Bölümler
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Astronomer Lindsay House returned to the podcast to update us on her citizen science project called Dark Energy Explorers. Around the globe, 20,000 explorers are using data from the world’s third largest telescope to observe patterns in the movement of galaxies from between 9-11 billion years ago, to understand how the expansionary force of dark energy operates. As Lindsay explains, dark energy, which comprises 70% of the universe’s mass, is undetectable to our instruments but exerts an expansionary force by adding space between physical objects. Since 1998, we’ve known that the universe is expanding more rapidly over time, at rate that was thought to be a constant rate of acceleration. However, new evidence is pointing to an unexpected reduction in the speed of expansion. What function is dark energy exercising in time, if dark energy's force can both increase and decrease the rate of universal expansion? Would dark energy's variability lead to a revision of the “lambda-CDM” model of cosmology, which is based on a constant expansion rate? The observations of the Dark Energy Explorers community from 159 countries, sharing knowledge translated into 9 languages, are contributing to expanding understanding of the still-mysterious expansionary force of dark energy. The Dark Energy Explorers are, as Lindsay says, the humans “in the loop,” as the capabilities of AI and machine learning help to make vast numbers of groundbreaking connections with astronomical data. Hear Lindsay tell the story of Dark Energy Explorers, and how scientists are coming to understand more about dark energy, the fascinating and invisible force of expansion.
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We speak with Dr. Deirdre Haskell, Director of the Fields Institute for Research in Mathematical Sciences at the University of Toronto, about how mathematics applies to so many aspects of our daily lives and is at the forefront of the latest developments in science and technology. The Fields Institute brings together specialists in different mathematical branches from around the globe to integrate knowledge and expand the frontiers of mathematics. Mathematics touches all of us, whether it’s with GPS navigation, medical and astronomical imaging, modelling for climate change and finance, or artificial intelligence with its Large Language Models like ChatGPT. Explaining the relevance of mathematics in a way that’s accessible to all, Deirdre brings us into a critically important conversation about the direction of a future that’s increasingly mathematical.
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Saima Fancy, a privacy specialist, returns to the show for a discussion on the emerging concept and benefits of designing technological processes that keep the “Human in the Loop.” Now, when the complexities of algorithms are multiplying with every new feature and every new interface, it’s critical for good and safe outcomes that humans are able to oversee and, if necessary, override automated processes. Saima calls for a global discussion that focuses specifically on Human in the Loop, and it’s a call that’s especially crucial now, when AI agents, LLMs, and other technological processes are rapidly gaining control of our daily living. The list of functions that we cede to AI grows by the day, and now includes reading, writing, shopping, social calendaring, delivery ordering, and control of household appliances. In this episode, we outline the emerging issues and opportunities that make today the best time to begin figuring out how we remain in our own technological loop.
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2024 was a record-setting year for elections, with nearly half the world’s voters eligible to cast ballots in over 60 nations and the European Union. In some cases, social media and other technological tools have been used to enable bad actors, misinformation, and other challenges to the fairness and transparency of democratic processes. This increases the importance of election monitoring, pioneered by former U.S. President Jimmy Carter who established the Carter Center in 1982. Dr. Ian Batista, who holds a PhD in political science and has worked with the Carter Center in monitoring three elections on two continents, speaks about differences in voting processes and technologies, the importance of voters maintaining trust in the mechanisms, and the ways that technology is being used sometimes to hinder and sometimes to help the exercise of democracy.
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Adio Dinika is a political scientist and researcher for DAIR, the Distributed AI Research Institute that was founded in 2021 by Timnit Gebru after her termination as technical co-lead of the company’s Ethical Artificial Intelligence Team. Adio takes us behind the scene to give us a sense of the working conditions of many thousands of people, mainly in the lower-wage areas of the global south, whose task it is to filter massive data sets for machine learning and software applications that we use every day, by labelling images and flagging harmful content. Adio discusses the sometimes desperate challenges that these people face, and the work that DAIR is doing to bring the issues to public awareness and advocate for fair treatment of the humans who make AI possible.
