Lifeboat Foundation

Circa 2019 face_with_colon_three

By Tyler Benster.

Neuroscientists have a dizzying array of methods to listen in on hundreds or even thousands of neurons in the brain and have even developed tools to manipulate the activity of individual cells. Will this unprecedented access to the brain allow us to finally crack the mystery of how it works? In 2017, Jonas and Kording published a controversial research article, “Could a Neuroscientist Understand a Microprocessor?” that argues maybe not. To make their point, the authors turn to their “model organism” of choice: a MOS 6502 processor as popularized by the Apple I, Commodore 64, and Atari Video Game System. Jonas and Kording argue that for an electrical engineer, a satisfying description of the processor would break it into modules, like an adder or subtractor, and submodules, like the transistor, to form a hierarchy of information processing. They suggest that, while popular methods from neuroscience might reveal interesting structure in the activity of the brain, researchers often use techniques that would fail to reveal a hierarchy of information processing if applied to the (presumably much simpler) computer processor.

Continue reading “Can we reverse engineer the brain like a computer?” »

https://youtu.be/pDSEjaDCtOU?t=2526

Ian Hutchinson’s concerns for existential risk after minute 42.

Ian Hutchinson is a nuclear engineer and plasma physicist at MIT. He has made a number of important contributions in plasma physics including the magnetic confinement of plasmas seeking to enable fusion reactions, which is the energy source of the stars, to be used for practical energy production. Current nuclear reactors are based on fission as we discuss. Ian has also written on the philosophy of science and the relationship between science and religion.

Continue reading “Ian Hutchinson: Nuclear Fusion, Plasma Physics, and Religion” »

Scientists have shed new light on the timing and likely cause of major volcanic events that occurred millions of years ago and caused such climatic and biological upheaval that they drove some of the most devastating extinction events in Earth’s history.

Surprisingly, the new research, published today in Science Advances, suggests a slowing of continental plate movement was the critical event that enabled magma to rise to the Earth’s surface and deliver the devastating knock-on impacts.

Earth’s history has been marked by major volcanic events, called large igneous provinces (LIPs)—the largest of which have caused major increases in atmospheric carbon emissions that warmed Earth’s climate, drove unprecedented changes to ecosystems, and resulted in mass extinctions on land and in the oceans.

An excellent article rebutting some of common negative reactions to the idea of de-extinction. I applaud George Church, Ben Lamm, and colleagues for their efforts to leverage the genomics revolution to recreate the wooly mammoth and the Thylacine. These represent exciting steps for repairing damaged ecosystems. Such approaches will also most likely have the side benefit of generating new technologies for biomedical applications. I’d love to see similar de-extinction efforts addressing loss of insect and microorganism biodiversity as well! #biotech #future #crispr #techforgood

When mammoths disappeared from the Arctic some 4,000 years ago, shrubs overtook what was previously grassland. Mammoth-like creatures could help restore this ecosystem by trampling shrubs, knocking over trees, and fertilising grasses with their faeces.

Continue reading “Bringing woolly mammoths back from extinction might not be such a bad idea — ethicists explain” »

Musk texted a Morgan Stanley banker, two weeks after he publicly announced his intent to buy Twitter.

The potential of World War III appears to be a reason why the world’s richest person, Elon Musk, wanted to call off his buyout offer for Twitter, Business Insider.

Wikimedia Commons.

Continue reading “Elon Musk wanted to back out of Twitter deal because of World War III. Here’s what the lawyers said in court” »

https://www.timventura.com — Martin Ciupa discusses the existential risks and unintended consequences of AI superintelligence and the Singularity, along with concerns about AI augmentation through Neuralink. We also explore the philosophical underpinnings of The Singularity and how it fulfills a long-standing human need for transcendence in a technologically advanced society.

Martin Ciupa is a subject matter expert on artificial intelligence. Martin is the CEO of Remoscope Inc, an AI-based Telehealth startup, and an advisor & consultant to Mindmaze, a Unicorn Neurotech company focuses on applying advanced neuroscience to everyday life. Martin has decades of experience in computing and artificial intelligence, PhD studies in AI, and a Master’s Degree in Cybernetics. He joins us today to discuss AI Superintelligence and the Singularity.

Continue reading “Martin Ciupa — AI Superintelligence, The Singularity & Neuralink” »

2077 — 10 Seconds to the Future — Mutation | Science Documentary.

2077 — 10 Seconds to the Future | Global Estrangement: https://youtu.be/CTOduDIkcdM

Continue reading “10 Seconds to the Future | Mutation | Free Documentary” »

Where are all the aliens?! This is the essence to the Fermi Paradox. It’s most popular solution is the “Great Filter.” What is the obstacle that life and/or intelligent species are unlikely to survive? Let’s discuss.

00:00 Cold Open.
00:18 Introduction.
00:48 History of the Fermi Paradox.
02:48 Fermi Paradox Explained.
03:55 Drake Equation Explained.
07:04 The Great Filter.
09:56 Rare Earth Hypothesis.
10:53 Geologic Time in Galactic Years.
14:48 Evolution of Intelligent Life.
17:03 Conclusions.
19:11 Poll Results.
19:47 Outro.
20:10 Featured Comment.

Continue reading “Humans are the First Aliens. Here’s Why” »

The findings could revolutionize how we study potential collisions.

Asteroids pass by our planet all the time and even sometimes land here, causing much devastation. Understanding how often these kinds of impacts happened in the past and how they influenced the environment both then and today is crucial to protecting Earth.

Now, new research published by the Estonian Research Council on Friday has shown that analyzing bodies of organisms killed by an impact of asteroids can teach us how much damage occurs at the spot of such a cosmic collision.

Continue reading “Scientists use crime-scene techniques to identify asteroid collision sites” »