Lifeboat Foundation: Safeguarding Humanity
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The concept of enhancing and augmenting animal minds & bodies to be able to use and understand human technology, known as Uplifting, has long fascinated us. Today in this two-part collaboration with John Michael Godier, we will explore this concept as well as the possibility of using such technology with alien races, the polar opposite of the classic Star Trek Prime Directive.

Watch Part 2:

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Continue reading “Uplifting Animal & Aliens, Part 1 of 2” | >

Connor Leahy joins the podcast to discuss the motivations of AGI corporations, how modern AI is “grown”, the need for a science of intelligence, the effects of AI on work, the radical implications of superintelligence, open-source AI, and what you might be able to do about all of this. Here’s the document we discuss in the episode: https://www.thecompendium.ai Timestamps: 00:00 The Compendium 15:25 The motivations of AGI corps 31:17 AI is grown, not written 52:59 A science of intelligence 01:07:50 Jobs, work, and AGI 01:23:19 Superintelligence 01:37:42 Open-source AI 01:45:07 What can we do?

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Inspired by butterfly wings, a team of German researchers have developed a new kind of robotic wings that can work using only magnetic fields. The new wings created by the Technical University of Darmstadt and the Helmholtz Center Dresden-Rossendorf researchers need no batteries or electronics.

They could have interesting applications from search and rescue to medical sciences. The researchers drew inspiration from the remarkable efficiency and endurance of monarch butterflies, known to have incredibly long migrations between Canada and Mexico.

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The world of quantum physics is experiencing a second revolution, which will drive an exponential leap in the progress of computing, the internet, telecommunications, cybersecurity and biomedicine.

Quantum technologies are attracting more and more students who want to learn about concepts from the subatomic world—such as quantum entanglement or —to explore the innovative potential of quantum science.

In fact, understanding the non-intuitive nature of quantum technology concepts and recognizing their relevance to technological progress is one of the challenges of 2025, declared the International Year of Quantum Science and Technology by UNESCO.

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A collaborative team of researchers from GSI/FAIR, Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz, and the Helmholtz Institute Mainz has advanced our understanding of the “island of stability” in superheavy nuclides. They achieved this by precisely measuring the superheavy rutherfordium-252 nucleus, now identified as the shortest-lived superheavy nucleus on record. Their findings were published in Physical Review Letters

<em> Physical Review Letters (PRL)</em> is a prestigious peer-reviewed scientific journal published by the American Physical Society. Launched in 1958, it is renowned for its swift publication of short reports on significant fundamental research in all fields of physics. PRL serves as a venue for researchers to quickly share groundbreaking and innovative findings that can potentially shift or enhance understanding in areas such as particle physics, quantum mechanics, relativity, and condensed matter physics. The journal is highly regarded in the scientific community for its rigorous peer review process and its focus on high-impact papers that often provide foundational insights within the field of physics.

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Electrical stimulation of existing three-dimensional bioprinted tissues to alter tissue activities is typically associated with wired delivery, invasive electrode placement, and potential cell damage, minimizing its efficacy in cardiac modulation. Here, we report an optoelectronically active scaffold based on printed gelatin methacryloyl embedded with micro-solar cells, seeded with cardiomyocytes to form light-stimulable tissues. This enables untethered, noninvasive, and damage-free optoelectronic stimulation–induced modulation of cardiac beating behaviors without needing wires or genetic modifications to the tissue solely with light. Pulsed light stimulation of human cardiomyocytes showed that the optoelectronically active scaffold could increase their beating rates (>40%), maintain high cell viability under light stimulation (>96%), and negligibly affect the electrocardiogram morphology. The seeded scaffolds, termed optoelectronically active tissues, were able to successfully accelerate heart beating in vivo in rats. Our work demonstrates a viable wireless, printable, and optically controllable tissue, suggesting a transformative step in future therapy of electrically active tissues/organs.

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In economics, the Jevons paradox (/ ˈ dʒ ɛ v ə n z / ; sometimes Jevons effect) occurs when technological advancements make a resource more efficient to use (thereby reducing the amount needed for a single application), however, as the cost of using the resource drops, overall demand increases causing total resource consumption to rise. [ 1 ] [ 2 ] [ 3 ] [ 4 ] Governments have typically expected efficiency gains to lower resource consumption, rather than anticipating possible increases due to the Jevons paradox. [ 5 ]

In 1865, the English economist William Stanley Jevons observed that technological improvements that increased the efficiency of coal use led to the increased consumption of coal in a wide range of industries. He argued that, contrary to common intuition, technological progress could not be relied upon to reduce fuel consumption. [ 6 ] [ 7 ]

The issue has been re-examined by modern economists studying consumption rebound effects from improved energy efficiency. In addition to reducing the amount needed for a given use, improved efficiency also lowers the relative cost of using a resource, which increases the quantity demanded. This may counteract (to some extent) the reduction in use from improved efficiency. Additionally, improved efficiency increases real incomes and accelerates economic growth, further increasing the demand for resources. The Jevons paradox occurs when the effect from increased demand predominates, and the improved efficiency results in a faster rate of resource utilization. [ 7 ] .

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