AI method
generates 3D holograms in real-time
For
virtual reality, 3D printing, and medical imaging.
Even
though virtual reality headsets are popular for gaming, they haven’t yet become
the go-to device for watching television, shopping, or using software tools for
design and modelling.
One
reason why is because VR can make users feel sick with nausea, imbalance,
eye strain, and headaches. This happens because VR creates an illusion of 3D
viewing — but the user is actually staring at a fixed-distance 2D display. The
solution for better 3D visualization exists in a 60-year-old tech that’s being
updated for the digital world — holograms.
A
new method called tensor holography enables the creation of holograms for
virtual reality, 3D printing, medical imaging, and more — and it can run on a
smart-phone…:
https://www.kurzweilai.net/digest-breakthrough-ai-method-generates-3d-holograms-in-real-time
Civilization:
knowledge, institutions, and humanity’s future
Insights
from technological sociologist Samo Burja.
Burja
outlines these steps: investigate the landscape, evaluate our odds, then try to
plot the best course. He explains:
Our
civilization is made-up of countless individuals and pieces of material
technology — that come together to form institutions and inter-dependent
systems of logistics, development, and production. These institutions + systems
then store the knowledge required for their own renewal + growth.
We
pin the hopes of our common human project on this renewal + growth of the whole
civilization. Whether this project is going well is a challenging — but vital —
question to answer. History shows us we’re not safe from institutional
collapse. Advances in technology mitigate some aspects, but produce their own
risks. Agile institutions that make use of both social + technical knowledge
not only mitigate such risks — but promise unprecedented human flourishing.
There
has never been an immortal society. No matter how technologically advanced our
own society is — it’s unlikely to be an exception. For a good future that
defies these odds, we must understand the hidden forces shaping society.…:
https://www.kurzweilai.net/digest-civilization-knowledge-institutions-and-humanitys-future
The Social
Singularity: How decentralization will allow us to transcend
politics, create global prosperity, and avoid the robot apocalypse
by Max Borders
In
this decentralization manifesto, futurist Max Borders shows that humanity is
already building systems that will “underthrow” great centers of power.
Exploring the promise of a decentralized world, Borders says we will:
- Reorganize to collaborate and compete with AI;
- Operate within networks of superior collective intelligence;
- Rediscover our humanity and embrace values for an age of connection.
With lively prose, Borders takes us on a tour of modern pagan festivals, cities
of the future, and radically new ways to organize society. In so doing, he
examines trends likely to revolutionize the ways we live and work.
Although the technological singularity fast approaches, Borders argues, a
parallel process of human reorganization will allow us to reap enormous
benefits. The paradox? Our billion little acts of subversion will help us lead
richer, healthier lives—and avoid the robot apocalypse. …: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/41031272-the-social-singularity
Nature Imply about the Meaning of Our Existence
Samuel T. Wilkinson
By using principles from a variety of scientific disciplines, Yale
Professor Samuel Wilkinson provides a framework for human evolution that
reveals an overarching purpose to our existence.
Generations have been taught that evolution implies there is no overarching
purpose to our existence, that life has no fundamental meaning. We are merely
the accumulation of tens of thousands of intricate molecular accidents. Some
scientists take this logic one step “The fact of evolution [is] inherently
atheistic. It goes against the notion that there is a God.”
But is this true?
By integrating emerging principles from a variety of scientific
disciplines—ranging from evolutionary biology to psychology—Yale Professor
Samuel Wilkinson provides a framework of evolution that implies not only that
there is an overarching purpose to our existence, but what this purpose is .
With respect to our evolution, nature seems to have endowed us with competing
dispositions, what Wilkinson calls the dual potential of human nature . We are pulled
in different selfishness and altruism, aggression and cooperation, lust and
love. When we couple this with the observation that we possess a measure of
free will, all this strongly implies there is a universal purpose to our
existence.
This purpose, at least one of them, is to choose between the good and evil
impulses that nature has created within us. Our life is a test. This is a
truth, as old as history it seems, that has been espoused by so many of the
world’s religions. From a certain framework, these aspects of human
nature—including how evolution shaped us—are evidence for the existence of a
God, not against it.