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Dr. Federico Carollo is a researcher at the University of Tübingen who is exploring a new, dynamic phase of matter called time crystals. First theorized by Nobel Prize laureate Frank Wilczek a dozen years ago, time crystals are quickly becoming practical reality. Federico explains how they operate, the different varieties of time crystals, and their potential uses for sensing, measurement, and other applications as a new platform for probing physics. Although time crystals aren’t perpetual motion machines, as the analogy is sometimes applied, we consider some of the technologies that could emerge and the exciting future as the science of time crystals evolves.
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Twesh Upadhyaha takes us on a tour of the science of thermodynamics as it has developed over two centuries, exploring the latest discoveries in the changes of energy and its various forms of heat and work at the smallest quantum level of atoms and molecules. Twesh is a PhD candidate at the University of Maryland, where he's a researcher in the Quantum Steampunk Laboratory. Join Twesh in exploring the frontiers of thermodynamics in the hidden world of energy at the microscopic level, the fascinating connection of quantum thermodynamics with information theory, the discovery of what he calls “an entire family of constraints” within the second law of thermodynamics at the quantum level, and the open question: “What does entropy even mean at the quantum level?”
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Joe DeMartini is the first recipient of the Schweickart Prize, awarded by the B612 Foundation for his innovative proposal to detect and track asteroids during twilight hours. Joe’s proposal could significantly enhance planetary defence by locating asteroids in the large section of the sky that’s difficult for telescopes to observe because of the sun’s light. Joe talks about the details of his proposal, about meeting Apollo 9 astronaut Rusty Schweickart who founded the B612 Foundation, and about the asteroid Apophis which will pass between Earth and the moon in just under 5 years, on April 13, 2029.
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Arushi Nath is a high school student who developed a passion for asteroid research when she attended the biennial Planetary Defense Conference in 2021. Since then, Arushi has been applying her coding skills in hunting for asteroids and contributing many new findings to the objects that astronomers are tracking as potential hazards to our planet. Arushi explains her work around NASA's DART mission, which successfully tested the ability of a probe to impact and redirect a moonlet orbiting a faraway asteroid, and she discusses the national and international conferences she has attended. Those interested in the asteroid collision simulation that Arushi mentions can find it on NASA's website at https://cneos.jpl.nasa.gov/pd/cs/pdc23/. Arushi is looking forward to the next Planetary Defense Conference in 2025, and we're looking forward to hearing more from this extraordinary young citizen scientist who offers a very bright and hopeful voice for the future.
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Why do animals communicate, and why and how did their many different methods of communication evolve? It's fascinating to learn from Dr. Arik Kershenbaum about such a crucial part of everyday living in the animal kingdom that we humans tend to overlook in our daily lives. A zoologist at the University of Cambridge, Arik studies vocal communications in animals, including wolves, dolphins, and gibbons. Arik speaks with us about his new book, Why Animals Talk, coming out this August, and we discuss his 2021 book, The Zoologist’s Guide to the Galaxy, which takes us on a journey through the incredible variety of animals and their communication here on Earth and quite possibly beyond. As Arik says, animals are “not just automata, but living species with communicative intelligence not unlike our own,” and he introduces us to the vast and fascinating array of information that animals are exchanging all around us.
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We sat down with Jessica West, who is a senior researcher in space governance with a depth of experience in a rapidly evolving and crucially important field, to talk about the challenges and opportunities for humanity beyond earth. With competing military and commercial activity in space, and large numbers of satellites and objects to track, Jessica has said that the situation is becoming tense and requires a lowering of the heat. Jessica explains the history of space governance, beginning with the United Nations’ 1967 Outer Space Treaty and its ideals, and the extent to which humanity’s presence in outer space has multiplied many times over since. As she outlines the present state of global discussions and activity at the UN, Jessica gives a sense of hope that we are on a path toward real progress in the peaceful use of outer space.
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With his decades-long experience in virtual reality technologies, Louis Rosenberg talks about a new technological paradigm designed to facilitate a collective human superintelligence. Called Swarm AI, it's modelled after natural swarm intelligence among fish, bees, and other species, and aims to amplify the decision-making capacity of groups of people instead of the machine making the decision for them. Louis' new book, Our Next Reality, and his role with the Responsible Metaverse Alliance, highlight the crucial choices that lie ahead with increasingly powerful virtual reality applications, in building a future of humans, made by humans, and for humans. We can't know whether collective superintelligence is the answer, but the questions that Louis raises at the conclusion of the talk demand urgent attention and discussion.
