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talonabraxas · 4 months

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Science and the Rainbow Body

We have looked at some aspects of what modern biophysics, biophotonics, phonics (sound), and neurology can bring to our understanding of the Light Body. And the anatomical discovery of the microscopic primo vascular system and fascial tissue give us new perspectives on tsas, nadis, meridians, and the body’s energy channels in general. But at some point science is left in the dust. It cannot keep up with ancient esoteric knowledge, cooked for millennia in the crucible of direct inner experience, not intellectual theories. This particularly refers to the science of the Five Elements, and the loss and distortion of this knowledge in Western intellectual culture, medicine, and religion.

That massive misstep began long ago. While ancient Greece is taken to be the fount of our Western scientific tradition, it is also where materialism took hold fiercely, relegating scientists to the study of physical objects, functions, and ever smaller components. It’s only now, thousands of years later, that physics—and a good dose of Eastern spirituality—promise a revived view of a living, conscious universe. In nature, and in the realm of biology, it is grids of information-energy that rule supreme. Aristotle, Hippocrates, and Galen could not abide the idea of five intangible formative forces and downgraded the elements into gloppy fluids sloshing about in the spaces of the body. To be fair, this was in response to the Egyptian and Babylonian perspective, held for thousands of years, of the elements as deities. Empedocles famously called these deities “roots,” turning them into a proprietary system and establishing his place in history. But the notion of a space element, already an integral part of Pythagorean knowledge adopted from Egypt and Babylon a century before, was out in the cold. This left us with the fantasy of hydraulic fluids running the body (the humoral theory), which would pervade European and Middle Eastern thought right into the modern era—tainting astrology, alchemy, and reflected in the truncated four-part psychology of Jung, Keirsey, and Myers-Briggs. But while this artifact of materialistic thinking affected a hundred generations of beings, the true knowledge of elemental forces has remained intact, preserved in Tibetan Buddhism, Indian Shaivism, Sufic healing, and the Western gnostic lineages. That is a good thing, since they play a central role in the development of the Rainbow or Light Body. That is as it should be, since it is not myth that we are composed, mind and body, of five dynamic patterns of meaning and manifestation.

In the process of creation, of manifestation, the higher is separated from the lower: gravity and levity, roots and fruits, sky and earth. Now, we reverse the process, climbing back toward union. But a simple reversion to the primordial state, to a pure unity of warm consciousness incomprehensible to our dull intellect would miss the point. Our journey as an embodied five-elemental being is not just a movement within an illusion of time and space where “nothing actually happens.” The return is everything, and in many ways the fulfillment of creation itself. It is the ouroboros, the snake that devours its own tail, the completion of the circle, which is itself empty and contains everything.

This elemental transformation process is commonly portrayed in Tibetan thangkas and repeated in almost every ritual. Within a human skull cup we visualize five kinds of meat (forbidden foods, according to Brahmanical literature) and five kinds of bodily fluids. Their specific names are not important for this discussion, but they represent the Five Elements in their female and male aspects. This mishmash is the sum of our physical existence. Here is biology; here is embodiment; here is incarnation—being in the flesh. But here is the possibility of the birth of a new, non-material form as a vehicle for a renewed consciousness. These elements will be cooked and transformed into wisdom nectar, due to the magical addition of Om Ah Hung. In Tibetan, these three syllables represent form, energy, and consciousness, although I prefer G. I. Gurdjieff’s more colorful nomenclature of “Holy Denying, Holy Affirming, and Holy Reconciling.”

The reason for this transformative possibility in the first place is that the Five Elements exist within us in a multi-layered context. We contain the five material elements, but also the five original, pure Wisdom Elements, the cosmic spark as it were. The Hindu tradition describes five koshas or levels of existence, from gross to subtle, from bioenergetic to pure consciousness. The Buddhist world speaks of three bodies or kaya in a similar spectrum. The Kabbalah describes five worlds in a descending chain of existence. Whether we count in threes, fives, or beyond, the problem remains—how to unite the lower and the higher to create something altogether new. Traditionally, we perceive each of the Vajrayana chakras as the center of gravity of one of the elements—but containing an inner structure of five subelements. And so we have elements within elements waiting to be impregnated with divine radiance and to ascend to their true potential.

Cooking the elements

Down in the depths of our viscera, in the dark recess of the pelvic container, is a secret bindu, an energetic sphere, a “bubble” of immense import. The yogin or yogini will have long prepared, through visualization, mantra recitation, focused meditation, and the gathering of blessings, creative forces, and the richness of material, planetary, biological, and spiritual energies. Prolonged purifications have taken place, readying for this moment. Now, in this most secret of places, the alchemical process, the gestation of a new Light Body begins. Conception took place long ago, in different forms of initiations, meetings with the guru, or even a direct download from transcendent sources. Now the quickening begins, the “cooking” process. As in our visualized skull cup of animals and fluids, we ignite the fire in the belly and fan it with the reversed turbulence of our “downward descending wind.” The digestive and liver fire is harnessed, and winds are drawn down and held in the vase of the belly. The anus and lower doors are drawn up and sealed. As the sub-navel furnace blazes, the Earth mandala in the belly dissolves and is drawn upward by a natural osmosis, the force of levity, of ionic attraction, in the oldest dance in the universe.

