This Week In Science & Technology

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As tech companies pull back from Russia, China looks on with concern

Chinese consumers have criticized Apple and others that have cut business ties with Moscow, and say Beijing should prepare for similar tactics if it were to invade Taiwan.
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“If one day China finally decides to liberate Taiwan, who can guarantee that our own iPhones won’t get deactivated?”

One should only use the mobile phone that your home country creates. Technology independence.
 
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No quick fix: How OpenAI's DALL·E 2 illustrated the challenges of bias in AI

OpenAI released the second version of its DALL·E image generator in April to rave reviews, but efforts to address societal biases in its output have illustrated systemic underlying problems with AI systems.
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Is it really a surprise an AI programmed by humans features prejudices, grudges, and bias that the creators possess?

It happens to the children people raise too.
 
Fwiffo said:
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No quick fix: How OpenAI's DALL·E 2 illustrated the challenges of bias in AI

OpenAI released the second version of its DALL·E image generator in April to rave reviews, but efforts to address societal biases in its output have illustrated systemic underlying problems with AI systems.
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Is it really a surprise an AI programmed by humans features prejudices, grudges, and bias that the creators possess?

It happens to the children people raise too.
Click to expand...

Given most of these systems are machine learning models trained with actual images and man-made tagging, any implicit biases in image selection or tagging will affect the outcome with the same underlying biases. And hard coding “bias-correction” rules is probably going to lead to worse unintended outcomes.
 
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Cell reanimation in the organs of dead pigs confounds conventional understanding of life and death

The new research challenges the idea that the beginning of cell death is irreversible, though bioethicists say it also poses significant questions.
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“To evaluate how well the new system, called OrganEx, works, the researchers caused heart attacks in pigs that had been anesthetized. The pigs were dead for an hour, and the researchers cooled their bodies and used neural inhibitors to ensure the animals did not regain consciousness during subsequent experiments.

Then, the researchers began to use the OrganEx system. They compared its performance against ECMO, a life-support technology used in hospitals today in which a machine oxygenates blood and circulates it throughout the body.

OrganEx restored circulation and prompted the repair of damaged cells. For example, the scientists saw heart cells contract and electrical activity return. Other organs, including kidneys, also showed improvements, the study says.

The pigs treated with OrganEx startled researchers. During experimentation, the dead pigs’ heads and necks moved under their own power.”

We can reanimate dead things like that alien engineer head in Prometheus. Let’s do a dinosaur next or some poor bloke trapped in ice.
 
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Are we falling in love with robots?

Far from being scary, people who actually live with robots are finding them endearing.
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"Technology can be adorable if it needs our assistance. We like a robot that needs us a bit, and when we help the robot it creates a bond."

You mean you the human creates a bond? The robot continues doing 00101110.

We had this here too but typical of our bureaucracy some municipal laws pushed them off sidewalks and they can't use cyclist lanes.
 
This can't be good. They're already turning on us.

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No coffin required: Human composting becomes more mainstream

California Gov. Gavin Newsom this month signed a bill that requires state regulators to create a program allowing “natural organic reduction” by 2027.
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"The process, which is essentially the controlled decomposition of a human body by a funeral service provider, takes about two months. Processing a person’s remains creates 1-2 cubic yards of compost — enough to nearly fill the bed of a pickup truck, which can then be used in gardens or conservation projects."

I'll turn into a pickup truck full of dirt? Will I be premium gold or all natural?
 
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In a novel experiment, brain-like human tissue implanted in rat brains influenced the rodents' behavior

Studying human neurons inside rat brains could help researchers learn more about psychiatric disorders and how to treat them.
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”’We found that human neurons respond very quickly after we stimulated the whiskers. In fact, more than 70% of the human neurons are engaged in some form of activity within a second or so of that stimulation, so that tells us that they’re probably connected,‘ Sergiu Pașca, one of the study’s authors and a professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at Stanford, said on a call with reporters.

’Human neurons become part of the rat circuitry,‘ Pașca said, adding that the neurons were ‘sparkling with electrical activity‘ under a microscope.”

We made hum-rats or rat-man.
 
