Category Archives: Singularity

In a store in the center of an unnamed city, humanoid robots are displayed alongside housewares and magazines. They watch the fast-moving world outside the window, anxiously awaiting the arrival of customers who might buy them and take them home. Among them is Klara, a particularly astute robot who loves the sun and wants to learn as much as possible about humans and the world they live in.

So begins Kazuo Ishiguros new novel Klara and the Sun, published earlier this month. The book, told from Klaras perspective, portrays an eerie future society in which intelligent machines and other advanced technologies have been integrated into daily life, but not everyone is happy about it.

Technological unemployment, the progress of artificial intelligence, inequality, the safety and ethics of gene editing, increasing loneliness and isolationall of which were grappling with todayshow up in Ishiguros world. Its like he hit a fast-forward button, mirroring back to us how things might play out if we dont approach these technologies with caution and foresight.

The wealthy genetically edit or lift their children to set them up for success, while the poor have to make do with the regular old brains and bodies bequeathed them by evolution. Lifted and unlifted kids generally dont mix, and this is just one of many sinister delineations between a new breed of haves and have-nots.

Theres anger about robots steady infiltration into everyday life, and questions about how similar their rights should be to those of humans. First they take the jobs. Then they take the seats at the theater? one woman fumes.

References to changes and substitutions allude to an economy where automation has eliminated millions of jobs. While post-employed people squat in abandoned buildings and fringe communities arm themselves in preparation for conflict, those whose livelihoods havent been destroyed can afford to have live-in housekeepers and buy Artificial Friends (or AFs) for their lonely children.

The old traditional model that we still live with nowwhere most of us can get some kind of paid work in exchange for our services or the goods we makehas broken down, Ishiguro said in a podcast discussion of the novel. Were not talking just about the difference between rich and poor getting bigger. Were talking about a gap appearing between people who participate in society in an obvious way and people who do not.

He has a point; as much as techno-optimists claim that the economic changes brought by automation and AI will give us all more free time, let us work less, and devote time to our passion projects, how would that actually play out? What would millions of post-employed people receiving basic income actually do with their time and energy?

In the novel, we dont get much of a glimpse of this side of the equation, but we do see how the wealthy live. After a long wait, just as the store manager seems ready to give up on selling her, Klara is chosen by a 14-year-old girl named Josie, the daughter of a woman who wears high-rank clothes and lives in a large, sunny home outside the city. Cheerful and kind, Josie suffers from an unspecified illness that periodically flares up and leaves her confined to her bed for days at a time.

Her life seems somewhat bleak, the need for an AF clear. In this future world, the children of the wealthy no longer go to school together, instead studying alone at home on their digital devices. Interaction meetings are set up for them to learn to socialize, their parents carefully eavesdropping from the next room and trying not to intervene when theres conflict or hurt feelings.

Klara does her best to be a friend, aide, and confidante to Josie while continuing to learn about the world around her and decode the mysteries of human behavior. We surmise that she was programmed with a basic ability to understand emotions, which evolves along with her other types of intelligence. I believe I have many feelings. The more I observe, the more feelings become available to me, she explains to one character.

Ishiguro does an excellent job of representing Klaras mind: a blend of pre-determined programming, observation, and continuous learning. Her narration has qualities both robotic and human; we can tell when something has been programmed inshe Gives Privacy to the humans around her when thats appropriate, for exampleand when shes figured something out for herself.

But the author maintains some mystery around Klaras inner emotional life. Does she actually understand human emotions, or is she just observing human emotions and simulating them within herself? he said. I suppose the question comes back to, what are our emotions as human beings? What do they amount to?

Klara is particularly attuned to human loneliness, since she essentially was made to help prevent it. It is, in her view, peoples biggest fear, and something theyll go to great lengths to avoid, yet can never fully escape. Perhaps all humans are lonely, she says.

Warding off loneliness through technology isnt a futuristic idea, its something weve been doing for a long time, with the technologies at hand growing more and more sophisticated. Products like AFs already exist. Theres XiaoIce, a chatbot that uses sentiment analysis to keep its 660 million users engaged, and Azuma Hikari, a character-based AI designed to bring comfort to users whose lives lack emotional connection with other humans.

The mere existence of these tools would be sinister if it wasnt for their widespread adoption; when millions of people use AIs to fill a void in their lives, it raises deeper questions about our ability to connect with each other and whether technology is building it up or tearing it down.

This isnt the only big question the novel tackles. An overarching theme is one weve been increasingly contemplating as computers start to acquire more complex capabilities, like the beginnings of creativity or emotional awareness: What is it that truly makes us human?

Do you believe in the human heart? one character asks. I dont mean simply the organ, obviously. Im speaking in the poetic sense. The human heart. Do you think there is such a thing? Something that makes each of us special and individual?

