Many thanks to those who enjoy this. ☺
In the 21st Century curiosity will SKILL the cat.
Jobs are dying - Work is just beginning.
Work that engages our whole self becomes play that works.
Techne = Knowledge-as-Know-How :: Technology = Embodied Know-How
In the 21st century - the planet is the little school house in the galaxy.
Citizenship is the battlefield of the 21st Century
“Be careful what you ‘insta-google-tweet-face’”
Woody Harrelson - Triple 9
Content
Quotes:
Articles:
The origins of classical chaos originate from the finite precision of quantities that describe nature. This implies that the determinism of classical physics is not real. To assume determinism is tantamount to assuming a single number contains infinite information, an obvious absurdity. The implication of this is that all our analytic equations of reality (the models that we have symbolic closed forms) are all approximations of reality and NOT the reverse as commonly assumed. Mathematics assumes infinite precision so as to derive new knowledge, but this is all based on an approximation. Infinite precision employs a deterministic abstraction that demands that absolute knowledge is available when in reality it is not. I purposely used the word ‘approximation’ instead of ‘abstraction’ to convey the fact that infinite precision overshoots the precision intrinsic in reality. A more prevalent myth is that numerical methods undershoot reality due to its lack of precision. It is the delusion of users of mathematics to believe that analytic equations are the ultimate truth when in truth the real physics demands indeterminism (BTW, see also the Rationalist Delusion). In the end, all we have are abstract models of reality, finite or infinite-precision models that should be treated in equal standing.
There are other assumptions in conventional mathematics that are equally problematic in representing reality. The other one is the assumption of the excluded middle. This is found in proofs of contradiction and the double negative. There is an alternative kind of logic known as intuitionistic logic that demands only what can be constructed is what can be proven. In fact, one can argue that Gödel’s incompleteness theorem is proof that invalidates classical mathematics.
How does this all relate then to the field of Deep Learning? Here’s where I see the problem, a majority of the papers conjure up formal arguments based on mathematics that assume the existence of infinity, infinite precision or the excluded middle. These are all nice to have included having a convincing argument about the validity of a method. Unfortunately, these arguments are all based on concepts that aren’t even real. All of these mathematical tools are crutches to our true understanding of reality. Closed analytic solutions are nice, but they are applicable only for simple configurations of reality. At best, they are toy models of simple systems. Physicists have known for centuries that the three-body problem or three dimensional Navier Stokes do not afford a closed form analytic solutions. This is why all calculations about the movement of planets in our solar system or turbulence in a fluid are all performed by numerical methods using computers.
This notion that a formal proof using real analysis is true, is a delusion. It will always be an approximation of the truth. The proof of something that works is in the actual simulation. You have to run the computation to prove that something is actually true. Deep Learning works despite the optimization theorist proclaiming that high-dimensional spaces are non-convex and thus require exponential time to converge. Deep Learning works because the theory is an approximation, and can only be validated through experimental work. Therefore, never be discouraged by analytic proofs that a method is an impossibility.
The Delusion of Infinite Precision Numbers
the key to effective science communication isn’t the science. It’s communication.
You can’t fight feelings with facts: start with a chat
How are we able to find things in the dark? And how can we imagine how something feels just by looking at it?
It is because our brain is able to store information in such a way that it can be retrieved by different senses. This multi-sensory integration allows us to form mental images of the world and underpins our conscious awareness.
It turns out that the ability to recognise objects across different senses is present in the tiny brains of an insect.
Bumblebees can experience an object using one sense and later recognize it using another
This is a very interesting signal - of smart technology involved in all sorts of human intimacies and perhaps new forms of group intimacies. :)
Sex in space: Could technology meet astronauts' intimate needs?
Astronauts, despite their rigorous training, remain humans with needs. For space exploration and colonization to succeed, we need to overcome taboos, consider human needs and desires and provide concrete, realistic solutions based on science rather than conventional morality.
Can humans thrive for prolonged periods of time in small groups and in closed, isolated environments? Can humans contend with limited possibilities of relationships, intimacy and sexuality?
Sex tech might have the answer.
As researchers exploring human-machine erotic interactions, we are interested in their implications and potential applications for human well-being—even beyond our home planet.
This isn’t being developed for sex in space - but maybe will accelerate a wider application of intimacy bots.
