Latest news with #IsaacAsimov
National Business Review
25-05-2025
- Science
- National Business Review
Are we ready to give AI agents our credit cards?
The term 'agentic AI' sounds a little sci-fi, doesn't it? The idea of a computer going rogue or struggling with its ability to act under its own auspices has been a staple of science fiction for decades. Consider 2001: A Space Odyssey's murderous HAL9000 computer, Isaac Asimov's laws
Times
19-05-2025
- Science
- Times
British invention moves solar power station in space a step closer
For more than eight decades, the idea of beaming an around-the-clock supply of solar power from space has fascinated people including Isaac Asimov, the science-fiction writer, and forward-thinking politicians. However, while the price of solar panels has dropped drastically and the technology to wirelessly transmit power has improved, a crucial question has still to be answered: how do you build a large solar plant in the Earth's orbit? Space Solar, a British company, may have the answer. It hopes to assemble a power station in space using autonomous robots. To show that the idea is more than wishful thinking, it has tested the technology at a facility near Oxford. The business, based in Didcot and backed by more than £10 million of government grants, aims
Yahoo
07-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
FOUNDATION Shares Season 3 Trailer, First Images, and Summer Release Date
'The Third Crisis is upon us,' but don't worry! Unlike most breaking news these days, that's actually a good development. It just means Apple TV's adaptation of Isaac Asimov's epic space saga will soon be back for season three. The streamer has announced Foundation will be back this July. And Apple TV celebrated the season three premiere date announcement with a new teaser trailer and first-look images for a Foundation chapter that promises war. It also promises Lee Pace fans are going to need a minute to gather themselves. Foundation Season 3's Trailer Youtube Video play button You can check out the full teaser trailer for Foundation season three above. Foundation Season 3's Release Date and Synopsis David S. Goyer's Foundation has officially set its release date. The ten-episode third season of Foundation will hit Apple TV on Friday, July 11, 2025. A new episode of Foundation season three will follow every Friday until the season finale on September 12. That glorious old school release schedule will not reflect the season's massive time jump. In addition to its new teaser trailer, here's Foundation season three's official synopsis: Set 152 years after the events of season two, The Foundation has become increasingly established far beyond its humble beginnings while the Cleonic Dynasty's Empire has dwindled. As both of these galactic powers forge an uneasy alliance, a threat to the entire galaxy appears in the fearsome form of a warlord known as 'The Mule' whose sights are set on ruling the universe by use of physical and military force, as well as mind control. It's anyone's guess who will win, who will lose, who will live and who will die as Hari Seldon, Gaal Dornick, the Cleons and Demerzel play a potentially deadly game of intergalactic chess. Foundation Season 3 First-Look Images Feature a Very Shirtless Lee Pace Apple TV In addition to season three's first Foundation teaser trailer, Apple TV also shared a handful of first-look images. There's a lot going on here, but we know what the people want. And what they want is the exact photo of a shirtless, bearded, long-haired Lee Pace as Brother Day pictured above. Click To View Gallery Apple TV Apple TV Apple TV Apple TV Apple TV Apple TV Apple TV ….Good for him. And, obviously, good for people who like looking at Lee Pace. Foundation Season 3's Cast Lee Pace and his fellow returning stars Jared Harris, Lou Llobell, Laura Birn, Cassian Bilton, Terrence Mann, and Rowena King will have plenty of new faces joining them this year. Cherry Jones, Brandon P. Bell, Synnøve Karlsen, Cody Fern, Tómas Lemarquis, Alexander Siddig, Pilou Asbæk, and Oscar-winner Troy Kotsur are joining just in time for the Third Crisis to begin. It's nice to announce that and have it be a good thing. We can't wait to see what other pictures of Lee Pace…fun… Foundation season three has in store for us.
