Category Archives: Mind Uploading

A new app is making it easier for estate and letting agents to film virtual tours of properties and instantly embed them in property portal and website listings.

Holofy Spaces was launched after the spring lockdown when its founders noticed a gap in the market for an app which allows agents to film virtual tours more easily from their smartphones.

It also provides agents with the option to instantly upload virtual tours to their own websites, property portals and other marketing platforms.

Simple technology which maximises results

The app helps agents to film vertical tours on their smartphones when visiting properties they are marketing.

Using Holofy Spaces, agents can create virtual tours in 20 minutes which are then instantly available for sharing and embedding. There is also the ability for agents to edit tours in-app before publishing them.

Filming vertically means there is minimal editing required so tours can be uploaded and shared very quickly. Vertical videos are also ready-made for platforms such as Instagram, which is becoming an increasingly influential marketing tool for estate and letting agents.

Holofy Spaces seamlessly integrates with agents existing technology and boasts a powerful API which connects with CRMs.

Our app provides estate and letting agents with a more effective and simple alternative to existing virtual tours software. Filming virtual tours can now become as easy and natural as filming an Instagram Story, says Eduard Cristea, Co-Founder of Holofy.

In the short period since we have launched, agents working with us are benefiting from higher conversion rates and a competitive advantage. They are able to qualify applicants much quicker and this has resulted in deals being concluded sight unseen, particularly in the lettings market.

Streamlining virtual tours in the new normal

Holofy is an international company based in London. It is already working with firms in the capital, as well as agents operating across Scotland, Wales and the Cotswolds.

During the first spring lockdown was the moment when all agents realised they needed to offer virtual tours. Now, during the second lockdown, is when they need to streamline their filming, editing and uploading process to maximise their time and investment, says Cristea.

Even pre-pandemic, many prospective buyers and tenants were filming vertical videos of properties during viewings to share with others and act as a future reminder. Now, with the number of in-person viewings unlikely to return to previous levels, an app like ours enables agents to provide consumers with the footage they require in a professional and seamless manner.

He adds that Holofy Spaces aims to reduce the stress and effort associated with virtual tours, while at the same time reducing the time agents spend on in-person viewings.

Deep analytics to monitor listing and team performance

The app provides agents with comprehensive analytics of each video tour. Each tour is given a performance score based on how many viewings it has received and how many days it has taken to be sold or let.

Meanwhile, live data shows the level of interest in each property based on the total average engagement time. Agents can also get into the mind of applicants by seeing how long consumers spend looking at certain parts of the property and which features are the most popular.

Our deep analytics help agents to improve the quality of their listings, while at the same time provide vendors and landlords with real-time updates on how their property is performing and what is most popular with applicants, Cristea explains.

Agents can also use the analytics to objectively evaluate each listing and subsequently the role staff have played in its performance.

Agency owners can use our data to analyse team members average closing rates and transition times, giving them the opportunity to reward top performers and allow other staff members to learn from the best examples, he concludes.

See the article here:

Agents Can Film Virtual Tours and Embed in Portal Listings with New App - Property Notify

For more than two hundred years numerous homeopathy doctors around the world have experienced that homeopathic medicine, even in the minutest form works wonders.

Being aware of the safety and benefits of these natural medicines people are flocking to the homeopaths hospital to get treated. But in case you are unable to visit a homeopathy doctors clinic then do not worry.

You can always avail online consultation from the comfort of your home, using modern technology. After the initial consultation procedure gets over the doctor recommends the medicines which get delivered at your doorstep neatly packed.

You can also order these reliable and affordable homeopathic medicines online by uploading the prescriptionand get the prescribed medicines delivered at your address without going to any homeopathy hospital or clinic.

You can either pay the required amount online while placing the order or you can pay it on receiving the delivery from your home.

Homeopathic medicines are obtained from natural substances collected from the leaves, flowers, roots and other portions of various plants. From the chemicals such as sulphuric acid and nitric acid.

From different minerals namely, gold, silver, zinc, iron, tin etc. From different microbes such as bacteria and virus. Hormones, enzymes and some other organic substances like snake venom and a lot more products are acquired from animals using nonviolent procedures.

These natural elements turn into homeopathic medicines by a vigorous shaking called potentization.

A tiny portion of the fundamental ingredient is used as one part and combined with ninety-nine parts of alcohol or water forming 100 drops are then rocked rapidly to make a potency 1c.

One drop is used from this 100 drops and is blended with 99 drops of alcohol repeatedly to experience a swift shaking giving rise to potency 2c. This process can go on till 100000c.

Hence, in this manner, the strength of the original healing substances are regularly diluted. Potentization plays a major role in conveying the remedial actions making the diluent bear in mind the initial substance after its elimination.

These homeopathic medicines are so diluted that they do not possess any particle from the fundamental substance but are very effective in treating various diseases and boosting the bodys defence system.

Using these homeopathic medicines Dr Anubha treats numerous patients at her homeopathy clinic in Hyderabad and helps them to recover from the ailments. Dr Anubhas Homeopathy clinic is the answer if you wish to get treated by the best homeopaths.

If you cant pay a visit to this homeopathy hospital you can reap the convenience of web-based technology and avail the online homeopathy clinic from anywhere in the world.

During the online consultation procedure, plenty of questions are asked to get the entire picture. People suffering from the same disease may need different homeopathic medicines to get cured.

After the first consultation, the homeopathy medicines are delivered to your postal address anyplace in the world either by mail or by messenger. So what is holding you back? Avail online consultation and order your homeopathic medicines online to become disease free naturally.

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Order Homeopathic Medicine Online Conveniently From Your Home | Happy Healthy Food & Play It Again Sports - EndZoneScore

This article was written in collaboration with First Draft, a nonprofit organization that provides investigative research to newsrooms tracking and reporting on mis- and disinformation.

When we picture the entity behind a network of disinformation websites, a few archetypes spring to mind: shadowy figures intent on interfering with democracy, Russian agents, Macedonian teens. Not usually included: a gamer from a suburb of New York City who sells coffee beans with his wife at the local farmers market on weekends. But thats precisely who was behind three sites that, until last week, were pumping out misleading, hyperpartisan Spanish-language content on both the left and right. They were just a few sites in a broader ecosystem of misinformation and disinformation that spreads such narratives to millions of Americans. But their story has something to tell us about the misinformation industrial complex overall.

Sean Reynolds, a YouTuber, gamer and entrepreneur, was the owner and operator of three websites and affiliated Facebook pages that peddled in misinformation, predominantly in Spanish. The existence of the network was first reported by Politico last week, but an exclusive interview with Reynolds revealed why he started the sites.

Namely, he said, he saw an opportunity.

These websites and the content on them do not reflect my personal political leanings, Reynolds wrote in a direct message on Twitter. I am non-discriminating towards opportunities where there is demand and no supply, which in this case, there was no political opinion pieces written in Spanish on Facebook, so I found writers (ghostwriters) interested to fill that demand. Reynolds did not respond when FiveThirtyEight asked whether he speaks Spanish but did say he does not personally write the content on the sites. In a video he posted on his gaming channel, he identified as half Jamaican and half German.

Since 2017, Reynolds has operated the three websites and their affiliated Facebook pages: PoliticaVeraz.com, which published right-leaning content, AlertaPolitica.org, which published left-leaning content, and LeftOverRights.com, a left-leaning site which initially ran English-language stories but switched to publishing in Spanish this August. When all three sites were active, they would each regularly publish 5-10 stories per day and then spread those stories through Facebook, where they would typically attract thousands of shares. After FiveThirtyEight contacted him, Reynolds took all three sites and their Facebook pages offline.

A FiveThirtyEight investigation found multiple links that tied Reynolds to the sites, including a common server and IP address among his personal website and his other confirmed businesses, the same Google AdSense and Analytics code for his personal sites and these pages and corporate records listing Reynolds as a process agent for both Left Over Rights LLC and Alerta Politica LLC (there was no record of an LLC for Politica Veraz). Reynolds also confirmed to FiveThirtyEight that he ran the sites.

Much of the content these sites published was misleading and hyperpartisan. A recent story on Politica Veraz, for example, claimed that Joe Biden had forgotten the words to the Pledge of Allegiance, when in actuality he quoted part of the pledge for emphasis in a speech. Meanwhile, recent stories published on Left Over Rights deployed spin from a left-leaning perspective, such as a story about the vice presidential debate declaring Sen. Kamala Harris had destroyed Vice President Mike Pence by asking him not to interrupt her.

