Lifeboat Foundation

One of the most significant AI milestones in history was quietly ushered into being this summer. We speak of the quest for Artificial General Intelligence (AGI), probably the most sought-after goal in the entire field of computer science. With the introduction of the Impala architecture, DeepMind, the company behind AlphaGo and AlphaZero, would seem to finally have AGI firmly in its sights.

Let’s define AGI, since it’s been used by different people to mean different things. AGI is a single intelligence or algorithm that can learn multiple tasks and exhibits positive transfer when doing so, sometimes called meta-learning. During meta-learning, the acquisition of one skill enables the learner to pick up another new skill faster because it applies some of its previous “know-how” to the new task. In other words, one learns how to learn — and can generalize that to acquiring new skills, the way humans do. This has been the holy grail of AI for a long time.

Continue reading “Artificial General Intelligence Is Here, and Impala Is Its Name” »

Alt-aviation wizard Burt Rutan set out to design a plane that could haul rockets to the edge of space. Then he persuaded Microsoft cofounder Paul Allen to build a dual-fuselage beast with a wingspan longer than a football field.

Author: Steven Levy BY Steven Levy

Just like the way that cellphones used to be only for the rich, soon the idea of taking a personal flying machine to work is going to be a part of everyday life. Don’t believe us? Here are six examples of personal flying cars and even a personal jetsuit that will help us commute.

Our freeways and highways could really use this. What do you think?

In astronomy, cutting-edge technology often begins with a bunch of bulldozers, busted rocks, and dump trucks.

So it goes with the Giant Magellan Telescope (GMT), which will be the world’s largest and most powerful when it sees “first light” in 2024. Astronomers hope to use the huge observatory to study the ancient universe and look for signs of alien life.

Construction crews atop a Chilean mountain range broke ground for the $US1 billion project on Tuesday.

Continue reading “A $1 Billion Telescope That Will Take Pictures 10 Times Sharper Than Hubble’s Is Now Officially Under Way” »

Workhorse, with its 120 employees, hopes to beat larger players to market.

Scottish scientists have developed a liquid battery which could charge electric cars in seconds.

A team at the University of Glasgow has created a prototype system that could revolutionise travel.

The technology uses a metal oxide — described by researchers as an “exotic rust” — that can be charged with electricity when added to water.

The ADAM Research Project, an acronym for Acquisition & Data Analysis of Materials, will focus on the collection and scientific evaluation of material samples obtained through reliable reports of advanced aerospace vehicles of unknown origin.

As a first step, TTS Academy has established a contract with EarthTech International, Inc., (www.earthtech.org) a well-respected research think tank in Austin, Texas, to evaluate the properties of the available materials. Under the leadership of Dr. Harold E. Puthoff, a former Senior Advisor and Subcontractor to the Pentagonfs AATIP program (Advanced Aerospace Threat Identification Program) and current VP of Technology for TTS Academy, EarthTech is well-positioned to head up this materials research plan.

TOKYO — Imagine electric cars that can travel 700km to 800km on a single charge, twice as far as they do today. Imagine batteries that are smaller, safer and pack more punch than the lithium-ion cells that power our gadgets now.

Such is the promise of solid-state batteries. Capable of holding more electricity and recharging more quickly than their lithium-ion counterparts, they could do to lithium-ion power cells what transistors did to vacuum tubes: render them obsolete.

As their name implies, solid-state batteries use solid rather than liquid materials as an electrolyte. That is the stuff through which ions pass as they move between the poles of a battery as it is charged and discharged. Because they do not leak or give off flammable vapor, as lithium-ion batteries are prone to, solid-state batteries are safer. They are also more energy-dense and thus more compact.

Continue reading “In race for better batteries, Japan hopes to extend its lead” »