The following submission statement was provided by /u/subsonico:

A conversation with ChatGPT on self-awareness, copyright issues, empathy, job displacement, creativity and humor. ChatGPT is a refined version of GPT-3.5, a language model trained to generate text. ChatGPT was improved for discussion using Reinforcement Learning with Human Feedback (RLHF), a method that guides the model toward desired behavior using human examples.

Please reply to OP's comment here: https://old.reddit.com/r/Futurology/comments/zl4tl9/interview_with_chatgpt_empathy_creativity_humor/j03a01m/

The following submission statement was provided by /u/unswsydney:

Happy holidays r/Futurology,

We're stoked to share new research from our resident solid-state chemistry expert, Associate Professor Neeraj Sharma.

Alongside Professor Naoaki Yabuuchi from Yokohama National University, A/P Sharma has investigated a new type of positive electrode material with unprecedented stability for solid-state batteries.

The researchers discovered the material may offer a high capacity, safe and durable alternative to lithium-ion batteries - properties that make the material an excellent candidate for use in electric vehicles.

The team's work has been published in Nature Materials if you're keen to take a read: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41563-022-01421-z

Please reply to OP's comment here: https://old.reddit.com/r/Futurology/comments/zken4q/scientists_have_developed_a_solidstate_battery/izz9h5g/

The following submission statement was provided by /u/_613_:

From the article :

"what if a house could nurture the people living inside and the world outside too? What if a house could feed its occupants? Power itself? Boost biodiversity? Bond a community? And at the end of its life, leave no trace?"

A new book entitled "Houses that Can Save The World" 150 different projects are featured

"Some repurpose existing spaces, such as Ensamble Studio's off-grid cave dwelling in Menorca, Spain. Others revive and update ancient construction methods, like ZAV Architects' adobe building community in Hormuz, Iran."

Please reply to OP's comment here: https://old.reddit.com/r/Futurology/comments/zjpw04/houses_that_can_save_the_world_these_homes_offer/izw0car/

The following submission statement was provided by /u/filosoful:

Françoise Gaill, a French marine biologist and vice president of the Ocean & Climate Platform, who is also a scientific adviser at France’s National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS), spoke to FRANCE 24.

FRANCE 24: What is a dead zone?

Françoise Gaill: Dead zones are hypoxic areas in the ocean, where the concentration of oxygen is below the norm. This can mean a decrease of up to 20 percent, which is already quite significant, but can reach up to a 50 percent drop in oxygen levels.

The lack of oxygen occurs in the ocean’s surface areas, between 50 and 400 metres deep. The shallowest waters are generally less affected since they have more contact with the air and therefore benefit from oxygenation, which is less available in deep water.

Dead zones are mostly found off the coast of the Americas, from California to Chile. West Africa is also affected, as is the western part of Indonesia in the Indian Ocean.

Although they mostly hug coastlines, we are starting to see some dead zones stretch from the Americas into the middle of the Pacific, far from the shore.

Please reply to OP's comment here: https://old.reddit.com/r/Futurology/comments/zj14z5/biodiversity_ocean_dead_zones_are_proliferating/izt4y7w/

The following submission statement was provided by /u/lughnasadh:

Submission Statement

I expect we're going to hear a lot more about ballistic lunar transfer trajectories in years to come. They are a much cheaper way for materials to reach lunar and cislunar orbits. Their disadvantage is slowness, but three days versus three months doesn't really matter so much for uncrewed missions. Their big, big advantage is the Sun's gravity does most of the work for you in getting to the Moon. This way you don't need lots of fuel, and get a much cheaper launch from Earth. They are the preferred method for getting cargo to the Lunar Gateway space station.

Hakuto-R M1 is packing a lot into 340 kg (about the weight of 4 domestic washing machines) - including a lunar rover vehicle.

Please reply to OP's comment here: https://old.reddit.com/r/Futurology/comments/zj009z/spacex_has_successfully_launched_ispaces_hakutor/izt0dr3/

The following submission statement was provided by /u/darth_nadoma:

It is the first large scale Electricity storage facility in the Republic of South Africa and on the continent as a whole. Indeed we are seeing a growing wave of such developments in various corners of the world map.

Construction will take between seven and twelve months and the batteries
on the site will be charged from the main grid via Eskom’s Elandskop
substation. The facility will have a capacity of 8 MW, equivalent to 32
MWh of distributed electricity, enough to power a town such as Howick
for four hours. Among the notable benefits of the BESS is that it will
boost the network during peak hours, thereby reducing the strain on the
network during peak hours.

Please reply to OP's comment here: https://old.reddit.com/r/Futurology/comments/ziqhbx/south_africas_eskom_starts_construction_of_its/izs2c4o/

The following submission statement was provided by /u/tonymmorley:

>"A 13-year-old girl whose leukaemia had not responded to other treatments now has no detectable cancer cells after receiving a dose of immune cells that were genetically edited to attack the cancer" — Experimental CRISPR technique has promise against aggressive leukaemia

>
>"A teenager with aggressive leukaemia now has no detectable cancer cells after becoming the first person to receive a treatment involving a new kind of CRISPR called base editing. However, it will not be clear for some years whether she will remain free of the condition."