The disinformation on Politica Veraz, in particular, often echoed messaging that was already circulating in far-right communities online and among followers of the QAnon conspiracy theory, pushing it towards a more mainstream audience. One article claimed that President Trumps life was in mortal danger after he gave a speech at a Whirlpool Corporation Manufacturing Plant in Clyde, Ohio, where he said he had many enemies and that this may be the last time you see me for a while when discussing lower prices for pharmaceuticals. And while Reynolds said the sites content had minimal reach, that story was shared more than 6,000 times on Facebook, according to social media data tool BuzzSumo, and received nearly 40,000 interactions (reactions, shares, and comments combined). Similar messaging had been amplified by right-leaning users on Twitter before the Politica Veraz piece was published, including a tweet from an account that regularly shares theories associated with QAnon that was retweeted or quote tweeted more than 12,000 times.

Reynoldss sites are far from the only source of misinformation targeting the Latino community. There are sites, Facebook pages and YouTube channels that operate on the margins, attracting little mainstream notice while garnering audiences in the hundreds of thousands. Their stories rife with misleading spins on the news and outright falsehoods are shared across social media and privately in messaging apps. They target communities that have fewer trusted sources that cater directly to them, according to media experts we spoke to, and amplify misinformation originating from extremist communities. And experts say this kind of misinformation can lead to voters not only being misinformed, but also feeling disillusioned by the political process.

Nevertheless, Reynolds said his goals werent necessarily to inform, misinform or disinform, but to make a little bit of money. So little money that he didnt think twice about taking the sites down as soon as he was contacted by a reporter.

I will say, though, that these websites (all three) were scheduled to be fully closed after the months of not posting and not generating any income to keep them running, Reynolds wrote. (Two of the sites stopped uploading new posts in August and September, respectively.) But now Im getting contacted about them, and I just dont have time for anything else, so I will have their closings sped up.

Reynoldss sites represent a brand of misinformation fueled by the ease and profitability of building an audience on social media, according to Joan Donovan, a researcher of disinformation at Harvard University.

Social media companies have incentivized disinformation by rewarding it with financial dollars, Donovan explained. The fact that he was targeting Latinos with Spanish-language disinformation or misinformation from either side of the aisle shows a kind of willingness to create chaos so long as it makes money.

Its not as if the content was simply a translated version of English-language misinformation, either. It clearly targeted the Latino community, playing into existing fears such as worries about socialism, given its history in authoritarian Central and South American governments.

Some of the key narratives are around the perceived threat of socialism coming into the United States, and connecting that to Joe Biden and Kamala Harris, said Jacobo Licona, a disinformation researcher for Equis Labs, a Latinx voter research group. Another one we often see is trying to discredit Black Lives Matter and paint them as violent. Since the murder of George Floyd, weve seen an increased effort by these bad actors in Latinx spaces to fuel racial tension in Black and brown communities.

Politica Veraz regularly posted stories that played into these threads, like one that called the Obamas Marxists or another that inaccurately reported two Los Angeles County Sheriffs Department deputies shot in Compton were ambushed by Black Lives Matter.

This misinformation is being seeded in the midst of an election where Latino voters represent a powerful voting bloc. While Trump is trailing Biden among Latino voters in national polls, the margin is narrower in the key battleground state Florida. In a Univision poll released on Sept. 28, 52 percent of Latino voters nationally said they planned to cast a ballot for Biden, compared to 19 percent who were committed to Trump. But in Florida, 36 percent of Latino voters said they favored Trump.

Reynolds said his content was not effective and that the sites were not profitable or popular, and that he had been planning to shut them down before he was contacted by FiveThirtyEight. But data tells a different story. Combined, the three sites Facebook pages had nearly 1 million likes and followers, and Politica Veraz alone attracted more than 500,000 interactions on its Facebook posts since July, according to data from Crowdtangle.

The allure of sensational, emotionally provocative misinformation is well documented. But this content was also able to appeal to an audience facing a dearth of targeted media, according to Randy Pestana, the assistant director of research at Florida International Universitys Institute for Public Policy.

The media outlets that appeal to Hispanics are limited. There are not a lot of them out there, and the ones that are out there more recently have been called fake news, Pestana said. Theres this movement where everything is fake news if it doesnt align with your opinion.

He also noted that many Latino Americans consume news through social media, including Facebook and WhatsApp, making it easier for this kind of content to spread. The share of Latino Americans who get their news from the internet is higher than that of the U.S. population overall, according to surveys from the Pew Research Center. In a 2016 survey, Pew found that 74 percent of Latino respondents got their news online on a typical weekday, whereas a 2017 Pew survey found that 43 percent of the total population often got their news online. And while social media platforms have been cracking down on English-language misinformation to a certain degree, Spanish-language disinformation doesnt always receive the same treatment, Pestana said.

Reynoldss sites are now shut down, but there are plenty of other misinformation sources targeting Latino Americans. As we head into the final weeks of an election, many members of one of the most influential voting blocs continue to be bombarded with false information.

The worst examples of the potential consequences of this is what we saw in 2016: People felt so disenfranchised by the political process that they opted not to participate in it, said Steven Renderos, the executive director of MediaJustice, a nonprofit that focuses on racial inequality in communications. Thats the risk were facing here today, that people will just opt out of engaging.

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Why A Gamer Started A Web Of Disinformation Sites Aimed At Latino Americans - FiveThirtyEight

T S Haokip

As the world grips to term with the consequences of the pandemic where job loss, unemployment, and business failures have occupied most headlines, the successful entrepreneurial story of a few youths in Manipur, a tiny state in the North-eastern part of India deserves to be told, heard and emulated.

Background

Paipeh Team or P4which is famous for its Thadou-Kuki comedy video series called Lutpu Paipeh was founded by Mr. Lenchung along with 4 main actors. The founder, who had won the coveted Kuki Idol-a talent hunt competition in Manipur, has several Kuki hit songs to his name as a singer and composer. But the first Kuki Idol would soon realized that singing as a career is not sufficient to make ends meet. Not one to be bogged down easily, Mr. Lenchung devised a new strategy to utilize his creative mind which then heralded the birth of Paipeh Team, and their hit seriesLutpu Paipeh. The team met instant success among the Kuki Community with their YouTube channel garnering more than 50k subscribers and an average view of 2 lakhs per video. They have attained the status of a small-town celebrity with local medias interviewing them even as their fan base grew by the day. Meanwhile, though the team had devoted most of their time for the making and production of their new episodes of the series, the revenues were not sufficient to fully rely on as a livelihood. Mr. Lenchung then felt the need to be more than a successful singer and director.

Leveraging adversity

The success of their comedy series notwithstanding, the pandemic has resulted in the absence of any alternative livelihoods to make additional income. After much deliberation, P4 came up with the idea of attending to the demands for food. While pondering over viable options, they zeroed down to fruit juice as two of their team members have Pineapple farm and they have learned that many farmers have resorted to burying their farm produce as there was no demand; as markets were closed. The thought inspired them because, not only would they be achieving their goals of setting up a start-up, they would in the process be helping many farmers who otherwise would have their farm produce go wasted.

According to Lenchung, once they contemplated the idea, there was no looking back. It took us only a couple of months to strategize our plan and implement it. We made a partnership with an established enterprise named Joyfood and the rest as they say is history, he added.

Launch of the 100 % organic fruit juice Donlip

In the month of August 2020, the people of Churachandpur town witnessed history unfold; a business start-up has been inaugurated by a rebel leader. Donlip a juice with 100% organic Pineapple fruit was launched officially by Pu P S Haokip, President of Kuki National Organisation- one of the two umbrella organisations of Kuki militants having tripartite talks with the Government; it was groundbreaking, considering the fact that militancy has been attributed to the lack of business avenues and dismal economic growth in the region. Gone are the days when any business setup would be allegedly subjected to ransom demands. All that seems to be history now as business prospects dawn in the erstwhile militancy infested state. Part of the credit should go to the Government for engaging the rebels to talks as the Hills of Manipur, long excluded from business and development stories finally made its mark.

Market progress

The plan was to produce 5000 units per month initially with a gross income of 1 lakh and to increase the unit according to the demands. But in the first month itself, due to huge demands, P4 ended up selling 2,000 units per day. With a humble investment, we break-even in the first month itself. We have not even started investing in the promotion of the product but everyone is aware of the products and we have received supply orders from all corners of the state and beyond, said an understandably excited Mr. Lenchung.

