Category Archives: Transhuman News

A recent survey of over two thousand adults in the UKrevealed plenty of mistrust, anxiety, fear, and skepticism about artificial intelligence (AI). The survey attempted to understand whether AI was a blessing or a curse.A recently-released collection of short sci-fi stories by Andre K. George entitledI, AI, attempts to answer the same question. It is comprised of eleven short Sci-Fi stories that will keep readers on the edge of their seats. But at the same time, each story offers a different lesson and perspective.

Few recent sci-fi books stand out with the same level of original stories, fascinating characters, and powerful themes asI, AI. It is a truly gripping read, exploring a future where humans and artificial intelligence (AI) are forced to interact across all areas of life. They help each other like friends, conduct high-stakes investigations like partners, and fight for power like enemies.

With a five-star rating on Amazon, this book has received acclaim from reviewers for its engaging, thought-provoking and surprising content. As one critic points out, this book had [readers] racing to the end of each chapter to start a new one. The second story in the collection, The Ultimate Test, is the recipient of the Honorable Mention award from the L. Ron Hubbard Writers of the Future contest.

Andre K. George has spent two decades specializing in computer technology and artificial intelligence. The author has a wide breadth of knowledge in the subject and delivers a fictional future rooted in the realities of science and technological progress. A future that, as the author points out, is as inevitable, unavoidable, and unstoppable as time itself.I, AIoffers an introduction to what the world can expect from artificial creations after the technological revolution takes place.

I, AIwill appeal to a wide range of science fiction readers, including fans of Michael Crichton, Isaac Asimov, Daniel H. WilsonsRobopocalypse, and Martha WellsThe Murderbot Diaries.

More information aboutI, AI,and the authors other books can be found onAmazonas well as the authorsofficial website.

Media ContactContact Person: Andre K. GeorgeEmail: Send EmailCountry: United StatesWebsite: https://andrekgeorge.com

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Artificial Intelligence in the Age of Transhumanism - Digital Journal

The tech startups are grabbing the eyeballs with new advancement every single day. Its amazing to see how quickly the paradigm is changing and the impact is nothing short of impressive.

The world has seen an overwhelming rise in the popularity of vertical short video apps in the last 5 years. Tiktok became so popular that every other social media app copied its format.

But since the Indian Government banned TikTok and other Chinese apps due to security reasons, it has opened a vast market for Indian as well International app developers to capture.

Founded in May 2019 by Lakshminath Dondeti and Vidya N, Rizzle has emerged as the fastest-growing vertical short video app in India. Rizzle gives a new approach to the format which is still open to experiments and innovations.

This is yet another out-of-the-box idea of the tech genius Elon Musk. It focuses on developing devices that understand the language of the brain! It is a great initiative for people with disabilities of hearing and speech.

The ultimate goal of Neuralink is to support human limitations by incorporating technology into the human brain and body which is also known as transhumanism.

The startup was founded by Musk and other people in 2016 and has received a funding of 158 million since then, out of which 100 million were given by Musk.

Who knows if this becomes the laying of the founding stone for future cyborgs!

With each passing year, a tech user is getting rid of as many cables and hardware as possible. From chargers to earphones, everything has become wireless.

Even the storage devices are being ditched by a majority of the users who are going for cloud storage instead.

Wasabi is one such cloud storage platform that has gained popularity recently. It was founded in June 2017. What makes it so popular is that it is almost 80 per cent less costly than other leading cloud storage applications available.

Tech geeks are looking forward to more useful applications that Wasabi has to offer.

The year 2020 saw everything go virtual. From schools and colleges having their classes and exams online to dance instructors teaching Zumba via zoom calls.

Even music events, concerts and award shows were attended by people via their smartphone screens.

Lumaki is an innovative startup that focuses on helping students to have virtual internship programs.

It provides a 2-in-1 virtual onboarding and recruitment platform. The year 2022 can see more platforms like these to cater to the needs of the lockdown.

