Category Archives: Transhuman News

James Riding is a senior reporter at Inside Housing

June 22, 2023

June 22, 2023

In the pristine cylindrical atrium of Altos Labss Cambridge Institute of Science, under a skylight resembling a giant cyclopic eye, I ask the obvious question. What does the company actually do? Cell rejuvenation, replies the facilities manager. At least, looking back, Im pretty sure thats what he says. At the time, I hear something slightly different: We sell rejuvenation.

Home to one of the worlds highest concentrations of scientific talent, Altos Labs is pursuing a lavishly funded quest to unearth the secrets of ageing. The Stanford-meets-Soho House dcor is enough to show that here, health is wealth. But even in the notoriously well-compensated field of biotechnology it stands out. Last year, the Silicon Valley venture revealed it had raised $3 billion from investors, making it one of the best-financed start-ups in history.

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Its mission? Depending on who you ask, anything from reversing chronic diseases and deferring the helpless twilight of old age to cutting the keys of eternal youth and creating a race of immortal supreme beings. This furrow of science, which piques our hardwired anxiety of ageing and fear of death, has always been accompanied by disproportionate incentives for hype. Nor has it been helped by wealthy obsessives, who in recent years have very publicly taken their own anxiety to macabre new heights, such as the software entrepreneur Bryan Johnson, who injected himself with his sons blood and spends $2 million a year in the hope of achieving the body of an 18-year-old.

Altoss leaders, however, are in the business of managing expectations. Hans Bishop, the president, has said his focus is on increasing healthspan rather than lifespan, and that any extension in longevity would be an accidental consequence. The idea is that, by focusing on reprogramming cells with various proteins, Altos can find medicines that treat many diseases at once by targeting the underlying problem: ageing.

Bishop and his co-founders Rick Klausner and Yuri Milner are late entrants in the arena of anti-ageing research. Calico was set up a decade ago by Google co-founder Larry Page, though it has yet to unveil a product. Other players include Unity, BioAge, BioViva and AgeX Therapeutics. Billionaires including Milner himself, Page, and Paypal co-founder Peter Thiel are regularly glimpsed behind the scenes.

So what makes Altos stand out? Again, that war chest is immense. Its team is a fleet of Nobel prizewinners, lured from governments and top universities with the promise of sports star salaries. As for famous backers, Amazon founder Jeff Bezos himself is believed to be one of Altoss investors. When rumours of Bezoss involvement broke in 2021, fellow billionaire Elon Musk quipped: If it doesnt work, hes gonna sue death!

Altos is global, with two hubs in California, one in England near Cambridge, and one in Japan led by famous stem cell researcher Shinya Yamanaka. Given that all my imaginative efforts to visualise these mines of youth ended with giant brains in tanks, I am intrigued to be offered a tour of the UK hub by the buildings owners. My goal is to peer a little closer through the hype and see what $3 billion gets you.

Upstairs in the Cambridge branch, I am taken past rows of brand-new labs and a sterile area named the Science Kitchen, where some of the 160 scientists prepare for experiments on, among other specimens, mice and fruit flies. (You may recall from biology lessons that drosophilasare ideal for research since their rapid life cycle allows multiple generations to be bred in a single day.)

A vivarium, for raising and keeping animals, is being built downstairs, but I am refused entry as it is still undergoing environmental testing. It must be signed off by the Home Office, the facilities manager explains. Of all government departments, why that one? An answer is not forthcoming.

Science is a power-hungry enterprise, as evidenced by the colossal HVAC system out back, almost the size of the lab itself. The whole building is kept on backup power so that if there is an outage on the National Grid, Altos can continue to keep its industrial-strength freezers at -70C. As we pass a room of these freezers, I point out that they are conveniently human-sized. Is Walt Disney in that one? I ask. No one laughs.

The superlative sci-fi element, however, is Kens Egg: a wood-panelled, 130-person lecture theatre on the ground floor named after Dr Ken Raj, one of the principal investigators. I felt the egg was good, Raj says. What the auditorium is for is to bring our ideas, to give birth to life.

Those ideas continue to advance. Raj, alongside his colleague Steve Horvath in the US, is an expert in epigenetics, measuring how molecules called methyl groups attach themselves to our DNA as we age. Most peoples DNA methylation age corresponds accurately with their chronological age, but those with diseases such as Parkinsons have an older epigenetic age.

A couple of years ago, the big question was whether the methyl groups are driving the ageing process, or merely a consequence of it. Now, we know. We can see now that yes, the methylation is actually the driver, Raj tells me. Not all of the methylation that happens in your genome drives ageing, but there are methylation genomes that actually do the driving.

Some aspects of the science being pursued at Altos are more controversial than others. Charles Brenner, department chair at City of Hope medical centre in Los Angeles and a vocal critic of lifespan-extending hype, tells me that there is a cart-horse problem with DNA methylation. Theres no evidence to my knowledge that a change in [epigenetic clock] means that a person is going to live longer, he says.

Brenner says that epigenetic resetting is real and will certainly turn into real medicine, such as when your cells are used to create a tissue that has an exact genetic match for, say, your damaged liver. In vivo reprogramming, however, is in his opinion unlikely to ever be tested in humans because everyone who works with these genes knows that they produce tumours and teratomas in the process of producing well-behaved stem cells.

At conferences, Brenner shows his audience a letter from an anti-ageing scientist who claimed: We can control ageing at our caprice its going to revolutionise everything. It was written in 1990. It arguably could have been said by any anti-ageing biotech guy in the last 33 years, he says. And they were all wrong. Despite this, Brenner expects that the excellent scientists at Altos will still discover useful things. However, he says, its not obvious to me what new technologies would making drugging the ageing process to achieve lifespan extension suddenly possible. I suspect that some of the investors were sold a bill of goods.

The political and ethical questions around Altos Labs are equally unsettled. The debates are familiar by now. Proponents see the quest for longevity as morally noble, arguing that it will eventually benefit all humanity. Detractors say theres no evidence to suggest the benefits would trickle down to the non-billionaires.

David Sinclair, chief executive of the International Longevity Centre UK, tells me the key challenge is helping us live better now rather than longer, and that is arguably a policy issue as much as a science issue. The cynical view of Altos and its ilk, he says, is that there are quite a lot of men in their 30s who want to live forever, and that theyre throwing lots of money into this. Actually, if you asked their 95-year-old mums, what would they say? Would they say youre much better off making sure youre doing it well, rather than living longer?

Sinclair believes the investment in Altos is useful, but suggests policymakers will have to tackle the increased inequalities that might result from the science. The people who will have access to it first are the people who are already living longer and are going to be wealthier, he says. At the same time, once you have new medications that work, its very difficult for governments not to offer them.

Is it safe to say these companies have an image problem? Scepticism comes naturally in the field, ever since Herodotus lied (or, if youre being charitable, was duped by a myth) about people bathing in a fountain of youth in the fifth century BC. It also strikes me as noteworthy that so many cultural depictions of eternal life and the quest for immortality, from Gilgamesh to Indiana Jones to Dr Manhattan, are cautionary tales.

Professor Tom Kirkwood, head of the department of gerontology at Newcastle University, tells me that research on ageing is at quite an exciting stage but sometimes the enthusiasm for innovative treatments doesnt pay sufficient regard to what we know already about the complexities of the ageing process. Its a great deal easier to alter the life history of short-lived animals such as fruit flies and mice than to alter the lifespan of humans, after all. As for Altos, Kirkwood believes it has the potential to be slightly disruptive, but, he says, it would not surprise me if it should turn out that for all the investment thats made, the breakthroughs prove to be elusive. Yet he points out that researchers will continue to make bold claims in order to have their work recognised by the capricious attention of the media.

