A review of Her by Ray Kurzweil (credit: Warner Brothers) Her, written, directed and produced by Spike Jonze, presents a nuanced love story between a man and his operating system. Although there are caveats I could (and will) mention about the details of the OS and how the lovers interact, the movie compellingly presents the core idea that a software program (an AI) can — will — be believably human and lovable. This is a breakthrough concept in cinematic futurism in the way that The Matrix presented a realistic vision that virtual reality will ultimately be as real as, well, real reality. Jonze started his feature-motion-picture career directing Being John Malkovich, which also presents a realistic vision of a future technology — one that is now close at hand: being able to experience reality through the eyes and ears of someone else. With emerging eye-mounted displays that project images onto the wearer’s retinas and also look out at the world, we will indeed soon be able to do exactly that. More realistic, but imperfect
Whoa: Physicists testing to see if universe is a computer simulation | The Sideshow Could this be a computer simulation? (Space.com) Will you take the red pill or the blue pill? Some physicists and university researchers say it's possible to test the theory that our entire universe exists inside a computer simulation, like in the 1999 film "The Matrix." In 2003, University of Oxford philosophy professor Nick Bostrom published a paper, "The Simulation Argument," which argued that, "we are almost certainly living in a computer simulation." Researchers at the University of Washington agree with the testing method, saying it can be done. So how, precisely, can we test whether we exist? "This is the first testable signature of such an idea," Savage said. The testing method is far more complex. To translate, if energy signatures in our simulations match those in the universe at large, there's a good chance we, too, exist within a simulation. Science, Social Science, & HumanitiesEducationCornell Universitycomputer simulation
Record-breaking NASA ion engine runs non-stop for 5 years Image © Image © NASA/JPL-Caltech Record-breaking NASA advanced ion propulsion engine, runs non-stop for more than 48,000 hours, or 5 and a half years. It is the longest test duration of any type of space propulsion system demonstration project ever. The ion engine could be used for future missions in deep space. Now according to NASA the thruster will be shut down. The thruster was developed under NASA’s Evolutionary Xenon Thruster (NEXT) Project at NASA’s Glenn Research Center in Cleveland. The 7-kilowatt class thruster could be used in a range of science missions, including deep space missions identified in NASA’s Planetary Science Decadal Survey. During the endurance test performed in a high vacuum test chamber at Glenn, the engine consumed about 1,918 pounds (870 kilograms) of xenon propellant, providing an amount of total impulse that would take more than 22,000 (10,000 kilograms) of conventional rocket propellant for comparable applications. source NASA Source: Worldlesstech
Do we live in a computer simulation? UW researchers say idea can be tested News releases | Research | Science December 10, 2012 A decade ago, a British philosopher put forth the notion that the universe we live in might in fact be a computer simulation run by our descendants. The concept that current humanity could possibly be living in a computer simulation comes from a 2003 paper published in Philosophical Quarterly by Nick Bostrom, a philosophy professor at the University of Oxford. The human species is likely to go extinct before reaching a “posthuman” stage.Any posthuman civilization is very unlikely to run a significant number of simulations of its evolutionary history.We are almost certainly living in a computer simulation. He also held that “the belief that there is a significant chance that we will one day become posthumans who run ancestor simulations is false, unless we are currently living in a simulation.” Eventually, more powerful simulations will be able to model on the scale of a molecule, then a cell and even a human being.
27 Science Fictions That Became Science Facts In 2012 We may never have our flying cars, but the future is here. From creating fully functioning artificial leaves to hacking the human brain, science made a lot of breakthroughs this year. 1. Quadriplegic Uses Her Mind to Control Her Robotic Arm At the University of Pittsburgh, the neurobiology department worked with 52-year-old Jan Scheuermann over the course of 13 weeks to create a robotic arm controlled only by the power of Scheuermann’s mind. 2. Once the robot figures out how to do that without all the wires, humanity is doomed. 3. Photo Courtesy of Indigo Moon Yarns. At the University of Wyoming, scientists modified a group of silkworms to produce silk that is, weight for weight, stronger than steel. 4. Using an electron microscope, Enzo di Fabrizio and his team at the Italian Institute of Technology in Genoa snapped the first photos of the famous double helix.Source: newscientist.com / via: davi296 5. 6. ReCell by Avita Medical is a medical breakthrough for severe-burn victims. 7. 8. 10.
