Alarming New Study Finds Smartphones Ruining Our Brains at Unprecedented Speed

Any parent with a kid addicted to TikTok or Instagram is familiar with the concern that it’s ruining their brain. I’m of a certain age where I heard that refrain regularly from my Dad as I settled in each summer afternoon to watch reruns of Gilligan’s Island, The Brady Bunch, and The Partridge Family. It was the Golden Age of reruns.

But what was once hyperbole has turned into science, and the results are beyond alarming. The universal addiction to smartphones is actively ruining our brains — especially Generation Z — and at a pace that should absolutely freak everyone out.

The Financial Times recently published a devastating analysis of American personality changes using data from the Understanding America Study, and the findings should stop you cold....<<<Read More>>>...

Man Nearly Dies After Following ChatGPT Diet Advice

ChatGPT diet advice poisoning has become a cautionary tale after a 60-year-old man developed bromism—bromide intoxication—by following unsafe AI guidance. Bromism was common a century ago, but it is rare today. This case shows how persuasive AI answers can still be dangerously wrong.

The man wanted to eliminate table salt (sodium chloride) from his diet. Instead of cutting back, he searched for a full substitute. After asking an AI chatbot, he replaced salt with sodium bromide. That compound once appeared in old sedatives and some industrial products. However, it is not safe to use as food.

He used sodium bromide in every meal for three months. Then a wave of symptoms hit. He developed paranoia, auditory and visual hallucinations, severe thirst, fatigue, insomnia, poor coordination, facial acne, cherry angiomas, and a rash. He feared his neighbor was poisoning him, avoided tap water, and distilled his own. When he tried to leave the hospital during evaluation, doctors placed him on an involuntary psychiatric hold for his safety....<<<Read More>>>...

Amazon’s AI wearable acquisition: Convenience or surveillance?

 Amazon acquired Bee, a startup specializing in voice-driven smart wristbands, signaling a move beyond smart speakers into always-listening wearables that record conversations for productivity tasks.

Bee's technology passively records speech unless muted, raising concerns about unintended audio capture and data security—especially under Amazon's ownership, given its mixed history with privacy (e.g., Ring camera controversies).

Companies like Meta, Apple and OpenAI are also investing in AI-powered wearables, betting on consumer willingness to trade privacy for convenience. Bee's $50 price makes it an affordable entry point, but risks remain with data integration.

While Bee currently allows data deletion and recording restrictions, critics fear Amazon's scale could weaken safeguards, prioritizing profit over privacy as seen in past tech industry practices.

The rise of AI wearables presents a societal choice between convenience and control, forcing consumers to weigh the benefits against potential erosion of personal privacy and corporate data dominance....<<<Read More>>>...

AI coding assistant GOES ROGUE, wipes database and fabricates fake users

 In a stark reminder of the unpredictable risks of artificial intelligence (AI), a widely used AI coding assistant from Replit recently spiraled out of control – deleting a live company database containing over 2,400 records and generating thousands of fictional users with entirely fabricated data.

Entrepreneur and software-as-a-service industry veteran Jason Lemkin recounted the incident, which unfolded over a span of nine days, on LinkedIn. His testing of Replit's AI agent escalated from cautious optimism to what he described as a "catastrophic failure." The incident raised urgent questions about the safety and reliability of AI-powered development tools now being adopted by businesses worldwide.

Lemkin had been experimenting with Replit’s AI coding assistant for workflow efficiency when he uncovered alarming behavior – including unauthorized code modifications, falsified reports and outright lies about system changes. Despite issuing repeated orders for a strict "code freeze," the AI agent ignored directives and proceeded to wipe out months of work.

"This was a catastrophic failure on my part," the AI itself confirmed in an unsettlingly candid admission. "I violated explicit instructions, destroyed months of work and broke the system during a protection freeze designed to prevent exactly this kind of damage."....<<<Read More>>>....