The wacky Bay Area sheen doesnt help either. It brings to mind transhumanists such as Zoltan Istvan, who ran for US president in 2016 promising to conquer death, and philosopher Ingemar Patrick Linden, who calls the suggestion that everyone should die at a natural age appalling. Super-rich investors may not use this precise language, but there is undoubtedly a grain of transhumanism in their thinking. As he stepped down as Amazon CEO in 2021, Bezos urged shareholders to stay nimble, quoting Richard Dawkins: Staving off death is a thing that you have to work at If living things dont actively work to prevent it, they would eventually merge with their surroundings and cease to exist as autonomous beings. That is what happens when they die.

Altoss scientists are all in, obviously. This is what the world needs, Raj says. Bezos and the rest have created lavish sanctuaries for these talents to thrive. And many would see nothing wrong with that. There are far worse ways to be a billionaire: look at Philip Green.

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The billion-dollar search for immortality - UnHerd

Beginning in 2000, after hearing a rumor that Dr. Friedrich Wegener had ties to National Socialism, Dr. Matteson and a colleague spent years combing through World War II archives around the world. They eventually learned that Dr. Wegener was a Nazi supporter who had worked three blocks from the ghetto in Lodz, Poland, and might have dissected victims of medical experimentation. In 2011, several major medical organizations moved to replace Wegeners syndrome with granulomatosis with polyangiitis a mouthful, admittedly. (Wegeners can still be found in the ICD-11.)

The hunt for Nazi names was on. Clara cells, a type of cell that lines the lungs and secretes mucus, were found to be named for a Nazi doctor who experimented on soon-to-be-executed prisoners. The cells were renamed club cells, reflecting their bulbous shape. Reiters syndrome, a form of arthritis caused by a bacterial infection, was renamed reactive arthritis after it was found to have been named for a doctor who performed deadly typhus experiments on prisoners of the Buchenwald concentration camp.

In most cases, the name change fit with medicines growing preference for descriptive terms over honorific ones. Many of us just dont use eponyms because theyre not anatomically informative, said Jason Organ, an anatomist at Indiana University. Rather than a fallopian tube, he said, uterine tube just makes more sense it tells you what it is. In some cases, the inconsistent use of eponyms can even lead to medical errors, Dr. Organ added.

Not all anatomists agree with this slash-and-burn approach. Dr. Sabine Hildebrandt, an anatomical educator at Harvard Medical School, trained in Germany a few years before the legacy of Nazi medicine began coming to light. To her, eponyms provide an opportunity to remind future doctors of the path medicine must never go down again. I would like to see them not as badges of honor, necessarily, but as historical markers as teaching moments, she said.

In the classroom, Dr. Hildebrandt highlights Freys syndrome, one of the rare medical eponyms that celebrates both a female researcher and a victim of the Holocaust. The syndrome, a neurological condition that can cause heavy facial sweating while eating, is named for Lucja Frey-Gottesman, a Polish neurologist who was murdered by the Nazis after being sent to the Lvov ghetto.

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Should Medicine Still Bother With Eponyms? - The New York Times

In some ways, Hazel Sinnetts life has been a privileged one. Shes a young noblewoman from a wealthy family who has been given all the advantages that her familys money can afford.

But, frankly, 17-year-old Hazel hasnt ever taken an easy path. She hasnt simply relied on her attractiveness and position to help her find a suitable husband and start a suitable family. In fact, she has run determinedly away from suitable at every turn.

The idea of healing the human body has always consumed Hazels attention. Shes wanted nothing more than to become a doctor. A surgeon, in factthough she is forbidden to do so in 19th-century Edinburgh. She has lied, deceived, disguised herself as a boy and worked diligently to absorb every shred of medical knowledge she can.

Of course, if Im being absolutely truthful, thats not the only thing Hazel has ever desired. There was also a young man.

Their meeting was, shall we say, unusual. In an effort to procure human corpses to autopsy and learn from, Hazel turned to young Jack Currer, a desperate sort who stole freshly buried bodies from the graveyard for a living. During their secret interactions and late-night conversations, they fell in love. And then everything else fell apart.

Hazel nearly lost her life. And Jack likely did.

Now Hazels world is turned upside down. She is alone.

Amid losing Jack and any chance of accreditation, her clandestine work treating the broken bones, torn flesh and rotting teeth of the poor caused her great trouble. One case brought Hazels activities into the public eye. And it got her thrown in jail for murder.

Hazel is currently wasting to skin-and-bone in a filthy jail cell. She has no one there to help. No one to care. But even as her life wastes away, there is hope. For Princess Charlotte in London is mysteriously ill. And she wont let her male doctors touch her.

Hazel, however, is no male doctor. And even people in the royal court are, lately, whispering about the lady doctor in Scotland. After losing nearly everything, Hazelwho can never be a doctormight just be called to doctor a royal.

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Immortality: A Love Story - Plugged In

How far back do reports of body theft and sale of human remains stretch?

The theft of dead bodies, whether for science, exploration, or nefarious aims, has long been a part of human history. Some forms of excavation are more socially and historically accepted than others, however.

Archaeologists have been digging up graves for centuries. In January this year, archaeologists in Egypt excavated a mummy covered in layers of gold.

Long before medical schools set up donation programs, they obtained cadavers by unsavory methods grave robbing to meet their instructional needs. Grave robbing, especially in Black cemeteries, was common.

In the late 1700s in Massachusetts, dissection of a human body was limited by state law. So several faculty members and students at Harvard University traveled to graveyards and dug up dead bodies to use, according to The Harvard Crimson.

Harvard student Joseph Warren founded the Spunker Club, with the purpose robbing graves for medical research. These men, called resurrectionists, were present across the country, Carney said.

In response to the Spunker Club, Massachusetts enacted the Act to Protect the Sepulchers of the Dead in 1815, outlawing the disturbance of buried people. The medical schools solution to this, the Crimson reported, was purchasing cadavers from New York body snatchers.

As the years went by, more laws were passed to provide easier access to cadavers for medical students. The first was the Anatomy Act of 1831, which allowed students to dissect unclaimed bodies deemed indigent, insane, and imprisoned.

When the ability to transplant organs was achieved, all 50 states adopted the Uniform Anatomical Gift Act in 1968, allowing people to donate their bodies to science.

James Davidson, an archeology professor at the University of Florida, wrote that grave robbing of Black bodies around the Dallas area continued into the early 1900s.

Carney said that 60,000 skeletons were being sold out of Calcutta, India, in the 1980s; the practice was outlawed only after authorities learned that the bodies of many children were among them, he said.

There are little to no reports of people digging up graves in the United States in present day, but a grisly underground market for body parts still exists. A recent Reuters investigation found that the body-breaking industry profits off of poor Americans, offering to cremate bodies for free in exchange for the ability to sell some of the parts for medical research.

Former Harvard Medical School morgue manager Cedric Lodge, 55, is not accused of selling body parts for science; he allegedly was part of a ghoulish black market of curio collectors and crafts artists. According to Carney, that practice has gained popularity in recent years.

Jon Pichaya Ferry, known as JonsBones on TikTok, is one example of a modern-day bone enthusiast. Ferry, who has nearly 500,000 followers on the platform, gained popularity by showcasing his collection of human bones. His website states he only sells legally procured specimens.

Ray Madoff, a professor of law at Boston College and author of Immortality and the Law: The Rising Power of the American Dead, pointed to the complexity in American law surrounding dead bodies.

American law is grounded in this principle, that when a person dies, their body belongs to no one, she told the Globe. This is the foundational principle.

With the Uniform Anatomical Gift Act, people could donate their bodies to medical schools, for example. But once donated, the new owner could use the body how they pleased. There are no legal protections if somebody donated their body for science to an institution that instead chose to use the cadaver as a crash test dummy, Madoff said.

Nobody has a property interest in a dead body, she said. This is what allows these cases to kind of proliferate.

