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news in mobile phone
Online news in mobile phone. Close up of smartphone screen. Man reading articles in application. Hand holding smart device. Mockup website. Newspaper and portal on internet.
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post
Author
News
Date
August 3, 2022
Categorized
Media, Social Media
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Beyond the Search Engine: Shape Your Own News Feed

A news aggregator keeps you current with news YOU care about or need to know
News
August 3, 2022
5
Media, Social Media

Recently, we discussed the world beyond Google, in which a variety of easily accessible search engines offers you a choice of different advantages. But now let’s look at something even more focused… A news aggregator collects news stories and other information, sorted by categories and preferences, from across the internet. News Now is one example. Let’s say you want to know more about the asteroid Bennu. You could type “Bennu” into a search engine. But you already know the basic stuff about the asteroid; right now you want to know if there has been any recent news about it. You could go to News Now, choose Science, then Astronomy, then Asteroids, Comets, and Meteoroids, then Asteroid Bennu. You will find Read More ›

3d-illustration-embossed-mesh-representing-internet-connections-cloud-computing-and-neural-network-stockpack-adobe-stock
3D illustration, embossed mesh representing internet connections, cloud computing and neural network.
Type
post
Author
Eric Holloway
Date
August 2, 2022
Categorized
Artificial Intelligence, Neuroscience
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Can Computer Neural Networks Learn Better Than Human Neurons?

They can and do; when artificial intelligence programmers stopped trying to copy the human neuron, they made much better progress
Eric Holloway
August 2, 2022
5
Artificial Intelligence, Neuroscience

Neural networks are all the rage in computing these days. Many engineers think that, with enough computer power and fancy tweaks, they will become as smart as people. Recent successes playing games and predicting protein folds pour gasoline on the AI fire. We could be on the edge of the mystical Singularity, when humans and computers will merge and we become immortal gods. Or not. Let’s wind the clock back to the beginning of neural networks. In computer science terms, they are actually a very old technology. The earliest version, called a perceptron, (a single-layer neural network) was invented in the 1960s, inspired by McCulloch and Pitt’s early model of brain neurons. But, the perceptron was ignored for decades because Read More ›

close-up-of-a-womans-ear-and-hand-through-a-torn-hole-in-the-paper-yellow-background-copy-space-the-concept-of-eavesdropping-espionage-gossip-and-tabloids-stockpack-adobe-stock
Close-up of a woman's ear and hand through a torn hole in the paper. Yellow background, copy space. The concept of eavesdropping, espionage, gossip and tabloids.
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post
Author
News
Date
August 2, 2022
Categorized
Medicine and Health
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Now the Deaf Can See the Words They Can’t Hear

Speech-to-text technology via cell phone networks and special glasses allow people with hearing loss to see conversations they cannot hear — displayed as subtitles
News
August 2, 2022
4
Medicine and Health

Dan Scarfe says he first got the idea for eyeglasses that display subtitles (XRAI Glasses) when he watched his 97-year-old grandfather struggle to understand conversations at Christmas last year. For TV, Grandpa had subtitles. The Toronto-based tech entrepreneur realized that speech-to-text and cell phone technology would let him to subtitle everyday conversations and display them on glasses. Here’s how it works: The deaf woman wearing the glasses is reading the subtitles: The AR glasses are connected to a mobile phone which handles the processing and graphics generation. “What our software effectively does is it takes an audio feed from the microphone on these glasses [and] sends it down to the phone,” said Scarfe. “On the phone we are effectively turning Read More ›

crystal-prism-stockpack-adobe-stock
Crystal Prism
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post
Author
News
Date
August 2, 2022
Categorized
Philosophy, Philosophy of Mind, Physics
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Schrödinger Believed That There Was Only One Mind in the Universe

The quantum physicist and author of the famous Cat Paradox believed that our individual minds are not unique but rather like the reflected light from prisms
News
August 2, 2022
5
Philosophy, Philosophy of Mind, Physics

