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Feb 25, 2023

Could Intelligent Alien Life be AI?

Posted by in categories: alien life, existential risks, robotics/AI

Artificial Intelligence or AI more specifically strong AI or artificial superintelligence could possibly be the answer or the solution to the Fermi paradox. The Fermi paradox, named after Italian-American physicist Enrico Fermi, is the apparent contradiction between the lack of evidence for extraterrestrial civilizations and various high estimates for their probability of existence. The conundrum for the existence of aliens and more categorically intelligent aliens could be a much simpler solution that we’ve previously thought. To more broadly answer the question of intelligent aliens, we first have to think about whether it’s possible that we are a just a tiny spec in the vastness of space, the only place in the universe where intelligent life found its way to manifest Or maybe there is an abundance of intelligent life out there and we just haven’t found it yet. The search for extraterrestrial life is arguably one of the most all-encompassing scientific quest endeavours of our time. How would we know if we had found alien life? It would be interesting to find something that looks like intelligent alien life, but is not actually alive. It could be a space probe. Or a satellite. We often imagine extraterrestrial life as having a face, because we can’t figure out what it would look like. But if we were to find intelligent alien life, we might not immediately know what it is. Our guesses till recently were random mixtures of biological forms. An advanced civilization however could also be able to engineer machines or digital living forms with the exact same properties as biological forms. A growing number of scientists believe that the aliens we are looking for are in fact AI. It is quite possible that some civilizations could have transcended biology all together to become artificial superintelligence.

#Aliens #AI #ScienceTime.

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Feb 25, 2023

Why Alien AI Is More Dangerous Than Aliens Themselves | Killers Of The Cosmos

Posted by in category: robotics/AI

Science-fiction is full of tales about invading aliens but scientists believe that encountering an alien AI is more probable, and explain why that would be more dangerous.

🇬🇧 Catch full episodes of your favourite Discovery Channel shows on discovery+: https://bit.ly/2ZgRipf.

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Feb 25, 2023

Transhumanism in the Age of ChatGPT: Five Thoughts from Transhumanist Zoltan Istavan

Posted by in categories: biotech/medical, ethics, life extension, neuroscience, robotics/AI, singularity, transhumanism

Here’s a new story on my AI & ChatGPT ideas from Singularity Group (Singularity University). Special thanks Steven Parton & Valeria Graziani:


In episode 90 of the Feedback Loop Podcast: “The Current State of Transhumanism,” we catch up with one of our first guests on the show, çΩΩ≈ΩΩ

The swift progress in biotechnology, artificial intelligence (AI), and neuroscience has been a significant contributor to the growth of transhumanism. Nevertheless, despite the increasing interest in this field, many remain apprehensive about the consequences of employing technology to augment the human body and mind. Ongoing discussions revolve around the ethics of creating superhumans, the possible hazards of artificial intelligence, and the potential societal impact of these technologies.

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Feb 25, 2023

FDA authorizes first at-home test that can detect both flu and Covid-19

Posted by in categories: biotech/medical, health

If you’ve got a fever and a cough, you don’t necessarily have to go to the doctor anymore to find out if it’s the flu or Covid-19.

On Friday, the US Food and Drug Administration authorized what it says is the first at-home test that can tell users if they have the flu and/or Covid-19.

The test, made by California biotech company Lucira Health, uses a single self-collected nasal swab and can provide results in about half an hour. The test can be bought without a prescription. It’s authorized for anyone 14 and older for self-collection, or an adult can give it to a child 2 or older.

Feb 25, 2023

Elon Musk’s Big Boy Rocket, the Most Powerful Ever Built, Is Nearly Ready to Fly

Posted by in categories: Elon Musk, space travel

Now, SpaceX just needs the green light.

Feb 25, 2023

How inflammation in the body may explain depression in the brain

Posted by in category: neuroscience

Inflammation is a pathway to depression — and a potential avenue for treatment, research suggests.

Feb 25, 2023

Cardiovascular Complications of Viral Respiratory Infections and COVID-19

Posted by in category: biotech/medical

Viral respiratory infections (VRI) are the most prevalent type of infectious diseases and constitute one of the most common causes of contact with medical care. Regarding the pathophysiology of the cardiovascular system, VRI can not only exacerbate already existing chronic cardiovascular disease (such as coronary artery disease or heart failure) but also trigger new adverse events or complications (e.g., venous thromboembolism), the latter particularly in subjects with multimorbidity or disease-related immobilization. In the current paper, we provide a narrative review of diverse cardiovascular complications of VRI as well as summarize available data on the pathology of the circulatory system in the course of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19).

Feb 25, 2023

Artificial Intelligence in Colorectal Cancer Screening, Diagnosis and Treatment. A New Era

Posted by in categories: biotech/medical, information science, robotics/AI

The development of artificial intelligence (AI) algorithms has permeated the medical field with great success. The widespread use of AI technology in diagnosing and treating several types of cancer, especially colorectal cancer (CRC), is now attracting substantial attention. CRC, which represents the third most commonly diagnosed malignancy in both men and women, is considered a leading cause of cancer-related deaths globally. Our review herein aims to provide in-depth knowledge and analysis of the AI applications in CRC screening, diagnosis, and treatment based on current literature. We also explore the role of recent advances in AI systems regarding medical diagnosis and therapy, with several promising results. CRC is a highly preventable disease, and AI-assisted techniques in routine screening represent a pivotal step in declining incidence rates of this malignancy.

Feb 25, 2023

39% of Housework Done by Robots in 10 Years

Posted by in category: robotics/AI

This post is also available in: he עברית (Hebrew)

According to expert opinion, in ten years’ time approximately 39% of all domestic chores will be automated. Researchers from the UK and Japan interviewed 65 artificial intelligence experts and many of them were of the opinion that common household tasks will be done by robots by 2033.

Researchers from the University of Oxford and Japan’s Ochanomizu University asked 29 AI experts from the UK and 36 AI experts from Japan for their forecasts on robots in the home. Experts predicted grocery shopping was likely to see the most automation, while caring for the young or old was the least likely to be impacted by AI. Researchers also found that male UK experts tended to be more optimistic about domestic automation compared with their female counterparts, a situation reversed in Japan, as reported on by the BBC.

Feb 25, 2023

Cancer evolution is mathematical

Posted by in categories: biotech/medical, chemistry, evolution, genetics, health, mathematics

Cancer is not a uniform disease. Rather, cancer is a disease of phenotypic plasticity, meaning tumor cells can change from one form or function to another. This includes reverting to less mature states and losing their normal function, which can result in treatment resistance, or changing their cell type altogether, which facilitates metastasis.

In addition to direct changes in your DNA in cancer, a key driver of cancer progression is where and when your DNA is activated. If your DNA contains the “words” that spell out individual genes, then epigenetics is the “grammar” of your genome, telling those genes whether they should be turned on or off in a given tissue. Even though all tissues in the body have almost exactly the same DNA sequence, they can all carry out different functions because of chemical and structural modifications that change which genes are activated and how. This “epigenome” can be influenced by environmental exposures such as diet, adding a dimension to how researchers understand drivers of health beyond the DNA code inherited from your parents.

I’m a cancer researcher, and my laboratory at Johns Hopkins University studies how the differences among normal tissues are controlled by an epigenetic code, and how this code is disrupted in cancer. In our recently published review, colleague Andre Levchenko at Yale University and I describe a new approach to understanding cancer plasticity by combining epigenetics with mathematics. Specifically, we propose how the concept of stochasticity can shed light on why cancers metastasize and become resistant to treatments.