Author and broadcaster Jay Ingram joined George Knapp to discuss the science and technologies that will affect human life in the future. He delved into cutting-edge research in the merging of the human with the synthetic, as well as speculated on the possibility of artificial superintelligence. The late writer and futurist Arthur C. Clarke said, "the only way of discovering the limits of the possible is to venture a little way past them into the impossible." So, according to Clarke, the crazier predictions rather than the more run-of-the-mill ones were more likely to be accurate. MIT Prof. Hugh Herr designs amazing prosthetics, and believes that by the end of this century, people will have the ability to fly themselves, Ingram reported.
A brain-computer interface, where a small device is embedded into the skull, as in Elon Musk's Neuralink could allow for the reading of brain activity and help disabled people to speak that could not do so before. But Neuralink has made proposals of hooking up two people's brains together to expand their "bandwidth" or connecting one brain to an AI database, and Ingram expressed concern over these kinds of transhumanist experiments. Robots will be developed in new ways that could be quite beneficial, such as serving as caregivers for people with dementia. Ingram conceded that it is unsettling that we don't know how AI programs work internally, as once set up, they start to develop on their own. He also talked about how VR programs may offer tangible health benefits like simulating an experience in nature, and how he was fascinated by the theory that we could now be living in a simulation but not ever be able to realize it.
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In the latter half, Richard Lang, Agency Director for AIRIA (Aerospace Research Investigation Reporting Agency), talked about his UFO investigations, and how witnesses and first responders should deal with UAP encounters. Police officers are simply not trained in how to handle these situations, he pointed out, though recovery teams from other agencies are often on site testing for radiation and transporting items away. In terms of a personal UFO encounter, he said that it's best to never stand directly underneath a hovering craft, as it may emit electromagnetic fields that can burn skin or cause tissue damage. Staying inside a vehicle will offer more protection than being outside, he added.
Lang stated that it's a bad idea to shoot at a craft because you're dealing with an entity that's much more technologically advanced than we are, though there have been exchanges of fire in military situations, he noted. One of the most common physical injuries from a UFO encounter is eye damage from observing the intense lights or beams. Abductees often report psychological distress, which Lang connected to having their memories wiped out. UFOs going into restricted airspace like at nuclear sites may relate to the occupants' concerns over the possible detonation of atomic weapons, which could damage the larger fabric of space that affects them, he suggested. He also detailed the UFO investigative work he did for BAASS, a subsidy of Bigelow Aerospace, reviewing MUFON's extensive database of reports.
KNAPP'S NEWS:
George Knapp shared recent items of interest, including articles about Avi Loeb's recovery of interstellar metals, and the monetary value of asteroids:
- Alien-Hunting Scientists Shed New Light on Interstellar Metals Recovered from the Ocean
- Metal asteroid Psyche has a ridiculously high 'value.' But what does that even mean?
- Time Travel Simulations Can Solve Impossible Problems, Physicists Say
- How climate change is pushing oxygen out of the world’s oceans
- Was Dracula a Vegan, Really?
- A New Law of Physics Could Point to Evidence We're Living in a Simulated Universe