Meet Haru, the Unassuming Big-Eyed Robot Helping Researchers Study Social Robotics
Honda Research Institute roboticists are experimenting with social robots as a new kind of trustful companion
Honda Research Institute’s (HRI) experimental social robot Haru was first introduced at the ACM/IEEE Human Robot Interaction conference in 20181. The robot is designed as a platform to investigate social presence and emotional and empathetic engagement for long-term human interaction. Envisioned as a multimodal communicative agent, Haru interacts through nonverbal sounds (paralanguage), eye, face, and body movements (kinesics), and voice (language). While some of Haru’s features connect it to a long lineage of social robots, others distinguish it and suggest new opportunities for human-robot interaction.
Haru is currently in its first iteration, with plans underway for future development. Current research with Haru is conducted with core partners of the Socially Intelligent Robotics Consortium (SIRC), described in more detail below, and it concentrates on its potential to communicate across the previously mentioned three-way modality (language, paralanguage, and kinesics). Long term, we hope Haru will drive research into robots as a new form of companion species and as a platform for creative content.
This is a great signal of the future of human ends. How will boomers re-imagine the end of life as it did with the beginning of life by developing woman-centered birthing.
Carpenter-Boggs, who also acts as scientific adviser to Recompose, a Seattle-based company that plans to open the world’s first human composting facility next year, presented data from a pilot project in which six bodies were composted to test the safety and effectiveness of the approach.
The pilot found that everything, including bones and teeth, is reliably transformed into compost (non-organic materials such as pacemakers and artificial hips are screened for and recycled). The soil was also found to contain low levels of coliform bacteria, an indicator of biological safety, meaning that relatives could safely scatter their loved ones’ remains like ashes, or use them to plant a rose bush or fertilise a vegetable patch.
Human composting could be the future of deathcare
Washington becomes first US state to legalise practice as interest in green burials surges in UK
It is viewed as a fitting end for a banana skin or a handful of spent coffee grounds. But now people are being urged to consider human composting and other environmentally friendly “deathcare” options.
Speaking before a talk at the American Association for the Advancement of Science conference in Seattle on Sunday, Lynne Carpenter-Boggs, a professor of soil science and sustainable agriculture at Washington State University, said: “Death certainly isn’t the biggest environmental impact we have in our life process. But we can still look for new alternatives.”
Washington recently became the first US state to legalise human composting and UK funeral directors are reporting a surge in requests for green burials and other more sustainable alternatives to burial and cremation.
This is a good signal of the emerging capabilities of flying drones and the importance of biomimicry in ongoing efforts to innovate.
A New Kind of Wing Dramatically Improves Flight for Small Drones
Inspired by insects and small birds, this wing design offers a massive endurance boost for micro aerial vehicles
Drones of all sorts are getting smaller and cheaper, and that’s great—it makes them more accessible to everyone, and opens up new use cases for which big expensive drones would be, you know, too big and expensive. The problem with very small drones, particularly those with fixed-wing designs, is that they tend to be inefficient fliers, and are very susceptible to wind gusts as well as air turbulence caused by objects that they might be flying close to. Unfortunately, designing for resilience and designing for efficiency are two different things: Efficient wings are long and thin, and resilient wings are short and fat. You can’t really do both at the same time, but that’s okay, because if you tried to make long and thin wings for micro aerial vehicles (MAVs) they’d likely just snap off. So stubby wings it is!
In a paper published this week in Science Robotics, researchers from Brown University and EPFL are presenting a new wing design that’s able to deliver both highly efficient flight and robustness to turbulence at the same time. A prototype 100-gram MAV using this wing design can fly for nearly 3 hours, which is four times longer than similar drones with conventional wings. How did they come up with a wing design that offered such a massive improvement? Well, they didn’t— they stole it, from birds.
Another great signal on the future of renewable energy and the transformation of global energy geopolitics.
Renewable Energy Could Power the World by 2050
Virtually all the world's demand for electricity to run transport and to heat and cool homes and offices, as well as to provide the power demanded by industry, could be met by renewable energy by mid-century.
This is the consensus of 47 peer-reviewed research papers from 13 independent groups with a total of 91 authors that have been brought together by Stanford University in California.
In every case the findings are that the technology exists to achieve 100% renewable power if the political will to achieve it can be mustered.