Spiral dynamics

In this “mating” process, the flame rises up to melt the Wisdom Elements dwelling in the head. This inner heat or tummo process involves spiral energies. The heavenly father energies move clockwise, always. The earthly mother energies move in an anti-clockwise spiral, always. This is clearly seen in the way that a mantra circles within the heart, depending on whether one is self-visualized as a male or female yidam or deity form. The male mantra circles to the right and the female mantra always circles to the left (from the perspective of your own body’s orientation). Spiraling down, the flow moves through the chakras producing the “four joys.” But it spirally ascends to the head again, thrusting through the chakras with another more intense effulgence of innate bliss and the experience of pure awareness (or emptiness, as it is misleadingly called).

By this process, each element in its lower or biological state is transformed, united with and blended with its wisdom form. But what is very surprising here is that, in the Vajrayana tradition, the story somehow ends. We rest in this new state of unfabricated being-knowing, merging it with various aspects of mundane existence, including arising thoughts and feelings and experiences. All is painted with a new brush. The “doors of perception” are cleansed in a utopian brave new world of consciousness.

Beginning, not ending

But the journey is far from over. What has been described above in traditional terms involves a massive movement within the water-based electron grid of cells and interstitial tissue. It is a volcanic eruption and lava flow of the packets of massed biophotons from the cerebrospinal fluid and brain’s ventricles. We have every reason to understand that photons are the vehicles of consciousness—or that consciousness is an intrinsic quality of photons. And we have clear indications that the structured water in cells, tissues, and blood is the electron-source of prana or lūng itself. As a result of this co-mingling of side-to-side, front-to-back, and finally top-and-bottom, the Light Body begins to form in earnest. Each of the elemental chakras is now part of the Rainbow anatomy containing a mandala of subelements brimming with pristine Wisdom Element force. Channels, energy, and consciousness—tsa, lūng, and tiglé—are all benefactors of the primary template of all things: the Five Elements known as Earth, Water, Fire, Air, and Space.

Rainbow Body by Talon Abraxas

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andritambunan · 9 months

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Latest for Road & Track Magazine

The Young Mechanics Building the Lowrider of the Future

A crew of California high schoolers are transforming a ’64 Chevy Impala into an electric lolux.

How does a teacher get high-school students to show up early and wait at the door, eager for class to begin? This is how.

“It all started in this room,” says Galen Hartman, 57, a veteran collision body-shop owner turned high-school teacher. We’re in his auto shop on a campus of the Sacramento Academic and Vocational Academy (SAVA) charter school, and Hartman’s nine teenage students have gathered in a semicircle. Behind him is a candy-apple-red 1964 Chevy Impala, with its engine, other guts, and most of its interior removed.

A year ago, Rodriguez’s mother, ShaVolla, was in the classroom and had the idea for the shop students build a lowrider. And not just any lowrider. Kids need to learn skills for tomorrow’s workforce. So why not build an electric lowrider? One with all the traditional lowrider features—a car that can hydraulically hop and ride on three wheels, with custom art all over it. Only no combustion chambers and no gears. A lowrider with a fully electric powertrain.

Therein lies a truth about automotive passion, one that gets talked about a lot in this class. Working on cars—whether it’s an EV lowrider, grandpa’s Silverado, or a Spec Miata readying for race day—is about learning, but it’s also about family, friendship, leadership, and community. About making memories.

https://www.roadandtrack.com/car-culture/a46078157/young-mechanics-building-the-lowrider-of-the-future/

#EV #Lowrider #Green Energy #Low rider #Electric Vehicle #SAVA #Highschool Students

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violettduchess · 4 years

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This is for @aquagirl1978, to end this horrible war between Sevastian and Nikolai. After her clever post yesterday, I had to come up with something....

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Nikolai Stirling squared his shoulders, his blue eyes hard as ice as he gazed at the spaceship's shiny outer door. An exhale was the only sign of uncertainty. To any observer, he was the picture of calm, a model of distance tinged with arrogance.

This was a long time coming, he reminded himself.

He pressed his palm to the touch pad, listening to the satisfying whoosh of the hydraulics as the door opened. So Nav had remembered to make sure he was allowed entrance after all. Surprising, given how much Nav reminded him of Remy. All heart, enthusiasm and spontaneous choices. He had half expected Nav to have taken his ship out on a joyride again, forgetting their arrangement.

Down one short corridor and then he was in the front of the ship, where the cockpit and small dining area were located. And someone was waiting for him.

