Category Archives: Futurism

Yikes. Offensive Maneuvers

The Department of Defense's research and development agency is looking for technology that will protect against "cognitive attacks" that could in theory disable soldiers wearing virtual or mixed reality devices.

As spotted by The Register, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) has announced an initiative to "build tactical mixed reality systems that protect against cognitive attack." As documents attached to the program page explained, using extremely military-ish jargon:

Such attacks can include information flooding to increase equipment latency and induce physical illness, planting real-world objects to overwhelm displays, subverting a personal area network to sow confusion, injecting virtual data to distract personnel, using objects to overwhelm a user with confusing false alarms, assessing user status through an eye tracker, and other potential attacks.

Though it's not explicitly described as such,The Register pointed out that "physical illness" could be a reference to nausea, which would turn the mixed reality (MR) headsets into "vomit extractors."

Needless to say, ew.

These hypothetical hackers might have a head start. Last year, Bloomberg reported that the MR/VR HoloLens headsets Microsoft had been building for the military since 2021 were apparently crappy in more ways than one including, per documents the website obtained on the Army's test runs with the goggles, that they caused "mission-affecting physical impairments" including nausea, headaches, and eyestrain.

Unsurprisingly, soldiers said in leaked internal reports that they hated the headsets, and in January of this year, the Army ordered Microsoft to redesign the goggles. When it came to paying for that redesign, however, Congress majorly put the squeeze on and allocated only $40 million to the order instead of the $400 million the Army wanted.

Just last month, the Army announced that its custom HoloLens goggles don't make soldiers need to barf any longer, which certainly sounds like a step in the right direction but it's still wild that the deal worth nearly $22 billion taxpayer dollars resulted in such bad devices in the first place.

Between the possibility for cognitive attacks from the outside and the goggles' formerly nausea-inducing nature, it's a wonder why Congress didn't completely kibosh the entire project except, maybe, to save face.

More on defense tech: The US Military Is Planning to Secretly Launch Something From Cape Canaveral

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DARPA Seeks to Protect Virtual Reality Against "Cognitive Attacks" - Futurism

Okay, this is interesting. Altered Carbon

Following a preliminary assessment, NASA has announced that the asteroid samples its OSIRIS-REx spacecraft took from asteroid Bennu are rich in both water and carbon the "building blocks of life on Earth," as NASA put it in atriumphant announcement.

The research supports the theory that space rocks like Bennu impacting Earth over the millennia may have played an important role in the development of life on our own planet.

The samples, as seen in a newly released picture showing the outside of the spacecraft's sample collector, contain carbon-rich, hydrated clay minerals, with carbon making up roughly five percent of the weight.

"The OSIRIS-REx sample is the biggest carbon-rich asteroid sample ever delivered to Earth and will help scientists investigate the origins of life on our own planet for generations to come," said NASA administrator Bill Nelson.

OSIRIS-REx, which launched back in 2016, reached the 1,650-feet-across asteroid after spending two years screaming through the solar system. In 2020, its collection system called Touch-and-Go Sample Acquisition Mechanism (TAGSAM)probed the asteroid's surface, collecting an estimated 8.8 ounces of material.

Last month, the spacecraft's precious cargo touched down in the Utah desert. Since then, scientists have been poring over the results, digging through the samples inside a clean lab. The OSIRIS-REx spacecraft itself is now making its way to a different asteroid, called Apophis.

Today's announcement is an exciting, albeit early, indication that the mission has already been a huge success. In fact, scientists have yet to even crack open the TAGSAM itself after finding an abundance of samplesin the container holding it,slowing down the ongoing analysis.

"The science obtained during the mission so far, coupled with the samples we are only now getting a glimpse of, is just the beginning of the wealth of knowledge that we can expect from OSIRIS-REx," said Johnson Space Center chief scientist Eileen Stansbery during today's announcement.

More on the mission: Scientists Surprised by Abundance of Material in Asteroid Sample

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NASA Announces Asteroid Samples Contain Both Water and Carbon - Futurism

The integrated marketing and branded content studio division of Urban Oneand vested brand collaborator usher in an exciting, three-part series that highlights the AT&T Rising Future Makers Showcase and pairs HBCU students with established leaders in their respective fields.

NEW YORK, Oct. 16, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- One Solution,Urban One's award-winning integrated marketing, strategic partnerships, and branded content studio division, in collaboration with AT&T Dream In Black hasreturned for a continuation of exciting and community-impacting content offerings. Amplifying the 2023 AT&T Rising Future Makers Showcase, the collaborative partners will release "The Futurist" a three-part series that pairs HBCU students in the fields of STEM, tech, and entrepreneurship with established leaders in their respective fields for a compelling and rich conversation through the lens of mentorship.

