Future of Science & Technology Q&A (March 8, 2024)

Aug 2, 2024

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Stephen Wolfram answers questions from his viewers about the future of science and technology as part of an unscripted livestream series, also available on YouTube here: https://wolfr.am/youtube-sw-qa

Questions include: Could mind uploading be achieved 20–40 years from now? - Memory in human brains is like RAM: it's gone the second you shut the human off. - What about copyright for bots based on real people? What are the legal implications? - If we could upload our brain to something else, would it be feasible to upload data to our brains or upgrade parts similar to that of upgrading one's computer? - What kind of compression algorithm is used on our thoughts? - Would it be possible to read brainwaves using AI? - What is the "artificial" part of AI? As far as I can see, LLMs are a breakthrough in the study of intelligence itself. - Will technology have an effect on human evolution and ultimately change our physical bodies in the future, i.e. such as our eyes becoming optimized for looking at screens all day, like a built-in blue-light filter, or prioritizing finger shapes to better type on a keyboard or hold a phone... - What do you imagine the future of communication to be? We've had spoken word, mailed letters, telegrams, phone calls, emails and now texts. What's next? - I need an AI version of Socrates to speak with about being. - Are there limitations to using genetic data to understand language-related traits? If so, how might these limitations affect the accuracy or applicability of language models? - Do LLMs work well in Egyptian hieroglyphic concepts? - Do you regard math as a "language"? If so, would you suggest "talking" math out loud with a child? - Stephen mentioned in a recent podcast that certain subject matters in certain academic fields are in a position to be combined with computation and haven't been so far–and stated that it was low-hanging fruit if one was to do it. I was wondering if Stephen could give some examples of these "low-hanging fruits."