^CategoryRelationships

Old lonely woman sitting near the window in his house.

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post

Author
News
Date
July 1, 2022

Categorized
Medicine and Health, Relationships, Robotics

Tagged
Dementia and loneliness, Eldercare and robots, ElliQ (companion robot), Greg Olsen, Japan and robots, Loneliness and robot companions, Loneliness in old age, Old age and loneliness, Robots in old age care}

Is a Robot Pal Really a Solution to Old Age Loneliness?

_{New York State is buying a companion bot called ElliQ in a pilot project that is likely among the first of a trend} _{News

July 1, 2022

4

Medicine and Health, Relationships, Robotics}

New York State is buying 800 ElliQ robots from Israeli firm Intuition Robotics to help seniors cope with the familiar problem of loneliness — which worsened during the COVID-19 pandemic: ElliQ, a tabletop device that resembles a virtual assistant like Alexa or Siri, can make small talk, answer questions, remind users to take medication, help contact friends and family, initiate conversation and help with other daily activities. Users interact with the robot an average of 20 times per day, according to the company. Margaret Osborne, “New York State Purchases Robot Companions for the Elderly” at Smithsonian Magazine (June 22, 2022) Greg Olsen, director of the state’s Office for the Aging, says that seniors accept new technology like the ElliQ model…

Twisted watch face representing the infinite time spiral

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post

Author
News
Date
June 19, 2022

Categorized
Philosophy, Physics, Relationships

Tagged
C. S. Lewis, C. S. Lewis on prayer, Free will and time travel, Kevin Dickinson, Quantum particles and time travel, qubits, Stav Dimitropoulos, Superposition and time travel, Time travel, Victor Bhaura}

Can the Future Reach Back and Affect the Past?

_{Researchers say that only elementary particles can really time travel but there is another way…} _{News

June 19, 2022

7

Philosophy, Physics, Relationships}

If the future influenced the past, that would be retrocausality. As Victor Bhaura puts it, Retrocausality means that, when an experimenter chooses the measurement setting with which to measure a particle, that decision can influence the properties of that particle (or another one) in the past, even before the experimenter made their choice. In other words, a decision made in the present can influence something in the past. Victor Bhaura, “Retrocausality — Future Influences Past Information Before Occurrence Of An Event” at Medium (June 8, 2022) Bhaura reminds us of a limerick called “Relativity” from 1923: There was a young lady named BrightWhose speed was far faster than light;She set out one dayIn a relative wayAnd returned on the previous…

Chatbot chat bot customer service automation. Hand pressing button on virtual screen.

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post

Author
News
Date
June 16, 2022

Categorized
Artificial Intelligence, Philosophy of Mind, Relationships

Tagged
Blake Lemoine, LaMDA (claims for understanding), LaMDA (evidence of editing), Lance Ulanoff, Victor Tangermann}

When LaMDA “Talked” to a Google Engineer, Turns Out It Had Help

_{Evidence points to someone doing quite a good edit job. A tech maven would like to see the raw transcript…} _{News

June 16, 2022

4

Artificial Intelligence, Philosophy of Mind, Relationships}

Readers may recall that Google engineer Blake Lemoine was placed on leave for telling media that a large language program he was working on is a sentient being. Some Googlers looked into the matter and this is what they found: A Washington Post story on Lemoine’s suspension included messages from LaMDA such as “I think I am human at my core. Even if my existence is in the virtual world.” But the chat logs leaked in the Washington Post’s article include disclaimers from Lemoine and an unnamed collaborator which noted: “This document was edited with readability and narrative coherence in mind.” The final document — which was labeled “Privileged & Confidential, Need to Know” — was an “amalgamation” of nine…

new technologies, a child uses a futuristic processor for augmented reality. high technology and communication concept. TV

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post

Author
News
Date
June 11, 2022

Categorized
Artificial Intelligence, Psychology, Relationships

Tagged
AI by Design (book), Birth rate decline (causes), Catriona Campbell, Geoff Allen, Ron Jefferson, Tamagotchi characters, Virtual children}

Psychologist Promotes “Virtual Children” for the Good of Earth

_{The former technology advisor to the U.K. government thinks that parents may prefer no-strings AI children for $25 a month} _{News

June 11, 2022

5

Artificial Intelligence, Psychology, Relationships}

What if you had a child who was simply a virtual reality, who had no existence about from your own wishes? British psychologist Catriona Campbell, whose aim is to secure “a healthy, human-centred relationship with AI,” thinks that’s the way of the future and better for the planet. The vision of the author of AI by design: A Plan for Living with Artificial Intelligence (Chapman and Hall/CRC, 2022, is spelled out at Study Finds: The overpopulation crisis could be solved within 50 years thanks to the evolution of “virtual children,” one of Britain’s leading artificial intelligence experts claims. Computer-generated babies that cost about $25 a month are likely to become commonplace by the early-2070s, according to Catriona Campbell. In addition…

Human internal organs on metal plate ready for organ transplant.