The alternative, at least in the story, is that people dont have a unique essence, but rather were all a blend of traits and personalities that can be reduced to strings of code. Our understanding of the brain is still elementary, but at some level, doesnt all human experience boil down to the firing of billions of neurons between our ears? Will we one dayin a future beyond that painted by Ishiguro, but certainly foreshadowed by itbe able to decode our humanity to the point that theres nothing mysterious left about it? A human heart is bound to be complex, Klara says. But it must be limited.

Whether or not you agree, Klara and the Sun is worth the read. Its both a marvelous, engaging story about what it means to love and be human, and a prescient warning to approach technological change with caution and nuance. Were already living in a world where AI keeps us company, influences our behavior, and is wreaking various forms of havoc. Ishiguros novel is a snapshot of one of our possible futures, told through the eyes of a robot who keeps you rooting for her to the end.

Image Credit: Marion Wellmann from Pixabay

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In 'Klara and the Sun,' We Glimpse an Eerie Future Through the Eyes of a Robot - Singularity Hub

Rooting itself in nuanced tech-noir, The Tangle unfolds into breathtaking lyrical poetry about human ambition and the caverns measureless to man.

While the world is no stranger to dystopian narratives in cinema, few have been able to emerge as ingenious, well-sustained pieces that delve deep into what it means to be human in a tech-saturated world. Compelling techno-noir pieces such as Blade Runner and Gattaca come to mind, mainly due to the fact such films allow audiences a peek into immersive, near-future scenarios that amplify the resident darkness embedded within the human condition. Writer-director Christopher Soren Kellys The Tangle is a commendable addition to the list, as it manages to weave an intricate web of mystery and intrigue while encouraging captivating discourses that constitute the very fabric of science fiction. Rooting itself in nuanced tech-noir, The Tangle unfolds into breathtaking lyrical poetry about human ambition and the caverns measureless to man.

The Tangle opens with a world completely connected by the eponymous airborne nanotech, embedded within the blood and sinews of every human being. The S.O.L or Secure OnTangle Line is posited as a quantum-encrypted hard drive implanted within the human mind, designed to facilitate heavily-customized personal spaces, stop crime altogether, and eliminate human needs that can prove to be fatal when not quenched, such as thirst. Tied to a single consciousness, namely the elusive Cleopatra or Cleo (Bel Deli), the Tangle is deemed unhackable by any other entity, marking the achievement of technological singularity. However, the seemingly-idyllic world of The Tangle is disrupted when a government ASP agent, Margot (Mary Jane Wells) is brutally murdered inside an abandoned speakeasy. When Carter Carmine (Joshua Bitton) finds himselfa prime suspect of themurder investigation, two ASP agents, Edward (Soren Kelly) and Laurel (Jessica Graham) interrogate Carter about his exact whereabouts before the murder. Thanks to the Tangle, the ASP agents are able to retrace back Carters steps with hyper-accurate precision, even after his S.O.L is removed from his cranium.

RELATED:Blade Runner's Eye Symbolism Explained: What It Means For Each Character

As the trio engages in a frenetic back-and-forth, the audience is alerted to the rooms pre-technological setting, seemingly removed from the Tangles pervasive presence in the world outside. Featuring an antique typewriter and an old rotary phone, the safe rooms pre-singularity setting offers a stark contrast to the hyper-connected web of the Tangle, which allows individuals to don avatars and count the moles on the back of a Sherpa on Everest from their living spaces. Amid this privacy-defunct and instantly-searchable world, the ASP safe room unravels a string of well-kept secrets, such as the fact that the ASP exists as an extra layer of surveillance to monitor the Tangle, and that all ASP agents voluntarily opted out of the network in order to do so. As the Tangle has seemingly achieved the pinnacle of technological marvel, with the ability to deter reflexes that could purportedly lead to crimes and murder, how did Margot end up with her head bashed in?

This question dominates the central mystery of The Tangle, which further branches into deeply philosophical arenas that haunt the human psyche. How does love factor into a microdrone-addled world, and what happens when human ambition aims to usurp an omniscient tech-ecosystem? Poetry is seated at the heart of The Tangle, as it assumes central importance in terms of the murder in question and the motivational conflicts between the characters. Samuel Taylor Coleridges Kubla Khan is key to unraveling the veil of truth, which emerges as a fitting metaphor for evoking the loss of a primordial world of fantasy and wonder:

In Xanadu did Kubla Khan/A stately pleasure-dome decree:/Where Alph, the sacred river, ran/Through caverns measureless to man/Down to a sunless sea.

Then there is Carters own poetry, which bleeds beautifully into his creations, his technological prowess, and his overwhelming humanity when it comes to protecting the one he loves. As per performances, the entire cast belts out convincing character studies, with Bitton and Graham emerging as near-sublime. Soren Kelly plays Edward with the precision of a hardboiled detective warring with his inner demons, hiding a kernel of intensity beneath his otherwise cold, collected exterior. The deft unraveling of the characters inner worlds is probably one of the films greatest strengths, as it is masterfully done with the aid of tautly-edited flashbacks and nuanced performances that brim with haunting pathos.

