Future Today #136 - Bostrom · Futures Philanthropy - Spatial Intelligence - NASA Spinoff

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???? La edición en espa?ol la puedes leer en Substack

?? How People Are Really Using GenAI. There are many use cases for generative AI, spanning a vast number of areas of domestic and work life. Looking through thousands of comments on sites such as Reddit and Quora, the author’s team found that the use of this technology is as wide-ranging as the problems we encounter in our lives. The 100 categories they identified can be divided into six top-level themes.

?? Futures Philanthropy: Anticipation for the Common Good . Futures Philanthropy: Anticipation for the Common Good" brings together two critical disciplines in one publication: futures and foresight, championed by the Copenhagen Institute for Futures Studies; and philanthropy, represented by Philea and its extensive philanthropic community. It looks at how European philanthropy can apply foresight and futures thinking to live up to its potential of being forward-looking, risk-taking, and innovative, all the while encouraging anticipatory capacities within civil society and communities.

??? With Spatial Intelligence, AI Will Understand the Real World . In the beginning of the universe, all was darkness — until the first organisms developed sight, which ushered in an explosion of life, learning and progress. AI pioneer Fei-Fei Li says a similar moment is about to happen for computers and robots. She shows how machines are gaining "spatial intelligence" — the ability to process visual data, make predictions and act upon those predictions — and shares how this could enable AI to interact with humans in the real world.

?? 9 Trends That Will Shape Work in 2024 and Beyond . In 2023, organizations continued to face significant challenges, from inflation to geopolitical turmoil to controversy over DEI and return-to-work policies — and 2024 promises more disruption. Gartner researchers have identified nine key trends, from new and creative employee benefits to the collapse of traditional career paths, that will impact work this year. Employers who successfully navigate these will retain top talent and secure a competitive advantage for themselves.

?? A Universal Vaccine Against Any Viral Variant? A New Study Suggests It’s Possible . There’s a reason to update vaccines. Viruses rapidly mutate, which can help them escape the body’s immune system, putting previously vaccinated people at risk of infection. Using AI modeling, scientists have increasingly been able to predict how viruses will evolve. But they mutate fast, and we’re still playing catch up.

Book: Atlas of AI: Power, Politics, and the Planetary Costs of Artificial Intelligence (2022) - Kate Crawford

TV Series: Fringe (2008 -2013) - JJ Abrams

?? ?? Do you want to know all the movies and series of Future Today, here is the complete list ? And do you want to know all the books, here is the list ?

?? Oxford shuts down institute run by Elon Musk-backed philosopher . The center was run by Nick Bostrom, a Swedish-born philosopher whose writings about the long-term threat of AI replacing humanity turned him into a celebrity figure among the tech elite and routinely landed him on lists of top global thinkers. Sam Altman of OpenAI, Bill Gates of Microsoft and Musk all wrote blurbs for his 2014 bestselling book Superintelligence.

? A Catholic 'priest' has been defrocked for being AI . A Catholic advocacy group created an AI chatbot that claimed to be a priest and offered to take confession. After Futurism reached out to the group, they demoted "Father Justin" to just a guy. "We won't say he's been laicized, because he never was a real priest!"

?? The 2024 Edition of NASA Spinoff is Here . As NASA innovates for the benefit of all, what the agency develops for exploration has the potential to evolve into other technologies with broader use here on Earth. Many of those examples are highlighted in NASA’s annual Spinoff book including dozens of NASA-enabled medical innovations, as well other advancements. This year’s publication, NASA’s 2024 Spinoff, features several commercialized technologies using the agency’s research and development expertise to impact everyday lives.

?? China Has a Controversial Plan for Brain-Computer Interfaces . At a tech forum in Beijing last week, a Chinese company unveiled a “homegrown” brain-computer interface that allowed a monkey to seemingly control a robotic arm just by thinking about it. In a video shown at the event, a monkey with its hands restrained uses the interface to move a robotic arm and grasp a strawberry. The system, developed by NeuCyber NeuroTech and the Chinese Institute for Brain Research, involves soft electrode filaments implanted in the brain, according to state-run news media outlet Xinhua.

??? Foresight Resources . You will find many books on trends shaping the future, about what the future might look like in ‘x’ number of years, how the foresight field is emerging and the latest methods to use. If that’s what you are looking for, this is not the book for you. The origins of this book came from my work, where people have often asked how they can start using foresight approaches right now, rather than having to do a course or attend training sessions. The book provides enough information for you to understand what foresight is all about and to identify how you might use the approaches in your organisation.

Asking ChatGPT

In this section, the responses from ChatGPT have not been edited and I do not consider this Generative AI as an oracle. These are not presented as truth but as an experiment to observe and reflect on Gen AI.        

???? What do you think is the hidden expression in this visual puzzle?

?? The hidden expression in this visual puzzle is "one in a million." The number "1" within the word "million" represents the idea of "one in a million."

???? Wow! Well done! Let me share another one. Can you solve it?

?? The hidden expression in this visual puzzle is "falling in love." The repetition of "I fell" in a descending arrangement suggests the idea of someone falling, in this case, in love.

???? Good attempt! But no... Do you want to try again?

?? Sure, let's try again. The hidden expression in this visual puzzle is "The Big Fall." The phrase "I fell" is repeated in a structure resembling a pyramid, suggesting a big fall.

???? No! The solution is Eiffel Tower, do you understand why?

??Yes, now I understand. The solution is "Eiffel Tower." The repetition of "I fell" sounds similar to "Eiffel" when pronounced in English. The arrangement of the words also resembles the structure of the Eiffel Tower. Thanks for the explanation!

???? Exactly! Let me share one more. What would you say about this one?

?? The hidden expression in this visual puzzle is "Travel overseas." The word "travel" is above a series of "C" letters, which represent "seas." This suggests the idea of traveling across the seas or traveling overseas.

Life can only be understood backwards; but it must be lived forwards - S?ren Kierkegaard

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