Lifeboat Foundation: Safeguarding Humanity
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Is artificial superintelligence (ASI) imminent? Adam Ford will assess the evidence and ethical importance of artificial intelligence; its opportunities and risks. Drawing on the history of progress in AI and how today it surpasses peak human capability in some domains, he will present forecasts about further progress.

“Progress in AI will likely be explosive; even more significant than both the agricultural and industrial revolutions” — Adam will explore the notion of intelligence and what aspects are missing in AI now and how ‘understanding’ arises in biological intelligence and how it could be realised in AI over the next decade or two. He will conclude with takes on ideal AI outcomes and some recommendations for increasing the likelihood of achieving them.

BIO: Adam Ford (Masters of IT at RMIT) is an IEET Affiliate Scholar, a futurologist and works as a data/information architect, a data analyst and data engineer. He co-organised a variety of conferences in Australia, USA and China. Adam also convenes the global effort of ‘Future Day’ seeking to ritualize focus on the future to a specific day. He is a grass roots journalist, having interviewed many experts on the future, and is currently working on a documentary project focusing on preparing for the future of artificial intelligence.

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Supernovae and black holes, although they surprise scientists, are gradually being studied and recorded. Scientists are much more concerned with strange places in the Universe, which are difficult to explain by the laws of physics and nature we know. The Bootes Void is one such place. It is not considered to be emptiness by chance – there is absolutely nothing in it. Astronomers for a long time could not believe their own eyes, because in a colossal area of 300 million light years there was not a single galaxy or star. Solid blackness extends over unimaginable distances. Like anomalien.com on Facebook…

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CAMBRIDGE, Mass.—Massachusetts Institute of Technology researchers have reported a potentially significant advance with the development of microdrones, equipped with wings powered by artificial muscles in the form of elastomer-based actuators.

The development, claims MIT, could pave the way for futuristic applications, for example, swarms of the insect-sized robots that pollinate fields of crops or search for survivors buried in collapsed buildings.

Key to the innovation is a novel fabrication technique that builds actuators with a hugely extended component lifespan and increases the robot’s performance and payload compared to existing models.

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Sixty-nine percent of global enterprises have already adopted or plan to adopt quantum computing in the near term, according to a new survey of enterprise leaders commissioned by Zapata Computing. The findings suggest that quantum computing is quickly moving from the fringes and becoming a priority for enterprise digital transformation, as 74% of enterprise leaders surveyed agreed that those who fail to adopt quantum computing will fall behind.

Broken down further, 29% of enterprises worldwide are now early adopters of quantum technology, while another 40% plan to follow in their footsteps in the near future. Adoption thus far is highest in the transportation sector, where 63% of respondents reported being in the early stages of quantum adoption. This may be a reaction to the ongoing supply chain crisis, which quantum could help relieve through its potential to solve complex optimization problems common in shipping and logistics.

Among early adopters, 12% expect to achieve a competitive advantage with the technology within one year, while another 41% expect an advantage within two years. The findings suggest confidence among enterprise leaders that quantum computing is no longer a distant reality, but a near-term opportunity. Machine learning in particular was cited as the top near-term use case for quantum computing.

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Designed and built by LEGO creator Mr. Platinum using 2,800 LEGO Technic pieces, this absolutely delightful mini replica of the DMC DeLorean from Back To The Future comes complete with a detailed exterior as well as interior, functioning doors, glowing lights, and a Bluetooth controller that lets you remotely drive the little car around!

The video above is a mashup of scenes from the original Back To The Future movie showing the DeLorean’s reveal, combined with video snippets of Mr. Platinum’s highly detailed build. The LEGO DeLorean is a stunning MOC (My Own Creation) that boasts of functioning headlights and taillights, glowing pipes around the car’s periphery as well as on the inside, motorized doors that open on command to reveal the detailed interiors, and for good measure, repositionable tires that become horizontal to resemble the car flying through space and time. If there ever was a near-perfect LEGO DeLorean build, this 2800-brick masterpiece is clearly it.

Designer: Mr. Platinum

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Olipa Elisa said her 10-year-old son used to have to hike 5km (3 miles) every day to the nearest school, often arriving late and exhausted.

“I am very excited that we now have a school closer to my home, and my child will not have to take the long journey,” said Elisa, 38. “What we need is more of these learning blocks to accommodate other classes.”

Run by 14Trees, a joint venture between Swiss cement manufacturer LafargeHolcim and British development finance agency CDC Group, the project was faster, cheaper and less energy-intensive than conventional construction, said 14Trees managing director Francois Perrot.

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Investigated by the SOAR Telescope operated by NOIRLab, the binary system is the first to be found at the penultimate stage of its evolution. Using the 4.1-meter SOAR Telescope in Chile, astronomers have discovered the first example of a binary system where a star in the process of becoming a white.

MIT physicists and colleagues have discovered the “secret sauce” behind some of the exotic properties of a new quantum material that has transfixed physicists due to those properties, which include superconductivity. Although theorists had predicted the reason for the unusual properties of the material, known as a kagome metal, this is the first time that the phenomenon behind those properties has been observed in the laboratory.

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MIT physicists and colleagues have discovered the “secret sauce” behind some of the exotic properties of a new quantum material that has transfixed physicists due to those properties, which include superconductivity. Although theorists had predicted the reason for the unusual properties of the material, known as a kagome metal, this is the first time that the phenomenon behind those properties has been observed in the laboratory.

“The hope is that our new understanding of the electronic structure of a metal will help us build a rich platform for discovering other ,” says Riccardo Comin, the Class of 1947 Career Development Assistant Professor of Physics at MIT, whose group led the study. That, in turn, could lead to a new class of superconductors, new approaches to quantum computing, and other quantum technologies.

The work is reported in the January 13, 2022 online issue of the journal Nature Physics.

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