Chronorama/ How AI Will Transform Science/ A Turning Point in Neuroscience/ Autonomous Robot Surgeons?/“Jurassic Park” Becoming Reality 30 Years Later
Massimo Portincaso
Founder & CEO at Arsenale, Industrial Romantic and Antidisciplinarian Stoic
Chronorama. I am in Venice for work, and I managed today to visit the?Chronorama?exhibit at Palazzo Grassi, built around the Condé Nast photo collection, recently acquired by the Pinault Collection
Chronorama is an exhibit of over 400 works spanning seven decades?which?compiles?the?visual narrative of the 20th century. It showcases photos?originally published on?the pages of Vogue, Vanity Fair, and other Condé Nast publications. The photos were?taken by legendary photographers such as Edward Steichen, Diane Arbus, and Irving Penn.??
I am very passionate about photography, and as I have written previously, I do think that we run the risk to enter the “Realverse”,?a realm curated by generative AI that delivers hyper-realistic?photo-like, albeit artificial, realities.?
While looking at the beautiful photos (and some illustrations) of the exhibit, I could not stop thinking about the risks and the perils of the “Realverse”.??In my mind, I was constantly going from the authentic past and humanity in front of me, in the exhibit,?and?the?GenAI?artificially synthesized present?we are increasingly confronted with, prompting?me to question our relationship with images and how we decipher reality.
The images, once mere magazine content, now find themselves elevated to the stature of art?as part of the exhibit. But they do more than just sit pretty; they?somehow?challenge the status quo, something that I profoundly like.
In fact, while these images were conceived in an age where the camera was a mere instrument of factual capture,?Chronorama?invites the viewer to look beyond. The glossy photos unfold stories of eras past, the evolving tastes, the art movements, the societal norms. They embody the zeitgeist of the 20th century, an era that witnessed the burgeoning power of the visual image and its language, with the?shift?of?the narrative from the written word to the visual image.?
The fashion of Cubism, the resurgence of Neoclassical corsets, the Art Deco's sway on city architecture, and the advent of miniskirts as a symbol of sexual liberation - all were reflections of cultural change. These images didn't just represent the aesthetic sensibilities of their time, but they were also a testament to the evolving societal narratives.
Now, we?are just about to enter?a?time when the lines between the 'real' and the 'Realverse' blur, as we undergo an even more profound transition than the one at the beginning of the 20th?century from the written word to the visual image. The problem is that we are not prepared for it yet.?The pervasive use of AI to generate realistic imagery pushes the boundaries of our visual experience and the very understanding of reality. The once clear distinction between a photograph - a captured moment of reality, and an illustration - an artist's imagined world, now appears to wane.
And this is why I particularly enjoyed Chronorama: it?challenged?me?to ponder. As we transition from the era of photographic authenticity to one that dances with AI-generated illusions, how does our interpretation of images change? Do the artificial landscapes of the 'Realverse' diminish the value of the 'real', or do they underscore the importance of authenticity in a world increasingly veiled by digital deception?
Curator Matthieu Humery describes the experience of?Chronorama?as a dream-like journey through time. It provides a sensory overload, much like the one experienced in the Realverse, yet it carries the authenticity of the tangible past. It's a stark contrast to the AI-generated images of today, reminding us of the visceral connection we share with real images, with real history.
Chronorama, for me,?is more than an exhibition; it's a gateway that traverses time and technology. It compels us to reflect on the past and confront the future - a future veering towards artificial visuals. In doing so, it raises the critical question: In this transition from real to?Realverse,?shouldn’t we put all our efforts into going from being?merely consumers of images,?to becoming?explorers seeking truth and meaning in them?
In essence,?Chronorama?is a timely reminder of the value of photographic authenticity in an age intoxicated by AI-generated realities. It emphasizes that while the?Realverse may?one day?fascinate?and attract?us with its limitless potential, it's the 'real' that truly connects us to our collective past and?present, and to our?humanity. And as we move towards a world that?seems to blend?the?real and the Realverse more and more, perhaps it's?more and more?essential to keep these connections?alive.
PS: I had to re-feature an article about the connectome of the fruit’s fly as I am totally fascinated by it, after?Arkady’s guest post?a while back
Ex-Google CEO?Eric Schmidt?predicts that “with the advent of AI, science is about to become much more exciting — and in some ways unrecognizable.” In a thorough overview of recent AI-fueled scientific innovation, Schmidt highlights advances such as climate modeling using a “digital twin for the entire planet,”?identifying new antibiotics?that resist traditional treatment, and how?controlling plasma?in nuclear fusion could bring us “closer to a clean-energy revolution.”
Despite AI’s enormous potential for good, Schmidt has?previously said that?AI poses an “existential risk — defined as many, many, many, many people [being] harmed or killed.” He strongly advocates “smart, well-informed regulation — on both tech giants and open-source models — that doesn’t keep us from using AI in ways that can be beneficial to science.” But, Schmidt says, “Government regulators are currently woefully underprepared to enact proper laws.”