Sevastian of the Winter sat in a metal chair. Perhaps sat is not quite the right word. More like draped or lounged as if he were in a wingback seat of plush velvet. He had one leg hanging over the arm of the metal chair, his arms loosely behind his head. The circlet of the Winter Prince gleamed in sharp contrast to the inky black of his long hair which he tossed over his shoulders upon Nikolai's arrival.

"You're late. Was the Mastermind not able to calculate the time he would need to arrive here?" His lips were curved in a smug grin, silver eyes delighted to be able to point out a mistake before Nikolai could even utter a word.

Deliberately and elegantly Nikolai lowered himself into the chair across from Sevastian, refusing to give his annoyance an ounce of power over his features. "Unlike you, I do not have all the time in the world. My work is not yet done."

Something flashed across Sevastian's face, a glimmer of sadness. His work was indeed done. Of course Nikolai would point that out.

Feigning nonchalance, he shrugged. "I've been enjoying the time off. Nathan is a lot more fun than he seemed at first and Onyx has been planning parties for every upcoming debut. Sascha's is bound to become the stuff of legend."

Nikolai inhaled. His own questions about his work coming to an end flitted through his mind for a moment, unwelcome and distracting.

It was inevitable, as much a part of their lives as the sun rising each morning and the stars ephemeral light at night. Even Juliette's work had ended, eventually, though everyone had admired her tenacity. She had worked without a break, one season to the next with such skill and ease that it had seemed preposterous to question her staying power.

But even the brightest of stars eventually burn out and make way for the light of others. It was the way it had to be. The way it had always been.

"Your MC?", Nikolai asked, his voice a touch gentler than usual.

Sevastian's mask of indifference cracked slightly as he swallowed, his gaze anywhere but Nikolai.

"She's working with Galen and Piama now."

Something sharp and unexpected lanced through Nikolai. Immediately he pushed it down, deep into the recesses of his heart. Not now.

He splayed his hands on the smooth, cool surface of the metallic table. "This is exactly why our feud must end, Winter Prince." His eyes were searching as he watched Sevastian adjust his position, swinging his long leg down and sitting forward. Their gazes locked. Silver on blue, neither one wavering. "It brings neither of us joy. We gain nothing. We're simply pitting people against one another."

Sevastian scoffed, his arms folding over his semi-bare chest. "You're only saying that because I bested you in the last battle."

Nikolai's jaw tensed, his shoulders rigid.

"You have merely been sniping at me from the shadows of Tumblr. We both know the great war was waged on the subterranean threads of Reddit. There was my victory."

Silver eyes rolled upwards, provocatively. The Thief Lord felt himself bristling at such arrogance….but then forced himself to take a breath. Sevastian was clever. Oh so clever. He knew how to get under Nikolai's skin, which exact mimicry would dig like a burr into his patience.

Sevastian kept his tone easygoing, his words light and airy. "We both know Reddit is a wasteland, ruled by harpies. Any claim of victory there is weak. In fact, I'm surprised you reference it as much as you do."

He glanced up from examining his nails, a sharp thrill of triumph running through him at the sight of Nikolai's eyes, narrowed and glaring daggers at him.

"It is still a victory. A definitive one at that and--"

"What of the pictorial landscape of Instagram? Or the mires of Facebook? They are just as suitable battlegrounds. Or maybe you are simply too frightened, widening the audience. Winning could have been a fluke and-- "

The sound of Nikolai's hand slamming the table reverberated through the room, tinny as it bounced off the metal walls.

"Enough!" His voice was hard as diamond, slicing through the air sharply and with intent. "I came here today to end this. To be the bigger man. I will not engage in a juvenile tête-à-tête."

Sevastian regarded Nikolai, taking in the immaculate suit, the slightly disheveled black hair…..the circles under his eyes.

"You're tired, aren't you?" Sevastian's voice was quiet now, almost soft. It pricked at something inside Nikolai's chest, that softness. It stung.

He lowered his gaze. Unbidden, he answered: "I am." His voice was barely above a whisper, but coarse with some unnamed emotion, something grey and distant and unclear.

The silence between them was full of unspoken thoughts, of words smothered by thick emotion, unable to escape. But the Winter Prince knew. He knew what Nikolai was feeling, where these flashes of bellicose behavior were coming from. Nikolai's work had lasted longer than others, but with the turn of every season, he was coming closer to an end. Whenever that may be. A season. Two. Perhaps he'd reach the heights of fiery Zhora and gentle Diego and patient Mac. But the truth was unflinchingly staring him in the face. Only he and Vivienne were left. The others were done and unlike Sevastian's world, which had colorful new characters sprouting like weeds, once Nikolai and Vivienne completed their work, their world would go dark.

He stood up decisively, adjusting his white furs.

