linkedin post 2019-01-14 05:04:19

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ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE. "I cannot think of any other significant field of knowledge in which the prevailing wisdom, not only in society at large but also among experts, is so beset with entrenched, overlapping, fundamental errors. Yet it has also been one of the most self-confident fields in prophesying that it will soon achieve the ultimate breakthrough." https://lnkd.in/dN7u2Qg View in LinkedIn
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linkedin post 2019-01-13 06:19:18

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CAMBRIAN MINERALIZATION THEORY. “It’s not all enigmas and secrets. We know that the composition of seawater changed significantly during this time. The concentration of many of the common ions in seawater—like calcium and sodium—climbed upward. Because high concentrations of calcium can interfere with cellular processes, this has led some to propose that the evolution of calcium carbonate shells was simply a byproduct of the cells' efforts to clear out calcium.” https://lnkd.in/dtYSB5v View in LinkedIn
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linkedin post 2019-01-14 05:02:25

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AUTO-ANALYSIS. "But no brain on Earth is yet close to knowing what brains do in order to achieve any of that functionality. The enterprise of achieving it artificially — the field of ‘artificial general intelligence’ or AGI — has made no progress whatever during the entire six decades of its existence." https://lnkd.in/dN7u2Qg View in LinkedIn
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linkedin post 2019-01-13 06:16:04

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MINERALIZATION AND DIVERSITY. “There are two things that help define the Cambrian explosion. The first is the increase in animal diversity; the second is the rise of biomineralization—the building of shells and skeletons. Those hard parts made the preservation of fossils in the rock record a possibility. That adds to the mystery. Did this newly evolved armor and structure lead to some sort of arms race driving evolution into a higher gear.” https://lnkd.in/dtYSB5v View in LinkedIn
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linkedin post 2019-01-14 04:58:05

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HUMAN BRAIN. "It is uncontroversial that the human brain has capabilities that are, in some respects, far superior to those of all other known objects in the cosmos. It is the only kind of object capable of understanding that the cosmos is even there, or why there are infinitely many prime numbers, or that apples fall because of the curvature of space-time, or that obeying its own inborn instincts can be morally wrong, or that it itself exists. Nor are its unique abilities confined to such cerebral matters." (Kurzweil). https://lnkd.in/dN7u2Qg View in LinkedIn
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linkedin post 2019-01-14 04:55:40

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NON-BIOLOGICAL INTELLIGENCE. "Kurzweil believes that within a quarter century, non-biological intelligence will match the range and subtlety of human intelligence. It will then soar past it because of the continuing acceleration of information-based technologies, as well as the ability of machines to instantly share their knowledge." https://lnkd.in/dTveM5M View in LinkedIn
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linkedin post 2019-01-13 06:48:38

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SO ENDS this first weekend on the Great Unconformity, surely one of the most disruptive events in our planet along with the birth of the moon, the meteorite phase, plate tectonics, the Great Oxygenation event, snowball earth, and multicellularity. This has suffered from relative obscurity: even a BBC summary of the 25 biggest turning points in Earth’s history fails to mention it. Somehow it got subducted in obscure and badly written geological articles. I have the sense that most people have never heard of this, including biologists who have twisted themselves into pretzels to explain the Cambrian Explosion. https://lnkd.in/dZRSWah View in LinkedIn
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linkedin post 2019-01-13 06:47:15

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QUESTIONS. Was the Cambrian Explosion just an optical illusion caused by the Great Unconformity erasing a billion years of fossil history from the Earth? Was the Great Unconformity the result of millions of years of glacial scouring of the Earth’s surface, or the result of epic floods caused by the glaciers melting, or perhaps a combination of both? Was it relatively rapid (flooding) or slow (glaciation). View in LinkedIn
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linkedin post 2019-01-13 06:43:26

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SNOWBALL EARTH THEORY. “It has long been observed that the sequence of sedimentary rocks deposited in the past half-billion years often sharply overlies older igneous or metamorphic basement at an erosional surface known as the Great Unconformity. We provide evidence that this unconformity may record rapid erosion during Neoproterozoic “snowball Earth” glaciations.” https://lnkd.in/d6fatHN View in LinkedIn
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