He further added that the orders for September are even better, more in units compared to August 2020. At present, sales are not just good but overwhelming. We want to make sure that these good vibes continue by maintaining quality standards, said the proprietor of P4.

Public feedback

As P4 launch their product, it has overwhelming support from the public. The success of their comedy sequels has a huge impact as the team has thousands of dedicated fans already. Buying the product was considered a trend with many fans uploading their selfies with Donlip. It was beyond our expectation. We believe our fans will buy the products out of love and charitable cause. But we never thought it would make a trend to pose with our products as is presently witnessed. Now our customers are the promoters themselves, said the proprietor. Well, Paipeh team are stars. So, when I saw my friends uploading pictures of themselves, I too was tempted because it was trending, said Mr. Chochon, one of the many fans who uploaded their pictures of themselves drinking Donlip. Of course, many bought the products out of compassion and love and their attachment with Paipeh team. once I learned that Paipeh team is launching a fruit juice, Id asked my son to get a cartoon of the product in support of the team. I have heard of their humble backgrounds and I am an ardent fan of their work in Lutpu Paipeh series. I feel this humble initiative of mine, buying their products, is my way of saying thank you for the beautiful memories they have given, said Nu Nemvah, a 62-year-old woman, who said she had never missed the 20 episodes of the P4 TEAM Lutpu paipeh comedy series.

The Road Ahead

According to Mr. Lenchung, proprietor of P4, the team is confident that the product would initially make a mark for itself locally and then theyd venture into exporting it to neighboring states and beyond. He said, a region like North East India, with its rich flora and fauna, is home to varieties of fruits. Strangely, we import among all things, fruits and fruit juices. We will work towards making P4 into a successful venture, which caters to the juice demands of North-East and beyond and give livelihood to at least a hundred person.

As for concerns on the possible decline in the demands of their products, if and when the hype and excitement of the newly launched Donlip waned, the team is all prepared to diversify its products; the team, according to the proprietor, has a plan in place to introduce other food items including Soft Drinks in collaboration with Joyfoods ltd.

The success story of P4 tells that COVID- 19 can be an excuse for many but for those eyeing to make a mark and be a change maker, there is just no excuse. Apart from fruits, there are other avenues like organic farming, animal husbandry- piggery, fishery, handicrafts, and setting up micro and small scale industries that can be adopted. Already, tens of thousands who have returned from different cities to the region are rendered unemployed. With proper skill development, the ambitious project of #VocalforLocal will be a successful hit in the region. And with the right mindset, zeal, and hard work, we will have many more successful entrepreneurship tales to tell from the North East region and India.

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Juice of success: The Donlip Story - NorthEast Today

Q WordPress theme screenshot.

Themes Team representative Ari Stathopoulos is now officially the first theme author to have a theme in the directory that supports full-site editing (FSE). With a slimmed-down beta release of FSE shipping in WordPress 5.6 this December, someone had to be the first to take the plunge. It made sense for someone intimately familiar with theme development and the directory guidelines to step up.

In many ways, it is a huge responsibility that Stathopoulos has taken on. Until one of the default Twenty* themes handles FSE, the Q theme will likely be one of the primary examples that other theme authors will follow as they begin learning how to build block-based themes.

Earlier this month, I used Q to test FSE and determine how much it had advanced. It is at least months away from being ready for use in production. The beta release in 5.6 is more or less just to get more people testing.

Stathopoulos has no plans to make Q much more than a bare-bones starter or experimental theme. It is almost a playground to see what is possible.

Q was born out of necessity, he said. I couldnt work on full-site editing or global styles without having a base theme for them, so for a while, I had it in a GitHub repository. I decided to release it to the WordPress.org repository because I think I might not be the only one with those issues. Downloading a theme in the dashboard is easier than cloning a repository for most people.

Existing block-based themes are few and far between. Automattic and some of its employees have some experimental projects, but none of those are in the official directory for anyone to test. Stathopoulos wanted a base theme that was unopinionated in terms of design that would allow him to work on FSE, test pull requests, and experiment with various ideas.

It has some ideas for things that ultimately Id like to see implemented in FSE, and its a playground, he said. For example, the addition of a skip-link for accessibility in the theme, an implementation for responsive/adaptive typography, and conditional loading of block styles only when they are used/needed. These are things that I hope will be part of WordPress Core at some point, and the Q theme explores ideas on how to implement them.

He began work on the theme over a year ago and continues working on it as a side project. He said Yoast, his employer, fully supports the idea of creating things that are beneficial for other theme designers and WordPress core.

End-users must install the Gutenberg plugin and activate the experimental FSE feature to use the theme or any similar theme. Currently, FSE is missing many key features that make it viable for most real-world projects. However, theme developers who plan to work with WordPress over the next several years will need to begin testing and experimenting. Q makes for a good starting point to simply get a feel for what themes will look like.

The biggest issue was and still is keeping up with Gutenberg development, said Stathopoulos. Many things are currently fluid, and they happen at a very high pace. The reason I created the theme was because other themes I was testing, as part of my contribution to the Themes Team, were not properly maintained or updated. I wanted to create a starter theme that can be used as a starting point for others as well.

One of the biggest questions still hanging in the air is what the timeline will look like for publicly-available, block-based themes. Will 2021 be the year they take over? That is unlikely given the features current state. However, there will be a point where developers are no longer building classic or traditional themes.

I think were going to see a lot more FSE themes in 2021, said Stathopoulos. It might take a couple of years before they become the standard, but after the release of WordPress 5.6, I hope there will be a lot more development and focus on FSE and global styles. Whether we see more FSE themes or not depends on when some things get merged in WordPress core.

He pointed out some critical missing features from Gutenberg at the moment. The big one is that the Query block, which is the block that displays posts on the front end, does not inherit its options from the global query. Essentially, this means that, regardless of what URL a visitor is on, it displays the latest posts.

Once these things are addressed, and blockers for theme builders get resolved, I expect well see an explosion of good FSE themes being built, he said.

Stathopoulos is most excited about the prospect of seeing more design standards come to core. Currently, there is no consistency between themes. Theme authors can use any markup they want. Switching themes affects a sites structure, SEO, accessibility, speed, and many other things.

My advice to theme developers who want to start tinkering would be to start with something simple, he said. Its tempting to add extremely opinionated styles, for buttons for example, but more and more things get added every day to the editor like a border-radius setting for buttons. Theme authors should avoid the trap of designing an FSE theme having in mind what the editor currently does. Instead, theme authors should strive to build something having in mind a vision of what the editor will eventually become.

Because Stathopoulos is a representative of the Themes Team, he also has some insight into the shift in the coming years for guidelines and what steps authors might need to take. While it is too early for the team to begin making decisions, its members are already thinking about forthcoming changes.

Change is always difficult, especially when its for something this big, said Stathopoulos. It will be a bumpy ride, and it will take time. WordPress theming is a huge industry. For a while, classic (for lack of a better word) themes will continue to be a viable solution for theme developers who didnt have time to catch up. But not forever.

Some may look back at previous major shifts and worry about what the future theme directory guidelines may ask. In 2015, the team required all theme options to use the customizer. This was after a three-year wait for theme authors to organically make the switch. Given that FSE will be a much larger departure from norms and dislike of the Gutenberg project from segments of the development community, it could be a rough transition.

At some point, FSE themes will become the industry standard and what the users want, said Stathopoulos. Personally, I hope no one will want to upload a classic theme in the w.org repository in 2025 when the industry has moved on. It would be like uploading today a theme that is using tables and iframes for layouts.

He said that sufficient time would be given for the eventual transition. However, the team will likely prioritize FSE-based themes. They are cognizant of how much of a shift this will be and will plan accordingly when the time comes.

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Q: First FSE WordPress Theme Now Live - WP Tavern

This weeks update includes information about mental health resources, spring planning, registration and withdrawal dates, testing, and student conduct. Visit the Universitys Coronavirus website for the most up-to-date information and guidance. Questions can be emailed to coronavirus@ilstu.edu.

In August, the CDC released a study confirming that young adults, racial and ethnic minorities, essential workers, and unpaid caregivers for adults reported having experienced disproportionately worse mental health outcomes in association with COVID-19.

