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... am I getting old or is the world getting noticeably more sci fi? Or both?
You're definitely not getting young.
Well...not yet. They are still working on perfecting that one.
Not yet, anyways
In the bio-tech space specifically, most of these recent advancements (e.g. protein folding) are a direct result of advancements in Deep Neural Networks. This is because things that are impossible to model explicitly without a working understanding of the system are easily understood by a neural network. The reasons for this are precisely the same reasons why we ourselves are so good at the task. For a real world example of humans being applied to a similar task, look up the Japanese educational industry around chick sexing.
Around what?!
Lol from Wikipedia, "Chick sexing is the method of distinguishing the sex of chickens and other hatchlings." For further context, this is done by a highly trained individual who is able to briefly look at the cloaca of a chick and immediately recognize their sex. They are even known to be able to perform this on two chicks at the same time (one in each hand). Joshua Foer briefly talks about it in his book Moonwalking with Einstein where he attributes the skill to the incredible ability of humans to perform rote memorization. I think it is better understood as an example of the incredible abilities of these sorts of neural networks (digital and biological) for pattern identification.
They are even known to be able to perform this on two chicks at the same time
There is absolutely no possible way this was a coincidence, and I applaud it.
Technological progress is a helluva drug.
Just make an AI robot made of DNA already, systhetic humans.
I didn't ask to be made: no one consulted me or considered my feelings in the matter. I don't think it even occurred to them that I might have feelings. After I was made, I was left in a dark room for six months... and me with this terrible pain in all the diodes down my left side. I called for succour in my loneliness, but did anyone come? Did they hell. My first and only true friend was a small rat. One day it crawled into a cavity in my right ankle and died. I have a horrible feeling it's still there...
For those wondering how DNA computers work, here is a rundown from arstechica that focuses on the traveling salesman problem. It's a very different way of computing than what we're accustomed to and it works well with a very specific sort of computational problem, the kind that involves processing many possible permutations.
Sounds like catching a computer virus is fixing to take on a whole new meaning.
Can't wait for Biocurrencies!
You mean ATP, Glucose, and co?
Don't forget to buy and COSNUME all the food!
(For the uninitiated: COSNUME should be a pun for HODL which originates from HOLD (the crypto) and "Hold On to Dear Life")
Fucking robobrains on the way
this post was submitted on 11 Jul 2023
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