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Theoretical physicist Sean Carroll joins us to discuss whether it make sense to think of consciousness as an emergent phenomenon, and whether contemporary physics points in this direction.

We discussed Sean’s essay responding to Philip’s book ‘Galileo’s Error,’ and Philip’s counter-response essay. Both are available here: https://conscienceandconsciousness.com/2021/08/01/19-essays-on-galileos-error/

We also discussed Philip’s Scientific American article making the case that the move from the fine-tuning to the multiverse commits the ‘inverse gambler’s fallacy’: https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/our-improbable-ex…20we%20are, with%20the%20existence%20of%20life.

Finally, Keith and Philip discussed the PhilPapers 2020 survey of philosophers’ opinions on philosophical questions, which is linked to from this blog post of Philip’s: https://conscienceandconsciousness.com/2021/11/01/materialis…only-just/

Continue reading “Sean Carroll: Is Consciousness Emergent?” | >

I think his purpose in doing this is to prioritize full self driving over partial self driving features.

“Humans drive with eyes and biological neural nets,” Musk said in October. “So [it] makes sense that cameras and silicon neural nets are [the] only way to achieve generalized solution to self-driving.”

Moreover, he’s reportedly implementing that philosophy at Tesla.

Musk has repeatedly instructed the company’s Autopilot team, which works on self-driving car tech, to ditch radar and use only cameras instead, the New York Times reported on Monday.

Continue reading “Elon Musk reportedly demanded cameras over radar in self-driving cars because human eyes don’t rely on radar” | >

A scientist who loves to write, can do it well, and can share the excitement of the scientific pursuit is incredibly rare. Kevin Peter Hand 0, Deputy Project Scientist, Europa and Director of the JPL Ocean Worlds Lab is that rare person who can do all these things. In his incredible book Alien Oceans: The Search for Life in the Depths of Space 0, he explains that “We know that the laws of physics, the principles of chemistry, and the principles of geology all work beyond Earth. We’ve explored other worlds and observed that these sciences are universal. When it comes to biology, however, we have yet to make that leap.”

If you want to learn about how the intersection of numerous areas of science are helping inform our understanding of the oceans, space, and ourselves, Alien Oceans is by far one of the most clearly written books on the topic. As Kevin notes, he wrote the book he wishes he could have read in college. Kevin will teach you and inspire you and explain complicated scientific topics in ways nearly anyone can understand. Not only is it a book about his areas of expertise, it is also a wonderful window into the way scientists and engineers think about solving real world problems and applying basic knowledge. For example, Kevin notes in this interview that “Making measurements is where the creativity of science meets the hard reality of engineering.” I read a lot of books on science written for a broad audience, and this book, by far is among the very best I have ever read. More than anything else what came through in Kevin’s writing is excitement about finding out what is true.

What inspired you to write this book?

Read more | >

No multi-billion-dollar acquisitions occurred in the world of AI chips in 2021.

Instead, the leading AI chip startups all raised rounds at multi-billion-dollar valuations, making clear that they aspire not to get acquired but to become large standalone public companies.

In our predictions last December, we identified three startups in particular as likely acquisition targets. Of these: SambaNova raised a $670 million Series D at a $5 billion valuation in April; Cerebras raised a $250 million Series F at a $4 billion valuation last month; and Graphcore raised $220 million at a valuation close to $3 billion amid rumors of an upcoming IPO.

Other top AI chip startups like Groq and Untether AI also raised big funding rounds in 2021.

Full Story:

Continue reading “2021 AI Predictions: What We Got Right And Wrong” | >

A Martian asteroid-like moon appears to be making waves in the stream of particles the sun sends across the universe. From space, a European Space Agency spacecraft did an experiment to confirm a weird effect first observed at the moon, which is called Phobos, in 2008. The Mars Express spacecraft noticed Phobos “backscattering” or reflecting solar particles during one flyby, but has been unable to spot this again despite zooming by the moon several more times over the years.

Scientists thought they saw more backscattering during a 2016 flyby, but the position of Mars Express at that time led to another hypothesis: maybe the spacecraft itself had caused the effect. So this led to another weird trick: why not do some “fake” flybys of the moon to see if the spacecraft can induce backscattering on another world?

That led to a fun sequence in 2017, the European Space Agency stated, when Mars Express replicated the exact same solar array adjustments and control maneuvers in space with no nearby target except for the solar wind.

Read more | >

SpaceX’s Crew Dragon is just going to get busier shuttling astronauts in the coming years.

NASA announced it intends to issue a sole-source modification to SpaceX’s long-term contract to send astronauts to the International Space Station. This follows an agency call for proposals back in October for more flight options to send people to space.

Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft, which is the other major system, is not quite yet ready for humans following a difficult uncrewed test flight in 2019 that never saw the spacecraft reach the ISS. Starliner has spent some time fixing computer glitches and other issues (including a valve problem that delayed an expected 2021 launch) and is now expecting a second uncrewed test flight by 2022.

The October solicitation, NASA noted, confirms SpaceX is the only viable choice for the time being, given the agency’s safety requirements and the need to keep the space station staffed continuously in the coming years.

Full Story:

Continue reading “SpaceX Tapped For 3 More Possible Commercial Crew Flights To Space” | >

Hackers have taken $196 million from crypto trading platform Bitmart, a security firm said Saturday.

Bitmart confirmed the hack in an official statement Saturday night, calling it “a large-scale security breach” and writing that hackers withdrew about $150 million in assets. However, blockchain security and data analytics firm Peckshield estimates that the loss is closer to $200 million.

Bitmart added in a statement that all withdrawals had been temporarily suspended until further notice and said a thorough security review was underway.

Read more | >

After evaluating more than 12,000 applications, we’ll introduce our 2021 astronaut candidates live at a ceremony at Ellington Field near NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston.

After completing training, these women and men could be eligible for a variety of flight assignments including missions on and around the Moon under Artemis.

The astronaut candidates will join NASA Administrator Bill Nelson, NASA Deputy Administrator Pam Melroy, Johnson Center Director Vanessa Wyche, and Flight Operations Director Norm Knight on stage at the event.

More info: https://www.nasa.gov/press-release/nasa-to-announce-america-…candidates

Continue reading “NASA Announces 2021 Class of Astronaut Candidates” | >

Bitcoin Vs Gold: Peter Schiff Vs Anthony Scaramucci.

Peter Shiff makes several points about gold:

Gold: it has physical properties that makes it real and valuable. It’ll never lose its value. Gold has a long history and has been used for thousands of years.

Peter Schiff makes several points against bitcoin:

Continue reading “Debate: Bitcoin vs Gold with Anthony Scaramucci and Peter Schiff” | >