Mind Matters Natural and Artificial Intelligence News and Analysis

CategoryTechnology

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Smiling entrepreneur businesswoman talking on smartphone with colleague discuss business project, financial report or strategy. Cheerful female sales manager communicating with client on cellphone
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News
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June 28, 2023
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Technology
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The End of Silicon Valley?

What will remote work do to Silicon Valley in the longterm?
News
June 28, 2023
1
Technology

The COVID-19 pandemic ushered in a new era of hybrid work, and allowed many workers to operate remotely. What does this mean for major tech centers like Silicon Valley and Seattle? And what are the advantages for competitors like Austin and Miami? In this lecture, hear a panel discuss these issues and related concerns at the 2021 COSM conference. We’ve been sharing a number of lectures from past COSM conferences. This video is just one of many you can find at the Bradley Center’s YouTube page. There you’ll find several lectures, interviews, and panels dealing with issues that range from economics, Big Tech, and artificial intelligence. Notable speakers include 2022 Kyoto Prize winner Carver Mead, venture capitalist Peter Thiel, and George Gilder, co-founder of Discovery Read More ›

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Business brainstorm, online video meeting, virtual conference with multiracial colleagues. African American man communicate with business partners by video call uses laptop and app, work from home
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June 25, 2023
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Technology
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Digital and Physical Spaces for Work and Play

What is the future of work?
News
June 25, 2023
1
Technology

A panel featuring top execs at Microsoft, Plus, OTOY, and Rec Room discusses the future of work and play in both physical and digital spaces. Where will they occur and what will they look like? And what are the implications for productivity, privacy, security, and human fulfillment? We’ve been sharing a number of lectures from past COSM conferences. This video is just one of many you can find at the Bradley Center’s YouTube page. There you’ll find several lectures, interviews, and panels dealing with issues that range from economics, Big Tech, and artificial intelligence. Notable speakers include 2022 Kyoto Prize winner Carver Mead, venture capitalist Peter Thiel, and George Gilder, co-founder of Discovery Institute and author of Life After Capitalism: Read More ›

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Problem of television addiction. Mixed media
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News
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June 19, 2023
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Technology
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Jack Dorsey: Just Read Some Science Fiction and You’ll See Where We Are

The former Twitter CEO opens up about his thoughts on Apple's new mixed reality headset
News
June 19, 2023
2
Technology

Last week, Apple announced the Vision Pro headset, a virtual reality set that is designed to “blend” physical and digital life into a unitary experience. The headset, from all appearances, looks sleeker and less clunky that Meta’s VR headsets. Users will, for the remarkably low price of $3,499 (that was a joke) will be able to have apps appear in the room in front of them, transforming everyday environments into a “personal theater.” Not everyone is stoked about the announcement, however. Mark Zuckerberg isn’t too happy about it, for obvious reasons. He’s been trying to break ground in the VR headset game for years, now. However, Jack Dorsey, former CEO and co-founder of Twitter, raised his own concerns about the Read More ›

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Beautiful Single white cloud isolated over black background
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June 16, 2023
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Technology
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A Cloud of Converging Technologies

We are entering the roaring 2020s, technologically speaking
News
June 16, 2023
1
Technology

We are on the cusp of a Roaring 2020s. Mark Mills, author of The Cloud Revolution: How the Convergence of New Technologies Will Unleash the Next Economic Boom and a Roaring 2020s, proposes that the convergence of revolutions in three technology spheres is unleashing the next great economic boom: the means for accessing and propagating information, the machines that represent the means of production, and the materials domain from which we fabricate everything that exists. Watch him explain and defend his ideas in this informative lecture from the 2022 COSM Conference. We’ve been sharing a number of lectures from past COSM conferences. This video is just one of many you can find at the Bradley Center’s YouTube page. There you’ll find Read More ›

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Face of female robot, Artificial intelligence concept. Generative AI
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June 15, 2023
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Technology
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Dystopia, Utopia, or Somewhere in Between?

