Daily Archives: July 27, 2022

To the editor:

A recent commentary, School districts education concepts need further scrutiny (July 14), expressed concerns that Superintendent Sean Gallagher has aligned our citys education strategy with the dangerous agenda of a powerful group of billionaires.

Mr. Harrington encouraged the superintendent and others in the city to do their homework and referenced a recent article by Dr. Joseph Mercola on the machinations of the World Economic Forum (WEF).

I share deep concern over the threat concentrations of wealth and power pose to human freedom and have studied the topic for over 20 years. I read the referenced article. Some of the info was familiar, most was not. Before diving in to verify it, I decided to investigate the author.

Joseph Mercola is an osteopathic physician who stopped practicing medicine decades ago to focus on his online business. Mercola has a net worth reportedly around $100 million through the sale of books, vitamins, medical products and procedures.

Since the mid-1990s, he has received numerous warnings from the Food and Drug Administration and Federal Trade Commission for making false claims about these products. In the past few years, Mercola has become widely known as a COVID misinformation superspreader. All this gave me pause.

Rather than abandon scrutiny of our education concepts, I turned my attention to our school districts materials which were also familiar to me. I reread the Portrait of a Graduate and the schools five-year strategic plan more closely to ascertain alignment with the dangerous agenda expounded by Dr. Mercola.

Its true the five-year strategic planning process and Portrait of a Graduate are bolstered by a few frameworks. If theres a plank or two in there from the WEF, thats fine with me. Why? Because Gallagher and his team have done a really good job of synthesizing many variables into a clear, compelling vision we can work together to achieve over the next few years.

Based on input from the community, the portrait encourages us to nurture empathy, perseverance and collaboration in our students. The strategic plan outlines specific actions to ensure students time in school will help them become literate across multiple disciplines; develop physical, social, and emotional skills; practice innovation, collaboration and problem-solving; engage civically and prepare for life after graduation.

Both documents are available on https://www.newburyport.k12.ma.us/ along with the school budget and preschool to Grade 12 curricula. The curricula are particularly interesting because they provide a detailed map of competencies in math, literacy, science, social studies, world language, business and technology in accordance with Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE) standards.

I found nothing in the strategic plan or curricula that would predispose Newburyport students to an affinity for the technocratic, transhuman existence Dr. Mercola and Mr. Harrington have highlighted. On the contrary, I found an educational program geared toward preparing students for a healthy and productive adult life that will contain more autocratic and technocratic pressures than our lives have.

This preparation comes through balancing training in math, science and technology with social and emotional learning and cultural sensitivity. It comes through prioritizing teamwork and wellness for self and others. And very importantly, it comes by promoting civic engagement and recognition that were all in this together.

JEAN COSTELLO

Newburyport

We are making critical coverage of the coronavirus available for free. Please consider subscribing so we can continue to bring you the latest news and information on this developing story.

Read the rest here:
Letter: Criticism of school district plan misleading | Letters To The Editor | newburyportnews.com - The Daily News of Newburyport

Time travel, space exploration, alien races, sentient AIs, dangerous technologies, and laser weapons. These elements are often part ofthe best Sci-Fi games for PS4 and PS5.

When it comes to the fictional genre, theres a wide variety. Some focus on heavy single-player campaigns. Others offer endless online worlds to explore with others.

The number of choices may be overwhelming, so well streamline the list. Only the best of the best deserve your time.

We need to identify what Sci-Fi means to find the best games in the genre. The category started in novels and deals with possible futures.

In other words, science fiction is about science that doesnt yet exist but could in the future. The genre also often explores the possible implications of progress. It does so while mixing horror, superhero, fantasy, and more elements.

That is the simple definition but has proven to be beyond boundaries.Isaac Asimov, I, Robot writer, defines Sci-Fi as a branch of literature which deals with the reaction of human beings to changes in science and technology.

So while its difficult to pin down, its easy to identify. Therere elements they share. Namely, Sci-Fi video games almost always deal with technologys dangers and moral implications. That includes stuff like AI, high-tech weapons, or cybernetic implants.