This is sort of like braking in an electric vehicle. All of our systems could be more efficient and more metabolic. This image is very useful.
Portland Installs Turbines in City Water Pipes To Create Free Electricity
Historically, hydropower has been created by damming rivers and installing turbines inside the dams, which can be damaging to fish and the river itself.
Tap-water hydropower creates virtually no effect on wildlife, as it is simply harnessing the energy of water that’s already flowing through the pipes.
“It’s pretty rare to find a new source of energy where there’s no environmental impact,” says Gregg Semler, CEO of Lucid Energy, the Portland-based startup that designed the new system.
“But this is inside a pipe, so no fish or endangered species are impacted. That’s what’s exciting.”
This is an interesting signal of both a change in energy geopolitics and the advent of a hydrogen economy and/or new ways to manufacture chemicals.
"We set out to develop an effective catalyst that can convert large amounts of the greenhouse gases carbon dioxide and methane without failure,"
New catalyst recycles greenhouse gases into fuel and hydrogen gas
Scientists have taken a major step toward a circular carbon economy by developing a long-lasting, economical catalyst that recycles greenhouse gases into ingredients that can be used in fuel, hydrogen gas, and other chemicals. The results could be revolutionary in the effort to reverse global warming, according to the researchers. The study was published on February 14 in Science.
The catalyst, made from inexpensive and abundant nickel, magnesium, and molybdenum, initiates and speeds up the rate of reaction that converts carbon dioxide and methane into hydrogen gas. It can work efficiently for more than a month.
This conversion is called "dry reforming," where harmful gases, such as carbon dioxide, are processed to produce more useful chemicals that could be refined for use in fuel, plastics, or even pharmaceuticals. It is an effective process, but it previously required rare and expensive metals such as platinum and rhodium to induce a brief and inefficient chemical reaction.
Another weak signal of emerging solutions to energy storage and use.
the supercapacitor can bend to 180 degrees without affecting performance and doesn't use a liquid electrolyte, which minimises any risk of explosion and makes it perfect for integrating into bendy phones or wearable electronics
While the supercapacitor developed by the team has a comparable energy density to state-of-the-art value of lead-acid batteries, its power density is two orders of magnitude higher at over 10,000 Watt per litre.
Even when bent at 180 degrees, it performed almost same as when it was flat, and after 5,000 cycles, it retained 97.8% of its capacity.
Fast-charging, long-running, bendy energy storage breakthrough
While at the proof-of-concept stage, it shows enormous potential as a portable power supply in several practical applications including electric vehicles, phones and wearable technology.
The discovery, published today in Nature Energy, overcomes the issue faced by high-powered, fast-charging supercapacitors—that they usually cannot hold a large amount of energy in a small space.
First author of the study, Dr. Zhuangnan Li (UCL Chemistry), said: "Our new supercapacitor is extremely promising for next-generation energy storage technology as either a replacement for current battery technology, or for use alongside it, to provide the user with more power.
"We designed materials which would give our supercapacitor a high power density—that is how fast it can charge or discharge—and a high energy density—which will determine how long it can run for. Normally, you can only have one of these characteristics but our supercapacitor provides both, which is a critical breakthrough.
One more signal of emerging breakthroughs in energy storage.
Researchers develop high-capacity EV battery materials that double driving range
Dr. Hun-Gi Jung and his research team at the Center for Energy Storage Research of the Korea Institute of Science and Technology (KIST, President Lee Byung Gwon) have announced the development of silicon anode materials that can increase battery capacity four-fold in comparison to graphite anode materials and enable rapid charging to more than 80% capacity in only five minutes. When applied to batteries for electric vehicles, the new materials are expected to more than double their driving range.
The composite materials developed by the research team demonstrated a capacity four-times greater than that of graphite anode materials (360mAh/g - 1,530mAh/g) and stable capacity retention over 500 cycles. It was also found that the materials enable batteries to charge to more than 80% capacity in only five minutes. Carbon spheres prevent the usual volume expansion of silicon, thereby enhancing the stability of silicon materials. Also, the use of highly conductive carbon and the rearrangement of the silicon structure resulted in a high output.
This is definitely a weak signal - but worth noting.
