For years, science has theorized that the human brain ran solely on reactions to stimulus from it’s exterior environment, but in recent years scientists have been discovering that it instead runs a series of predictive abilities. Now, researchers have located what part of the brain is connected to this ability.
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Last month, Unknown Country reported the views of technology heavyweights such as Elon Musk that artificial intelligence could be the most significant threat to the future of mankind. Now Stephen Hawking has added his voice to their ever-increasing concerns regarding the outcome of creating intelligent machines.
“The primitive forms of artificial intelligence we already have proved very useful, " said Hawking. but the I think the development of true artificial intelligence could spell the end of the human race.”
“Humans limited by slow biological evolution cannot compete and will be superseded.”
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Like it or not, mathematics underpins our whole existence, either by conscious design or through natural selection. Our ancestors were very appreciative of the significance of mathematics, illustrated by the precise geometric alignments that have been observed in the construction and placements of ancient monuments on earth, such as Stonehenge and the pyramids, that align them with other monuments nearby, and also with astronomical events such as sunrise or sunset.
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Maggot infestations, rotting carcasses, unidentifiable gunk in the kitchen sink – how much your brain responds to disgusting images could predict whether you are liberal or conservative.
In a study to be published in an upcoming issue of Current Biology, an international team of scientists led by Virginia Tech reports that the strength of a person’s reaction to repulsive images can forecast their political ideology.
“Disgusting images generate neural responses that are highly predictive of political orientation even when those neural responses don’t correspond with an individual’s conscious reaction to the images,” said Read Montague, a Virginia Tech Carilion Research Institute professor who led the study.
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