. It was an exciting experience, and I am both grateful and humbled to have been a part of it.
The success of the Apollo Missions led to other significant accomplishments like building reusable Space Shuttles to test the limits of human space flight, prolonged robotic exploration of Mars, deploying a space-based telescope that can see far beyond our solar system, and conducting scientific research on the International Space Station. In more recent years we’ve seen an explosion in commercial space activity which has culminated in private companies conducting successful human space launches. This too is a significant milestone.
Our investment in space is critical to our national security, scientific discovery, technological advancement, and economic competitiveness. So much of our modern-day life is dependent on space making a bank transaction, for example, or even a phone call, these days requires using some type of space-faring technology. And while NASA’s leadership of our space efforts will continue to be indispensable, the U.S. commercial space industry’s role in space exploration will grow larger and more critical. American companies must continue to lead the way.