Lifeboat Foundation

Which brings us to the big question: what about gravity?

This is something where we can’t be certain, as gravitation remains the only known force for which we don’t have a full quantum description. Instead, we have Einstein’s general relativity as our theory of gravity, which relies on a purely classical (i.e., non-quantum) formalism for describing it. According to Einstein, spacetime behaves as a four-dimensional fabric, and it’s the curvature and evolution of that fabric that determines how matter-and-energy move through it. Similarly it’s the presence and distribution of matter-and-energy that determine the curvature and evolution of spacetime itself: the two notions are linked together in an inextricable way.

Now, over on the quantum side, our other fundamental forces and interactions have both a quantum description for particles and a quantum description for the fields themselves. All calculations performed within all quantum field theories are calculated within spacetime, and while most of the calculations we perform are undertaken with the assumption that the underlying background of spacetime is flat and uncurved, we can also insert more complex spacetime backgrounds where necessary. It was such a calculation, for example, that led Stephen Hawking to predict the emission of the radiation that bears his name from black holes: Hawking radiation. Combining quantum field theory (in that case, for electromagnetism) with the background of curved spacetime inevitably leads to such a prediction.

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Welcome to Impact Theory, I’m Tom Bilyeu and in today’s episode, Nick Bostrom and I dive into the moral and societal implications of AI as it becomes increasingly advanced.

Continue reading “‘Life Will Get Weird The Next 3 Years!’ — Future of AI, Humanity & Utopia vs Dystopia | Nick Bostrom” »

Scientists say a phenomenon called “skin conductance,” which changes when you sweat, is a surprisingly accurate method for detecting emotions — with future robots that detect this able to tell your emotions.

Summary: A study reveals how brain cell interactions influence aging, showing that rare cell types either accelerate or slow brain aging. Neural stem cells provide a rejuvenating effect on neighboring cells, while T cells drive aging through inflammation. Researchers used advanced AI tools and a spatial single-cell atlas to map cellular interactions across the lifespan in mice.

This work sheds light on how interventions, such as enhancing neural stem cells, might combat neurodegeneration. By understanding these cellular dynamics, scientists can explore tailored therapies to slow aging and promote brain resilience. The findings also offer insights into conditions like Alzheimer’s disease, highlighting the importance of cell-to-cell interactions.

Cellular research indicates that neuropilin-1 plays a crucial role in pain signaling, presenting a potential pathway for developing or repurposing treatments to manage chronic pain.

Researchers at the NYU Pain Research Center have identified a novel receptor for nerve growth factor (NGF) that plays a critical role in pain signaling, despite being unable to signal independently. These findings, published in the Journal of Clinical Investigation, could pave the way for new treatments for arthritis, inflammatory pain, and cancer pain—addressing the limitations of previous therapies that failed in clinical trials due to side effects.

“Nerve growth factor is unusual because it’s one of the few patient-validated targets for pain,” said Nigel Bunnett, professor and chair of the Department of Molecular Pathobiology at NYU College of Dentistry and the study’s senior author. “We wanted to think of a way of circumventing side effects in an effort to find safer, non-opioid therapies for arthritis and other forms of chronic pain.”

Xreal is making waves in the world of mixed reality technology, offering a unique approach with its lightweight, almost portable glasses that project virtual screens directly in front of users’ eyes. The latest models, Xreal One and One Pro, come with a game-changing feature that enhances their usability—plug-and-play compatibility with nearly any device equipped with a USB-C video output.

Unlike previous models like the Air 2 Ultra, the Xreal One and One Pro are focused purely on screen mirroring. The glasses can seamlessly display content from an extensive range of devices, including iPhones, Android smartphones, Macs, PCs, and even the Steam Deck. All it takes is a quick connection via USB-C, and you’ll have a massive virtual screen in front of you—perfect for work, gaming, or watching a movie.

The technology behind these glasses relies on micro-OLED displays made by Sony, offering a resolution of 1920 × 1080 per eye. While this doesn’t quite match the ultra-high resolution of Apple’s Vision Pro, it’s worth noting that Xreal’s glasses come at a fraction of the cost—nearly ten times cheaper, in fact.

As much as we want to tell Mr Sulu to “Take us to warp factor five”, dangerous causality problems, tricky maths and negative energy could get in the way.

It has been widely acknowledged that self-replicating space-probes (SRPs) could explore the galaxy very quickly relative to the age of the galaxy. An obvious implication is that SRPs produced by extraterrestrial civilizations should have arrived in our solar system millions of years ago, and furthermore, that new probes from an ever-arising supply of civilizations ought to be arriving on a constant basis. The lack of observations of such probes underlies a frequently cited variation of the Fermi Paradox. We believe that a predilection for ETI-optimistic theories has deterred consideration of incompatible theories. Notably, SRPs have virtually disappeared from the literature. In this paper, we consider the most common arguments against SRPs and find those arguments lacking. By extension, we find recent models of galactic exploration which explicitly exclude SRPs to be unfairly handicapped and unlikely to represent natural scenarios.
We also consider several other models that seek to explain the Fermi Paradox, most notably percolation theory and two societal-collapse theories. In the former case, we find that it imposes unnatural assumptions which likely render it unrealistic. In the latter case, we present a new theory of interstellar transportation bandwidth which calls into question the validity of societal-collapse theories.
Finally, we offer our thoughts on how to design future SETI programs which take the conclusions of this paper into account to maximize the chance of detection.
Fermi Paradox paper on Arxiv http://arxiv.org/abs/1111.

Von Neumann Self-Replicating Probes. Percolation Theory, Interstellar Societal Collapse, ETI May Still Exist in our Galaxy.

Continue reading “Keith Wiley — The Fermi Paradox, Self-Replicating Probes, Interstellar Transport Bandwidth” »

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