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Saima Fancy is a Privacy Specialist whose two decades of experience have spanned the explosion of AI and a series of privacy breaches of global consequence. With the profit-driven development of artificial general intelligence now underway, and large language models like GPT-4 in the forefront, why does privacy matter? When many believe technology leaves them with few options to protect their privacy, Saima provides a forceful answer to the question, encouraging a greater understanding of the data we are providing and our value as creative beings.
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Professor of Physics and Astronomy Dr. Marcelo Gleiser shares a remarkably philosophical perspective on humanity’s relationship with the cosmos as we discuss his latest book, The Dawn of a Mindful Universe. Incorporating centuries of accumulated scientific knowledge, Marcelo’s book highlights the rarity of conditions for life in a vast universe, and our duty to protect the natural world that sustains life on Earth. Marcelo makes a passionate case for a biocentric perspective that appreciates and treasures the interwoven existence of the physical universe and life as he describes “a new wind of awakening” that brings promise to harmonizing human living with the limitless resources of the universe.
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Mathematician and acclaimed playwright Dr. John Mighton discusses the JUMP Math charity that has, for over two decades since he founded it, provided learning resources in mathematics used each year by hundreds of thousands of students and teachers. Math is an essential skill in a technological world, particularly in understanding probabilities and risks, and Dr. Mighton explains JUMP Math's unique approach to engaging students and making math learning a positive experience with results that speak for themselves. As Dr. Mighton says, "it's so easy to close the gap" in mathematical knowledge and unleash a great measure of creative potential in the process.
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Alec Koumjian, Head of Software Engineering for the Asteroid Institute, talks about the pioneering efforts underway to defend Earth from asteroids and other space objects. The Institute’s innovative use of multiple data sources and software to predict and analyze trajectories includes inputs from the public and partnerships with other organizations. Alec relates the challenges of tracking objects in the solar system over long periods of time, the Asteroid Institute’s many achievements, and plans to map and track practically all space objects that could threaten life on our planet.
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The Quantum Feedback Loop welcomes neuroscientist Dr. Burcin Ikiz, who describes her new initiative, EcoNeuro, to study the effects of climate change on the brain in different areas and environmental conditions around the globe. Burcin is a pioneer in investigating the effects on brain health from pollution, extreme heat, and other environmental stresses. As both a scientist and a mother, Burcin’s goal is to raise awareness of the issues so that action can be taken both locally and globally to reduce the risk of damage to brain health, and treatments can be developed to mitigate the damages already taking place. In the discussion, Burcin mentions the Pulitzer Center’s Local Letters for Global Change contest for children of all grades to express their concerns and solutions for climate change, the link for which is here.
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In a joint production with the Plato’s Pod podcast, we explore the relevance of ancient philosophy to modern technology with the question, “What Would Socrates Say About ChatGPT?” We take Socrates to the offices of OpenAI to meet the company’s CEO, Sam Altman, and imagine the questions that Socrates would have after the technology is explained to him. In the course of the imagined meeting, we address some crucial errors that ChatGPT makes in its outputs on Socrates, as an example of the technology’s potential to undermine language and introduce feedback loops that distort the meaning of words over time. What do you think - are there some timeless and fundamentally questions about our relationship with technology?
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Elisa Torres Durney is a high school student in Chile whose organization Girls in Quantum has attracted young participants around the planet. Hear how Elisa and her group are educating youth on quantum computing and quantum mechanics, and connecting with scientists in the field. Their ambitious plans for the future are helping to prepare for the technology and work of tomorrow.
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Lindsay House is a PhD candidate and astronomer whose citizen science project uses light that took 9-11 billion years to reach Earth to search for signs of dark energy. Lindsay explains what we know so far about this force, which can't be directly observed but appears to be responsible for the accelerating expansion of the universe. Learn how you too can become a Dark Energy Explorer.
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