Although most of the narrative events of The Tangle take place within a single room, the occasional cuts to the outside world are visually-stunning, to say the least. One of the films central mysteries, Cleo, is never featured onscreen, which adds to the aura of doubt and mystery that surrounds her real motivations. Moreover, The Tangle ends on an impactful note without proffering a conclusive resolution, leaving the fates of the characters up in the air, opening the vistas of interpretative analysis and dialogue. The intrinsically Greek idea of beauty is terror echoes throughout the tech-saturated vistas of The Tangle, revealing the often-distorted self-reflections that blur the line between self-interest and profundity. What remains is a fragment, a vision in a dream.

NEXT:Every Upcoming Sci-Fi Movie In 2021

The Tangle was released March 19, 2021 in the U.S. and is available for online streaming, courtesy of Indie Rights. It is 99 minutes long and remains unrated as of now.

Let us know what you thought of the film in the comments!

4.5 out of 5 (Must-See)

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Debopriyaa Dutta is a content curator, poet, and film critic based in India and a frequent contributor for High On Films. Apart from being a published author, Debopriyaa has been writing professionally since 2014, and holds a Master's degree in English Literature and Theory from the University of Delhi. An ardent fan of cosmic horror and poetic cinema, she enjoys painting, along with reading literary works steeped in morbid nihilism.

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The Tangle (2021) Movie Review | Screen Rant - Screen Rant

Posted on Mar 23, 2021 in Science

Planet Earth Report provides descriptive links to headline news by leading science journalists about the extraordinary discoveries, technology, people, and events changing our knowledge of Planet Earth and the future of the human species.

How to Photograph a (Possible) Alien Artifact We dont know if the interstellar object Oumuamua was natural or artificialbut a new telescope coming online in a few years could help us identify the next one, reports Avi Loeb for Scientific American,

CERN experiment hints at new force of nature, reports The Guardian. Scientists at the Large Hadron Collider near Geneva have spotted an unusual signal in their data that may be the first hint of a new kind of physics.

Worlds oldest meteor crater isnt what it seems, reports Harry Baker for Live Science. New controversial claim suggests its not a meteor crater at all. Known locally as the Maniitsoq structure, is located 34 miles (55 kilometers) southeast of the town of Maniitsoq in Greenland. The structure is around 62 miles (100 km) in diameter and formed around 3 billion years ago, although its origin has been disputed in recent years.

How Intelligent Could Life Be Without Natural Selection?, asks Arik Kershenbaum for Nautilus.Its not unreasonable that in 100 or 200 years, our computer systems will be effectively sentient: human-like robots, similar to Star Treks Commander Data. Alien civilizations that are considerably more advanced than us are likely already capable of such creations. The possibilitylikelihood, evenof such robotic life has implications for our predictions about life on alien planets.

Some of Earths tiniest living things could survive on Mars, reports astrophysicist Caleb Scharf for Popular Science. Bacteria and fungi were hurled into Earths middle stratosphere, which resembles many of Mars harsh conditions.

Life Beyond Human Has to Play by the Rules, reports David Barash for Nautilus. A zoologist explains why complex life anywhere depends on natural selection.

A Tsunami Likely Hurled Huge Rocks onto a Tiny Island A Caribbean islands giant rocks were thought to be deposited by enormous waves, reports Katherine Kornei for Scientific American.

Eruption in Iceland may mark the start of decades of volcanic activity The first eruption in the Reykjanes Peninsula in about 800 years is not expected the threaten any population centers, but it does provide a unique opportunity to study the geologic mysteries of the region.

The Ghost of Ancient Earths Magma Oceans Found in Greenland Rocks, reports Singularity Hub. In a new study, published in Science Advances, University of Cambridge scientists say theyve found evidence of ancient Earths magma oceans in 3.7-billion-year-old rocks in Greenland.

The Secret Auction That Set Off the Race for AI Supremacy, reports Cade Metz for Wired. How the shape of deep learningand the fate of the tech industrywent up for sale in Harrahs Room 731, on the shores of Lake Tahoe. [The auction for Geoff Hintons newly formed AI company] was the beginning of a global arms race, and this race would quickly escalate in ways that would have seemed absurd a few years before.

Scientists Have Discovered a New Pattern In a Repeating Signal from Space What astronomers found in the most precise time measurement of a fast radio burst ever captured, reports Becky Ferreira for Motherboard/Vice.

Scientists Created an Artificial Early Embryo From Human Skin Cells, reports Singularity Hub. Last week, two studies in Nature torpedoed the classic narrative of the beginning of life. Two independent teams coaxed ordinary skin cells into a living cluster that resembled a fertilized human eggand the very first stages of a developing human embryo.