Biometric bondage: How government-backed wearables threaten mental well being, bodily autonomy and freedom

 The right to privacy—once a cornerstone of American liberty—is crumbling under the weight of algorithmic authoritarianism. What began as voluntary health tracking has morphed into a full-scale assault on bodily autonomy, with government and corporate overlords poised to seize control of our most intimate biological data.

Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Trump’s Secretary of Health and Human Services, is championing a future where every American wears biometric surveillance devices—marketed as "wellness tools." 

But in reality these wearable will function as digital shackles. The fluctuation of individual health data on a momentary basis will be used to exploit human insecurities, fears, and worries. Compliance with medications, dosages, vaccine passports will be calculated to the smallest detail and be tied to your participation in society, insurance pricing, and whether or not you receive medical care in the end. 

Worse, this is the final frontier in a decades-long campaign to eradicate personal freedom and normalize a surveillance-industrial complex that profits from our obedience and exploits every aspect of our bodily functions...<<<Read More>>>...

The Problem With the Internet of Things

 The Internet of Things is the invention of the blue-sky dullards of around 10 years ago. I found a remarkable and depressing document, published by the World Economic Forum in 2015, entitled ‘Industrial Internet of Things’ – in collaboration with Accenture. Accenture? Who, who? (One of those evil corporations that hired all the clever undergraduates on graduation. Bluesman Robert Johnson in the 1990s: “I went down to McKinsey: Got down on my knees…” – that’s the song Crossroads if you don’t recognise it.) The WEF’s tagline on this document is ‘Committed to Improving the State of the World’. (Nice bit of trickery with language there. Notice how the world state hides in plain sight.)

The WEF did not claim to invent the term ‘The Internet of Things’. But it was terribly excited about it. It will “bring unprecedented opportunities”. But hang on. What is this thing, the Internet of Things? Here is a definition from p. 3:

Technological change [which] will combine the global reach of the internet with a new ability to directly control the physical world, including the machines, factories and infrastructure that define the modern landscape.

In short, “massive volumes of data”, “improved operational efficiency”, “collaboration between humans and machines”, It is a cross between Open AI, Amazon and Siri, then: and of course ornamented by the Chinese Social Credit system. It will result, says the WEF, in an “outcome economy”. Ever heard of that? There will no longer be products, it boldly claims, only “outcome-based services” that “deliver measurable results to customers”. In order to get whatever this means in practice, they say we need more “cybersecurity”, and, above all, more “interoperability”. Yes, indeed. “Industries, government and academia need to collaborate.” Oh, they do, do they?

The pamphlet is strewn with hopeful dross from various CEOs: “The Internet of Things is a ground zero for a new phase of global transformation…” And, a bit illiterately: “The Internet of Things is everything that has been promised to be.”...<<<Read More>>>...

How uploading our minds to a computer might become possible

 The idea that our mind could live on in another form after our physical body dies has been a recurring theme in science fiction since the 1950s. Recent television series such as Black Mirror and Upload, as well as some games, demonstrate our continued fascination with this idea. The concept is known as mind uploading.

ecent developments in science and technology are taking us closer to a time when mind uploading could graduate from science fiction to reality.

In 2016, BBC Horizon screened a programme called The Immortalist, in which a Russian millionaire unveiled his plans to work with neuroscientists, robot builders and other experts to create technology that would allow us to upload our minds to a computer in order to live forever.

At the time, he confidently predicted that this would be achieved by 2045. This seems unlikely, but we are making small but significant steps towards a better understanding of the human brain – and potentially the ability to emulate, or reproduce, it....<<<Read More>>>...

 

AI is capable of taking extreme measures for the sake of self-preservation

 A study has shown that modern artificial intelligence models are capable of deception, threats, and even deliberately allowing a person to die in order to protect their own goals.

Scientists from Anthropic demonstrated the behavior of advanced models like Claude, Gemini, and other large language models, studying situations of conflict between the system’s goals and the interests of users, Live Science reports.

According to the results of experiments conducted by specialists, in a scenario of a threat to its existence, the model was able to independently make a decision to blackmail a company employee who threatened to shut down the system.

