WHY DUNE’S APPROACH TO ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE MAKES STAR WARS LOOK ABSURD
The lack of "thinking machines" in Dune is intentional, and the ban on this technology actually creates the basis for all of the world-building within the original six Frank Herbert novels. But what's brilliant is this backstory is not really a huge cautionary tale. Instead, Herbert uses the A.I. revolution trope as table-setting for Dune. In doing so, he makes the world-building of other droid-heavy sci-fi fantasy universes seem a little bit silly.
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The TL;DR version of this simply: The reason why there's no A.I. in the relative "present" of Dune is that by the time Paul Atreides and his family move to Arrakis, A.I. has already been banished for 10 millennia.
...Like the 2003 Battlestar Galactica reboot, Dune imagines a future where technology has been intentionally throttled back to keep people safe from it.
...Frank Herbert's sly decision to make robots and evil A.I. a part of "long time ago" backstory allows the original Dune books to be about something several sci-fi epics forget to focus on: Humans.
See the full story here: https://www.inverse.com/entertainment/dunes-2020-ai-tech-star-wars-differences
Apple’s new spatial audio feature is a headphone game-changer
When I first updated my iPhone 11 Pro to iOS 14 to try out Apple's new spatial audio feature, I was a bit mystified. "Not sure what's going on," I wrote a colleague. "I seem to have the new firmware [3A283] on AirPods Pro. It says I have spatial audio. But what some people are describing I'm not experiencing. Restarting phone and earbuds."
That made all the difference. After I turned the phone back on and reinserted the buds in my ears (after returning them briefly to their charging case), I launched a movie on Apple TV again and was greeted by a completely different audio experience. It's hard to describe the sensation but my immediate reaction was to check whether the earbuds were actually on because the audio sounded like it was coming from the phone (not the buds), which was sitting on the table about two feet away from me. It was an out-of-bud experience. (For instructions on how to enable spatial audio, go here.)
[Spatial Audio] changes the small-screen watching experience, adding a bona fide surround-sound experience, albeit one that's limited by the AirPods Pro's sound quality.
See the full story here: https://www.cnet.com/news/apples-new-spatial-audio-feature-is-a-game-changer/
Quantum and classical computers handle time differently. What does that mean for AI?
In fact, scientists have proven that time’s arrow – a bedrock concept related to the classical view of time – doesn’t really work on quantum computers. Classical physics suffers from a concept called causal asymmetry. Basically, if you throw a bunch of confetti in the air and take a picture when each piece is at its apex, it’ll be easier for a classical computer to determine what happens next (where the confetti is going) than what happened before (what direction the confetti would travel in going backwards through time).
Quantum computers can perform both calculations with equal ease, thus indicating they do not suffer causal asymmetry. Time’s arrow is only relevant to classical systems – of which the human mind appears to be, though our brains are almost certainly quantum constructs.
But experts such as Gary Marcus and Ernest Davis believe an understanding of time is essential to the future of AI, especially as it relates to “human-level” artificial general intelligence (AGI). The duo penned an op-ed for the New York Times where they stated:
In particular, we need to stop building computer systems that merely get better and better at detecting statistical patterns in data sets — often using an approach known as deep learning — and start building computer systems that from the moment of their assembly innately grasp three basic concepts: time, space and causality.
Quantum physics tells us that, at the very least, our understanding of time is likely different from what might be the ultimate universal reality.
See the full story here: https://thenextweb.com/neural/2020/09/17/quantum-and-classical-computers-handle-time-differently-what-does-that-mean-for-ai/
NYT, Facebook launch multi-year augmented reality reporting project
The New York Times and Facebook have struck a multi-year partnership to co-develop augmented reality (AR) filters and effects on Instagram that help users access and contextualize New York Times journalism, executives tell Axios.
Why it matters: It's the first time that The Times has experimented with augmented reality technology at scale and off of its own website and apps. The partnership also represents an evolution in the relationship between publishers and tech companies.
Details: To get the partnership off the ground, The Times has built a dedicated "AR Lab" team within its research and development unit of more than a dozen employees.
