Lifeboat Foundation

I really love this topic – questioning what’s out there for humanity besides a singularity that may or may not happen or a discovery of the source powering an uber sophisticated kind of video game a.k.a. the *simulated* and likely *holographic universe*… Yes, evolution gets me all excited.

What follows now are possible futures for all of us, based on circulating theories on (continuing) evolution.

These futures show either a grinding halt to evolution, a continuing mutation and selection here on earth, some new form of evolution driven by technology, and (in a way related to technology, as well) a differentiation introduced by mimicking and adapting to a life on speculative space colonies.

Continue reading “Enhancing Humanity — What’s The Next Phase Of Human Evolution?” »

The DeepMind artificial intelligence (AI) being developed by Google’s parent company, Alphabet, can now intelligently build on what’s already inside its memory, the system’s programmers have announced.

Their new hybrid system – called a Differential Neural Computer (DNC) – pairs a neural network with the vast data storage of conventional computers, and the AI is smart enough to navigate and learn from this external data bank.

Continue reading “Google’s AI can now learn from its own memory independently” »

By forcefully embedding two silicon atoms in a diamond matrix, Sandia researchers have demonstrated for the first time on a single chip all the components needed to create a quantum bridge to link “People have already built small quantum computers,” says Sandia researcher Ryan Camacho. “Maybe the first useful one won’t be a single giant quantum computer but a connected cluster of small ones.”

Distributing quantum information on a bridge, or network, could also enable novel forms of quantum sensing, since quantum correlations allow all the atoms in the network to behave as though they were one single atom.

The joint work with Harvard University used a focused ion beam implanter at Sandia’s Ion Beam Laboratory designed for blasting single ions into precise locations on a diamond substrate. Sandia researchers Ed Bielejec, Jose Pacheco and Daniel Perry used implantation to replace one carbon atom of the diamond with the larger silicon atom, which causes the two carbon atoms on either side of the silicon atom to feel crowded enough to flee. That leaves the silicon atom a kind of large landowner, buffered against stray electrical currents by the neighboring non-conducting vacancies.

It’s been a big year for the ‘impossible’ EM Drive — a new kind of rocket engine that appears to generate thrust without any kind of exhaust or propellant. Back in May, NASA researchers reported a successful 10-week trial of their EM Drive prototype, and inventor Guido Fetta just got approval to test his own version in space.

Now, the UK Intellectual Property Office has released the latest patent application from British EM Drive inventor Roger Shawyer, and he says millions of pounds rest on the success of design within.

“The patent process is a very significant process, it’s not like an academic peer review where everyone hides behind an anonymous review, it’s all out in the open,” Shawyer told Mary-Ann Russon at the International Business Times.

Continue reading “The latest patent for the ‘impossible’ EM Drive has just been made public — and it’s wild” »

As Uber pushes ahead with plans for self-driving cars, there are differing views on the roles of drivers in that future.

Researchers have made the breakthrough of couch potatoes’ dreams with a new drug that mimics some of the most important effects of exercise. Scientists from Deakin University in Melbourne published their findings in Cell Reports earlier this week, showing that overweight mice who were given the drug no longer showed signs of cardiovascular disease.

Madeleine Lancaster has 300 brains growing in her lab – here’s how she’s done it.

The robot uses trial and error to perfect complex tasks.

A new mathematical model of memory could accelerate the quest to build super-powered, brain-inspired hardware systems.