Lifeboat Foundation

Through the issue of mental representation addressed in the previous article, it is possible to get a first idea about the theoretical discontinuity between traditional cognitive science and more recent approaches gathered under the umbrella of so-called 4E Cognition. In fact, in many cases those latter reflect — directly or in a collateral way — the attempt to overcome the problem of representation in human cognition, even thought, as we’re going to say, this doesn’t entail a unite consensus at all.

4E Cognition has not to be seen as a specific and well-defined theoretical system, rather, it is a term referring to all those works (hypothesis, theories, experiments, etc.) which deviate from the traditional representational-computational model of cognition (see part 1), taking a dynamic and enactive approach, namely, conceiving cognition as embodied, embedded, enactive and extended (that’s why 4E). In a nutshell, mental states and cognitive processes would be: embodied when they are partly constituted by bodily processes; embedded when there is an essential causal dependence between such states and processes and the environment; enacted when the actions of the subject can partly constitute these states and processes; and extended when objects or processes in the environment can partly constitute those states and processes [4].

Here you can find a quick conversational introduction to 4E cognition made by professor Shaun Gallagher:

This will reduce carbon emissions from mining operations but is that the only way?

TeraWulf, a Minnesota-headquartered company, will become the first entity in the U.S. to power its Bitcoin mining operations with nuclear energy, CNET.

Luza studios/iStock.

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They produced a signal a mind-bending short 53 billionths of a second.

A team of scientists broke the record for the shortest pulse of electrons ever created. They produced a signal a mere 53 attoseconds long. That’s a mind-bending short 53 billionths of a second.

The researchers say their new achievement could lead to more accurate electron microscopes and could also speed up data transmission in computer chips, as per an institutional press release.

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Whether we realize it or not, cryptography is the fundamental building block on which our digital lives are based. Without sufficient cryptography and the inherent trust that it engenders, every aspect of the digital human condition we know and rely on today would never have come to fruition much less continue to evolve at its current staggering pace. The internet, digital signatures, critical infrastructure, financial systems and even the remote work that helped the world limp along during the recent global pandemic all rely on one critical assumption – that the current encryption employed today is unbreakable by even the most powerful computers in existence. But what if that assumption was not only challenged but realistically compromised?

This is exactly what happened when Peter Shor proposed his algorithm in 1995, dubbed Shor’s Algorithm. The key to unlocking the encryption on which today’s digital security relies is in finding the prime factors of large integers. While factoring is relatively simple with small integers that have only a few digits, factoring integers that have thousands of digits or more is another matter altogether. Shor proposed a polynomial-time quantum algorithm to solve this factoring problem. I’ll leave it to the more qualified mathematicians to explain the theory behind this algorithm but suffice it to say that when coupled with a quantum computer, Shor’s Algorithm drastically reduces the time it would take to factor these larger integers by multiple orders of magnitude.

Prior to Shor’s Algorithm, for example, the most powerful computer today would take millions of years to find the prime factors of a 2048-bit composite integer. Without Shor’s algorithm, even quantum computers would take such an inordinate amount of time to accomplish the task as to render it unusable by bad actors. With Shor’s Algorithm, this same factoring can potentially be accomplished in a matter of hours.

A feature of server motherboards intended to allow remote updates can be abused to trick the machines into damaging themselves beyond repair.

Researchers may have made a massive breakthrough in quantum computing. According to a new study published in Nature Nanotechnology, researchers may have discovered a cheaper way to push large-scale quantum computers.

Quantum computing is an intriguing field that has seen quite a bit of growth over the past several years. However, there’s still a lot holding back the massive computers that researchers are working with – namely, their size and the sheer amount of control required to keep large-scale quantum computers running smoothly.

That’s because the larger you make a quantum computer, the more quantum bits, or qubits, it requires to run. And the entire idea of a quantum computer requires you to control every single one of those qubits to keep things running smoothly and efficiently. So, when you make large-scale quantum computers, you end up with a lot of processing power and a lot more qubits to control.

US semiconductor maker Wolfspeed plans to build a chip factory in Germany, which could benefit domestic EV production and the EU chip sector.

One of the most exciting applications of quantum computers will be to direct their gaze inwards, at the very quantum rules that make them tick. Quantum computers can be used to simulate quantum physics itself, and perhaps even explore realms that don’t exist anywhere in nature.

But even in the absence of a fully functional, large-scale quantum computer, physicists can use a quantum system they can easily control to emulate a more complicated or less accessible one. Ultracold atoms—atoms that are cooled to temperatures just a tad above absolute zero—are a leading platform for quantum simulation. These atoms can be controlled with laser beams and magnetic fields, and coaxed into performing a quantum dance routine choreographed by an experimenter. It’s also fairly easy to peer into their quantum nature using high-resolution imaging to extract information after—or while—they complete their steps.

Now, researchers at JQI and the NSF Quantum Leap Challenge Institute for Robust Quantum Simulation (RQS), led by former JQI postdoctoral fellow Mingwu Lu and graduate student Graham Reid, have coached their ultracold atoms to do a new dance, adding to the growing toolkit of quantum simulation. In a pair of studies, they’ve bent their atoms out of shape, winding their quantum mechanical spins around in both space and time before tying them off to create a kind of space-time quantum pretzel.

A new ultra-low-power method of communication at first glance seems to violate the laws of physics. It is possible to wirelessly transmit information simply by opening and closing a switch that connects a resistor to an antenna. No need to send power to the antenna.

Our system, combined with techniques for harvesting energy from the environment, could lead to all manner of devices that transmit data, including tiny sensors and implanted medical devices, without needing batteries or other power sources. These include sensors for smart agriculture, electronics implanted in the body that never need battery changes, better contactless credit cards and maybe even new ways for satellites to communicate.

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