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The book “Intelciety. Intelligent Society. Are We Ready for the Challenge?” explores the profound changes that artificial intelligence (AI) and other emerging technologies are causing in modern society. Vicente Ferreira da Silva addresses how these technologies are transforming various fields, from medicine and biotechnology to robotics and nanotechnology, and questions whether we are truly prepared to deal with these advances.

While investigating a rare developmental disorder, researchers ended up discovering a spectrum of conditions that are all linked to one gene.

Called Evo, the AI was inspired by the large language models, or LLMs, underlying popular chatbots such as OpenAI’s ChatGPT and Anthropic’s Claude. These models have taken the world by storm for their prowess at generating human-like responses. From simple tasks, such as defining an obtuse word, to summarizing scientific papers or spewing verses fit for a rap battle, LLMs have entered our everyday lives.

If LLMs can master written languages—could they do the same for the language of life?

This month, a team from Stanford University and the Arc Institute put the theory to the test. Rather than training Evo on content scraped from the internet, they trained the AI on nearly three million genomes—amounting to billions of lines of genetic code—from various microbes and bacteria-infecting viruses.

And should we — abolish death? Neuroscientist and author Ariel Zeleznikow-Johnston will be speaking at Bush House, King’s College London, on Tues 3rd December, in an event that London Futurists is happy to draw to the attention of all members and friends.

In this event organised by King’s College London, neuroscientist and author Ariel Zeleznikow-Johnston will be speaking about his new book The Future Loves You, which explores how brain preservation techniques might preserve us forever.

Ariel will be in discussion with historians, literary scholars, ethicists, and futurists, including Richard Ashcroft, Steve Connor, Caitjan Gainty, Catriona Byers, and Fay Bound Alberti.

Continue reading “Can we — and should we — abolish death?” »

A combination of ultrahigh-dose rate electron and conventional photon radiotherapy could enable FLASH treatments of deep-seated tumours.

The plan includes seven major recommendations.

The first is creating a new state authority to oversee nuclear development. They’ll also establish a single point of contact to help companies navigate the complex permitting process.

Education is also a big focus of the plan. It calls for partnerships with community colleges and universities to train workers for these high-tech jobs.

Elon Musk has predicted that AI will surpass doctors and lawyers after a study revealed OpenAI’s ChatGPT-4 outperformed medical professionals in diagnosing illnesses.

What Happened: A study reported by The New York Times revealed that AI achieved a 90% accuracy rate, compared to 76% for doctors using ChatGPT as a tool and 74% for doctors relying on traditional resources.

Following the publication of the report, Bindu Reddy, CEO of Abacus. AI, stated that an AI doctor with access to all lab reports would be able to diagnose problems and suggest remedies better than most human doctors.

A series of studies on humans and mice examined sex differences in reactions to anesthetics, revealing that female brains are more resistant to the hypnotic effects of these drugs. Testosterone administration increased sensitivity to anesthetics in mice, while castration enhanced anesthetic resistance. In humans, females regained consciousness and recovered cognitive function faster than males after identical exposure to anesthetics. The study was published in Neuroscience.

General anesthetics are drugs that induce a reversible loss of consciousness, primarily used during surgical procedures to block pain and prevent awareness. They are essential in medicine because they enable complex surgeries that would otherwise be intolerable due to pain, allowing patients to undergo invasive procedures safely and comfortably.

The history of general anesthesia dates back to the 19th century, with the first successful public demonstration by Dr. William Morton in 1846. Before anesthetics, surgery was excruciating and dangerous, often performed only in dire cases due to the severe pain and risks. Over time, safer and more effective agents, such as chloroform and eventually modern inhaled and intravenous anesthetics, were developed. Today, general anesthesia is administered by specialized professionals called anesthesiologists, who monitor and adjust the dosage to ensure patient safety.

Brain-Computer Interfaces fascinate the sci-fi and medical communities in equal measure. Here’s how close the transformative technology is to everyday use.