News items:
One result of the?wildfires?engulfing?much of Canada?was NYC earning the dubious distinction of having the?world’s worst air quality?for a day. The event inspired countless?dystopian social media visuals, but “the?leading sources?of?unhealthy air?in the United States are fossil-fuel-powered transportation and electricity generation.” The above chart, based on a recent?American Lung Association report?illustrates how much a faster “transition to EVs and a clean energy grid” would reduce emissions of “some of the most common [air quality] pollutants.”?
“With?86B neurons, the human brain “is by far the most complex organ in the body.” A recent “breakthrough?in brain-mapping using AI… could be the first step in a revolution in neuroscience and medicine.” Using a tool called?FlyWire, researchers were able to create a “connectome” — a complete map of the neural pathways in a fruit fly’s brain.
A connectome of the human brain is a ways away — a mouse is next on the agenda. But if a human connectome can be built, “it will shake the world of science and medicine in the way the sequencing of the human genome did.”
News items:
An interview with?Matt Wood, VP of Product at AWS, about “Amazon’s long game strategy… in the escalating AI battle between tech giants.” By curating “the best [GenAI] models out there” for a new AWS tool called?Bedrock, customers can now “combine models from Amazon and third parties in ways that are interesting and novel.”
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Since robots first entered operating [rooms] in 2001, they have “revolutionized the practice of surgery.” Currently the most widely used,?Intuitive Surgical’s?Da Vinci?robot enables surgeons to perform heart bypasses and “remove cancerous tissue?nearly impossible to reach otherwise.” The ability of robots to help perform keyhole surgery has led to?reduced recovery time?in a variety of complex procedures.
Traditionally, human surgeons are behind the controls of surgical robots, but in 2022, the Smart Tissue Autonomous Robot?(Star)?successfully performed?“one of the most intricate and delicate tasks in surgery: the reconnection of two ends of an intestine” without the “guiding hand of a human.” With the recent advances in AI, “the surgeon’s role in the OR may change altogether.” But change is likely to be incremental. “For now, it’s probable that technological progress in the OR will come in the form of minor enhancements to the existing model of practice.”
News items:
GPT-4 is already changing the way that many people write. Could it also change the way people see??Ask Envision uses GPT-4 and?Envision Glasses?to “take in images and text and output conversational responses.” Envision is just one of the AI-powered tools that could give visually-impaired people “far more visual details about the world around them—and much more independence.” But using LLMs to interpret visual information comes with risks.
Jurassic Park: Richard Attenborough, Laura Dern, and Sam Neill, 1993?(Universal/Everett Collection)
Colossal’s mission to resurrect the wooly mammoth continues to capture media attention. In this?Colossal?origin story written by co-founder Ben Lamm, he describes how his childhood obsession with Jurassic Park led to a partnership with Harvard professor?George Church?30 years later. And how Colossal’s team of “over 100 scientists” are “on the brink of de-extincting animals.”
Church “pioneered the field” of synthetic biology, and some of his?early work?“was actually featured in the first?Jurassic Park?novel.” For “superfans” of the film, Lamm highlights similarities (and differences) between Colossal’s real-world efforts to bring animals back from extinction and Steven Spielberg’s imaginary world.
News items:
According to Google: “Marketers have been integrating?AI-powered products?into nearly every aspect of their work… for years.” This overview explores how “how interdisciplinary creative teams” from three global marketing agencies incorporate the latest AI tools into their workflows.
Can “aggressive government policies” like the?CHIPS and Science Act?make the US “competitive in… chip manufacturing again,” increase well-paid employment opportunities, and “ultimately, widen economic prosperity?” Four $25B chip fabs?being built by Micron?in upstate NY are about to put the theory to “an economic test.”
Syracuse has “the?highest child poverty rate?among large US cities” and “the second-highest rate of families living on?less than $10,000 a year.” Micron CEO?Sanjay Mehrotra?pledged that “the fabs will create 50,000 jobs in the region over time” and predicts “this is really going to be a major transformation for the community.”
News items:
Comedian and author?Sarah Silverman?doesn’t find OpenAI and Meta’s use of her books in their LLM training datasets funny. Silverman is?suing both companies?for copyright infringement, alleging that, among other things, ChatGPT summarized her books when prompted without including any “copyright management information.” Silverman is joined in the suit by two other bestselling authors,?Christopher Golden?and?Richard Kadrey.
Researcher | Consulting Advisor | Keynote | Chief Innovation / Learning Officer. AI to Transform People's Work and Products/Services through Skills, Knowledge, Collaboration Systems. AI Augmented Collective Intelligence.
1 年Great collection and opening. The question of "what does reality feel like" compared to its digital alternative is ever more salient. The answer starts from the neurological and biological underpinnings of perception, and the more immersive our digital experiences are, the more our ancestral guard rails will be removed. Much uncharted territory from there. At stake may be our individual and collective sanity, by the way.