That said, the best Sci-Fi games feature both critical and fan praise. They live across various genres, like action-adventure, interactive dramas, MMORPGs, and others.

The Phantom Pain is the latest entry to the long-running stealth saga. Even though the story is a bit convoluted, it represents one of the best Sci-Fi content out of any medium.

Generally, these games touch upon themes like clones, war, mercenaries, and super-weapons. They use these elements to create multi-layered mysteries involving various groups, countries, and technologies.

We recommend you play as many main Metal Gear games as possible. They revolve around similar elements and styles. The fifth version, in particular, is a third-person stealth game taking you on a series of semi-open missions.

You play as a mercenary leader,Punished Venom Snake. The quest takes to Afghanistan, a location occupied by the Soviets. Youre seeking revenge against the group that killed your companions.

Detroit: Become Human is the biggest interactive video game available. It leads you across dozens of branching paths towards over 80 different endings. The replayability is endless.

The title has three main characters, three androids. The setting is Detroit, where AI androids have taken over meaningless jobs shortly. They are slaves, but they are becoming sentient.

So, you play through episodic interactive stories. You make choices, explore the environment, and complete quick actions. The results alter the story and may even lead to the death of one of the protagonists. The story is about an android revolution and its possible consequences.

The title features photo-realistic graphics, an immersive world, and outstanding motion animation and voice-over. The story is nothing too original; rather, something we saw precisely in the I, Robot movie and book. Still, it works and offers multiple paths to explore.

No Mans Sky is a growing behemoth.It started as a sub-par online space exploration and action-adventure game. Currently, though, its many things, as it keeps adding elements into its main formula.

The main formula delivers an open-world universe with thousands of procedurally generated locations. These locations are planets, satellites, derelict ships, and more.The world is online and persistent, which qualifies No Mans Sky as an MMO title.

You can explore as part of quests or on your own. You can gather materials to improve and customize your suit, weapons, and ship on each planet. Each planet has fauna, flora, and sometimes enemies to defeat with simple third-person combat.

Lastly, the game keeps adding updates and content. There have been rogue-like time-loops, questlines, base building features, space carries, space fights, space bandits, and so much more.

Mass Effect Legendary Edition compiles the Mass Effect trilogy with remastered graphics. The bundle also packs all available DLCs, visual and technical improvements, and some gameplay tweaks. It doesnt include multiplayer.

The trilogy follows Commander Shephard, a human soldier leading a special squad. Your mission goes against all odds, even the politicians of the Milky Way Galaxy. Youre to prove the Reapers exist and unite the different alien races against the AI threat.

The Reapers return every 50 million years to destroy all advanced organic life and reset the Milky Ways state. The way to stop revolves around solving the differences between the many races in a series. The setting delivers athird-person RPG where you choose the missions and make game-altering choices.

Lastly, combat revolves around high-tech weapons and powers. Therere character classes; thus, you can level up, unlock skills, customize your gear, and more. You also go on missions with two companions, and bonding with the companions is the best part of the games.

Horizon Zero Dawn, and the 2022 sequel Forbidden West, are very similar. Its only natural to recommend them both, as the second game only adds a couple of elements to a new setting.

You play as Aloy, a hunter in a post-apocalyptic world. Wars destroyed civilization, and all that remains of its former glory are ruins and mysteries. Humans live in tribes, while machine animals roam the land and become increasingly difficult.

The two games deal with the mystery of these machines and the ancient wars. Its anaction-adventure experience with an open world and character progression. You also gather herbs, craft potions, tame machines, level up, improve your gear, and customize your character.

It also focuses heavily on hunting these machines. You use various bows, slings, and ammo types to exploit your enemies weaknesses. You can also run, crouch, vault, swim, and explore the world to your will for main and side quests.

Nier: Automata is a third-person action RPG and an open-world design(although the world is small). It is one of the most unique, dynamic, and captivating stories you can play.