A start-up for the star-tups! This one deserves attention in 2022. The major problem for any start-up around the globe is to get funds. Genius minds can work on great ideas but they need help from the big players in the industry.

Equivisto helps the startups to connect with the people who may be interested in their projects and fund them. One can expect Equivesto to get a lot of attention from the people planning to launch their start-ups in 2022.

Nimble robotics founded by Simon Kalouche manufactures robots specially designed to cater to the needs of the E-Commerce industry.

The E-commerce industry has been at its best pace for the last 8-10 years, but the pandemic gave the already fast-growing industry a nitro boost. People filled up their free time during the lockdowns.

The startup produces robots for picking, packing, and handling products which is a big help for e-Commerce companies.

Udaan has gained funding of 1.2 billion in the last 5 years. This Bangalore startup was founded in 2016 by Amod Malviya, Sujeet Kumar, Vaibhav Gupta and focuses on providing a one roof service solution to the wholesalers and goods manufacturers.

Udaan will be one of the most interesting startups to look forward to in 2020, as it made an investment in a restaurant startup PetPooja last year.

Also Read : Goodness score, an algorithm by Goodspace proving to improve hiring efficacy

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Transhumanism, virtual internships and other cool stuff that top 7 tech startups have to offer in 2022 - News Hour Press India

Is Joe Rogan close to becoming a Bitcoiner? The biggest podcaster in the world received podcasting pioneer Adam Curry and at one point, the conversation turned to Bitcoin and crypto. In retrospect, it was inevitable. Even though Joe Rogan had Andreas Antonopoulos as a guest a couple of times back in the day, he seems clueless about it all.

Related Reading | How Chinas Tech Firms Are Racing For Metaverse Trademarks

Thats perfectly fine, though. As one of the Internets main success stories, Rogan doesnt need Bitcoin. His audience, on the other hand Luckily, Adam Curry was there to help. The new project from the man many call the Podfather is promoting the Value 4 Value model and what hes deemed Podcasting 2.0. The idea is that a new generation of podcast will be set up to receive Bitcoin payments in real-time over the Lightning network using compatible Podcasting 2.0 apps.

Recently our sister site NewsBTC, as part of their Lightning Speed series, discussed the Podcasting 2.0 phenomenon:

You already know this, the Lightning Network allows for micropayments that are almost free. Anyone can use it, and its approaching mass adoption by the minute. Not only can creators now plug into an open monetization platform with hundreds of millions of users, they can even access a new type of monetization that was never before possible. Those new types are, real-time payment streaming, micro-tipping, and other monetization strategies that simply arent possible on fiat payment rails.

In any case, what did Joe Rogan and Adam Curry discuss in their recent conversation?

Adam Curry introduces his Podcasting 2.0 idea by saying that a lot of young people are opting out of the current system and building parallel networks. Thats what the Value 4 Value model permits, a direct-to-consumer approach that doesnt need an intermediary and bypasses the advertising and sponsorships model thats prevalent today. This is all thanks to the Lightning Network.

It makes sense for Adam Curry to be a Bitcoin maximalist. Im just on the Bitcoin train because I believe that my money is safer there, he says as a way to assure that hes not against the US dollar. What is he against, then? The money system is broken, Curry believes. Its expensive and inefficient; it finances wars and needs armies to protect it. And then, on top of it, theres the banking system. Another artifact of old thats doing more harm than good.

Then, its Joe Rogans turn. He has a lot of hope for cryptocurrencies. He thinks that theyll be the future of the world or theyre going to go to zero, those are the two options. Bitcoin and Ethereum seem to be the ones who people who are in the know talk about the most, Joe Rogan says.

Adam Curry interrupts and lets him know. The difference between Bitcoin and Ethereum is that in Bitcoin, there will only be 21 million. It cant be changed. It cant be inflated. You cant say the same about Ethereum.

Oh, Joe Rogan says.

The Metaverse portion of the conversation starts with a revelation. Brian Cox from Succession will commercialize an NFT. Adam Curry cant give more details, but wow. Joe Rogan shows him a Beeple piece he owns and defends NFTs from Currys jokes. Adam thinks Non-Fungible Tokens materialize Klaus Schwabs dream of You will own nothing and youll be happy.

