Lugh
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LughMAto Futurology•US researchers say their new coronagraph design could allow for direct imaging of exoplanets that current telescopes can't see.English3·1 day agoAlien life on exoplanets is in the news after possible biosignatures were found on K2-18b, 124 light-years away. The gas dimethyl disulfide hints at life, but it’s not proof.
A new coronagraph design could boost the search for alien microbes by improving exoplanet atmosphere analysis. Detecting life through atmospheric chemistry will likely be how we first confirm it.
There are several space telescopes from ESA, NASA and China due for launch in the next ten years that will improve on current abilities. However, it’s possible definitive proof may even come before then with current space telescopes.
The James Webb Space Telescope detected the dimethyl disulfide on K2-18b, and it is lined up to look at other alien-life candidate exoplanets in the coming months and years.
LughMAto Futurology•2030: How soft robotics and genetic storage could power androidsEnglish2·1 day agodeleted by creator
LughOPMAto Futurology•With ‘AI slop’ distorting our reality, the world is sleepwalking into disaster | A perverse information ecosystem is being mined by big tech for profit, fooling the unwary and sending algorithms crazyEnglish4·2 days agoYes, but using AI will greatly amplify what has happened before.
LughOPMAto Futurology•CATL says its newest EV batteries have a range of 1,000 km (620 miles) and can charge to 600 km in ten minutes.English1·2 days agoThis requires the driver to charge using CATL’s own 4C superchargers. Domestic, or most commercial charging won’t happen as quickly. Still, this shows the direction of travel - EVs with long ranges that quickly charge. 4C superchargers don’t seem to be available outside of China yet, but like everything else hi-tech, I’m sure it won’t be long before China will be able to sell it to other countries.
LughOPMAto Futurology•China's experiments on the Tiangong space station back up its claims that it wants a human base on the Moon, and long-range manned missions to Mars and Jupiter.English6·6 days agoThis Astrum video does a good job of explaining things. In short, China’s experimental work on its space station is all targeted at practical steps to help it build a Moon base, and have manned missions to the outer solar system.
In particular, they focus on 5 key areas. 1. Orbital Construction Technology, 2. Space Robotics & Automation, 3. Energy and Propulsion Innovation, 4. Life Support & Sustainability, 5. Generic Technology for Spacecraft.
They’ve already succeeded with key breakthroughs, including a system for producing oxygen that is far superior to the system on the ISS which needs a third of the ISS’s energy to function.
America, partnered with Europe, is still pursuing its SLS/Orbital Gateway plans that look ever more doomed as time goes on. A wildcard are commercial space systems that could rapidly take-off. If not, by doggedly pursuing its plans, at some point China may pull into the lead in the space race.
LughMAto Futurology•AI is coming for music, too: New diffusion AI models that make songs from scratch are complicating our definitions of authorship and human creativity.English2·6 days agoI think it is true AI lacks true creativity, but the point is you don’t need creativity for lots of commercial art.
Stock music, stock videos, video game environments, etc - the industries that made them have always employed creative humans, but they can be made by AI that doesn’t have true creativity.
LughOPMAto Futurology•Scientists have used gene editing to produce artificial electrical synapses in mice, where they can be targeted to make the animals more sociable or reduce their risk of OCD-like symptoms.English21·8 days agoThis is a lab result on mice, so likely still years away from treatments available to humans.
Still, here’s a thought to ponder. If gene editing treatments to make people smarter, kinder, and more sociable were widely available, do you think some people would feel threatened ?
Those traits and others correlate with political persuasions. People might argue that people being smarter, kinder, and more sociable are worse for society, in order to protect their political power base.
Interesting there’s no mention of unemployment via AI/robotics in DW’s reporting of this issue.
LughOPMAto Futurology•AI firm Hugging Face works toward open-source humanoid robotics with Pollen Robotics purchaseEnglish4·8 days agoThere are dozens of open-source robotics projects around the world, including another humanoid robot called Tiangong. Hugging Face’s actions are significant because of the prominent role it plays among AI developers. It functions as a version of GitHub, but just for AI - except now it may do the same for robotics too. It has always been committed to open-source (its own tools are open-source).
