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Is this hat conscious?
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Panpsychism is the idea that there is an element of consciousness in everything in the universe. The theory goes like this: You’re conscious. Ben Goertzel is conscious. And his hat is conscious too. What if consciousness isn’t about the brain at all, but it’s as inherent to our universe as space-time?“Now, panpsychism, to me, is not even that interesting, it’s almost obvious — it’s just the foundation, the beginning for thinking about consciousness… ” says Goertzel. It’s what comes after that excites him, like the emerging technology that will let us connect our minds to bricks, hats, earthworms, other humans, and super AGIs like Sophia, and perhaps glimpse at the fabric of consciousness. Goertzel believes brain-brain interfacing and brain-computer interfacing will unfold in the coming decades, and it’s by that means that we may finally crack the nut of consciousness to discover whether panpsychism makes any sense, and to learn why humans are so differently conscious than, for example, his hat.

Continue reading “Is this hat conscious? | Ben Goertzel on consciousness, panpsychism, and AGI | Big Think” »

Identifying regions of the Milky Way’s spiral arms that have previously gone undetected.

New observations from the Hubble Space Telescope reveal a swarm of 37 boulders around the asteroid Dimorphos, which NASA’s DART mission intentionally hit.

The estimate of 400 rogue planets comes from a nine-year-long survey called Microlensing Observations in Astrophysics (MOA).

The Nancy Roman Grace Telescope, an upcoming space observatory, might aid in the discovery of hundreds of rogue exoplanets.

Continue reading “Nancy Roman Space Telescope holds potential to find 400 rogue planets in Milky Way” »

The United States remains the only nation to have landed humans on the Moon and returned them safely to Earth. It is among the greatest achievements in human history, and it has significantly contributed to America’s leadership on the world stage. As a young man I had the opportunity of working on the Apollo program as an inspector with McDonnell Douglas. It was an exciting experience, and I am both grateful and humbled to have been a part of it.

The success of the Apollo Missions led to other significant accomplishments like building reusable Space Shuttles to test the limits of human space flight, prolonged robotic exploration of Mars, deploying a space-based telescope that can see far beyond our solar system, and conducting scientific research on the International Space Station. In more recent years we’ve seen an explosion in commercial space activity which has culminated in private companies conducting successful human space launches. This too is a significant milestone.

Our investment in space is critical to our national security, scientific discovery, technological advancement, and economic competitiveness. So much of our modern-day life is dependent on space making a bank transaction, for example, or even a phone call, these days requires using some type of space-faring technology. And while NASA’s leadership of our space efforts will continue to be indispensable, the U.S. commercial space industry’s role in space exploration will grow larger and more critical. American companies must continue to lead the way.

The historic moon landing had a big impact on Whitson, who was nine at the time.

Most astronomers believe the universe is 13.7 billion years old. A new study says that figure could be closer to 26.7 billion.

According to a study by Astrostrom for ESA, future Moon bases could be powered by a giant space butterfly called the Greater Earth Lunar Power Station (GEO-LPS) covered with solar panels made from lunar materials beaming microwaves to the surface.

One of the major design concerns in setting up a lunar base is finding a reliable means of powering it. Solar power might seem the obvious answer, but with lunar nights lasting 14 Earth days, it isn’t a practical option. However, though the most promising alternative is currently a small nuclear reactor, solar may not be out of the running.

The idea of solar power plants in space has been around for well over half a century. On Earth, solar panels are limited by night time, atmospheric haze, and bad weather, making them only capable of intermittent power generation with limited efficiency. On the other hand, in space, where there is no night and no atmosphere, solar power becomes very attractive.

In an astonishing revelation, researchers from NASA and Japan’s Osaka University have uncovered data suggesting the rogue planets – those solitary wanderers unhinged from any star – significantly outnumber the approximately hundred billion planets which orbit stars.

The findings indicate that NASA’s Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope, slated for launch by May 2027, could discover as many as 400 rogue planets similar in mass to Earth. A likely candidate for this category has already been singled out from the data.

David Bennett is a senior research scientist at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center and co-author of two papers detailing these findings.