Closely related to this is meaning . What is the meaning of life? Based on the
scientific data, it would seem that one such meaning is to develop deep and
abiding relationships. At least that is what most people report are the most
meaningful aspects of their lives. This is a function of our evolution. It is
how we were created.
https://www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/101135650-purpose
This
Futurist Predicts a Coming ‘Living Intelligence’ and AI Supercycle
A new report from Amy Webb argues that big things will happen at the
intersection of AI, bioengineering, and sensors. Here’s how it could affect
your business.
BY CHLOE AIELLO,
DEC 11, 2024
Recent advancements in artificial intelligence hold immense disruptive
potential for businesses big and small. But Amy Webb, a futurist and NYU Stern
School of Business professor, says AI isn’t the only transformative technology
that businesses need to prepare for. In a new report, published by
Webb’s Future Today Institute, she predicts the convergence of three
technologies. Artificial intelligence together with advanced sensors and
bioengineering will create what’s known as “living intelligence” that could
drive a supercycle of exponential growth and disruption across multiple
industries.
“Some companies are going to miss this,” Webb says. “They’re going to
laser focus on AI, forget about everything else that’s happening, and find out
that they are disrupted again earlier than they thought they would.”
A ‘Cambrian Explosion’ of sensors will feed AI
Webb refers to AI as “the foundation” and “everything engine” that will
power the living intelligence technology supercycle. The exponential costs of
computing to train large language models, the report also notes, are driving
the formation of small language models that use less, but more focused, data.
Providing some of that data will be a “Cambrian Explosion” of advanced sensors,
notes the report, referring to a
period of rapid evolutionary development on Earth more than 500
million years ago. Webb anticipates that these omnipresent sensors will feed
data to information-hungry AI models.
“As AI systems increasingly demand diverse data types, especially
sensory and visual inputs, large language models must incorporate these inputs
into their training or risk hitting performance ceilings,” the report reads.
“Companies have realized that they need to invent new devices in order to
acquire even more data to train AI.”
Webb anticipates personalized data, particularly from wearable sensors,
will lead to the creation of personalized AI and “large action models” that
predict actions, rather than words. This extends to businesses and
governments, as well as individuals, and Webb anticipates these models
interacting with one another “with varying degrees of success.”
The third technology that Webb anticipates shaping the supercycle is
bioengineering. Its futuristic possible applications include computers made of
organic tissue, such as brain cells. This so-called organoid intelligence may
sound like science fiction—and for
the most part today, it is—but there are already examples of AI
revolutionizing various scientific fields including chemical engineering and
biotech through more immediate applications like research in drug discovery and
interaction. In fact, the scientists who won
the Nobel prize in chemistry this year were
recognized for applying artificial intelligence to the design and
prediction of novel proteins.
What it means for businesses
Living intelligence may not seem applicable for every business—after
all, a local retail shop, restaurant, or services business may not seem to have
much to do with bioengineering, sensors, and AI. But Webb says that even small
and medium-size businesses can gain from harnessing “living intelligence.” For
example, a hypothetical shoe manufacturer could feel its impact in everything
from materials sourcing to the ever-increasing pace of very fast fashion.
“It means that materials will get sourced in other places, if not by
that manufacturer, then by somebody else,” she says. “It accelerates a lot of
the existing functions of businesses.”
Future-proofing for living intelligence
Webb says an easy first step for leaders and entrepreneurs hoping to
prep for change is to map out their value network, or the web of relationships
from suppliers and distributors to consumers and accountants that help a
company run. “When that value network is healthy, everybody is generating value
together,” she says.
Second, she advises entrepreneurs to “commit to learning” about the
coming wave of innovation and how it could intersect with their businesses.
“Now is a time for every single person in every business to just get a
minimal amount of education on what all of these technologies are, what they
aren’t, what it means when they come together and combine,” she says. “It’ll
help everybody make decisions more easily when the time comes.”
Finally, she urges companies large and small to plan for the future by
mapping out where they’d like to see their company—and reverse engineer a
strategy for getting there.
