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Ray Kurzweil, a former Google engineer who has an 86 pc success rate out of his 147 predictions has created a sensation by his assertion that advances in technology will quickly lead to age-reversing nanobots and humans will achieve immortality by 2030, writes Bharat Hiteshi

In Hindu mythology, whenever an asura asks for immortality, Brahma tells them that they can have whatever they wish except that. The clever asura then asks for a boon that will render him immortal for all practical purposes. But, embedded in the boon is a loophole, a vulnerability that the devas take advantage of, to kill him. Thus, we are reminded that no one is immortal in the world.

However, Ray Kurzweil, a former Google engineer who has an 86 percent success rate out of his 147 predictions has created a sensation by his assertion that advances in technology will quickly lead to age-reversing nanobots and humans will achieve immortality in next eight years or by 2030. To add to the prediction,a prominent futurist Dr Ian Pearsonhas predicted that human intelligence, memory or senses could be connected to external technology.Credentials of the two are so plausible that it is difficult to raise a needle of suspicion, whileRay Kurzweilis the same computer scientist and former Google engineer who in 1999 received the National Medal of Technology,Dr Ian Pearsonsinventions include text messaging and active contact lens.

The idea of uploading your mind to a computer has been theorised for many years now, but it has mostly remained the stuff of science fiction. Nectome, a US-based start-up, is trying to change that by devising a way to preserve the human brain so that its memories can be uploaded to the cloud. The firm has figured out a way to preserve the human brain in microscopic detail using a high-tech embalming process, according to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT} Technology Review.

Compiling the observations in UKs MailOnline on April 8, 2023, Fiona Jackson wrote Could you live forever? Experts claim humans could achieve immortality by 2030 and one futurist even says we shall be able to attend our own funerals in a new body by reanimating the brain and uploading our minds to the cloud. However, in order for the technology to work, participants have to be willing to be euthanized. However, the prestigious institution claimed the technology is in its infancy and there is no guarantee that they can recreate consciousness.

The prominent futurist Dr Ian Pearsonhad predicted that human intelligence, memory or senses could be connected to external technology.Dr Ian Pearsonruns Futurizon, a futures institute.He claims85% proven accuracy when looking 1015 years ahead. His inventions include text messaging and active contact lens. He is a Maths and Physics graduate, a Doctor of Science, and has worked in numerous branches of engineering, from aeronautics and weapons design to cybernetics, sustainable transport to electronic cosmetics.

Rather than creating a backed up copy of your mind, most of your intelligence would simply be running from a place outside of your physical brain. In a blog post, he wrote: One day, your body dies and with it your brain stops. But no big problem, because 99 per cent of your mind is still fine, running happily on IT, in the clouds.Assuming you saved enough and prepared well, you connect to an android to use as your body from now on, attend your funeral, and then carry on as before, still you, just with a younger, highly upgraded body.

In the past,Ray Kurzweils predictions have become accurate, inspiring a cult following among other future-thinkers. While many of his predictions have come true, a claim made by Kurzweil in his 2005 book The Singularity Is Near has resurfaced online after YouTube channel Adagio shared a two-part clip, sharing insights from the book. The comments made by Kurzweil has kickstarted a debate on social media on immortality and if at all, humans will achieve it.

In his book, the scientist predicted that technology will allow humans to enjoy an everlasting life by 2030. He also talked about genetics, nanotechnology, robotics and more.2029 is the consistent date I have predicted for when an AI will pass a valid Turing test and therefore achieve human levels of intelligence. I have set the date 2045 for the Singularity which is when we will multiply our effective intelligence a billion fold by merging with the intelligence we have created, Kurzweil had toldFuturismin 2017, as quoted byNew York Post.

Kurzweil talked about nanotechnology and robotics which he believes will give birth to age-reversing nanobots. As per former Google engineer, these tiny robots will constantly keep fixing damaged cells and tissues that start to deteriorate as we age, making us immune to lethal diseases.

Past predictions coming true

This isnt the first time that this scientist has made a prediction. In 1990, Kurzweil had predicted that the worlds best chess player would lose to a computer by 2000. The prediction came true in 1997when Deep Blue beat Gary Kasparov.