"Come along. I know a place not far from here. Best drinks in the area. Remy and Jett are frequent visitors, although part of me is hesitant to subject you to the possibility of Jett, Darius and Andi all in one place. I do believe you'd get along with Lorelei though, if she's there. She's a bit of a loner….."

He continued talking as he made his way toward the ship's exit, his voice fading with the distance.

Nikolai was left with no choice but to follow him.

Of all the irritating, divertive tactics, forcing him to leave before they had settled anything….

But as he exited the spacecraft, his step felt just a little bit lighter.

#lovestruck #lovestruck voltage #lovestruck fanfic #sevastian of the winter #nikolai stirling #everything has an end #including this war between them #i love them both

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saltandlimes · 8 years

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The fic you'll never write: Galennic, Orson tells Galen that he loves him

“I Love You”

Galen hefts the heavy pack, tightening the traps that hold it partially suspended above his shoulders. Orson reaches out and untwists the tail of a loose one, hands checking quickly over Galen’s shirt. He brushes a stray lock of hair back from Galen’s face, fingers tracing over the curve of Galen’s forehead.

“It’s not that long, just a few months.” Galen tells him. Orson’s mouth twitches to one side, eyes narrowing for a moment. They haven’t been apart for that long in years, not since the disastrous summer following Galen’s graduation from the program. He can hear the cogs turning behind Orson’s eyes now, can see the way that Orson wants to remind him of that.

“We can do this.” He mutters. And maybe it is for the best. Maybe he and Orson have grown so wrapped up in themselves, in their constant tug and pull, that they need to step back from one another for a while. Maybe after he comes back from Espinar, they’ll finally be able to see one another clearly.

“You’re going to be brilliant.” Orson avoids the issue, as always. Galen nods. He catches Orson’s hand where it lingers on his face and holds it between his own, Orson’s thick fingers flexing a little in his hand. Then he presses his lips to them fleetingly.

“You already are.” He turns away and walks up the ramp to the shuttle. They’ll see each other in a few months, and then things will be clearer.

At the top of the ramp, he turns, the hiss of hydraulics loud in his ears. Orson is still standing on the platform, staring up at him. As the ramp begins to close, he says something. The roar of the shuttle’s engines drowns it out, though, and all Galen can do is wave at Orson’s slowly disappearing figure.

It’s only walking to the seating area to settle in for the ride up to the transport that Galen suddenly realizes what words Orson’s lips had formed.

I love you.

And by now it’s too late to turn the shuttle around.

The Fic I’ll Never Write: Give a Title & Ship, Get a Ficlet

#galennic #galen erso #orson krennic #galen x krennic #the fic I'll never write #my fic

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artusarda · 6 years

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Can man ever build a mind?

The idea that we might create machines more intelligent than ourselves is not new. Myths and folk stories abound with creations such as the bronze automaton Talos, who patrolled the island of Crete in Greek mythology. These stories reflect a deep, atavistic fear that there could be other minds that bear the same relationship to us as we do to the animals we eat or keep as pets. With the arrival of artificial intelligence, the idea has re-emerged with a vengeance.

We are condemned to understand new phenomena by analogy with things we already understand, just as the anatomists of old named parts of the brain after fruit and nuts — the amygdala (almonds) and the olives, to name but two. Although Hippocrates, in the fourth century BC, had firmly placed the brain at the centre of human thought and feeling, most early medical authorities had little use for it.

Aristotle thought it was a radiator for cooling the blood. The importance of the brain, for Galen 500 years later, were the fluid cavities — the ventricles — in its centre, and not the tissue of the organ itself. With the rise of scientific method in the 17th century, the brain started to be explained in terms of the latest modern technology. Descartes described the brain and nerves as a series of hydraulic mechanisms. In the 19th century the brain was explained in terms of steam engines and telephone exchanges.

And in the modern era, of course, the brain is seen as a computer. And yet, others argue, any metaphor is deficient: we have never met brains before and lack the appropriate language or concepts. The human brain, it is suggested, will never be able to understand itself. You cannot cut butter with a knife made of butter, as a neuroscience friend recently said to me.

As a neurosurgeon, I have to accept that everything I am thinking and feeling as I write this is a physical phenomenon. Throughout my career I have seen patients who have suffered personality change (almost invariably for the worse) as a result of brain damage — it is difficult to believe in any kind of “mind” separate from the brain’s matter when you see your fellow human beings changed, often grotesquely, in this way. And yet it is a deeply counter-intuitive thought. I remember one of my patients, when I was operating on his brain under local anaesthetic, looking at the computer monitor that showed the view of his brain down the operating microscopic that I was using. “This is the part of your brain which is talking to me at the moment,” I told him, pointing with my instruments to the speech area of his left cerebral hemisphere. He was silent for a while, as he looked at his own brain. “It’s crazy,” he said.