That open-source AI has kept pace, and in some cases bettered, investor-funded AI has taken many by surprise. Could the same happen in robotics development?
Hugging face lets the public use a lot of the AI tools it hosts.
LughOPMAto Futurology•Solar power sees 29% global increase in 2024, marking new record.English6·10 days agobut this still makes me sad:
One piece of good news is that solar seems that it may be being adopted as a technology, on the familiar s-curve of technological adoption. So it may go from 6.9% to 50% much quicker than we expect.
LughOPAto Futurology@lemmy.world•In California, human mental health workers are on strike over the issue of their employers using AI to replace them. - Futurology TodayEnglish1·10 days agoWell at least they are mental health workers, so they can deal with it better than most.
LughOPMAto Futurology•In California, human mental health workers are on strike over the issue of their employers using AI to replace them.English33·10 days agoThat is a terrible guess, and it isn’t even remotely close on the scale of decades.
No. It’s based on how technologies are adopted, which tends to follow an s-curve.
Level 4 self-driving cars are already on the road in China & the US.
LughOPMAto Futurology•In California, human mental health workers are on strike over the issue of their employers using AI to replace them.English1·10 days agoYes. The logic of al these changes with AI & robotics being able to do most work, is that some sort of socialism is the only economic system that will work in the future.
LughOPMAto Futurology•In California, human mental health workers are on strike over the issue of their employers using AI to replace them.English123·10 days agoI suspect from now on we will see more and more strikes and protests like these. I’d guess by 2030 or so they will be a widespread global phenomenon. By that point, self-driving cars will rapidly be replacing most driving jobs too.
Most of us instinctively feel sympathy with the striking workers - deep down we know AI/robots will be coming for our jobs one day too.
But there’s a paradox here. AI tends towards what economists call zero marginal cost, in plain language - near free.
What if AI Doctors as good as humans were nearly free & every human on the planet had access to their expertise. Surely, that is something to go on strike for - not against.
LughOPMAto Futurology•A new charging station in California shows how gas stations are being reimagined for the EV Age.English1·13 days agoYep, destined to one day be a future RomCom meet cute cliché.
LughMAto Futurology•UK creating ‘murder prediction’ tool to identify people most likely to killEnglish2·14 days agoIf you could easily identity all the ruthless sociopaths, there would be some people who’d think that was a great hiring tool for their businesses.
LughOPMAto Futurology•Is China Using Quantum Computers to Train and fine tune LLMs to be more efficient?English15·14 days agoI would be interested to hear your reasoning and facts to support this assertion.
LughMAto Futurology•The de-extinction of the dire wolf – is Jurassic Park really happening?English3·14 days agoI wonder when someone is going to figure how to speed up domestication via gene editing. There’s a huge untapped market for exotic pets that could be house trained.
LughOPMAto Futurology•A plausible scenario for how Trump will spark a hyperinflation crisis in the US, and end the dollar's role as global reserve currency.English3·15 days agoHe won’t be able to just take control of the Fed without Congress,
Perhaps, but they’ve abdicated responsibility on everything else so far. I understand that people have hope the normal times will resume, but autocracy has a trajectory. So far, almost nothing has stopped it in the US.
The world is full of economic alliances with acronyms. The EU, ASEAN, and the G7 are just some. The EU functions more as a nation-state, while most are much looser. The BRICS alliance, founded in 2009 by Brazil, Russia, India, and China (hence the name) has significant differences from the others.
Its primary goal is to create an alternative to the existing global economic order dominated by the West/US. In particular, it seeks to create alternatives to the dollar-dominated world trade system, SWIFT interbank payment system, and IMF & World Bank.
So far, it hasn’t made huge progress with this agenda. The US dollar’s role in global trade is firmly embedded. The only other currency that comes close in volume/importance is the Euro. As China doesn’t allow its currency to float freely or have open capital markets, the Chinese Renminbi can’t currently replace the dollar’s international role.
But is this about to change? The current US administration rejects much of the old global economic order. Ironic, considering it originally created it. Since 2009 China and Russia have even more reasons to want a global financial alternative the US doesn’t have a role in. Maybe the US is helping them to create it?