This year's content release features in-depth dialogue with Actor Lance Gross, Melissa Butler (Founder of The Lip Bar), and Kimberly Bryant (Founder and CEO Ascend Ventures and the Black Innovation Lab) tackling introspective and conversational points between the aspiring leaders and the experts.

Black college students find their network through their time at HBCUs. The connections they make with their professors, fellow students, guidance counselors and others provide a great basis for their lives beyond the hallowed halls. With today's need to have a stronger connection in order to solidify one's professional future, opportunities for a student to connect with a leader in their desired industry is invaluable for anyone to find their purpose and greater possibility.

Together, AT&T Dream In Black and One Solution have curated conversations between notable HBCU alumni and current students that will advance a greater connection to support their goals and inspire viewers around the mindset that connecting changes everything. Following the conversation, these featured students will be awarded with a monetary grant and tech package courtesy of AT&T Dream in Black Rising Future Makers. Click here for approved campaign images.

For more information pertaining to the 2023 AT&T Rising Future Makers Showcase for HBCU students looking to take their dream to new heights, please see below and visit att.com/rfmshowcase

About AT&T Dream In Black: Rising Future MakersAT&T Rising Future Makers Showcase, under the Dream In Black platform, is a program that recognizes and celebrates an esteemed class of 25 HBCU students making a difference in their community and campus, by giving them the connections, networks, and opportunities to support their dreams and ambitions. Each student receives $5k (5Gs), a technology package, as well as access to various networking and career development opportunities throughout the year. You can find out more about Rising Future Makers Showcase by visiting https://www.att.com/rfmshowcase/

What is a Rising Future Maker?An HBCU student who is making waves and doing incredible things in their community and oncampus.

About Urban OneUrban One, Inc. (urban1.com), together with its subsidiaries, is the largest diversified mediacompany that primarily targets Black Americans and urban consumers in the United States. TheCompany owns TV One, LLC (tvone.tv), a television network serving more than 46 millionhouseholds and CLEO TV, its sister network with a an almost 41 million household reach. As ofJune 30, 2022, we owned and/or operated 66 independently formatted, revenue producingbroadcast stations (including 55 FM or AM stations, 9 HD stations, and the 2 low power television stations we operate) branded under the tradename "Radio One" in 13 urban markets in the United States. Through its controlling interest in Reach Media, Inc. (blackamericaweb.com), the Company also operates syndicated programming including the Rickey Smiley Morning Show, theRuss Parr Morning Show and the DL Hughley Show. In addition to its radio and televisionbroadcast assets, Urban One owns iONE Digital (ionedigital.com), our wholly owned digitalplatform serving the African American community through social content, news, information, and entertainment websites, including its Cassius, Bossip, HipHopWired and MadameNoire digital platforms and brands. We also have invested in a minority ownership interest in MGM National Harbor, a gaming resort located in Prince George's County, Maryland. Through our national multimedia operations, we provide advertisers with a unique and powerful delivery mechanism to the African American and urban audiences.

SOURCE One Solution

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ONE SOLUTION AND AT&T DREAM IN BLACK COLLABORATE ON ... - PR Newswire

"The biggest challenge Im still thinking of: what are LLMstruly useful for, in terms of helpfulness?" Help Wanted

Google set up a secretive Discord server forthe most active users of its Bard AI and their feedback,at times, has been provocative.

AsBloomberg reports, the invite-only chat room was established in July and amassed nearly 9,000 members over the ensuing months. While many of the exchanges cheerlead the Google AI, others in the digital community pointed out that it kind of, well, sucks sometimes.

"The biggest challenge Im still thinking of: what are LLMs[large language models] truly useful for, in terms of helpfulness?" Cathy Pearl, a Google user experience lead who works on Bard, said in one August exchange that Bloomberg reviewed. "Like really making a difference. TBD [to be determined]!"

Even as Google pushes to integrate Bard into its other products, including Gmail, Maps and YouTube, users who take part in the Discord server have wondered whether all the money and work being put into the AI is paying off.

"Is any work being done on reducing the staggering resource costs of LLMs?" one of the Discord users asked, citing the billions of gallons of water used by Google and its "thirsty" peersto keep their AIs afloat.

