Friday Futures: DNA-based robots; immortality and dead aliens

Alien immortality
Image credit: FOTOKITA | Shutterstock.com

Welcome to Friday Futures, our weekly guide to the latest visions of The Future from around the web. This week: controlling DNA-based robots; immortality; AI used to manipulate fake videos; and did aliens die from climate change?

AI can now manipulate people’s movements in fake videos

There are already fake videos on the internet, manipulated to make it look like people said things (or appeared in porn) that they never did. And now they’re about to get way better, thanks to some new tools powered by artificial intelligence. Read more….

New algorithm determines ideal caffeine dosage and timing for alertness

According to a recent study, a newly developed algorithm may be the key to optimizing alertness with caffeine. This study proposed an automated optimization algorithm to identify safe and effective caffeine-dosing strategies that maximize alertness under any sleep-loss condition. Read more…

We need to talk about robots trying to pass as humans

What are the surprising social problems that will come with realistic humanoid robots, which might work the front desk of hotels, or stand in for us at the office, or live with us as companions? Read more…

Maybe we haven’t found aliens because they all died from climate change

Where the heck are the aliens? We’ve sent them a golden record, we’ve looked for signs of them on Mars and to the far reaches of the solar system. We’ve got our ears pressed to the ground, listening for them as best we know how. And still, nothing. One scary prospect: what if they’re all already dead? Read more…

The responsibility of immortality: welcome to the new transhumanism

The latest enthusiasm for eternal life largely stems not from any acid-soaked, tie-dyed counterculture but from the belief that technology will enhance humans and make them immortal. Today’s transhumanist movement, sometimes called H+, encompasses a broad range of issues and diversity of belief, but the notion of immortality—or, more correctly, amortality—is the central tenet. Read more…

Breakthrough in controlling DNA-based robots

Researchers have devised a magnetic control system to make tiny DNA-based robots move on demand – and much faster than recently possible. Read more…

(Compiled by Tony Poulos; Edited by John C. Tanner)

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