Lifeboat Foundation

Is a film based on a video game with fleeting mentions of a biotech buzzword compelling sci-fi? No. But I liked Rampage anyway.

The use of CRISPR to edit genes is perhaps the only novel plot point in this latest monster movie. An evil head of a biotech company subverts a scientist’s work to fashion a bioweapon that revs up the growth hormone gene, and more, in three unfortunate animals. Cue Godzilla, King Kong, and the beast in Lake Placid.

But the screenwriters seem to confuse gene editing with an infectious bioweapon, like anthrax. The tagline at IMDb reveals the befuddlement: “When three different animals become infected with a dangerous pathogen, a primatologist and a geneticist team up to stop them from destroying Chicago.” Infectious disease, genetic modification, or both?

These could definitely exist and their fuel is everywhere.

The dark-matter engines are engines created by Professor Farnsworth for the Planet Express ship. Fueled by dark matter, the engines allow the ship to travel vast distances very quickly by moving the universe around the ship (rather than the ship around the universe). The Professor also has an emergency engine, though he may have pawned it. As of Bender’s Game these have been converted to use whale oil.

The case for creating a United States Space Force is compelling. The United States military’s ability to wage war has become increasingly reliant on satellites. Navigation, reconnaissance, and communications are all handled by space assets. The world economy has become dependent on space satellites. The Internet consists of servers throughout the world linked by satellite constellations. Knock out those satellites and commercial companies’ ability to do business becomes seriously compromised. The space version of Pearl Harbor could reduce the United States to developing-world status in a single blow.

China and Russia, the main enemies of the United States in a potential conflict, are busily developing weapons systems to destroy America’s space infrastructure. Indeed, remote jamming may well do the job without resorting to a direct strike. The potential for jamming is a reason why Pence mentioned the development of jam-proof satellites in his speech. In all, Pence proposed an investment of $8 billion in new space systems during the next five years. The money is likely to be just a down payment for creating a new military branch that would achieve President Trump’s dream of achieving American space dominance.

The idea of a United States Space Force brings science fiction visions of American military personnel doing battle against an enemy in space. Indeed, the joke that has become common on social media is that President Trump is proposing to create nothing less than Star Fleet, the organization made famous in the Star Trek franchise of movies and TV shows.

Usually when a star from Star Trek: The Next Generation tweets it is usually for some fun fact or a bit of promotion. But, Marina Sirtis came to the social media platform with some sad news. Her husband Michael Lamper has passed away at the age of 61. Lamper was both a guitarist and an Acamarian Gatherer on an episode of The Next Generation in the third season. This development is quite shocking and sad for fans who enjoyed both her work as Deanna Troi on The Next Generation and her husband’s appearance in an episode as well. Everyone has a favorite episode and “The Vengeance Factor” is probably it for someone out there.

It’s easy to imagine advances in AI will have an impact on strategy games and digital versions of board games like Chess and Go, but one of the most interesting implementations of AI technology I’ve seen so far is a text adventure.

AI Dungeon 2 by Nick Walton uses OpenAI to simulate an old-school text adventure of the Zork variety, only instead of having to read the designer’s mind to figure out what to type to use this thing on that thing, you write plain English and get results. It helps to start sentences with verbs but you’ll get a response to basically anything, and that response is likely to be surprising. I played a wizard exploring a ruin and within a handful of turns I’d found out I was responsible for the state of these ruins and confronted a younger version of myself.

NASA astronaut Nicole Stott examines scenes depicting space from movies and television and breaks down how accurate they really are. What actually happens when your helmet cracks in space like in Total Recall? Are the spacewalks in Gravity realistic? Could there really be AI on a space station like in 2001: A Space Odyssey?

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Lee Se-dol retires from the game of Go after conceding that computers “cannot be defeated”.

Su is laser-focused on where she wants to take AMD by 2025 when she will reach her 10th year as CEO. “What I like to always say is that the best is yet to come,” she says, beaming. “Our goal is to really push the envelope.”

Watch the video above for more from my interview with Su.

AMD is on a roll with its high tech chips powering PCs, data centers and gaming consoles, and the stock surging 80 percent in 2019.

When competing, it makes sense to compete on/with that worth competing (for). AI or not, it doesn’t matter.

The South Korean Go champion Lee Se-dol has retired from professional play, telling Yonhap news agency that his decision was motivated by the ascendancy of AI.

“With the debut of AI in Go games, I’ve realized that I’m not at the top even if I become the number one through frantic efforts,” Lee told Yonhap. “Even if I become the number one, there is an entity that cannot be defeated.”

Continue reading “Former Go champion beaten by DeepMind retires after declaring AI invincible” »