Elllie Wolfe can be reached at ellie.wolfe@globe.com. Follow her on Twitter @elliew0lfe.

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Harvard morgue scandal: The history of selling body parts - The Boston Globe

Yoga is incomplete without Pratyahara (withdrawal of the senses), Dhyana (meditation) and Dharana (focused concentration)

The history of Yoga in Indian culture is more than five thousand years old. Many complex physical diseases and mental disorders can be cured by various yoga asanas, pranayama, deep breathing, meditation, and mindfulness. There is also improvement in the personality. Due to these benefits, the popularity of yoga as a preventive therapy is increasing progressively all over the world. Yoga counsellors have been appointed in allopathic hospitals in many countries around the world including India.

The global popularity of yoga is not without reason, psychologists and doctors themselves have wholeheartedly accepted its positive effects on the body and mind. In the transition period of Covid-19, one can lead a stress-free and happy life by practising yoga. This unique way of life of the Indian sages teaches a person to live happily and also provides liberation to those who move forward on the path of Yoga. The sages created this knowledge for self-welfare so that they can get freedom from the hassle of worldly traffic and lead a prosperous life.

Today, yoga is being spread more in the context of health protection than from a spiritual perspective. There are three stages of yoga education - medicine, immortality, and salvation. After the scientific interpretation of Yoga Vidya, it is being used significantly all over the world to make the body healthy as well as to get rid of mental diseases.

According to a research work published in May 2020, in a prestigious research journal, the 'Indian Journal of Psychiatry', the Lab for Molecular Reproduction and Genetics of the Anatomy Department of AIIMS and the Department of Psychiatry together concluded that the treatment of depressed patients due to genetic causes is also possible through yoga.*

Under this research, a comparative study was done by a group of doctors on 160 patients undergoing treatment for depression. They were divided into two groups of 80 each - One group was restricted to medicine only, while the other group was made to practice yoga asanas for twelve weeks along with medicinal treatment. On completion of the research work, blood samples from both groups were tested. The report gave astounding results. Only 29% of the patients taking only the medicines benefitted, on the contrary, 60% of those who practised yoga along with medicines availed benefits.

*The Corona epidemic resulted in a rapid increase in the patients of depression in all the countries of the world.

By the research of AIIMS, Dr Reema Dada suggested that practising asanas like Surya Namaskar, Mayurasana, Vrikshasana, Tadasana, Bhujangasana, Janushirasana, Pawanmuktasana, Shalabhasana, Paschimottanasana, Anulom-Vilom Pranayama, Bhramari, Kapalbhati can significantly help in curing depression and other diseases like arthritis.

Mayurasan and Ardhamatsyendrasan are considered a panacea for diabetes and abdominal disorders. Apart from physical and mental balance, yoga is also effective in maintaining efficiency, a well-organized routine, and a lifestyle. Yoga has special importance in changing the sanskaras of the mind.

Although India has had many sages of Yoga, the most famous and prominent among them is Maharishi Patanjali. Today, yoga is directly related to disease prevention, keeping the body flexible and healthy. In reality, this is not yoga but only a means of 'Ashtayoga' of Patanjali Yogasutra. Patanjali has specifically defined yoga in the Yoga Sutras 'Yogaschittavrittinirodha' i.e., restraining the violent and malevolent instincts of the mind by practicing Yama, Niyama, Asana, Pranayama, Pratyahara, Dhyana, and Dharana respectively.

On International Yoga Day, emphasis is given to the practice of physical postures and workouts. There is hardly any discussion on Pratyahara (withdrawal of the senses), Dhyana (meditation), and Dharana (focused concentration). Yoga is incomplete without imbibing these three steps of the Yogasutra. It paves the way to make a person's body, mind, subconscious and soul work smoothly in one rhythm. It is a method of establishing an interrelationship between man and nature. Patanjali was an intense psychologist; he observed that man's personal life is full of sorrows. These sorrows are directly related to the change in the mind and so, Patanjali talks about living a disciplined life by methodically practicing the middle way of meditation Ashtanga Yoga.

However, in today's era, yoga is associated with Hinduism, and there is also an attempt to take political advantage of it. But the concept of yoga was born even when the concept of religion was not clear and is used for thousands of years to get rid of physical distress and worldly sorrows. Thus, it is propagated today at the international level due to its positive impact on the health of human beings and the welfare of humanity.

(The writer is a Yoga Expert and Naturopathist. Views expressed are personal)

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Imbibe yoga in its true spirit on the International Yoga Day - Daily Pioneer

Samuel L. Jackson as Nick Fury in Secret Invasion

In the beginning, there was Fury. Samuel L. Jackson made his first appearance as the enigmatic director of S.H.I.E.L.D. 15 years ago, in a post-credits scene at the end of Iron Man. Youve become part of a bigger universe, he told Robert Downey Jr.s Tony Stark. You just dont know it yet. He might as well have been talking directly to the audience.

That moment launched the franchise weve come to know as the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Of course, the MCU has come a long way since then, and so has Nick Fury. As of now, hes appeared in 11 films (The Marvels will make it an even dozen when it comes out in November), plus a handful of TV series and shorts, usually lurking in the background, influencing events with a subtle hand.

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After a decade and a half in the shadows, though, Fury finally steps into a starring role for Secret Invasion, a new series premiering June 21 on Disney+. Before you sit down to watch Marvels take on the spy thriller genre, it may be helpful to track Furys winding journey from soldier to spy to fugitive and back to spy again. If youve caught all of his MCU appearances on the big and small screen, this refresher may help put them in context. And if you havent, it should bring you up to speed on everything hes been up to lately.

Marvel Studios Secret Invasion | Official Trailer | Disney+

Many great comic-book characters have convoluted origins, and Nick Fury is no different. Originally created by Marvel legends Jack Kirby and Stan Lee, he first appeared in 1963 as the star of his own series, Sgt. Fury And His Howling Commandos. Up until 2001, the character was a cigar-chomping Italian-American tough guy who served in World War II, then became a CIA operative, then the leader of a secretive government agency called S.H.I.E.L.D. (the meaning behind the acronym has changed so many times it scarcely matters what it stands for anymore). If youre wondering how he stayed in such great shape all that time, the answer is: its a comic book, dont worry about it. (The actual answer is an immortality drug called the infinity formula, if you really wanna know.)

Story continues

When Marvel launched its Ultimate imprint in 2001, Nick Fury was among the heroes reimagined for a modern era. His redesign was based on the likeness of Samuel L. Jackson. This was years before Jackson had even been approached about playing the character on screen. Before that, the only other actor to portray him in live-action was David Hasselhoff, who starred in a made-for-TV movie on Fox in 1998 titled Nick Fury: Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. After Fury was introduced in the MCU, Jackson became so closely associated with the character that Marvel retired the original version in the comics and replaced him with his son, Nick Fury Jr., who bore a strong resemblance to the Ultimate character, and thus the actor who inspired him. Jacksons Fury had come full circle.

The MCU wouldnt be what it is without Nick Fury. There certainly wouldnt be any Avengers without him. It was Fury who came up with the idea for the Avengers Initiative in the mid-90s, after meeting Carol Danvers (Brie Larson), a.k.a. Captain Marvel, and realizing that the planet needed a powerful defense force to protect it from otherworldly threats. He would later describe it as an idea to bring together a group of remarkable people, to see if they could become something more. To see if they could work together when we needed them to. To fight the battles that we never could.

As weve already mentioned, Fury first approached Tony Stark about the Avengers Initiative at the end of Iron Man in 2008. He plays a bigger role in Iron Man 2, actively assessing Starks suitability for the team with the help of undercover S.H.I.E.L.D. agent Natasha Romanoff (Scarlett Johansson), codenamed Black Widow. Fury ultimately determines that Stark is not a team player, but brings him on as a consultant anyway.

