Mind Uploading/Downloading is closer than you think

There were some amazing discoveries last year by MIT scientists that show in fact are memories are stored in specific networks of neurons. Previously it was only postulated but now there is definitive proof.

A-mouse-hippocampus

In 2011 researchers from MIT discovered the  Npas4 gene, that controls the formation of memories; without Npas4, you cannot remember anything. MIT has successfully bred mice without the Npas4 gene.

 The MIT researchers made this discovery by triggering small clusters of neurons in mice causing them to recall specific memories. When they would remove these neurons the mice would then lose those specific memories.

Optogenetics Neuron

To accomplish this the researchers bred genetically engineered mice with light sensitive neurons that could be triggered by  pointing  the laser at the cluster of neurons via a hole drilled in the mice's skull

In order to show that a specific memory was triggered the mice were administered an electric shock to create a memory of fear. Later when the cluster of neurons were triggered the mice went into a a defensive posture showing the fear memory was triggered

What still needs to found out though is HOW memories are encoded into neurons. Like how exactly a cluster of 100,000 neurons creates the memory of an elephant. There has been some work done in this area on the Optic Nerve Psychology is primarily the science how WHY their are encoded and how they affect us.

Still a little ways off from the envisioned future of brain downloading and uploading but getting a hell of a lot closer

For further reading on Optic Nerve research go here
The article was a summary of Extremetech.com

Robots That Write Our News

News aggregators are used daily by people over the net to bring back relevant stories and news so they don't have to spend the time gong through countless webpages just to find what they are really looking for. Services like Google alerts is a good example of this. There is a program that i use to write articles for blogs that curates some of the content from multiple sources for me.

It got me wondering how far robotics might have penetrated the media world so i started looking around and found an article by wired on Narrative Science and how they program machines to write news stories.

As it turns out they are already being used by reputable companies like Forbes to write for their websites.

Narrative Science’s algorithms built this article using pitch-by-pitch game data that parents entered into an iPhone app called GameChanger. Last year the software produced nearly 400,000 accounts of Little League games. This year that number is expected to top 1.5 million.
    
   "Friona fell 10-8 to Boys Ranch in five innings on Monday at Friona despite racking up seven hits and eight runs. Friona was led by a flawless day at the dish by Hunter Sundre, who went 2-2 against Boys Ranch pitching. Sundre singled in the third inning and tripled in the fourth inning … Friona piled up the steals, swiping eight bags in all …"

Couldn't notice the difference could you. It may lack a little character but that could easily change. If you think that a computer could never really replace a human at writing stories think again. Robots have already replaced us at many things. Sports writers might have some cause for concern

Narrative Science's co founder Kristian Hammond was recently asked at a conference by wired reporter Steven Levy to predict what percentage of news would be written by computers in 15 years. At first he tried to duck the question, but with some prodding he sighed and gave in: “More than 90 percent.”

He also seems to be pretty optimistic that a computer could win a Pulitzer prize within five years

They can customize their software to act a certain way like purposely omit data like errors at a softball game.Articles that require lots of data and follow a predictable formula or framework like sports and finance are best suited for Narrative science's programs. They can customize the tone of the stories to sound like a breathless financial reporter screaming from a trading floor or a dry sell-side researcher pedantically walking you through it.

Recently they have been trying to tackle other areas outside sports and finance like:

1)writing reviews of the best restaurants.

2)writing a monthly report for its franchise operators that analyzes sales figures, compares them to regional peers, and suggests particular menu items to push.3

3) producing personalized 401(k) financial reports

4)synopses of World of Warcraft sessions—players could get a recap after a big raid that would read as if an embedded journalist had accompanied their guild.

Hammond"s bold vision is within 20 years as more data is available and the programs mature be in every area of writing from commodity news to explanatory journalism and, ultimately, detailed long-form articles.

Article by J5un for Emerging Tech Trends for Transhumanism
You can check out Narrative Science here

Post Update- Since I have written this article I have came across an app for websites that has update real time news. You can check it out at Nozzl.com.

Transhumanism and Hermaphroditism

I just read this interesting article by Terra Bosart for transhumanity.net on how transhumanism might lead to hermaphroditism in some. Being a transhumanist myself you cannot help but wonder about the different ways our bodies can be manipulated.

There is estimated to be 0.033% to 0.05% on wikipedia's intersexuality page of hermaphrodite  births. 

recently i watched a documentary by national geographic on immortality in nature and the scientist interviewed in it talked about many asexual organisms like the Turritopsis nutricula jellyfish are though to be physically immortal and can only die from external circumstances.

If  one was trying to achieve immortality then they may go in that direction towards one sex.

If you have any thoughts on this please leave them below or on my twitter acct
link to Terra Bosart's article