Lifeboat Foundation

Popular media and policy-oriented discussions on the incorporation of artificial intelligence (AI) into nuclear weapons systems frequently focus on matters of launch authority—that is, whether AI, especially machine learning (ML) capabilities, should be incorporated into the decision to use nuclear weapons and thereby reduce the role of human control in the decisionmaking process. This is a future we should avoid. Yet while the extreme case of automating nuclear weapons use is high stakes, and thus existential to get right, there are many other areas of potential AI adoption into the nuclear enterprise that require assessment. Moreover, as the conventional military moves rapidly to adopt AI tools in a host of mission areas, the overlapping consequences for the nuclear mission space, including in nuclear command, control, and communications (NC3), may be underappreciated.

AI may be used in ways that do not directly involve or are not immediately recognizable to senior decisionmakers. These areas of AI application are far left of an operational decision or decision to launch and include four priority sectors: security and defense; intelligence activities and indications and warning; modeling and simulation, optimization, and data analytics; and logistics and maintenance. Given the rapid pace of development, even if algorithms are not used to launch nuclear weapons, ML could shape the design of the next-generation ballistic missile or be embedded in the underlying logistics infrastructure. ML vision models may undergird the intelligence process that detects the movement of adversary mobile missile launchers and optimize the tipping and queuing of overhead surveillance assets, even as a human decisionmaker remains firmly in the loop in any ultimate decisions about nuclear use. Understanding and navigating these developments in the context of nuclear deterrence and the understanding of escalation risks will require the analytical attention of the nuclear community and likely the adoption of risk management approaches, especially where the exclusion of AI is not reasonable or feasible.

The new atomic clock design, which uses entangled atoms, could help scientists detect dark matter and study gravity’s effect on time.

Atomic clocks are the most precise timekeepers in the world. These exquisite instruments use lasers to measure the vibrations of atoms, which oscillate at a constant frequency, like many microscopic pendulums swinging in sync. The best atomic clocks in the world keep time with such precision that, if they had been running since the beginning of the universe, they would only be off by about half a second today.

Still, they could be even more precise. If atomic clocks could more accurately measure atomic vibrations, they would be sensitive enough to detect phenomena such as dark matter and gravitational waves. With better atomic clocks, scientists could also start to answer some mind-bending questions, such as what effect gravity might have on the passage of time and whether time itself changes as the universe ages.

It is the weekend and time for a new video… following on from last week, this time I am looking at the types of cardiovascular training and how they effect your body at the cellular level, so you can craft your own training program, suited to your lifestyle and preferences, that helps you slow the aging process so you can live long enough to live forever…and be fit enough to enjoy it to the maximum.

After all, if life is boring, why live forever?

Continue reading “The Benefits Of Cardiovascular Fitness — Live Long Enough To Live Forever” »

The return capsule of the Chang’e-5 lunar mission was opened on 19 December 2020, in Beijing, China. Scientists extracted the lunar sample container and the China National Space Administration (CNSA) handed over the lunar samples to the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) for research.

Credit: China Central Television (CCTV)

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (Reuters) — A Fairbanks clinician suffered anaphylactic symptoms after being given the Pfizer Inc coronavirus vaccine, a hospital said on Friday, becoming the third Alaska health care worker to suffer an adverse reaction to the new drug. The clinician, whose name was not released, started showing symptoms about 10 minutes after being inoculated on Thursday, according to Foundation Health Partners, operator of the Fairbanks Memorial Hospital. The health care worker was treated in the hospital’s emergency room with epinephrine and released about six hours later, Foundation Health Partners said in a written statement. “Allergic reactions, though uncommon, can occur with injections of medications and vaccines,” Foundation Health Partners’ Chief Medical Officer Dr. Angelique Ramirez said in the statement.

@SBF_Alameda, @hosseeb, and @VitalikButerin have each pledged $50K to be donated to whichever charity wins the most votes. Poll finalizes at 5PM PST Dec 22nd (01:00 UTC, 09:00 SG/HK), when the event begins!

https://ftx.medium.com/effective-altruism-giving-in-crypto-12faee9df91f

Graphene, one of the most important nanomaterials developed so far, continues to surprise the scientific community. This time, thanks to the extraordinary phenomena found by a group of physicists from the University of Arkansas. We are talking specifically about the capacity to use the thermal motion of atoms in graphene as a source of energy!

In this recent work, published in Physical Review E under the title Fluctuation-induced current from freestanding graphene, the team of researchers have successfully developed a circuit capable of capturing graphene’s thermal motion and converting it into an electrical current.

As it is said in this article : “The idea of harvesting energy from graphene is controversial because it refutes physicist Richard Feynman’s well-known assertion that the thermal motion of atoms, known as Brownian motion, cannot do work. Thibado’s team found that at room temperature the thermal motion of graphene does in fact induce an alternating current (AC) in a circuit, an achievement thought to be impossible.”

“A reactogenic vaccine is not the same thing as an unsafe vaccine,” says Saad Omer, a vaccinologist and the director of the Yale Institute for Global Health.”

The COVID-19 vaccine will make some people feel sick. But they’re not—that’s the immune system doing its job.