Consciousness researcher Robert Prentner and cognitive psychologist will tell a prestigious music and philosophy festival in London next month that great physicist Donald Hoffman, quantum physicist Erwin Schrödinger (1887–1961) believed that “The total number of minds in the universe is one.” That is, a universal Mind accounts for everything. In a world where many scientists strive mightily to explain how the human mind can arise from non-living matter, Prentner and Hoffman will tell the HowtheLightGetsIn festival in London (September 17–18, 2022) that the author of the famous Cat paradox was hardly a materialist: In 1925, just a few months before Schrödinger discovered the most basic equation of quantum mechanics, he wrote down the first sketches of the ideas that he Read More ›

cropped-image-of-young-beautiful-woman-working-as-writer-typing-on-computer-laptop-with-white-blank-screen-while-sitting-at-the-wooden-working-table-with-sunlight-through-windows-as-background-stockpack-adobe-stock
Cropped image of young beautiful woman working as writer typing on computer laptop with white blank screen while sitting at the wooden working table with sunlight through windows as background.
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post
Author
News
Date
August 1, 2022
Categorized
Artificial Intelligence, Creativity
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Four Problems AI Writing Tools Can Create But Can’t Fix

Effective communication doesn’t come in a box or a download. It starts with personal joy and suffering
News
August 1, 2022
3
Artificial Intelligence, Creativity

Recently, we look at what AI writing tools can and can’t do. They might speed up writing your speech, term paper, or pitch by overcoming writer’s block. But they can’t replace creativity. Here are some cautions from the pros — four things that can go wrong: 1. Lack of innovation: Just when you need to sound unique, you risk sounding like one of thousands of people whose output was scarfed into the program. Blogger Bhavya J. Shah notes that an AI program will build in keywords that tend to be picked up by search engines. That said, Al writing tools use algorithms to produce their results. They can’t go beyond that window, therefore the X-Factor which makes writing stand out Read More ›

heaven-cloud-sky-sunny-bright-for-future-wealth-fortune-day-concept-stockpack-adobe-stock
heaven cloud sky sunny bright for future wealth fortune day concept
Type
post
Author
News
Date
August 1, 2022
Categorized
Artificial Intelligence, Panpsychism, Philosophy of Mind
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Panpsychism: If Computers Can Have Minds, Why Can’t the Sun?

Sheldrake’s argument that the Sun is conscious cannot be dismissed out of hand by those who insist that computers can become conscious
News
August 1, 2022
5
Artificial Intelligence, Panpsychism, Philosophy of Mind

Recently, biologist Rupert Sheldrake asked at the Journal of Consciousness Studies, “Is the Sun conscious?” It’s the sort of question that people might have asked before the dawn of modern science (and the usual answer was yes). Sheldrake is pretty controversial but he is likely right to note a “recent panpsychist turn in philosophy.” Prominent philosopher David Chalmers, who coined the term the “Hard Problem of consciousness,” has also said “We’re not going to reduce consciousness to something physical … it’s a primitive component of the universe.” But Sheldrake might have added that there is a panpsychist turn in science as well. After all, a mainstream neuroscientist recently argued in a science publication last year that even viruses are intelligent Read More ›

statue-of-gaia-stockpack-adobe-stock
Statue of Gaia
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post
Author
News
Date
July 31, 2022
Categorized
Artificial Intelligence, Environment, Philosophy of Mind, Religion
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Pioneer Environmentalist: Cyborgs Will Rule the Planet

In one of his last pieces, James Lovelock, famous for the Gaia Hypotheses argues that half-human/half-machines will be vastly superior to humans
News
July 31, 2022
6
Artificial Intelligence, Environment, Philosophy of Mind, Religion