"This is brand new," Professor Hora tells us. "10-petawatt power laser pulses. It's been shown that you can create fusion conditions without hundreds of millions of degrees. This is completely new knowledge. I've been working on how to accomplish this for more than 40 years. It's a unique result. Now we have to convince the fusion people – it works better than the present day hundred million degree thermal equilibrium generators. We have something new at hand to make a drastic change in the whole situation. A substitute for carbon as our energy source. A radical new situation and a new hope for energy and the climate."
Radical hydrogen-boron reactor leapfrogs current nuclear fusion tech
"We are sidestepping all of the scientific challenges that have held fusion energy back for more than half a century," says the director of an Australian company that claims its hydrogen-boron fusion technology is already working a billion times better than expected.
HB11 Energy is a spin-out company that originated at the University of New South Wales, and it announced today a swag of patents through Japan, China and the USA protecting its unique approach to fusion energy generation.
Here's how HB11 describes its "deceptively simple" approach: the design is "a largely empty metal sphere, where a modestly sized HB11 fuel pellet is held in the center, with apertures on different sides for the two lasers. One laser establishes the magnetic containment field for the plasma and the second laser triggers the ‘avalanche’ fusion chain reaction. The alpha particles generated by the reaction would create an electrical flow that can be channeled almost directly into an existing power grid with no need for a heat exchanger or steam turbine generator."
A signal if a breakthrough in imaging that may make other breakthroughs possible.
"This is a major step forward because we have demonstrated that all the possibilities explored in our previous theoretical research are not only feasible, but our camera works even better than we expected. While building our device, we discovered several ways to optimise the imaging process and now the technology is stable and works well. The next phase of our research will be in speeding up the image reconstruction process and taking us closer to applying THz cameras to real-world applications; like airport security, intelligent car sensors, quality control in manufacturing and even scanners to detect health problems like skin cancer."
Researchers combine lasers and terahertz waves in camera that sees 'unseen' detail
A team of physicists at the University of Sussex has successfully developed the first nonlinear camera capable of capturing high-resolution images of the interior of solid objects using terahertz (THz) radiation.
Led by Professor Marco Peccianti of the Emergent Photonics (EPic) Lab, Luana Olivieri, Dr. Juan S. Totero Gongora and a team of research students built a new type of THz camera capable of detecting THz electromagnetic waves with unprecedented accuracy.
Images produced using THz radiation are called 'hyperspectral' because the image consists of pixels, each one containing the electromagnetic signature of the object in that point.
Lying between microwaves and infrared in the electromagnetic spectrum, THz radiation easily penetrates materials like paper, clothes and plastic in the same way X-rays do, but without being harmful. It is safe to use with even the most delicate biological samples. THz imaging makes it possible to 'see' the molecular composition of objects and distinguish between different materials—such as sugar and cocaine, for example.
A good signal of future understanding of our relationships with our microbiomes.
Gut bacteria's interactions with immune system mapped
The first detailed cell atlas of the immune cells and gut bacteria within the human colon has been created by researchers. The study from the Wellcome Sanger Institute and collaborators revealed different immune niches, showing changes in the bacterial microbiome and immune cells throughout the colon. As part of the Human Cell Atlas initiative to map every human cell type, these results will enable new studies into diseases which affect specific regions of the colon, such as ulcerative colitis and colorectal cancer.
Published in Nature Immunology, this study revealed the interaction between the microbiome and our immune cells. These results form an important resource, which will help scientists to understand how these microbial cells are tolerated by the immune system in health.
The gut microbiome is a complex ecosystem composed of millions of microbes, and these bacteria are thought to play important roles in digestion, in regulating the immune system and in protecting against disease. They are essential to human health, and imbalances in our gut microbiome can contribute to autoimmune diseases such as inflammatory bowel diseases and asthma.
This is a great signal not only for our fears of the rise of antibiotic resistance but also for how science discovery will inevitably accelerate with the new tools of AI.
The study is “a great example of the growing body of work using computational methods to discover and predict properties of potential drugs”
Once the model was trained, the researchers used it to screen a library called the Drug Repurposing Hub, which contains around 6,000 molecules under investigation for human diseases. They asked it to predict which would be effective against E. coli, and to show them only molecules that look different from conventional antibiotics.
Powerful antibiotics discovered using AI
Machine learning spots molecules that work even against ‘untreatable’ strains of bacteria.
