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Imagine the possibility of integrating mixed reality (XR) tech with that of this AImagine having a long, open conversation about philosophy with either Immanuel Kant or David Hume. Imagine being given a private lesson in economics by either Adam Smith, John Maynard Keynes, or Karl Marx. The possibilities are seemingly abundant. But then so are the risks.


A lot of coverage has been done on the emergence of what are known as “deepfakes” here on Serious Wonder the last few years. They’ve captivated us at times and then frightened us. The implications of this growing technology are practically limitless, especially as our ability to tell the difference between what is real and what is fake diminishes even further.

And just when you thought you could take a breather, Samsung decided to develop a new artificial intelligence system that makes generating deepfakes that much easier. Using nothing more than a single image, the AI system, known as “few-shot adversarial learning,” is able to create a fake clip that seemingly allows that image to burst to life.

“Time is a moving image of eternity.” –Plato.

TIME, the reef upon which all our frail mystic ships are wrecked, has remained an elusive notion over the ages. Sages, philosophers and scientists have ventured a countless number of times into the dark arena of the hourglass in an attempt to tame the indomitable vortex of this indefinite stream.

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‘It’s not always convenient for people to leave their homes to retrieve deliveries or for businesses to run their own delivery services,’ Ken Washington, chief technology officer at Ford, wrote in a blog post.

‘If we can free people up to focus less on the logistics of making deliveries, they can turn their time and effort to things that really need their attention.

‘Enter Digit, a two-legged robot designed and built by Agility Robotics to not only approximate the look of a human, but to walk like one, too,’ Washington added.

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A nimble robot inspired by bush babies can now bounce three times its own height in a single leap.

SALTO (saltatorial locomotion terrain obstacles) was fist designed to jump at 4mph (1.75 m/s) but a host of new features have now been added to the nifty machine.

A single leg, inspired by those of the galago, or Senegalese bush baby, propels the robot across a range of terrain and over various obstacles.

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What if the wood your house was made of could save your electricity bill? In the race to save energy, using a passive cooling method that requires no electricity and is built right into your house could save even chilly areas of the US some cash. Now, researchers at the University of Maryland and the University of Colorado have harnessed nature’s nanotechnology to help solve the problem of finding a passive way for buildings to dump heat that is sustainable and strong.

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