Later in 1999, he madeanother prediction stating that by 2023, a laptop worth $1,000 would have storage capacity and capabilities of a human brain. Kurzweil, an author who calls himself a futurist, had also predicted that by 2010, most of the world would have access to high-bandwidth wireless internet.

By 2029, computers will have human-level intelligence, Kurzweil had said in an interview with SXSW. Coming back to 2023, Silicon Valley is witnessing a tough battle between top tech giants as they race towardsartificial intelligence and how it can be incorporated in everyday life.

Is AI smarter than humans?

In laymans terms, singularity is a hypothetical future point in time when all the advances in technology, particularly in artificial intelligence (AI), lead to the rise of machines that are smarter than humans. Kurzweil isnt the only man who has talked about singularity. Softbank CEO Masayoshi Son in the past has also predicted the dawn of super-intelligent machines by 2047.

Thirty years from now, they (cyborgs) are going to learn by themselves, they are maybe going to laugh at you and us, the tech mogul Son had said at the Future Investment Initiative in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia in 2017. Softbank Robotics already has Pepper, a semi-humanoid robot which is designed with the ability to read emotions. It was introduced in June 2014 at a conference and was later showcased in SoftBank Mobile Phone stores in Japan.

Its just been a few months in 2023 and we have already seen big techs such as Google and Microsoft introduce their respective AI-powered chatbots, which has also resulted in fear about the future and an alarming question: Is humankind really ready for AI?

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Could humans live forever and be immortal? - Tehelka

Finding life on other planets might well be the holy grail of astronomy, but the hunt for suitable host planets that can sustain life is a resource-intensive task.

The search for exoplanets (planets outside our solar system) involves competing for time on Earths biggest telescopesyet the hit rate of this search can be disappointingly low.

In a new study recently published in Science, my colleagues and I combined different search techniques to discover a new giant planet. It could change the way we try to image planets in the future.

To satisfy our curiosity about our place in the universe, astronomers have developed many techniques to search for planets orbiting other stars. Perhaps the simplest of these is called direct imaging. But its not easy.

Direct imaging involves attaching a powerful camera to a large telescope and trying to detect light emitted, or reflected, from a planet. Stars are bright, and planets are dim, so its akin to searching for fireflies dancing around a spotlight.

Its no surprise only about 20 planets have been found with this technique to date.

Yet direct imaging is of great value. It helps shed light on a planets atmospheric properties, such as its temperature and composition, in a way other detection techniques cant.

Our direct imaging of a new planet, named HIP99770b, reveals a hot, giant and moderately cloudy planet. It orbits its star at a distance that falls somewhere between the orbital distances of Saturn and Uranus around our sun.

The HIP99770 star is almost 14 times brighter than the sun. But since its planet has an orbit larger than Saturns, the planet receives a similar amount of energy as Jupiter does from the sun. Author provided

With about 15 times the mass of Jupiter, HIP99770b is a real giant. However, its also more than 1,000, so its not a good prospect for a habitable world.

What the HIP99770 system does offer is an analogy to our own solar system. It has a cold debris disk of ice and rock far out from the star, akin to a scaled-up version of the Kuiper Belt in our solar system.

The main difference is that the HIP99770 system is dominated by one high-mass planet, rather than several smaller ones.

Images of the HIP99770 system, taken with exoplanet imager SCExAO (Subaru Coronagraphic Extreme Adaptive Optics Project) coupled with data from the CHARIS instrument (Coronagraphic High-Resolution Imager and Spectrograph). Author provided

We reached our findings by first detecting hints of a planet via indirect detection methods. We noticed the star was wobbling in space, which hinted at the presence of a planet in the vicinity with a large gravitational pull.

This motivated our direct imaging efforts; we were no longer searching in the dark.

The extra data came from the European Space Agencys Gaia spacecraft, which has been measuring the positions of nearly one billion stars since 2014. Gaia is sensitive enough to detect tiny variations of a stars motion through space, such as those caused by planets.