Yahoo
07-05-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
Human Lifespans Keep Increasing—and Scientists Say They're Not Slowing Down Anytime Soon
"Hearst Magazines and Yahoo may earn commission or revenue on some items through these links." Researchers are now suggesting that male and female lifespans continue to increase linearly, and have not yet hit a hard limit. Previous studies argued that human life expectancy is increasing by less and less each year, but that is only because it was studied in the wealthiest countries. Immortality may still be a reach, but advances in medicine and public welfare mean countries with lower average lifespans are catching up to those that are longer-lived. From iconic songs by Queen and Alphaville to Isaac Asimov's radical sci-fi vision of the essence of life eternally encoded into computers, immortality has been a human desire that has persisted since the first deathless gods emerged thousands and thousands of years ago. Could we really live forever if there was no physical or biological force to strike us down? The omnipresence of that questions explains why humans have a history of trying anything to defy the finality of death. Ancient Egyptians mummified their dead because of the belief that the deceased would need their bodies in the endless fertile fields and gilded palaces of the afterlife. Adaptogen beverages brewed from mushrooms have become the newest New-Age immortality tonic. Walt Disney had himself cryogenically frozen (well, this one may be a stretch). But so far nothing has worked, and according to many experts, nothing ever will. Several studies have hypothesized a hard limit to the human lifespan. But recently, researchers Lucio Vincius and Andrea Migliano from the University of Zurich have argued against that—they do not see the lifespan of our species plateauing just yet. While there has yet to be evidence of any human being making it past the age of 122 (a record still held by French supercentenarian Jeanne Calment), Vincius and Migliano have set out to disprove the claim of a hard limit on human life expectancy suggested in a 2024 study led by epidemiologist S. Jay Olshansky of the University of Illinois. Olshansky acknowledges that advances in medicine and public health have steadily increased the human life expectancy over time, but at least in the world's wealthiest (and longest-lived) nations, increases have slowed down drastically in the past 30 years. What these findings don't take into account, however, is the rest of the global population. 'Both female and male lifespans continue to linearly increase at a global scale,' Vinicius and Migliano said their study, which is in the process of being peer-reviewed and has been uploaded as a preprint to the server bioRxiv. 'This remarkably long trend observed since 1840 remains at odds with our expectation that human lifespans must at some point hit a biologically imposed ceiling.' Even with life expectancy rising by fewer years per decade, the researchers have found nothing in the data that conclusively proves the trend has hit a ceiling. In fact, they caution that previous claims of such a ceiling are only premature predictions. Now, Olshansky and his colleagues are doubtful that any more than 15% of females and 5% of males will reach their hundredth birthday, and stated 'radical human life extension is implausible.' However, these findings are limited to ten countries in which the rise in life expectancy has slowed down, presumably with an end in sight. (This is also not a new assumption—humanity was thought to have approached its upper limit to life expectancy as far back as 1990.) Referring to the Human Mortality Database—whose longevity data covers 41 countries—what Vinicius and Migliano see is a continuation in the improvement of life expectancy on a global scale. Male lifespans have increased by an average of 2.03 years per decade since 1840, and female lifespans increased by 2.31 years per decade in that same time frame. Between 2000 and 2020, male lifespans have increased by 1.96 years per decade for males and 1.45 years per decade for females, neither of which is that far off from previous decades. Men are catching up to women, and countries with lower life expectancies are catching up to those with higher life expectancies. Whether lifespans in those countries will reach (or even exceed) what was studied by Olshansky remains unknown. If there is a longevity ceiling, nobody has hit it yet. So, as far as we know, we are living longer and longer. Figuring out just how long we could live could take centuries, millennia or just a few decades. There is a proposed limit, but even that is hypothetical. The end is not (yet) in sight. You Might Also Like
Time of India
04-05-2025
- Time of India
Techie's cry for ‘purpose on weekends' sparks conversation on identity burnout in corporate life. Netizens say, ‘you're not alone'
