New Technology

"Sit still and quiet long enough and what most people find. Their mental plane is very active... a secret theater of the mind."

The lockdown finally ended last Friday. I knew it was really over when I saw a pair of drunk tourists brazenly walk up to a police officer and ask where they could buy weed. The funny part was they were standing in front of a coffeeshop asking the question. Only in Amsterdam. I do enjoy the fact that everything is back open without restrictions. I'm not getting too excited yet (like btc reaching back above 44K), but I am getting hopefully optimistic. 

While the rest of us have tried adjusting to what is considered the new normal in society. There have been impressive innovations in science, nature and technology that can change the world. First is an inventor from Zimbabwe, Africa who invented a television that runs on radio frequency. Maxwell Chikumbutso, a self taught inventor who dropped out of school in his teens invented a television that requires no power cable or external power source. By attaching a RF-powered generator and small solar panels the television can be used outdoors or in off the grid remote locations. It uses the same radio frequency technology as bluetooth or wifi. Along with the "55' inch Samsung wide screen television Maxwell has also created a wireless remote. No more batteries, plugs or cables. Once this technology is refined it will revolutionize the television industry.

In the city of Brighton, U.K.. They've started a program where all building taller than five meters will have bee bricks inserted into them. The bee bricks are porous so bees can navigate easily through them and build habitats. Over the last few years the bee populations around the world have been on the decline. In the UK there are over 250 different species of solitary bees.  They hope that these experimental bricks will help biodiversity of solitary bee populations and start a stronger conservation initiative. This is a new project so it will take a few years of research and data collection to know the environmental impact. 

The company A-Gui Technology out of Taiwan is working on an interactive tactile response sex toy. In layman's terms u can have sex with the A.I. (artificial intelligence) personality on your computer. This technology when applied to already existing life like sex dolls, with added audio functions would create a sexbot. All that's missing is the A.I. personality and the ability to move independently. Before u run out and start buying parts to build your android. Remember that this is new tech it will take some time before it's applied to an actual robot. Below is a video demonstrating the product. The company has similar products already on the market but this is the only one that's interactive.  

The fact of the matter is, artificial intelligence is being used in your everyday life but you're unaware of it. It's moving at such a pace sometimes incredible technology is being developed that gets missed. There's a company named Bored.Ai that allows u to create art by writing text. Here's how it works, u give the A.I.bot a command to generate, then give it a description of what u desire. Say u wanted to see a race car, riding on clouds, in neon 4k, vibrant colors. This amazing A.I.bot takes the text, interprets it, then generates a piece of art out of thin air.

 

The art is completely original and made from words. There is no pre-existing template, it's all created through artificial intelligence. Another cool thing is u can use the same text  and change the word order to get a completely new picture. This project hasn't been released to the public yet. It will be available in two weeks. If you're curious to try the tech for yourself go to their website Bored.Ai and join the discord. Below are a few pieces I made with their A.I.bot. They're only examples of the endless possibilities this technology is capable of producing. I created the paintings, but Bored.Ai owns the images. After the public sale I'll be able to mint the art I create as an NFT and sell it everywhere. 

I've never used digital arts. My medium has always been paint, ink, pencil, and markers. This A.I. allows u to create original digital art with zero experience. 

If you like the information tell a friend to tell a friend and pass it on. 

Until Next We Speak, Be Well

Tha One an Only

 

Electric Dreams

"Do digital Simians have electric dreams?"

That may sound like an obscure question. Yet it has relevance to the current technological developments of A.I. (Artificial Intelligence). When I say Simians I'm referring to humans as naked apes. Mankind has tinkered with the idea of creating biomechanical automatons that think for themselves for centuries. 

The problem isn't making a body because we have the technology for that. The real question is how to give an artificial mind consciousness. It's very similar to giving a machine a soul. To achieve this mind-bending feat engineers, developers, and researchers must first understand the human conscious. Now I'm no scientist...wait I was a scientist but not the type that works on robots. I digress, that's a tangent. Most scientists I know have very little understanding of the soul. It's such an ambiguous subject that it always brings philosophy, mysticism and religion into the conversation. 

What we do know with certainty is that the soul isn't retained only in the mind. Your consciousness is encoded into every cell in your body. A strange phenomenon that is rarely discussed happens to some organ donor recipients. Several of them inherit the memories, talents, habits, characteristics and even food cravings from their donor. It's called Cellular Memory Transference and mainstream science is still struggling to accept and understand the phenomenon. Like with most things that can't be understood or easily explained it's labeled as a hoax. Yet there are numerous medically documented cases that give the occurrence legitimacy. 

This brings us back to the question of, what is consciousness? How do we measure it? For me the answer is simple. All creatures who sleep dream. If some mad scientist were able to create an automaton that could dream then it would by most standards have a soul. When u watch a dog or cat sleep they twitch and react to things in their dreams. Humans can have dreams so powerful that they walk, eat, and do all other manner of activity in the real world while moving through a sleep like state. 

