Lifeboat Foundation

We may have evolved to be “naive realists,” guided by a deep subconscious intuition that we perceive the world as it truly is. In practice, perhaps, our reality could be described as “augmented” with our assumptions about the world. These assumptions are acquired through our limited means of learning, distorted by cognitive and motivational biases. We shouldn’t be too harsh on our brains, though. Just imagine what it must be like for them – confined to Plato’s cave of the skull, tasked with assembling an accurate picture of the outside world from a barrage of noisy electrical signals.

We often mistakenly assume that every child’s mind is a blank slate before they start formal learning. However, current research suggests that we begin to rely on underlying assumptions about the world quickly after we are born. Infants already have basic physical expectations and are surprised when the behavior of objects contradicts them. Implicit assumptions about the world, which develop during infancy and continue into adulthood, direct our basic perceptual and motor activities. You may have experienced them when picking up a milk carton you didn’t know was empty: your hand unexpectedly flew up as your brain overestimated the amount of effort required to lift the carton. Our inability to “unsee” an optical illusion – even after observing it multiple times and clearly understanding its mechanics – also suggests the resiliency of our expectations.

If our beliefs are so unreliable, why do we place so much confidence in them? As it turns out, the feeling of certainty in our convictions is merely a physical sensation akin to hunger. This feeling may have evolved as a “circuit breaker” to help our ancient ancestors with instant life-and-death decisions. Any uncertainty could delay immediate action and spell disaster. As a result, we appear wired to experience discomfort in the face of uncertainty. Our intuition may suggest that our confidence must grow as we gain skills. Yet, in practice, the more we learn, the more we realize how much there is to know. The famous Dunning-Kruger chart illustrates how we start out overconfident in our understanding and then become more humble as our expertise increases. Since we are likely to be unaware of our hubris, we need to learn strategies to avoid overconfidence and identify our misconceptions. As always, it is best to start early.

Swytch bike/Twitter.

Boudway tried the user-friendly kit himself and shared his experience.

The technology system will enable the Yanghuopan Power Station in Yulin City, Shaanxi, to save 24,500 tonnes of coal and cut 54,100 tonnes of carbon emissions annually, claims Chinese media.

China claims the “world’s first” power plant equipped with a “natural direct cooling” (NDC) system is now connected to the grid in the Shaanxi Province of the country.

“The technology, described as ‘a revolution in industrial air cooling’ by local newspaper Shaanxi Daily, makes use of the natural airflow in the plant to guide the heat to the air condenser,” said the report.

Continue reading “China claims ‘revolutionary breakthrough’ in cooling power plants” »

It’s called the C/2022 E3 (ZTF) comet.

A comet that last appeared in the night sky during the Ice Age will soon make a reappearance in February 2023, according to a NASA statement published last week. Called the C/2022 E3 (ZTF) comet, it orbits the sun every 50,000 years. It will now pass within 26 million miles of Earth on February 1st, 2023.

It could also be visible to the naked eye in mid-to-late January. The comet can be seen using binoculars and low-level telescopes when the skies are clear.

Continue reading “A comet not seen since 50,000 years will be visible again in early 2023” »

Now picture a random object, or a scene from your childhood, and ask yourself the same questions. How vividly can you ‘see’ it in your mind?

Some people cannot see anything. Nothing. Their mind’s eye is blank. They experience a neural phenomenon called aphantasia.

Aphantasia is a condition in which a person cannot visualize mental images. In other words, when they attempt to imagine or think about something they cannot create an internal mental image or picture. Because of this, individuals who experience aphantasia can have a hard time recalling things like past experiences and the visual details associated with those memories. They also tend to have difficulty with tasks that require visualizing or imagining physical objects and how they move and rotate in space. This can have an impact on their spatial reasoning.

Mental health has become a widespread topic nowadays.

In the past, discussions concerning mental health were often hushed up or altogether swept under the rug. A gradual cultural change has led to openly considering mental health issues and eased qualms about doing so in publicly acknowledged ways.

You might give some of the credit for this change in overarching societal attitudes as an outcome of the advent of easily accessed smartphone apps that aid your personal mindfulness and presumably spur you toward mental well-being. There are apps for mindfulness, ones for meditation, ones for diagnosing your mental health status, ones for doing mental health screening, and so on.

Continue reading “People Are Eagerly Consulting Generative AI ChatGPT For Mental Health Advice, Stressing Out AI Ethics And AI Law” »

Senior corporate officers across the nation are wringing their hands. The 2023 economic climate is uncertain, but one thing is for sure—more layoffs are coming. In November 2022 alone, more than 80,000 layoffs were announced from tech giants like Meta, Amazon, and Twitter, as well as conventional companies like PepsiCo, Goldman Sachs, and Ford.

Downsizing is one of the most difficult things that leaders ever have to accomplish.

AI can offer objective performance evaluation to help managers decide who stays and who goes. AI software startups like GoFusion Perfacto and Entomo use data from employee productivity, attendance record, and other KPIs to help separate the star players from the rest on the basis of objective performance metrics.

Continue reading “Using AI For Organizational Rightsizing: 5 Benefits For Decision Making” »

The size of an economy is measured by GDP (Gross Domestic Product). GDP is calculated by adding up the value of all goods and services produced within a country’s borders in a given year. This includes the value of goods and services produced by both the government and the private sector. GDP is typically measured in monetary terms, using current market prices for goods and services. GDP is used as a measure of the size and strength of an economy, as well as its overall level of economic activity. It is often used to compare the economies of different countries and to track economic growth over time.

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One of the factors limiting the GDP is the number of skilled workers. Can AI usher in an era where that factor is no longer the limitation? This article explores how AI has the potential to increase the GDP and eventually lead to a limitless economy.

Continue reading “Can Artificial Intelligence Create A Limitless Economy?” »

Nothing can go faster than light. It’s a rule of physics woven into the very fabric of Einstein’s special theory of relativity. The faster something goes, the closer it gets to its perspective of time freezing to a standstill.

Go faster still, and you run into issues of time reversing, messing with notions of causality.

But researchers from the University of Warsaw in Poland and the National University of Singapore have now pushed the limits of relativity to come up with a system that doesn’t run afoul of existing physics, and might even point the way to new theories.