We also supplemented these data with measurements from Gaias predecessor, Hipparcos. In total, we had 25 years worth of astrometric (positional) data to work with.

Previously, researchers have used indirect methods to guide imaging that has discovered companion stars, but not planets.

Its not their fault: massive stars such as HIP99770which is almost twice the mass of our sunare reluctant to give up their secrets. Otherwise-successful search techniques can rarely reach the levels of precision required to detect planets around such massive stars.

Our detection, which used both direct imaging and astrometry, demonstrates a more efficient way to search for planets. Its the first time the direct detection of an exoplanet has been guided through initial indirect detection methods.

Gaia is expected to continue observing until at least 2025, and its archive will remain useful for decades to come.

Astrometry of HIP99770 suggests it belongs to the Argus association of starsa group of stars that moves together through space. This would suggest the system is rather young, about 40 million years old. That would make it roughly one-hundredth of the age of our solar system.

However, our analysis of the stars pulsations, as well as models of the planets brightness, suggest an older age of between 120 million and 200 million years. If this is the case, HIP99770 might just be an interloper in the Argus group.

Now that its known to host a planet, astronomers will aim to further unravel the mysteries of HIP99770 and its immediate environment.

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

Image Credit: Subaru Telescope image of HIP99770. T. Currie/Subaru Telescope, UTSA

Original post:

Astronomers Just Directly Imaged a Massive Exoplanet. Here's Why ... - Singularity Hub

April 18, 2023 Charlie Harding

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EPISODE 311

The South Korean idol group BTS is one of the biggest musical sensations in history. They're constantly breaking records and they have one of the most dedicated fan bases in the world known as Army. Their hit singles like Boy With Love, Dynamite, and Butter have been discussed on the show in the past for breaking through the US charts.

But back in 2022, they decided to take a break from group activities and start releasing solo material because of their obligations to each fulfill mandatory military service in South Korea, precluding them from working together at the same time. Solo projects arent new for the group BTS members have released mixtapes as far back as 2015 and countless solo singles but this was the first time that BTS had ever announced a prolonged break.

This moment, originally presented as a hiatus, has evolved into a whole new musical chapter for the group, with a seemingly endless array of new solo releases. Switched On Pop listens back to one track from each solo effort so far to introduce the casual listener to what is happening in this new era of BTS. Joining the show is Lenika Cruz, senior editor at The Atlantic, who literally wrote the book on BTS, simply called On BTS out on the Atlantic Editions imprint.

Songs Discussed

j-hope, J. Cole - on the street

Jimin - Like Crazy

RM, Youjeen - Wild Flower

Agust D - People Pt.2

Agust D - People

Jung Kook - Dreamers

JIN - The Astronaut

BTS - Singularity, Inner Child

Coldplay, BTS - My Universe

Discover more from Switched On Pop

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BTS goes solo together - Switched On Pop

Students have just a few weeks to figure out which college they will attend ahead of National College Decision Day on May 1, which is the deadline many schools set.

But with a record-breakingincrease in applications pushing acceptance rates to all-time lows, some college-bound seniors may have a tough decision to make, or pivot to back-up schools.

If you didn't get the news you hoped for, "keep an open mind," said Connie Livingston, the head of college counselors at college counseling firm Empowerly and a former admissions officer at Brown University. There is absolutely a path forward, she said, although it may take a little more legwork.

To that end, experts share their best advice on how to frame your decision before choosing a school, including navigating a waitlist and, of course, factoring in financial aid.

More from Personal Finance:How to understand your financial aid offerThe cheapest states for in-state college tuitionThis strategy could save thousands off the cost of college

For starters, settle on a few schools among the list of acceptances, based on which are the best fit in terms of cost, academics, campus life and other factors. Then, hit the road.

For students who didn't get accepted at their top choice, use this opportunity to revisit other schools, advised Eric Greenberg, president of Greenberg Educational Group, a New York-based consulting firm. "A lot of colleges have programs for accepted students and incoming freshmen, which can establish a comfort level."

Keep in mind that you can still transfer to a school higher up on your wish list after a semester or two, he said. "Realize that you are really making a one-year commitment," Livingston added. "This does not have to be the end all and be all."