It started with a simple, soul-baring post on Reddit's r/developersIndia — a backend Java developer with five years of experience posed an honest, quietly devastating question: "What do you work on during weekends?" But what followed wasn't just a list of tech hacks or productivity tips. It was an outpouring of emotion from a generation of developers grappling with an unsettling truth: when your job defines your worth, what remains when the deadlines vanish? #Pahalgam Terrorist Attack India much better equipped to target cross-border terror since Balakot India conducts maiden flight-trials of stratospheric airship platform Pakistan shuts ports for Indian ships after New Delhi bans imports from Islamabad The original poster (OP) laid bare their paradox. Proficient in Spring, problem-solving, and software design, they enjoy coding at work — and yet, weekends hit like a void. 'I think of building solutions,' they wrote, 'but everything already exists.' Even the idea of learning something new is clouded by the existential question: What's the point, if AI can just generate it anyway? This spiral of doubt — not quite burnout, not quite boredom — captured something deeper. The post struck a nerve, quickly garnering hundreds of responses. What emerged wasn't just advice. It was a mirror held up to the modern tech worker's soul. Beyond the Code: The Identity Crisis Lurking in Plain Sight The most upvoted comment didn't mince words. 'You're not struggling with weekend productivity ,' it declared. 'You're struggling with the fact that you've let your job become your entire identity.' It echoed a discomfort many professionals have long internalized: a life so tightly tethered to work that the absence of structure feels like a crisis of self. The comment hit a nerve for a reason. With hybrid work models and always-on connectivity, the lines between personal and professional lives have blurred into oblivion. And for many in tech, particularly developers, their skills are not just tools — they're personas. So, when there's no Jira ticket to solve, no deployment deadline to meet, a frightening question arises: Who am I outside of all this? You Might Also Like: Google techie's viral post sparks debate on work-life balance in big tech. Netizen says, 'you get paid more than 40 LPA' Scroll, Overthink, Repeat: The New-Age Weekend Dilemma Another user chimed in with a different angle, asking a question that feels all too familiar: 'Do you still have energy on weekends?' Even those who enjoy their jobs find themselves drained by Friday evening, marooned on their couch, endlessly scrolling, trapped between guilt and inertia. Yet others responded with long, impassioned lists of books, skills, and tools to master — from Isaac Asimov's I, Robot and Robert Greene's psychological deep-dives, to Blender 3D design and shell scripting. 'Be so good at making your computer work for you,' urged one commenter, turning the weekend into a personal renaissance project. The implicit message: You're not stuck — you're sleeping on the best version of yourself. iStock Even those who enjoy their jobs find themselves drained by Friday evening, marooned on their couch, endlessly scrolling, trapped between guilt and inertia. From Side Hustles to Selfhood: The Many Roads to Reinvention Still, not every response was a call to optimize. One user took the liberating route: 'Find a hobby . For me it's biking and gaming.' Another suggested contributing to open-source projects, combining passion with purpose — a subtle reminder that growth doesn't always need to be monetized or strategic. In the age of AI, where generative tools can whip up code, design, and even content in seconds, developers are questioning not just what they should learn — but why . The very foundations of craftsmanship are shifting, leaving even seasoned professionals disoriented. You Might Also Like: Bengaluru techie compares salary vs career vs life in Dubai, USA, and India. His final verdict will surprise you But perhaps the most compelling takeaway from the thread wasn't a solution, but a sentiment: You're not alone in this strange, searching phase of your career. And maybe, just maybe, weekends are not for productivity at all — but for rediscovering joy, meaning, and an identity untethered from your job title. The Algorithm Can't Tell You Who You Are What began as one developer's quiet confession has now evolved into a rallying cry of sorts — a digital bonfire where coders and creators gather not to fix bugs, but to confront bigger glitches within. The post might fade from Reddit's homepage soon, replaced by the next trending topic. But its resonance lingers. In the silence of our weekends, it asks us to confront something louder than any Slack ping: Who are we when we're not 'doing' anything? And in a world run increasingly by algorithms, that might be the most human question of all.
