Speculative Science

  • The Global Nexus of AI Supercomputing Systems
    Discover the rapidly expanding global network of dedicated AI supercomputing systems, and their specialised hardware like GPUs, immense power demands, and sophisticated cooling. Explore the strategic geographical distribution of these systems across continents, driven by national ambitions for AI leadership. Learn about the complex interconnection architectures that facilitate high-speed data flow and the emergence of distributed AI paradigms such as federated learning, which address data privacy. Discover the diverse applications of…
  • The Human Blueprint – Part three: The Cosmic Perspective, and the Search for Others
    IV. The Cosmic Perspective: Rarity, Ubiquity, and the Search for Others The discussion of human optimality and hypothetical alien forms is incomplete without considering the broader cosmic context. The probability of intelligent life existing elsewhere in the universe directly shapes our understanding of human uniqueness. The Rare Earth Hypothesis vs. the Principle of Mediocrity The scientific community grapples with two…
  • The Human Blueprint – Part Two: Beyond Human: Exploring Hypothetical Intelligent Life Forms
    III. Beyond Human: Exploring Hypothetical Intelligent Life Forms The question of whether the human form is the optimal blueprint for intelligent life capable of advanced technological civilisation naturally leads to a consideration of alternative biological and even non-biological architectures. Scientific inquiry and speculative thought have explored a vast array of possibilities, each with its own set of advantages and challenges.…
  • How are we doing with Faster Than Light Travel?
    The concept of faster-than-light (FTL) travel, a staple of science fiction, remains firmly within the realm of theoretical physics. The prevailing scientific understanding, rooted in Einstein’s theory of special relativity, dictates that no object with mass can accelerate to or exceed the speed of light within its local spacetime region. However, the broader framework of general relativity, which describes gravity…
  • How much of all ‘human essential’ activities could an advanced AI take over to bring the markets close to 100% AI run?
    My third question was – “Accepting the ‘black swan’ exception how much of these other ‘human essential’ activities could an advanced Artificial Intelligence take over to bring the markets to as close to 100% AI run as possible?” This was where Gemini started to get into speculation:Gemini came up with this: That’s an excellent follow-up question! Accepting the “black swan”…
  • If humans were locked out of the 80% AI run financial markets, would they continue to function?
    My second follow up question to Google Gemini:If humans were locked out of the 80% AI run financial markets, would they continue to function? Gemini responded thus: This is a fascinating thought experiment, and the answer is: no, the markets would not continue to function normally, or for long, if humans were completely locked out of financial market activity. While…
  • How much of the financial market activity is carried out automatically by AI?
    I’m again having conversations with Google Gemini as part of my research into the new story I’m working on. Here’s the first question: How much of the financial market activity is carried out automatically by AI? Gemini’s response:A very significant portion of stock and financial market activity is now carried out automatically, often driven by algorithms and increasingly by Artificial…
  • And Finally, the Last Word on AI, Energy and Coffee.
    Was it worth it?There’s a lot of talk about the vast amount of energy AI uses. This got me wondering what damage to the environment I had done by asking Gemini for answers to pointless questions about the best way of getting a hot flat white. So I asked this question.how much energy was used by you in generating these…
  • Dear Gemini, should I heat the milk in the microwave before pouring it into the coffee?
    Now we know that the amount of energy it takes to heat the milk separately is less than the energy to heat the coffee with the milk added, it stands to reason that it’s cheaper to heat the milk and then pour it into the coffee. Let’s see what Gemini has to say about this. From a purely energy consumption…
  • The Next Steps in AI
    The Next Step in AI The next step in AI development beyond LLMs is expected to be a move towards Agentic AI and Multimodal AI. Agentic AI, also known as AI agents, are systems that can autonomously make decisions, take actions, and solve complex problems. Multimodal AI focuses on integrating different data types, like text, images, and audio, to create…
  • in 2005 Google Patented a System for Producing Artificial Telepathy
    Google and the “Artificial Telepathy” Patent: What Happened? Back in 2005, a patent surfaced that captured the public imagination, hinting at a future straight out of science fiction: “Artificial Telepathy.” Filed by inventors Lynne Moody and Miles Phillips Moody and later assigned to Google, this patent (specifically, the international publication WO/2005/055579 A1) didn’t describe mind-reading in the psychic sense, but…
  • I asked Google Gemini “which version of gemini is best for generating images?”
    The reply was a bit more than I expected and took the AI several minutes to give me an answer>This is the first response from Gemini AI Research Websites (1) Search for official Google documentation or announcements detailing the different versions of the Gemini model and their specific capabilities. (2) Identify which Gemini versions explicitly support image generation as a…
  • What AI Can Never Do
    Can AI ever really understand what it means to have consciousness, a real relationship? There’s a lot of talk about AI “Friends” or “Companions”. Y’know, bots that suck us deeper into a narcissistic echo chamber and cripple our ability to engage in meaningful social interaction on any level, stunt our ability to debate, see other people’s point of view, intuit…
  • Dark Matter, Tachyons? What’s that all about?
    The theory that dark matter could be composed of tachyons is aspeculative idea in physics. Tachyons are hypothetical particles that, unlike normal matter, always travel faster than light. According to current understanding of physics, they violate the laws of causality and have yet to be observed. As for Dark matter, that’s a mysterious substance that makes 85% of the universe’s…
  • Evolution of Mathematical Awareness
    Our brains inherent ability to find and utilize mathematical patterns provides a strong evolutionary advantage. On a more general level, understanding geometric relationships helps organisms navigate their environment, predict movements, and solve problems related to survival and reproduction. Natural selection would follow the same principles and favour brains that could grasp these underlying structures. It is transparently obvious that the…
  • Consciousness, Entropy and Negentropy
    The tendency for order to arise in all aspects of biological and material existence (Terran and cosmological) that lead to possible life and intelligence might be a potential indication of a fundamental property. Just as there is a fundamental law of Entropy, that, at the other end, there is a complimentary and opposite law of Negentropy that has emotions and/or…
  • Intelligence as an Emergent Property 1
    Intelligence as an Emergent Property.The fact that complex emotions are observed in various species beyond humans lends credence to the theory of emotions as emergent properties.Emergent properties arise from the complex interaction of simpler components. The whole system exhibits characteristics that none of the individual parts possess.In the context of emotions, our complex neural networks, with interacting brain regions, hormones,…
  • Why humans can’t trust AI: You don’t know how it works, what it’s going to do or whether it’ll serve your interests
    Why humans can’t trust AI: You don’t know how it works, what it’s going to do or whether it’ll serve your interests Do you trust AI systems, like this driverless taxi, to behave the way you expect them to? AP Photo/Terry Chea Mark Bailey, National Intelligence University There are alien minds among us. Not the little green men of science fiction,…
  • Dark matter and extra dimensions?
    Extra dimensions could help explain the abundance of dark matter. The Standard Model of particle physics predicts that there should be much less dark matter than we actually observe. However, if dark matter particles live in extra dimensions, they could be much more abundant than expected. Extra dimensions could help explain the large-scale structure of the universe. The universe’s large-scale…
  • Zero-Point Energy
    The Autonomous Intergalactic Consciousness Detection Device uses Zero-point energy. Julanan mechanics have successfully developed Zero-point generator/batteries that all come in the shape of cubes of various sizes right down to a sub-millimetre scale.Zero-point energy is the lowest possible energy a quantum mechanical, physical system may have. It’s a fundamental concept in quantum mechanics. It is associated with the inherent uncertainty…