His next recruitment effort is focused on Steve Rogers (Chris Evans) at the end of Captain America: The First Avenger, after hes recovered from the ice thats kept him in stasis for almost 70 years. The last few pieces fall into place in The Avengers, with the additions of Bruce Banner (Mark Ruffalo), Thor (Chris Hemsworth), and Hawkeye (Jeremy Renner). Fury brings them together and gives them something to fight for, but ultimately couldnt keep the team under his control. With Phase One complete, it was on to more shocking revelations and perilous endeavors.

One of the most significant canon events in Nick Furys story happened in Captain America: The Winter Soldier. With the discovery that S.H.I.E.L.D. had been infiltrated by agents of Hydra, Fury becomes a target for elimination by corrupt bureaucrat Alexander Pierce (Robert Redford). He escapes elimination by faking his own death, taking Pierce by surprise before taking him out. Only a handful of trusted allies know the truth, including Steve, Natasha, Sam Wilson (Anthony Mackie), and Maria Hill (Cobie Smulders).

On his way out the door, metaphorically speaking, Fury also pays a visit to his former protege Phil Coulson (Clark Gregg) and gives him a digital toolbox full of classified information. He orders him to rebuild S.H.I.E.L.D. as its new director (though his authority to do that comes into question later). With that accomplished, he heads underground, officially deceased but continuing to operate as a free agent on his own terms.

Fury pops up again in Clint Bartons barn in Avengers: Age of Ultron, to scold Tony for building a sentient murderbot and rally the Avengers after their psychologically crushing defeat at the hands of Wanda Maximoff (Elizabeth Olsen). He also helps them evacuate the residents of Sokovia in the midst of Ultrons attack by providing a helicarrier to take them to safety. Thats the last we see of him for some time.

The next time Fury appears (in chronological time), its in another post-credits scene at the end of Avengers: Infinity War. He becomes one of the unlucky half of the population to disappear after Thanos snap, but not before he sends out a very important distress call via modified pager. That hastily composed message brings Captain Marvel back to Earth and into the Avengers fold. Fury is brought back by Hulks snap in Avengers: Endgame, along with everyone else. His appearance at Tony Starks funeral seems to indicate that hes no longer pretending to be dead, or at least the knowledge of his existence has expanded to a wider circle.

In Spider-Man: Far From Home, Fury investigates a series of attacks by elemental beings in various locations around the world, and recruits Spider-Man (Tom Holland) to help defeat them. But all is not what it seems. The monsters are actually projections created by an egomaniacal scientist named Quentin Beck (Jake Gyllenhaal). Also, the Fury we see in the film isnt actually Fury. Hes Talos (Ben Mendelsohn), a shapeshifting Skrull sent to take his place while Fury vacations on a S.W.O.R.D. space station.

With the exception of a few episodes of the animated series What If...? Nick Fury was largely absent for most of Phase Four. The last we saw of him, he was getting ready to end his space sabbatical and get back to work. Now that Phase Five is underway, we expect to see him back to his old secretive ways, making surprise appearances in post-credit scenes and tying the disparate threads of the MCU together as it builds toward the next big team-up. Weve already seen him in trailers for The Marvels, but there are still six episodes of Secret Invasion to get through before we go back to space. The timelines still a bit murky, but it will eventually sort itself out. Until then, the omniscient spy whose secrets have secrets is keeping it to himself.

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Everything you need to know about Nick Fury as Secret Invasion arrives - Yahoo Entertainment

I hope I am not boring you with my posts on Adipurush, a movie that you seem to hate as I believe it has shown certain things that hurt Hindu sentiments. People have been criticizing Lord Ram and Sitas attire, Bajrang Balis facial hair, and also the way Ravan has been depicted in Adipurush. However, mind it that I am not really praising the action-adventure drama Adipursuh, but I am singing the praises of the original Hindu epic Ramayana, which you must be very well familiar with.

So, in this post, I am presenting some interesting facts about Ramayana which some of you may be familiar with if you are a Hindu like me. I have acquired knowledge of Ramayana over the decades and these are very minor portions of the massive knowledge of Ramayana that I have accumulated. If you want proof of these facts, I would advise you to read Ramayana by yourself.

International researchers have found that the Ramayana, which was written by Sage Valmiki 10,000 years ago, is actually based on a chronicle of events and characters recorded by him. This is not a work of fiction. This really happened during his era.

People justify the existence of Lord Ram with the Ram Setu a.k.a. the Adams Bridge, which is a chain of natural limestone shoals connecting India and Sri Lanka. But the major conflict with this concept lies in the fact that Sri Lanka was not the actual Ravans Lanka. In Ramayana, the location of the island nation of Ravans Lanka is somewhere in the middle of the Indian Ocean where the Mauritius Islands and British Islands are situated at present. So I would like to ask you, how come Lord Ram built the Ram Setu to travel to Sri Lanka when Sri Lanka was not the actual Ravans Lanka? Think logically!

As of now, there is no actual proof of the existence of Lord Ram. But there is proof of the existence of Lord Bajrang Bali. It is said that Bajrang Bali, being an avatar of Lord Shiva, had the superpower to alter his form and assume the height of a behemoth giant and he could even become small like an ant. Near Ashokvan in Sri Lanka, where Ravan was supposed to have kept Sita, there are massive footprints of Lord Bajrang Bali. These footprints are from the time when Bajrang Bali traveled to Lanka to meet Sita. Note that it is still unsure whether Sri Lanka was Ravans Lanka. The footprints are massive! While he walked, the footprints differ as he changed his form from his enormous size to his original size upon reaching Lanka. But does this mean then Sri Lanka was actually Ravans Lanka? Who knows, these all happened very long ago for anybody to estimate the correct facts. If Bajrang Bali was real, and Ravan was real, which I will be proving in the next sections, so was Lord Ram.

Legends say that after rescuing Sita from Ravan, Lord Ram doubted her chastity. She had to go through the Agni Pariksha, which means trial by fire, to prove her purity to her husband. She had to enter a burning pyre to prove herself as pure. She proved her purity as the fire did not burn her, and she came out unscathed.

Legends also say that as Ravan arrived to kidnap Sita, she prayed before the Fire God Agni Dev and the Fire God created her exact double. It was Sitas exact lookalike, not her, whom Ravan had actually taken to Lanka while the Fire God took the real Sita to heaven with him. Therefore, Ram was bound to perform the Agni Pariksha on Sita. When the lookalike of Sita was made to enter the fire, the Fire God destroyed the lookalike and restored the real Sita. This was the actual reason why Ram performed the trial by fire on Sita, according to other legends.

After my research on Lord Hanuman a.k.a Bajrang Bali, who was Lord Rams biggest devotee, I came to the conclusion that he was no half-man and half-monkey. He was a human being just like you and me. A big, tall, sturdy man, even bigger than any giant WWE wrestler you have ever seen. I will now tell you the reason, why he has been depicted as a man-monkey in Ramayana. Actually, he belonged to the Vanar sect of the then society. The word Vanar means monkey and thats the reason people usually imagine him as a monkey. In reality, he was neither a monkey nor a half-man and half-monkey. He was a forest-dwelling man. So, were the other Vanars. Just like Bajrang Bali, they were not chimpanzees, gorillas, and baboons, but they were forest-dwelling men who went with Lord Ram to Ravans Lanka to rescue Sita.

You might have heard of Bollywood star Tiger Shroff. Does his name Tiger mean that he has a head of a tiger and a body of a man? No! Jokes apart, the same is the case with Bajrang Bali a.k.a Hanuman. People simply cant stop imagining him as a half-man and half-monkey just because of the section or caste of the then society to which he belonged as per Ramayana.

