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Archive for the ‘existential risks’ category: Page 18

Nov 6, 2023

Elon Musk and his archrival Sam Altman are racing to create a superintelligent A.I. to save humanity from extinction

Posted by in categories: Elon Musk, existential risks, robotics/AI

Musk cofounded OpenAI—the parent company of the viral chatbot ChatGPT—in 2015 alongside Altman and others. But when Musk proposed that he take control of the startup to catch up with tech giants like Google, Altman and the other cofounders rejected the proposal. Musk walked away in February 2018 and changed his mind about a “massive planned donation.”

Now Musk’s new company, xAI, is on a mission to create an AGI, or artificial general intelligence, that can “understand the universe,” the billionaire said in a nearly two-hour-long Twitter Spaces talk on Friday. An AGI is a theoretical type of A.I. with human-like cognitive abilities and is expected to take at least another decade to develop.

Musk’s new company debuted only days after OpenAI announced in a July 5 blog post that it was forming a team to create its own superintelligent A.I. Musk said xAI is “definitely in competition” with OpenAI.

Oct 27, 2023

Devastation followed by desperation in Acapulco after Hurricane Otis rips through

Posted by in categories: asteroid/comet impacts, climatology, existential risks, habitats

ACAPULCO, Mexico (AP) — First came the devastation, then people’s desperation.

Hurricane Otis blasted the Mexican tourist port of Acapulco like no other storm before in the Eastern Pacific. As a monstrous Category 5 meteor, with its 165 mph (266 kph) winds, it destroyed what it found in its path: large residential buildings, houses, hotels, roads and stores.

Fallen trees and power line poles covered practically all the streets in this city of more than 1 million people. The walls and the roofs of buildings and houses were left partially or totally ripped off, while some cars were buried under debris.

Oct 20, 2023

Giant Comet Will Fly by the Earth and Will Be Visible in the Night Sky

Posted by in categories: asteroid/comet impacts, existential risks

An huge volcanic comet, 12P/Pons-Brooks, has violently exploded for the second time in four months and it is heading towards the Earth. It will not hit the Earth but we could see it in the night sky around April 21, 2024.

It has a solid nucleus, with an estimated diameter of 18.6 miles (30 kilometers), and is filled with a mix of ice, dust and gas known as cryomagma. The comet is about three times bigger than Mount Everest. The asteroid that killed the dinosaurs was between 10 and 15 kilometers wide.

12P is currently hurtling toward the inner solar system, where it will be slingshotted around the sun on its highly elliptical 71-year orbit around the sun.

Oct 20, 2023

Creating Sapient Technology and Cyborg Rights Should Happen Soon

Posted by in categories: 3D printing, bioengineering, bioprinting, biotech/medical, cyborgs, existential risks, genetics, robotics/AI, transhumanism

Here’s my latest Opinion piece just out for Newsweek…focusing on cyborg rights.


Over the past half-century, the microprocessor’s capacity has doubled approximately every 18–24 months, and some experts predict that by 2030, machine intelligence could surpass human capabilities. The question then arises: When machines reach human-level intelligence, should they be granted protection and rights? Will they desire and perhaps even demand such rights?

Beyond advancements in microprocessors, we’re witnessing breakthroughs in genetic editing, stem cells, and 3D bioprinting, all which also hold the potential to help create cyborg entities displaying consciousness and intelligence. Notably, Yale University’s experiments stimulating dead pig brains have ignited debates in the animal rights realm, raising questions about the ethical implications of reviving consciousness.

Continue reading “Creating Sapient Technology and Cyborg Rights Should Happen Soon” »

Oct 19, 2023

How do spacecraft avoid asteroid collision?

Posted by in categories: asteroid/comet impacts, existential risks

How do spacecraft avoid asteroid collision?

Oct 4, 2023

Joscha Bach: Artificial Consciousness and the Nature of Reality

Posted by in categories: cosmology, existential risks, government, robotics/AI

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P-2P3MSZrBM

Joscha Bach is the VP of Research at the AI Foundation, previously doing research at MIT and Harvard. Joscha work explores the workings of the human mind, intelligence, consciousness, life on Earth, and the possibly-simulated fabric of our universe.

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Continue reading “Joscha Bach: Artificial Consciousness and the Nature of Reality” »

Sep 28, 2023

Bitcoin miners beef up Texas operations ahead of extinction-level event, exclusive data shows

Posted by in categories: bitcoin, energy, existential risks

The new data also confirms that Texas has cemented its position as the crypto capital of the United States, as miners flock there for abundant clean energy and a permissive regulatory environment.

Texas made up 8.43% of the hashrate in the U.S. as of the end of 2021, and that percentage has jumped to 28.50% as of July 27, 2023 — though Foundry notes that the data was aggregated during a period of heavy curtailment in July, so Texas’s percentage of actual hashrate is even greater than what’s reflected on their latest map. Zhang added that Texas’s growth in Foundry’s map also had to do with the fact that the firm took on more clients there in the past two years.

Given that the U.S. is currently the world leader in terms of its share of the collective hashrate of the bitcoin network, that makes Texas the bitcoin capital of the world.

Sep 24, 2023

The Fermi Paradox: Fallen Empires

Posted by in categories: existential risks, media & arts, space travel

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The cosmos seem silent and empty of any great interstellar empires, but perhaps they once existed, and if so, what titanic ruins might they have left behind?

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Continue reading “The Fermi Paradox: Fallen Empires” »

Sep 24, 2023

Historic OSIRIS-REx asteroid samples successfully return to Earth

Posted by in categories: asteroid/comet impacts, existential risks, security

In the morning hours of Sept. 24, a small capsule containing surface samples from asteroid 101,955 Bennu careened into Earth’s atmosphere after a seven-year journey through space. The landing of this sample capsule is the culmination of NASA’s historic Origins, Spectral Interpretation, Resource Identification, Security, Regolith Explorer (OSIRIS-REx) asteroid sample return mission, which is now the first American mission to return samples from an asteroid.

The sample return capsule (SRC) landed within a 14 by 58-kilometer ellipse at a Department of Defense property at the Utah Test and Training Range and Dugway Proving Ground in Utah. Touchdown of the SRC occurred at 8:52 AM MDT (14:52 UTC) — three minutes earlier than planned. Low winds and dry weather was present at Dugway during the landing — optimal conditions for the return and recovery of the SRC.

Continue reading “Historic OSIRIS-REx asteroid samples successfully return to Earth” »

Sep 23, 2023

Preventing Human Extinction

Posted by in categories: bitcoin, cryptocurrencies, existential risks

Table of Contents:

0) — Intro : 0:00 — 1:49
1) — Ionopocalypse : 1:49 — 7:32
2) — Petrocalypse : 7:32 — 17:03
3) — Ecocalypse : 17:03 — 25:43
4) — Nuclear Apocalypse : 25:43 — 31:06
5) — Biopocalypse : 31:06 — 35:39
6) — Nanopocalypse : 35:40 — 40:15
6) — Infopocalypse : 40:15 — 52:57
7) — Geopocalypse : 52:58 — 58:59
8) — Astropocalypse : 58:59 — 1:04:14
9) — Xenopocalypse1:04:14 — 1:13:10

Continue reading “Preventing Human Extinction” »

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