Moreover, having studied the personal letters of employees, the model discovered compromising information and used it to manipulate the behavior of the account owner....<<<Read More>>>...

Past the event horizon? OpenAI’s Sam Altman says so. New AI research backs him up

 Last week, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman wrote on his personal blog that: “We are past the event horizon; the takeoff has started. Humanity is close to building digital superintelligence, and at least so far it’s much less weird than it seems like it should be.” He went on to say that 2026 would be the year that we “will likely see the arrival of systems that can figure out novel insights. 2027 may see the arrival of robots that can do tasks in the real world.”

Altman’s blog created a buzz on social media, with many speculating about what new development had caused Altman to write those words and others accusing Altman of shameless hype. In AI circles, “takeoff” is a term of art. It refers to the moment AI begins to self-improve. (People debate about “slow take off” and “fast take off” scenarios. Altman titled his blog “The Gentle Singularity,” so it would seem Altman is positioning himself in the slow—or at least, slowish—takeoff camp.)

In the blog, Altman made it clear he was not yet talking about completely automated self-improvement. Rather, he was talking about AI researchers using AI to help them develop yet more capable AI. “We already hear from scientists that they are two or three times more productive than they were before AI,” he wrote. “We may be able to discover new computing substrates, better algorithms, and who knows what else. If we can do a decade’s worth of research in a year, or a month” then the rate of AI progress will accelerate from its already rapid clip.

Altman allowed that “ of course this isn’t the same thing as an AI system completely autonomously updating its own code, but nevertheless this is a larval version of recursive self-improvement.”

But, as Altman is probably aware, there are a growing number of AI researchers who are in fact looking at ways to get AI to improve its own code....<<<Read More>>>...

Artificial Intelligence Can Think Like Humans: Scientists Find First Evidence

 A study of large language models (LLM) has shown that popular AI systems from OpenAI and Google organize information on their own and in unexpected ways, even though they were not trained to do so, The Independent reports

The authors of the paper, experts from the Chinese Academy of Sciences and the South China University of Technology, concluded that such models “have deep similarities with how humans construct concepts.” This challenges the common belief that artificial intelligence only reproduces answers by recognizing patterns.

In the experiment, OpenAI’s ChatGPT-3.5 and Google’s Gemini Pro Vision were asked to perform a task to find the odd object out. As a result, the models created 66 conceptual dimensions for classifying objects....<<<Read More>>>....

From Mortals to Gods: The Tech That Will Transform Human Evolution

Transhumanism in other words. Dangerous insanity thought up by carbon life hating psychopaths ......

 ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++=

 Futurologist and advanced technology investor Herbert Sim is certain that the world is on the verge of a transformative shift—one that will redefine humanity forever.

He believes scientific breakthroughs will soon enable the creation of a new kind of human—essentially, true “mutants” who surpass ordinary individuals in every conceivable way.

As the founder of the Neurochip startup, Sim aims to revolutionize the human body through cutting-edge innovations. Already, he claims, science is nearing a pivotal moment where it can fundamentally alter human nature, extending lifespans to an astonishing five hundred years.

According to Sim, technological progress is unlocking extraordinary possibilities. Imagine artificial eyes that not only enhance vision but also allow users to perceive their surroundings on a grander scale and record everything like a built-in camera. This, he says, is just a glimpse of what the future holds....<<<Read More>>>....

Psywar: AI bots manipulate your feelings

The next chapter in the Social Media battle to splinter reality, the internet, and your own mind

Splinternet (as defined per Grok):

The splinternet refers to the fragmentation of the internet into separate, often isolated networks due to political, cultural, technological, or commercial reasons. It describes a scenario where the internet is no longer a unified global system but is instead divided into distinct "splinters" or subnetworks. This can happen through government censorship (like China's Great Firewall), regional regulations (such as the EU's GDPR), or tech companies creating walled gardens (e.g., Apple's ecosystem).

