Northwestern University engineers developed flexible, printed artificial neurons that communicate directly with living brain cells, marking a major breakthrough for brain-machine interfaces and neuroprosthetics. Using aerosol jet printing with materials like molybdenum disulfide, these devices generate signals that trigger responses in mouse brain tissue.
#neurons #braincells #wion.
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Breaking away from conventional robots that perform only predefined functions once fabricated, researchers have developed a next-generation artificial muscle that can change its shape in real time, recover from damage, and even be reused. The study is published in Science Advances.
The researchers developed a new type of dielectric elastomer actuator (DEA) using a phase-transitional ferrofluid (PTF) that behaves as a solid at room temperature but becomes fluid-like and highly flexible when exposed to external stimuli such as heat or magnetic fields.
Dielectric elastomer actuators (DEAs) are soft transducers that convert electrical energy into mechanical motion and are often referred to as artificial muscles because of their ability to move rapidly and precisely like human muscles.
As a part of a study testing out a new type of implanted brain-computer interface (BCI), three rhesus monkeys controlled movements in a virtual reality (VR) world using only brain signals. The study, published in Science Advances, demonstrates a major step toward practical BCIs that can work outside of lab conditions.
BCIs allow direct communication between the brain and external devices, like a computer or robotic arm. This ability is thought to be extremely valuable for helping people suffering from paralysis to move objects, communicate or complete other tasks. However, there is a gap between lab-based BCI demonstrations and practical, flexible systems for real-world usage.
Previous research has explored intracortical BCIs—those implanted directly into the brain—in monkeys and humans, enabling them to control computer cursors, robotic or prosthetic arms and wheelchairs. Others have restored communication and the function of paralyzed limbs. However, real-world navigation requires adapting to unpredictable events and complex environments, which previous BCIs have struggled with, often requiring overt movement or only working in overly simple settings.
Muscles are remarkably effective systems for generating controlled force, and engineers developing hardware for robots or prosthetics have long struggled to create analogs that can approach their unique combination of strength, rapid response, scalability, and control. But now, researchers at the MIT Media Lab and Politecnico di Bari in Italy have developed artificial muscle fibers that come closer to matching many of these qualities.
Like the fibers that bundle together to form biological muscles, these fibers can be arranged in different configurations to meet the demands of a given task. Unlike conventional robotic actuation systems, they are compliant enough to interface comfortably with the human body and operate silently without motors, external pumps, or other bulky supporting hardware.
The new electrofluidic fiber muscles—electrically driven actuators built in fiber format—are described in a recent paper published in Science Robotics. The work is led by Media Lab Ph.D. candidate Ozgun Kilic Afsar; Vito Cacucciolo, a professor at the Politecnico di Bari; and four co-authors.
Are minds just processes? Can AI become conscious, morally wiser, or even part of a larger collective intelligence? Anders Sandberg and Joscha Bach discuss consciousness, AGI, hybrid minds, moral uncertainty, collective agency and the future of the cyborg Leviathan. It’s a deep and winding discussion with so many interesting topics covered!
0:00 Intro. 0:37 What is consciousness? Phenomenology — functionalism & panpsychism. 1:54 Causal boundaries — the mind is a causally organised process with a non-arbitrary functional boundary, sustained through time by feedback, control, and internal continuity. 3:20 Minds are not states — they are processes. We don’t see causal filtering in tables. 5:54 Epiphenomenalism is self-undermining if it has no causal role, and taking causation seriously pushes towards functionalism. 9:49 Methodological humility about armchair philosophy of mind. 12:41 Putnam-style Brain-in-a-vat — and why standard objections to AI minds fall flat. 16:37 Is sentience required (or desired) for not just moral competence in AI, but moral motivation as well? 22:35 Why stepping outside yourself is powerful — seeing. 25:12 Are AIs born enlightened? 26:25 Are LLMs AGI yet? What’s still missing. 28:16 AI, hybrid minds, and the limits of human augmentation. 32:32 Can minds be extended — in humans, dogs, and cats? 36:19 Why human language may not be open-ended enough. 39:41 Why AI is so data-hungry — and why better algorithms must exist. 43:39 Why better representations matter more than raw compute (grokking was surprising) 48:46 How babies build a world model from touch and perception. 51:05 What comes after copilots: agent teams, multimodality and new AI workflows. 55:32 Can AI help us discover new forms of taste and aesthetics. 59:49 Using AI to learn art history and invent a transhumanist aesthetic. 1:01:47 When AI helps everyone looks professional, what still counts as real skill? 1:03:56 What happens when the self starts to merge with AI 1:05:43 How AI changes the way we think and create. 1:08:10 What happens when AI starts shaping human relationships. 1:11:18 Why feeling in control can matter more than being right. 1:12:58 Why intelligence without wisdom is very dangerous. 1:17:45 AI via scaling statistical pattern matching vs symbolic (& causal) reasoning. Can LLMs learn causality or just correlation? 1:23:00 Will multimodal AI replace LLMs or use them as glue everywhere. 1:24:02 10 years to the singularity? 1:25:27 AI, coordination and the corruption problem. 1:29:47 Can AI become more moral than us (humans)? and if so, should it? 1:34:31 Why pluralism still leaves moral collisions unresolved. 1:34:31 Traversing the landscape of norms (value) 1:38:14 Can ethics work across nested levels of existence? (from the person-effecting-view to the matrioshka-effecting-view) 1:43:08 Moral realism, evolution & game-theoretic symmetries. 1:48:01 Is there a global optimum of moral coordination? Is that god? 1:55:12 Metaphors of the body-politic, the body of Christ, Omega Point theory, Leviathan. 1:59:36 Will superintelligences converge into a cosmic singleton?
