“Cogito, ergo sum,” Rene Descartes. Translation: “I think, therefore I am.” What makes us, us? How is it that we’re able to look at a tree and see beauty, hear a song and feel moved, or take comfort in the smell of rain or the taste of coffee? How do we know we still exist…
Concern over using deepfake technology is nothing new, but the tech has advanced far faster than many anticipated, giving rise to a medium that’s terrifying in its potential. Though watching Jim Carrey’s face on Allison Brie’s body is, admittedly, delightful, the implications for forgery are sobering. Consider, for instance, the recent deepfake using Vladimir Putin’s…
Charles Darwin, according to historical records, was never quite certain about the origin of life. He posited life could have spontaneously formed in a ‘warm pool of water’ with the proper chemical makeup. In lieu of a better explanation, we’ve sort of just gone with that for the past two centuries. A team of researchers…
Oxfam in Sri Lanka has announced early success with its blockchain-based microinsurance system in Sri Lanka, revealing the first successful pay-outs to local farmers. The protocol, built in partnership with global professional services firm Aon and blockchain startups Etherisc and InsurTech, leverages the Ethereum ETH blockchain to finalize insurance claims with tokens. Press materials released…
Nvidia‘s research team has just developed a new AI that can use an existing video and just one image to make the person in the image imitate moves from the video. Technically, the method known as video-to-video synthesis takes an input video like a segmentation mask or human poses to turn it into a photorealistic…
Google’s Pixel 4 was met with some backlash when users started to figure out the phone’s display hardly seemed to stick to 90 Hz – one of the phone’s headline features. Soon after the first reports emerged, Google said it would issue an improvement for the feature. That update is rolling out now with the…
Welcome to the first article in TNW’s guide to the AI apocalypse. In this series we’ll examine some of the most popular doomsday scenarios prognosticated by modern AI experts. You can’t have a discussion about killer robots without invoking the Terminator movies. The franchise’s iconic T-800 robot has become the symbol for our existential fears…
Ever wanted to read a book without, you know, actually reading a book? Well, this is the dream that Blinkist sells. If you believe its advertising, the company condenses down entire non-fiction books into 15 minute, easily consumable chunks that you can use to expand your brain box. If you’re more realistic? It’s a subscription…
Welcome to the first Moonday Morning of November. If you don’t know what that means, where have you been? But seriously, it’s Hard Fork’s wrap-up of this weekend’s cryptocurrency and blockchain news that you can’t afford to miss. Let’s take a look. 1. Late last week, the UK‘s tax office, Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs (HMRC), issued an update to…
Alpacas have gone from being a lesser-known version of a llama to a full-blown craze, and are becoming ever more popular thanks to their friendly nature, fluffy exterior, and cute faces. Running an alpaca farm, therefore, is miles away from running a high-tech company in a world full of technological innovation, digital transformation, and cut-throat…