The human brain, it is often stated, is the most complex structure in the known universe. It consists of some 85bn nerve cells, each of which is connected to many thousands of other nerve cells, with some 150tn connections. You can, however, if you wish, reduce it to something that sounds quite simple. Each nerve cell is an input/output device that processes data. The input is electrical stimulation (or inhibition) by the thousands of other nerve cells whose output limbs, called axons, are connected to it via one-way connections called synapses.

The human brain, it is suggested, will never be able to understand itself. You cannot cut butter with a knife made of butter

Diagrams of brain nerve cells resemble trees in winter — the tangle of bare branches are the dendrites, where the synapses are found, and the tree trunk is the axon. The output is a train of electrical “spikes” fired down the axon, in response to the input of the nerve cells connected to it via the synapses. The axon is in turn connected to other nerve cells via the synapses on their dendrites. And so it goes, on and on, in a hugely elaborate dance. So, superficially, you might think the brain is a massive array of interconnected electrical switches. With modern, high-speed computers, which are massive arrays of interconnected electrical switches, surely it is only a matter of time before we build computers — artificial intelligences — that are smarter than we are? But how does such a simple design produce the extraordinary richness of human life and thought? And, for that matter, of animal life as well?

Recommended

Explainer: Towards conscious machines

Even our profound knowledge of physics and chemistry doesn’t begin to explain how this electro-chemical activity generates conscious experience — the feeling of pain and the redness of the colour red, or the mysterious way that these seemingly identical electro-chemical processes produce sensations such as sound and vision that feel so different. And then there is “the binding problem”: how does all this disparate neuronal activity, spread out in both space and time, produce coherent experience? With vision, for instance, we know that there are separate “centres” for colour and movement and other features such as vertical or horizontal lines; somehow, these bind and resonate together to produce a single image without, as one might naively expect, reporting in to some final integrating centre, synonymous with our sense of self.

The fact that the brain is a physical system must mean, of course, that it is subject to the laws of physics and is therefore computable. As the physicist David Deutsch has argued in his book The Beginning of Infinity, following on from Alan Turing’s groundbreaking paper “On Computable Numbers”, published in 1936, computers are not just another metaphor for the brain like steam engines or telephone exchanges. Computers are “universal simulators” and can, at least in theory, simulate all the information-processing that a human brain carries out, although it might take an almost infinitely long time. This is not to say that the brain is like a computer — a common misconception of Turing’s position.

The fact that the brain must be subject to the laws of physics poses problems for the philosophers, who continue to ponder determinism and free will. Some, such as Daniel Dennett, end up claiming that consciousness and free will are illusions, a position that I, for one, find rather hard to apply to my day-to-day life, especially as I struggle to get out of bed on a cold winter morning. The more interesting questions are the practical ones — how close are computers to matching the human brain? How close are we to understanding how our brains work? And can AI help us understand our brains and vice versa?

The complexity of the brain resides in the way in which the nerve cells are connected. Nerve cells are not, in fact, simple electrical switches. They are formed by organic molecules and not of the silicon and metal of computers. The connection at synapses is carried out by chemicals — neurotransmitters, of which there are upwards of a hundred different types. Neuronal networks are dynamic — they are constantly changing. They weaken or strengthen in accordance with how much traffic is passing through them. The brain is — to a certain extent — plastic. It can re-programme itself. In blind-folded people, for instance, cortical areas that normally process vision will start processing sound within 48 hours. The brain is topologically complex — it may consist of billions of similar brain cells and their connecting axons — but they are arranged in physically very distinct and precise groups and networks. Furthermore, neurons come in a wide variety of shapes and sizes, even though they all share the same basic plan of dendrites, cell body and axon.

Brains do not come as isolated entities as do computers. They come with bodies, to which they are intimately connected. The bodies are their interface with the world, through which they learn to move, and, some would argue, there cannot be thinking without embodiment. The most plausible explanation for the evolution of brains is that they are prediction devices. To move effectively to find food, shelter and sex, we navigate using a model of the outside world created within our brains. Think of how confusing it is when you go down a staircase and there is one more or one less step than you unconsciously expected, or of the strange feeling as you reach the top of an escalator and the steps shrink. Perception is in large part expectation. Recent research is starting to reveal just how complicated the brain-body relationship can be — intestinal bacteria, for instance, seem to have a significant association with Parkinson’s disease and autism — well, at least in mice. Human brains also come as part of social groups. We are, after all, utterly social creatures.

The philosopher David Hume wrote that “reason is, and ought only to be, the slave of the passions”. Human intelligence is inextricably linked with emotions — the pleasure mathematicians find in an elegant proof, the curiosity that drives a young child to learn by exploring the world, the fear that helps us judge risk. The disembodied, isolated and emotionless “intelligence” of a computer is far removed from all this. This is not to say that true artificial intelligence — leaving aside the serious difficulty of defining the word “intelligence” in the first place — is impossible. It’s just that creating it might be rather difficult.

