Sometimes when we went to analyze what AI is doing in our world, we should go back to one of the simplest types of metrics – what are people using it for a day to day?
Just before Christmas Eve, Bari Weiss at the Free Press interviewed Sam Altman, the creator of ChatGPT technologies and leader at OpenAI, about the general state of artificial intelligence in our world.
How, she asked, do we measure its impact?
The British-Canadian computer scientist often touted as a “godfather” of artificial intelligence has shortened the odds of AI wiping out humanity over the next three decades, warning the pace of change in the technology is “much faster” than expected.
Prof Geoffrey Hinton, who this year was awarded the Nobel prize in physics for his work in AI, said there was a “10% to 20%” chance that AI would lead to human extinction within the next three decades.
Synchronicity!😉 Just a few hours ago I watched a video which stated that the philosopher Henri Bergson argued our linear perception of time limited our ability to appreciate the relationship between time and consciousness.
What if our understanding of time as a linear sequence of events is merely an illusion created by the brain’s processing of reality? Could time itself be an emergent phenomenon, arising from the complex interplay of quantum mechanics, relativity, and consciousness? How might the brain’s multidimensional computations, reflecting patterns found in the universe, reveal a deeper connection between mind and cosmos? Could Quantum AI and Reversible Quantum Computing provide the tools to simulate, manipulate, and even reshape the flow of time, offering practical applications of D-Theory that bridge the gap between theoretical physics and transformative technologies? These profound questions lie at the heart of Temporal Mechanics: D-Theory as a Critical Upgrade to Our Understanding of the Nature of Time, 2025 paper and book by Alex M. Vikoulov. D-Theory, also referred to as Quantum Temporal Mechanics, Digital Presentism, and D-Series, challenges conventional views of time as a fixed, universal backdrop to reality and instead redefines it as a dynamic interplay between the mind and the cosmos.
Time, as experienced by humans, is more than a sequence of events dictated by physical laws. It emerges from our awareness of change, a psychological construct shaped by consciousness. Recent advancements in neuroscience, quantum physics, and cognitive science reveal fascinating parallels between the brain and the universe. Studies suggest that neural processes operate in up to 11 dimensions, echoing M-Theory’s depiction of a multiverse with similar dimensionality. These insights hint at a profound structural resemblance, where the brain and the cosmos mirror each other as interconnected systems of information processing.
Quantum Temporal Mechanics goes further, positing that consciousness not only perceives time but actively participates in its manifestation. In quantum theory, the observer plays a pivotal role in collapsing wavefunctions, a process that may extend beyond the microcosm to the fabric of reality itself. Various interpretations of quantum mechanics, such as Quantum Bayesianism and Consciousness Causes Collapse theory, support the idea that the observer’s awareness helps shape how time unfolds. In this framework, the flow of time becomes a participatory phenomenon, where consciousness and the universe co-create the temporal experience.
The implications of this perspective are far-reaching. By placing consciousness at the center of temporal reality, D-Theory suggests that the universe operates as a self-simulating quantum neural network—a vast, intelligent system continuously evolving and self-regulating. Reality itself becomes an active, dynamic process in which every quantum event contributes to the universe’s collective intelligence, much like neurons firing in a biological brain. This conceptualization reimagines the universe as a living, thinking entity, where time, space, and experience are constructs shaped by a universal consciousness.
The work-related death rate fell 95% in the U.S. between 1913 & 2015.
Labor union activism is often credited with the decline, but economic expansion is what made better working conditions possible in the first place.
Read more about this trend.
All economic activity involves some degree of physical risk. Credible data on work injuries and fatalities among our agrarian ancestors are difficult to come by. Yet agricultural work must have been quite unappealing, considering that so many people in the early 19th century preferred factory work over farm work.
Even today, notes the U.S. Department of Labor, agriculture “ranks among the most dangerous industries.” In 2011, the “fatality rate for agricultural workers was 7 times higher than the fatality rate for all workers in private industry; agricultural workers had a fatality rate of 24.9 deaths per 100,000, while the fatality rate for all workers was 3.5.” Likewise, the Workplace Safety and Health (WSH) Institute in Singapore found that global fatality rates per 100,000 employees in agriculture ranged from 7.8 deaths in high-income countries to 27.5 deaths in the Southeast Asia and Western Pacific regions in 2014. Manufacturing deaths ranged from 3.8 in high-income countries to 21.1 in Africa.
Chemical Sensing.
RNA aptamers light up after ligand reacts.
Designing an organic reaction that works in cells is easier than designing a riboswitch, chemist says.
Users of Google’s Chrome browser can rest easy knowing that their surfing is secure, thanks in part to cryptographer Joppe Bos. He’s coauthor of a quantum-secure encryption algorithm that was adopted as a standard by the U.S. National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) in August and is already being implemented in a wide range of technology products, including Chrome.
Rapid advances in quantum computing have stoked fears that future devices may be able to break the encryption used by most modern technology. These approaches to encryption typically rely on mathematical puzzles that are too complex for classical computers to crack. But quantum computers can exploit quantum phenomena like superposition and entanglement to compute these problems much faster, and a powerful enough machine should be able to break current encryption.
In this article, we examine airborne microplastics in greater detail, explore detection methods, consider what we currently know about their health risks and highlight various mitigation strategies.
Unpacking the origins of microplastics
Airborne microplastics are a growing concern due to their presence across diverse environments, from lively city centers to isolated, untouched corners of the world.
The remains were discovered during excavations in 1938. Now, researchers have learned new information about his identity by analyzing DNA from his tooth.
The origins of the decoration lie in Vienna’s 17th district, where the inventor’s descendants are still making them for collectors around the world.