The story follows androids 2B and 12A on a mission to retake Earth from machines. They come from their satellite base in space. Androids manage the base, and they receive orders from the surviving humans on the Moon. Or so they think.

The events get more obscure once youre doing the mission. YOu discover machines have formed ways of sentience. They can be greedy, luxurious, loyal, loving, emphatic, vengeful, and more. The question arises, are they alive?

Once you finish the game, you can play it again with the secondary character. And then, again, with a new character. Each one presents a new part of the story. And as for gameplay, its a third-person hack & slash where you customize skills and weapons via chips.

Cyberpunk 2077 lives in a Sci-Fi subgenre, cyberpunk.It also comes alive after a table-top role-playing game of the same name, so its both fantasy and Sci-Fi. Also, it presents its own scenario, Night City, a massive dystopian city.

The title explores the dangers of invasive technology. It questions how far technology and humans come together before one overcomes the other. Cyberpunk, if youre unfamiliar, refers to Sci-Fi worlds where people can place cybernetic implants on their bodies.

The answer relies on the secondary protagonist, Johnny Silverhand (Keanu Reeves). His conciseness, even his soul, is trapped within a ship. Your customizable avatar, mercenary V, has the ship on the head. Your goal is to take it out before both of you die.

The setting delivers afirst-person action-RPG shooter with an open world. You drive, complete quests, gear up, and level up a comprehensive skill system. Combat, music, acting, and overall graphics are top-tier, even if the games debut was very poor.

Outer Wilds is an action-adventure and puzzle/exploration game.Theres no combat, no tutorials, and no directions. Youre on your own, on a mission to solve an interstellar mystery.

Youre exploring various planets on a star system trapped in a time loop. Every 22 minutes, a reset takes you back to the beginning and sets back everything you did. All you get to keep is the knowledge.

So, you explore the planets and space on foot or ships. The goal is to stop the time loop, but theres much more to see and uncover. Therere ancient ruins, derelict ships, abandoned stations, and more. All of them may present a piece of the answer.

The indie title received several GoTY awards. Its relaxing gameplay and gorgeous presentation deliver a memorable experience. And after you finish its main puzzle, you can continue towards the expansion, Echoes of the Eye.

The Outer Worlds is an action-RPG game dealing with greedy corporations running amok. The story happens in the future, where various enterprises have taken over human affairs in planetary colonies.

Its an RPG, so your choices will swing the balance of power to the colonists or the corporations. So, youll explore various locations and decide your next destination from your ship.

As you play, youll level up, develop powers and perks, and recruit NPC companions. You can bond with these companions and take them on quests. They feature skills, specializations, dialogue, and reactions to your choices.

Lastly, you play in first-person perspective on a vast open world. You shoot high-tech weapons and use various skills and gadgets for defense and attack.

Mankind Divided is a first-person action-RPG game with a semi-open world and a heavy focus on stealth. Its the fourth and latest entry of the Deus Ex series, and we recommend the entire saga.

Deus Ex is also a cyberpunk title. It explores themes such as transhumanism, tech enhancement, and discrimination. The protagonist enhanced his body to accomplish difficult missions, and now society discarded him.

Humanity has two sides: normal humans and those with augmentations. But youll discover a bigger threat that takes you across a mission that may heal the division and create new ideas.

The gameplay allows you to traverse across semi-open scenarios in many ways. As an RPG, therere several skill trees to develop and dialogue choices. In almost any situation, therere various possible solutions and consequences.

Developer: Firaxis GamesPublisher: 2K GamesRelease Date: February 2016Platform:Microsoft Windows,PlayStation 4,Xbox One,Nintendo Switch,Android

XCOM 2 is a turn-based strategy game.Its about managing a soldier squad across a series of missions against an alien invasion. Its a sequel to 2012s XCOM, the series reboot.

The story happens 20 years after the previous game. XCOM, the military organization, became the rebels. Aliens took control of the Earth and established a military dictatorship.

