Welcome to The Nightcrawler — a weekly newsletter from Eric Markowitz covering tech, innovation, and long-term thinking.
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By improving quantum error correction, quantum computations are now faster than ever. But parallel universes? That’s utter nonsense here.
Quantum computing brings significant opportunities — but equally significant cybersecurity risks.
Alan Turing and Christopher Strachey created a ground-breaking computer program that allowed them to express affection vicariously when so doing publicly, as gay men, was criminal.
“Nobody expects a computer simulation of a hurricane to generate real wind and real rain,” writes neuroscientist Anil Seth.
Analog could serve as “always-on” computing, while digital is turned on only when necessary.
OpenAI has become a household name in artificial intelligence — but back in 2018 things looked very rocky. Here’s what happened.
Our “embodied minds” suggest an eventual escape from mortality via computer is unlikely.
“Mainstream computing will start to shift from a race to develop increasingly powerful tools to a race to develop increasingly powerful abilities.”
“The rise of the internet brought about similar fears, yet it ultimately made learning richer and more accessible.”
The first of these devices is already on the market — the AI-powered Ray-Bans from Meta.
Artificial intelligence is much more than image generation and smart-sounding chatbots; it’s also a Nobel-worthy endeavor rooted in physics!
Here in the 21st century, quantum computing is quickly going from a dream to a reality. But what’s hype, and what’s actually true?
Theoretical physics professor Michio Kaku outlines the evolution of computers from analog to digital and introduces quantum computers as the next frontier.
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33 years ago, the theoretical biologist Robert Rosen offered an answer to the question “Is life computable?”
The brain-computer interface will be tested in a six-year trial in patients with quadriplegia.
It’s knowledgeable, confident, and behaves human-like in many ways. But it’s not magic that powers AI though; it’s just math and data.
“You’re not meant to understand what I just said, because I don’t understand what I just said…” Physicist Brian Cox on one of the most complex theories in space science.
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Can quantum computers do things that standard, classical computers can’t? No. But if they can calculate faster, that’s quantum supremacy.
Neuroscientist Christof Koch on human minds, AI, and bacteria.
It could perform a speech recognition task with 78% accuracy.
With no reliable way to discern the author of an artwork, we may eventually abandon the question of whether something was made by humans or not.
The evolution of quantum technology is far from over.
In “Raising AI,” De Kai argues that today’s AIs are already more like us than we think they are.
“We are racing towards a new era in which we outsource cognitive abilities that are central to our identity as thinking beings,” writes computer scientist Louis Rosenberg.
We need more science fiction-inspired thinking in how we approach AI research, argues AI expert Gary Marcus.
Nature may not allow us full access to the weirdness of quantum mechanics.
Could AI develop true intelligence without sentience? Philosopher Jonathan Birch explores the boundaries of artificial and evolved minds.
Welcome to The Nightcrawler — a weekly newsletter from Eric Markowitz covering tech, innovation, and long-term thinking.
Cognitive psychologist and poet Keith Holyoak explores whether artificial intelligence could ever achieve poetic authenticity.