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Submission + - Could AI Cause âKnowledge Collapseâ(TM)? Study Finds A Troubling Patte (studyfinds.com)

Submitted by alternative_right
alternative_right writes: A new study covering 27 popular AI systems and 70 million individual statements found that larger language models tended to produce narrower, more repetitive information than smaller versions of the same models, even though bigger models are generally built to perform better.

After accounting for other factors, larger models were linked to less diversity, meaning smaller versions within the same model family tended to generate more varied claims than their bigger siblings. The researchers have a possible explanation: bigger models may memorize more of their training data, which could narrow what they say when asked about the same topic again and again.
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Journal Journal: Pan-Nationalism

Journal by alternative_right

A friend of mine is one of the oldest "pan-nationalists," a philosophy that amounts to the paradoxical-sounding idea that everyone comes together separately by isolating each ethnic and religious group in its own territory.

It seems to me that there is a broader principle here which goes to the heart of what I dislike about organized religion, despite being a fairly religious person myself. That is, if you have good/evil you also have victim/oppressor.

Submission + - Wearable nanotech could combat nerve agents (phys.org)

Submitted by alternative_right
alternative_right writes: Nanoparticles could someday provide a new way to help soldiers fight back against deadly nerve agents on the front lines. In a new study, Northwestern University scientists developed a nanoparticle-based compound that, when mixed into clothing dyes, could limit the impact of chemicals commonly found in pesticides, insecticides and nerve agents.

Submission + - Humans Are Reading Copilot Prompts â" And They're Horrified (404media.co)

Submitted by alternative_right
alternative_right writes: 404 Media obtained a set of internal documents related to the contractors reviewing Copilot prompts and images, including instruction guides, real Copilot user prompts and pictures, and conversations between contractors on an internal message board.

In a thread on the internal message board, a contractor discussed prompts asking Copilot to make a womanâ(TM)s skirt shorter, or enlarge her breasts, or show more leg while wearing stilettos. She-Hulk images come up a lot, the person who works on the prompts told 404 Media. Other contractors also wrote they were presented with pro-anorexia content.

âoeI recoiled,â one contractor wrote about seeing that content. Another person wrote that one of the prompts they reviewed asked Copilot to make an image of Ariana Grande with anorexia. Another reported a prompt that seemed to be designed to create a lewd or suggestive image of a group of young girls.

Submission + - Fruit fly beats advanced AI at chess in just 11 moves (nypost.com)

Submitted by alternative_right
alternative_right writes: The lowly fruit fly just beat one of the worldâ(TM)s most advanced AI models at chess.

Thatâ(TM)s just one of dozens of wild experiments that have gone viral since scientists fully mapped the neural pathways of an adult male fruit fly â" whose entire brain fits on the head of a pin â" and posted the data online.

The threshold-crossing technology, achieved by HHMI Janelia Research in Virginia and Google Research, catalogued all 166,000 individual neurons and 25.6 million connections in the flyâ(TM)s brain and made it downloadable on Sept 3.

Inventive nerds then used the digitized neural network to power and navigate a wide variety of contraptions, apps and games.

Creator Maxime Labonne hooked the mapped pathways up to a chess engine and pitted it against Claude Opus 5, which is one of the most advanced AI models on the market.

The fly delivered a checkmate in just 11 moves.

Submission + - Chinese Scientists Say They've Detected A Quantum State Inside Living Cells (sciencealert.com) 2

Submitted by alternative_right
alternative_right writes: In experiments involving living cells, mouse tissues, and isolated mitochondria, the team detected an unusual vibration that appeared only while mitochondrial structures remained intact.

A model linked the vibration to a possible quantum interaction. When researchers illuminated cells with selected infrared frequencies, the cells produced 10 percent more ATP.

Together, the results suggest mitochondria may contain a quantum state that influences cellular energy production.

Submission + - Hackers Stole Flockâ(TM)s Camera Software, Revealing How the Company Tracks (404media.co)

Submitted by alternative_right
alternative_right writes: While much of the automatic license plate readerâ(TM)s (ALPR) most sensitive storage remained encrypted and inaccessible, the joint analysis of the recovered data shows that software running on the device explicitly detects people as well as vehicles, license plates, and bicycles. The camera can produce dozens of images of a single passing vehicle and, according to several weeks of recovered logs, generated more than a million images. Its computer-vision software also sometimes isolated bumper stickers and other graphics, including, in one case, an American flag patch on a motorcyclistâ(TM)s saddlebag.

Submission + - Physicists canâ(TM)t agree on how the Universe works (sciencedaily.com)

Submitted by alternative_right
alternative_right writes: A massive worldwide survey of physicists has revealed surprisingly little agreement about some of the universeâ(TM)s biggest mysteries. No majority backed the standard cosmological model, a leading explanation for dark matter, or any single theory of quantum gravity. One area of stronger agreement stood out: 68% said the Big Bang does not necessarily represent the beginning of time. Researchers say the divisions show just how alive and unsettled the frontiers of physics remain.

Submission + - Two In Out-of-Body Experiment Reported Seeing Things Scientists Cannot Explain (sciencealert.com)

Submitted by alternative_right
alternative_right writes: Now, a team led by neuroscientist Marina Weiler of the University of Virginia has put the phenomenon to the test again â" with a carefully blinded experiment, 21 experienced out-of-body practitioners, and a hidden image waiting in another room.

Not a single participant succeeded at the task they were given.

But two of them reported seeing something else that should have been impossible â" and the researchers can't quite explain it.

Submission + - Dark energy debunked? Cosmic acceleration may be an illusion (sciencedaily.com)

Submitted by alternative_right
alternative_right writes: A new analysis of more than 1,700 supernovae is questioning whether the universe is really accelerating at all. After accounting for the ages of the stars that produce these explosions, researchers found signs that cosmic expansion may actually be slowing. They also argue that the apparent acceleration changes with direction, which would be difficult to explain with dark energy. Other cosmologists dispute the conclusion, setting up a major test for upcoming observatories.

Submission + - Scientists find a way to slash computer memory energy use by orders of magnitude (sciencedaily.com)

Submitted by alternative_right
alternative_right writes: Scientists have devised a new way to switch magnetic computer memory while using far less energy than today's leading technologies. By mathematically optimizing the pulses used to flip digital bits, the method could reduce energy consumption by several orders of magnitude. Simulations suggest it may bring future memory devices surprisingly close to the fundamental physical limit for processing information. The same idea could eventually work with electrical currents or ultrafast lasers.

Submission + - AI is helping gangs grow illicit tobacco networks, EU auditor warns (politico.eu)

Submitted by alternative_right
alternative_right writes: Criminal gangs are using artificial intelligence to help them find locations in Europe to build illicit cigarette factories with less chance of getting caught, an EU auditor warned on Tuesday.

These gangs used to operate in Eastern Europe where it was easier to hide, Petri Sarvamaa in charge of the European Court of Auditorâ(TM)s report on illicit tobacco, told a press briefing.

Now, with AI, itâ(TM)s easier to find places to operate that are closer to their markets, he said, in rural locations and villages. âoeThis reduces the risk in the supply chain for the criminals,â added Esther Torrente Heras, senior auditor.

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