Extraterrestrial intelligence

$200m Gift Propels Scientific Research in the Search for Life Beyond Earth

Retrieved on:

Wednesday, November 8, 2023

Co-founder of communications chip company, Qualcomm, Antonio passed away on May 13, 2022, leaving behind an extraordinary legacy to enable breakthrough science in the search for intelligent life beyond our world.

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Co-founder of communications chip company, Qualcomm, Antonio passed away on May 13, 2022, leaving behind an extraordinary legacy to enable breakthrough science in the search for intelligent life beyond our world.
With more than 100 scientists actively conducting research across 173 separate programs, the SETI Institute explores six key science disciplines: Astronomy and Astrophysics; Exoplanets; Planetary Exploration; Astrobiology; Climate and Bio-geoscience; and the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (SETI).
As such, Antonio’s gift will also serve to permanently endow core SETI programs and foster new global partnerships.
“This gift will impact all research domains of the SETI Institute,” said Dr. Nathalie Cabrol, Director of the Carl Sagan Center for Research.

Are we alone in the universe? 4 essential reads on potential contact with aliens

Retrieved on:

Friday, August 4, 2023

During the meeting, several military officers testified that unidentified anomalous phenomena – the government’s name for UFOs – pose a threat to national security.

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During the meeting, several military officers testified that unidentified anomalous phenomena – the government’s name for UFOs – pose a threat to national security.
Their testimony may have raised eyebrows in the chamber, but there’s still no public physical evidence of extraterrestrial life.

1. Whistleblower allegations

The Pentagon has denied this claim, and it has denied the existence of any program designed to retrieve and reverse-engineer crashed UFOs.
All witnesses at the hearing advocated for more government transparency around reports of UFOs.
While having access to more data may help understand what’s going on, as the University of Arizona’s Chris Impey put it, “the gold standard is physical evidence.”
Read more:
Whistleblower calls for government transparency as Congress digs for the truth about UFOs

2. Sociological explanations

People want explanations for ambiguous situations, and they’re easily influenced by others.
“Poorly documented UFO pics and videos spread on social media, leading media outlets to grab and republish the most intriguing.
Whistleblowers emerge periodically, fanning the flames with claims of secret evidence.”
Read more:
Why people tend to believe UFOs are extraterrestrial

3. Signature detection

Instead, scientists could potentially pick up signals like radio waves or pollution from some distant galaxy that might indicate extraterrestrial technology.
The Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence is a group of scientists all working on the search for extraterrestrial life.
“However, this approach assumes that extraterrestrial civilizations want to communicate with other technologically advanced life,” Huston and Wright explained.

4. Ethical considerations

AI is helping astronomers make new discoveries and learn about the universe faster than ever before

Retrieved on:

Wednesday, May 3, 2023

I’m an astronomer who studies and has written about cosmology, black holes and exoplanets.

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I’m an astronomer who studies and has written about cosmology, black holes and exoplanets.
As the technology has become more powerful, AI algorithms have begun helping astronomers tame massive data sets and discover new knowledge about the universe.

Better telescopes, more data

As telescopes have continued to improve, the sheer number of celestial objects humans can see and the amount of data astronomers need to sort through have both grown exponentially, too.
AI algorithms are the only way astronomers could ever hope to work through all of the data available to them today.
There are a number of ways AI is proving useful in processing this data.

Picking out patterns

AI algorithms – in particular, neural networks that use many interconnected nodes and are able to learn to recognize patterns – are perfectly suited for picking out the patterns of galaxies.
Now the algorithms are so effective that they can classify galaxies with an accuracy of 98%.
Now, researchers are using AI to sift through reams of data much more quickly and thoroughly than people can.
This has allowed SETI efforts to cover more ground while also greatly reducing the number of false positive signals.

Making new discoveries

But it is also quite powerful at finding objects or phenomena that are theorized but have not yet been discovered in the real world.
To do this, astronomers first use AI to convert theoretical models into observational signatures – including realistic levels of noise.
Finally, radio astronomers have also been using AI algorithms to sift through signals that don’t correspond to known phenomena.

Making predictions and plugging holes

As in many areas of life recently, generative AI and large language models like ChatGPT are also making waves in the astronomy world.
The team that created the first image of a black hole in 2019 used a generative AI to produce its new image.
To do so, it first taught an AI how to recognize black holes by feeding it simulations of many kinds of black holes.

Gaia Announces Ambassador Program Partnership with Demi Lovato

Retrieved on:

Tuesday, November 2, 2021

Globally recognized, Lovato brings one of the world's largest social media followings to Gaia's burgeoning network of conscious brand ambassadors.

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Globally recognized, Lovato brings one of the world's largest social media followings to Gaia's burgeoning network of conscious brand ambassadors.
Continuing down their rabbit hole, Lovato quickly fell in love with Gaia original series "Ancient Civilizations" and "Deep Space."
Demi Lovato is a GRAMMY-nominated singer, actor, producer, podcast host, New York Times best-selling author and activist.
Lovato is the host of their own podcast, 4D With Demi Lovato, where they announced that they identify as non-binary and have officially changed their pronouns to they/them.