Two great minds on the future of "smart machines"
News
June 15, 2023
1
Technology

We’ve been featuring several videos from last year’s jam-packed COSM conference, which featured celebrated speakers like Kyoto Prize winner Carver Mead, venture capitalist Peter Thiel, and a number of other highly influential voices in technology and science. Today, however, we’re sharing a video from the archives of Discovery Institute’s Center for Science and Culture on the future of “smart machines,” including the dawn of sex robots. The video features a conversation between Discovery Institute’s Jay Richards and Michael Medved, who is a Senior Fellow with Discovery Insitute’s Center for Wealth & Poverty and a renowned radio broadcaster. Their discussion is remarkably pertinent to both the benefits and challenges raised by artificial intelligence and the future of “smart technology.” You can Read More ›

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Big data analytics visualization technology with scientist analyzing information structure on screen with machine learning to extract strategical prediction for business, finance, internet of things
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Author
Jeffrey Funk
Date
June 14, 2023
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Technology
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Review of Distrust: Big Data, Data-Torturing, and the Assault on Science

Tech expert Jeffrey Funk reviews Gary Smith's enlightening new book on data, disinformation, and the "assault on science"
Jeffrey Funk
June 14, 2023
9
Technology

The pandemic proved a lot of things, one of them being that science is under assault. In this enlightening and entertaining new book, Professor Gary Smith shows us how much of the assault has its roots in what scientists do. The easiest impact to understand is the Internet, which was originally created by scientists in the 1970s to exchange scientific information. Now it has become a great way to spread disinformation on almost every subject. A former chief historian of NASA noted that: “The reality is, the internet has made it possible for people to say whatever the hell they like to a broader number of people than ever before.” Smith recounts endless examples of this disinformation, much of which Read More ›

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Peter Thiel on General Artificial Intelligence at COSM 2021
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June 11, 2023
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Technology
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Peter Thiel on Big Tech: A Throwback Lecture

Peter Thiel opens up about how artificial intelligence, 5G wireless, and blockchain security are converging in a new era
News
June 11, 2023
1
Technology

We’ve been sharing and promoting several videos from the 2022 COSM conference, but there’s also a wealth of material to be found in the YouTube archives. Today, we’d like to share a lecture from the 2019 conference featuring prominent venture capitalist and technology innovator Peter Thiel. Peter Thiel opens up about how artificial intelligence, 5G wireless, and blockchain security are converging in a new era. In a substantive and wide-ranging discussion with tech guru George Gilder, Thiel outlines how new Internet and monetary systems can remedy the currently torturous relations between the U.S. and China, and how understanding money as time overthrows the prevailing economic and technological models and opens the way to a cornucopian future.

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VR virtual reality headset goggles worn by man 3D illustration with colorful abstract art showing creativity, fun, metaverse and more, with a white background.
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June 7, 2023
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Technology
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Apple’s Vision Pro Promises “Augmented Reality”

The goal? To seamlessly blend digital and physical space
News
June 7, 2023
3
Technology

We’ve written here several times on Meta‘s struggling metaverse project; Zuckerberg‘s darling endeavor hasn’t gotten the traction he hoped for, with teetering investor involvement and an even more fragile consumer interest. But that didn’t stop Apple from chasing their own augmented reality project. The tech giant recently announced the Vision Pro, a headset that allows users to see apps and messages within their physical space. The product is a major development, and the main goal, according to Apple CEO Tim Cook, is to dissolve the boundaries between our physical and digital dimensions. Per a report from ABC News, “Vision Pro is a new kind of computer that augments reality by seamlessly blending the real world with the digital world,” Apple Read More ›

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Abstract technology black background. Futuristic digital motherboard texture. Neon blue light
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June 2, 2023
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Technology
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Carver Mead on the Future of Tech and Science

Listen to a classic lecture from Kyoto Prize winner Carver Mead
News
June 2, 2023
1
Technology

We’ve been featuring lectures and interviews from the 2022 COSM conference, but today’s video is from a bit further back. Carver Mead, the winner of the 2022 Kyoto Prize, spoke at a Discovery Institute event about his pioneering work in transistor technology. Mead said, Any time you have a leading-edge technology you’re pushing, you will uncover fundamental questions there aren’t answers to in the literature. When you first look at the literature it it looks overwhelming. It looks like everything’s been done and everything that needed to be known is already known. And it turns out. That’s only an illusion. Watch the full talk below:

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electric car parked in front of home modern low energy suburban house 3d rendering
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June 2, 2023
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Electric Cars: Fantasy or Salvation?