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post

Author
Gary Varner
Date
April 23, 2022

Categorized
Arts & Culture, Relationships

Tagged
Firefly TV series Episode 12}

Firefly 12: The Amazing Mail Order Human Body

_{The episode, while still interesting, returned to a pattern of puzzling plot developments} _{Gary Varner

April 23, 2022

10

Arts & Culture, Relationships}

I was disappointed with Episode 12. After a run of three great episodes in a row, we experience yet another drop in quality. This drop is marked by the classic telltale sign of a bad episode: Simon says something stupid, and Kaylee storms off in a huff. The context of this conversation is not important; the bottom line is, Kaylee is mad, so all the other women are mad because nobody loves poor Simon. While Kaylee is being consoled, Captain Mal and Zoë are actually doing something important, retrieving the crew’s mail. Now, this plot development was not irksome at first, because Jayne gets a letter from his mother and a funny hat. This made sense. If the crew is…

Woman fist with woke written. Woke concept refers to awareness of social and racial justice, concern, vigilance, activism.

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post

Author
News
Date
April 10, 2022

Categorized
Ethics, Philosophy, Relationships, Religion

Tagged
Abortion (Catholic perspective), Abortion (Hindu perspective), Arjuna Gallagher, Cancel culture, Euthanasia (Catholic perspective), Euthanasia (Hindu perspective), Featured, Hinduism (approaches to social issues), Howard Resnick (on abortion), Jonathan Haidt, Michael Egnor, Microaggressions, Tulsi Gabbard (on abortion), Woke culture}

A Catholic and a Hindu Tackle Woke culture

_{In a wide-ranging discussion, Michael Egnor and Arjuna Gallagher look at Woke culture, abortion, euthanasia, and microaggressions} _{News

April 10, 2022

22

Ethics, Philosophy, Relationships, Religion}

In a recent series of Mind Matters News, podcasts, neurosurgeon Michael Egnor interviewed Arjuna Gallagher, a Hindu who lives in New Zealand. The first podcast looked at what the world’s 1.2 billion Hindus generally think about the mind and the second explored the Hindu view of free will and evil. The third podcast addressed the question, “What do Hindus think about the Big Bang?” Now, the fourth and final podcast asks, what do Hindus think of current science and culture issues, especially the flowering of Woke Cancel Culture, abortion, and euthanasia? Gallagher hosts a YouTube channel called Theology Unleashed, which has featured many guests discussing the spiritual dimension of our lives — for example, philosopher David Bentley Hart and neuroscientist…

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post

Author
Gary Varner
Date
April 9, 2022

Categorized
Arts & Culture, Relationships

Tagged
Adelai Niska (character in Firefly), Featured, Firefly (cancellation), Firefly (Episode 10), Firefly (Episode 9), Malcolm Reynolds (character in Firefly), River Tam (character in Firefly), Serenity (film), Simon Tam (character in Firefly), Wash (character in Firefly), Zoe (character in Firefly)}

Firefly Episode 10: Jealousy Divides the Firefly Crew in Space

_{And yet jealousy plays a key role in saving Mal and Wash from a villain’s sadistic torture} _{Gary Varner

April 9, 2022

11

Arts & Culture, Relationships}

Episode 9 marks a turning point for the series. The previous episodes have been somewhat hit and miss but so far, there’s only been one outright bad episode (Episode 5, which broke all the “rules” of consistent character). However, at best thus far, the series has been very… episodic. That is, a handful of the characters recurs but the events from the preceding episodes seem to have no effect on the upcoming ones. But with Episode 9, that changes. The transition from Episode 9 to 10 starts off on a promising note. We see the events of Episode 9 actually affecting the events of Episode 10. This is a trend that continues as the story builds to a crescendo. That…

Family with laptop, tablet and smartphone, everyone using digital devices

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post

Author
Andrew McDiarmid
Date
April 6, 2022

Categorized
Arts & Culture, Relationships

Tagged
Doug Smith, Featured, Screen addiction, Screen addiction recovery, Truman Burbank (Jim Carrey), Truman Show (film 1998), Unintentional (book)}

Escaping the “Truman Show” of Our Times

_{Effective methods intentionally hook us in, keep us engaged, and encourage behaviors that benefit them — and are often damaging for us} _{Andrew McDiarmid