A pioneering machine-learning approach has identified powerful new types of antibiotic from a pool of more than 100 million molecules — including one that works against a wide range of bacteria, including tuberculosis and strains considered untreatable.
The researchers say the antibiotic, called halicin, is the first discovered with artificial intelligence (AI). Although AI has been used to aid parts of the antibiotic-discovery process before, they say that this is the first time it has identified completely new kinds of antibiotic from scratch, without using any previous human assumptions. The work, led by synthetic biologist Jim Collins at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge, is published in Cell.
The study is remarkable, says Jacob Durrant, a computational biologist at the University of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The team didn’t just identify candidates, but also validated promising molecules in animal tests, he says. What’s more, the approach could also be applied to other types of drug, such as those used to treat cancer or neurodegenerative diseases, says Durrant.
This may be a signal of a very important possibility of how humans learn about how they perceive their world and experience in the future.
The future of psychedelic science: What the next decade holds
The last decade has been inarguably incredible for the field of psychedelic science. The term renaissance is hyperbolically thrown around a lot these days but in this context it is perfectly apt. Moving from the fringes of the research world and shaking off years of baggage from illicit recreational circles, scientists have made startling progress in legitimizing the medical potential of these drugs.
With both MDMA and psilocybin on the precipice of approvals as mainstream medicines, and several leading universities opening dedicated psychedelic research facilities, the story of the last 10 years has been one of profound breakthroughs. So, as we stand on the precipice of a new decade, it's worth pausing for a moment and looking forward to investigate what the 2020s may hold in this rapidly accelerating field.
New Atlas spoke to several leading psychedelic researchers to get their thoughts on three big future-forward questions. Where will psychedelic science be in 2030, what is the biggest hurdle psychedelic researchers will face in the 2020s, and what is the most interesting psychedelic research topic that has yet to be fully explored?
This is an interesting signal that ‘uncertainty’ isn’t what it used to be.
New Math Makes Scientists More Certain About Quantum Uncertainties
New statistical calculations suggest the fundamental quantum limits of some sensitive measurements may have been off by a factor of pi
It was long believed that, with a hypothetical technology trying to discover phase as precisely as possible using only n photons, the Heisenberg Limit to the uncertainty in phase was 1/n. But no technology had been devised to prove that 1/n was the ultimate universal “Heisenberg Limit.”
There’s a good reason why. Górecki and colleagues report in a new paper in the journal Physical Review Letters that the Heisenberg Limit in this case scales as π/n instead of 1/n. In other words, the smallest measurable uncertainty is more than three times as much as previously believed. And so now we know that our observations of the universe are a little bit fuzzier than we imagined.
(To be clear, “n” here is not necessarily just the number of photons used in a measurement. It could also represent a number of other limits on the amount of resources expended in making a precision observation. The variable "n" here could also be, Górecki notes, the number of quantum gates in a measurement or the total time spent interrogating the system.)
Górecki says the new finding may not remain purely theoretical for too much longer. A 2007 experiment in precision phase measurement came within 56 percent of the new Heisenberg Limit.
This is a wonderful signal of new approaches to live theatre with audience participation and integrated technology. I encourage everyone who will be in Ottawa during the performance to join the action. The time is getting close so please register to attend.
As an extra bonus -the Friday night performances will be followed by a short panel discussions after the Friday night shows discussing the issues raised in the play, panellists including Tracey Lauriault (Professor of Critical Media Studies, Carleton U.), Murad Hemmadi (journalist for The Logic), and Anthony Scavarelli (Algonquin Professor and VR researcher).
Strata Inc.
Dates: March 6, 7, 13, and 14, at 8pm
Location: Rebel.com, 377 Dalhousie Street
Tickets available here:
Written by Megan Piercey Monafu
Sound design by Johnny Wideman
As a teen, Victoria was an infamous hacker. Now a young adult, she has created a powerful virtual reality platform and agreed to work for a giant corporation to bring that platform to a huge audience. As users plunge into, trip over, and run away from the new Internet reality of VR experiences, exploring online privacy, connection, security, and access, Victoria must choose: run the multinational responsible, or escape from her own invention.
Strata Inc. is based on real developments in VR as it intersects with marketing, the world of work, and new outlets for the imagination. Strata Inc. uses individual audience headphones, sound design, and mic’d actors to echo the transportational abilities of VR while creating an in-person communal audio experience.