Scientists Grow Mouse Embryos in a Mechanical Womb, reports Gina Kolata for The New York Times Biologists have long held that a fetus needs a living uterus to develop. Maybe not anymore.

Your free twice-weekly fix of stories of space and science a random journey from Planet Earth through the Cosmos that has the capacity to provide clues to our existence and add a much needed cosmic perspective in our Anthropocene epoch.

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Planet Earth Report Strange Signal Hints at New Force of Nature to Life Beyond Human - The Daily Galaxy --Great Discoveries Channel

Ever since scientists first discovered the existence of black holes in our universe, we have all wondered: what could possibly exist beyond the veil of that terrible void? In addition, ever since the theory of General Relativity was first proposed, scientists have been forced to wonder, what could have existed before the birth of the Universe i.e. before the Big Bang?

Interestingly enough, these two questions have come to be resolved (after a fashion) with the theoretical existence of something known as a Gravitational Singularity a point in space-time where the laws of physics as we know them break down. And while there remain challenges and unresolved issues about this theory, many scientists believe that beneath veil of an event horizon, and at the beginning of the Universe, this was what existed.

In scientific terms, a gravitational singularity (or space-time singularity) is a location where the quantities that are used to measure the gravitational field become infinite in a way that does not depend on the coordinate system. In other words, it is a point in which all physical laws are indistinguishable from one another, where space and time are no longer interrelated realities, but merge indistinguishably and cease to have any independent meaning.

Singularities were first predicated as a result of Einsteins Theory of General Relativity, which resulted in the theoretical existence of black holes. In essence, the theory predicted that any star reaching beyond a certain point in its mass (aka. the Schwarzschild Radius) would exert a gravitational force so intense that it would collapse.

At this point, nothing would be capable of escaping its surface, including light. This is due to the fact the gravitational force would exceed the speed of light in vacuum 299,792,458 meters per second (1,079,252,848.8 km/h; 670,616,629 mph).

This phenomena is known as the Chandrasekhar Limit, named after the Indian astrophysicist Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar, who proposed it in 1930. At present, the accepted value of this limit is believed to be 1.39 Solar Masses (i.e. 1.39 times the mass of our Sun), which works out to a whopping 2.765 x 1030 kg (or 2,765 trillion trillion metric tons).

Another aspect of modern General Relativity is that at the time of the Big Bang (i.e. the initial state of the Universe) was a singularity. Roger Penrose and Stephen Hawking both developed theories that attempted to answer how gravitation could produce singularities, which eventually merged together to be known as the PenroseHawking Singularity Theorems.

According to the Penrose Singularity Theorem, which he proposed in 1965, a time-like singularity will occur within a black hole whenever matter reaches certain energy conditions. At this point, the curvature of space-time within the black hole becomes infinite, thus turning it into a trapped surface where time ceases to function.

The Hawking Singularity Theorem added to this by stating that a space-like singularity can occur when matter is forcibly compressed to a point, causing the rules that govern matter to break down. Hawking traced this back in time to the Big Bang, which he claimed was a point of infinite density. However, Hawking later revised this to claim that general relativity breaks down at times prior to the Big Bang, and hence no singularity could be predicted by it.

Some more recent proposals also suggest that the Universe did not begin as a singularity. These includes theories like Loop Quantum Gravity, which attempts to unify the laws of quantum physics with gravity. This theory states that, due to quantum gravity effects, there is a minimum distance beyond which gravity no longer continues to increase, or that interpenetrating particle waves mask gravitational effects that would be felt at a distance.

The two most important types of space-time singularities are known as Curvature Singularities and Conical Singularities. Singularities can also be divided according to whether they are covered by an event horizon or not. In the case of the former, you have the Curvature and Conical; whereas in the latter, you have what are known as Naked Singularities.

A Curvature Singularity is best exemplified by a black hole. At the center of a black hole, space-time becomes a one-dimensional point which contains a huge mass. As a result, gravity become infinite and space-time curves infinitely, and the laws of physics as we know them cease to function.

Conical singularities occur when there is a point where the limit of every general covariance quantity is finite. In this case, space-time looks like a cone around this point, where the singularity is located at the tip of the cone. An example of such a conical singularity is a cosmic string, a type of hypothetical one-dimensional point that is believed to have formed during the early Universe.

And, as mentioned, there is the Naked Singularity, a type of singularity which is not hidden behind an event horizon. These were first discovered in 1991 by Shapiro and Teukolsky using computer simulations of a rotating plane of dust that indicated that General Relativity might allow for naked singularities.

In this case, what actually transpires within a black hole (i.e. its singularity) would be visible. Such a singularity would theoretically be what existed prior to the Big Bang. The key word here is theoretical, as it remains a mystery what these objects would look like.