There are significant practical limitations on the extent to which we can experiment and explore our own brains. The resolution of the best MRI brain scanners, for instance, is about one cubic millimetre, and one cubic millimetre of cerebral cortex can contain up to 100,000 neurons and a billion synapses. The temporal resolution is a little less than one second, and much cerebral activity is measured in milliseconds, so what we see with MRI scans are, in effect, blurred snapshots. Although higher resolutions are possible, they involve immensely strong magnetic fields with which there are many problems. Electrodes inserted into the brain can sometimes be used when operating on patients as part of their treatment work-up, and this can allow very limited experimentation, as can computer-brain interfaces implanted into paralysed patients who can then control, after much practice, robotic arms. But this is, so to speak, only scratching at the surface. We often have to use animals instead, and they can never tell us what they are thinking.

Brains do not come as isolated entities as do computers. They come with bodies, to which they are intimately connected

One of the many major research projects into the human brain is the US-led Human Connectome Project, a multi-faculty collaboration that aims to produce a complete 3D wiring diagram of the brain. This has recently been achieved, but only at intermediate resolution — not down to the level of individual cells and axons — for the mouse brain. It will take decades, not years, to produce the complete connectome of the human brain. One complete connectome has been established — that for the tapeworm C. elegans, which has some 307 neurons and 7,000 synapses. But even this took many years to unravel, and a connectome is only the beginning of trying to understand how a nervous system functions, just as looking at a map of a city is only the beginning of understanding a city. A connectome is necessary but not sufficient. Even when the human connectome has been created, ethical considerations may well limit the extent to which the connectome of dead brains can be related to the thoughts and feelings of living ones.

AI came into existence in the 1950s when the first digital computers were being built. At a famous — some would say infamous — conference at Dartmouth College in 1956, the early AI pioneers, such as Marvin Minsky, confidently asserted that machines would outstrip human intelligence within a few decades. But AI progressed unsteadily over the next four decades, with several “AI winters”, when funding dried up as a result of the signal failure of the field to deliver its promised results.

The breakthrough in AI in recent years has resulted from the miniaturisation of computer chips. Computers have become more and more powerful, permitting massive and rapid data processing. It has also been made possible by abandoning attempts to programme computers with symbolic logic, which the early AI pioneers thought held the key to imitating human intelligence. The remarkable progress in AI in recent years is largely based on “neural networks” and machine learning, ideas developed decades ago but only recently put into practice. Neural networks only resemble brain networks in a very loose way. They consist of layered assemblies whose output can feed back and modify their input in accordance with a pre-programmed target, so that they “learn”. They are engines of statistical association and classification. They neither explain nor do they understand. They have no internal model or theory of what is being analysed.

The literature, however, abounds in anthropomorphisms — AI programmes are said to “see” and “think”. Google’s DeepMind programme AlphaGo“vanquished” champion Go player Lee Se-dol. This is all nonsense. It is easy to get carried away. The predictive texting on your smartphone prompts you simply by calculating the probability of the next word from mindless analysis of previous text. Google Translate has trawled the entire contents of the internet without understanding a single word.

This statistical approach to AI has nevertheless yielded remarkable results. And yet all current machine intelligences can only perform one task. This form of intelligence is reminiscent of the patients described in some of Oliver Sacks’ writings — people who can carry out remarkable feats of calculation but are utterly helpless in normal society. And yet, despite the profound differences between the deep learning of AIs and organic brains, some recent research by the American neuroscientist Doris Tsao on facial recognition in monkeysshows that the facial recognition area in their brains uses algorithms very similar indeed to the ones used by AIs.

The Holy Grail for AI is “general intelligence” — a computer programme that could not only play games with simple rules but also perform other tasks, such as speech and face recognition, without being re-programmed. On present evidence it looks unlikely that neuronal networks and deep learning will ever be able to do this. Google recently created an AI that could recognise cats in photographs without even training the AI initially with pictures of cats. But this required the AI to be exposed to millions of pictures (it did not “look” at them), whereas a child probably only has to meet a few cats to be able to identify reliably all cats in future.

The energy consumption of a human brain is 20-30 watts — a dim lightbulb. An exascale computer, capable of a quintillion calculations per second, scaled up to the size of a human brain, would consume hundreds of megawatts. Computer engineers talk of the “von Neumann bottleneck”, a problem with classical computer design in which memory is stored separately from the Central Processing Unit, and one of the reasons why computers use so much energy.

Just as “neural networks” were inspired by biological brains, there is now great interest in “neuromorphic chips”, where computer chips are designed to physically resemble nerve cells rather than merely mimic them in the software program. This should, in principle, make computers much less energy-intensive. The Human Brain Project (HBP), a multi-centre European research effort, funded by the EU to the tune of billions of euros, started with the grand ambition to build a brain — initially of a mouse, then of a human — from the bottom upwards, using computers. By creating a brain out of computer chips, the hope is that we might understand our own brains better. This is a somewhat optimistic inversion of Richard Feynman’s famous remark: “What I cannot create, I do not understand.” Whether the HBP will achieve this or not is highly controversial, given that our current understanding of how brains work is so limited.