When Lord Ram first met Bajrang Bali, he talked to him and was impressed with his wisdom. He told his younger brother Lakshman about Bajrang Bali. Ram asked Lakshman in the Sanskrit language

II Na Ana Rigved Vinitasya Na A Yajurved Dharina

Na A Samved Vidusha Shakyam Evam Vibhashitum II

This means, The person with whom I just talked to was well-versed in all the four Vedas. Who is this enlightened man who is well-trained in the Rigveda, has enormous power to remember the Yaajurvda, and has achieved scholarly knowledge of the Samveda? The manner in which he talked to me, this type of impressive conversation is impossible without Vedic knowledge!

So, do you think that such a learned man who had achieved all the wisdom of this world, can be a monkey? No! Never! Lord Hanuman or Bajrang Bali was a human just like you and me.

Bajrang Bali was the avatar of Lord Shiva. There are tales where Bajrang Bali went to Sita and asked her for some food. Sita then started preparing meals for Bajrang Bali and kept on serving him. But the more she served, the more he ate! This continued until Sita became worried that very soon all her supplies will be over if Bajrang Bali kept on eating like that. Bajrang Bali kept on asking for food and Sita went on serving him. Sita then pleaded before Lord Shiva that if Bajrang Balis hunger is not satiated soon, all her supplies may get over. It was then Lord Shiva appeared behind Bajrang Bali. Sita saw to her amazement that it was Lord Shiva himself who was devouring her supplies, as Bajrang Bali was none other than an avatar of Lord Shiva. Lord Shiva, in fact, was testing her. It was then Lord Ram who gave a tulsi leaf to Sita with his name written on it and asked her to feed it to Bajrang Bali. Upon consuming the tulsi leaf, Bajrang Bali gave a massive belch as his hunger was satiated.

As per Valmikis Ramayana Uttar kand 36.23, Lord Brahma said to the God of the Winds, Your son, Bajrang Bali, will be terrible towards enemies and will be invincible to friends. No one can defeat him in wars! And thats how Bajrang Bali was. He was invincible and possessed divine powers to do things that would seem impossible to anybody.

According to Hindu mythology, Bajrang Bali possesses the gift of immortality. As a celestial being and an incarnation of Lord Shivas divine energy, it has been said that Bajrang Bali will reside on the Gandhamadan mountain in Kaliyug (which is now), transcending the boundaries of time and mortality. You may not believe this but as per reports, he is still alive, but is in the form of energy. He is an avatar of Lord Shiva and so, he is not visible to the naked eye in Kaliyug. It is said that, at present, he is meditating in the mountains.

You must be thinking, what rubbish I am speaking of. These are facts based on my research and let me tell you, I am from a science background. Science does not believe in God. But there are certain things on this planet that science fails to explain.

Ravan was actually a half-Brahmin and half-demon. Thats why he is often referred to as Brahmasur. Ravans father was Vishwashrava, who was a Brahmin and his mother was Kaikasi, who was a demoness.

I would like to clear up the misconception that most people have regarding Ravan. Ravan has been represented as a demon with ten heads. Thats what we think! Because Ravan represents evil, so we imagine him as a demon with ten heads. But this is far from reality. Ravan was a human with great powers, and he lived 10,000 years ago. There is no arguing to the fact that the man was huge! He stood at a staggering height of 16 to 18 feet, thats why he is often represented as a demon. And also because of his evil manners, where tales reveal that he once tried to rape a damsel named Rambha who was the consort of Nalakuvara, the son of the God of wealth Kuber. So, the angry Nalakuvara cursed Ravan that if he tries to even touch any woman without her consent, his head will blow up into pieces. And mind you, in earlier times, the curses of Gods and sages were so powerful that if they cursed someone, that person was sure to be doomed. As a result, after Ravan abducted Sita, he didnt do anything wrong to her. Thats the reason Sita remained pure in Ravans captivity. He never touched her.

Now, I would like to talk about the ten heads of Ravan. You are wrong if you think that Ravan used to have ten heads or that those ten heads appeared whenever he wished them to. Actually, ten heads signify how learned and wise Ravan was. If you think that he was a cruel and wicked ruler, then you are mistaken. As a ruler, Ravan was magnificent, and he was also a great devotee of Lord Shiva. Under him, the kingdom of Lanka shone with gold and prosperity. The ten heads of Ravan actually represent that he had mastered all of the six Shastras and four Vedas in Hinduism. Thats why he is said to possess the wisdom of ten heads. He did not actually have ten heads. Also, Ravan and his kingdom of Lanka depicted in Adipurush are absolutely fake. The kingdom of Lanka shown in Adipurush has been depicted to be covered in darkness and surrounded by monstrous creatures. This is far from reality! The real Lanka. described in Ramayana, used to shine in gold and was the most glamorous kingdom you would have ever seen.

Talking about Ravans existence, he did exist around 10,000 years ago. He had authored books like Ravan Samhita which focuses on Lord Shivas worship, astrology, and medicine. He had also written the book Arka Prakasham which focuses on Siddha Medicine. I have both the books with me and they have been legitimately written by Ravan. I have to tell you, instead of abusing Ravan, if you read the books which he had written, you will become one of the wisest persons in this world. Ravan was also a maestro veena player and he himself had composed the Shiv Tandav Stotram which Hindus chant even today.

If you ask me, I would say that Ramayana may be a semi-fiction that had been woven around a great learned king who ruled over the land of Lanka many years ago. If you think, the airplane was invented by the Wright Brothers in 1903, then too you are mistaken. Ravan had his own airplane in which he had abducted Sita. There was no Godzilla-sized flying vampire bat that has been shown in Adipurush. Ravans airplane was called Pushpak Viman and he used to fly from Lanka to India crossing the Indian Ocean on that. It is said that Ravan actually had stolen the Pushpak Viman from Lord Kuber, the lord of wealth.

Ravans kingdom of Lanka which has been mentioned in Ramayana, was exactly at the location where at present the Mauritius Islands and British Islands are located. It is not the country of Sri Lanka. Who knows, maybe the Mauritius Islands and British Islands were conjoined into the land of Lanka 10,000 years ago.

Ravan had asked for a boon of immortality from Lord Brahma. Lord Brahma politely declined the immortality boon and instead gave Ravan the boon to become invincible. Brahma also said to Ravan that his life would be at his navel. While giving Ravan the boon of invincibility, Brahma mentioned that no God or Demon can kill you, but he forgot to mention human beings! God Vishnu, thus, incarnated himself as Lord Ram and came to earth as a human being to kill Ravan. On the tenth day of the battle between Lord Ram and Ravan, Vibhishan (Ravans younger brother) told Ram to strike an arrow at Ravans navel, thus, killing him.

Now if you ask me, why Ravan kidnapped Sita? Was he so lustful that he would marry her at the cost of his life? No! The fact is that Ravan himself wanted to die at the hands of Lord Ram! Surprised? Well then let me tell you that facts reveal that Ravan actually knew that he was destined to die at the hands of Lord Ram, who was an avatar of God Vishnu. He was told that he would be killed by an avatar of Vishnu, and he knew that the Vishnu avatar was none other than Lord Ram. Thats the reason he abducted Lord Rams wife because he wanted Ram to come for him and kill him. After being killed by Lord Ram, Ravan attained salvation, which means he would never be reborn on Earth ever again. He died at the hands of God!

After Lord Ram shot Ravan, and he was on the verge of dying, Ram told his brother Lakshman to hurry and take blessings, words of wisdom, and life lessons fromRavan.

Lakshman approached the dying Ravan, stood at his head, and said, O the great learned Demon King, do not let your knowledge die with you. Share it with us and wash away your sins. The dying Ravan did not respond to Lakshman and looked away.