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Republican committee sues Google over email spam filters

The RNC has accused the tech giant of suppressing its email solicitations ahead of the midterm elections. Google denies the allegation.
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"The suit says Google has 'relegated millions of RNC emails en masse to potential donors’ and supporters’ spam folders during pivotal points in election fundraising and community building'"

If this goes through those Nigerian fraudsters have a new revenue source.
 
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The missing plan for alien first contact

Humans are still searching for signs of intelligent alien life on other planets – but how would we react towards it if we ever did make contact?
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"My wish is that if an extraterrestrial species reached out to us, and they weren't hostile, that we wouldn't just assume that they are like nonhuman animals – things with which we could do whatever we wanted, because we are human, and they are not. My wish would be that we would evaluate them as peers to the extent that they show those capabilities [such as autonomy] and go from there."

Shouldn’t we assume they are hostile?

"’If they can get here, as opposed to transmitting a message, they are more advanced than we are by an enormous margin.’

In this case, a more appropriate question might be: would our new alien overlords afford us rights?

’What are you going to do if they're aggressive?‘ asks Shostak. ’It'd be like Neanderthals trying to meet with the US Air Force: the Neanderthals could have all the policies they want, but it wouldn't matter.’”

But we are Neanderthals with nuclear weapons.
 


Are you making anything truly new or rehashing a gargantuan library of thing made by humans?
 
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Twins born from embryos frozen 30 years ago

It is believed to be a new record for the longest-frozen embryos ever to result in a successful live birth.
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"They were stored at around -128C (-200F) in liquid nitrogen on 22 April 1992.

"I was five years old when God gave life to 'ydia and Timothy, and he's been preserving that life ever since,' Philip Ridgeway told CNN from the family's home.

'In a sense, they're our oldest children, even though they're our smallest children.'

'There is something mind-boggling about it,' he added."

Weird.
 
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Breakthrough in nuclear fusion energy announced

US researchers have overcome a major barrier to achieving low-carbon nuclear fusion.
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Fusion. Free power forever.

"The experiment was only able to produce enough energy to boil about 15-20 kettles and required billions of dollars of investment."

Fusion. Clean power for billionaires.
 
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Can humanity's new giant leap into space succeed?

Humanity is set for its next big leap into space with nations and private companies racing to build outposts on other worlds
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"There is a new order emerging in space - a race between America and China. But with the demands of space exploration, even these great superpowers won't be able to do it alone."

China is already a superpower?

"Juliana Suess, a space policy analyst at the Royal United Services Institute think tank in London says Russia has much less to offer partner nations than it once did because its technology is outdated. She raises the possibility that the first nation into space could be the first one out."

Bad Russia...

"Americans and Europeans even still train in the centre of Moscow at Russia's Space HQ, Star City."

But I thought the technology was outdated...
 
www.ucdavis.edu

Cyborg Cells Could Be Tools for Health and Environment

Biomedical engineers at the University of California, Davis, have created semi-living “cyborg cells.” Retaining the capabilities of living cells, but unable to replicate, the cyborg cells could have a wide range of applications, from producing therapeutic drugs to cleaning up pollution. The work...
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Russia delays launch to space station while leak is probed

The leak was detected after a second supply ship docked with the space station.
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"Because the new Soyuz will be launched in automatic mode, a replacement crew will now have to wait until late summer or fall when another capsule is ready. That means Prokopyev, Petelin and Rubio will have to stay several extra months at the station, possibly pushing their mission to close to a year."

437 days is the longest a human as stayed on a space station.
 
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AI: How 'freaked out' should we be?

Artificial intelligence will radically change our lives, for better and worse. Experts are worried.
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"In an optimistic scenario, AI development is focused on the common good, with transparency in AI system design and an ability for individuals to opt-in to whether their publicly available information on the internet is included in the AI's knowledge base. The technology serves as a tool that makes life easier and more seamless, as AI features on consumer products can anticipate user needs and help accomplish virtually any task.

Ms Webb's catastrophic scenario involves less data privacy, more centralisation of power in a handful of companies and AI that anticipates user needs - and gets them wrong or, at least, stifles choices.

She gives the optimistic scenario only a 20% chance."

An AI controlling what I can do!?
 
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