[et_pb_section admin_label="section"] [et_pb_row admin_label="row"] [et_pb_column type="4_4"][et_pb_text admin_label="Text"] Press release from the Center for A.I. Safety San Francisco, CA – Distinguished AI scientists, including Turing Award winners Geoffrey Hinton and Yoshua Bengio, and leaders of the major AI labs, including Sam Altman of OpenAI and Demis Hassabis of Google DeepMind, have signed a single-sentence statement from the Center for AI Safety that reads: “Mitigating the risk of extinction from AI should be a global priority alongside other societal-scale risks such as pandemics and nuclear war.” This represents a historic coalition of AI experts — along with philosophers, ethicists, legal scholars, economists, physicists, political scientists, pandemic scientists, nuclear scientists, and climate scientists — establishing the risk of extinction from advanced, future AI systems as one of the world’s most important problems. The statement affirms growing public sentiment: a recent poll found that 61 percent of Americans believe AI threatens humanity’s … [Read more...] about Top AI Scientists Warn: Risk of Extinction From AI on Scale with Nuclear War
James Webb Space Telescope Unfolds the Universe
In case you missed the news, the first images came in from the James Webb telescope, a nail-biting feat of engineering. Launched on Dec. 25, 2021, on an Ariane-5 rocket from Europe’s Spaceport in French Guiana, South America, the James Webb Space Telescope completed a complex deployment sequence in space, where its mirrors were aligned, and its instruments were calibrated to the space environment. Now, the first images of our universe that has ever been taken. As astrophysicist Jane Rigby marveled about SMACS 0723, "We took that image before breakfast." In 12.5 hours, NASA changed the way we see the universe. If Hubble images were mind-blowing— the Webb images are transcendent. “Today, we present humanity with a groundbreaking new view of the cosmos from the James Webb Space Telescope – a view the world has never seen before,” said NASA Administrator Bill Nelson. “These images, including the deepest infrared view of our universe that has ever been taken and show us how Webb will help to uncover the answers to questions we don’t even yet know to ask; questions that … [Read more...] about James Webb Space Telescope Unfolds the Universe
Magnetic Sun: Art vs Science
The intriguing image above was uploaded to Fine Art America by an astrophotographer, Jason Guenzel, on January 16, 2021. The image is titled— “Magnetic Sun: A stylized rendition of a solar close-up. According to the artist, "the image highlights the turbulent magnetic field on the visible surface of our star.” The picture was processed using software to enhance the solar chromosphere or gaseous layer above the sun. Treading the line between art and science, the viral image allows the viewer to conceptualize the sun in new and intriguing ways. Once the overwhelming radiance of the star is drawn down, the resulting image challenges the preconceived notions we have of our closest star, instilling a new sense of wonder at the turbulent force that gives life to planet Earth. This heavily software-processed image of the solar chromosphere reveals the complex nature of the magnetic field within our star.Walking the thin line between science and art ... perhaps blurring it a bit. #Astrophotography #space #solar #star #power pic.twitter.com/DaG3xjEiZd— Jason Guenzel … [Read more...] about Magnetic Sun: Art vs Science
Storytelling in the Age of Robots, Androids, and Artificial Intelligence
Storytelling, mythology, and legends have always influenced the scientific mind. There are some spectacular examples of inventions inspired by fiction, including the first cell phone, created by Engineer Martin Cooper after seeing the Star Trek communicator; or the first functioning submarine (the Argonaut), designed by Engineer Simon Lake after reading Jules Verne's Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea. So when it comes to the invention of Robots, Androids, and Artificial Intelligence, artistic imagination is just as important as science. Stories featuring fantastic machines have existed for thousands of years. Ancient myths portrayed the creators of such automata as preternatural sorcerers, wizards, alchemists, or artisan gods. The Greek god Hephaestus forged an array of magic weapons from gold, ivory, or bronze for the gods and heroes; a silver bow and quiver of arrows for Artemis, a golden chariot for Apollo, a shield for Achilles, a spear for Athena, and a breastplate for Hercules. He also created artificial life; bronze bulls, fire-breathing horses, golden … [Read more...] about Storytelling in the Age of Robots, Androids, and Artificial Intelligence
May the Road Rise up to Meet You. Happy Solstice.
May the road rise up to meet you, May the wind be always at your back, May the sun shine warm upon your face; May the rains fall soft upon your fields, And, until we meet again, May God hold you in the palm of His hand. ~ Ancient Celtic Blessing ~ … [Read more...] about May the Road Rise up to Meet You. Happy Solstice.
Werner Herzog reviews Trader Joe’s
Life during Plague Time.
Life in California went topsy-turvy on Marth 19th, 2020, when Governor Gavin Newsom issued a stay at home order to protect the health and well-being of all Californians. Quite suddenly, the world shifted on its access. The ominous sense of dread finally had a definition: Pandemic. From the ground, there was confusion. The city shut down. Those of us who had day jobs, found ourselves confined to our houses. For me, editorial meetings and teaching yoga took place on Zoom. As a writer, nothing changed. Before Covid-19, writing meant entering a fantasy world of my own making, and after Covid-19, my inner landscape remained exactly the same. To write is to step into another dimension. But the real world is something altogether different. Life got tricky. As the deaths mounted and the grim reaper laid body bags down at the steps of the capital, the highest levels of government denied reality. Toxic tribal affiliations had gripped the nation. A simmering distrust of science caused a bizarre slide into disinformation and denial of a very real virus. As a devotee of both … [Read more...] about Life during Plague Time.