Thousands of people gathered in Britain over the weekend of the Platinum Jubilee to celebrate the 70th anniversary of Queen Elizabeth II's accession to power. One of the recordings from this event, however, shows something unusual.
Many observers from around the world had the opportunity to see the exploits of the Royal Air Force (RAF) and other aviation acrobats. Careful observers, however, noticed that there was something more in the background. We are talking about an unidentified flying object that literally flies in the sky right behind British army planes.
Nine planes of the aerobatic team flew over Buckingham Palace, creating a line of red, white, and blue smoke behind them. Upon closer inspection, some viewers noticed the tenth object flying in the sky, resembling a rapidly moving ball. Certainly, it did not look like a drone and even seemed to be surrounded by some kind of energy field.
It's hard to believe that a civilian vehicle could move faster than military machines. No explanation for this bizarre incident has yet been offered.
Is man inherently self-destructive? If you look at history, we get the answer to this question almost immediately - humanity has had two world wars behind it and over the years it is losing more and more respect for life. Science, which should primarily improve our well-being, is also used to build weapons of mass destruction. Nuclear, biological, and chemical weapons have already been used against man. Now comes the era of artificial intelligence.
Man has created machines, computers, and the software controlling them to make everyday life easier. In an extremely short time, our civilization became addicted to computers - having a TV, smartphone, computer and the Internet has become a standard in every home. Many corporations literally could not exist without digitization.
Artificial intelligence plays an important and growing role in the development of civilization. Algorithms are used both in search engines and in banking. Interestingly, scientists now admit that AI development has reached a surprisingly high level. Prof. Stuart Russell, the founder of the Center for Human-Compatible Artificial Intelligence at the University of California, Berkeley, said experts are downright appalled at the success that has been achieved in this field.
In his opinion, most experts believe that machines more intelligent than humans will be built in this century, and AI systems should be used with greater caution. Therefore, international treaties governing the development of technology are needed. Both artificial intelligence and scientists themselves should be more controlled.
Prof. Stuart Russell presented an example of the use of artificial intelligence that could theoretically end in a tragedy. If the algorithms were instructed to develop a cancer cure as quickly as possible, they could deliberately induce tumors among the entire human population in order to conduct millions of experiments simultaneously. It would certainly be a very effective solution from a scientific point of view, but it would kill millions of people in a very short time. The point is also that scientists need to give specific instructions to artificial intelligence in advance. In this case, AI would, inter alia, ban the use of the entire human population as guinea pigs.
Experts believe that algorithms do not have to be more intelligent than humans in all respects to pose a threat to us. Modern research on AI may resemble the beginnings of research into atomic energy - it began with learning about physics and ended with the production of atomic bombs. Without proper treaties, artificial intelligence could become another weapon of mass destruction.
Scientists from the United States believe that brain implants will become a popular accessory that will connect the human brain to the computer in the next decades. A few weeks ago, Bryan Johnson, CEO of technology company Kernel, announced at the Web Summit in Lisbon his plans to introduce brain implants to deal with all kinds of degenerative and mental diseases. According to the scientist, by 2040, this type of implant will no longer be a technology for the privileged - every person will be able to use them.
During his speech, Johnson raised the topic of the threats posed by the development of artificial intelligence and how we should prevent the dangers that our civilization may face. According to the researcher, the best solution is to improve human brains, instead of creating more and more advanced computers.
The idea of implants in the brain can be scary, but it's worth knowing that these types of devices are currently in use. Some of them help people with severe hearing impairment and some are used to treat diseases such as Parkinson's disease.
However, implants developed by Kernel are to be significantly different from their predecessors. Current devices are relatively simple and do one specific task. In contrast, the implants of the future are to be much more complex instruments that will have a much wider field of action, such as enabling the public to quickly acquire and improve skills. The starting point for Johnson's research team is, above all, the complete elaboration of the functioning of the human brain, which so far hides mostly secrets from us.
At the end of June, sky watchers are waiting for something special - all five planets that we can see with the naked eye - Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn - will line up in the sky.
Moreover, they will appear in order of distance from the Sun, from left to right when scanning the horizon: that is, starting from Mercury an average of 58 million kilometers from the Sun, and ending with Saturn an average of 1.4 billion kilometers from the Sun. The sky show can be seen on the eastern horizon just before sunrise.
While the location should be visible throughout June, keep in mind that on the morning of June 3 and 4, the distance between Mercury and Saturn will be the smallest - only 91 degrees. Another date to keep in mind is June 27. On that day, the separation will increase to 107 degrees, and a waning crescent moon will appear between Venus and Mars.
Mercury will also be clearly visible on June 27, which will make it easier to observe. On this particular morning, the planetary show will run for about an hour. The visibility of the planets may vary depending on the date and part of the world you are in. However, everyone will have enough opportunities to see the five planets, even if there are several cloudy days in a month.
This alignment of the planets is called a conjunction, and conjunctions with five planets are quite rare - the last one happened in December 2004, so we recommend that you take the opportunity to see it.
The vision presented in the Hollywood blockbuster Jurassic Park is getting closer and closer to implementation. Dinosaurs can be recreated in our lifetime. The scientists who are working on it say it doesn't take more than 5 to 10 years to complete this task.
One of them is dr. Jack Horner is a paleontologist who is involved in genetic research. Paradoxically, he was one of the consultants for the film Jurassic Park and became the inspiration for Dr. Alan Grant.
Horner believed for many years that recreating extinct giant reptiles required piecing together the DNA fragments of these creatures that have survived to the present day. However, recent research into DNA degradation indicates that this task may not be feasible.
It is for this reason that scientists have discovered a way around this by simply manipulating the genes of currently living creatures. As you know, dinosaurs evolved into birds. For this reason, genetic experts are trying to make controlled mutations in the chicken genes.
The experiments so far have proved that recreating dinosaur legs can be relatively simple. According to Dr. Horner, the biggest challenge is recreating the tail. Thanks to genetic engineering, it will be possible to bring back to life long-extinct reptiles, which will then be intentionally mutated from chicken embryos.
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