Physics News :: Is it real? Physicists propose method to determine if the universe is a simulation Living In The Lattice Beane et al via arXivA team of researchers is going down the theoretical rabbit hole with a test to find out if our universe is nothing more than a computer program. We don't want to alarm you, but there's a distinct possibility that our universe is nothing more than a huge computer simulation, that we're all living in The Matrix, and none of this is real. But while stopping short of full-on human-machine warfare, a team of interested researchers at the University of Bonn is trying to see just how deep the rabbit hole goes by performing a measurement that should tell us if we're stuck in a computer simulation. This notion is based on quantum chromodynamics, which is the idea that describes how the strong nuclear force binds quarks and gluons together into protons and neutrons--and thus binds everything else together. Physicists may prove we exist in a computer simulation
Google creates 'artificial brain' - and it immediately starts watching cat videos 16,000 processors create brain-style 'neural network' Network learns by itself to identify cat facesWorks with pool of 10 million images from YouTube By Rob Waugh Published: 08:31 GMT, 26 June 2012 | Updated: 15:12 GMT, 5 July 2012 Google has created an 'artificial brain' from 16,000 computer processors, and sat it down with an internet connection. But, there's a certain grim inevitability to the fact that the YouTube company's creation began watching stills from cat videos. The team, led by Google's Dr Jeff Dean, used the 16,000 processor array to create a brain-style 'neural network' with more than a billion connections. There's a certain grim inevitability to the fact that the YouTube company's creation began watching stills from cat videos Recognising faces: Google was able to pick out the characteristics of face and label images correctly The team then fed it random images culled from 10 million YouTube videos - and let it 'learn' by itself. Unsurprisingly, the machine focused in on cats.
Physicists May Have Evidence Universe Is A Computer Simulation Physicists say they may have evidence that the universe is a computer simulation. How? They made a computer simulation of the universe. And it looks sort of like us. A long-proposed thought experiment, put forward by both philosophers and popular culture, points out that any civilisation of sufficient size and intelligence would eventually create a simulation universe if such a thing were possible. And since there would therefore be many more simulations (within simulations, within simulations) than real universes, it is therefore more likely than not that our world is artificial. Now a team of researchers at the University of Bonn in Germany led by Silas Beane say they have evidence this may be true. In a paper named ‘Constraints on the Universe as a Numerical Simulation’, they point out that current simulations of the universe - which do exist, but which are extremely weak and small - naturally put limits on physical laws. But the basic impression is an intriguing one.
100 Incredible Lectures from the World's Top Scientists Posted on Thursday June 18, 2009 by Staff Writers By Sarah Russel Unless you’re enrolled at one of the best online colleges or are an elite member of the science and engineering inner circle, you’re probably left out of most of the exciting research explored by the world’s greatest scientists. But thanks to the Internet and the generosity of many universities and online colleges, you’ve now got access to the cutting edge theories and projects that are changing the world in this list below. If you’re looking for even more amazing lectures, check out our updated list for 2012 with more talks from great minds. General Let the world’s top scientists explain exactly how they do their job when you listen to these lectures. Science and Engineering From materials science to the study of thermodynamics, learn more about the science of engineering here. WTC Lecture – collapse of WTC Buildings: Steven E. Biology and Medicine Chemistry Physics and Astronomy Earth and Environment Technology Science and Business
Quantum Reality: The Limitless Potential Within Everything Nobel Prize winning physicists have proven beyond doubt that the physical world is one large sea of energy that flashes into and out of being in milliseconds, over and over again. They have proven that thoughts are what put together and hold together this ever-changing energy field into the ‘objects’ that we see. Think of a movie reel. A movie is a collection of about 24 frames a second. A TV tube is simply a tube with heaps of electrons hitting the screen in a certain way, creating the illusion of form and motion. Think of television. This is what all objects are anyway. Each of these senses has a specific spectrum (for example, a dog hears a different range of sound than you do; a snake sees a different spectrum of light than you do; and so on). In other words, your set of senses perceives the sea of energy from a certain limited standpoint and makes up an image from that. All of our interpretations are solely based on the ‘internal map’ of reality that we have, and not the real truth.
untitled What are Legitimate Reasons to Not Have Sex? Sometimes you have to say no to sex—even when you’re ready and rarin’ to go! These are seven good reasons not to have sex. 50 Things You Need To Give Up Today!! When you stop chasing the wrong things, you give the right things a chance to catch you. So starting today… Give up trying to be perfect. – The real world doesn’t reward perfectionists, it rewards people who get things done. Give up comparing yourself to others. – The only person you are competing against is yourself. And remember, mistakes make us human, failures help us grow, hope keeps us going and love is the reason we’re alive. Source: Marcandangel