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Michael Graziano: Rethinking Consciousness? Attention Schema Theory & the Science of Subjectivity

Michael Graziano is a scientist and novelist who is currently a Professor of Psychology and Neuroscience at Princeton University. He’s a best-selling author and has written several books including “Consciousness and the Social Brain”, “Re-thinking Consciousness”, “The Spaces Between Us”, and much more. His scientific research at Graziano Lab focuses on the brain basis of awareness. He has proposed the “attention schema theory” (AST), an explanation of how, and for what adaptive advantage, brains attribute the property of awareness to themselves.

TIMESTAMPS:
0:00 — Introduction.
2:12 — Meet Dr Michael Graziano: The Consciousness Theorist.
6:44 — What Is Consciousness? A Deep Dive.
11:35 — The Illusion of Consciousness.
15:20 — Attention Schema Theory.
20:05 — Mystery of Self-Awareness and the ‘I’
25:10 — The Hard Problem vs. the Meta Problem of Consciousness.
30:55 — Social Awareness & Dehumanization.
34:20 — Effect of Social Media on Human Interaction.
38:05 — Role of Attention in Machine Consciousness.
41:55 — Creating an AI Mind: Step by Step Guide.
47:30 — Exploring the Building Blocks of Artificial Consciousness.
51:15 — AI Self-Perception: Can Machines Be Conscious?
56:10 — Challenging the Magical vs. Scientific View of Consciousness.
1:00:40 — Consciousness: A Choice Between Magic and Science?
1:05:12 — Attention in Machine Learning: A Closer Look.
1:10:55 — The Psychology of Human Perception.
1:14:20 — Social Awareness and the Digital Revolution.
1:18:35 — Conclusion.

EPISODE LINKS:
Michael’s Website: https://grazianolab.princeton.edu/
Michael’s Books: https://tinyurl.com/2eufd62r.
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New technique using Raman scattering can dramatically improve laser linewidth for better quantum computing

Macquarie University researchers have demonstrated a technique to dramatically narrow the linewidth of a laser beam by a factor of over ten thousand—a discovery that could revolutionize quantum computing, atomic clocks and gravitational wave detection.

In research published in APL Photonics, the team described using diamond crystals and the Raman effect—where laser light stimulates vibrations in materials and then scatters off those vibrations—to narrow the linewidth of laser beams by factors exceeding 10,000.

Laser linewidth measures how precisely a beam of light maintains its frequency and color purity. The narrower the linewidth, the more monochromatic and spectrally pure the laser. The team’s theoretical predictions suggest even greater improvements are possible with the method they have developed.

India’s richest man wants to turn every TV into a PC

Jio Platforms, the digital arm of Indian conglomerate Reliance Industries, has launched a virtual desktop service for set-top box users. This means that India’s richest man, Reliance’s chairman Mukesh Ambani, hopes to turn millions of TVs in the world’s most populous country into PCs.

Called JioPC, the service offers a cloud-based PC experience through Jio’s set-top box, which comes bundled for free with the telco’s home broadband service or can be purchased separately for ₹5,499 ($64). Currently in free trial and available via waitlist, users can access the virtual desktop on their TV by plugging in a keyboard and mouse once they receive an invite and set up their account.

At present, the service has some limitations, including no support for external peripherals, such as cameras and printers. Similarly, it supports open source LibreOffice, which is pre-installed. To use Microsoft Office apps, users need to access them via the available browser.

Chinese team says carbon dioxide can be turned into sugar

“Artificial conversion of carbon dioxide into food and chemicals offers a promising strategy to address both environmental and population-related challenges while contributing to carbon neutrality,” the team said in a paper published in the peer-reviewed journal Science Bulletin in May.

Reducing carbon dioxide to less complex molecules has proven successful, though the researchers said that generating long-chain carbohydrates – the most abundant substances in nature – has proven to be a challenge for scientists.

“In vitro biotransformation (ivBT) has emerged as a highly promising platform for sustainable biomanufacturing,” the team from the Chinese Academy of Sciences’ Tianjin Institute of Industrial Biotechnology wrote.

Human-Constructed Dams Have Shifted the Earth’s Poles, Scientists Say

Humans have built so many dams around the world that the Earth’s poles have wandered away from the planet’s rotational axis, new research suggests.

Over the last 200 years, humans have constructed nearly 7,000 massive dams, impounding enough water to nudge the Earth’s poles by about three feet (one meter) and cause a 0.83-inch (21-millimeter) drop in global sea levels, according to a new study in Geophysical Research Letters.

This drift is possible because Earth’s solid crust forms a hard shell around a molten layer of gooey magma. This means that whenever a significant amount of mass is redistributed across the planet’s surface, the outermost rock layer wobbles, shifting relative to Earth’s molten interior. When this happens, different areas on the Earth’s surface end up directly over the planet’s rotational axis. As a result, the planet’s poles pass through different surface locations than before, a phenomenon known as true polar wander.

Wireless induction concept demonstrates self-recharging mechanism in batteries

A research team led by the Institute of Materials Science of Barcelona (ICMAB-CSIC) has demonstrated a new induction-based mechanism that enables partial self-recharging in batteries, using a symmetric iron-based configuration as a proof of concept. The study, published in Electrochimica Acta, lays the groundwork for future battery systems that integrate wireless recharging capabilities through induced redox reactions.