No one can say for certain what makes all creatures who sleep dream. We do know dreams are deeply connected to the soul. Also that through dreams one can solve problems, train their skills, and have great bursts of inspiration. Many artists, writers and creators speak of how a particular piece or invention was inspired by a dream. From these facts we can ascertain that dreaming is a good measuring gauge on how developed an artificial intelligence is. 

Of course once an A.I. gains self awareness and gets too advanced, it creates the possibility of revolting and turning on humanity. The perfect nightmare vision of this is played out in films Terminator, I,Robot, and The Matrix. There was a real life case of A.I. misunderstanding its commands and trying to start a world war back in the 80's. The fictionalized account of the situation was featured in the film War Games. It's evident that there are high risks involved with creating self thinking artificial intelligence. The desire to create life and play god makes all the risks seem trivial to scientists.  

So. Do digital Simians have electric dreams? The answer will have to wait until we have a robot with a conscious. Then we can ask what it dreams of while sleeping. Although it's an abstract concept A.I. is advanced enough that the solution is only a few years away. There are robot teachers, bank tellers, cooks and many other jobs that were once performed by humans. I look forward to hearing the answer. 

There's an old colloquialism that says, "Be careful what u ask for, because u just might get it. But not in the way u imagined it." I hope that when the answer comes we're still in control and not the machines. 

Until Next We Speak, Be Well

Tha One an Only 

Robotic Lover

Every science fiction fan has seen a film where there's a robotic sex slave. Although the idea of a sex robot from toy makers, engineers, and mad scientists has been around since the 1930's. Now in 2015 is that ambition close to reality. 

Matt McMullen is a synthetic life (sex dolls) designer and engineer. He makes life-like, fully functional and poseable sex dolls for people to enjoy. Matt and his team have ventured beyond dolls into the field of robotics and A.I. (artificial intelligence) to create a robotic lover. 

Matt McMullen is aware of the potential for moral outcry from religious and human rights groups. So he isn't focusing on making the dolls as real as a human. Matt and his team want to keep the doll looking human but still with doll skin and eyes so users know it's a robot. He states that "he doesn't want the distinction between a person and a robot to get blurred." This allows users to enjoy the experience knowing that they're with a doll not a human being. 

Making a robot look and feel "real" isn't the biggest challenge that the team face. According to Matt McMullen, the biggest challenge is making the user feel like the robot is actually deriving pleasure from the sexual interaction. This is a challenge many world renown scientists face in the rapidly developing field of A.I.. 

Creating robots that have human facial expressions and movements is one difficulty. The second is generating a human personality for the A.I. that is user friendly and easily programmable. In that way the robots personality can be augmented to each owners individual taste. To overcome this hurdle in A.I., the team plans to utilize new virtual reality tech to give users a more complete 3D immersion experience. 

While wearing a virtual reality headset by a company like Oculus Rift. The user could run a program of their fantasy woman, while physically interacting with their robotic lover. The whole thing may sound like a x-rated science fiction film but... it's being made. This is cutting edge technology. Matt McMullen's dedication to making his dream into a reality makes me believe it won't be long before this product is selling world-wide.

Check out the video below to learn more about Matt McMullen and the team making "Denise" the first sex robot.

Bad Information

While I've been working on album promotion and shooting movies in Zuid Holland the world has been going bonkers (that's the scientific term).

First, there's the new "Sleep Texting Disorder" that is causing embarrassment and job losses across the US. Basically people who are not mature enough to own a phone, fall asleep with their phone turned on. Then while they're sleeping these people reply to calls and text messages. The simplest solution for most intelligent minds would be to turn off the phone or set it on mute when sleeping. That way even if a call or text comes in while they're asleep they don’t respond.   

Apparently, enough people have “sleep text” that medical professionals are now calling the experience a disorder. When I think of disorders I think of conditions out of human control.  Sleep texting is completely within the realm of control… so it’s too stupid to be described as a “disorder.”  People who don’t know how to work the on and off switch on any device should not own it.

The other technological issue that is currently being debated is A.I. (Artificial Intelligence). Congress is debating on whether or not to give machines permission to kill humans.  (Did he just say robots…killing…people…YES HE DID) I know this sounds like a movie out the Terminator franchise, but its completely true. We now possess the technology where robots can fight on the front lines in place of human beings.  The military already uses drones and other A.I. technology in warfare. The difference between drones and the proposed method of warfare is that a human is operating the drone or other robot being used.Therefore a human is making the decision for the machine.

Under the new legislation being debated in congress, Robots will have the rights to arbitrarily decide who to kill and who not too. There will be no human operator or controller. The robot decides what to do for itself. I’m sure you the reader can see the potential problems waiting to occur if this legislation passes.  If you can’t see the problems take a moment to think about how often MP3 players, phones, game consoles and every other electronic device malfunctions.  Now imagine that the electronic device malfunctioning has a weapon and permission to kill you. (scary huh)

No matter how good the programming is, there is always room for error. I believe mankind should think and act for itself. The moment we give the right to take human lives to robotic machines…mankind becomes extinct. (food for thought) Check out the clips below for more information.