For the moment, singularities and what actually lies beneath the veil of a black hole remains a mystery. As time goes on, it is hoped that astronomers will be able to study black holes in greater detail. It is also hoped that in the coming decades, scientists will find a way to merge the principles of quantum mechanics with gravity, and that this will shed further light on how this mysterious force operates.

We have many interesting articles about gravitational singularities here at Universe Today. Here is 10 Interesting Facts About Black Holes, What Would A Black Hole Look Like?, Was the Big Bang Just a Black Hole?, Goodbye Big Bang, Hello Black Hole?, Who is Stephen Hawking?, and Whats on the Other Side of a Black Hole?

If youd like more info on singularity, check out these articles from NASA and Physlink.

Astronomy Cast has some relevant episodes on the subject. Heres Episode 6: More Evidence for the Big Bang, and Episode 18: Black Holes Big and Small and Episode 21: Black Hole Questions Answered.

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What Is A Singularity? - Universe Today

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In 2020, Elias van Dorne (John Cusack), CEO of VA Industries, the world's largest robotics company, introduces his most powerful invention--Kronos, a super computer designed to end all wars. When Kronos goes online, it quickly determines that mankind, itself, is the biggest threat to world peace and launches a worldwide robot attack to rid the world of the "infection" of man. Ninety-seven years later, a small band of humans remain alive but on the run from the robot army. A teenage boy, Andrew (Julian Schaffner) and a teenage girl, Calia (Jeannine Wacker), form an unlikely alliance to reach a new world, where it is rumored mankind exists without fear of robot persecution. But does this world actually exist? And will they live long enough to find out?

Taglines:Resist. Fight. Unite.

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Opening Weekend USA: $533,5 November 2017

Gross USA: $4,176

Cumulative Worldwide Gross: $86,822

Runtime: 92 min

Aspect Ratio: 2.35 : 1

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Singularity (2017) - IMDb

Planet Earth Report provides descriptive links to headline news by leading science journalists about the extraordinary discoveries, technology, people, and events changing our knowledge of Planet Earth and the future of the human species.

Why Extraterrestrial Life May Not Seem Entirely Alien The zoologist Arik Kershenbaum argues that because some evolutionary challenges are truly universal, life throughout the cosmos may share certain features, reports Dan Falk for Quanta. Granted, science hasnt yet found any aliens to study, but Kershenbaum says that there are certain things we can still say about them with reasonable certainty. Topping the list: They evolved.

Origin of Life: Lightning Strikes May Have Provided Missing Ingredient for Earths First Organisms, reports Singularity HubOne particular problem that has long faced scientists who study the origin of life is the source of the elusive element, phosphorus. Phosphorus is an important element for basic cell structures and functions. For example, it forms the backbone of the double helix structure of DNA and the related molecule RNA.

Strange microbe breathes nitrates using a mitochondria-like symbiont A relatively recent symbiosis is reminiscent of the powerhouse of the cell, reports Ars Technica. Deep in Switzerlands Lake Zug swims a microorganism that has evolved a strange way to breathe. A team of researchers discovered a novel partnership between a single-celled eukaryotean organism with a clearly defined nucleus holding its genomeand a bacteria that generates energy for its host. But instead of using oxygen to do so, it uses nitrate.

What Is Life? Its Vast Diversity Defies Easy Definition Scientists have struggled to formulate a universal definition of life. Is it possible they dont need one? asks Carl Zimmer for Quanta. Scientists efforts to develop a good working definition for life have been stymied by the existence of puzzling cases like snowflakes that have some attributes of life, red blood cells that lack some attributes, and organisms like tardigrades that can seem inanimate for long intervals.

A forgotten Cold War experiment has revealed its icy secret. Its bad news for the planet, reports Sarah Kaplan for The Washington Post. At first, Andrew Christ was ecstatic. In soil taken from the bottom of the Greenland ice sheet, hed discovered the remains of ancient plants. Only one other team of researchers had ever found greenery beneath the mile-high ice mass. But then Christ determined how long it had been since that soil had seen sunlight: Less than a million years. Just the blink of an eye in geologic terms.

New strains of bacteria found on the International Space Station Three unknown species have been discovered growing on the ISS, but dont break out the anti-bac wipes just yet, reports BBC Science Focus.

Microsofts Mesh Will Let Us Beam Ourselves to Work as Holograms, reports Singularity Hub. Unveiled last week at the companys Ignite conference, with the tag line here can be anywhere, the mixed reality platform promises to make remote interactions feel more lifelike than they ever have. A promotional video for the technology shows real-time holograms of people being beamed in to work alongside others, and 3D data popping up in midair.

8 Minutes of Fire: Watch NASA Test Its Giant New Moon Rocket A test earlier this year of the Space Launch System core stage was marred by errors, so the agency will conduct a do-over, reports The New York Times.

This years largest near-Earth asteroid to pass by on Sunday During its approach, the asteroid 2001 FO32 will pass by at about 124,000km/h faster than the speed at which most asteroids encounter Earth, reports BBC Science Focus.