Director of Student Counseling Services Sandy Colbs reminded students that mental health resources are available to them through Student Counseling Services. Thinking about our students well-being means thinking about mental as well as physical health, said Colbs. I urge students experiencing anxiety or other mental health challenges to take part in programs, counseling, and initiatives. We are here for you.

Some resources include:

It is normal to feel overwhelmed by the many impacts of the coronavirus pandemic, which has created additional stress for many people, their families. In addition to resources specifically for students, there is a wealth of information on the Student Counseling Services website regarding approaches that can assist anyone with finding new, creative, and effective coping resources. In addition, Human Resources provides a variety of resources specifically for employees such as those provided through CMS/Magellan and information provided on the Redbirds Keep Thriving Faculty/Staff website.

Spring Planning

Provost Aondover Tarhule said, There is much anticipation for decisions about spring 2021, which is understandable. Planning for the spring term is progressing. A team of faculty and staff have been charged with exploring a variety of topics related to spring such as, but not limited to, virtual instruction and the spring academic calendar. In addition, a survey will be sent to gather feedback from students, faculty, and staff about the options under consideration.

Registration and Withdrawal Dates

Registration for winter and spring semester will open October 19. This is a week later than usual in order to give students more time to meet with their advisors. Registration appointments will be posted inMy.IllinoisState.eduon October 1. Keep in mind that the modality of each course has not been finalized. Changes may be made based on the number of positive on-campus cases, testing, and public health guidance. The date to withdraw (WX) from a course and the University has been extended to October 6 for first half semester courses, November 20 for full semester courses, and December 1 for second half semester courses.

Testing

The University will soon require testing of students living in on-campus housing. More information will be provided to residential students as the process is finalized in the coming days. Currently, about 30 percent of students living in on-campus housing have participated in on-campus testing. The University has the capacity to expand testing in this way as the number of tests conducted at on-campus testing sites have decreased in the last week after higher than anticipated numbers of tests were completed in the first weeks of the semester. Expanding the Universitys ability to test and requiring students to test has always been part of our testing plan, said Professor of Chemistry and University Testing Coordinator John Baur. We faced some logistical challenges as a result of last-minute changes beyond our control to our testing program, but we are in a good position to move forward with requiring testing of various student groups, such as on-campus students, in the very near future.

Plans to put in place saliva-based testing developed by the University of Illinois are also moving forward. We are very fortunate to be in a city with a university, that has a lot of the resources needed by the U of I sites, such as labs and research capabilities, said Vice President for Finance and Planning Dan Stephens, who is working on agreements with the U of I.

Asymptomatic testing for students provided by Reditus Laboratories continues at two on-campus testing sites, currently located in the Brown Ballroom in the Bone Student Center and the former fire station at 602 N. Adelaide St., from 8 a.m.-4:30 p.m., Monday through Friday. Students experiencing symptoms should call Student Health Services at (309) 438-7676 for an initial screening and to make an appointment to be tested.

Testing is also available for students, faculty, and staff at the Interstate Center testing site. Students testing at this site should share positive test results with Student Health Services by uploading them to the Secure Patient Health Portal. Sharing test results will ensure students have proper documentation for classes, housing, and/or employment.

See more about testing and testing results in the September 10 update.

Student Conduct

In the wake of an incident last week that reportedly drew students to off-campus gatherings in violation of Town of Normal ordinances, Illinois State Universitys Vice President for Student Affairs Levester Johnson reported nearly 100 students have been issued letters of possible Student Code of Conduct violations. We have received information from students and other community members specifically about people who allegedly were involved in that incident, said Johnson. We have worked with the Normal Police Department and the Illinois State University Police Department in this investigation. We appreciate the collaborative approach between the Town and the University in addressing this issue. Johnson said repercussions for those found responsible could range from educational training to suspension.

Johnson stated no names of students will be released as that would be a violation of privacy laws.

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Weekly Update, September 17: Mental health resources, spring planning, registration and withdrawal dates, testing, and student conduct - Illinois...

Whole brain emulation (WBE), mind upload or brain upload (sometimes called "mind copying" or "mind transfer") is the hypothetical futuristic process of scanning the mental state (including long-term memory and "self") of a particular brain substrate and copying it to a computer. The computer could then run a simulation model of the brain's information processing, such that it would respond in essentially the same way as the original brain (i.e., indistinguishable from the brain for all relevant purposes) and experience having a conscious mind.[1][2][3]

Substantial mainstream research in related areas is being conducted in animal brain mapping and simulation, development of faster supercomputers, virtual reality, braincomputer interfaces, connectomics and information extraction from dynamically functioning brains.[4] According to supporters, many of the tools and ideas needed to achieve mind uploading already exist or are currently under active development; however, they will admit that others are, as yet, very speculative, but say they are still in the realm of engineering possibility.

Mind uploading may potentially be accomplished by either of two methods: Copy-and-transfer or gradual replacement of neurons. In the case of the former method, mind uploading would be achieved by scanning and mapping the salient features of a biological brain, and then by copying, transferring, and storing that information state into a computer system or another computational device. The biological brain may not survive the copying process. The simulated mind could be within a virtual reality or simulated world, supported by an anatomic 3D body simulation model. Alternatively the simulated mind could reside in a computer inside (or connected to) a (not necessarily humanoid) robot or a biological body.[5]

Among some futurists and within the transhumanist movement, mind uploading is treated as an important proposed life extension technology. Some believe mind uploading is humanity's current best option for preserving the identity of the species, as opposed to cryonics. Another aim of mind uploading is to provide a permanent backup to our "mind-file", to enable interstellar space travels, and a means for human culture to survive a global disaster by making a functional copy of a human society in a computing device. Whole brain emulation is discussed by some futurists as a "logical endpoint"[5] of the topical computational neuroscience and neuroinformatics fields, both about brain simulation for medical research purposes. It is discussed in artificial intelligence research publications as an approach to strong AI. Computer-based intelligence such as an upload could think much faster than a biological human even if it were no more intelligent. A large-scale society of uploads might, according to futurists, give rise to a technological singularity, meaning a sudden time constant decrease in the exponential development of technology.[6] Mind uploading is a central conceptual feature of numerous science fiction novels and films.

The human brain contains, on average, about 86 billion nerve cells called neurons,[7] each individually linked to other neurons by way of connectors called axons and dendrites. Signals at the junctures (synapses) of these connections are transmitted by the release and detection of chemicals known as neurotransmitters. The established neuroscientific consensus is that the human mind is largely an emergent property of the information processing of this neural network.[citation needed]

Neuroscientists have stated that important functions performed by the mind, such as learning, memory, and consciousness, are due to purely physical and electrochemical processes in the brain and are governed by applicable laws. For example, Christof Koch and Giulio Tononi wrote in IEEE Spectrum:

Consciousness is part of the natural world. It depends, we believe, only on mathematics and logic and on the imperfectly known laws of physics, chemistry, and biology; it does not arise from some magical or otherworldly quality.[8]

The concept of mind uploading is based on this mechanistic view of the mind, and denies the vitalist view of human life and consciousness.[citation needed]

Eminent computer scientists and neuroscientists have predicted that specially programmed[clarification needed] computers will be capable of thought and even attain consciousness, including Koch and Tononi,[8] Douglas Hofstadter,[9] Jeff Hawkins,[9] Marvin Minsky,[10] Randal A. Koene, and Rodolfo Llins.[11]

However, even though uploading is dependent upon such a general capability, it is conceptually distinct from general forms of AI in that it results from dynamic reanimation of information derived from a specific human mind so that the mind retains a sense of historical identity (other forms are possible but would compromise or eliminate the life-extension feature generally associated with uploading). The transferred and reanimated information would become a form of artificial intelligence, sometimes called an infomorph or "nomorph".[citation needed]

Many theorists have presented models of the brain and have established a range of estimates of the amount of computing power needed for partial and complete simulations.[5][citation needed] Using these models, some have estimated that uploading may become possible within decades if trends such as Moore's law continue.[12]

In theory, if the information and processes of the mind can be disassociated from the biological body, they are no longer tied to the individual limits and lifespan of that body. Furthermore, information within a brain could be partly or wholly copied or transferred to one or more other substrates (including digital storage or another brain), thereby from a purely mechanistic perspective reducing or eliminating "mortality risk" of such information. This general proposal was discussed in 1971 by biogerontologist George M. Martin of the University of Washington.[13]

An uploaded astronaut could be used instead of a "live" astronaut in human spaceflight, avoiding the perils of zero gravity, the vacuum of space, and cosmic radiation to the human body. It would allow for the use of smaller spacecraft, such as the proposed StarChip, and it would enable virtually unlimited interstellar travel distances.[14]

The focus of mind uploading, in the case of copy-and-transfer, is on data acquisition, rather than data maintenance of the brain. A set of approaches known as loosely coupled off-loading (LCOL) may be used in the attempt to characterize and copy the mental contents of a brain.[15] The LCOL approach may take advantage of self-reports, life-logs and video recordings that can be analyzed by artificial intelligence. A bottom-up approach may focus on the specific resolution and morphology of neurons, the spike times of neurons, the times at which neurons produce action potential responses.