“I know that’s tough. They’re just trying to keep the lights on or go
quarter by quarter,” she says. “Every company should develop capabilities and
strategic foresight and figure out where they want to be and reverse engineer
that back to the present.”
https://www.inc.com/chloe-aiello/amy-webb-predicts-a-coming-living-intelligence-and-ai-supercycle/91064237
This
Futurist Predicts a Coming ‘Living Intelligence’ and AI Supercycle
A new report from Amy Webb argues that big things will happen at the
intersection of AI, bioengineering, and sensors. Here’s how it could affect
your business.
BY CHLOE AIELLO,
DEC 11, 2024
Recent advancements in artificial intelligence hold immense disruptive
potential for businesses big and small. But Amy Webb, a futurist and NYU Stern
School of Business professor, says AI isn’t the only transformative technology
that businesses need to prepare for. In a new report, published by
Webb’s Future Today Institute, she predicts the convergence of three
technologies. Artificial intelligence together with advanced sensors and
bioengineering will create what’s known as “living intelligence” that could
drive a supercycle of exponential growth and disruption across multiple
industries.
“Some companies are going to miss this,” Webb says. “They’re going to
laser focus on AI, forget about everything else that’s happening, and find out
that they are disrupted again earlier than they thought they would.”
A ‘Cambrian Explosion’ of sensors will feed AI
Webb refers to AI as “the foundation” and “everything engine” that will
power the living intelligence technology supercycle. The exponential costs of
computing to train large language models, the report also notes, are driving
the formation of small language models that use less, but more focused, data.
Providing some of that data will be a “Cambrian Explosion” of advanced sensors,
notes the report, referring to a
period of rapid evolutionary development on Earth more than 500
million years ago. Webb anticipates that these omnipresent sensors will feed
data to information-hungry AI models.
“As AI systems increasingly demand diverse data types, especially
sensory and visual inputs, large language models must incorporate these inputs
into their training or risk hitting performance ceilings,” the report reads.
“Companies have realized that they need to invent new devices in order to
acquire even more data to train AI.”
Webb anticipates personalized data, particularly from wearable sensors,
will lead to the creation of personalized AI and “large action models” that
predict actions, rather than words. This extends to businesses and
governments, as well as individuals, and Webb anticipates these models
interacting with one another “with varying degrees of success.”
The third technology that Webb anticipates shaping the supercycle is
bioengineering. Its futuristic possible applications include computers made of
organic tissue, such as brain cells. This so-called organoid intelligence may
sound like science fiction—and for
the most part today, it is—but there are already examples of AI
revolutionizing various scientific fields including chemical engineering and
biotech through more immediate applications like research in drug discovery and
interaction. In fact, the scientists who won
the Nobel prize in chemistry this year were
recognized for applying artificial intelligence to the design and
prediction of novel proteins.
What it means for businesses
Living intelligence may not seem applicable for every business—after
all, a local retail shop, restaurant, or services business may not seem to have
much to do with bioengineering, sensors, and AI. But Webb says that even small
and medium-size businesses can gain from harnessing “living intelligence.” For
example, a hypothetical shoe manufacturer could feel its impact in everything
from materials sourcing to the ever-increasing pace of very fast fashion.
“It means that materials will get sourced in other places, if not by
that manufacturer, then by somebody else,” she says. “It accelerates a lot of
the existing functions of businesses.”
Future-proofing for living intelligence
Webb says an easy first step for leaders and entrepreneurs hoping to
prep for change is to map out their value network, or the web of relationships
from suppliers and distributors to consumers and accountants that help a
company run. “When that value network is healthy, everybody is generating value
together,” she says.
Second, she advises entrepreneurs to “commit to learning” about the
coming wave of innovation and how it could intersect with their businesses.
“Now is a time for every single person in every business to just get a
minimal amount of education on what all of these technologies are, what they
aren’t, what it means when they come together and combine,” she says. “It’ll
help everybody make decisions more easily when the time comes.”
Finally, she urges companies large and small to plan for the future by
mapping out where they’d like to see their company—and reverse engineer a
strategy for getting there.
“I know that’s tough. They’re just trying to keep the lights on or go
quarter by quarter,” she says. “Every company should develop capabilities and
strategic foresight and figure out where they want to be and reverse engineer
that back to the present.”
https://www.inc.com/chloe-aiello/amy-webb-predicts-a-coming-living-intelligence-and-ai-supercycle/91064237
