Singularity shots is a roundup of beautifully curated notes about science, technology, and all the mesmerizing things indistinguishable from magic. Delivered as 2-minute shots, every 2 days, because we know you are busy. Read on and subscribe as we dissect the world, unfold ancient code and walk you towards wisdom. We read through hundreds of articles each day and find you these treasures and write about them as these small shots so that you always have something awesome to read when you are in the subway, getting comfy in the bed for lights-out, or riding in an Uber.
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I know that our brains are hardwired to listen to stories. So obviously, it is better to talk about the most important discoveries of our lifetime as stories; instead of boring seminars. This is what this newsletter intends to do; tell stories that inspire awe and attract more people towards that path of knowledge.
I am really sorry for delaying this edition. Had to deal with some private problems in my life. Life doesn't seem to spare anyone. However, I am back !
Did you know?
The story of NeuraLink.
The World is already spooked about AI. Every blogger out there is taking to social media, guns blazing, spitting out verbal diarrhea of Tech Jargon- about an imminent AI apocalypse. They mix right proportions of Issac Asimov, Cyberpunk and a tinge of actual science to immerse their readers into a clickbait driven narrative- mostly a reiteration of what James Cameron told about SkyNet back in 1984. Believe me, I totally agree that we are moving towards a world run awash by Surveillance Capitalism as in Jonah Nolan's much critically acclaimed "Person of interest", but I don't really think we would soon be overrun by our robot overlords.
But things are changing rapidly. Enter Elon Musk's underground startup - Neuralink. The company philosophy stems from a fundamental question - if AI is such an existential threat, why can't we mingle AI with our brain, in such ways as AI serves just like a layer of Human brain - for doing things we are not really good at - Augmenting our already existing neural structure - making us SuperHuman, and thus enslaving AI instead of the other way around. The premise of NeuraLink deserves a whole series of articles about Brain-Computer interfaces, which I would obviously be starting in a few editions, but the idea is this - insert electrodes into few portions of the brain, as a mean to read and insert data. As dangerous as it sounds, the technology is still in its infancy, but it's definitely catching up. e
Elon Musk is convinced that the long-term progress of AI (and robotics) are a risk for humanity. Long down the road, AIs will become more intelligent than humans and so they can take possession of the whole planet, dominate humans or even eliminate them.
He thinks that a smart way to solve this Terminator-scenario is that we don’t see ourselves as an alternative to AI, but that we blend with it. If we will be able to let AI become an additional part of the brain, AI can’t dominate us, because it will be part of us, it will be like an additional layer of our brain.
His vision is that we will become Superhumans: when we will have to think about how to play chess, we will trigger automatically the AI-layer and see what will be the best move, but we will still be able to use other parts of the brain to love other people or to enjoy watching cat videos on Youtube.
Series:
Editing the operating system of life : #4
So last week, we discussed how scientists found out that bacteria were using CRISPR as a weapon against the invading viruses- as an ancient and efficient line of defense.
So there were these CRISPR sequences, and then there were these Cas9 enzymes. As a Viral agent attacks the bacteria, these Cas9 enzymes grab strands of Viral DNA, break them down and stores it in their spacers. So these spacers are like their cheat sheets, each spacer contains one unique signature that represents a viral DNA strand and it can be used as a database to identify and deactivate whenever other similar attacks happen again. The "How" of this mechanism is a subject for the next edition.
With Love,
Ashif Shereef.