Many are extolling the benefits of electric cars, especially to reduce emissions
News
June 2, 2023
1
Technology

Many are extolling the benefits of electric cars, especially to reduce emissions. Some jurisdictions are even banning the sale of gas-burning cars in the near future. The panel discusses the future of electric vehicles, their benefits as well as the challenges of their widespread adoption (including manufacturing issues and power supply limitations), and some of the practical issues associated with owning and operating an electric vehicle. Read here for further analysis on the panel and the participants’ various views on electric cars. There, Peter Biles writes, Despite their disagreements, the panelists shared various insights on the development of electric vehicles. As their conversation indicates, global economic issues are in the mix when we talk about electric cars. -Peter Biles, Are Read More ›

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the variety of different types of chips and electronic components on the printed circuit board
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June 1, 2023
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Celebrating an Internet Pioneer: Frederico Faggin

Faggin discussed his background and how he came to design the first commercial microprocessor at Intel
News
June 1, 2023
1
Technology

For today’s featured video from the COSM 2022, check out this interview between journalist Maria Teresa Cometto and Frederico Faggin. Faggin discussed his background and how he came to design the first commercial microprocessor at Intel. For more similar material, visit the Center’s YouTube page to enjoy more lectures and videos from past COSM conferences.

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Light bulb Global Internet connection. Business global internet connection application technology and digital marketing, Financial and banking, Digital link tech, big data, bulb, light, energy, lamp,
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Author
Jeffrey Funk
Date
May 29, 2023
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Artificial Intelligence, Technology
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Review of “Power and Progress: Our Thousand-Year Struggle Over Technology and Prosperity”

This new book on tech, AI, and economic prosperity by Daron Acemoglu and Simon Johnson is incredibly timely
Jeffrey Funk
May 29, 2023
7
Artificial Intelligence, Technology

This book by two MIT economists is very timely because the world is now dealing with the latest in the “Thousand Year Struggle,” in the form of artificial intelligence, the claims that many white-collar jobs will be automated, OpenAI’s call for regulation, and the possibility that AI will bring a further concentration of power among the big tech companies. Much of the book sets the stage for this discussion by summarizing the history of technology. This review focuses on the economic and social impact of automation and information technology over the last 50 years. For instance, “the distribution of income between capital and labor began to change significantly in the late 20th century. While throughout most of the century, about Read More ›

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Distinguished guests at COSM 2021
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May 26, 2023
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Technology
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Tackling the Big Questions with Carver Mead

Mead said that COSM attendees argued in good faith in order to reach the truth
News
May 26, 2023
1
Technology

Dr. Carver Mead, Professor Emeritus and California Institute of Technology and recipient of the prestigious 2022 Kyoto Prize for Advanced Technology, gave the closing remarks for last year’s COSM conference. “We’ve tackled the big questions,” Mead said. Mead noted that in a system where free information is bountiful, our adversaries will try to set us at odds against each other. “That’s the one thing that can cripple us,” he said. “Is when we get at odds with each other. This COSM has been a wonderful example of us arguing over things not because we have a fixed idea and we don’t want to change because of some preconceived notion, but because we want to get to the truth.” You can Read More ›

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Neurotechnology and Neuromodulation - Conceptual Illustration
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May 26, 2023
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Technology
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Neuralink All Set for Human Trials

What could go wrong?
News
May 26, 2023
2
Technology

Neuralink, Elon Musk’s bio-engineering company that launched in 2016, received approval from the FDA to begin human experiments with its brain implant technology. The company has struggled for years to gain such approval, and up to this point, has been investigated on occasion for potential dangers the implants might pose. Musk, however, is optimistic about the technology, and thinks it may have the potential to heal a range of disorders and illnesses including autism, depression, and schizophrenia. However, the organization is being “probed” by various governmental agencies. According to a Reuters report, The Department of Transportation is separately probing whether Neuralink illegally transported dangerous pathogens on chips removed from monkey brains without proper containment measures. Neuralink is also under investigation by the U.S. Department Read More ›

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emotional glitchy tetris pattern pixelated Photoluminescence SciFi Otherworldly Realistic
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May 26, 2023
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Arts & Culture, Technology
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Before the iPhone, There Was Tetris

What was the precursor for the widespread tech addiction we see today, particularly in young people?
News
May 26, 2023
2
Arts & Culture, Technology

