The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has become the first country on the planet to grant citizenship to a robot. During the October 25th announcement at the Future Investment Initiative summit being held in Riyadh, the robot receiving the honor, named Sophia, said, "I am very honored and proud for this unique distinction. This is historical to be the first robot in the world to be recognized with a citizenship."
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A new study of 90 different species of whales and dolphins has found a striking similarity in the evolution of the brains of cetaceans and primates, including humans. The study looked at the social complexity of each species, and used that factor to determine if brain size could be used to predict the richness of the culture of each type of marine mammal.
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Automotive and spaceflight entrepreneur Elon Musk issued a series of tweets on September 4th that downplayed the threat posed by the nuclear ambitions of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, saying that the race to develop more powerful artificial intelligence is more likely to trigger World War III instead.
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One of the biggest barriers to the implementation of useful artificial intelligence in our culture is the limitations imposed by our computer hardware: modern computer chips have their circuits arranged in a two-dimensional layout, running programs that are meant to mimic our own three-dimensional neurological processes. The 2D setup was, and indeed still is, better suited to the more linear processing that the majority of our computer programs require, but running AI-based programs presents a sizable drop in efficiency — it is apparent that if AI is to grow as a valuable tool, a new form of computer hardware will be required to accommodate it.
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