See a Supermoon Monday, Aug. 19
Plus: Will AI Companions Cure Loneliness?
Individually, we can’t do much to prevent the rise of AI, and as many experts have pointed out, it’s liable to do some great things for us. Other outcomes, maybe not so great. Some other outcomes, TBD, and we may not all agree on what we want. I’m thinking I don’t really want an AI companion, for example, but I can imagine how a virtual robot that mimics a dead loved one, or poses as a lively and mysterious new lover, or the ideal friend you never had, would have appeal to many. Well, as Carlyn Beccia explains, millions are already giving it a try:
Will AI Companions Cure Loneliness?
Feeling a little lonely? How about an AI companion. The increasingly popular robots—a virtual friend, family member or lover—promise to “chat about your day, do fun or relaxing activities together, share real-life experiences.” Research suggests they can indeed curb loneliness. But this writer has her doubts.
Humans already invented a tool that allows them to practice their conversation skills — social media. Never in the history of humanity have we had the ability to connect with and speak to this many people. … We have a tool that brings thousands of conversations into our homes, yet we have never been more lonely.
—Carlyn Beccia
Supermoons: When Optical Illusion and Reality Converge
A supermoon, like the one coming Monday, Aug. 19, can be up to 14 percent bigger and 30 percent brighter than the least super full moons. But photos like this, suggesting supermoons are gargantuan, are misleading, using telephoto lenses to juxtapose the moon with nearer object. I explain what exactly a supermoon is, and why it (or any full moon) looks so deceptively huge just as it rises above the horizon (that’s an illusion, too). You can test it all out Monday evening.
Bottom line: Supermoons are a little bigger than your average full moon, and when one rises, it looks even bigger bigger than normal. And here’s bonus fact: The full moon as we normally see it is never actually, technically full full. Because when it’s 100% full, solar system dynamics dictate that a total lunar eclipse is taking place, which renders the moon a dark and sometimes reddish disk.
—Robert Roy Britt
What Time is it on the Moon?
Every planet and moon in the solar system has its own version of time. For one thing, the cycle of day and night, determined by sunrise and sunset, varies greatly based on how long it takes the object spin once on its axis. On the Moon that means a single day lasts 29.5 Earth days. Months and years get even more complicated. Even if you decide Moon time should simply follow Earth time, there’s a problem: Atomic clocks—which are used to keep precise time vital to navigation, computer stuff, and science experiments—would tick faster on the Moon than they do here, by about 56 microseconds per day. So…
Researchers at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) have developed a plan for precise timekeeping on the Moon, paving the way for a GPS-like navigation system for lunar exploration.
—Katie Palubicki
When Everything Spirals
In nature, everything spins. The ultimate expression of spin is a beautiful spiral. Our minds spin, too, but when the mind spins out of control, the spiral is not so pretty. In this article, I explore the universal penchant for curvature, and what it can teach us about human nature—how we can spot and prevent the bad spirals before they take hold.
Amid all its joys and challenges, successes and disasters, good times and bad, life never moves in a straight line. Try as we might, and even with all the luck in the world, tricky twists and turns and frustrating speed bumps will knock us off the ideal course we might imagine. It’s the random nature of the human condition, the emotional effect of the proverbial butterfly flapping its wings in Africa to spark a tiny atmospheric wave that grows chaotically into a colossal tempest wreaking havoc thousands of miles away.
—Robert Roy Britt
Even CAPTCHAs Struggle to Tell Real Humans from Fake
You know those annoying tests you run into to to prove you’re a human and not a bot? This computer scientists explains why they are an effective shield for websites to prevent automated attacks, enhance cybersecurity and improve user experience. But as AI advances, so must CAPTCHA defenses improve. Future CAPTCHA methods may rely on facial recognition and other more sophisticated techniques.
CAPTCHA is one more battleground in the seemingly endless battle between AI and humans. Nowadays, AI has become more advanced, using modern techniques such as deep learning and computer vision to solve CAPTCHA challenges.
—Tam Nguyen
Lastly, a news brief from Aha’s Substack site:
