Implications of the Block Universe to Birth of Superintelligence
Today's stories include: The Ideas that Seeded the Big Bang Model of Cosmology to Strange 'Anomalies' In Spacetime Could Be Revealing New Physics, and more...
Living in a World Without Time--Implications of the Block Universe to the Birth of Superintelligence–Nick Bostrom on the Birth of Superintelligence. Bostrom, a professor at the University of Oxford and director of the Future of Humanity Institute, "discusses the development of machine superintelligence and its potential impact on humanity. Bostrom believes that, in this century, we will create the first general intelligence that will be smarter than humans. He sees this as the most important thing humanity will ever do, but it also comes with an enormous responsibility."
Octopus time--We humans are forward-facing, gravity-bound plodders. Can the liquid motion of the octopus radicalize our ideas about time? probes Aeon.com. "The octopus may navigate its ocean home with ease, but it can seem like a creature from another planet. It populates our popular visions of cosmic beings and extraterrestrial life, with its eight arms, three hearts, and a malleable body without bones."
Strange 'Anomalies' In Spacetime Could Be Revealing New Physics, Scientists Say--The true nature of dark matter, one of the biggest mysteries in science, might be hiding in patches of warped spacetime, reports Becky Ferreira for Vice Science.
How Far Should We Take Our Cosmic Humility?--For centuries, scientific discoveries have suggested humanity occupies no privileged place in the universe. Now, however, studies of worlds beyond our solar system could place meaningful new limits on our existential mediocrity, reports Mario Livio for Scientific American.
How one particle could soon rewrite our laws of the Universe, reports Stephon Alexander, a theoretical physicist specializing in cosmology, particle physics and quantum gravity (String Theory and Loop Quantum Gravity) at Brown University for BBC Science Focus. The particle that gives all matter mass may have played a key role in the birth of the Universe.
Building telescopes on the Moon could transform astronomy – and it’s becoming an achievable goal, reports Ian Crawford, Professor of Planetary Science and Astrobiology, Birkbeck, University of London for The Conversation. "The far side of the moon a “pristine, quiet platform to conduct low radio frequency observations of the early Universe’s Dark Ages, as well as space weather and magnetospheres associated with habitable exoplanets”.
A Giant Telescope Grows in Chile--These days it takes a generation to build a great astronomical observatory. A new one is taking shape in the Atacama Desert, reports Dennis Overbye for The New York Times.
Living in a World Without Time--Implications of the Block Universe, reports Nikk Effingham, Professor of Philosophy at the University of Birmingham and a Research Associate of the University of Johannesburg. His latest book is Does Tomorrow Exist?, co-authored with Professor Kristie Miller.
The ideas that seeded the Big Bang model of cosmology--a spectacularly successful attempt to describe the early history of the Universe. It all started with a quantum cosmic egg, argues Marcelo Gleiser for Big Think. “The whole matter of the world must have been present at the beginning, but the story it has to tell may be written step by step.”
Modified theory of gravity, non-metric gravity, eliminates the need for dark energy, reports Andrey Feldman for Advanced Science News. Many physicists are still skeptical that dark energy can fully explain gravity, and are therefore exploring alternative theories.
Scientists Discover Alien Life May Exist on Planets We Least Expected in Surprise Find —“I think this narrows the habitability zone a little bit,” said the lead author of the study, reports Becky Ferreira for Vice Science.