Category: singularity – Page 69
The Quest for Immortality, Rebooted
Shermer’s journey into the present-day search for human domination over death and society’s ills introduces readers to all forms of what he calls “techno-optimism,” meaning the belief that technological progress means an end to death — or, at the very least, to aging and social decay. There are the cryonicists who want to freeze us, and those who want simply to freeze our brains, with all their neural connections and associated memories (the connectome). The transhumanists want to enhance us so thoroughly — through means both natural and artificial — that we become godlike, “taking control of evolution and transforming the species into something stronger, faster, sexier, healthier and with vastly superior cognitive abilities the likes of which we mere mortals cannot conceive”; the Omega Point theorists think we will all one day be brought back to life in a virtual reality. Believers in “the singularity” contend that it is possible to upload the human brain to a server without losing the essence of what makes you you. And, of course, there are those who try to cure us of aging, so that our bodies and minds will cease to deteriorate and our life spans will increase ad infinitum. Shermer visits each of these and other utopian theories with detail and considered analysis, drawing readers along increasingly unrealistic (or are they?) possibilities for our future evolution. It’s a journey as boggling as it is engrossing.
In “Heavens on Earth,” Michael Shermer explores the lengths to which mankind will go to ensure our souls’ survival beyond existence on this mortal coil.
Silicon Valley’s Immortalists Will Help Us All Stay Healthy
All over Silicon Valley and the regions that imitate it, executives follow weird revitalization fads. They think the code of aging can be hacked and death made optional. Daniel Gross, a partner at Y Combinator, fasts enthusiastically—and encourages others to do so—because he believes it will extend his life. Inventor Ray Kurzweil swallows 100 supplements a day for the same reason, presumably so he’ll live long enough to be uploaded into the singularity, circa 2045.
But you don’t have to be a prophet of posthumanism to wish for a few more good years. I’ve followed my own antiaging routines: For a time I ate 30 percent fewer calories than recommended, and I now starve myself for 16 of every 24 hours. And while there’s certainly plenty of folly in the tech elite’s quest for immortality, I’m glad they’ve embarked on it—for reasons that go beyond sheer entertainment value.
What’s Wrong with Godless AI Technological Salvation, the Singularity?
In a recent article, I began to unpack Rodney Brooks’ October 2017 essay “The Seven Deadly Sins of AI Predictions.” Now I continue my analysis by looking into the faulty atheistic thinking that motivates the AI salvation preached by futurists such as Google’s Ray Kurzweil. Although Brooks does not address this worldview dimension, his critique of AI predictive sins provides a great opportunity for just that.
Brooks is a pioneer of robotic artificial intelligence (AI) and is MIT Panasonic Professor of Robotics Emeritus. He is also the founder and chief technology officer of Rethink Robotics, which makes cobots—robots designed to collaborate with humans in a shared industrial workspace.
Previously I discussed Brooks’ remark that “all the evidence that I see says we have no real idea yet how to build” the superintelligent devices that Kurzweil and like-minded singularity advocates imagine.
New Video Shows a Creepily Human-Like Robot Doing a Backflip
And with an apparently adequate battery too! None of the power lines are visible anymore!
Welcome to the NINJA-singularity!
So wax on.
Then wax off! wink
A new disaster robot has amazing human-like capabilities.
6 Ways to Talk to People about Ending Aging – Moscow Nov 4th
The Life Extension Advocacy Foundation, in collaboration with Singularity University Moscow Chapter and consulting group Deloitte, is hosting in Moscow an expert discussion on how to inform society about the potential and the advancement of gerontology and preventive medicine.
Life Extension Advocacy Foundation, in collaboration with Singularity University Moscow Chapter and consulting group Deloitte, are hosting in Moscow an expert discussion on how to inform society about the potential and the advancement of gerontology and preventive medicine. These experts believe that attracting people’s attention to the capabilities of medical technologies to prevent aging might help extend the healthy period of life and significantly decrease morbidity from age-related diseases.
The panel discussion “6 ways to talk to people about ending aging” will bring together famous futurists, scientists, science popularizers and public figures who foster the dissemination of the idea to prevent aging in Russia and other countries.
Jose Luis Cordeiro, fellow of the World Academy of Art and Science (WAAS), director of life extension advocacy organization Humanity Plus.
The New Religions Obsessed with A.I
How far should we integrate human physiology with technology? What do we do with self-aware androids—like Blade Runner’s replicants—and self-aware supercomputers? Or the merging of our brains with them? If Ray Kurzweil’s famous singularity—a future in which the exponential growth of technology turns into a runaway train—becomes a reality, does religion have something to offer in response?
Yes, not only is A.I. potentially taking all of our jobs, but it’s also changing religion.
Building the Blockchain to End All Blockchains
“If one blockchain were to become dominant, then the others may well fade away.” #singularityuniversity
Bitcoin, the first practical implementation of blockchain technology, was the buying opportunity of all time. The price of bitcoin has risen faster than any other asset in history, including tulips at the height of the tulip bubble.
Bitcoin, Ethereum, and other cryptocurrencies, also known as “digital assets,” have been making headlines due to the unprecedented returns early adopters are making from their investments in these digital assets.
Though the price of cryptocurrencies grabs attention, the underlying technology, a distributed digital ledger called blockchain, is even more exciting.
Billionaire CEO of SoftBank: Robots will have an IQ of 10,000 in 30 years
I guess it makes sense if they will hit about 100 level in 2029, and then goes up from there.
Masayoshi Son says singularity, the moment when artificial intelligence surpasses the human brain, will happen in “in this century, for sure.”
Stunning AI Breakthrough Takes Us One Step Closer to the Singularity
Remember AlphaGo, the first artificial intelligence to defeat a grandmaster at Go? Well, the program just got a major upgrade, and it can now teach itself how to dominate the game without any human intervention. But get this: In a tournament that pitted AI against AI, this juiced-up version, called AlphaGo Zero, defeated the regular AlphaGo by a whopping 100 games to 0, signifying a major advance in the field. Hear that? It’s the technological singularity inching ever closer.
A new paper published in Nature today describes how the artificially intelligent system that defeated Go grandmaster Lee Sedol in 2016 got its digital ass kicked by a new-and-improved version of itself. And it didn’t just lose by a little—it couldn’t even muster a single win after playing a hundred games. Incredibly, it took AlphaGo Zero (AGZ) just three days to train itself from scratch and acquire literally thousands of years of human Go knowledge simply by playing itself. The only input it had was what it does to the positions of the black and white pieces on the board. In addition to devising completely new strategies, the new system is also considerably leaner and meaner than the original AlphaGo.
Now, every once in a while the field of AI experiences a “holy shit” moment, and this would appear to be one of those moments. Looking back, other “holy shit” moments include Deep Blue defeating Garry Kasparov at chess in 1997, IBM’s Watson defeating two of the world’s best Jeopardy! champions in 2011, the aforementioned defeat of Lee Sedol in 2016, and most recently, the defeat of four professional no-limit Texas hold’em poker players at the hands of Libratus, an AI developed by computer scientists at Carnegie Mellon University.