Why does DNA spontaneously mutate? Quantum physics might explain, reports Live Science. In a recent study, published Jan. 29 in the journal Physical Chemistry Chemical Physics, researchers show that a quantum phenomenon called proton tunneling can cause point mutations by allowing positively charged protons in DNA to leap from place-to-place. This, in turn, can subtly change the hydrogen bridges that bind the two sides of DNAs double helix, which can lead to errors when its time for DNA to make copies of itself.

Lightning Strikes May Have Sparked Life on Earth, New Study Proposes Lightning could have been a major source of the element phosphorus, which is necessary for life, on early Earth, reports Becky Ferreira for Motherboard/Vice Science.

If You Look at Your Phone While Walking, Youre an Agent of Chaos An experiment by Japanese researchers revealed how just a few distracted walkers really can throw off the movements of a whole crowd, reports The New York Times.

NASAs Last Rocket The United States is unlikely to build anything like the Space Launch System ever again. But its still good that NASA did, reports The New York Times.

Quantum Mischief Rewrites the Laws of Cause and Effect Spurred on by quantum experiments that scramble the ordering of causes and their effects, some physicists are figuring out how to abandon causality altogether, reports Natalie Wolchover for Quanta.

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Planet Earth Report Forgotten Cold War Experiment is Bad News for the Planet to Darwins Aliens - The Daily Galaxy --Great Discoveries Channel

So you think you know Maine artists. You probably do, but do you know how many of their studios are still around, somewhat as they left them? A recent coffee-table book highlights a collection of these magical places, as used by some 26 artists.

At First Light has been put together by a triumvirate of professionals. Anne and Frank Goodyear are co-directors of the Bowdoin Art Museum. Michael Komanecky is the Farnsworth Museums chief curator. The book itself is the gorgeous product of a collaboration between the Bowdoin museum and the publisher Rizzoli Electa.

In his evocative forward, Stuart Kestenbaum (Maines Poet Laureate, who retired this month) considers the life of these houses and rooms in their own right. Beyond the presence (or ghosts) of the artists, each is a sanctuary of the everyday. The Goodyears and Komanecky take turns introducing the spaces with a brief overview of the artists life and the various ways he or she became connected to Maine. Walter Smallings beautiful photographs of the actual venues do the rest.

Conceived with the states Bicentennial in mind, At First Light reaches back to Jonathan Fisher, the polymath whose Morning View of Blue Hill Village is one of the Farnsworth Museums gems. It gives about as clear a glimpse of Maine life in 1824 as it is possible to get.

Actually, Fisher (1768-1847) is something of an outlier. Starting with Winslow Homer, the rest of the artists included in the book lived into the last century. They can be broadly grouped as American Impressionists (Frank Benson and Charles Woodbury), whose working years straddled 1900 more or less equally, followed by early modernists (John Marin, Marsden Hartley and Rockwell Kent) whose renown came largely during the first half of the 20th century.

At this point, the authors thoughtful chronology is interrupted by the artistic phenomenon that is the Wyeth Family. N.C., Andrew and James each receives his own treatment, but geographically as well as artistically, they are hard to separate. Smalling, the photographer, has dubbed it Wyeth World. As a further overlap, the house built by Rockwell Kent on Monhegan Island is now Jamie Wyeths studio.

Modernists William and Margaret Zorach put us back on the chronological path. And then there are the Porters, Eliot and his younger brother, Fairfield, the other artistic family who, like the Wyeths, can be said to have imbibed Maines unique sense of place from childhood, in their case, on Great Spruce Head Island. Inland, Berenice Abbott, another photographer, spent her final years around Monson.

Next is what Bob Keyes, in his Portland Press Herald obituary for David Driskell, called a wave of post-World War II artists who came from New York, including Ashley Bryan, Alex Katz, Lois Dodd and, later, Robert Indiana, to wrestle with the landscape in a Modernist way. Several of them discovered Maine as students at the Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture. Their studios are all included in At First Light, as is that of Rudy Burkhardt and Yvonne Jacquette.

Another Skowhegan alumnus, Bernard Langlais, was already in Maine, born on Indian Island. His studio in Cushing is one of the few open to the public. (Winslow Homers on Prouts Neck is another.)

Molly Neptune Parker has lived in Indian Township all her life, carrying on the basket-making traditions of the Passamaquoddy Tribe, and letting them evolve from utilitarian forms (scale baskets for collecting fish scales and heads at processing plants) to the most exquisite forms.

Finally, the two, as it were, jokers in the pack are Richard Tuttle and William Wegman. I mean this in no derogatory sense, but they wrestle with the landscape in a totally different way to the other artists. Tuttles response to what he calls the landscapes in betweenness stands out from all the others in its ultra-minimalist approach, while Wegman and his Weimaraners offer a post-modern take on Rangeley Lake and its environs.

