Lifeboat Foundation

Part of the Progress and Visions in Consciousness Science online seminar series organized by AMCS, MESEC, and OMCAN.

More on Emergence at http://d-iep.org

Evolutionary accounts of feelings, and in particular of negative affect and of pain, assume that creatures that feel and care about the outcomes of their behavior outperform those that do not in terms of their evolutionary fitness. Such accounts, however, can only work if feelings can be shown to contribute to fitness-influencing outcomes. However, simply assuming that a learner that feels and cares about outcomes is more strongly motivated than one that doesn’t is not enough — if only because motivation can be tied directly to outcomes through an appropriate reward function, without leaving any apparent role to feelings (as it is done in state-of-the-art engineered systems based on reinforcement learning). Here, we propose a possible mechanism whereby pain contributes to fitness: an actor-critic functional architecture for reinforcement learning, in which pain reflects the costs imposed on actors in their bidding for control, so as to promote honest signaling and ultimately help the system optimize learning and future behavior.

In the last few months, the mask has really come off.

OpenAI is far from its days of being an altruistic, non-profit company.

It is now the face of a booming AI industry and is effectively for-profit in all but name, steaming ahead with little regard for its technology’s environmental toll, or for the potentially existential risks it poses to society.

Continue reading “AI Researcher Slams OpenAI, Warns It Will Become the ‘Most Orwellian Company of All Time’” »

Been waiting for this to come out since discovering the Shawn ryan show…pretty excited to be finally getting around to it!

Shawn Ryan Show · Episode.

The edible transistor is based on an existing transistor architecture, utilizing CuPc as the active material. The key component, the electrolyte-gated OFET (EGOFET), operates at low voltages (1 V) and can function stably for more than a year. The transistor showed good reproducibility, with performance characteristics that pave the way for integrating these devices into more complex edible circuits.

The circuits are constructed on a derivative of cellulose with electrical contacts being printed using inkjet technology and a solution of gold particles (which are also commonly used in the food industry for decoration). The transistor “gate” is also food-grade. This component controls the flow of electrical current between the source and drain terminals, effectively acting as a switch or amplifier. This gate is made from a gel based on chitosan another food-grade ingredient used as a gelling agent.

The research team also explored the optical and morphological properties of CuPc thin films. They found that the thickness of the CuPc layer played a crucial role in the transistor’s performance. Thinner films displayed better charge transport properties, which are essential for creating high-performing, low-voltage devices. This detailed understanding of the material’s properties allowed the team to optimize the transistor’s design for use in real-world applications.

In a new animation, scientists map the planet’s plate tectonics over the last 40 percent of its history. It’s the longest such reconstruction yet.

Scientists have used gene-editing techniques to boost the repair of nerve cells damaged in multiple sclerosis, a study shows. The innovative method, which was tested in mice, supports the development of cells that can repair the protective myelin coating around nerves, restoring their ability to conduct messages to the brain.

The findings, now published in Nature Communications, offer a potential route for future treatments to stop disability progression, experts say.

Our bodies have the ability to repair myelin, but in multiple sclerosis (MS), and as we age, this becomes less effective. There are currently no treatments to boost this process.

A novel type of superconductor that can operate at elevated temperatures has been found by scientists after nearly three decades of research.