New Technologies

[Grok]

That being said, such unorthodox forms of reproduction-even if rare-would make the future seem very weird.

[crfriend]

It's also worth noting that a technology is not responsible for what its users use it for. This sort of reproductive manipulation can be used for many things, and any time you have something like that the Law Of Unintended Consequences is certainly going to get involved.

My suspicion is that the main use of it will be to further extend the life-spans of the super-rich who have no interest in letting nature take its course and having the good sense to die when their lot is up. The odds of it being used to enslave and then exterminate men is unlikely, but is one nightmare scenario (at least if you're a man).

Anyway, the likely expense of the thing puts it well beyond the means of "mere mortals" in the realistic sense. It'll be the purview of the ultra-rich. I hope it brings them damnation in the most bizarre of ways. Some things Should Not Be Screwed With. Whither ethics?

[rode_kater]

Anyway, the likely expense of the thing puts it well beyond the means of "mere mortals" in the realistic sense. It'll be the purview of the ultra-rich. I hope it brings them damnation in the most bizarre of ways. Some things Should Not Be Screwed With. Whither ethics?

This is where the concept of technological diffusion comes along. Every technological advance eventually becomes available to everyone, if only because there's more money to be made selling to the masses than just a few rich people. It might take a while though (ie, not necessarily in your lifetime).

In the long future there will be aliens, and they will be us. As we spread across the galaxy the travel times will be such that genetic drift will cause humans to diverge into different species.

[Dust]

Jeanne Calment. Longest verified human life, at a bit more than 122 years. This individual would not be one in a million, but rather, one in a billion. I suspect that she reached the absolute limit.

So far.

There was an herbalist in China who was claimed to have lived over 250 years:

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Li_Ching-Yuen

[Grok]

Microfluidics applied to human reproduction.

[Grok]

Hard to say how long he actually lived, Dust, without corroborating evidence. With two different types of physical evidence, I can accept that a Bowhead Whale can reach 130 years. Without a second form of evidence, I find claimed longevity an interesting concept, but unconfirmed.

[Grok]

Copied this list from from city-data.com.

Categories of Artificial Intelligence:

1. Weak Narrow AI. Does one thing well. Example-calculator.

2. Strong Narrow AI. Some what greater capacity. Example-Siri.

3. Weak General AI. Similar to human idiot savant. Superior to humans in some respects. Sub par compared to humans in other respects.

4. Strong General AI. Capable of self improvement, leading to....

5. Super AI.

[rode_kater]

5. Super AI.

For me the jury is still out on this. You can feed them all the training data you want and they will learn that steel is heavier than water. But since they are non-corporeal, do they really understand what "heavier" means? Can a blind person understand what a rainbow looks like? Can a deaf person understand what music is? Can you fall in love without hormones being involved? Computers are deaf, dumb and blind, and have no biology and AIs are the same. Is it possible for them to actually understand our world without living it? Would reading all the books in the world prepare you for real life?

The more realistic setup I see in SciFi is that you have the human world and the AI world and they stay away from each other and rarely interact, because neither side really understands how the other functions. Seems to me the more likely result.

[Grok]

A couple books I have been influenced by:

1. After The Internet: Alien Intelligence by James Martin.

2. Heart of the Machine Our Future in a World of Artificial Intelligence by Richard Yonck.

Martin argued that a new form of intelligence is appearing, and it is not human like. Yonck argued that it will be difficult to make AI that are human like, because instead of biological brains you are switching to another substrate.

My own suspicion is that the next step beyond Strong Narrow will be Stronger-but-quirky (or weird) Narrow.

[crfriend]

I think at the moment we should be studying AS (Artificial Stupidity) because Artificial Intelligence is way beyond the capacity of most humans to grasp. The former will give us clues on where to search for solutions to the latter.

Yes, there's lots of hype about "AI" at the moment, likely driven by PR, but the bald fact of the matter is that it's pretty easy to spot once one understands the clues.

[shadowfax]

Space...what might have been.

Philip Bono's vision actually gave rise to a prototype.

A British company, Reaction Engines Limited have successfully tested the component systems of SABRE, an air-breathing rocket engine for a spaceplane.
In testing, their precooler has been proven to have the capacity to cool air down enough to allow operation at Mach 5 (hypersonic) in the atmosphere.
When the SABRE engine is built, it should be able to operate at Mach 25 outside the atmosphere.
REL has been established for more than 30 years and has partnered with and received finance from BAE Systems, Rolls-Royce (Aero) and Boeing.
The founders of the company were involved in the HOTOL project, 40 years ago.

[Grok]

DNA computing. I understand that there is a similar concept that uses peptides.

I imagined a term for the liquid medium, soup-ware.

[pelmut]

... they will learn that steel is heavier than water. But since they are non-corporeal, do they really understand what "heavier" means?

Do they understand the difference between heavier and denser?

[crfriend]

Do they understand the difference between heavier and denser?

Much depends upon the local environment. For instance, in space, weight has no real significance. Mass does, and mass is in part controlled by density.

But, "Is water denser than steel?" Even empirically at sea level on Earth, no. And this can be proved using other means, such as the speed of sound in various materials. Jumps like this are beyond the realm of modern "AI".

I refer to my original hypothesis, that we would be better off perfecting Artificial Stupidity before trying the vastly harder one of Artificial Intelligence. Note that upon close reading, even "advanced" AI now when "writing" things can be trivially told apart from that which is human written. One just needs to learn the clues that form the fingerprints.

[Grok]

This fellow Matt Cross has been doing more and more social commentary over the last couple years.

Matt has done a least three videos defending men and their AI girl friends. Particularly surprising because he is a professional Pick Up Artist.

The posted comments indicate that some men have fantasies based on the sophisticated robots of science fiction. Sorry, gentlemen, the cast members are actually flesh and blood humans, who were paid to fake it on screen. Beware of hype.