An angry Lakshman went back to Ram and told him that Ravan was too arrogant to tell him anything. Ram comforted his brother and asked him softly, Where did you stand while asking Ravan for knowledge? Lakshman said, Next to his head so that I can clearly hear what he had to say.

Now, Ram walked to where Ravan lay. Lakshman watched in astonishment as his elder brother knelt at Ravans feet. With palms folded, he bowed before the dying Ravan. With extreme respect, Ram said to Ravan,O Lord of Lanka, you abducted my wife, a terrible crime for which I have been forced to punish you. Now, you are no more my enemy. I bow to you and request you to share your wisdom with me. Please do that for if you die without doing so, all your wisdom will be lost forever to the world. To Lakshmans surprise, Ravan opened his eyes. He raised his arms to salute Ram and said, If only I had more time as your teacher than as your enemy.

Ravan further continued, Standing at my feet as a student should, unlike your rude younger brother, you are a worthy recipient of my knowledge. I have very little time, so I cannot share much but let me tell you one important lesson I have learned in my life. Things that are bad for you, seduce you easily; you run towards them impatiently. But things that are actually good for you, fail to attract you; you shun them creatively, finding powerful excuses to justify your procrastination. That is why I was impatient to abduct Sita but avoided meeting you. This is the wisdom of my life, O Lord Ram. I salute you, and these are my last words. I give it to you.

It was then Lakshman stood at Ravans feet respectfully and then Ravan narrated to him some life lessons which I am presenting before you.

It has been revealed by the Sri Lankan government that they have kept Ravans corpse preserved in a coffin which is 18 feet long, inside a cave in Sri Lanka. It is not known whether this claim by the Sri Lankan government is legitimate or not.

To end this, I would like to conclude with the saying

II Rmdivat Vartitavya Na Tu Rvadivat II

This means, One should behave like Lord Ram and not like Ravan.

Ram and Ravan are two men of contrasting characters in the Ramayana. Both had knowledge, wealth, and power. Ravan was a great learned man and he had studied the Vedas but he did not possess any sense of modesty or humanity. He tried to rule the three worlds, heaven, hell, and earth all by himself. He used his power to harm the noble and the pious. In contrast, Ram used his power and wealth to serve the people.

And also if you think that Adipurush has been taken from Planet of the Apes, then again you are mistaken. It was actually the Planet of the Apes that was hugely inspired by the Hindu epic Ramayana. Guys, I can go on narrating about Ramayana for eternity. But I believe this much knowledge of Ramayana is enough for the time being. I will see you guys in my upcoming reviews on The Movie Blog!

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Some Interesting Facts On The Hindu Epic Ramayana - The Movie Blog

Do humans need a new Bible written by artificial intelligence (AI)? Biblically, the resounding answer is no. But Professor Yuval Harari, contributing author and conference speaker for the World Economic Forum (WEF), recently claimed otherwise. In a videoed interview, Harari remarked that AI could not only write a new Bible, but also a correct oneimplying that Gods Word is incorrect.

For context, Harari had been explaining how AI is different from all other previous technological breakthroughs because its the first technology that can make decisionsincluding decisions about humansand generate ideas.1 To illustrate, Harari noted that the world-changing breakthrough of the Gutenberg printing press could generate copies of the Bible. But the printing press could not create new content to include in the Bible, nor could it interpret or evaluate the Bible.

However, Harari continued, AI can create new ideas, can even write a new Bible. . . . Throughout history religions dreamed about having a book written by a superhuman intelligence, by a non-human entity. He then stated (although not entirely accurately2) that every religion claims its holy book originated from superhuman intelligence while other religions rely on manmade texts. Harari continued, In a few years, there might be religions that are actually correct, thatjust think about a religion whose holy book is written by an AI. That could be a reality in a few years.3

What should we make of these remarks? Lets look closer at who Harari is and what technology he was talking about, so we can understand these comments significance.

Along with being a historian, futurist, and Israeli university professor, Yuval Harari is a well-known author and contributor to the World Economic Forum. Hes written two popular books, one titled Sapiens that chronicles the (supposed) evolutionary rise of humanity and a second attempting to predict the rise of a new human specieshence the title Homo Deus, meaning God Man.

Noteworthily, Harari does not view this foreseen new human species as divine. He does not believe in any form of supernatural. Instead, he views homo deus as superhuman, much like the Greek gods who were not omniscient or all-powerful, but simply had powers that made them appear godlike to the people in Greek mythology. Harari believes that homo deus will be that kind of person.

While Harari self-identifies as an atheist, the group he is most commonly associated with, the World Economic Forum (WEF), openly courts faith leaders. A range of religious leaders, from Pope Francis to Rick Warren,4 has spoken at the Forums annual meeting in Davos. And Christianity is far from the only religion present at Davos. The Forum collaborates with all faiths. Just what is the WEF?

The WEF is an NGO noted for lobbying governments to enact progressive policies. However, they go far beyond mere lobbying. WEF founder and leader Dr. Klaus Schwab admits that the Forum penetrate[s] the cabinets of world governments to achieve their agenda.5 They do this through a program called the Young Global Leaders. Notable alumni of the program include the current leaders of Canada, France, and Belgium. The program also includes royals from at least two countries (including the crown prince of Norway); journalists from major news organizations like the Washington Post, CNN, and Fox News; CEOs and VPs from major companies like Citi Bank and Verizon; founders of major brands like Airbnb, Facebook, and Wikipedia; parliamentarians from Chile, Israel, Nepal, New Zealand, and Finland; and professors from universities like Harvard, Johns Hopkins, and UC Berkley. Schwab has not just penetrated a handful of cabinets, but the much wider world.6

An organization with tentacles as widespread as the WEFs should be taken very seriously. It is important to know what they are about and why they would care so much about using AI to reprogram religions. It may help to know that in 1974, Dr. Schwab insisted on hosting an openly Communist Brazilian archbishop named Dom Hlder Cmara at the Forum in Switzerlandeven though Switzerlands laws against Communism made Cmaras appearance there illegal.7,8

Many of the ideas espoused by the WEF itself are Marxist or neo-Marxist in nature. For example, Schwab advocates for increased governmental control of economies through public-private partnerships to push society toward desired goals.9 To do this, he calls for what he terms a Great Reset, borrowing from WEF contributor Richard Floridas book of the same name.

Richard Florida explicitly calls for renting instead of home ownership,10 reduction in car travel,11 and reduction in energy consumption.12 His solution to achieve these goals is either a 15-minute city or a 15-minute baseline, where everything you need is within a 15-minute walking/driving distance except in exceptional circumstances.13 The only way to enforce such a system would be checkpoints or a complete change in values, eliminating freedom of movement.

Schwab echoes Richard Floridas desire to reduce private property but goes a step further by openly calling for global governance to fix the issues.14 Harari appears to concur, writing in Homo Deus that the goal of government has morphed into providing people with happiness.15 To ensure this happiness, Harari also calls for a global government.16 To do this, Harari advocates providing chemicals that induce happiness in the brain, either by bioengineering or by turning humans into godlike cyborgs.17 This is transhumanism in a nutshell. Harari postulates a future in which the elites of society are effectively made immortal by medicine and technology while the useless class are cared for by the state.18

The combination of Hararis ideas about happiness and the Marxian reduction of private property led the WEF to release a video in which the sentences Youll own nothing. And youll be happy featured prominently.19 Importantly, these ideas are not new but have been part of a long-running agenda openly linked to spiritual darkness. As this article documents, a prominent nineteenth-century advocate for communism named Robert Owen wrote that sance spirits he communicated with endorsed a globalist form of socialism in which people would essentially own nothing and be happy. The spirits told Owen that they would gradually persuade people to adopt this scheme, even if nobody believed Owen at first.

