Lifeboat Foundation

“Technological advances in robotics have already produced robots that are indistinguishable from human beings,” they write. “If humanoid robots with the same appearance are mass-produced and become commonplace, we may encounter circumstances in which people or human-like products have faces with the exact same appearance in the future.”

To test peoples’ reactions, the team asked people to look at photos of individuals with the same face (clones), with different faces, and of… See more.

The uncanny valley is the scientific explanation for why we all find clowns or corpses creepy. And just when we thought nothing could be more alarming than clowns, scientists have found an even uncannier way to freak us out.

Continue reading “New Robots May Be Creepier Than The Uncanny Valley” »

Like weather forecasting, disease forecasting needs to be statistical.

While we cannot predict in advance exactly how many hurricanes will occur this year or how bad they will be, we know with great confidence that climate change is a risk factor increasing the frequency and severity of hurricanes. Our knowledge of this and all the other risk factors for hurricanes allows us to make a statistical prediction for the coming season.

Similarly, we have known for decades that ther… See more.

Continue reading “Can Future Epidemics Be Predicted?” »

In conversation with my teenage daughter last week, I pointed out a news report which flagged concerns over the use of facial recognition technologies in several school canteens in North Ayrshire, Scotland. Nine schools in the area recently launched this practice as a means to take payment for lunches more quickly and minimize COVID risk, though they’ve since paused rolling out the technology.

Starship matters.

Hundreds of millions of years of evolution have produced a variety of life-forms, each intelligent in its own fashion. Each species has evolved to develop innate skills, learning capacities, and a physical form that ensures survival in its environment.

But despite being inspired by nature and evolution, the field of artificial intelligence has largely focused on creating the elements of intelligence separately and fusing them together after the development process. While this approach has yielded great results, it has also limited the flexibility of AI agents in some of the basic skills found in even the simplest life-forms.

Continue reading “New deep reinforcement learning technique helps AI to evolve” »

There is no cure for the disease, for which Alzheimer’s is the most common form (about 75% of dementia cases).

But finding out what raises the risk can help people try and prevent it.

A new study has offered more clues about the type of people who typically get Alzheimer’s.

Weird flex, but OK.

Facebook chief Mark Zuckerberg on Thursday announced the parent company’s name is being changed to “Meta” to represent a future beyond just its troubled social network.

The new handle comes as the social media giant tries to fend off one its worst crises yet and pivot to its ambitions for the “metaverse” virtual reality version of the internet that the tech giant sees as the future.

Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp will keep their names under the rebranding.

As tech titans invest in the quest to extend our lives, Anjana Ahuja asks if longer lifespans are at last possible — and at what cost.

News, analysis and comment from the Financial Times, the worldʼs leading global business publication.