Have any ideas about people to interview? Want to be notified about future events? Any comments about the STF series? Please fill out this form: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1mr9P…
Renowned for his remarkably accurate tech predictions, has just moved his singularity date forward! He now claims that by 2039, humans will begin merging with machines, potentially transforming what it m.
Google’s top futurist Ray Kurzweil, renowned for his remarkably accurate tech predictions, has just moved his singularity date forward! He now claims that by 2039, humans will begin merging with machines, potentially transforming what it means to be human. In this video, we dive into Kurzweil’s latest forecast, exploring why he’s shaved six years off his original prediction and whether the age of human-machine hybrids is just 14 years away.
Known for his 86% accuracy rate in predicting the future, Kurzweil’s past successes, including the mainstream internet, wireless technology, and AI that understands speech, give weight to his bold claims. But is the idea of computers matching human brains by 2029 and a millionfold intelligence boost by 2045 truly within reach?
We’ll break down:
00:00 — 01:37 Introduction 01:37 — 02:41 THE PROPHET WITH AN 86% SUCCESS RATE 02:41 — 04:06 THE ACCELERATION NOBODY SAW COMING 04:06 — 06:36 A GENTLE SINGULARITY 06:36 — 08:27 THE RESISTANCE 08:27 — 10:28 THE WORLD FORWARD 10:28 — 11:04 CONCLUSION
Please see my latest Forbes article: The Rapid Trajectory of Artificial Intelligence: From Machine Learning Foundations to Generative Creativity, Agentic Autonomy, Human Augmentation, Neuromorphic Intelligence, and the Cyborg Horizon.
Artificial intelligence continues to evolve at an accelerating pace, transitioning from narrow, data-driven tools to systems capable of reasoning, and autonomous action.
Are minds just processes? Can AI become conscious, morally wiser, or even part of a larger collective intelligence? Anders Sandberg and Joscha Bach discuss consciousness, AGI, hybrid minds, moral uncertainty, collective agency and the future of the cyborg Leviathan. It’s a deep and winding discussion with so many interesting topics covered!
0:00 Intro. 0:37 What is consciousness? Phenomenology — functionalism & panpsychism. 1:54 Causal boundaries — the mind is a causally organised process with a non-arbitrary functional boundary, sustained through time by feedback, control, and internal continuity. 3:20 Minds are not states — they are processes. We don’t see causal filtering in tables. 5:54 Epiphenomenalism is self-undermining if it has no causal role, and taking causation seriously pushes towards functionalism. 9:49 Methodological humility about armchair philosophy of mind. 12:41 Putnam-style Brain-in-a-vat — and why standard objections to AI minds fall flat. 16:37 Is sentience required (or desired) for not just moral competence in AI, but moral motivation as well? 22:35 Why stepping outside yourself is powerful — seeing. 25:12 Are AIs born enlightened? 26:25 Are LLMs AGI yet? What’s still missing. 28:16 AI, hybrid minds, and the limits of human augmentation. 32:32 Can minds be extended — in humans, dogs, and cats? 36:19 Why human language may not be open-ended enough. 39:41 Why AI is so data-hungry — and why better algorithms must exist. 43:39 Why better representations matter more than raw compute (grokking was surprising) 48:46 How babies build a world model from touch and perception. 51:05 What comes after copilots: agent teams, multimodality and new AI workflows. 55:32 Can AI help us discover new forms of taste and aesthetics. 59:49 Using AI to learn art history and invent a transhumanist aesthetic. 1:01:47 When AI helps everyone looks professional, what still counts as real skill? 1:03:56 What happens when the self starts to merge with AI 1:05:43 How AI changes the way we think and create. 1:08:10 What happens when AI starts shaping human relationships. 1:11:18 Why feeling in control can matter more than being right. 1:12:58 Why intelligence without wisdom is very dangerous. 1:17:45 AI via scaling statistical pattern matching vs symbolic (& causal) reasoning. Can LLMs learn causality or just correlation? 1:23:00 Will multimodal AI replace LLMs or use them as glue everywhere. 1:24:02 10 years to the singularity? 1:25:27 AI, coordination and the corruption problem. 1:29:47 Can AI become more moral than us (humans)? and if so, should it? 1:34:31 Why pluralism still leaves moral collisions unresolved. 1:34:31 Traversing the landscape of norms (value) 1:38:14 Can ethics work across nested levels of existence? (from the person-effecting-view to the matrioshka-effecting-view) 1:43:08 Moral realism, evolution & game-theoretic symmetries. 1:48:01 Is there a global optimum of moral coordination? Is that god? 1:55:12 Metaphors of the body-politic, the body of Christ, Omega Point theory, Leviathan. 1:59:36 Will superintelligences converge into a cosmic singleton?
Have any ideas about people to interview? Want to be notified about future events? Any comments about the STF series? Please fill out this form: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1mr9P… regards, Adam Ford