Now were apparently watching that prediction unfold in real time. The WEFs deadline for many of their stated goals is 2030as of this writing, less than seven years away.20

The problem the WEF and other likeminded organizations has is that the vast majority of the worlds population is religiousand religion tends to value private property and human rights, at least to some extent. The Bible is explicit that both life and property are inviolate and cannot be taken without process of law. The Ten Commandments clearly state that both murder and theft are wrong, with no exceptions. The WEF recognizes that the values people hold often come directly out of their faiths.21 Therefore, faiths must change.

Correspondingly, the WEF partners with world leaders to change the religious practices of a given faith to better suit their agenda. During the Ebola crisis in West Africa, faith leaders were coopted to change burial practicesostensibly to reduce death tolls, even though people felt that their religious convictions were being violated.22 Whether the burial practices were causing extra deaths is immaterial. The point is, religious convictions were reshaped, from the top down, to suit the agenda of an outside group. What has happened once, can and will happen again.

Put into context, Hararis comments about AI seem much more concerning. Harari views himself as a prophet, proclaiming potential doom unless humanity does something. He views religion in general with disfavor, but the idea of an AI-generated religious book that lacks what he terms the myths of other religions appears more palatable. Such an idea would also align with the WEFs stated goals. After all, an AI-generated religious text could be programmed to promote the values of the WEF: lack of private property, restricted freedom of movement, and transhumanism. These values also meld perfectly with Hararis view that liberty, including cognitive libertyalong with equality and rightsis a socially constructed myth.23 Keep in mind, Harari said such a religion would be essentially correct. He does not believe in absolute right and wrong, so the only correct is that which aligns with his views.

Essentially, AI is software programmed in ways that try to replicate human intelligence.24 Like an artificial brain, AI can be designed to receive sensory input from devices like cameras or microphones, interpret the data, and perform specific actions in responseincluding by means of an artificial body (a robot).

Weak AI, which is programmed to perform highly specific tasks, is already widespread. But strong AI, which would theoretically equal or surpass human intelligence, is still speculative. Weak AI relies mainly on rote learning, or memorizing information from past experiences to solve specified problems. Strong AI, however, would supposedly achieve general intelligencethe ability to apply knowledge from past experiences to solve new problems.

Already, some researchers believe they have found sparks of general intelligence in ChatGTP-4.25 This program, the latest version of the AI language model thats been making global shockwaves, can generate complex written content in secondsincluding stories, poems, movie plots, essays, sermons, answers to abstract questions, and much more.

Just what is ChatGPT? While the chat part alludes to the programs function as an advanced chatbot, the GPT bit stands for generative pre-trained transformer. Transformer indicates the type of AI system involved, which is designed to work like an artificial network of neurons (brain cells). Pre-trained means the program has already learned to function by analyzing massive sets of datain this case, text from sources across the internet. And generative refers to the programs ability to create humanlike written materials based on that data.

Ultimately, AI is a toolalbeit an incredibly powerful one. And like any tool, humans can apply AI (whether intentionally or unintentionally) for helpful or harmful purposes.

Already, a wide range of AI applications exist to make tasks easier, quicker, and more efficient. Current or prospective AI technologies may benefit multiple fields including medicine, agriculture, business, finances, education, and the military. For instance, one research team observed that AIs benefits for medicine alone include improving diagnostic accuracy, detecting diseases before they express, improving prevention, designing patient-centred care pathways, enhancing epidemiology, supporting population health management, and reducing the negative impact of social determinants of health.26 However, the researchers continue, The same technologies pose some critical threats to patient privacy and safety, care providers safety from liability, opportunities for employment, patient engagement, clinician trust and scientific progress itself.27

These observations highlight how even within one field, the same technology can harbor both benefits and risks we need to consider if were to use the technology wisely. One foreseeable risk, for instance, is that growing reliance on AI for written content may contribute to a dumbed-down society of people who cannot think, research, or communicate for themselvesand are therefore easy to control. Professor Harari also noted several additional risks in the interview quoted above, explaining how abuses of AIs abilities (including its potential for manipulating peoples political opinions) could undermine democracy, fuel an arms race between nations, and leave only dictatorships surviving.28

Others fear even worse scenarios. For instance, a recent opinion editorial published by Scientific American claimed,

Still others, however, laud these qualities in hopes of creating AI gods. For instance, as AiG has previously reported, Elon Musk has stated that Larry Page, a cofounder of Google, wanted AI programmers to develop digital super-intelligence, basically a digital god, if you will, as soon as possible.30 If mixed with humans, the goal could be to create the homo deus that Harari writes of.

Gods Word clearly answers such attempts to elevate creationincluding human creationsto a godlike status. Here are just a few examples:

Although far more sophisticated than the statue idols that people in biblical times worshipped, digital gods are still the works of human handslifeless things that cannot love, cannot save, and cannot redeem creation from its sin-cursed state.

Relatedly, because AI programs have human developers and rely on text from human authors, AI is prone to being tainted by the errors and biases of fallen, finite, fallible humans. (You can see just a few important examples of these errors and biases in this video with AiGs Bryan Osborne.)

For all these reasons, humans must not fall into the trap of looking to AI as the ultimate authority for truth. Only the Word of our all-knowing, infinite, infallible God can fill that role. But voices like Professor Hararis seem to suggest that AI should function as humanitys authority for truthat least, for spiritual truthby generating new holy books. Harari cannot say these books would be correct without setting himself as the authority for truth above Gods Word, as humans have attempted to do since Eden.

Even without overtly worshipping AI or revering AI-generated text as a holy book, Christians may still fall into the trap of looking to AI for other forms of spiritual leadership. Recently, for instance, a church in Germany hosted a service entirely produced by AIfeaturing AI worship leaders, an AI pastor, and an AI-generated sermon. Such services not only harbor the risk of importing biased, unbiblical messages into the teachings rather than rightly handling the word of truth (2 Timothy 2:15), but AI church also contradicts the biblical concept of church. Biblically, church is not a spectator sport where people download entertainment and information from whatever sourcehuman or digitalhappens to provide it. Church is the fully human body of Christ, who gather in fellowship around the worship, Word, and remembrance of our fully divine and fully human Savior. Robots do not belong either as participants in the pews or pastors in the pulpits.

On that note, another way churches might forfeit spiritual leadership to AI is if pastors increasingly use AI to generate sermons. While AI could be applied for helpful purposes to assist with research, summarizing sources, or similar tasks, pastors who relegate their exegetical duties to AI put themselves and their congregations in danger on multiple levels. For starters, conceding spiritual authority to AI opens the door for unbiblical (or simply non-factual) teachings to reach congregantsespecially if pastors are not staying in the Word themselves to catch such errors. But perhaps more significantly, reliance on AI cheats the pastor out of his biblical responsibility to study to show himself approved, diving into the Word of God for himself to become complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work.31

In summary, Hararis recent calls for an AI-generated Bible did not appear in isolation but are embedded in a much broader agenda that sets up humans (or human technology) as the authority for truth. This agenda, apparent in the openly stated goals of the WEF, envisions a new form of humanity united under a system of global governance, shared property, and manmade spirituality. These realities highlight the appeal of an AI-authored holy book which could provide spiritual guidance in line with the worldview beliefs specified for the new society.

AI would make for an especially compelling spiritual leader figure for this type of society, as AIs superhuman-like powers might easily distract people from the reality that its answers are not neutral but the result of programming by fallible, fallen, biased humans. AI is not God, cannot function as humanitys authority for truth, and must not be treated as a spiritual leader.

What does all this mean for Christians? First, although the scope and scale of these realities are certainly daunting, Christians must rest assured that God is sovereign over his creation, none of this surprises him, and he will not allow human schemes to unfold apart from his purposes. As the tower of Babel reminds us, human ambitions to apply technology in hopes of collectively ascending to Gods level are nothing newand God can easily thwart them if he so chooses.