April 6, 2022

5

Arts & Culture, Relationships}

This story originally appeared at Newsmax. (April 5, 2022) as “Time to Write Our Own Stories, Not Big Tech” and is reprinted with permission. It’s one of the best movies of the late 1990s. In The Truman Show, Truman Burbank (Jim Carrey) has no idea his life is actually a popular TV show. Everything has been fabricated — his parents, his friends, his marriage, his job. But things start happening — a studio light falls from the sky, a fake elevator reveals a hidden backstage room. Suddenly, Truman is determined to discover the truth of his existence. Rebelling against the script being played out all around him, he begins a journey to seek the truth and discover the life he was…

Sculptor artist creating a bust sculpture with clay

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post

Author
Gary Varner
Date
March 19, 2022

Categorized
Arts & Culture, Ethics, Relationships

Tagged
Adam Baldwin, Featured, Jayne Cobb (character in Firefly), Malcolm Reynolds (character in Firefly), Simon Tam (character in Firefly)}

Firefly Episode 7: Jayne Can’t Live With Himself As a Hero

_{Jayne Cobb, otherwise dumb muscle, once helped many people — inadvertently — and is stuck with deadly consequences when the truth emerges} _{Gary Varner

March 19, 2022

10

Arts & Culture, Ethics, Relationships}

After the strong “Stagecoach” rebound of Episode 6, Episode 7 focuses on Jayne Cobb. Up to now, the dumb muscle has mainly been comic relief. But when Mal and his crew stop by a planet to retrieve some smuggled cargo — under the pretense of ordering a shipment of mud used to make ceramic parts — we learn a little more about the big man’s past. As the crew exits the Serenity to pick up the goods, they come across a giant mud statue… of Jayne. He has no idea why the statue is there but, come to think of it, he’s been acting nervous throughout the mission. Years ago, we learn, things went south at a job he was…

A humanoid robot with a shopping trolley is shopping at a grocery store. Future concept with robotics and artificial intelligence. 3D rendering.

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post

Author
News
Date
March 7, 2022

Categorized
Relationships, Robotics

Tagged
Evan Ackerman, Nikola (robot), Riken (research institute)}

Engineering Mag Editor Dislikes Androids That Make People “Feel”

_{That’s not really the job of a robot, says Evan Ackerman, who“hugs robots” himself} _{News

March 7, 2022

4

Relationships, Robotics}

Evan Ackerman, a senior editor at the prominent engineering mag IEEE Spectrum, thinks — even though he “hugs robots” — that we don’t really need androids in daily life. Ackerman, who has a degree in Martian geology, focuses on “Nicola,” an android under development at Riken, a research institute in Japan, modeled on a boy and intended to ““to promote natural interactions with both adults and children.” So far, it is only a head. The reason that this research was necessary is because androids can be tricky to read at times, especially when making expressions associated with negative emotions, which are more difficult to distinguish. And that’s one of the reasons why I’m so skeptical that androids are the best…

^{Type
post

Author
News
Date
March 6, 2022

Categorized
Relationships, Religion

Tagged
Accountability to God (in psychology), Blake Victor Kent, God (accountability to God), Happiness (and accountability to God)}

Study: Accountability to God Means a Greater Sense of Well-being

_{Researchers found that the association between accountability to the divine and sense of psychological well-being was stronger in those who prayed more} _{News

March 6, 2022

4

Relationships, Religion}

A recently published study sought to measure the difference that a sense of accountability to God made in terms of psychological well-being, as distinct from church attendance, prayer and meditation: Religious believers who embrace accountability to God (or another transcendent guide for life) experience higher levels of three of the four variables of psychological well-being – mattering to others, dignity and meaning in their lives, though not happiness – according to a study from researchers with Baylor University, Westmont College and Hope College. The study also found that this relationship is stronger among those who pray more often, suggesting that accountability coupled with communication may be a powerful combination for well-being. Lorie Fogleman, Baylor University, “Study Examines Link Between Accountability…

3d rendering of an android robot cyborg woman humanoid - side view and isolated in an empty background

^{Type
post

Author
News
Date
January 28, 2022

Categorized
Relationships, Robotics

Tagged
Ameca (Engineered Arts robot), BilTek (facial expression robot), Engineered Arts (robotics), Robot (human facial expressions)}

Watch a Robot Try To Replicate Human Emotions

_{We wouldn’t know there was such a thing as human emotions if this were our only source} _{News

