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May 3, 2022

A conceptual framework for consciousness

Posted by in categories: computing, neuroscience

This article argues that consciousness has a logically sound, explanatory framework, different from typical accounts that suffer from hidden mysticism. The article has three main parts. The first describes background principles concerning information processing in the brain, from which one can deduce a general, rational framework for explaining consciousness. The second part describes a specific theory that embodies those background principles, the Attention Schema Theory. In the past several years, a growing body of experimental evidence—behavioral evidence, brain imaging evidence, and computational modeling—has addressed aspects of the theory. The final part discusses the evolution of consciousness. By emphasizing the specific role of consciousness in cognition and behavior, the present approach leads to a proposed account of how consciousness may have evolved over millions of years, from fish to humans. The goal of this article is to present a comprehensive, overarching framework in which we can understand scientifically what consciousness is and what key adaptive roles it plays in brain function.

May 3, 2022

Unpatched DNS bug affects millions of routers and IoT devices

Posted by in category: computing

A vulnerability in the domain name system (DNS) component of a popular C standard library that is present in a wide range of IoT products may put millions of devices at DNS poisoning attack risk.

A threat actor can use DNS poisoning or DNS spoofing to redirect the victim to a malicious website hosted at an IP address on a server controlled by the attacker instead of the legitimate location.

The library uClibc and its fork from the OpenWRT team, uClibc-ng. Both variants are widely used by major vendors like Netgear, Axis, and Linksys, as well as Linux distributions suitable for embedded applications.

May 3, 2022

Storing 25 exabytes in a 2-inch Kenzan diamond wafer

Posted by in categories: computing, quantum physics

Japanese researcher Makoto Kasu, at Saga University, and a precision diamond jewellery manufacturer have built a 2-inch diamond-coated wafer that can store, they claim, 25 exabytes of data using quantum memory.

Binary data is stored in quantum superpositions using nitrogen vacancies in the diamond material. Currently binary stored is stored as bits, with a value of one or zero, represented by magnetic polarity (north or south), charge in flash (current flows or not) or resistance in ReRAM (high or low). Quantum memory is different in that it stores qubits (quantum bits).

As we understand it, a qubit can have a value of ⎢0⟩ or⎢1⟩ (pronounced “ket 0” and “ket 1”) or a linear combination of both states in any proportion – it does not have a single value. It has a certain probability of being a ⎢0⟩ and another probability of being a ⎢1⟩. This property of a qubit is called superposition and is used in quantum computing, which can use other quantum phenomena such as entanglement and interference.

May 3, 2022

Starlink connects 150,000 Ukrainians connect to the internet daily

Posted by in category: internet

May 3, 2022

Astronomers will send a signal to a star system hoping to find aliens. Again?

Posted by in category: space

May 3, 2022

5 Applications of Drones for All Your Needs

Posted by in category: drones

May 3, 2022

NASA’s pursuit of commercial hypersonic flight was just given an AI-powered boost

Posted by in category: transportation

Though NASA’s aircraft may prove why electric flight isn’t the way to go. NASA is edging nearer to its first flight test for its all-electric experimental “X-plane” X-57 Maxwell after completing ground tests on the aircraft, a blog post from the space agency reveals.

May 3, 2022

California is on the threshold of using 100 percent renewable power

Posted by in categories: energy, sustainability

May 3, 2022

Everything you need to know about Planet X: The mysterious 9th planet

Posted by in category: futurism

May 3, 2022

Rocket Lab — ‘There And Back Again’ Launch

Posted by in category: satellites