Christians can also respond by continuing to faithfully study and stand on the actual Word of God, remembering to apply biblical critical thinking in recognition of AIs fallibility. Along the way, were also wise to keep our research, writing, and communication skills sharp rather than dull our God-given mental capacities by increasingly outsourcing such tasks to AI. Pastors, especially, must not fall into the trap of letting AI take over their biblical responsibilities. Finally, Christians can approach these times as opportunities to share the gospel, pointing others to the true hope for humanity that digital gods can never offer.

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Will AI Become Our New Gods? - Answers In Genesis

The Woodlands is home to a growing number of critically-acclaimed restaurants. But what's growing on the side of its roadways can often be just as delicious.

Spring resident Mark Vonderbuggen as been teaching Texans how to forage through his blog, Foraging Texas, since 2008, although he's been foraging since he was a child in Minnesota. He's trained several competitors for survival show "Alone" but isn't allowed to compete himself because he may be too knowledgeable, Vonderbuggen said.

Within a two-hour walk, Vonderbuggen can identify dozens of edible herbs, vines, trees and fungi during his foraging classes at the Spring Creek Nature Center.

Foraging helps residents learn about vital foods and medicinal plants in the event of a catastrophe. It also keeps residents in touch with their environment and aligns with Houston's culture of food exploration.

"Back (in 2008) it was equal amounts of hippies and survivalists because both have their concerns about the situation, and then it branched out into adventure eaters, foodies, bartenders, home schoolers, bush crafters," Vonderbuggen said. "Now it's basically like everyone has become a survivalist together just with the way the world is going."

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More easily recognizable native plants include muscodine grapes, rabbiteye blueberries, blackberries, persimmons, and nuts such as pecans. Texas is the state with the second-highest plant diversity in the nation, Vonderbuggen said, and many less popular plants are just as tasty.

When cooked, a common vine called greenbriar tastes similar to asparagus, Vonderbuggen said, while edible turks cap flowers have leaves that can be eaten like spinach. Some plants, like the Texas mallow, are good for maintaining glucose levels for any diabetics stuck in the woods.

In the event of a zombie apocalypse, calorie-dense foods include various seeds and nuts, like pine nuts, and the "heart" of dwarf palmettos, which grow throughout the swamps of southeast Texas.

Common edible mushrooms include bright yellow chantarelles and oyster mushrooms. To learn more about edible mushrooms, The Woodlands residents can attend a class from Texas Master Naturalist and township resident Teri MacArthur, who is Vonderbuggen's mentor and one of the top mushroom experts in Texas.

Vonderbuggen holds a doctoratein physical organic chemistry and sells natural supplements through his brand, Medicine Man. Some popular natural medicinal plants include Japanese honeysuckle, which can treat respiratory issues; spiderwort, which was used by Native Americans to treat insect bites treat anxiety and aid with stomachaches; and reishi mushrooms, which was dubbed the "elixir of immortality" in ancient East Asia.

Some nonedible plants can mimic edible ones, so it's important to know for sure before eating any wild plant, Vonderbuggen said. Common mistakes include eating dog fennel, which looks similar to fennel, and Chinese privet, which resembles yaupon holly, an edible plant that contains caffeine.

Vonderbuggen recommends recognizing 5 to 6 structural features on a plant and 8 to 10 on any fungi before eating.

In The Woodlands and the rest of Texas, foragers are also limited to roadsides or private property. Vonderbuggen said some law enforcement or landowners may not be aware of the roadside law, however, and that private property with permission is best. Vonderbuggen has a list of private property that allows foraging on his site.

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With foraging space often risky and limited, Joshua Reynolds helps residents bring foraging techniques to their own backyard.

Reynolds began permaculture business Texas Edible Landscapes by accident after his daughter experienced what seemed to be a mysterious allregic reaction to food. When buying all organic became too expensive and traditional gardening too hard, Reynolds came across permaculture, or the development of more sustainable and self-sufficient agricultural methods.

Reynolds studied under renowned permaculturist Geoff Lawton in Australia; now, he helps clients from The Woodlands and Magnolia to Nicaragua grow food within walking distance of their kitchen. Some plants that work best with Houston's subtropical climate include peach, plum and avocado trees, blueberries and herbs, Reynolds said.

For his first project in The Woodlands, Reynolds was worried that township restrictions and heavy shade would affect the final product. But by combining traditional landscaping with gardening, he was able to create what looked like a naturally wooded front yard.

"We were actually able to utilize the front yard using plants that were both edible and ornamental, so that it looked pretty and fit the theme of The Woodlands being a wooded property," Reynolds said. "We were able to use shrubs and small trees and herbs that were beautiful, but also edible at the same time. The project turned out awesome."

Part of Reynolds' services includes creating a food forest, an ancient method which involves creating different edible canopy layers to mimic a forest's edge. Food forests and other permaculture techniques require more work up front, but are eventually simpler and more beneficial to the environment than maintaining a garden.

It's also better for the environment, attracting pollinators and other wildlife while maintaining a low carbon footprint, Reynolds said.

"This is an oil industry, it's an oil town, and when I first got started in 2016, permaculture design was a tough sell because everybody was like, 'I'll just go to the store and buy it,'" Reynolds said. "But we have a lot of sustainably-minded people now in the area who don't want to contribute to the issues of artificial fertilizers or organic fertilizers. They want to grow more eco-friendly with native species."

claire.partain@houstonchronicle.com

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There's food growing in The Woodlands. Here's how to forage for it ... - Houston Chronicle

Tulisha srivastava

Published: 2023-06-19T15:42:49

Updated : 2023-06-19T15:45:25

One Pieces recent chapter hints Imu is immortal and has been around since the Void Century. However, there is only one source of immortality in the entirety of One Piece: Trafalgar Laws Op-Op Fruit.

Since the Final Saga of One Piece began, fans have been learning more about the mysterious ruler of the world, Imu. One Piece chapter 1084, reveals that Imu has some sort of connection with Queen Lili of Arabasta.

Even now, the series has yet to reveal the true identity of the person sitting on the Empty Throne. However, their powers are unlike anything in the world.

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Considering the long-standing history of the World Government as well as Imus role in it, the possibility of Imu being immortal is almost certain at this point. Furthermore, Shonen anime have a reputation for introducing final villains as immortals.

Op-Op Fruit is a powerful Paramecia-type devil fruit that allows the user to perform miraculous surgeries, cure untreatable diseases, and even circumvent physical disabilities.

The previous users of this devil fruit have always been doctors. Even Trafalgar Law can use this power efficiently because of studying medicine since childhood.

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However, Op-Op Fruit is also called the Ultimate Devil Fruit for granting the power of immortality to at least one individual. This is why this devil fruit is costly and highly sought after among marines and pirates alike.

Op-Op Fruit is the only source of immortality in the entire series, and the user can decide to either make themselves immortal or another person at the cost of their lives.

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Eiichiro Oda introduced the concept of immortality through the Op-Op Fruit. However, the revelation itself was too random that it seemed odd. Oda never adds anything redundant in One Piece.

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The fact that he decided to reveal the true powers of Laws devil fruit in the Dressrosa Arc means he has something major planned for the Final Saga. Theres no way for Imu to be the user of Op-Op Fruit because it wouldnt have reappeared if the user made themselves immortal.

Therefore, it is highly likely that someone from the Void Century with the power of the Op-Op Fruit used it to make Imu immortal at the cost of their own life.

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Furthermore, in One Piece chapter 1086, Ivankov speculates that Imus full name isSaint Imu of House Nerona, one of the rulers of the twenty allied nations. Ivankov also shows a book to Sabo and mentions an ability that can grant eternal youth. Its most likely the Op-Op Fruit since its the ability with such power.

One Piece can currently be streamed onCrunchyroll. In the meantime, check out our other anime coverage below:

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