Lifeboat Foundation: Safeguarding Humanity
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Life is really weird. From the vantage point of a physicist, it is even stranger. Life is unlike any other phenomenon in physics. Stars, electrons, and black holes are all amazing in their own ways. But only life invents, and the first thing life invents is itself.

Life is creative in a way that no other physical system can be, and its unique use of information may be the key to understanding what makes it different from other physical systems. Now, thanks to a new grant my colleagues and I have received from the Templeton Foundation, we are going to be exploring exactly how information allows life to work its magic. I’m very excited about the project, and this essay is my first report from the frontier as we plunge into terra incognita.

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𝐑𝐞𝐬𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐜𝐡 𝐞𝐱𝐩𝐥𝐨𝐫𝐞𝐬 𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐥𝐲 𝐩𝐫𝐞𝐝𝐢𝐜𝐭𝐨𝐫𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐜𝐡𝐢𝐥𝐝𝐫𝐞𝐧’𝐬 𝐥𝐚𝐧𝐠𝐮𝐚𝐠𝐞 𝐝𝐞𝐥𝐚𝐲𝐬

𝙄𝙣 𝙖 𝙣𝙚𝙬 𝙨𝙩𝙪𝙙𝙮 𝙡𝙚𝙙 𝙗𝙮 𝘼𝙨𝙨𝙤𝙘𝙞𝙖𝙩𝙚 𝙋𝙧𝙤𝙛𝙚𝙨𝙨𝙤𝙧 𝙇𝙮𝙣𝙣 𝙋𝙚𝙧𝙧𝙮, 𝙧𝙚𝙨𝙚𝙖𝙧𝙘𝙝𝙚𝙧𝙨 𝙝𝙖𝙫𝙚 𝙛𝙤𝙪𝙣𝙙 𝙩𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙨𝙥𝙚𝙘𝙞𝙛𝙞𝙘 𝙩𝙮𝙥𝙚𝙨 𝙤𝙛 𝙬𝙤𝙧𝙙𝙨 𝙘𝙝𝙞𝙡𝙙𝙧𝙚𝙣 𝙠𝙣𝙤𝙬 𝙛𝙞𝙧𝙨𝙩 𝙘𝙖𝙣 𝙗𝙚 𝙖𝙣 𝙚𝙖𝙧𝙡𝙮 𝙥𝙧𝙚𝙙𝙞𝙘𝙩𝙤𝙧 𝙤𝙛 𝙡𝙖𝙣𝙜𝙪𝙖𝙜𝙚 𝙙𝙞𝙛𝙛𝙞𝙘𝙪𝙡𝙩𝙞𝙚𝙨

In a new study led by Associate Professor Lynn Perry, researchers have found that the specific types of words children know first can be an early predictor of language difficulties.

The paper, “Late bloomer or disorder? Differences in toddler composition associated with long-term language outcomes,” which was recently published in Developmental Science, suggests that the number of words toddlers know that name things that are similar in shape, such as cup, ball, and spoon (i.e., “shape-based nouns”), can differentiate between children who are considered late bloomers and those who have persisting delays months or years later.

Continue reading “Research explores early predictors of children’s language delays” | >

For people ages 75 and older, age-related changes in general health and in the heart and blood vessels require consideration and likely modifications in how heart attacks and heart disease are treated, according to a new American Heart Association scientific statement published today in the Association’s flagship, peer-reviewed journal Circulation.

The new statement, “Management of acute coronary syndrome (ACS) in the older adult population,” highlights recent evidence to help clinicians better care for patients over age 75. According to the statement, 30–40% of people hospitalized with ACS are age 75 or older. ACS includes and unstable angina (heart-related chest pain).

The statement is an update of a 2007 American Heart Association statement on the treatment of heart attacks in the elderly.

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Launching your business with a premium name can be like opening a retail store in a busy shopping district.

Due to their short and memorable nature, many premium domains already receive significant type-in traffic. Your organization can utilize this established presence and existing traffic to attract customers, build your brand and gain recognition as an industry leader.

You need a name that will resonate with your customers. The intuitive, memorable nature of premium names makes them ideal. A memorable name can be easier to brand and helps increase the likelihood of customers finding you, over your competitor.

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Interview with Hugo in Melbourne after the Singularity Summit Australia 2010, conducted by Adam A. Ford.

Terrans, Cyborgs and Cosmists — Varieties of human groups. Species dominance.

Bio: Prof. Dr. Hugo de Garis, 63, has lived in 7 countries. He recently retired from his role of Director of the Artificial Brain Lab (ABL) at Xiamen University, China, where he was building China’s first artificial brain. He and his friend Prof. Dr. Ben Goertzel have just finished guest editing a special issue on artificial brains for Neurocomputing journal (December 2010), the first of its kind on the planet.

He continues to live in China, where his U.S. savings go 7 times further, given China’s much lower cost of living. He spends his afternoons in his favorite (beautiful) park, and his nights in his apartment, intensively studying PhD-level pure math and mathematical physics to be able to write books on topics such as femtometer scale technology (“femtotech”), topological quantum computing (TQC), as well as other technical and sociopolitical themes.

Continue reading “Hugo de Garis interview — part 3 — Terrans, Cosmists & Cyborgs 2010/10/09 007−1” | >

A Twitter user who runs an account which tracks Elon Musk’s private jet says it has been shadowbanned since Musk bought the platform.

Jack Sweeney, the person behind the jet tracking account, ElonJet, took to Twitter on Sunday to accuse the social media platform of suppressing the automated account.

In a thread Sweeney dubbed, “My Twitter Files,” he claimed an anonymous Twitter employee informed him that his ElonJet account was “visibility limited/restricted to a severe degree internally” on December 2.

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George Hotz, the 32-year-old CEO of Comma AI who made a name for himself as the hacker “geohot” when he was just a teenager, announced that he is stepping away from his company on his GitHub page. According to Hotz, he no longer feels “capable” to continue leading the driver-assist technology company he created seven years ago.

Hotz has had a long history in the tech industry despite his young age. He gained notoriety in hacker communities at the age of 17 after becoming the first person to carrier unlock the iPhone. He also bumped heads with Sony a few years later for hacking the PlayStation 3.

Hotz also got into a disagreement with Elon Musk in 2015 after Musk allegedly wanted to hire him because he thought he could improve Tesla’s Autopilot software. Hotz later founded Comma AI, which focused itself on driver-assist technologies. In true hacker fashion, Hotz’s autonomous driving code, “openpilot,” was posted online for free.

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We swat bees to avoid painful stings, but do they feel the pain we inflict? A new study suggests they do, a possible clue that they and other insects have sentience—the ability to be aware of their feelings.

“It’s an impressive piece of work” with important implications, says Jonathan Birch, a philosopher and expert on animal sentience at the London School of Economics who was not involved with the paper. If the study holds up, he says, “the world contains far more sentient beings than we ever realized.”

Previous research has shown honey bees and bumble bees are intelligent, innovative, creatures. They understand the concept of zero, can do simple math, and distinguish among human faces (and probably bee faces, too). They’re usually optimistic when successfully foraging, but can become depressed if momentarily trapped by a predatory spider. Even when a bee escapes a spider, “her demeanor changes; for days after, she’s scared of every flower,” says Lars Chittka, a cognitive scientist at Queen Mary University of London whose lab carried out that study as well as the new research. “They were experiencing an emotional state.”

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