Lifeboat Foundation

Stephen Wolfram unveils his new Observer Theory and explains the origins of the Second Law (Entropy) with Curt Jaimungal. This is Wolfram’s first podcast on his new views on consciousness, and the deepest dive into Wolfram’s mind.

TIMESTAMPS:
- 00:00:00 What is Observer Theory?
- 00:12:42 Different Observers (Who are \.

We present a new route to ergodicity breaking via Hilbert space fragmentation that displays an unprecedented level of robustness. Our construction relies on a single emergent (prethermal) conservation law. In the limit when the conservation law is exact, we prove the emergence of Hilbert space fragmentation with an exponential number of frozen configurations. These configurations are low-entanglement states in the middle of the energy spectrum and therefore constitute examples of quantum many-body scars. We further prove that every frozen configuration is absolutely stable to arbitrary perturbations, to all finite orders in perturbation theory.

SpaceX relocates incorporation to Texas amid legal challenges, reflecting Elon Musk’s strategic vision for growth and innovation.

Elon Musk’s SpaceX moves to Texas, signaling a strategic shift in corporate strategy amidst legal battles.

This post is also available in: עברית (Hebrew)

HP Wolf Security’s latest threat insights disclosure put a spotlight on DarkGate – a group of web-based criminals using legal advertising tools to enhance their spam-based malware attacks.

The security report claims DarkGate has been operating as a malware provider since 2018, with an apparent shift in tactics last year of using legitimate advertisement networks “to track victims and evade detection.” The claims are that by using ad services, threat actors can analyze which lures generate clicks and infect the most users – helping them refine campaigns for maximum impact.

Benjamin Franklin famously wrote: “In this world nothing can be said to be certain, except death and taxes.” While that may still be true, there’s a controversy simmering today about one of the ways doctors declare people to be dead.

Bioethicists, doctors and lawyers are weighing whether to redefine how someone should be declared dead. A change in criteria for brain death could have wide-ranging implications for patients’ care.

Whether or not you can work during a stem cell transplant may depend on the type of job you have. The process of a stem cell transplant, with the high-dose treatments, the transplant, and recovery, can take many months. You will be in and out of the hospital during this time. Even when you are not in the hospital, sometimes you will need to stay near it, rather than staying in your own home.

You will be more tired and your ability to concentrate on work may be affected. You will be visiting the hospital two or three times a week after discharge. You may need to spend a few hours in the hospital for blood or platelet transfusions or replacing minerals in your body.

So, if your job allows, you may want to arrange to work remotely part-time. Many employers are required by law to change your work schedule to meet your needs during cancer treatment. Talk with your employer about ways to adjust your work during treatment. You can learn more about these laws by talking with a social worker.

For example, a video of a swinging pendulum would look the same if you played it backward. We see time as irreversible because of another law of nature, the second law of thermodynamics. This law says that the disorder in a system always increases. If the broken glass reassembled itself, the disorder would decrease.

The same law applies to the aging of materials. But physicists from Darmstadt have found out that this is not the case. They have discovered that the motion of molecules in glass or plastic can be reversed in time if you look at it from a special angle.

Albert Einstein was one smart cookie; there’s no doubt about it. But even he knew his general theory of relativity – the 21st century’s answer to Newton’s universal theory of gravity – wasn’t perfect.

Like the second-hand car you bought using your first paycheck, it does the job for day-to-day errands. Push it too hard up a steep hill or park it near a quantum strip mall, and that engine shudders to a standstill.

Peoples’ Friendship University of Russia astrophysics grad student Hamidreza Fazlollahi’s solution is to dive under the hood and see which components aren’t as essential as they seem.

For example, the New York Times states: “The AI industry this year is set to be defined by one main characteristic: A remarkably rapid improvement of the technology as advancements build upon one another, enabling AI to generate new kinds of media, mimic human reasoning in new ways and seep into the physical world through a new breed of robot.”

Ethan Mollick, writing in his One Useful Thing blog, takes a similar view: “Most likely, AI development is actually going to accelerate for a while yet before it eventually slows down due to technical or economic or legal limits.”

The year ahead in AI will undoubtedly bring dramatic changes. Hopefully, these will include advances that improve our quality of life, such as the discovery of life saving new drugs. Likely, the most optimistic promises will not be realized in 2024, leading to some amount of pullback in market expectations. This is the nature of hype cycles. Hopefully, any such disappointments will not bring about another AI winter.