Hill Street Studios | Getty Images

Waitlisted applicants have neither been outright rejected by a college nor have they been extended a formal offer of admission.

Instead, they may be considered for a seat between now and September, depending on whether there's sufficient space for them in the incoming class, among other factors.

The first thingseniors who were waitlisted should do is write a letter of continued interest to the college to let them know why they want to attend, Greenberg said.

Then, provide an update since your application was submitted that demonstrates what you could bring to the table. For example, perhaps you took classes or completed a research project that helped solidify why that school is now an even better fit.

"You don't want to rehash stuff; you want to bring in new information," Greenberg said.

Also consider the amount ofaid available. Some financial aid is awarded on a first-come, first-served basis, or from programs with limited funds. Students who were admitted in the first round tend to have first dibs on grants and other forms of aid.

"Waitlist students get last dibs on financial aid," Greenberg cautioned. That may be the most important consideration, after all.

Most college-bound students and their parents now say affordability and dealing with thedebt burdenthat often goes hand in hand with a college diploma is their top concern, even over getting into their first-choice school, according toThe Princeton Review's2023 College Hopes & Worries survey.

Waitlist students get last dibs on financial aid.

Eric Greenberg

president of Greenberg Educational Group

A whopping 98% of families saidfinancial aidwould be necessary to pay for college, and 82% said it was "extremely" or "very" necessary, The Princeton Review found.

Finally, the hardest application cycle to date can serve as an important lesson for future applicants, according to Christopher Rim, president and CEO of Command Education. "It's not just about having top grades and test scores," he said.

"Decision letters from top schools are a reminder of the importance of crafting a balanced college list, honing their interests to convey a singularity of focus, and starting early in the process."

Livingston advises high schoolers to take some of the focus off the prestige and name brand and research schools and programs based on other factors such as location, size, areas of study, research opportunities, sports, clubs and campus life.

"Visit schools and talk to current students," she said. "The key is to make sure you can see yourself at all of those schools."

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College Decision Day is coming up: Here's what to know before choosing a school - CNBC

Were not yet at a point where we can talk about AIs inside robot bodies. Chances are well get there soon enough, but until we do were still bound to witness each of the two technologies competing for the publics attention.

Its hard to dispute that OpenAIs ChatGPT, or Googles BARD, or Microsofts upgraded Bing are the talk of the day, following revelations as to what these bodyless minds are capable of doing if properly handled. From making life easier for students to giving us insights into how they might evolve post-singularity, chat AIs are possibly the perfect tool for creative or inquisitive minds.

For those of us who go about our daily lives in a more physical manner, working in industries like manufacturing, power generation, mining, and so on, a chatbot is utterly useless. Real-life robots, on the other hand, can be God-sent for the work that keeps our society running.

Sure, robots have been used in production for years now, but you have to admit none of the mostly stationary machines that help assemble a Tesla, for instance, is as spectacular as the Boston Dynamics Spot.

Photo: Boston Dynamics

You can get another taste of that in the most recent video released by Boston Dynamics on April 19. Its short, under a minute long, but shows the yellow piece of hardware in a variety of roles, from patrolling on a solar panel farm to going up and down stairs, scanning the environment around it, and generally looking cool.

And it appears the robot is capable of learning new tricks constantly, despite remaining largely the same, specs-wise, as it was when it launched three years ago.

The machine can carry a payload of up to 14 kg (31 pounds), which can come as a variety of sensors and inspection equipment.The robot can be controlled remotely or programmed to perform duties autonomously. When in this mode, it understands its environment thanks to cameras and sensors that allow it a 360-degree perception of the terrain around it.

Because it has legs instead of wheels or tracks, it can move over virtually any surface, a solid proposition for all sorts of applications.

Spot can have immediate and physical effects over its surroundings, and that still makes it in todays world a much more useful tool than ChatGPT. We can only wonder though what would happen if someone found a way to blend the two pieces of technology...

Link:

Spot Robot Needs Just a Minute to Make Chat AIs Eat Their ... - autoevolution