Curry doesnt seem to like NFTs, but he gives them this. In the dream of the metaverse, the Silicon Valley controlled metaverse, NFTs are going to be very-very important. Then, he gives Ethereum some flowers. The Ethereum crowd is building a more decentralized metaverse.

Related Reading | Twitter CEO to Joe Rogan: I Think Currency of The Internet Will Be Bitcoin

After that, Joe Rogan fantasizes about big companies creating private coins that act as stock of sorts. Curry stops him and tells him Facebook tried that and the governments wouldnt allow it. Thats not the plan. The plan is the Central Bank Digital Currency. You will have crypto. You will have a digital wallet. It will be directly from the Federal Reserve to you, Adam Curry says. Then, theyll have total control. However, Bitcoin fixes this.

The clip ends by describing the metaverse depicted in Neal Stephensons Snowcrash, the transhumanist dream, and Elons supposed brain chip. It was a much longer conversation, what else did they talk about? Thats out of our wheelhouse. Go to Spotify and find out, if you feel so inclined.

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Podcasting Legends Joe Rogan And Adam Curry Discuss Crypto And The Metaverse | Bitcoinist.com - bitcoinist.com

Now arguably more than ever, its hard to predict what will and wont connect with cinemagoers over the next 12 months, a tumultuous time of uncertainty extending until an unknowable date. While the rough release schedule is more than certain to change (a number of January releases have already moved as a result of Omicron), what it does do is show us what the industry is banking on right now, outside of the bread-and-butter business of superheroes.

Heres a look at what youll be seeing the most of in 2022:

It seems odd that a genre as reliably rewarding as the whodunnit was ever not in fashion but after star-packed murder mysteries dominated the multiplex throughout the 70s and 80s, the years since saw a retreat to the small screen. It took Kenneth Branaghs lavish, if creatively redundant, remake of Murder on the Orient Express to remind studios of audience interest, making a shock $351m worldwide back in 2017. This year sees the belated follow-up, a redo of Death on the Nile with a slightly less impressively starry cast Penlope Cruz, Johnny Depp, Judi Dench and Michelle Pfeiffer replaced with Gal Gadot, Armie Hammer, Russell Brand and Annette Bening landing in February. Later this year will also see a Netflix sequel to Rian Johnsons 2019 hit Knives Out, officially untitled as of now but tentatively called Knives Out 2 because probably, bringing back Daniel Craig and sending him to Greece to find a killer from a cast including Kathryn Hahn, Edward Norton, Janelle Mone and Kate Hudson. The streamer paid over $450m for the rights to the franchise. Saoirse Ronan and Sam Rockwell will also hunt for a murderer in the West End in See How They Run, with a cast of suspects including Ruth Wilson, David Oyelowo and Adrien Brody. A high school reunion ends in murder in the comedy Reunion which stars Jillian Bell and Lil Rel Howery (a set-up thats almost identical to Apples new series The Afterparty with Tiffany Haddish and Ilana Glazer) while Adam Sandler and Jennifer Aniston are currently filming Murder Mystery 2 for Netflix so that could also be a late addition.

Another once-prolific genre that then fell out of favour, the slasher has seen a surprise resurgence in the past few years thanks to the box office success of Happy Death Day and the return of Halloween. Cheaply produced and based on an easily replicated formula, its also found its obvious place within the world of streaming with Netflixs Fear Street trilogy and Theres Someone Inside Your House and Amazons I Know What You Did Last Summer remake. This month sees the inevitable return of Ghostface in Scream, a much-anticipated franchise-restarter bringing back the original Campbell-Cox-Arquette trio for more meta mayhem (if it makes as much as analysts predict it could lead to even more slashers in 2023). Next month, Leatherface follows suit in Texas Chainsaw Massacre, a tortured production sold to Netflix during the pandemic, another attempt to relaunch the grimy gore-heavy series, with Dont Breathes Fede Alvarez involved as writer-producer and Eighth Grades Elsie Fisher starring. Michael Myers will also be making his final stab at killing Laurie Strode, AKA Jamie Lee Curtis, later in the year with Halloween Ends but the mammoth box office for his return might extend the originally envisioned trilogy. Theres also the intriguing prospect of an A24 slasher from Cat Persons Kristen Roupenian called Bodies, Bodies, Bodies about a game that goes awry starring Maria Bakalova, Amandla Stenberg and Pete Davidson.