It might seem odd that a pioneer figure in the environment awareness movement would embrace part-human/part-machine cyborgs. But in 2019, James Lovelock (1919–2022) — one of the originators of the Gaia Hypothesis (that the whole planet can be thought of as a single organism) — wrote that cyborgs would inherit the Earth in the “coming age of hyperintelligence.” Nautilus draws attention to his thoughts on the topic, in recognition of his death on July 26 at 103. In an essay adapted from Novacene: The Coming Age of Hyperintelligence (2019), Lovelock writes, Our reign as sole understanders of the cosmos is rapidly coming to an end. We should not be afraid of this. The revolution that has just begun may be Read More ›

abstract-futuristic-stripe-line-printed-circuit-board-pattern-with-gear-wheel-and-math-fornula-on-blue-color-background-math-science-engineered-drawn-project-plot-concept-stockpack-adobe-stock
Abstract futuristic stripe line printed circuit board pattern with gear wheel and math fornula on blue color background. Math science engineered drawn project plot concept
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post
Author
Michael Egnor
Date
July 31, 2022
Categorized
Mathematics, Philosophy, Religion
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Mathematics Can Prove the Existence of God

Atheist biologist Jerry Coyne finds that difficult to believe but it’s really a matter of logic
Michael Egnor
July 31, 2022
7
Mathematics, Philosophy, Religion

In a recent post, atheist biologist Jerry Coyne takes issue with a commenter who asserts that God exists in the same sort of way mathematics exists. Here’s the analogy the commenter offered, as quoted by Coyne: Think of numbers for example, or mathematical equations, these are metaphysical things, that have not been created, however were discovered. The number 7 was the number 7 before anything at all came into existence. This is also true concerning the nature of God. He is not some material being that has come into existence, he is like a number that has always existed, (and by the way nobody will deny this logic with the number, however when someone mentions God a problem occurs). Jerry Read More ›

agate-surface-background-multicolor-transparent-crystal-background-macro-stockpack-adobe-stock
Agate surface background. Multicolor transparent crystal background. Macro
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post
Author
News
Date
July 30, 2022
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Exoplanets: Life Forms Made One Third of Earth’s Minerals

Researchers hope detection of such minerals on exoplanets can narrow the search for life
News
July 30, 2022
4

Recent work on how minerals form may help determine which planets are more likely to be habitable or inhabited. One-third of minerals — chemical solids whose atoms are highly ordered — are created directly or indirectly by life forms, says Carnegie geologist Robert Hazen: “One third of Earth’s minerals could not have formed without biology — shells and bones and teeth, or microbes, for example, or the vital indirect role of biology, such as by creating an oxygen-rich atmosphere that led to 2,000 minerals that wouldn’t have formed otherwise.” Carnegie Institution for Science, “Crushed, zapped, boiled, baked and more: Nature used 57 recipes to create Earth’s 10,500-plus ‘mineral kinds’” at ScienceDaily Both papers, here and here, require a fee or Read More ›

full-moon-in-the-sky-stockpack-adobe-stock
full moon in the sky
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post
Author
News
Date
July 30, 2022
Categorized
Science
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NASA Finds Spots on the Moon With San Francisco Temperatures

No, this news is NOT from the “Strange News” tabloid at the checkout counter; it really happened and it is good news for proposed moon bases
News
July 30, 2022
4
Science

Talk about a “fairy godmother” find: NASA-funded scientists have discovered shaded locations within pits on the Moon that always hover around a comfortable 63 F (about 17 C) using data from NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) spacecraft and computer modeling. The pits, and caves to which they may lead, would make thermally stable sites for lunar exploration compared to areas at the Moon’s surface, which heat up to 260 F (about 127 C) during the day and cool to minus 280 F (about minus 173 C) at night. Lunar exploration is part of NASA’s goal to explore and understand the unknown in space, to inspire and benefit humanity. Bill Steigerwald, “NASA’s LRO Finds Lunar Pits Harbor Comfortable Temperatures” at NASA Read More ›

rock-paper-scissors-stockpack-adobe-stock
rock-paper-scissors
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post
Author
Gary Varner
Date
July 30, 2022
Categorized
Arts & Culture, Science Fiction
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Marvel Universe: Being All Powerful, It Turns Out, Is Very Boring