Advocates of mind uploading point to Moore's law to support the notion that the necessary computing power is expected to become available within a few decades. However, the actual computational requirements for running an uploaded human mind are very difficult to quantify, potentially rendering such an argument specious.

Regardless of the techniques used to capture or recreate the function of a human mind, the processing demands are likely to be immense, due to the large number of neurons in the human brain along with the considerable complexity of each neuron.

In 2004, Henry Markram, lead researcher of the "Blue Brain Project", stated that "it is not [their] goal to build an intelligent neural network", based solely on the computational demands such a project would have.[17]

It will be very difficult because, in the brain, every molecule is a powerful computer and we would need to simulate the structure and function of trillions upon trillions of molecules as well as all the rules that govern how they interact. You would literally need computers that are trillions of times bigger and faster than anything existing today.[18]

Five years later, after successful simulation of part of a rat brain, Markram was much more bold and optimistic. In 2009, as director of the Blue Brain Project, he claimed that A detailed, functional artificial human brain can be built within the next 10 years.[19]

Required computational capacity strongly depend on the chosen level of simulation model scale:[5]

Since the function of the human mind and how it might arise from the working of the brain's neural network, are poorly understood issues, mind uploading relies on the idea of neural network emulation. Rather than having to understand the high-level psychological processes and large-scale structures of the brain, and model them using classical artificial intelligence methods and cognitive psychology models, the low-level structure of the underlying neural network is captured, mapped and emulated with a computer system. In computer science terminology,[dubious discuss] rather than analyzing and reverse engineering the behavior of the algorithms and data structures that resides in the brain, a blueprint of its source code is translated to another programming language. The human mind and the personal identity then, theoretically, is generated by the emulated neural network in an identical fashion to it being generated by the biological neural network.

On the other hand, a molecule-scale simulation of the brain is not expected to be required, provided that the functioning of the neurons is not affected by quantum mechanical processes. The neural network emulation approach only requires that the functioning and interaction of neurons and synapses are understood. It is expected that it is sufficient with a black-box signal processing model of how the neurons respond to nerve impulses (electrical as well as chemical synaptic transmission).

A sufficiently complex and accurate model of the neurons is required. A traditional artificial neural network model, for example multi-layer perceptron network model, is not considered as sufficient. A dynamic spiking neural network model is required, which reflects that the neuron fires only when a membrane potential reaches a certain level. It is likely that the model must include delays, non-linear functions and differential equations describing the relation between electrophysical parameters such as electrical currents, voltages, membrane states (ion channel states) and neuromodulators.

Since learning and long-term memory are believed to result from strengthening or weakening the synapses via a mechanism known as synaptic plasticity or synaptic adaptation, the model should include this mechanism. The response of sensory receptors to various stimuli must also be modelled.

Furthermore, the model may have to include metabolism, i.e. how the neurons are affected by hormones and other chemical substances that may cross the bloodbrain barrier. It is considered likely that the model must include currently unknown neuromodulators, neurotransmitters and ion channels. It is considered unlikely that the simulation model has to include protein interaction, which would make it computationally complex.[5]

A digital computer simulation model of an analog system such as the brain is an approximation that introduces random quantization errors and distortion. However, the biological neurons also suffer from randomness and limited precision, for example due to background noise. The errors of the discrete model can be made smaller than the randomness of the biological brain by choosing a sufficiently high variable resolution and sample rate, and sufficiently accurate models of non-linearities. The computational power and computer memory must however be sufficient to run such large simulations, preferably in real time.

When modelling and simulating the brain of a specific individual, a brain map or connectivity database showing the connections between the neurons must be extracted from an anatomic model of the brain. For whole brain simulation, this network map should show the connectivity of the whole nervous system, including the spinal cord, sensory receptors, and muscle cells. Destructive scanning of a small sample of tissue from a mouse brain including synaptic details is possible as of 2010.[20]

However, if short-term memory and working memory include prolonged or repeated firing of neurons, as well as intra-neural dynamic processes, the electrical and chemical signal state of the synapses and neurons may be hard to extract. The uploaded mind may then perceive a memory loss of the events and mental processes immediately before the time of brain scanning.[5]

A full brain map has been estimated to occupy less than 2 x 1016 bytes (20,000 TB) and would store the addresses of the connected neurons, the synapse type and the synapse "weight" for each of the brains' 1015 synapses.[5][failed verification] However, the biological complexities of true brain function (e.g. the epigenetic states of neurons, protein components with multiple functional states, etc.) may preclude an accurate prediction of the volume of binary data required to faithfully represent a functioning human mind.

A possible method for mind uploading is serial sectioning, in which the brain tissue and perhaps other parts of the nervous system are frozen and then scanned and analyzed layer by layer, which for frozen samples at nano-scale requires a cryo-ultramicrotome, thus capturing the structure of the neurons and their interconnections.[21] The exposed surface of frozen nerve tissue would be scanned and recorded, and then the surface layer of tissue removed. While this would be a very slow and labor-intensive process, research is currently underway to automate the collection and microscopy of serial sections.[22] The scans would then be analyzed, and a model of the neural net recreated in the system that the mind was being uploaded into.

There are uncertainties with this approach using current microscopy techniques. If it is possible to replicate neuron function from its visible structure alone, then the resolution afforded by a scanning electron microscope would suffice for such a technique.[22] However, as the function of brain tissue is partially determined by molecular events (particularly at synapses, but also at other places on the neuron's cell membrane), this may not suffice for capturing and simulating neuron functions. It may be possible to extend the techniques of serial sectioning and to capture the internal molecular makeup of neurons, through the use of sophisticated immunohistochemistry staining methods that could then be read via confocal laser scanning microscopy. However, as the physiological genesis of 'mind' is not currently known, this method may not be able to access all of the necessary biochemical information to recreate a human brain with sufficient fidelity.

It may be possible to create functional 3D maps of the brain activity, using advanced neuroimaging technology, such as functional MRI (fMRI, for mapping change in blood flow), magnetoencephalography (MEG, for mapping of electrical currents), or combinations of multiple methods, to build a detailed three-dimensional model of the brain using non-invasive and non-destructive methods. Today, fMRI is often combined with MEG for creating functional maps of human cortex during more complex cognitive tasks, as the methods complement each other. Even though current imaging technology lacks the spatial resolution needed to gather the information needed for such a scan, important recent and future developments are predicted to substantially improve both spatial and temporal resolutions of existing technologies.[24]

There is ongoing work in the field of brain simulation, including partial and whole simulations of some animals. For example, the C. elegans roundworm, Drosophila fruit fly, and mouse have all been simulated to various degrees.[citation needed]

The Blue Brain Project by the Brain and Mind Institute of the cole Polytechnique Fdrale de Lausanne, Switzerland is an attempt to create a synthetic brain by reverse-engineering mammalian brain circuitry.

