Lifeboat Foundation

In just a few years, technology will merge with our bodies in unimaginable ways and push the boundaries of what it is to be human. While medical technology still aims at remediating disabilities, cyborgs strive to something else: a merging of man and machine with the goal of enhancing human capabilities.

The first cyborgs are already crossing the boundaries of their human limits just for the sake of it – at home, in basement workshops and tattoo parlours, using low-tech equipment and a do-it-yourself attitude. They are a tiny minority, seen by many as weird or crazy experimenters, but in the near future we may call them pioneers.

Continue reading “Cyborgs: Pushing the Boundaries of ‘Human’ | Science & Technology Documentary” »

Forget about life-work-balance. A new generation of drugs promises unlimited increases in productivity without the need for rest or sleep.

“Brain doping” is the latest trend among high flyers. Pharmaceutical companies are developing pills that increase mental capability, stimulate desire, and heighten mood. A meaningful life full of happiness and success – without side effects.

Continue reading “Brain Doping: Super Brains Without The Need for Rest or Sleep? Science & Tech Documentary” »

Actuator: What’s this ‘general purpose’ stuff I keep hearing about?

In a blog post published last week, Meta asks, “Where are the robots?” The answer is simple. They’re here. You just need to know where to look. It’s a frustrating answer. I recognize that. Let’s set aside conversations about cars and driver assistance and just focus on things we all tend to agree are robots. For starters, that Amazon delivery isn’t making it to you without robotic assistance.

A more pertinent question would be: Why aren’t there more robots? And more to the point, why aren’t there more robots in my house right now? It’s a complex question with a lot of nuance — much of it coming down to the current state of hardware limitations around the concept of a “general purpose” robot. Roomba is a robot. There are a lot of Roombas in the world, and that’s largely because Roombas do one thing well (an additional decade of R&D has helped advance things from a state of “pretty good”).

Continue reading “The robots are already here” »

Facebook Gaming, a division of Meta, has announced that you can now play games during video calls on Messenger. At launch, there are 14 free-to-play game available in Messenger video calls on iOS, Android and the web. The games include popular titles like Words With Friends, Card Wars, Exploding Kittens and Mini Gold FRVR.

To access the games, you need to start a video call on Messenger and tap the group mode button in the center, then tap on the “Play” icon. From there, you can browse through the games library. The company notes that there must be two or more people in your call to play games.

“Facebook Gaming is excited to announce that you can now play your favorite games during video calls on Messenger,” the company wrote in a blog post. “This new, shared experience in Messenger makes it easy to play games with friends and family while in a video call, allowing you to deepen connections with friends and family by engaging in conversations and gameplay at the same time.”

A new career is emerging with the spread of generative AI applications like ChatGPT: prompt engineering, the art (not science) of crafting effective instructions for AI models.

“In ten years, half of the world’s jobs will be in prompt engineering,” declared Robin Li, cofounder and CEO of Chinese AI giant, Baidu. “And those who cannot write prompts will be obsolete.”

That may be a bit of big tech hyperbole, but there’s no doubt that prompt engineers will become the wizards of the AI world, coaxing and guiding AI models into generating content that is not only relevant but also coherent and consistent with the desired output.

The announcement comes as the social media giant increasingly diverts its attention from creating a virtual reality-based Metaverse to embed AI features across its platforms like Instagram, Facebook, Messenger and WhatsApp.

Editing photos, analyzing surveillance footage and understanding the parts of a cell. These tasks have one thing in common: you need to be able to identify and separate different objects within an image. Traditionally, researchers have had to start from scratch each time they want to analyze a new part of an image.

Meta aims to change this laborious process by being the one-stop-shop for researchers and web developers working on such problems.

Stirling converters could allow deep space missions to massively reduce their reliance on potentially scarce solar energy.

China’s Shenzhou-15 mission crew aboard the China Space Station (CSS) has reportedly completed testing on a free-piston Stirling thermoelectric converter, according to a report from state-owned media in China.

Continue reading “China’s space agency reportedly tested a Stirling converter in orbit” »

Chinese researchers used stem cells from macaques to culture embryo-like structures in a lab.

Using stem cells from a monkey embryo, a team of researchers from the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) successfully cultured embryo-like structures in lab conditions, but they didn’t just stop there.

Continue reading “In a first, scientists create embryos in a lab from stem cells of monkey” »

Human memory has been shown to be highly fallible in recent years, but a new study on short term memory recall indicates that we can get details wrong within seconds of an event happening.

It has long been shown that human memory is highly fallible, with even ancient legal codes requiring more than one witness to corroborate accounts of a crime or events, but a new study reveals that people can create false memories within a second of the event being recalled.

The study, published this week in PLOS One, had hundreds of volunteers over the course of four experiments look at a sequence of letters and asked them to recall a single highlighted letter that they had been shown. In addition, some of the highlighted letters were reversed, meaning the respondent needed to recall that as well.