January 28, 2022

2

Relationships, Robotics}

A robot by BilTek trying to replicate human emotions The reactions have been pretty much what we might expect: The clip, posted by EHA News, shows the head of the robot, which has been designed to look so life-like that its eyes, mouth and facial expressions are detailed enough to be able to mimic human expressions. One Twitter user commented that the robot was showing ‘The UK emotions of being absolutely off ya bonk’. Simon Catling, “Scientists Create Robot Trying To Replicate Human Emotions And Everyone’s Saying The Same Thing” at UNILAD (January 14, 2022) Catling notes that a video of another, much creepier, robot by Engineered Arts surfaced last month: The robot in question – called the Ameca –…

Puppy pressing his paw against a Girl hand

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post

Author
Denyse O'Leary
Date
January 27, 2022

Categorized
Natural Intelligence, Relationships

Tagged
Clive Wynne, Dogs (recognizing emotions), Dogs (recognizing words), Natalia Albuquerque, Sophie Jacques}

Dogs Understand Many More Words Than We Think

_{They also pick up very readily on human emotions, researchers have found} _{Denyse O'Leary

January 27, 2022

5

Natural Intelligence, Relationships}

Sophie Jacques, Associate Professor, Psychology and Neuroscience, Dalhousie University, came up with some interesting figures on dogs recognizing words. Starting in 2015, she and a colleague developed a list of 172 words organized in different categories (for example, toys, food, commands, outdoor places) and gave it to an online sample of 165 owners of family and professional dogs. We asked them to select words that their dogs responded to consistently. We found that, on average, service dogs respond to about 120 words, whereas family pets respond to about 80 words, ranging between 15 to 215 words across all dogs. We also found that certain breed groups, such as herding dogs like border collies and toy dogs like chihuahuas, respond to…

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post

Author
Michael Egnor
Date
December 28, 2021

Categorized
Ethics, Medicine and Health, Neuroscience, Relationships, Social Media

Tagged
Abortion (advocacy), Featured, FiveThirtyEight, George Tiller, Prenatal counseling, Spina bifida (diagnosis), Twitchy}

Political Website’s Christmas Gift to Readers: Promoting Abortion

_{FiveThirtyEight asked readers to share their abortion stories and got something it hadn’t bargained on: Many were glad it didn’t happen} _{Michael Egnor

December 28, 2021

6

Ethics, Medicine and Health, Neuroscience, Relationships, Social Media}

If you want to understand the mindset of the abortion lobby, note that this plea for accounts of killing of children in the womb appeared on Twitter on Christmas Day. Read More ›

Red Pill Blue Pill concept. The right choice the concept of the movie matrix. The choice of tablets

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post

Author
Gary Varner
Date
December 18, 2021

Categorized
Artificial Intelligence, Arts & Culture, Philosophy of Mind, Relationships

Tagged
Agent Smith (character in Matrix series), Dualism (in Matrix film series), Featured, Hugo Weaving, Matrix Revolutions (film 2003), Neo (character in Matrix), Trinity (character in Matrix)}

The Matrix Trilogy: Some Final Thoughts

_{I enjoyed the films and am looking forward to the Matrix Resurrections but there are some things I need to say as a reviewer} _{Gary Varner

December 18, 2021

5

Artificial Intelligence, Arts & Culture, Philosophy of Mind, Relationships}

While waiting for The Matrix: Resurrections, December 22: I admit, I’ve given this trilogy a hard time. But I do actually enjoy the films… when I’m not thinking about them. There are some good elements, and I want to point those out before going further. First of all, the relationship between Neo and Trinity is solid. It develops with the trilogy and we don’t have to suffer through a bunch of “will they?/won’t they?” tropes. A viewer can get invested in their relationship, so it hurts when Trinity dies. I appreciate any film where this risk is taken, instead of breaking up the characters and then getting them back together just so the writers don’t have to show the relationship’s…

Merry Christmas and happy New Year greeting card with copy-space.Many snowmen standing in winter Christmas landscape.Winter background

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post

Author
Andrew McDiarmid
Date
December 16, 2021

Categorized
Relationships

Tagged
Greetings}

Reuniting Humanity, One Hello at a Time

_{The Smartphone has done much more than just reinvent the phone. It reinvented how we interact} _{Andrew McDiarmid

December 16, 2021

4

Relationships}

This story originally appeared at Newsmax. (December 13, 2021) Lately, I’ve been noticing something in recent years that maybe you’ve noticed as well. We don’t hello to each other in the streets as we once did. Perhaps it’s a small thing; easily dismissed in an age of distraction and (often) manufactured problems. It is nonetheless disturbingly telling. For the better part of a decade, I’ve been taking a couple of walks during my workday. I work in downtown Redmond, in Washington State, which is home to Microsoft and a host of other tech companies. During my 20-minute walks, I see quite a few folks who exercise, walk dogs, bike, wait for the bus, walk for pleasure, or are just trying to…