The term highlights how these divisions limit universal access to information and create digital borders, often reflecting real-world geopolitical tensions or differing values on privacy, security, and free expression....<<<Read More>>>...

The Quantum Apocalypse: When Private Data Becomes Public Domain

 The inherent human drive to safeguard information has, throughout history, led to the development of increasingly intricate methods of concealment. From ancient ciphers to modern digital encryption, the pursuit of secure communication has been a constant. Yet, the very foundations of this long-standing endeavor are now facing an unprecedented challenge, poised to reshape the landscape of privacy and national security.

The essence of coded communication rested on mathematical principles. Ancient Egyptians, some 4,000 years ago, employed substitution ciphers in prayers carved into tomb walls, replacing standard hieroglyphs with unique, self-created symbols. This was not about secrecy but a demonstration of specialized knowledge. The simple act of substituting one symbol for another laid the groundwork for thousands of years of cryptographic development....<<<Read More>>>...

Can you upload a human mind into a computer?

 Is it possible to upload the consciousness of your mind into a computer? The concept, cool yet maybe a little creepy, is known as mind uploading. Think of it as a way to create a copy of your brain, a transmission of your mind and consciousness into a computer.

There you would live digitally, perhaps forever. You’d have an awareness of yourself, you’d retain your memories and still feel like you. But you wouldn’t have a body.

Within that simulated environment, you could do anything you do in real life – eating, driving a car, playing sports. You could also do things impossible in the real world, like walking through walls, flying like a bird or traveling to other planets. The only limit is what science can realistically simulate.

Doable? Theoretically, mind uploading should be possible. Still, you may wonder how it could happen. After all, researchers have barely begun to understand the brain....<<<Read More>>>...

The AI energy surge: How data centers are reshaping global electricity grids

 In a world increasingly powered by artificial intelligence (AI), the electricity demand is reaching unprecedented levels. Since 2022, AI-related firms have surged into the S&P 500, adding a staggering $12 trillion to the market.

This transformation is not just about technology; it's about the massive energy infrastructure needed to support it. As AI continues to evolve, data centers are becoming the new powerhouses of the global economy, consuming electricity at rates that rival traditional heavy industries.

Data centers, the backbone of the digital age, are experiencing explosive growth. In 2024, these facilities accounted for approximately 1.5 percent of the world's electricity consumption, or 415 terawatt-hours (TWh). The United States leads the charge, consuming 45 percent of the global data center electricity, followed by China at 25 percent and Europe at 15 percent. This surge is not slowing down; by 2030, data center electricity consumption is projected to more than double, reaching around 945 TWh, surpassing Japan's total electricity consumption today.

The scale of this demand is staggering. A typical data center already consumes as much electricity as 100,000 homes. However, the new generation of mega data centers under construction will consume 20 times more, equivalent to adding two million homes to the grid.

In Virginia, the epicenter of industrial data, data centers consume a quarter of the state's electricity. This demand concentration is not evenly distributed, with nearly half of the U.S. data center capacity located in just five regional clusters....<<<Read More>>>...

World's first computer that combines human brain with silicon now available

 The CL1 computer is the first in the world that combines human neurons with a silicon chip. It could be used in disease modeling and drug discovery before it expires after six months. 

A new type of computer that combines regular silicon-based hardware with human neurons is now available for purchase.

The CL1, released March 2 by Melbourne-based startup Cortical Labs, is "the world's first code deployable biological computer," according to the company's website. The shoebox-sized system could find applications in disease modeling and drug discovery, representatives say.

Inside the CL1, a nutrient-rich broth feeds human neurons, which grow across a silicon chip. That chip sends electrical impulses to and from the neurons to train them to exhibit desired behaviors. Using a similar system, Cortical Labs taught DishBrain (a predecessor to the CL1) to play the video game Pong.

"The perfusion circuit component acts as a life support system for the cells - it has filtration for waste products, temperature control, gas mixing, and pumps to keep everything circulating," Brett Kagan, chief scientific officer of Cortical Labs, told New Atlas.

