Mind-Blowing Archives
September 29, 2016Can We Build A.I. Without Losing Control?
(via TED) Scared of superintelligent AI? You should be, says neuroscientist and philosopher Sam Harris — and not just in some theoretical way. We're going to build superhuman machines, says Harris, but we haven't yet grappled with the problems associated with creating something that may treat us the way we treat ants. 
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| Mind-Blowing - Thursday September 29th, 2016 | Send to a Friend
How Time Can Be Slower and Faster at the Same Time
(via Minute Physics) This video is about the famous “Twin paradox” of special relativity, and how time can appear to be faster for two different observers at the same time. Send to a Friend | Permalink
| Mind-Blowing - Friday August 19th, 2016 | Send to a Friend
The A.I. Apocalypse Is More Myth Than Reality
(via Big Think) Steven Pinker believes there's some interesting gender psychology at play when it comes to the robopocalypse. Could artificial intelligence become evil or are alpha male scientists just projecting? Send to a Friend | Permalink
| Mind-Blowing - Friday August 12th, 2016 | Send to a Friend
The Quake-Maker You've Never Heard Of: Cascadia
The Cascadia subduction zone is a convergent plate boundary that stretches from British Columbia to California. Experts say a shift in the plates will cause a major natural disaster for people living along the west coast. Dr. Chris Goldfinger has spent years studying the earthquake and tsunami threat in the Pacific Northwest.
DR. CHRIS GOLDFINGER: If we have a 9.0 [magnitude earthquake], and it ruptures the whole subduction zone, then you're going to have probably three to five minutes of shaking. I've been in a 9.0 in Japan. Three minutes is an eternity. A 9.0 is typically going to make a wave of roughly 15-20 meters. That'll come in ashore beginning in about 15 minutes.
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| Mind-Blowing - Thursday February 11th, 2016 | Send to a Friend
Anamorphic Illusions to Blow Your Mind
Effects specialist Brusspup brings us another edition of anamorphic illusions. Send to a Friend | Permalink
| Mind-Blowing - Tuesday December 8th, 2015 | Send to a Friend
We Are Cosmic Poetry
(via Shots of Awe) “Human speech is a cracked kettle on which we tap crude rhythms... while we long to make music that will melt the stars.” - G. FlaubertJoin Jason Silva as he freestyles complex systems of society, technology and human existence and discusses the truth and beauty of science in a form of existential jazz. Send to a Friend | Permalink
| Mind-Blowing - Tuesday November 24th, 2015 | Send to a Friend
Can You Solve the Prisoner Hat Riddle?
(via TEDEd) You and nine other individuals have been captured by super-intelligent alien overlords. The aliens think humans look quite tasty, but their civilization forbids eating highly logical and cooperative beings. Unfortunately, they’re not sure whether you qualify, so they decide to give you all a test. Can you solve this hat riddle? Alex Gendler shows how. Send to a Friend | Permalink
| Mind-Blowing - Monday October 5th, 2015 | Send to a Friend
10 Optical Illusions You Can Make At Home
Professor Richard Wiseman shows off ten amazing optical illusions that you can make at home. Send to a Friend | Permalink
| Mind-Blowing - Thursday September 24th, 2015 | Send to a Friend
How to Launch a Nuclear Missile
Derek Mueller shows a clip from his upcoming special on PBS, "Uranium." Send to a Friend | Permalink
| Mind-Blowing - Monday July 27th, 2015 | Send to a Friend
Science & Technology Lets Us Extend Our Empathy
(via Jason Silva) Media is a tool that can program and reprogram the human bio-computer. Stories pattern the imagination. Language helps us think about our thinking. Cinema can open up new vistas for our minds. These new tools give us new "spaces of possibility" to explore, and this video is a celebration of that new space of imagination, compassion, collaboration and inspiration. Send to a Friend | Permalink