The Mirror Dimension in Multiverse of Madness dispenses with sharp intellectual conflict, opting for unexplained power plays instead
Gary Varner
July 30, 2022
8
Arts & Culture, Science Fiction

Last time, we talked abut the absurdity of the way the conflict between Wanda Maximoff and Dr. Strange is set up. That’s the conflict which leads us to the attack on the ultimate fortress of the Sorcerer Supreme, Kamar-Taj. Considering what we’ve been told, the temple and its defenses are lackluster, to say the least. Wanda breaks through them with ease but there is a more fundamental problem with the struggle as a whole: The writers appear to lack a proper of the understanding of how the magical characters in the Marvel Universe operate. Marvel’s original genius in developing superheroes included giving every character different strengths and weaknesses. The game is somewhat like Rock–Paper–Scissors where Superhero A can beat Superhero Read More ›

digital-marketing-new-startup-project-millennials-business-team-hands-at-work-with-financial-reports-and-a-laptop-stockpack-adobe-stock
DIGITAL MARKETING new startup project MILLENNIALS Business team hands at work with financial reports and a laptop
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post
Author
Denyse O'Leary
Date
July 29, 2022
Categorized
Media
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The Role Mainstream News Media Really Play in Our Society Today

Why, exactly, traditional news media are increasingly out of touch with the public
Denyse O'Leary
July 29, 2022
5
Media

Yesterday, we looked at why politicians can now get away with ignoring news media: The mainstream media are much less influential than they used to be. One reason is that news consumers use the internet to create their own channels. Once-mighty media are reduced to competing with their own readers for mind space and relevance now. The highlighted politicians were Republicans. But their Democrat opponents are surely in the same position. Whether their base turns out to vote for them in sufficient numbers or not, traditional news media are much less likely to influence the decision than in the past. So, if traditional mainstream news media are not as directly influential as they used to be, what role do they Read More ›

foreign-languages-translation-or-learning-languages-online-mobile-phone-or-smartphone-with-dictionary-app-on-the-screen-stockpack-adobe-stock
Foreign languages translation or learning languages online. Mobile phone or smartphone with dictionary app on the screen.
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post
Author
News
Date
July 29, 2022
Categorized
Language, Neuroscience
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Six Brain Regions Control Language — But We’re Not Sure How

We’re learning more about human language but it remains, in its way, mysterious
News
July 29, 2022
5
Language, Neuroscience

Neuroscientist Saima Malik-Moraleda told The Scientist, recently that six main regions of the brain respond to language tasks but not to, say, math tasks. Using fMRI data, a recent comprehensive survey — of which she is a co-author — examined two native speakers of each of 45 languages while the speaker was performing either a linguistic or non-linguistic specific task. From the interview, SM-M: But the variability that we saw across languages was lower than the variability that we see across participants, meaning that the language network seems to be incredibly stable and similar across languages. One of the questions that cognitive neuroscientists who particularly study language wonder is: “Why do we have six areas? What does each area do?” Read More ›

business-finance-savings-money-wages-payroll-or-accounting-concept-calendar-with-pink-marker-circle-in-word-payday-for-remind-stockpack-adobe-stock
Business, finance, savings money, wages, payroll or accounting concept : Calendar with pink marker circle in word payday for remind
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post
Author
News
Date
July 29, 2022
Categorized
Business and Finance, Data Privacy, Economics, Surveillance
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Can Your Social Media Posts Sink Your Credit Rating? Maybe…

With AI tools, your posts or the time of day you apply for a loan might matter. Is that fair to you? Did you even know?
News
July 29, 2022
5
Business and Finance, Data Privacy, Economics, Surveillance