Kenneth D. Miller, a professor of neuroscience at Columbia and a co-director of the Center for Theoretical Neuroscience, raised doubts about the practicality of mind uploading. His major argument is that reconstructing neurons and their connections is in itself a formidable task, but it is far from being sufficient. Operation of the brain depends on the dynamics of electrical and biochemical signal exchange between neurons; therefore, capturing them in a single "frozen" state may prove insufficient. In addition, the nature of these signals may require modeling down to the molecular level and beyond. Therefore, while not rejecting the idea in principle, Miller believes that the complexity of the "absolute" duplication of an individual mind is insurmountable for the nearest hundreds of years.[25]

Underlying the concept of "mind uploading" (more accurately "mind transferring") is the broad philosophy that consciousness lies within the brain's information processing and is in essence an emergent feature that arises from large neural network high-level patterns of organization, and that the same patterns of organization can be realized in other processing devices. Mind uploading also relies on the idea that the human mind (the "self" and the long-term memory), just like non-human minds, is represented by the current neural network paths and the weights of the brain synapses rather than by a dualistic and mystic soul and spirit. The mind or "soul" can be defined as the information state of the brain, and is immaterial only in the same sense as the information content of a data file or the state of a computer software currently residing in the work-space memory of the computer. Data specifying the information state of the neural network can be captured and copied as a "computer file" from the brain and re-implemented into a different physical form.[26] This is not to deny that minds are richly adapted to their substrates.[27] An analogy to the idea of mind uploading is to copy the temporary information state (the variable values) of a computer program from the computer memory to another computer and continue its execution. The other computer may perhaps have different hardware architecture but emulates the hardware of the first computer.

These issues have a long history. In 1775 Thomas Reid wrote:[28] I would be glad to know... whether when my brain has lost its original structure, and when some hundred years after the same materials are fabricated so curiously as to become an intelligent being, whether, I say that being will be me; or, if, two or three such beings should be formed out of my brain; whether they will all be me, and consequently one and the same intelligent being.

A considerable portion of transhumanists and singularitarians place great hope into the belief that they may become immortal, by creating one or many non-biological functional copies of their brains, thereby leaving their "biological shell". However, the philosopher and transhumanist Susan Schneider claims that at best, uploading would create a copy of the original person's mind.[29] Susan Schneider agrees that consciousness has a computational basis, but this does not mean we can upload and survive. According to her views, "uploading" would probably result in the death of the original person's brain, while only outside observers can maintain the illusion of the original person still being alive. For it is implausible to think that one's consciousness would leave one's brain and travel to a remote location; ordinary physical objects do not behave this way. Ordinary objects (rocks, tables, etc.) are not simultaneously here, and elsewhere. At best, a copy of the original mind is created.[29] Neural correlates of consciousness, a sub-branch of neuroscience, states that consciousness may be thought of as a state-dependent property of some undefined complex, adaptive, and highly interconnected biological system.[30]

Others have argued against such conclusions. For example, Buddhist transhumanist James Hughes has pointed out that this consideration only goes so far: if one believes the self is an illusion, worries about survival are not reasons to avoid uploading,[31] and Keith Wiley has presented an argument wherein all resulting minds of an uploading procedure are granted equal primacy in their claim to the original identity, such that survival of the self is determined retroactively from a strictly subjective position.[32][33] Some have also asserted that consciousness is a part of an extra-biological system that is yet to be discovered and cannot be fully understood under the present constraints of neurobiology. Without the transference of consciousness, true mind-upload or perpetual immortality cannot be practically achieved.[34]

Another potential consequence of mind uploading is that the decision to "upload" may then create a mindless symbol manipulator instead of a conscious mind (see philosophical zombie).[35][36] Are we to assume that an upload is conscious if it displays behaviors that are highly indicative of consciousness? Are we to assume that an upload is conscious if it verbally insists that it is conscious?[37] Could there be an absolute upper limit in processing speed above which consciousness cannot be sustained? The mystery of consciousness precludes a definitive answer to this question.[38] Numerous scientists, including Kurzweil, strongly believe that the answer as to whether a separate entity is conscious (with 100% confidence) is fundamentally unknowable, since consciousness is inherently subjective (see solipsism). Regardless, some scientists strongly believe consciousness is the consequence of computational processes which are substrate-neutral. On the contrary, numerous scientists believe consciousness may be the result of some form of quantum computation dependent on substrate (see quantum mind).[39][40][41]

In light of uncertainty on whether to regard uploads as conscious, Sandberg proposes a cautious approach:[42]

Principle of assuming the most (PAM): Assume that any emulated system could have the same mental properties as the original system and treat it correspondingly.

The process of developing emulation technology raises ethical issues related to animal welfare and artificial consciousness.[42] The neuroscience required to develop brain emulation would require animal experimentation, first on invertebrates and then on small mammals before moving on to humans. Sometimes the animals would just need to be euthanized in order to extract, slice, and scan their brains, but sometimes behavioral and in vivo measures would be required, which might cause pain to living animals.[42]

In addition, the resulting animal emulations themselves might suffer, depending on one's views about consciousness.[42] Bancroft argues for the plausibility of consciousness in brain simulations on the basis of the "fading qualia" thought experiment of David Chalmers. He then concludes:[43] If, as I argue above, a sufficiently detailed computational simulation of the brain is potentially operationally equivalent to an organic brain, it follows that we must consider extending protections against suffering to simulations.

It might help reduce emulation suffering to develop virtual equivalents of anaesthesia, as well as to omit processing related to pain and/or consciousness. However, some experiments might require a fully functioning and suffering animal emulation. Animals might also suffer by accident due to flaws and lack of insight into what parts of their brains are suffering.[42] Questions also arise regarding the moral status of partial brain emulations, as well as creating neuromorphic emulations that draw inspiration from biological brains but are built somewhat differently.[43]

Brain emulations could be erased by computer viruses or malware, without need to destroy the underlying hardware. This may make assassination easier than for physical humans. The attacker might take the computing power for its own use.[44]

Many questions arise regarding the legal personhood of emulations.[45] Would they be given the rights of biological humans? If a person makes an emulated copy of themselves and then dies, does the emulation inherit their property and official positions? Could the emulation ask to "pull the plug" when its biological version was terminally ill or in a coma? Would it help to treat emulations as adolescents for a few years so that the biological creator would maintain temporary control? Would criminal emulations receive the death penalty, or would they be given forced data modification as a form of "rehabilitation"? Could an upload have marriage and child-care rights?[45]

If simulated minds would come true and if they were assigned rights of their own, it may be difficult to ensure the protection of "digital human rights". For example, social science researchers might be tempted to secretly expose simulated minds, or whole isolated societies of simulated minds, to controlled experiments in which many copies of the same minds are exposed (serially or simultaneously) to different test conditions.[citation needed]

Emulations could create a number of conditions that might increase risk of war, including inequality, changes of power dynamics, a possible technological arms race to build emulations first, first-strike advantages, strong loyalty and willingness to "die" among emulations, and triggers for racist, xenophobic, and religious prejudice.[44] If emulations run much faster than humans, there might not be enough time for human leaders to make wise decisions or negotiate. It is possible that humans would react violently against growing power of emulations, especially if they depress human wages. Emulations may not trust each other, and even well-intentioned defensive measures might be interpreted as offense.[44]

There are very few feasible technologies that humans have refrained from developing. The neuroscience and computer-hardware technologies that may make brain emulation possible are widely desired for other reasons, and logically their development will continue into the future. Assuming that emulation technology will arrive, a question becomes whether we should accelerate or slow its advance.[44]

Arguments for speeding up brain-emulation research:

Arguments for slowing down brain-emulation research:

Emulation research would also speed up neuroscience as a whole, which might accelerate medical advances, cognitive enhancement, lie detectors, and capability for psychological manipulation.[50]

Emulations might be easier to control than de novo AI because

As counterpoint to these considerations, Bostrom notes some downsides:

Because of the postulated difficulties that a whole brain emulation-generated superintelligence would pose for the control problem, computer scientist Stuart J. Russell in his book Human Compatible rejects creating one, simply calling it "so obviously a bad idea".[51]

Ray Kurzweil, director of engineering at Google, claims to know and foresee that people will be able to "upload" their entire brains to computers and become "digitally immortal" by 2045. Kurzweil made this claim for many years, e.g. during his speech in 2013 at the Global Futures 2045 International Congress in New York, which claims to subscribe to a similar set of beliefs.[52] Mind uploading has also been advocated by a number of researchers in neuroscience and artificial intelligence, such as the late Marvin Minsky.[citation needed] In 1993, Joe Strout created a small web site called the Mind Uploading Home Page, and began advocating the idea in cryonics circles and elsewhere on the net. That site has not been actively updated in recent years, but it has spawned other sites including MindUploading.org, run by Randal A. Koene, who also moderates a mailing list on the topic. These advocates see mind uploading as a medical procedure which could eventually save countless lives.