The studio waiting, a door opening into silence, shadow and light. Thus Kestenbaum launches the reader on this aesthetic marathon (26 stops). The anticipatory exhilaration is more than rewarded by Smallings sumptuous photographs. They are enhanced by examples of each artists work. A particularly happy arrangement pairs two flower pictures, a painting and photograph respectively, by Fairfield and Eliot Porter.

Unexpected details a pair of long johns on the washing line, the shadows of a man and a dog about to come indoors reinforce the immediacy of some of the living artists spaces. Jonathan Fishers furnishings, on the other hand, have the stately order of a monument. Other spaces run the gamut from various kinds of busyness toys, tools, bric-a-brac to the wide-open space of Alex Katzs studio, and the almost clinical orderliness of Yvonne Jacquettes. In contrast to the artistic singularity on display in some of the other studios, the warmth of Molly Neptune Parkers living room reflects the all-important communal aspect of basket-making.

Each location offered the photographer a different challenge. Sometimes Smalling rearranged furniture. Once, he emptied an entire room, then refilled it with family pieces provided by the artists grandsons.

At First Light was to have been accompanied by an exhibition at the Bowdoin Art Museum last year, but it was covided. We must hope that it was only a postponement. Until then, the book is a stunning consolation prize.

Thomas Urquharts new book, Up for Grabs, a history of Maines Public Reserved Lands, will be published in May.

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A sumptuous guide to the studios of 26 Maine artists, living and dead - pressherald.com

Developed and published entirely by a single studio - Computer Lunch, Cell to Singularity is quite a unique game.This is quite an astoundingly ingenious way of blending genres and in fact, it is actually a good mix of gaming with education! The game contains textbook definitions from chemistry and biology and portrays how our cosmos began, and how life was developed.

This is how you make a game thats not only engaging but doesnt drive the player away because of the way the game is monetised. In fact, this particular balancing effect makes this game ridiculously addictive. Cell to Singularity - Evolution Never Ends is basically a clicker game in which you have to chart a rather accurate path of evolution of the human race right from the primordial soup, all the way to terraforming Mars. The visual presentation makes the game an interactive, animated and educational tutorial through the passage of time. The visuals make you feel like you are in-charge of the evolution process - interactive in the sense that the player plays the game and pushes the evolution forward through known paths to get to where we are now. There are research upgrades along the way which make your resource collection easier and the concept of resets allows you to get additional accelerators to speed up your progress even further. While you can buy your way through the game, theres also the option of watching ads to accelerate progress. This way, you can complete the entire game in under a week with ease. The developers make no attempts to hide the addictive nature of the game, its plastered all over the play store. Thankfully, the developers didnt make the grind excruciating as most clicker games tend to last way longer by means of the grind.

While its only recently been introduced to the Play Store, the game has been around on Steam for over a year and the developers seem to regularly add new content. Its basic 3D models, low rendering, no lighting and basic textures make this game one of the lowest-demanding games in terms of hardware. Even though the game offers premium currencies for standard prices, the in-game currency you earn should be enough to provide for everything you might need. Overall, this is how a games monetisation system ought to be designed, and we would recommend you give it a shot.

Publisher: Computer LunchDeveloper: Computer LunchPlatform: Android / iOSPrice: Free

While not dishing out lethal doses of sarcasm, this curious creature can often be found tinkering with tech, playing 'vidya' games or exploring the darkest corners of the Internets. #PCMasterRace https://www.linkedin.com/in/mithunmohandas/

Tags: Cell to Singularity Cell to Singularity review Cell to Singularity Evolution Never Ends Cell to Singularity Evolution Never Ends review Cell to Singularity Evolution Never Ends android

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Cell to Singularity Evolution Never Ends - Digit

Will Izuku Midoriya become My Hero Academia's dreaded Quirk Singularity? The question just became a big focus for fans; My Hero Academia's latest manga arc has been all about Izuku communing with One For All and its previous users, setting the stage for the young hero to finally unlock the power's full potential. However, we went a step further with an additional theory: Deku will use OFA's full power to pull the big twist of ultimately absorbing the power of All For One into himself. The question at that point is will Izuku become the Singularity? And what could he do with that power?

WARNING: My Hero Academia Manga SPOILERS Follow!

If you don't remember, the "Quirk Singularity" was a theory from All For One's mad scientist disciple, Dr. Garaki, first proposed seventy years before the events of My Hero Academia. Garaki theorized that each generation of quirk users would blend powers and breed a new generation of more powerful quirk powers and that eventually, that evolutionary increase in power would outpace the human body's ability to control it, resulting in a doomsday scenario when one insanely powerful quirk (or many) wiped society out.

We've already broken down why Izuku ultimately trying to absorb AFO is perfectly fitting with the foreshadows of the story and Deku's character arc. However, though Izuku would do that in the spirit of noble sacrifice, it could end up being a bigger burden than he's able to bear - and a bigger threat to the world than the villains were!