University of Georgia law prof Lindsay Sain Jones and Virginia Tech law prof Janine Hiller offer what should be startling news: What does your SAT score mean for your ability to pay off a car loan? What does your Facebook feed say about your chances of landing a mortgage? And, what does your propensity for snacking on road trips mean for your credit score? The answers: More than you think. Traditional credit scoring is based on a person’s demonstrated ability to take on debt and pay it off. But with the dawn of larger data pools and access to more sophisticated modeling programs, lenders and credit agencies are taking more nonfinancial factors into rating creditworthiness, particularly those without an extensive Read More ›

chef-cook-food-with-fire-at-kitchen-restaurant-cook-with-wok-at-kitchen-stockpack-adobe-stock
Chef cook food with fire at kitchen restaurant. Cook with wok at kitchen.
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post
Author
News
Date
July 28, 2022
Categorized
Artificial Intelligence, Medicine and Health
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If AI Is Like Fire, Let’s Not Get Left With Its Ashes

In a new book, Georgetown University researchers examine what can go right and wrong with adapting our culture to artificial intelligence
News
July 28, 2022
3
Artificial Intelligence, Medicine and Health

Ben Buchanan and Andrew Imbrie, Georgetown University researchers on loan to the U.S. government, think that the invention of artificial intelligence is like the invention of fire. It can bring great benefits — but comes with unavoidable great risks that are equally a consequence of its power to help us. They are honest about AI’s failures, left unattended. As authors of The New Fire: War, Peace, and Democracy in the Age of AI (MIT Press, 2022), they offer some examples from everyday life that certainly give pause for thought: Despite its extraordinary power, AI is far from perfect. Bias insidiously sneaks into AI systems, especially when they learn from data sets of human decisions. The real-world consequences can be severe. Read More ›

woman-gesticulating-during-interview-with-media-press-conference-close-up-stockpack-adobe-stock
Woman gesticulating during interview with media, press conference, close-up
Type
post
Author
Denyse O'Leary
Date
July 28, 2022
Categorized
Media
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Why Politicians Are Learning to Ignore News Media

Successful politicians now think they can get away with ignoring mainstream media. Could they be onto something?
Denyse O'Leary
July 28, 2022
5
Media

A recent development — politicians ignoring media — has set journalists buzzing: This past weekend, Florida governor Ron DeSantis and Sen. Marco Rubio, both of whom are up for reelection this fall, headlined the Republican Party of Florida’s annual Sunshine Summit. Other high-profile Florida Republicans were also in attendance at the Hardrock Hotel & Casino event, which this year tried something new: after seven years of being open to the press, “it limited which media could attend, giving inside-the-room access to right-wing outlets that give the governor positive coverage,” Politico reports, adding that traditional GOP figures were “largely replaced by the conservative social media influencers with massive followings who have recently moved to Florida and become some of DeSantis’ most Read More ›

pileated-woodpecker-nest-in-florida-stockpack-adobe-stock
Pileated woodpecker nest in Florida
Type
post
Author
News
Date
July 28, 2022
Categorized
Medicine and Health, Natural Intelligence, Neuroscience
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Woodpeckers: There Are Advantages to Having a Small Brain

Woodpeckers absorb 1200 to 1400 g shock driving their beaks into wood — but a shock absorbing skull doesn’t explain the absence of damage
News
July 28, 2022
3
Medicine and Health, Natural Intelligence, Neuroscience

