existential risks – Lifeboat News: The Blog https://lifeboat.com/blog Safeguarding Humanity Wed, 16 Apr 2025 22:17:13 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.7.2 US Nuclear War Simulation in REALTIME!!! https://lifeboat.com/blog/2025/04/us-nuclear-war-simulation-in-realtime https://lifeboat.com/blog/2025/04/us-nuclear-war-simulation-in-realtime#comments Wed, 16 Apr 2025 22:17:13 +0000 https://lifeboat.com/blog/2025/04/us-nuclear-war-simulation-in-realtime

In around a period of 30 minutes the United States can launch over 1,000 nuclear weapons against its enemies. This video is a realtime simulation of such an action.

Sources:

Probable Nuclear Targets in United Kingdom, 1972: https://robedwards.typepad.com/files/probable-nuclear-target…chives.pdf.

Probable Nuclear Targets in France: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/f/f0/NA…en.svg.png.

Soviet Union Central European Target List, 1979: https://brilliantmaps.com/ww3-europe/

United States Target List, 1956: https://nsarchive2.gwu.edu/nukevault/ebb538-Cold-War-Nuclear…plete.pdf.

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The Fermi Paradox & Zombie AI — Are Rogue Machines Hiding in the Cosmos? https://lifeboat.com/blog/2025/04/the-fermi-paradox-zombie-ai-are-rogue-machines-hiding-in-the-cosmos https://lifeboat.com/blog/2025/04/the-fermi-paradox-zombie-ai-are-rogue-machines-hiding-in-the-cosmos#respond Thu, 10 Apr 2025 18:05:49 +0000 https://lifeboat.com/blog/2025/04/the-fermi-paradox-zombie-ai-are-rogue-machines-hiding-in-the-cosmos

Are rogue machines lurking in the cosmos, quietly outlasting their creators? We explore the eerie possibility that ancient AI remnants, abandoned or self-replicating, could be hidden throughout the galaxy—watching, waiting, and perhaps even shaping the fate of civilizations.

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Credits:
The Fermi Paradox & Zombie AI: Are Rogue Machines Hiding in the Cosmos?
Episode 494; April 10, 2025
Written, Produced & Narrated by: Isaac Arthur.
Editors: Briana Brownell & Donagh Broderick.
Select imagery/video supplied by Getty Images.
Music Courtesy of Epidemic Sound http://epidemicsound.com/creator.
Phase Shift, “Forest Night“
Chris Zabriskie, “Unfoldment, Revealment”, “A New Day in a New Sector”, “Oxygen Garden“
Stellardrone, “Red Giant”, “Billions and Billions”

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The Descendants of Darkness: Exploring the Hypothesis of Grey Aliens as Future Cave-Dwelling https://lifeboat.com/blog/2025/04/the-descendants-of-darkness-exploring-the-hypothesis-of-grey-aliens-as-future-cave-dwelling https://lifeboat.com/blog/2025/04/the-descendants-of-darkness-exploring-the-hypothesis-of-grey-aliens-as-future-cave-dwelling#respond Wed, 09 Apr 2025 18:15:59 +0000 https://lifeboat.com/blog/2025/04/the-descendants-of-darkness-exploring-the-hypothesis-of-grey-aliens-as-future-cave-dwelling

Reports of extraterrestrial beings, particularly the iconic “grey aliens,” have permeated modern folklore and ufology since the mid-20th century. These beings — typically described as small-statured humanoids with large, black almond-shaped eyes, diminutive noses and mouths, and grey skin — have become embedded in our cultural consciousness (Sagan, 1995). But what if these entities are not visitors from distant stars, but rather glimpses of our own evolutionary future? This essay explores a compelling hypothesis: that the grey aliens reported in countless encounters might be evolved or bio-engineered humans from our future, adapted specifically for subterranean existence following a global catastrophe.

Humanity stands at a crossroads of existential risk. Climate change, nuclear proliferation, biological warfare capabilities, and ecological collapse represent just a few of the potential calamities that could force a dramatic reshaping of human civilization (Bostrom, 2013). If surface conditions on Earth became inhospitable — whether through nuclear winter, extreme solar radiation following ozone depletion, or uninhabitable surface temperatures — surviving populations might be driven underground, initiating a profound evolutionary divergence.

“When faced with extinction-level threats, species often undergo rapid adaptation to secure their survival,” notes evolutionary biologist Dr. Elena Rodriguez (2022, p. 87). “Humans, with their capacity for technological intervention in their own biology, could potentially accelerate this process by orders of magnitude.”

