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The Human Blueprint - Part three: The Cosmic Perspective: Rarity, Ubiquity, and the Search for Others

IV. The Cosmic Perspective: Rarity, Ubiquity, and the Search for Others The discussion of human optimality and hypothetical alien forms is incomplete without considering the broader cosmic context. The probability of intelligent life existing elsewhere in the universe directly shapes our understanding of human uniqueness. The Rare Earth Hypothesis vs. the Principle of Mediocrity The scientific…

The Human Blueprint - Part Two: Beyond Human: Exploring Hypothetical Intelligent Life Forms

III. Beyond Human: Exploring Hypothetical Intelligent Life Forms The question of whether the human form is the optimal blueprint for intelligent life capable of advanced technological civilisation naturally leads to a consideration of alternative biological and even non-biological architectures. Scientific inquiry and speculative thought have explored a vast array of possibilities, each with its…

How are we doing with Faster Than Light Travel?

The concept of faster-than-light (FTL) travel, a staple of science fiction, remains firmly within the realm of theoretical physics. The prevailing scientific understanding, rooted in Einstein’s theory of special relativity, dictates that no object with mass can accelerate to or exceed the speed of light within its local spacetime region. However, the broader framework of general relativity, which…

How much of all 'human essential' activities could an advanced Ai take over to bring the markets close to 100% AI run?

My third question was – “accepting the ‘black swan’ exception how much of these other ‘human essential’ activities could an advanced Ai take over to bring the markets to as close to 100% AI run as possible?”This was where Gemini started to get into speculation: Gemini came up with this: That’s an excellent follow-up question! Accepting the “black swan” limitation (the inability of AI,…

If humans were locked out of the 80% AI run financial markets, would they continue to function?

My second follow up question to Google Gemini:If humans were locked out of the 80% AI run financial markets, would they continue to function?Gemini responded thus: This is a fascinating thought experiment, and the answer is: no, the markets would not continue to function normally, or for long, if humans were completely locked out of financial market activity. While a significant portion of…

How much of the financial market activity is carried out automatically by AI?

I’m again having conversations with Google Gemini as part of my research into the new story I’m working on. Here’s the first question: How much of the financial market activity is carried out automatically by AI? Here’s Gemini’s response:A very significant portion of stock and financial market activity is now carried out automatically, often driven by algorithms and increasingly by Artificial…

The Human Blueprint

The Human Blueprint: An Optimal Form, or One Among Many? An Astrobiological and Evolutionary Inquiry I. Introduction: Foundations of Life, Intelligence, and Optimality The existence of life, in its myriad forms across Earth, is fundamentally driven by a set of core biological imperatives. All living systems, from the simplest organisms to complex humans, animals, and plants, prioritise three…

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And Finally, the Last Word on AI, Energy and Coffee.

Was it worth it?There’s a lot of talk about the vast amount of energy AI uses. This got me wondering what damage to the environment I had done by asking Gemini for answers to pointless questions about the best way of getting a hot flat white. So I asked this question.how much energy was used by you in generating these responses and how does it compare to energy used in heating the milk before…

Would it cost me less to heat the milk in the microwave before pouring it into the coffee?

Now we know that the amount of energy it takes to heat the milk separately is less than the energy to heat the coffee with the milk added, it stands to reason that it’s cheaper to heat the milk and then pour it into the coffee. Let’s see what Gemini has to say about this. From a purely energy consumption (and thus cost) perspective, the most efficient approach is to heat the milk before pouring…

Should you let AI heat the milk for your coffee?

Is it more cost effective to pour milk into hot coffee and then heat it up or to heat the milk separately?Let’s see what Gemini has to say about it. Not being that good at maths, I kept the volume and temperature at nice round numbers, because I kind of guessed Gemini would go all Einstein in the response.I asked Gemini. If 300ml of coffee is at 100 degree centigrade, and 200ml of milk is at 10…

The Triads

In ‘Nanopunk’ China played a significant role in helping the UK and Europe rebuild after The Big Freeze devastated much of society. In the current story I’m working on, I’ve gone back to China, this time, looking into one part of China’s rich cultural and political history. I asked Google to summarise the historical origins of the Triads, and the reasons and origins of the name.The Triads as they…

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Gloria: The Relationship Between Perfect Symmetry, Beauty, and its Bearing on Sexual Attraction

I’m currently researching for a novel where our protagonist comes across someone with unsettling symmetrical beauty, and I wondered what the reaction would be. I asked google Gemini to explore this for me, and got this response.The relationship between perfect symmetry and beauty, and its bearing on sexual attraction, is complex and a subject of ongoing research in evolutionary psychology and…

The Next Steps in AI

The Next Step in AI The next step in AI development beyond LLMs is expected to be a move towards Agentic AI and Multimodal AI. Agentic AI, also known as AI agents, are systems that can autonomously make decisions, take actions, and solve complex problems. Multimodal AI focuses on integrating different data types, like text, images, and audio, to create more natural and intuitive…

Difference Between a Virus, Worm and Trojan

A computer virus, worm, and trojan horse are all types of malware, but they spread and operate differently. A virus attaches to legitimate files and requires user interaction to spread, while a worm is self-replicating and spreads independently through networks. A trojan, on the other hand, disguises itself as legitimate software to trick users into downloading and installing it.Here’s a more…

Are we talking Cyborgs here?

What’s been happening in the wild world of connecting brains to computers since that 2005 Google patent? Work has been ongoing to develop tech with a focus on helping people do things just by thinking about it. The big buzzword now is Brain-Computer Interfaces, or BCIs.

All I see are cyborgs

What’s been happening in the wild world of connecting brains to computers since that 2005 Google patent? Work has been ongoing to develop tech with a focus on helping people do things just by thinking about it. The big buzzword now is Brain-Computer Interfaces, or BCIs. While Google’s 2005 “artificial telepathy” idea was akin to a hidden mobile phone system, the focus today is much broader and,…

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