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Showing posts with the label INTELLIGENCE

Octopuses and their relatives are a new animal welfare frontier − here’s what scientists know about consciousness in these unique creatures

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We named him Squirt – not because he was the smallest of the 16 cuttlefish in the pool, but because anyone with the audacity to scoop him into a separate tank to study him was likely to get soaked. Squirt had notoriously accurate aim. As a comparative psychologist, I’m used to assaults from ... Read Full article on HadNews.com

Why is Amazon building a ‘top secret’ $2 billion cloud for Australia’s military intelligence?

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Amazon has secured a A$2 billion contract with the Australian Signals Directorate – the agency responsible for foreign signals intelligence and information security. A local subsidiary of Amazon Web Services will build a Top Secret Cloud to provide secure data storage for military intelligence. The deal will securely manage top secret data vital to Australia’s national security. This contract is expected to last over a decade. It will build three secure data centres at undisclosed locations in Australia. Prime Minister Anthony Albanese stated this project will “bolster our defence and national intelligence community to ensure they c...... Read Full article on HadNews

Mounting research shows that COVID-19 leaves its mark on the brain, including with significant drops in IQ scores

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From the very early days of the pandemic, brain fog emerged as a significant health condition that many experience after COVID-19. Brain fog is a colloquial term that describes a state of mental sluggishness or lack of clarity and haziness that makes it difficult to concentrate, remember things and think clearly. Fast-forward four years and there is now abundant evidence that being infected with SARS-CoV-2 – the virus that causes COVID-19 – can affect brain health in many ways. In addition to brain fog, COVID-19 can lead to an array of problems, including headaches, seizure disorders, strokes, sleep problems, and tingling and paraly...... Read Full article on HadNews

AI tools produce dazzling results – but do they really have ‘intelligence’?

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Sam Altman, chief executive of ChatGPT-maker OpenAI, is reportedly trying to find up to US$7 trillion of investment to manufacture the enormous volumes of computer chips he believes the world needs to run artificial intelligence (AI) systems. Altman also recently said the world will need more energy in the AI-saturated future he envisions – so much more that some kind of technological breakthrough like nuclear fusion may be required. Altman clearly has big plans for his company’s technology, but is the future of AI really this rosy? As a long-time “artificial intelligence” researcher, I have my doubts. Today’s AI systems – particularl...... Read Full article on HadNews

UK cyber attack: GCHQ warns of AI ransomware threat

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The UK’s National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) has warned artificial intelligence (AI) will increase the threat of ransomware globally over the next two years. In a report titled The near-term impact of AI on the cyber threat assessment, organizations and individuals have been encouraged to recognize the situation and take preventative measures. NCSC – part of GCHQ (similar to America’s NSA), the United Kingdom’s intelligence, security, and cybersecurity agency – takes the position that AI will almost certainly contribute directly to the increase in quantity and impact of cyber attacks moving forward. The study found cyber criminals an...... Read Full article on HadNews

Undergraduates’ average IQ has fallen 17 points since 1939. Here’s why.

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It’s commonly cited that undergraduates are significantly smarter than average, with IQs ranging from 115 to 130. But as a team of Canadian researchers showed in a recently published meta-analysis, that “fact” is woefully out of date. Conducted by first author Bob Uttl, a psychologist and faculty member at Mount Royal University, and his co-authors Victoria Violo and Lacey Gibson, the meta-analysis aggregated numerous studies measuring college students’ IQs conducted between 1939 and 2022. The results showed that undergraduates’ IQs have steadily fallen from roughly 119 to a mean of 102 today — just slightly abo...... Read Full article on HadNews