Filled with a fervour reminiscent of the Second Coming and the Rapture, people talk of the Singularity, a time when AI will equal human intelligence

One part of the HBP, using neuromorphic design, is Professor Stephen Furber’s experimental and newly launched SpiNNaker computer at Manchester University. It is designed to be both energy-efficient and to run models of brain function, among other things. It is too early to know, he tells me, whether it will lead to major breakthroughs or not, and this unpredictability is, of course, the very essence of science.

There are many other approaches. Simon Stringer and his team at the Oxford Laboratory for Theoretical Neuroscience and Artificial Intelligence have recently published a paper arguing that better theoretical models of neuronal transmission, in particular trying to account for the binding problem, hold more promise of progress. The timing of the firing of nerve cells, and the delays that occur in the time it takes the nerve impulse to travel along axons, could, they argue, be of critical importance in explaining the binding problem. There can be no doubt that much more fundamental research of this kind is required.

I find it strange that some people are so certain that the arrival of “superintelligent” machines is only a matter of time. Filled with a fervour reminiscent of the Second Coming and the Rapture, they talk of the Singularity, a time when AI will equal human intelligence. This belief — which is all it is — often comes with the hope that the human brain and all its contents can be re-written as computer code and that we will find the life everlasting as software programs. These ideas are not to be taken seriously, although they certainly sell books.

The future is always uncertain, and the future of AI and neuroscience is uncertain. Given the vast amount of current research in both fields, it is inevitable that tremendous progress will be made. Machine-learning AIs in their present form are already having a profound economic and social impact and will continue to do so. There is no risk, however, in the foreseeable future, of superintelligent AIs replacing us, or treating us as we have so often treated, and continue to treat, animals. Whether the effects of AI will be beneficial or malign will depend on the uses to which we ourselves put them. As to the possibility of machines acquiring general intelligence — “true AI” as some call it — it’s anybody’s guess. All that is certain is that even if it is possible, it is still a very long way away.

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kawaiicoffeetidalwave-blog · 7 years

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How Oliver Sacks Saved His Own Life By Literary works And Song Brain Pickings.

