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Underwater Writing, AI Consciousness, and Lasers in Space (Patreon)

Published:
2023-09-07 14:00:04
Imported:
2023-09

Content

How to Write Underwater

Image Credit: Moller, et al., Nano-Micro Small, 2023

Have you ever tried to write your shopping list underwater? Neither have I. But a group of researchers from Germany and China have now developed ink that would be up to the task. Normal ink doesn’t work underwater because the act of writing itself would create turbulence that wipes away the ink. The new underwater ink instead deposits a trail of microscopic beads that, by a chemical reaction, lower the pH value of the water, which attracts the ink to the colour pigments. So, if you go scuba diving on your next vacation and the ocean floor screams “DAVID WAS HERE,” you know who to thank. Paper here, press release here.

A Checklist for AI Consciousness

Many words have been written in the past months about AI and what we’ll do if it becomes conscious and overtakes the world. But how would we even know if it has become conscious? A group of 19 neuroscientists, philosophers, and computer scientists have now come up with a checklist of 14 criteria for AI consciousness. It draws on several current theories for consciousness – most notably workspace theory – and contains requirements like “the ability to make predictions” and “the ability to focus and control attention.” They also assessed current AI Chatbots such as Bing and ChatGPT and concluded that while they fulfil some rudimentary aspects of some of the criteria, they’re all far away from achieving consciousness. The checklist is published as a 120 page preprint on arxiv.

NASA To Test Laser Communication from Space Station

Image Credit: NASA/Dave Ryan

NASA is planning to test laser communications from the International Space Station (ISS) to Earth. They will use a special sender and receiver array for infrared laser light that will soon be brought to the ISS. This array – called ILLUMA-T (Low-Earth-Orbit (LEO) User Modem and Amplifier Terminal) – will then send the laser signals to a relay station (see image) which will pass them on to two ground stations in Hawaii and California. If it works as planned, the new system will allow much faster data transfer, with up to 1.2 gigabits-per-second, which is more than we get at home by cable. Progress is great, if it happens where you are.

Comments

Anonymous (edited)

Comment edits

2023-09-07 22:04:28 The writing underwater per se is not new, see using the link below various ways of writing during dives, including paper and pencil. I suppose that the news here is that this ink Sabine is writing (above water) here is one that can used to write on coral, or stone, or on the side of the Titanic. See: https://www.scuba.com/blog/underwater-writing-devices/ The idea of using laser beams to communicate, one-way or two-way as needed: data, telemetry, messages, etc. between spacecraft and spacecraft or spacecraft to ground stations and vice versa has been tested several times. This one between the International Space Station and multiple ground facilities can be valuable, near-term, to the work at the ISS; beyond that, who knows. This reminds me of something that was attempted years ago, to correct the atomic clocks of a network used to produce a very precise time measurement, for example to refine Temps Atomic International (TAI) and UTC. The test would have used a satellite called LAGEOS, a ball with a core of depleted uranium (meant, along with its high altitude, to reduce air drag) and covered in corner-cube retroreflectors (to track precisely its orbit using ground-based lasers) used to study the Earth's gravity field for geophysical research. So the idea was and bounce laser beams, carrying the respective clocks' time signals, off this satellite , two-way between two ground stations also with atomic clocks. As the difference between the transmitted and received signals was that of the two clocks time discrepancy, plus the travel time at the speed of light, plus the unknown delays in the atmosphere, measuring this difference would give the clocks' discrepancy and remove those common delays. This is known as "time transfer", and is routinely made on the ground using regular communication means, such as radio and cables.
2023-09-07 17:58:23 The writing underwater per se is not new, see using the link below various ways of writing during dives, including paper and pencil. I suppose that the news here is that this ink Sabine is writing (above water) here is one that can be used to write on coral, or stone, or on the side of the Titanic. See: https://www.scuba.com/blog/underwater-writing-devices/ The idea of using laser beams to communicate, one-way or two-way as needed: data, telemetry, messages, etc. between spacecraft and spacecraft or spacecraft to ground stations and vice versa has been tested several times. This one between the International Space Station and multiple ground facilities can be valuable, near-term, to the work at the ISS; beyond that, who knows. This reminds me of something that was attempted years ago, to synchronize very precisely the atomic clocks of a network used to produce a very precise time measurement, for example to maintain Temps Atomic International (TAI) and UTC. The test would have used a satellite called LAGEOS, a ball with a core of depleted uranium (meant, along with its high altitude, to reduce air drag) and covered in corner-cube retroreflectors (to track precisely its orbit using ground-based lasers) intended to study the Earth's gravity field from the departures of this orbit from a purely Keplerian one, for geophysical research. So the idea was to bounce laser beams, carrying the respective clocks' time signals, off this satellite , two-way between two ground stations also with atomic clocks. As the difference between the transmitted and received signals was that of the two clocks time discrepancy, plus the travel time at the speed of light, plus the unknown delays in the atmosphere, measuring this difference would give the clocks' discrepancy and remove those common delays. This is known as "time transfer", and is routinely made on the ground using regular communication means, such as radio and cables. There have also been tests of quantum encrypted laser communications ground-to-satellite: https://journals.aps.org/prl/abstract/10.1103/PhysRevLett.115.040502 As to how brains function and the philosophy of things mental, I leave the floor to someone who may know something about that. I now something about neural networks, but not about their epiphenomena, real or not (and these "AI" networks are totally deterministic!)

The writing underwater per se is not new, see using the link below various ways of writing during dives, including paper and pencil. I suppose that the news here is that this ink Sabine is writing (above water) here is one that can be used to write on coral, or stone, or on the side of the Titanic. See: https://www.scuba.com/blog/underwater-writing-devices/ The idea of using laser beams to communicate, one-way or two-way as needed: data, telemetry, messages, etc. between spacecraft and spacecraft or spacecraft to ground stations and vice versa has been tested several times. This one between the International Space Station and multiple ground facilities can be valuable, near-term, to the work at the ISS; beyond that, who knows. This reminds me of something that was attempted years ago, to synchronize very precisely the atomic clocks of a network used to produce a very precise time measurement, for example to maintain Temps Atomic International (TAI) and UTC. The test would have used a satellite called LAGEOS, a ball with a core of depleted uranium (meant, along with its high altitude, to reduce air drag) and covered in corner-cube retroreflectors (to track precisely its orbit using ground-based lasers) intended to study the Earth's gravity field from the departures of this orbit from a purely Keplerian one, for geophysical research. So the idea was to bounce laser beams, carrying the respective clocks' time signals, off this satellite , two-way between two ground stations also with atomic clocks. As the difference between the transmitted and received signals was that of the two clocks time discrepancy, plus the travel time at the speed of light, plus the unknown delays in the atmosphere, measuring this difference would give the clocks' discrepancy and remove those common delays. This is known as "time transfer", and is routinely made on the ground using regular communication means, such as radio and cables. There have also been tests of quantum encrypted laser communications ground-to-satellite: https://journals.aps.org/prl/abstract/10.1103/PhysRevLett.115.040502 As to how brains function and the philosophy of things mental, I leave the floor to someone who may know something about that. I now something about neural networks, but not about their epiphenomena, real or not (and these "AI" networks are totally deterministic!)

Anonymous

I went to the Smithsonian Institute of Air and Space on a group excursion when I was 15 and bought one of those 'space pens'. I wonder if anyone ever tried to use one of them underwater.