So, the entire game mixes goals and maps to complete. You enter these maps and begin a turn-based experience. You move across a grid and attack, take cover, and use items and skills per turn. And as you level, you customize your squad and skills.

Also, theres a component of management. You decide which research to do and your next missions when youre on the ship. Also, you take time to manage your teams loadout and members.

Titanfall 2 is a linear first-person shooter. It mixes various elements, delivering dynamic levels, fast-paced action, and an immersive story. Its pacing even takes you to time-traveling segments.

But in general, its a mecha-style story. You use mechas and exoskeletons as an agile pilot. Then, you have various skills such as wall-running, dashing, or cloaking to traverse the areas.

The Sci-Fi story follows Jack Cooper, a rifleman of the Frontier Militia. He travels alongside his mentor on a quest to defeat the Interstellar Manufacturing Corporation and their super-weapon. The theme is similar to the Metal Gear series, but the story is more straightforward.

Lastly, the gameplay is smooth, and some people compare it to Half-Life. And even though its success was big, the developer took away multiplayer support. However, you can play the free-to-play Battle Royale spin-off, Apex Legends.

The rest is here:
12 Best Sci-Fi Games On PS4 And PS5 - Tech News Today

Image: Mark Brooks/Marvel Comics

The X-Men and the rest of mutantkind coming to the Marvel Cinematic Universe has been heavily discussed ever since the ink dried on the Disney/Fox buyout back in 2019. During Comic-Con of that same year, Kevin Feige declared that yes, they and the Fantastic Four would be brought into the fold with Spider-Man, the Avengers and the Inhumans various TV characters.

And now that San Diego Comic-Con is this weekendand Marvel Studios is attending for the first time in three yearseveryones got mutants on the brain.

Ask anyone with a passing interest for the X-Men or MCU, and theyve likely got a list of three or more theories for how the mutants will show up. Were they snapped into existence via Thanos or Bruce Banner? Are they being ported over from the multiverse or in a pocket dimension? Will we just start in 2024 with Charles Xavier making an attempt to gather mutants and start from there? These are just some of the more common theories floating around. Theres so many X-Men, and even more mutants generally that in theory, any possibility for how they get introduced is valid. We already know that some will get brought in via other movies or TV shows rather than a proper X-Men film, but the larger mutant race presents a much bigger hurdle than a handful of individuals.

Image: Pepe Larraz/Marvel Comics

Complicating matters further is the state of mutants outside of the films. While the upcoming X-Men 97 series serves as a nice hit of nostalgia, the mutants of the comics are going full steam ahead towards the future. In 2019, Marvel launched House of X, a miniseries by Jonathan Hickman, RB Silva, Pepe Larraz, and Marte Garcia that upended the mutant mythos. The sentient island of Krakoa has become home to nearly all the mutants, While still hated and feared by the larger Marvel universe, mutants are now taking matters into their own hands, and even taking the time to celebrate their greatness. Over the last three years, various comics have delved into mutantkinds unique experiences with magic, transhumanism, religion, and ascension to cosmic prominence.

Mutants living on their own island and just not caring about the outside world is an interesting concept, one with the potential for exciting stories isolated from the various plates spinning during Phase Four. But whats made the mutants taking their destiny (of X) into their own hands so satisfying is that it was the kind of soft reboot the characters needed. Recall that prior to this, Marvel was basically treating the mutants like redheaded stepchildren due to not owning the rights to those characters, leading to the creative decision to underpromote the X-books and gradually kill the species off by way of a war with the Inhumans. And even what that war eventually ran its course, the mutants still had to get beaten down a little bit more before they were allowed to have a utopia and repopulate their people.

Hated and feared is the theme of Marvels mutants, which neither Foxs films nor Marvels comics in the early to mid 2010s knew entirely what to do with. In the comics, this was especially egregious, since superpowered people save the world with a reliable regularity that mutant discrimination feels even sillier. Mutant as metaphor already began to grow tiresome long before 2019, and will feel even more in poor taste now as Marvel tries to make bigger, often uneven grasps at social commentary in their films and TV series. An evolution is required, but to adapt House and do it justice wouldadmittedly require a decent runup so as to feel appropriately triumphant when Krakoa is revealed in its seemingly idyllic splendor.

