Brain interfaces; Explaining AI; Metaverse strategies
💡Think
Hey folks!
Back again after a little break. I had a pretty intense week, hosting a conference in person for the first time. It was quite stressful, but we got through it.
If you ever have a chance to host / moderate something where a script is required, my tip is definitely to write it yourself. No one can match your tone, pacing, and humour like you can, so make sure you spend the time writing it all out!
Additionally, slowing your delivery right down is key. You may even want to slow the delivery down to a pace that feels unnaturally slow, but I promise you it will work. Not everyone in the room is paying attention the whole time, and there is guaranteed to be many people watching who don't have English as their first language.
Enjoy this week's articles 📖
📷 Look
📖 Read
❶ Brain-computer interfaces
The headline sounds like a movie script, but is definitely real in the medical / tech world. The question is, would you hook your brain up to a computer interface? I'm guessing your instinct is no, but there's a story in this article about a man who regained the ability to talk from it. Changed your mind yet?
❷ We can't explain how AI works
Another hypertech article here! It turns out that most of AI being worked on is based on a "black box model", which means that we're not 100% sure what's inside. This is of course exciting and frightening in equal measure, but ultimately means we're not too sure where it's going to go. It seems that the missing link is truly understanding why we think the way we do, rather than trying to predict how a computer thinks.
❸ Ways to think about a metaverse
This is a really impartial look at the metaverse and asks a lot of sensible questions. "Do we really want to climb into a computer?" made me laugh, because obviously the answer is no...unless we look back to the first article shared today 🤔 The way we could/should be looking at this tech is in a similar way we could/should have looked at the mobile internet. It's a new platform, with its own limitations, and a ceiling of usability.
--
Bonus round
The best sandwiches in the world. Prepare to be hungry
Seriously, just watch this video of someone being artistic with matches
🎧 Listen
Science & Civilization
On this podcast, everyone's favourite scientist Neil Degrasse Tyson joins public intellectual Sam Harris to talk about a tonne of stuff, but they circle a lot around the challenges with the way that science and opinion have clashed in the age of the internet. We have so much access to opinions that match our own that we can very easily tune out of anything we disagree with. This should come as no surprise, but they very eloquently explain.
The links I'm providing are just the first 49 minutes of their chat, because the full version is behind a paywall. Worth it though!