Why A.I. robotics should have the same ethical protections as animals

If A.I.s are as smart as mice or dogs, do they deserve the same rights?

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Universities across the world are conducting major research on artificial intelligence (A.I.), as are organisations such as the Allen Institute, and tech companies including Google and Facebook.

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Scientists create a 'lifelike' material that has metabolism and can self-reproduce

An innovation may lead to lifelike evolving machines.

Shogo Hamada/Cornell University
  • Scientists at Cornell University devise a material with 3 key traits of life.
  • The goal for the researchers is not to create life but lifelike machines.
  • The researchers were able to program metabolism into the material's DNA.
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Why 'upgrading' humanity is a transhumanist myth

Upload your mind? Here's a reality check on the Singularity.

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  • Though computer engineers claim to know what human consciousness is, many neuroscientists say that we're nowhere close to understanding what it is, or its source.
  • Scientists are currently trying to upload human minds to silicon chips, or re-create consciousness with algorithms, but this may be hubristic because we still know so little about what it means to be human.
  • Is transhumanism a journey forward or an escape from reality?
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Hybrid Intelligence: Coupling AI and the Human Brain

Even our most imaginative expectations of AI are only primitive — but as neuroscience understands the brain more deeply, it will unlock the full potential of hybrid intelligence.

Edward Boyden is a Hertz Foundation Fellow and recipient of the prestigious Hertz Foundation Grant for graduate study in the applications of the physical, biological and engineering sciences. A professor of Biological Engineering and Brain and Cognitive Sciences at MIT, Edward Boyden explains how humanity is only at its infancy in merging with machines. His work is leading him towards the development of a "brain co-processor", a device that interacts intimately with the brain to upload and download information to and from it, augmenting human capabilities in memory storage, decision making, and cognition. The first step, however, is understanding the brain on a much deeper level. With the support of the Fannie and John Hertz Foundation, Ed Boyden pursued a PhD in neurosciences from Stanford University.

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10 Human Body Modifications You Can Expect in the next Decade

You are already a cyborg! Here's 10 ways you could merge even more with technology in the coming decade.

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