Lifeboat Foundation

The central problem quantum state engineering is trying to solve, says Ryan Glasser is “what do I need to do to get my quantum system to be in the state I desire?” Researchers hope ManQala, a version of the ancient game mancala, has answers. (Credit: Tobias Tullius/Unsplash)

The game mancala may have originated as far back as 6,000 BCE in Jordan and is played around the world to this day. It consists of stones that players move between a series of small pits on a wooden game board. The point of the game is to get all the stones into the last pit at the end of the board.

Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/seanmcarroll.
Blog post with audio player, show notes, and transcript: https://www.preposterousuniverse.com/podcast/2023/08/07/ama-august-2023/

Welcome to the August 2023 Ask Me Anything episode of Mindscape! These monthly excursions are funded by Patreon supporters (who are also the ones asking the questions). We take questions asked by Patreons, whittle them down to a more manageable number — based primarily on whether I have anything interesting to say about them, not whether the questions themselves are good — and sometimes group them together if they are about a similar topic. Enjoy!

Continue reading “Mindscape Ask Me Anything, Sean Carroll | August 2023” »

Developed by Pixar, Universal Scene Description (USD) is the first open-source software that can robustly and scalably interchange 3D scenes that may be composed of many different assets, sources, and animations, while fostering highly collaborative workflows.

At Pixar, engineers work hand in hand with artists to create innovative technologies, tools, and pipelines that make our films. In this clip from Toy Story 4, millions of models, textures, lights, and colors are possible because of the power of USD architecture.

Continue reading “Pixar Animation Studios” »

Today I’m checking out Replica’s AI-Powered Smart NPCs in their impressive new demo for unreal engine 5. In my opinion will quickly change the landscape of gaming and bring a whole new layer of depth to the already impressive worlds we all enjoy. I hope you enjoyed this look into the roots of AI in gaming, thanks for watching and liking.

Download the Demo &

Continue reading “Talking to Intelligent AI NPCs with Real Thoughts & Emotions — REPLICA” »

Dumbphones seem to be making a return.

Call someone, right after a quick game of Snake.

In an art world conquered by Artificial Intelligence, Claire takes a final stand against the new status quo.

A sci-fi short film created with the help of AI.

Continue reading “The Last Artist — AI Assisted Sci-Fi short film” »

For a recovering gamer like me, one of the most exciting applications of generative AI is dynamic dialogue. I’m not suggesting AI replace writers — goodness forbid. But as anyone who’s sunk hundreds of hours into an RPG can tell you, scripted NPC interactions get old fast.

There are a few startups prototyping AI tech to dynamically generate dialogue. But one of the more promising is Inworld, launched in 2021 by the founding team of API.AI, which developed tools for speech recognition and natural language understanding until its acquisition by Google in 2016. (API.AI later became Dialogflow, Google’s flagship conversational AI design platform.)

Inworld claims to use “multiple” machine learning models to “mimic the full range of human communication.” That’s promising a lot in the context of games, but the startup makes the case that, by allowing developers to link its dialog-and voice-generating tools to animation and rigging systems within popular game engines, including 3D environments, it can help deliver more lifelike and immersive gaming experiences.

Original Motion Picture — Score from the movie Blade Runner (1982)
Expanded Version.
Composed by Vangelis.

Enjoy!

It took Nicolas Neubert seven hours to make it his living room.