Solar components are primarily set on an angled surface such as the roofing system of structures. Commentators claimed the drop in popularity of gyms can be the outcome of a backlash against subscription charges integrated with a trend for running, sustained by the popularity of occasions such as ParkRun, the regular Saturday early morning 5km event held across the UK. Virtually 8 years later, those numbers have actually raised by five and one, respectively-progress, probably, however certainly not a transformation. This hybrid design of workout concentrates on using body weight, equilibrium as well as practical motion by integrating yoga exercise methods and also typical acrobatics techniques. I didn't assume she could possibly really feel so strongly about what took place in between us ... not when she recognizes why Hunter as well as I counted the Wind Rangers as our opponents. The gym includes fat burning courses two times a month as well as has signed up dietitians on staff. Ladies whose greatest aspiration was to obtain a secretarial job at Smith Barney and also holiday with their bosses in the Bahamas unlike those people in the Program, who desired for dealing with down F5 hurricanes as well as relaxing surging rivers. Galen came near us, and also the power open up to him without any believed from me. The 3 people stood there full of the night. The clean-and-jerk is a two-part lift in which the weight is extracted from flooring to take on height, then pressed expenses. Beginners ought to carry out the pelvic tilt frequently before beginning the pelvic lift. The only way for any one of the Rangers to call one another would certainly be their independent wrist devices, which really did not count on the Megaship for power. The Bowflex Sport house gym is a versatile device that covers basically every muscle mass team of the body. Some fitness centers do not allow any individual under 18, while some across the country chains, such as 24 Hour Health and fitness, enable minors ages 12 to 17 to sign up with. original site as well as individuals have the tendency to call to mind huge, protruding triceps as well as biceps. When you are looking for the wheelchair lift van or you are preparing to have actually van modified, it is recommended to you that you deal specifically with a credible participant of the National Flexibility equipment suppliers organization when you are should buy a wheelchair handicap lift van. With the suits still in his hand, he struck up one more fire, lighting up the opening, revealing a collection of actions heading down to a reduced degree. The next generation will have a brighter future if everybody in this globe obtains power from this resource. Theories per se are fascinating as well as well suggested yet doesn't actually probe the origin or the history of such power that comes into place. Things is with the brand-new fitness center is that there aren't a lot of our initial team there anymore. The thing was, he lived and also on this side now, and also he needed to maintain himself below until Van Dean entered into his power. Nevertheless, a lot of fitness centers charge much less the longer the contract so you might miss out on a discount. After being left to pass away on the room citadel, Marah and also Kapri ran away with the Rangers and also joined the Wind Ninja Academy. He first fulfilled the Rangers while attempting to conserve a kid in danger together with of them. But in justness to your non-sick fellow fitness enthusiasts," Matthews says, if you're going to get some workout in while you're fighting a cool, you must go with an at-home workout - possibly your favorite fitness DVD or an exterior workout." If you do choose to work out at the health club, be respectful of others and make certain to effectively sanitize all tools that you make use of - which you must always do, sniffles or otherwise. From the decoration to the equipment to the total look of your health club - you have to be accordingly pleased. The lift was built from timber dropped in the Sabina mountains north of Rome. He makes no relocate to method, just enjoying me very carefully as I raise the gold disc from the morpher, examining it very closely. Walking has lots of advantages, including strengthening as well as cardiovascular benefits, but if it was me, I would certainly claim you want to choose the health club membership. Numerous fitness centers have outside pools as well as tennis courts, allowing you to soak up some sunlight while obtaining fit. You'll also more than happy to know that Medicare gives some aid acquiring a lift chair. When I am embeded the center of writing, I'll generally refer to my power phrases, and the following point I know, the sentences occasionally begin creating themselves. Raise Every Voice as well as Sing was written by James Weldon Johnson as well as set to music by his brother, J. Rosamond Johnson, that had actually studied at the New England Conservatory of Music. Handicapped and also impaired persons enjoyed to ride on this residential hydraulic wheelchair lift again and again. It's incredible what does it cost? of an exercise I can now get without any equipment apart from the tables, chairs and doors that exist in a regular room. He made sure they discovered him, but they wouldn't identify him as the former leader of the Power Rangers. While undergoing the wreckage, the Rangers located the Zeo Crystal, evidently stopped by the two villains, then fell under the below ground Power Chamber, their new main office, where Zordon and Alpha-5 retreated to throughout the surge. Over all it's a great fitness center therefore numerous machines that you can always locate one to exercise on as well as Nikko who manages the Pro Shop constantly has a terrific selection of appearal to selected from. If you're a large sweater (you understand who you are ...) after that its an outright need to carry a towel with you and also wipe down the equipment when you're done. As well as for annual participants, see if your gym is just one of the lots of huge chains that will allow you place your subscription on hold, inning accordance with Rather, wrap as well as head outside, or pop in that new health and fitness DVD and exercise in your living room. A thoughtful specialist of these practices will not be misled by the thrill of the experience of power down the course of self-gratification and misuse, but will certainly choose rather to appreciate the deeper thrills of making a long lasting distinction on the planet. Their brand-new golden close friend Antonio reveals the Power Rangers he as well could be a samurai with his lightning-fast Barracuda Blade, the ink-spraying OctoZord, and the ClawZord's megamodes! But as Andreas Bernard reveals in Raised: A Cultural History of the Elevator (2014), this story of development is itself an invention, promoted as well as sealed in place by the Otis firm throughout the 20th century. My gym occurs to have fractional plates, yet if your gym does not, after that you can get a decent set of fractional plates and toss them in your gym bag given that they don't consider very much. The very first week, I lifted with a weight that was extremely easy for me. Then, I gradually included 5 pounds each week. Pause for a minute and take into consideration how this training technique varies from that of most individuals in the gym (and in several various other areas of life as well). A 165-pound man needs to deadlift 295 extra pounds at an intermediate level or 520 extra pounds at an elite level. Generally, these floor covering as well as floor coverings come 3/8 of inches thick which is an excellent choice for house health and fitness gyms. The ideal body gave the Greek citizen a tough model to live up to. To get the body in shape needed training, which implied, first of all, the fitness center. To punctuate his declaration, the ship rocked also more difficult than in the past, throwing all the rangers from their seats, and also causing control panels to spark with fury. Furthermore, they have the tendency to preserve their height also if there is power failing thus curtailing opportunities of unexpected threats. It's so strange; I understand Tori's a Power Ranger, however I don't want to ... tarnish our time along with speak about wicked ninjas, deception, and also vengeance. Holland suggests ditching the regular monthly charge completely by paying up front if you can afford it (and if you're dedicated to utilizing the fitness center). The intro's brooding look probably shouldn't be excessive of a shock given Israelite, previously best-known for middling time travel-themed found-footage film Project Almanac, has actually told IGN the movie will certainly be enjoyable" as well as cheerful" however also one that feels completely grounded in a real world, with actual characters experiencing real points". It is ideal that you look into some of the health clubs in the location and also obtain your subscription in a health club that balances price as well as high quality to your benefit. This silent movie tells the tale of 2 dam structure construction employees complete for the attentions of regional girls. Child gym is likewise held on Saturday mornings at 9am or 11am at the Maison des Sports on the RN7.

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