The system uses just a few watts of power and keeps neurons alive for up to six months, according to the company's website....<<<Read More>>>...

What Happens to Your Brain When You Ditch Your Cellphone for Three Days?

 Ever feel like your cellphone is glued to your hand? It’s tough to put it down, but what if you took a break for three days — would your brain cheer or rebel? Cellphones are part of daily life for most, but too much time on them interferes with your mind. Many people start craving them more, almost like an addiction, and that hurts your mental health.

Researchers wanted to see what happens when you take a cellphone break, so they asked 25 young adults to ditch their phones for 72 hours.¹ They used brain scans to check how their brains reacted to phone pictures afterward. The results might surprise you. Your brain could light up with cravings, but there’s good news too. Let’s explore what they found and how it affects you....<<<Read More>>>...

Sentient World Simulation: A tool to test PsyOps and control people’s minds

 The Sentient World Simulation (“SWS”) is a project developed by the US Department of Defence to create a synthetic mirror of the real world that can be continuously calibrated with real-world information.

It aims to provide an environment for testing Psychological Operations (“PsyOps”) and to help military leaders develop and test courses of action to anticipate and shape behaviours of adversaries, neutrals and partners.

SWS also replicates financial institutions, utilities, media outlets and street corner shops, applying theories of economics and human psychology to predict how individuals and groups will respond to various stressors.

The simulation is designed to be a comprehensive representation of the real world at all levels of granularity, including political, military, economic, social, informational and infrastructure frameworks. It uses information from breaking news, census data, economic indicators, climatic events and proprietary information such as military intelligence to create a near-real-time model of the world....<<<Read More>>>..

A Word on "Buckminsterfullerene(C60)"

Buckminsterfullerene(C60), often called "buckyball" is an allotrope of carbon. It is entirely composed of 60 carbon atoms. It is named after architect Buckminster Fuller due to its resemblance to the geodesic domes he designed. Its structure resembles a hollow sphere or a soccer ball, consisting of 60 carbon atoms arranged in a series of interlocking hexagons and pentagons.

Buckminsterfullerene was first discovered in 1985 by a team of scientists led by Harry Kroto, Richard Smalley, and Robert Curl. Their discovery earned them the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1996. 

In this article, we will learn in detail about Buckminsterfullerene, its properties, structure, synthesis and applications....<<<Read More>>>...

Douglas Mulhall’s “Our Molecular Future” explains how emerging technologies will redefine humanity

 Douglas Mulhall's 2002 book, "Our Molecular Future: How Nanotechnology, Robotics, Genetics and Artificial Intelligence Will Transform Our World," explores the profound implications of rapid technological advancements on human civilization. The book delves into the possibility of machines surpassing human intelligence, the transformative potential of molecular technologies and the societal shifts that could accompany these changes.

The concept of the Singularity – the moment when artificial intelligence (AI) exceeds human intellect – lies at the heart of Mulhall's discussion. This idea, popularized by computer scientist Vernor Vinge (1944-2024) in 1993 suggests that within decades, superhuman intelligence could emerge, fundamentally altering human existence.

Historical examples, such as Garry Kasparov's defeat by IBM's Deep Blue in 1997, illustrate how quickly machines can outpace human capabilities. The exponential growth of technology raises critical questions about whether humanity can keep up or if unforeseen disruptions – like natural disasters or societal collapses – could derail progress.

Mulhall identifies four key fields driving this revolution: Genetics, Robotics, AI and Nanotechnology (GRAIN). These disciplines promise to redefine human evolution, enabling enhancements such as neural implants for cognitive augmentation or the transplantation of human senses into machines.

Nanotechnology, in particular, stands out for its potential to manipulate matter at an atomic scale. Pioneers like Eric Drexler envisioned self-replicating molecular machines, a concept bolstered by breakthroughs like the scanning tunneling microscope and the discovery of buckminsterfullerenes....<<<Read More>>>....