It wouldn't be shocking (at this point) if My Hero Academia's big final threat was Izuku struggling to hold both OFA and AFO in balance, without destroying the world in the process. It's also a suitable way to set up a final battle between All For One and his little brother (One For All's original user) to have their own final battle in the strange realm where the living consciousnesses of both powers exist. It would pretty much be the culmination of all the core storylines around the main character (Izuku Midoriya) and antagonist (Tomura Shigarak); Deku finally bringing the powers into balance would also explain why he's able to narrate My Hero Academia as the No. 1 hero. He would literally be god-level if he survives the singularity.

My Hero Academia releases new manga chapters FREE ONLINE weekly. Season 5 of the anime will premiere this year.

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My Hero Academia: Will Izuku Become The Singularity? - ComicBook.com

Our planets history is written in its rocks. You can traverse eons by brushing your fingers over the layers of a cliff wall. But beyond a certain point, the record goes blank. Though the Earth is roughly 4.5 billion years old, the oldest-known rocks date back to only around 4 billion years ago. The relentless motions of Earths tectonic plates have recycled its surface.

Still, chemical clues can take us further back in time to when young Earth was a lava planet. Scientists believe a series of mammoth impactsthe last of which formed the moonliquified the surface and formed planet-wide magma oceans hundreds of miles deep. The rocks from this fiery era are long gone, but their ghost lives on.

In a new study, published in Science Advances, University of Cambridge scientists say theyve found evidence of ancient Earths magma oceans in 3.7-billion-year-old rocks in Greenland.

As the magma oceans gradually cooled and crystallized into rock, the planet we knowits internal structure, surface, and atmospherebegan to take form. Understanding this phase can help explain how Earth evolved from a hell-planet to the cradle of life.

But its no easy task.

There are few opportunities to get geological constraints on the events in the first billion years of Earths history. Its astonishing that we can even hold these rocks in our handslet alone get so much detail about the early history of our planet, said lead author Dr. Helen Williams, from Cambridges Department of Earth Sciences.

As the Earth cooled and crystalized, scientists believe dense chunks of newly solidified crystals sank deep into the Earths lower mantle, near the core of the planet. Its thought they may even exist today in ancient crystal graveyards forever beyond our reach.

But what if remnants, through the ages, rose up through the mantle and re-emerged on the surface by way of volcanic eruptions? The trip through the mantle would no doubt thoroughly transform them, but in theory, chemical traces of their origins would remain.

It was this theory the Cambridge team went looking to prove.

The driving question that motivated me was, if we think the magma ocean stage was important to the Earths history, why is there no geological evidence for it? Williams told Gizmodo. What if we actually tried to directly hunt for it?

The rocks hail from Greenlands Isua supercrustal belt. The basalt therea kind of volcanic rockis famous for being the oldest on Earth, yielding up evidence for the earliest life on our planet, early plate tectonics, and now, it appears, an even more ancient era.

It was a combination of some new chemical analyses we did and the previously published data that flagged to us that the Isua rocks might contain traces of ancient material, said co-author Dr. Hanika Rizo of Carleton University.

Using forensic chemical analysis and thermodynamic modeling, the team traced the Greenland rocks origins and their path to the surface.

When rock heats up in the planets interior it begins to rise through the mantle, eventually emerging in volcanic events. Isotopes in the rock can act as a record of its journey, a bit like stamps in a passport. In this case, the scientists found the stamp of unique iron isotopes likely formed in an extremely high-pressure homeland some 430 miles below the surfacea region scientists also expect houses those magma ocean crystal graveyards.

Those samples with the iron fingerprint also have a tungsten anomalya signature of Earths formationwhich makes us think that their origin can be traced back to these primeval crystals, Williams said.

Further study of their chemistry revealed a tortuous journey that included several phases of cooling, crystalizing, heating, and remelting.

Yet, despite their transformation by events in the interior, Williams wrote in aConversationarticle on the study that the rocks that emerged, located in present-day Greenland, still retain chemical signatures that connect them to Earths magma-covered past.

While discovering a new geosignature of Earths ancient past is an exciting step, theres plenty more work to do. How long did magma oceans last on the planet, for example, and how much of the planet did they cover? Now that we know what to look for, Williams says we might search other volcanic hotspots in Hawaii or Iceland.

Its a painstaking investigation, but bit by bit, the Earths early history is being laid bare. Its long-held secrets may help us explain how the planet we know today, one so well suited for living things, formed out of the cauldron of the early solar system.

The more we know about our own planets history, the more well understand how it and other planets form and, by extension, how life began hereand, perhaps, elsewhere too.

Image Credit: Artists impression of exoplanet CoRoT-7b / ESO/L. Calada

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The Ghost of Ancient Earth's Magma Oceans Found in Greenland Rocks - Singularity Hub