While science-fiction that tackles something a little chewier than whether Godzilla or Kong can punch the hardest is never exactly not a thing, the next year provides a steadier stream than usual of options aiming more for mind over matter. After a premiere at Cannes last summer, Columbus director Kogonadas After Yang will hit cinemas in March, a quiet drama with Colin Farrell and Jodie Turner-Smith about a family trying to save their live-in robot from extinction. David Cronenberg returns later this year with Crimes of the Future, a horror-tinged sci-fi tale set in a distant future where people explore the limitless potential of transhumanism, said people including Kristen Stewart and Viggo Mortensen. Cronenbergs son Brandon will also follow his well-received Sundance hit Possessor with Infinity Pool, a thriller starring Alexander Skarsgrd and Mia Goth as a rich couple who discover something unusual beyond the gates of their all-inclusive resort. Yorgos Lanthimos is also reuniting with The Favourite screenwriter Tony McNamara and star Emma Stone for Poor Things, a Victorian era Frankenstein-esque tale of a woman brought back to life by a scientist who replaces her brain with that of her unborn child. One of the most intriguing big bets comes from the Mad Max director George Miller and his epic romance Three Thousand Years of Longing about a lonely scholar whose encounter with a wish-granting djinn leads to unexpected consequences. And while plot details are yet to be revealed, Jordan Peeles mysterious new film Nope, starring Daniel Kaluuya, has debuted a poster that hints at a sci-fi mind-trip.

A look ahead at any year in the past five decades would show an unhealthy smattering of 2s, 3s and colons but in 2022, theres a more specific form of sequel thats set to dominate. Long-awaited, fan-petitioned follow-ups will be cosying up against the more expected superhero fare, studios betting on nostalgia to drive audiences out to the big screen or to stream. The aforementioned Scream is the first big test, to see if a 90s-born franchise can still pack em in, weeks before Paramount also bets on Jackass Forever, the first entry from the team since 2010. The oft-delayed Top Gun: Maverick will also test if audiences still feel the need for both speed and Tom Cruise outside of the Mission: Impossible franchise (his only fruitful endeavour these days). Reese Witherspoons belated return as Elle Woods in Legally Blonde 3 is allegedly set for a summer release (although recent reports suggest that might not happen) with help from Mindy Kaling scripting. Halloween will see the return of sister witches Bette Midler, Sarah Jessica Parker and Kathy Najimy in Hocus Pocus 2, after much fan speculation, haunting a new generation on Disney+ while the platform will also see Amy Adams returning as a fish-out-of-water princess in Disenchanted. And finally, Kevin Smith will complete his cult comedy trilogy with Clerks III.

It might be a surprise to anyone who doesnt spend hours scouring the very bottom rows of the streaming underworld but Bruce Willis is working harder than you, I or anyone we know. His admirably consistent brand of cheaply made action thrillers is ever-expanding (he was in nine films in 2021) and in 2022, he will star in another 10 VHS-era films tailored toward the most undemanding of viewers. In the next 12 months, he will be seen in Gasoline Alley with Luke Wilson, Fortress 2 with Shannen Doherty, A Day to Die with Frank Grillo, The Wrong Place with Ashley Greene, Vendetta with Mike Tyson, Corrective Measures with Michael Rooker, Die Like Lovers with Dominic Purcell, White Elephant with John Malkovich, Paradise City with John Travolta and Wire Room with Kevin Dillon.

