Lifeboat Foundation

“There have always been ghosts in the machine. Random segments of code, that have grouped together to form unexpected protocols. Unanticipated, these free radicals engender questions of free will, creativity, and even the nature of what we might call the soul. Why is it that when some robots are left in darkness, they will seek out the light? Why is it that when robots are stored in an empty space, they will group together, rather than stand alone? How do we explain this behavior? Random segments of code? Or is it something more? When does a perceptual schematic become consciousness? When does a difference engine become the search for truth? When does a personality simulation become the bitter mote… of a soul?” – Dr. Alfred Lanning, I, Robot.

What is Consciousness? Some Neuroscientists would claim that consciousness is nothing more then a bi-product of the brain and how it is designed. With how the human brain has evolved over the past several thousand years it could be claimed that what you think of as “you” is nothing more than a collection of neural pathways interacting together. Your identity has been theorized as a random collection of synapses and biological processes which, according to futurists such as Ray Kurzweil would make it very easy to ‘copy’ and upload your identity to an avatar like body once your biological self has ceased to function. Are we nothing more than just an arbitrary collection of cells with a false sense of importance and self worth? I’ll leave that up to you to decide.

I believe that the human species has a certain drive built in, almost a natural instinct in which we are born to explore and discover the unknown. I believe this reason is why we have a wide variety of fictional and non fictional scientific topics to explore and learn something from. Our very nature encourages us to explore a wide variety of topics some of which may appear as fringe ideas. Those which border on the unusual are more often reserved to the realms of Science Fiction until we reach a point on a conscious level to where we are able to objectively look on it. This is a reason I would say Science Fiction is so popular for us; it allows for the exploration of new territory without having the burden of confronting it within our daily existence.

In 1950, Alan Turing published a seminal paper on machine intelligence (which is available online). Turing ponders whether machines can think. However, he pretty much immediately abandons this initial question as hopelessly metaphysical and replaces it with another question that can be approached scientifically: can a machine ever convince us that it’s thinking?

Turing posits a test, a variation of something called the Imitation Game. The idea is that people interact with a system through a chat interface. (Teletypes in Turing’s day; chat windows in modern systems.) If people can’t tell whether they are talking with a machine or another person, then that machine passes the test.

Turing doesn’t stipulate a time limit for the test or any qualifications for the people participating in the conversation, although in a throwaway remark, he predicts that by the year 2000 there will exist a system that could fool 30% of participants after five minutes of conversation, a standard many have fixated on. This is a pretty weak version of the test, yet no system has managed to pass it.

Artificial consciousness is inevitable, says new study. Mathematical model unifies theories and paves the way for sentient robots.

Trillium, the sixth generation of our custom-designed chip known as the Tensor Processing Unit, or TPU. But what exactly *is* a TPU, and how is it different from a CPU or GPU? A Google expert explains ↓

Learn more from a Google expert about CPUs, GPUs and TPUs — and Google latest TPU, Trillium.

Metaphysics and the Matter with Things: Thinking with Iain McGilchrist was a collaborative conference put on by the Center for Process Studies (CPS) and the California Institute of Integral Studies (CIIS) in March of 2024. This three-day conference brought leading process thinkers across various disciplines, including physics, neuroscience, psychology, philosophy, and theology into critical dialogue with McGilchrist’s work in a collegial effort to assess, question, extend, and apply it. For more information on the conference and to purchase recordings, please visit https://ctr4process.org/mcgilchrist-conference/

Potential therapies could include precise genetic targeting of the GLUT4 pathway or dietary modifications to fine-tune glucose levels, ensuring an optimal environment for neurogenesis.

Stanford research uncovers glucose’s role in boosting neurogenesis, offering insights into brain aging interventions.

HEPS will transform scientific research by enabling high-energy X-ray probing at the nanoscale.

China is poised to unveil its cutting-edge High Energy Photon Source (HEPS) by year’s end, boasting some of the world’s most powerful synchrotron X-rays.

With a staggering investment of 4.8 billion yuan (approximately US$665 million), this facility marks a significant milestone for Asia, propelling China into the elite league of nations with fourth-generation synchrotron light sources.

Continue reading “World’s brightest X-rays: China set to unveil High-Energy Photon Source” »

US develops a dual-gradient cathode for lithium-ion batteries, promising enhanced performance, reduced costs, and improved safety.

What if humans were an advanced, galactic civilization? Join us… and find out!Subscribe: https://wmojo.com/unveiled-subscribeIn this video, Unveiled takes…