Many transhumanists look forward to the development and deployment of mind uploading technology, with transhumanists such as Nick Bostrom predicting that it will become possible within the 21st century due to technological trends such as Moore's law.[5]

Michio Kaku, in collaboration with Science, hosted a documentary, Sci Fi Science: Physics of the Impossible, based on his book Physics of the Impossible. Episode four, titled "How to Teleport", mentions that mind uploading via techniques such as quantum entanglement and whole brain emulation using an advanced MRI machine may enable people to be transported vast distances at near light-speed.

The book Beyond Humanity: CyberEvolution and Future Minds by Gregory S. Paul & Earl D. Cox, is about the eventual (and, to the authors, almost inevitable) evolution of computers into sentient beings, but also deals with human mind transfer. Richard Doyle's Wetwares: Experiments in PostVital Living deals extensively with uploading from the perspective of distributed embodiment, arguing for example that humans are currently part of the "artificial life phenotype". Doyle's vision reverses the polarity on uploading, with artificial life forms such as uploads actively seeking out biological embodiment as part of their reproductive strategy.

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Mind uploading - Wikipedia

Microsoft 365 is getting a handy new Word feature today: voice transcription. With this, you can either upload a recording to Word or record something new within the app itself and have Word automatically transcribe it for you. The implementation within Word sounds like its fleshed out and quite capable, but there are some big restrictions you should be aware of before you dive feet first into the world of Microsoft 365 transcription.

In its announcement today, Microsoft painted a rather impressive picture of Words new transcription capabilities. To start using it, all you need to do is click the Dictate button, which is now a drop down menu. Therell you see the new Transcribe option, and once you select it, youll be given the choice of either uploading a recording or recording something new.

Whichever you choose, Transcribe feature will be able to tell the difference between speakers and will identify them with timestamps throughout the transcription. When youve got the complete transcription, you can either play back the whole recording using your freshly-created text to follow along, or you can begin playback from one of those timestamps. You can also edit the transcript and then transfer either the whole thing or individual quotes into a Word doc.

With all that in mind, it sounds like an very capable transcription feature, where heres where we bump up against its limitations. Though Transcribe is available to all Microsoft 365 subscribers via Word for the web and is supported in either Microsoft Edge or Chrome (its coming to Office Mobile by the end of the year), it only supports English for now and theres a five hour monthly limit for uploaded recordings. Whats more, theres a file size limit of 200MB.

So, as neat at it is, it wont be long before those who have a ton of transcribing to do will begin bumping up against that five hour limit. Microsoft gives no indication of why that limit is in place, but were guessing it has something to do with capacity on Microsofts end.

In any case, in addition to this new transcription feature, Microsoft is also padding out Dictate with a voice commands feature today. When dictating something in Word, you can now issue voice commands like bold last sentence, or tell it to insert symbols like the percent sign. You can also pause dictation if you get interrupted or even add comments to another persons document using Dictate. A full list of voice commands for Dictate is available over on Microsofts support site.

Update: Microsoft has updated the article announcing Transcribe to clarify the limitations of the feature. With Transcribe you are completely unlimited in how much you can record and transcribe within Word for the Web, the article now says. Currently, there is a five hour limit per month for uploaded recordings and each uploaded recording is limited to 200mb.

So, if youre planning to do a significant amount of transcription, just be sure to do most of your recording within Word, as theres no limit as far as thats concerned. Furthermore, Microsoft has clarified that while English is the only currently supported language, it is working on adding more languages in the future.

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Word 365 gets voice transcription but with some weird restrictions [Update] - SlashGear

As if Wikipedias editorial shenanigans were not already exposed, an extra-ordinary revelation recently made by a Reddit user once again brings to fore the malpractices carried out by the organisation. According to this disconcerting discovery, almost all the articles on Scots Wikipedia, approximately 60,000 of them, were written, edited or overseen by a single user with a poor understanding of the language.

A Reddit user had alleged that every single article on Scots Wikipedia was written by a single person, presumably an American with little to no knowledge about Scots, a West Germanic language variety spoken in Scotland and parts of Ulster in Ireland. He also said that most articles on Scots Wikipedia are written in the English language with just some Scots words thrown between, and they are not written in native Scots Language.

The Reddit user had chanced upon the discovery while checking the edit history of one article. The Redditor claims that Wikipedia User with the username AmaryllisGardener has written more than over 23,000 articles on the Scots Wikipedia and done well over 200,000 edits in six years. The Redditor also alleges that since 2013 the Wikipedia user, who lives in North Carolina, has simply written articles that are written in English, throwing around some Scots words here and there haphazardly.

As per Redditor who exposed AmaryllisGardener, an admin of the Scots Wikipedia, the Wikipedia user was responsible for over one-third of Scots Wikipedia articles in 2018, they have since then stopped updating their milestones. The Reddit user suspects that about almost all articles written on Scots Wikipedia in the span of 2018 to 2020 could be attributed to the aforementioned user.

I find it insulting that you would pass this off as our native language which you clearly dont speak, the user wrote. Again, as a native Scot and native speaker, no one where uses this site as it isnt close to resembling any Scots language. The language you use here is English with some changes in spelling and passing it off as the real deal harms the already derogatory view of Scots languages.

The Reddit user went on to allege that even common elements of Scots that are found in Scots English like syne, an aw have been misused by the Wikipedia admin. The user asserts that sometimes entire English phrases and sentences are copy-pasted without any attempt at Scottifying them. Scots Grammar is also hardly used by the Wikipedia admin, with only Scots words randomly inserted in the sentences.

It is interesting to note that the user page of AmaryllisGardener informs that his native language is English, and he has medium level proficiency in Scots.

There is almost no difference from standard English and very few Scots words and forms are employed, the Reddit user lamented. What they seem to have done is write out the article out in English, then look up each word individually using the Online Scots Dictionary (they mention this dictionary specifically on their talk page), then replace the English word with the first result, and if they couldnt find a word, they just let it be.

The Redditor pointed to use of an aw in Scots for the English word also. While an aw cannot always be used in place of also in Scots, the Wikipedia user seemed to have used it uniformly in all their mangled translations. When someone highlighted this error to them on their talk page earlier, the primary administrator for the Scots Language Wikipedia for 7 years responded: Never thought about that, Ill keep that in mind.

Levelling serious allegations against Wikipedia, the Reddit user alleged that the organisation had engaged in cultural vandalism on a hitherto unprecedented scale. He added that the Wikipedia page has done more damage to the Scots language than anyone else in history. The sheer volume of the mangled Scots peddled by the Wikipedia admin, the Reddit user alleges, would drown any sincere attempts made by others at uploading content in genuine Scots.

Potentially tens of millions of people now think that Scots is a horribly mangled rendering of English rather than being a language or dialect of its own, all because they were exposed to a mangled rendering of English being called Scots by this person and by this person alone, the Reddit user sharply noted.

The revelation caused a massive outcry on the Scots Wikipedia, with editors taking various stands. Some said that the entire Scots Wikipedia site should be deleted and it should be rebuild from scratch, while others suggested that only the AmaryllisGardener should be deleted. Some others suggested that every edit in the site since 2012 should be deleted, retaining the older ones, and rewriting the deleted articles. One admin on the site warned that if the entire site is deleted, it will be impossible to build it again. Some editors also defended AmaryllisGardener, saying that he made the edits only in good faith, and he had no evil intention.

Replying to the debate, the user at the centre of the controversy said, Honestly, I dont mind if you revert all of my edits, delete my articles, and ban me from the wiki for good. Ive already found out that my contributions have angered countless people, and to me thats all the devastation I can be given, after years of my thinking I was doing good (and yes, obsessively editing). I was only a 12-year-old kid when I started, and sometimes when you start something young, you cant see that the habit youve developed is unhealthy and unhelpful as you get older. I dont care about defending myself, I only want to stop being harassed on my social medias (and to stop my other friends who have nothing to do with the wiki from being harassed as well). Whether peace can be achieved by scowiki being kept like it is or extensively reformed to wipe my influence from it makes no difference to me now that I know that Ive done no good anyway.

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Most article on Scots Wikipedia written in mangled English by an American who cant speak Scots: Reddit user makes explosive revelation - OpIndia

Like every other human in the world, Beccas day begins by checking her phone. But shes not checking Twitter, Instagram and her personal accounts shes looking for new pictures of Timothe Chalamet. She checks Variety, Entertainment Weekly, The Hollywood Reporter, and all of his socials. Sometimes she doesnt even wait until she wakes up to search. If its the Golden Globes, or indeed any red carpet event, or a press tour, shell stay up all night gathering pictures of Timothe. As soon as something new crops up, she fact checks it, makes sure the picture is the highest quality she can possibly find, and shares it to her Timothe fan account. The account has 95,900 followers.