How do woodpeckers absorb a remarkable amount of shock to the head — 1200 to 1400 g — for each hit on a tree? A football player might absorb 120 g — without damaging their brains? The answers could help minimize brain damage in humans and suggested explanations include a surplus of tau proteins (2017), an unusual bone in the tongue, and head movements that minimize brain damage. A new research team challenges such explanations saying that their data show that woodpecker heads” act more like stiff hammers” and that “any shock absorbance would hinder the woodpeckers’ pecking abilities.” But then what about the bird’s brain? While the deceleration shock with each peck exceeds the known threshold for a concussion Read More ›

primeval-caveman-wearing-animal-skin-holds-stone-hammer-stands-near-cave-and-looks-around-prehistoric-landscape-ready-to-hunt-animal-prey-neanderthal-going-hunting-into-jungle-low-angle-shot-stockpack-adobe-stock
Primeval Caveman Wearing Animal Skin Holds Stone Hammer Stands Near Cave and Looks Around Prehistoric Landscape, Ready to Hunt Animal Prey. Neanderthal Going Hunting into Jungle. Low Angle Shot
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post
Author
News
Date
July 27, 2022
Categorized
Archeology, Natural Intelligence, Philosophy of Mind
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Fossil Scientists Ask, Could a Neanderthal Meditate?

A paleoneurology research team suggests they couldn’t. But how can the researchers be sure?
News
July 27, 2022
4
Archeology, Natural Intelligence, Philosophy of Mind

Paleoneurology — the study of the evolution of the brain — is the study of fossil brains of extinct life forms. The brain, as it happens, is “wetware” which doesn’t fossilize so paleoneurologists actually study endocasts (natural or virtual casts) of the interiors of skulls. They try to infer behavior, including language and technical competence from the casts. More ambitiously, neuroscientist Emiliano Bruner and psychologist Roberto Colom hope to probe the mind of Neanderthal man, who ranged across Eurasia from about 400,000 years ago through 40,000 years ago but now survives only in small percentages of the genome of the much larger modern human population. From detailed studies, Bruner and Colom conclude: This work proposes evolutionary changes in attention associated Read More ›

mobilna-nawigacja-gps-na-tablecie-stockpack-adobe-stock
Mobilna nawigacja GPS na tablecie.
Type
post
Author
News
Date
July 27, 2022
Categorized
Censorship, Social Media
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Lawmakers to Google Maps: Leave Crisis Pregnancy Centers Alone!

Seventeen state attorneys’ general have warned Google not to alter map search results in response to abortion activists’ demands
News
July 27, 2022
4
Censorship, Social Media

Recently, abortion activists were demanding that Google Maps crack down on crisis pregnancy centers that offer help other than abortion. In response, a group of 17 state attorneys general led by Texas Attorney-General Ken Paxton sent a letter dated July 21, asking Google to “advise the co-signing Attorneys General whether it has adjusted its search results and advertisements to discriminate against crisis pregnancy centers, and if so, how.” It reads in part, Unfortunately, several national politicians now seek to wield Google’s immense market power by pressuring the company to discriminate against pro-life crisis pregnancy centers in Google search results, in online advertising, and in its other products, such as Google Maps. As the chief legal officers of our respective States, Read More ›

hand-holding-mobile-smart-phone-with-notification-icons-and-city-background-stockpack-adobe-stock
Hand holding mobile smart phone, with notification icons and city background
Type
post
Author
News
Date
July 26, 2022
Categorized
Censorship, Medicine and Health, Social Media
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Facebook Blinks: No Longer Wants to Censor COVID “Misinformation”

Global Affairs President Nick Clegg has revealed that Facebook is seeking the guidance of its Oversight Board about removing “false claims”
News
July 26, 2022
4
Censorship, Medicine and Health, Social Media

Citing the view that the COVID-19 pandemic has “evolved,” Meta, Facebook’s parent company, is deciding whether to continue removing “misinformation” about the pandemic from the platform: Meta has asked the company’s Oversight Board, which is funded by Meta but operates independently, to decide whether removing “false claims about masks, social distancing and vaccines” on Facebook is still appropriate as “countries around the world seek to return to more normal life,” Meta’s president of global affairs, Nick Clegg, said Tuesday in a blog post. Sherri Walsh, “Facebook parent Meta to reconsider removing COVID-19 misinformation” at UPI (July 26, 2022) The U.S. government had put a lot of pressure on Meta, as UPI notes, and Facebook removed 25 million items of information. Read More ›