To us, our X-Men of 2022!Image: Russell Dautermann/Marvel Comics

At Marvel, movies and comics influence each other an equal amount, and the MCU has shown a desire to get considerably stranger now more than it did a decade ago. An island of superpowered people sounds like the right way for these mutants to feel distinct from Foxs batch and avoid just retreading the same ground. Whether Marvel Studios is willing to give that a shot and let the mutants be as weird as theyre purported to be in universe remains to be seen, either this weekend, or at D23 in September.

Want more io9 news? Check out when to expect the latest Marvel and Star Wars releases, whats next for the DC Universe on film and TV, and everything you need to know about House of the Dragon and Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power.

Read the original post:
Mutants are Coming to the MCU, But Where Does Krakoa Fit In? - Gizmodo

Ageing cured. Death conquered. Work ended. The human brain reverse-engineered by AI. Babies born outside of the womb. Virtual children, non-human partners. The future of humanity could be virtually unrecognisable by the end of the 21st century, according to Elise Bohan and thats if we get the transition right. If we get it wrong, well.

The future is wildly scary, says the young philosopher-macrohistorian-futurist with a smile. I cant lie to you about that. In ten years time its all going to look pretty different, and in another ten years thats a total event horizon for me I think its eminently plausible at that point that the game has changed in some very fundamental way, whether for good or bad.

Bohan, 31, is speaking from a sunny Mosman apartment, where she is house-sitting and looking after the plants. Its a distance away from the Hawkesbury river on the outskirts of Sydney where she grew up; a place with pretty spots but where it was tough to be a smart kid. And it is a half world away from Oxford University where she forms part of the Future of Humanity Institute.

Shes in Sydney seeing family and promoting her new book Future Superhuman: Our Transhuman Lives in a Make-or-Break Century. The subtitle isnt a gambit. I believe that, she says. We are in the century that defines the future of humanity like no other.

Transhumanism is a movement that aims to address or end what Bohan calls the tragedies of reality: ageing, sickness and involuntary death. It is, she writes, a philosophy and a project that aims to make us more than human.

Whether we recognise or understand it, that project has already begun, she says, and it will transform our world and minds and bodies within our lifetimes. Not only is it happening, she says, but this transition is necessary if humanity is to survive in perpetuity.

For Bohan,it is no great to leap to imagine that a baby born in 2030 may have its entire genome mapped at birth, that data uploaded to a central health record and cross-referenced at any medical appointment throughout its life. It is no great stretch to think that AI will become the most powerful intellectual force of the century. That human consciousness might be transferred from our meat sacks (bodies) into a technological sphere. That the rise of AI and automation might render great swathes of human labour redundant, and that maybe if we get it right that could leave more time for leisure, big thinking, meditation, connection.

Experiments are already underway in the realm of artificial wombs, and Bohan is sure when viable women will be clamouring to be freed from the shackles of pregnancy, childbirth and breastfeeding.

The book, she writes, is a love letter to humanity, but hers is a tough love. A love which sees a future for humanity, but not necessarily for human beings as we know it.

When Bohan first encountered transhumanism, at around the age of 21, her first reaction was, Its crazy. Its science fiction. Its so far out. How weird, she says. But also how interesting.

Her brother had bounded down the stairs and insisted they watch the documentary Transcendent Man, about godfather of transhumanismRay Kurzweil. He thought theyd find it hilarious which we did but it introduced Bohan to the idea of rapid acceleration of growth in computer technology, technological singularity (the theoretical point at which the force of technological change becomes out of human control and can shape human civilisation), and the idea that there was a future for humanity beyond what she calls our ape-brained meat sacks.

At the time she was an English literature undergrad, obsessed with poetry and the written word.