I kind of look at it like chip design or supercomputers, Pearl, the user experience lead, said in reply. "I believe we will continue to find ways to get the same behavior with less resources."

Even the heaviest users of Bard, the chat logs reviewed byBloomberg demonstrate, are concerned about the accuracy of information the AI spits out, too though the Google reps in the server had handy responses for those worries as well.

In one exchange, the official Bard account in the Discord server responded to a question about the AI "hallucinating" a term used to refer to chatbots making stuff up by, essentially, saying that it's bound to happen.

"Weve done our best to make sure this happens as little as possible," the official account said during the September comment. "But since Bard is still learning and growing, it could happen."

"If Bard does hallucinate with any of the integrations," the account continued, "please let us know in the bug reports channel!"

In a statement to Bloomberg, Google spokesperson Jennifer Rodstrom defended the commentary that occurred in the Discord channel and said that the company has been "eager to hear people's feedback on what they like and how we can further improve the experience."

And, sure, that's fair. It's good to solicit feedback and encourage it to be candid.

But while concerns about AI accuracy and costs are nothing new, it is telling that these comments are coming not from outside detractors but from insiders who use Bard so much, Google decided to give them special access to an invite-only forum to discuss it.

If those folks are worried, maybe we all should be.

More on Google AI:Googles Search AI Says You Can Melt Eggs. Its Source Will Make You Facepalm

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Google Insider Unimpressed by Its Cutting Edge AI - Futurism

Image by Anup Shah/Getty Images

A macaque that received a genetically engineered pig kidney survived for more than two years, researchers said a key milestone in the endeavor to use transplanted animal organs in humans.

As detailed in a study published in the journal Nature, the researchers used gene-editing in miniature pigs to ensure that their organs, once harvested, wouldn't harbor dormant viruses or be attacked by the primate recipients after transplantation.

The work is a "proof of principle in non-human primates to say our organ is safe and supports life," co-author Wenning Qin, a molecular biologist at the US biotech firm eGenesis, told Nature.

Scientists hope that xenotransplantation, the practice of transplanting an organ between different species, could one day relieve the shortage in donor organs. In the US, over 100,000 people are on the organ waiting list, with some 17 people dying as they wait for a transplant each day.

Thankfully, the science is getting closer. Last year, doctors successfully transplanted a genetically engineered pig heart into a living human, though the recipient, a 57-year-old man, passed away two months later. And last month, another middle-aged aged man also received a pig heart. Similar results have been achieved with xenotransplants in human recipients who were considered brain dead.

Though this latest research is limited to non-humans, the post-op lifespan of the monkeys is especially promising.

A total of 69 genes were targeted by the researchers, most of them edited to ensure the recipient's immune system wouldn't attack and reject the organ and to nullify dormant viruses buried in the pig genome. A drug treatment was also used on the monkeys to help suppress their immune systems.

One of the key innovations here, however, is the introduction of human genes into the edited pig organs.

In the researcher's experiments, the 21 monkeys transplanted with kidneys that were not edited to contain human genes lasted only an average of 24 days, and no longer than 50. With the kidneys that did contain human genes, however, the monkeys survived an average of 176 days. Five of those 15 lived for more than a year, and one of them a healthy two years.

While other xenotransplantation experiments have used regular pigs to grow organs, the researchers in this trial used miniature pigs.

A notable departure from common practice, explained Muhammad Mohiuddin, a xenotransplantation surgeon at University of Maryland School of Medicine, to Nature, this circumvents the need to further gene edit regular sized pig organs to prevent them from growing too rapidly in a recipient's body.

Mohiuddin, who was not a part of the research but was involved in the groundbreaking pig-to-human heart transplant, is an unabashed admirer and he believes that the technology is ready for human trials.

"It is time for clinical translation of this vital technology, which has the potential to save lives that would otherwise be lost to the shortage of human organs," he wrote in an editorial on the research, as quoted by The Guardian.

Others in the field urge more patience. Megan Sykes, a transplant immunologist at Columbia University Medical Center cautions that the monkey's survival time is not "strikingly better than what has been seen before with many fewer gene modifications," she told Nature.

More on xenotransplants: Doctors Thrilled as Pig Kidney Functions in Human Patient for Two Full Months

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Monkey Lives for Two Years With Gene-Hacked Pig Kidney - Futurism

Springsteen is almost here, Midwest Meltdown at the Foundry and Latin futurism at The Grog: The week in live  cleveland.com

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Springsteen is almost here, Midwest Meltdown at the Foundry and Latin futurism at The Grog: The week in live - cleveland.com