If you read and believe headlines, it seems scientists are very close to being able to merge human brains with AI. In mid-December 2023, a Nature Electronics article triggered a flurry of excitement about progress on that transhuman front:
“‘Biocomputer’ combines lab-grown brain tissue with electronic hardware”
Natasha and Max also appear in a recent video titled “Transhumanism. What it is not” in conversation with David Wood and two representatives of the anti-transhumanist camp, Alexander Thomas and Émile Torres. I’m not familiar with the work of Thomas. I’m more familiar with the work of Torres. I very strongly disagree with most of what Torres says, but I must concede that Torres seems an intelligent and perceptive person, not without a certain endearing grace. However, BS is BS.
I’ve watched and listened again to the awesome conversation between Lex Fridman and Guillaume Verdon aka Beff Jezos, the founder of the movement called effective accelerationism (e/acc) and the company Extropic AI. This long conversation (almost 3 hours) touches a lot of things including physics, quantum, thermodynamics, Artificial Intelligence, LLMs, space, e/acc philosophy & metaphysics, and of course the meaning of life & all that. This is the most complete talk on e/acc so far and is likely to remain so for some time. Watch it all, and let’s accelerate the fuck away from mediocrity toward unlimited extropian and cosmist greatness.
Robust hydrogels offer a promising solution for the development of artificial skin for bionic robots, yet few hydrogels have a comprehensive performance comparable to real human skin. Here, the authors present a general method to convert traditional elastomers into tough hydrogels via a unique radiation-induced penetrating polymerization method.
Although artificial skins can facilitate the healing of damaged skin, the restoration of tactile functions remain a challenge. Here, Kang et al. report an artificial skin with an implantable tactile sensor that can simultaneously replace the tactile function by nerve stimulation and promote skin regeneration.
Professor Mike Wooldridge asks: what is artificial intelligence? He compares how AI works and learns with how the human brain functions. Exploring the roots of AI, Mike reveals how Alan Turing devised the Imitation Game – a test of whether a machine answering a series of questions could pass as a human. The audience in the lecture theatre play a real-life version of the game to find out if AI can pass this test today. In this lecture, Mike examines real-life neurons in action and explains how artificial neural networks are inspired by neural structures in the brain. To demonstrate how AI learns, we watch drones as they are trained to recognise and fly through structures in the lecture theatre autonomously. AI exploded into the public consciousness in 2022 with the release of ChatGPT and boasts around 100 million monthly users. Mike unravels the mystery of how large language models like ChatGPT work, and he finds out if one day this technology — along with a whole suite of different AI tools — will allow us to understand the animals we share this planet with. The Christmas Lectures are the most prestigious event in the Royal Institution calendar, dating from 1,825, when Michael Faraday founded the series. They are the world’s longest running science television series and always promise to inspire and amaze each year through explosive demonstrations and interactive experiments with the live theatre audience.\ \ Subscribe and 🔔 to the BBC 👉 https://bit.ly/BBCYouTubeSub\ Watch the BBC first on iPlayer 👉 https://bbc.in/iPlayer-Home\ \ All our TV channels and S4C are available to watch live through BBC iPlayer, although some programmes may not be available to stream online due to rights. If you would like to read more on what types of programmes are available to watch live, check the ‘Are all programmes that are broadcast available on BBC iPlayer?’ FAQ 👉 https://bbc.in/2m8ks6v.
Merry Christmas! I’m super excited to share my new & debut Opinion article for The Hill, a very influential newspapaer in Washington DC.
From addressing physical limitations to boosting cognitive abilities and emotional intelligence, technological enhancements hold the potential to revolutionize the human experience and ensure that we stand the best chance to remain relevant against advancing AI. Embracing human enhancement is not just a choice but an imperative for the continued advancement of our species.
There is an urgent need to technologically enhance human beings. That need is grounded in our innate drive for progress and improvement; our survival could even be at stake.
A game-changer in prosthetics has been introduced to the world, and for the first time, amputees are regaining sensation through an electrical signal from their prosthetic arm. Max Ortiz-Catalan, a professor of bionics, explains the process of implanting these mind-controlled bionic arms through direct skeletal attachment. The researcher takes us through every step of this groundbreaking advancement in bionic medicine, from surgically implanting electrodes to fitting the prosthesis and training for everyday use.\r\ \r\ Director: Lisandro Perez-Rey\r\ Editor: Jordan Calig\r\ Expert: Prof. Max Ortiz Catalan\r\ Line Producer: Joseph Buscemi\r\ Associate Producer: Kameryn Hamilton\r\ Production Manager: D. Eric Martinez\r\ Production Coordinator: Fernando Davila\r\ Post Production Supervisor: Alexa Deutsch\r\ Post Production Coordinator: Ian Bryant\r\ Supervising Editor: Doug Larsen\r\ Assistant Editor: Justin Symonds\ \ Still haven’t subscribed to WIRED on YouTube? ►► http://wrd.cm/15fP7B7 \r\ Listen to the Get WIRED podcast ►► https://link.chtbl.com/wired-ytc-desc\r\ Want more WIRED? Get the magazine ►► https://subscribe.wired.com/subscribe…\r\ \r\ Follow WIRED:\r\ Instagram ►► / wired \r\ Twitter ►► / wired \r\ Facebook ►► / wired \r\ Tik Tok ►► / wired \r\ \r\ Get more incredible stories on science and tech with our daily newsletter: https://wrd.cm/DailyYT\r\ \r\ Also, check out the free WIRED channel on Roku, Apple TV, Amazon Fire TV, and Android TV. \r\ \r\ ABOUT WIRED\r\ WIRED is where tomorrow is realized. Through thought-provoking stories and videos, WIRED explores the future of business, innovation, and culture.
In a world-first, researchers from the GrapheneX-UTS Human-centric Artificial Intelligence Centre at the University of Technology Sydney (UTS) have developed a portable, non-invasive system that can decode silent thoughts and turn them into text.
The technology could aid communication for people who are unable to speak due to illness or injury, including stroke or paralysis. It could also enable seamless communication between humans and machines, such as the operation of a bionic arm or robot.
The study has been selected as the spotlight paper at the NeurIPS conference, an annual meeting that showcases world-leading research on artificial intelligence and machine learning, held in New Orleans on 12 December 2023.
Researchers from the Human-centric Artificial Intelligence Centre at the University of Technology Sydney have developed a portable, non-invasive system that can turn silent thoughts into text.
In a world-first, researchers from the GrapheneX-UTS Human-centric Artificial Intelligence Centre at the University of Technology Sydney (UTS) have developed a portable, non-invasive system that can decode silent thoughts and turn them into text.
The technology could aid communication for people who are unable to speak due to illness or injury, including stroke or paralysis. It could also enable seamless communication between humans and machines, such as the operation of a bionic arm or robot.
עברית (Hebrew)