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No, the dire wolf has not been brought back from extinction https://lifeboat.com/blog/2025/04/no-the-dire-wolf-has-not-been-brought-back-from-extinction https://lifeboat.com/blog/2025/04/no-the-dire-wolf-has-not-been-brought-back-from-extinction#respond Wed, 09 Apr 2025 07:03:52 +0000 https://lifeboat.com/blog/2025/04/no-the-dire-wolf-has-not-been-brought-back-from-extinction

Colossal Biosciences claims three pups born recently are dire wolves, but they are actually grey wolves with genetic edits intended to make them resemble the lost species

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Life recovered rapidly at site of dino-killing asteroid. A hydrothermal system may have helped https://lifeboat.com/blog/2025/04/life-recovered-rapidly-at-site-of-dino-killing-asteroid-a-hydrothermal-system-may-have-helped https://lifeboat.com/blog/2025/04/life-recovered-rapidly-at-site-of-dino-killing-asteroid-a-hydrothermal-system-may-have-helped#respond Tue, 08 Apr 2025 23:03:18 +0000 https://lifeboat.com/blog/2025/04/life-recovered-rapidly-at-site-of-dino-killing-asteroid-a-hydrothermal-system-may-have-helped

About 66 million years ago, an asteroid slammed into the planet, wiping out all non-avian dinosaurs and about 70% of all marine species.

But the crater it left behind in the Gulf of Mexico was a literal hotbed for life, enriching the overlying ocean for at least 700,000 years, according to research published today in Nature Communications.

Scientists have discovered that a hydrothermal system created by the asteroid impact may have helped marine life flourish at the impact site by generating and circulating nutrients in the crater environment.

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Dire wolf revived through biotech company’s de-extinction process https://lifeboat.com/blog/2025/04/dire-wolf-revived-through-biotech-companys-de-extinction-process https://lifeboat.com/blog/2025/04/dire-wolf-revived-through-biotech-companys-de-extinction-process#respond Tue, 08 Apr 2025 11:15:24 +0000 https://lifeboat.com/blog/2025/04/dire-wolf-revived-through-biotech-companys-de-extinction-process

Biotech company Colossal Biosciences said it has brought back the dire wolf, an animal that went extinct 10,000 years ago, through its de-extinction process.

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No Longer Extinct? Colossal Biosciences’ Dire Wolf Project https://lifeboat.com/blog/2025/04/no-longer-extinct-colossal-biosciences-dire-wolf-project https://lifeboat.com/blog/2025/04/no-longer-extinct-colossal-biosciences-dire-wolf-project#respond Tue, 08 Apr 2025 03:07:22 +0000 https://lifeboat.com/blog/2025/04/no-longer-extinct-colossal-biosciences-dire-wolf-project

The return of the Dire wolves?


Colossal Biosciences’ project to revive the once-extinct dire wolf could also prevent existing but endangered animals from slipping into extinction themselves.

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The First Dire Wolf Howl in Over 10,000 Years https://lifeboat.com/blog/2025/04/the-first-dire-wolf-howl-in-over-10000-years https://lifeboat.com/blog/2025/04/the-first-dire-wolf-howl-in-over-10000-years#respond Tue, 08 Apr 2025 03:06:36 +0000 https://lifeboat.com/blog/2025/04/the-first-dire-wolf-howl-in-over-10000-years

The dire wolf is no longer extinct. Meet the world’s first de-extinct animals. Through the science of de-extinction, Colossal has brought back the legendary d…

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AI data scrapers are an existential threat to Wikipedia https://lifeboat.com/blog/2025/04/ai-data-scrapers-are-an-existential-threat-to-wikipedia https://lifeboat.com/blog/2025/04/ai-data-scrapers-are-an-existential-threat-to-wikipedia#respond Mon, 07 Apr 2025 10:23:35 +0000 https://lifeboat.com/blog/2025/04/ai-data-scrapers-are-an-existential-threat-to-wikipedia

As AI developers harvest Wikipedia content to train their models, the resulting surge in automated traffic is driving up costs for the non-profit that runs the popular crowdsourced encyclopaedia

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Revolutionizing 3D vision: How miniaturized snapshot polarization imaging is transforming depth sensing https://lifeboat.com/blog/2025/04/revolutionizing-3d-vision-how-miniaturized-snapshot-polarization-imaging-is-transforming-depth-sensing https://lifeboat.com/blog/2025/04/revolutionizing-3d-vision-how-miniaturized-snapshot-polarization-imaging-is-transforming-depth-sensing#respond Wed, 02 Apr 2025 10:28:34 +0000 https://lifeboat.com/blog/2025/04/revolutionizing-3d-vision-how-miniaturized-snapshot-polarization-imaging-is-transforming-depth-sensing

Capturing precise 3D details with a single camera has long been a challenge. Traditional methods often require complex dual-camera setups or specialized lighting conditions that are impractical for real-world applications. However, a groundbreaking approach developed at Nanjing University is set to redefine 3D imaging.

In our latest research, published in Optica, we introduce a cutting-edge snapshot polarization stereo imaging system (SPSIM), as shown in Fig. 1. This innovative system integrates metasurface optics with to extract highly detailed 3D shape information in real time.

Unlike conventional methods that rely on multiple polarizers or sequential exposures, SPSIM utilizes a specially engineered metasurface lens to capture full-Stokes polarization data in a single shot. With an extinction ratio of 25 dB—comparable to commercial polarizers—and an unprecedented central wavelength efficiency of 65%, our system outperforms standard polarization cameras.

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