Becca is just one of the thousands of Timothe Chalamet fan accounts. A drop in the ocean. An even smaller drop in the abyss of total fan accounts: there are hundreds for each celeb. Name any celeb, there will be a stan account out there even if its lingering about in the Instagram nether with a weird username, 60 followers, and hasnt posted since 2013. Youve probably stumbled upon fan accounts before, likely when youre perusing the Insta search function to follow a certain celeb. You might even already follow some. But behind the scenes, these accounts are borne out of hard work and a deep appreciation for the celebrities theyre based on.

In her 20s and studying Graphic Design at college, Becca assigns every bit of her free time to maintaining @tchalametdaily, which is now three years old. As Becca describes, the inception of the account came from simply laying eyes on Timothe for the first time in 2017. I saw the first trailer for Call Me By Your Name and it was like BOOOOOOOM!!!!!! she said. So the obsession began.

via @tchalamet

Becca looked into his past work and watched all his films. She followed him on social media but quickly noticed he had very few followers he wasnt very well know in those days, she says. Becca wanted to keep track of his upcoming projects, but he wasnt always promoting them on his own Instagram and wasnt big enough of a deal back then to have many committed fan accounts. There were existing accounts, she told The Tab, but sadly none of them were very active, so I thought making my own update account would be fun. I dont even know why that came to mind I had no idea how to run a fan account at that point.

Becca said gathering followers on the account was slow to start not many people knew of Timothe to begin with. Call Me By Your Name hadnt even dropped, and Chalamania was yet to infect the unwitting youth. To start with I was posting pictures and getting no likes, Becca said, but since Ive always thought of tchalametdaily as a way of entertainment and not a job, I didnt really pay attention to it, I was just having fun with it!

After CMBYN, Timothe blew up. He gained an Oscar nomination, a myriad of upcoming projects, and thousands of fan accounts spawned seemingly overnight. But tchalametdaily, being one of the originals, only grew in size. Did Becca ever think it would get this big? Ha! Not at all! Believe me when I said that when I first started my account I never thought it would still exist in three years time. The fact that its almost at 100,000 followers is crazy.

Becca donates a lot of time to the account sometimes hours a day. When Timothe is promoting any of his projects and or is attending any events, its pretty overwhelming to post updates, she says. Because it is happening at that very moment theres so much stuff being posted so it takes me a little bit longer to post and find the right sources. And you gotta be fast. Time is key while running a fan page. When a trailer or poster of a movie Timothes in drops sometimes it will be released at 6am my time, or other events will happen at 3am. I will not go to sleep at all Ill stay up for it or put in my alarm to wake up and make sure to post whatevers dropping seconds after its out. Its always fun and nice to see people commenting on those new posts though, its really rewarding.

But having a large following is stressful, too. Becca often worries about posting an update that could be inaccurate or untrue she doesnt want to play any part in perpetuating fake news. Sometimes it feels overwhelming the number of people who are trusting me to bring them the best Timothe updates. I dont wanna share news or things that are not true thats why I always try to confirm the source.

Three of the people running fan accounts I spoke to were in their 20s, but some are much younger. Hema, who runs a Taylor Swift fan account with 26,000 followers, is 14 years old. She lives in India and still goes to school, which she says occasionally gets in the way of how often she can update.

Hema started her Taylor updates fan account, @taylorswiftmissamericana, in summer 2018 after being a fan of Taylor for over a year. Her music and her speeches helped me through some really hard times, so I wanted to support her by starting a fan account, which is a little thing I can do, Hema told The Tab.

via @taylorswift

Gaining followers on her Taylor Swift fan account was a sluggish process. Unlike Becca, Hema didnt have a jumpstart on Taylors fame. Taylor released her first single the same year that Hema was born, 2006, so fan accounts were well established by the time Hema joined the game. It took me seven months to get 800 followers, she told The Tab. But six months after that, I had 4000 followers. Its really hard to get people to follow you for your content instead of just follow backs, and there are thousands of fan accounts for Taylor out there. So if Im considered one of the big accounts now, Im really honored. According to Hema, @taylorswiftmissamericana is the biggest Taylor fan page based in India.

The title is nice, but it means theres a lot of pressure on Hema to be fast and first. If something happens in Taylors life, I should update everything within minutes, which is hard as Im just 14 and I have other stuff to do like schooling. As well as school, Hema has to contend with other fan accounts and deal with her content being stolen too. She often posts memes about Taylor in tweet formats, which get taken by other Taylor pages and used without full credit. It really annoys me when some other big accounts post my tweets cause it wont let my post get a good reach among people But she says other than that, theres no big race as everyone here is only to support their idol, not for likes.

But according to other fan account owners, more followers doesnt necessarily equal more stress. 22-year-old Tamy is based in Brazil and runs a Harry Styles fan account with 164,000 followers. She says manning the account is therapeutic for her. Like Becca, Tamy amassed this level of following largely because of the age of her account. Tamys update account, @thisharrystyles, was set up in 2014 when Tamy was just 16 years old.

via @harrystyles

Youd think running the same account and posting daily would get tiring once youve done it for six years, but Tamy doesnt mind at all. I just keep an eye on news sites about candids or Twitter, TikTok or someone sends me a message on the direct and says look I took a picture with Harry recently or I see a publication saying the same and say can I post your picture on my page? Its not too hard. My daily time on Instagram is approximately two hours.

Tamy admits her screentime is too high, and wishes it were lower, especially when you take into account the hours on other apps. But she admires Harry so much and enjoys updating her followers, so she never plans on stopping. Tamy told The Tab: What I can say is that I wouldnt be able to dedicate my time to an account for any other famous person. I love many artists, actors, and bands but I really wouldnt do it if it werent for Harry Styles. Hes just an amazing human being that I want to be up to date with, so I like to update other people too!

But not all fan accounts are about updates, nor are they necessarily interested in high follower counts. Charlisaesthetic, named for Charli XCX, is actually a pretty loose example of a fan account. Its every fourth or sixth post is Charli, as opposed to every single post on other fan accounts. This is because Soraya, its owner, runs it as an aesthetic fan account. Its more of a mood board for those who are interested in Charli XCXs style and vibe than an update account. Its smaller than the other accounts, with just 1.5k followers but Charli herself is one of them. None of the other accounts were followed by their respective subjects, so what makes this one different?

via @charli_xcx

For one, Charli is a smaller celebrity (she boasts just 3.7 million followers on her Instagram compared to a stonking 9 mil, 139 mil and 30 mil for Timothee, Taylor and Harry) and shes notably more interactive with fans. But like follower growth, the key to getting Charli to follow the account was longevity. Soraya, who runs the account, started it in 2014 a year after Charlis first album was released. Charli only really blew up when her second album, Sucker (featuring hit singles like Boom Clap and Doing It with Rita Ora) came out so she was under the radar at this point. Soraya had less than a hundred or so followers when Charli first followed the page. I uploaded about 10 posts and followed a lot of angels, [Charli XCX fans], tagged Charli in posts and within a week she followed me, Soraya told The Tab. Her following shot up after Charli interacted with the account, but only to 200 followers or so.

Unlike update accounts, a high follower count has never been the purpose for Soraya @charlisaesthetic is more like a blog. Im a creative person so I look up different types of fashion, makeup, design, art. I actually really enjoy curating and getting posts ready for my account. A lot of Charli fans have a similar aesthetic (2000s/90s) and I think they enjoy having various types of posts rather than just uploading pictures of Charli.

Ive had the account for 6 years now and still enjoy running the account. In some way its like a personal diary, uploading a daily post.

Regardless of the follower counts of the fan pages and the level of fame of their respective idols, these fan account owners all had one thing in common: pride. Every single person responded with absolute certainty, no, when I asked them if theyd ever consider selling their account. Many of these pages have been crafted over a number of years and connections have been built with their followers. They are trusted sources for the lives and updates of celebrities and have follower counts and social media skills that put many companies and brands to shame. It may seem like a silly side project to some, but it means the world to them and to their followers. As Hema said to me, this account is everything to me its my baby.

Featured image via @tchalamet on Instagram and background by Wesley Tingey on Unsplash.

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How to start a fan account: Advice from accounts with 100k followers - The Tab