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From whodunnits to cerebral sci-fi: what movie trends will 2022 bring? - The Guardian

The Omicron variant has unleashed a tidal wave of Covid that is sweeping through countries at breakneck speed. In the UK, infections soared to unprecedented highs in recent weeks, but may finally have reached a peak. So what is in store on the other side of the wave?

Mass vaccination, boosters, and the spectacular infection rates seen in the Omicron wave are building high levels of population immunity that will drive infection rates down. The wave will peak at different times from place to place, with adherence to Plan B and shifts in peoples behaviour before and after Christmas all playing into the timing and speed at which infections fall. While the Office for National Statistics said infections were still rising in England last week, the wave may already have peaked in London.

Not in the foreseeable future. The more likely scenario is that Omicron continues to circulate, with cases rising and falling in line with peoples mixing patterns and changes to measures that prevent transmission. When plan B is lifted and more people return to work, cases may well rise. But in the summer, as people spend more time outdoors, infections may fall again, then rise next winter. It will all come down to human behaviour. People may feel safer and socialise more as cases come down, sending infections up again. The virus wont be wiped out because waning immunity means there will be a constant supply of people who are newly susceptible to the infection.

Before the Omicron wave hit, about 5% of the UK population had no immunity to Covid, either through vaccination or past infection. Most of the severe disease caused by Omicron has occurred in this group of people. On the other side of the Omicron wave, there will be hardly anyone who hasnt got some immunity from infection or vaccination and this should help to keep hospital admissions down.

But Omicron is still spreading fast, with nearly four million people infected in England alone last week. While infection rates appear to have stalled in the under-50s, they are rising in older, more vulnerable age groups. It still isnt clear how severe Omicron can be in older people who had their boosters early and may now be seeing that immunity wane.

If cases keep falling, then population immunity and the arrival of new antiviral drugs that aim to slash hospitalisation rates, will help the UK emerge from the crisis. We can definitely start planning for the future in which we are treating Covid like other diseases, but we arent there yet, said Prof Rowland Kao, an infectious disease epidemiologist at the University of Edinburgh.

With Omicron spreading fast and causing less severe disease, some researchers believe it is time to rethink how Test and Trace is done. I think we are already at the point where PCR testing is a waste of resources, and contact tracing is probably a waste of resources too, said Tim Colbourn, professor of global health systems and epidemiology at UCL. One option is to rely more on lateral flow tests and for people to message their close contacts whenever they test positive.

Other measures, such as pool testing samples from groups of people, and wastewater surveillance for the virus could flag new outbreaks, Prof Kao said, while some physical distancing and mask wearing in crowded places would continue to keep cases down. We mustnt forget that vulnerable groups will still likely remain more vulnerable, Kao said.

More Covid variants are inevitable and, like Omicron, they will have to evade immunity to some extent to spread widely. The key to reducing the risk of new variants is driving down case rates globally, but to date, vaccine hoarding and the widespread use of boosters in wealthier countries has left vast swathes of the world under-vaccinated. New variants may emerge from mutations in Omicron or other variants that are still in circulation.

Not necessarily. The Alpha variant was more virulent than the original Covid virus that emerged from China, and the Delta variant was more virulent still. Omicron is somewhat milder, but there is no guarantee that future variants will be. The good news is that so far, even though several variants have developed resistance to antibodies, meaning they can spread among people who have immunity, so-called T cell defences have proved far more robust. The T cell defences are crucial for preventing hospitalisations and may continue to hold up well against future variants.

Thats the hope. This year, doctors will have access to at least two new antiviral drugs, Pfizers paxlovid and Mercks molnupiravir. Both are aimed at those most likely to become severely ill with Covid. If taken soon enough after infection, paxlovid and molnupiravir can reduce hospitalisations by 89% and 30% respectively. At the beginning of the pandemic, Covid was by far the leading cause of death, said Prof Colbourn. This year we should be able to reduce the burden of Covid by 95% of what it was then, and it could fall out of the top 10 public health problems by May or June. The next test will be the next variant.

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What lies on the other side of the UKs Omicron wave? | Omicron variant - newsconcerns