It was a point of sadness for me as a young person, recognising that there were so many wonderful things that had already been written forgetting all the things that would be written in the future that I would never live long enough to encounter, to explore, and to put all these things together, she says.

Fiction began to bore her as her interest in transhumanism increased. If fiction was all about exploring the human experience, it became evident that there was a tragic repetition. We work, we learn, we love, we lose, we die, she writes. Transhumanism offered something better.

By the age of 28, she had written the worlds first book-length history of transhumanism for her PhD. Its ironic, she says, to have cleaved to this shes always had an aversion to isms. They have a ring of cult-like fascination to them.

Transhumanism is perhaps best known for preoccupation with achieving human immortality.A deathless life, however, is a confronting concept. As scarcity determines value, does not the fact that our time on earth is finite give that time its value? What exactly is tragic about death?

For me, it is the loss of everything that matters. Its a loss of all things of value, she says.

On the contrary, she says, if humans could go on in a state of robust health, could keep learning, youd have this cumulative effect where our experiences and knowledge would accumulate much faster. The things that our species could do with that! The mysteries of the universe that we could unlock. The problems we could solve. And the depths of each others souls that we could explore.

Souls, she admits, is a loaded word. But without an alternative vocabulary for what makes consciousness, she is not averse to using spiritual language.

Is transhumanism encroaching on domains that religion has traditionally held? I think yes.

When Bohan was a PhD student, she gave her first big paper at a conference. Afterwards, a biologist came up to her and congratulated her on her work.

Then he looked me in the eye and whispered to me: Were building God, you know, she chuckles. I looked back at him and I said: Yeah, I know.

They knew they didnt mean it as religion, she says. But a lot of what has been talked about in religion omniscience, omnipotence, hopefully omni-benevolence we are at least getting closer to that all seeing, all knowing, all exploring [force].

Who controls that force or those forces is, of course, a critical question. The early 21st centurys rapid growth in technology has seen power and wealth accumulate and concentrate among a small number of predominantly white men. A criticism levelled at transhumanists is that they never quite stopped clinging to the sci-fi that fascinated them as young boys.

There is a degree to which many of them probably still are little boy fantasists, says Bohan. But they happen to be very, very clever little boy fantasists who also have engineering degrees and are very capable at building reusable rockets and what have you. I dont think we can dismiss the real tangible, species-advancing projects theyre actually at the helm of.

Regulating technology during this transhuman transition, argues Bohan, is not a good idea.

All things being equal, would I rather a politician or cluster politicians ruling the nuclear powers of the nation states, or would I rather someone with a PhD from MIT whos really really smart and understands the technological systems as best as a human being can? she asks. Id rather it be the tech geek.

But that said, Id rather it not be a human at all. A technological solution to regulation would free decision-making from human biases, short-termism and tribalism if done right, she says. It might not go like that.

The worst case scenario she imagines sounds drawn from the pages of science fiction dystopias. A future where ruling AI does not share the values of human beings, nor value human beings at all.

The best case scenario for the end of the century? Bohan fully expects to still be alive (shed be 110). My honest answer is that I think the best case scenario is that by the end of the century humans are done. But humanity is not done, right? So intelligence goes on, she says.

There is a utopianism associated with that ideal of just being incredibly intelligent, being able to see farther than any intelligent human being has ever seen, to know more, to experience more, to feel more, to discover more.

But this imagining, she has come to believe, is beyond the capacity of most mortals. For them, there are the Cliffs Notes.

I think the comfortable version is: we have really good health care and everyones rich. And theres lots of equality, she laughs.

But, 2100 I dont think thats where were going to be. I think were going to be much farther ahead in the game.

Celina Ribeiro is Guardian Australias assistant editor for features, culture and lifestyle. Find Celina on Twitter @Celina_Ribeiro_

A version of this article was published at the Guardian and is reposted with permission. Find the Guardian on Twitter @Guardian

Continued here:
Transhumanism to humankind's rescue? A new book claims we face a 'make or break' century, so let the technological remake begin - Genetic Literacy...