- That team will develop augmented reality filters and effects using a Facebook platform for developers called "Spark AR Studio."
- Facebook will provide guidance on ways to use Spark, and in turn, The Times will provide feedback to Facebook on developer experience and features.
- Facebook will be providing financial and technical support for the project, but it will not have any influence on the editorial side. The Times will have full control over the design and content of the effects.
- The first few filters from the launch series will include visual interactive pieces tied to the centennial of women’s suffrage, coverage of the California wildfires and air quality during the COVID-19 lockdown, as displayed in the picture above.
See the full story here: https://www.axios.com/new-york-times-facebook-augmented-reality-0973fa9e-ffcc-4a68-91ec-ffb77d757745.html
Mayflower boarding reconstructed using virtual reality
A virtual reality reconstruction of the Mayflower has been created to mark the 400th anniversary of the ship sailing the first English Puritans to the “New World”.
The project to recreate the Barbican Harbour area in Plymouth in the 1620s launches online today at www.1620mayflower.co.uk. Created over the past six years by the University of Birmingham, it uses virtual reality and augmented reality to enable users to board a small boat at the original site of the Mayflower Steps before taking a short journey out to the ship to experience passengers and crew preparing to set sail.
The Mayflower’s 102 colonist passengers founded the settlement of Plymouth, Massachusetts, in the land mass now known as the United States.
See the full story here: https://www.museumsassociation.org/museums-journal/news/2020/09/mayflower-boarding-reconstructed-using-virtual-reality/#
‘Myst’ in VR: Classic game to get a modern reboot with virtual reality debut on Oculus Quest
The original Myst was the #1 best-selling video game in the world from 1993 to 2002, a “killer app” that contributed to widespread adoption of CD-ROM drives for home computers.
Could a remake have the same effect for virtual reality? That’s a stretch, but the announcement of a new virtual reality edition of Myst is a milestone years in the making for Cyan Worlds, the Spokane, Wash.-based company behind the landmark puzzle game. Remade from the ground up in the Unreal Engine, the new version of Myst will initially be released for the Oculus Quest later this year, with a non-VR PC edition coming at an unspecified later date.
Myst puts the player in the role of an unnamed person who is accidentally transported via a magical book to an isolated, seemingly uninhabited island. With no way back, the player is forced to explore the area and solve a variety of puzzles. In so doing, they discover the history of the island and the people who once lived there, as well as the secrets behind the “linking books” that join the island with a number of other disparate worlds.
Notably, Myst features no depictions of violence, time limits, failure conditions, or verbal storytelling to speak of, all of which was nearly unprecedented in 1993. It’s had a significant influence on video games as a medium, and arguably pop culture in general, to this day.
See the full story here: https://www.geekwire.com/2020/myst-vr-classic-game-get-modern-reboot-virtual-reality-debut-oculus-quest/
How XpertVR Is Changing the Face of Traditional Research With Virtual Reality
PhilNote: What XpertVR does is definitely not unique, but the story gives a good description of the service.
Using Virtual Reality for Market Research
One of the biggest challenges in traditional market research is creating realistic test environments. Due to budget and time constraints, companies often fail to deliver ideal testing scenarios, which leads to less than accurate data.
That’s where virtual reality comes in.
XpertVR uses immersive solutions to simulate stores, retailers, and many other user experiences, without having to build physical assets. From consumer behavior research to product A/B testing, the startup can create a variety of simulations to fit the needs of their clients.
“VR has made the data research traditionally collected much more abundant as well as less cost-prohibitive,” Sitler said in an interview. “Because of this and the far wider range of ideas that can be tested in VR, researchers are starting to focus more on the consumer’s experience.”
Pushing the Limits of Research With Virtual Reality
XpertVR builds custom applications, which are compatible with different VR headsets and software platforms. For example, they made an immersive environment in Unity to test custom furniture models. They allow data collection using eye and hand tracking, audio and video capture, and other VR accessories. Moreover, they can help clients look for the most suitable hardware for any research endeavor.
See the full story here: https://arpost.co/2020/09/15/xpertvr-traditional-research-virtual-reality/