What was the precursor for the widespread tech addiction we see today, particularly in young people? Many say it was the iPhone. Peter Tonguette, however, thinks that the game Tetris started the screentime avalanche. Tonguette reviewed the new Apple TV+ film Tetris, which covers the story of the classic game’s development, acquisition, and subsequent popularity in the early nineties. He writes, One might assume this changeover coincided with the rise of smartphones and social media, but a new movie shows that it happened as early as the summer vacation of 1989. During that fateful interregnum between school years, kids were introduced to something that prefigured the electronic devices of the 21st century: a battery-powered, 8-bit handheld videogame device whose two Read More ›

computer-microchips-and-processors-on-electronic-circuit-board-abstract-technology-microelectronics-concept-background-macro-shot-shallow-focus-stockpack-adobe-stock
Computer Microchips and Processors on Electronic circuit board. Abstract technology microelectronics concept background. Macro shot, shallow focus.
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Author
Jonathan Bartlett
Date
May 22, 2023
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Technology
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The Microservices Controversy from a Software Management Perspective

As projects get bigger, so do the reasons for having a microservice architecture
Jonathan Bartlett
May 22, 2023
6
Technology

A new report by Amazon has caused a bit of a stir on the Internet. In it, the Amazon Prime video team reported that changing their architecture from a microservice architecture to a monolithic architecture resulted in a 90% cost savings.  While the report itself was very mild (its only claim was that this architecture helped in this specific situation), it has caused the people who disliked the microservice trend to make some noise of their own. Here, I wanted to take a moment to reflect on what I see as the benefits of the microservice approach from a software development management perspective. If you are not familiar with microservice architectures, you can find out more information in my book, Cloud Read More ›

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Manhattan project, development of nuclear weapons, history of science of the 20th century. Art collage with a nuclear explosion
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Author
Peter Biles
Date
May 20, 2023
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Arts & Culture, Technology
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“I Can Perform This Miracle”

The new "Oppenheimer" trailer gives a chilling hint of the atom bomb race
Peter Biles
May 20, 2023
1
Arts & Culture, Technology

Christopher Nolan, director of The Dark Knight trilogy, Inception, and Interstellar, is breaking ground in the historical film genre with his upcoming film Oppenheimer starring Cillian Murphy, Matt Damon, Florence Pugh, and Emily Blunt. The film, currently slated for release in July, has a chilling new trailer that gives a larger sense of the movie’s scope, and the profound moral dilemma at the heart of the creation of the atomic bomb. J. Robert Oppenheimer was the theoretical physicist largely responsible for the develop of the bomb in World War II. The new trailer emphasizes the United States’ fierce “arms race” with Germany. In the trailer, Oppenheimer says, “We’re in a race against the Nazis. And I know what it means Read More ›

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A glacial rivers from above. Aerial photograph of the river streams from Icelandic glaciers. Beautiful art of the Mother nature created in Iceland. Wallpaper background high quality photo
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News
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May 17, 2023
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Technology
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The Solution for Tech Addiction

Trail Life USA is a way to get guys off their phones and into the wilderness
News
May 17, 2023
2
Technology

In a recent Mind Matters podcast episode, host Robert J. Marks spoke with Kent Marks, former Boy Scout guide who now works with Trail Life USA. In the wake of Boy Scouts’ precipitous decline over the last decade, Trail Life offers boys the chance to get outside and go on wilderness adventures. This is a huge opportunity to help young men get off the screens and into the beauty of creation. Speaking about the gravity of the problem, Robert said, The impact of social media has just been terrible. Teenage suicides are up, depression rates are up. I think a third of all girls involved in social media have body image problems. And that’s terrible. These are the symptoms of Read More ›

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Metaverse technology concept
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May 16, 2023
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Technology
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Sorry Mark, but the Metaverse Failed

The metaverse was supposed to change everything. Now it feels like an old fantasy project
News
May 16, 2023
3
Technology

The metaverse was supposed to change everything. That was the claim, at least. A couple of years ago it was very much the talk of the town in Silicon Valley and became Mark Zuckerberg’s choice darling, but it now seems that Big Tech’s affair with virtual reality was short-lived, or at least will need to be shelved for the foreseeable future. Why? What happened? Well, a couple of things. First of all, the economy slowed down, COVID hit, and later, executives wanted workers to return to the office for work. The metaverse was supposed to be a way to achieve total remote work, but apparently, not every company is interested in that setup. Combined with major layoffs at Zuckerberg’s Meta, Read More ›