Lifeboat Foundation

As my friends Tristan Harris and Aza Raskin of the Center for Humane Technology (CHT) explain in their April 9th YouTube presentation, the AI revolution is moving much too fast for, and proving much too slippery for, conventional legal and regulatory responses by humans and their state power.

Crucially, these two idealistic Silicon Valley renegades point out, in an accessible manner, exactly what has made the recent jump in AI capacity possible:

Generative AI startup Jasper is creating an AI marketing assistant capable of writing ad copy, blogs, and other web content. Founded just two years ago, the startup raised $125 million in October at a $1.5 billion valuation.

AI startup Magic. Dev wants to make it easier to write computer code. The company uses large language models like OpenAI’s ChatGPT to develop software that can write lines of code based on a text prompt. The program is meant to make software engineers more efficient. The company has raised $28 million to date from investors including Alphabet’s CapitalG.

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I quoted and responded to this remark:

“…we probably will not solve death and this actually shouldn’t be our goal.” Well nice as she seems thank goods Dr Levine does not run the scientific community involved in rejuvenation.

Continue reading “The science of super longevity | Dr. Morgan Levine” »

Human-computer interaction company Sightful is releasing its first product, Spacetop, a screen-less “augmented reality laptop” projecting tabs across a 100-inch virtual screen. The laptop — if you can call it that — is a hardware deck and full-size keyboard with a pair of tailored NReal glasses. The glasses project tabs directly in front of whatever the user is looking at while remaining invisible to anyone else.

Specs-wise, Spacetop is running a Snapdragon 865 paired with an Adreno 650 GPU, 8GB RAM and 256GB storage, putting it in the same class as some of the smartphones that are already capable of driving AR glasses. It’s not smartphone-sized, however, measuring 1.57-inches high, 10.47-inches wide and 8.8-inches deep, and it weighs in at 3.3 pounds, the same as plenty of laptops we could choose to mention here.

Sightful is clearly gunning for a crossover hit in the work-from-home-or-anywhere market. “Laptops are the centerpiece of our daily working lives, but the technology has not evolved with the modern, work from anywhere, privacy matters, ‘road warrior’ mentality. Meanwhile, augmented reality is full of potential and promise but is yet to find its daily use case,” said Tamir Berliner, Sightful co-founder who previously worked at both Leap Motion and Primesense. “We are at the perfect moment for a significant paradigm shift in a device we all know and love.”

Now there’s a mathematical model that could maximize the effectiveness of exercise.

OpenAI’s cofounders, including Sam Altman, said in a blog post that there needed to be a proactive approach to managing AI’s potential harms.

In two new studies, North Carolina State University researchers have designed and tested a series of textile fibers that can change shape and generate force like a muscle. In the first study, published in Actuators, the researchers focused on the materials’ influence on artificial muscles’ strength and contraction length. The findings could help researchers tailor the fibers for different applications.

In the second, proof-of-concept study published in Biomimetics, the researchers tested their fibers as scaffolds for live cells. Their findings suggest the fibers—known as “fiber robots”—could potentially be used to develop 3D models of living, moving systems in the human body.

“We found that our fiber robot is a very suitable scaffold for the cells, and we can alter the frequency and contraction ratio to create a more suitable environment for cells,” said Muh Amdadul Hoque, graduate student in textile engineering, chemistry and science at NC State. “These were proof-of concept studies; ultimately, our goal is to see if we can study these fibers as a scaffold for stem cells, or use them to develop artificial organs in future studies.”

United Airlines and California-based startup Archer Aviation have announced plans to use flying cars to ferry passengers between Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport and a “vertiport” just minutes from downtown.

“I’m pleased that Chicago residents will be among the first in the nation to experience this innovative, convenient form of travel,” said Chicago Mayor Lori E. Lightfoot.

Continue reading “United Airlines plans to bring flying cars to Chicago” »