Please reply to OP's comment here: https://old.reddit.com/r/Futurology/comments/zio6ed/experimental_crispr_technique_has_promise_against/izruhh2/

The following submission statement was provided by /u/blaspheminCapn:

Using new machine learning techniques, researchers at UC San Francisco (UCSF), in collaboration with a team at IBM Research, have developed a virtual molecular library of thousands of "command sentences" for cells, based on combinations of "words" that guided engineered immune cells to seek out and tirelessly kill cancer cells.

Please reply to OP's comment here: https://old.reddit.com/r/Futurology/comments/zhtjnn/how_ai_found_the_words_to_kill_cancer_cells/iznrbzz/

The following submission statement was provided by /u/Icee777:

Building a Martian space elevator would be complicated by the Martian moon Phobos, which is in a low orbit at ~6,028 km above the Martian surface and intersects the Equator regularly, thus getting in the way of a traditional geostationary space elevator. But there is an idea instead to build a space elevator from Phobos itself. More in the article linked.

Please reply to OP's comment here: https://old.reddit.com/r/Futurology/comments/zh3mao/phobos_orbit_prevents_a_traditional_geostationary/izk3iit/

The following submission statement was provided by /u/lughnasadh:

Submission Statement

Ultrasound energy transfer is already the basis of one of ultrasound's most well-known applications, ultrasound medical scanning.

We often tend to think of robots as large and humanoid, if their design wasn't burdened by the need for a power source, it's not hard to imagine useful robots on the same scale as insects, and perhaps just weighing a few grams.

Please reply to OP's comment here: https://old.reddit.com/r/Futurology/comments/zg3xf5/us_researchers_have_created_metamaterials_that/izevwpe/

The following submission statement was provided by /u/darth_nadoma:

PowerNEST is an integrated solar-wind electricity system for the high rise buildings (buildings with at least five floors) . It has already been installed in five projects across the Netherlands, IBIS power is currently working on installing these units on 12 more.

According to IBIS Power, the ready-made system may create 6 to 10 times more electricity than standalone rooftop solar.

Please reply to OP's comment here: https://old.reddit.com/r/Futurology/comments/zg2eui/netherlands_integrated_rooftop_solar_panels_wind/izeolpj/

The following submission statement was provided by /u/ThePlanckDiver:

Interesting conversation with Kevin Scott, Microsoft CTO, who’s quite the AI/large language models proponent.

From the article:

> Artificial intelligence systems powered by large language models today are transforming how people work and create, from generating lines of code for software developers to sketches for graphic designers.

> Kevin Scott, Microsoft’s chief technology officer, expects these AI systems to continue to grow in sophistication and scale—from helping address global challenges such as climate change and childhood education to revolutionizing fields from healthcare and law to materials science and science fiction.

> I think with some confidence I can say that 2023 is going to be the most exciting year that the AI community has ever had. And I say that after really, genuinely believing that 2022 was the most exciting year that we’d ever had. The pace of innovation just keeps rolling in at a fast clip.

Please reply to OP's comment here: https://old.reddit.com/r/Futurology/comments/zfw4qb/microsoft_cto_kevin_scott_2023_is_going_to_be_the/izdula0/

The following submission statement was provided by /u/berlinparisexpress:

As we read more everyday about tech company layoffs, the ongoing Twitter drama and the latest crypto crash, I find it interesting to see that $94 billion has been invested in climate tech since January 2021 with $34 more billion available to fund new climate companies.

I don't believe in techno-solutionnism and that climate tech is THE solution to fight climate change without changing anything to our current lifestlyes, however I am convinced at this stage that every bit will help and I am glad to see money invested in that sector while everything else seems to be crashing.

There might be some good opportunites for those of you from the tech sector looking for meaning at work! I don't see the climate tech sector going under anytime soon as long as climate change is an issue.

Please reply to OP's comment here: https://old.reddit.com/r/Futurology/comments/zfw2om/big_tech_is_laying_staff_off_but_climate_tech_is/izdud4v/

The following submission statement was provided by /u/mancinedinburgh:

Windows as modems? Swiss scientists recently announced they had created windows that convert sunlight directly into electricity. This seems to be in a similar vein, whereby polarisation of sunlight is converted into binary code used to send signals to devices in a particular room. Goodbye router boxes? Perhaps. It sounds cool though to me that wireless Internet could be provided to entire offices or homes through adapted glass windows.

Please reply to OP's comment here: https://old.reddit.com/r/Futurology/comments/zfv7v7/scientists_design_windows_that_convert_sunlight/izdqusi/

The following submission statement was provided by /u/chrisdh79:

From the article: For many — those who are lactose intolerant, those who are vegan, those who (for whatever reasons) do not consume dairy milk — Ben & Jerry's has been a reliable stalwart when it comes to producing non-dairy desserts, most of which are primarily made with almond milk.

While the grocery store freezer shelves are now replete with non-dairy products (ice cream, sorbet, sherbet, frozen yogurt and the like), many customers remain loyal to Ben & Jerry's, especially as their non-dairy oeuvre seems to grow quite often.

Soon enough, though, there may be a new type of product on shelves with Ben & Jerry's emblazoned across its packaging.

As TIME reported last month, Unilever (a British company which lists Ben & Jerry's as one of their brands) is looking to produce dairy ice creams that actually utilize milk that isn't derived from cows whatsoever. This would mean that the ice creams and frozen desserts wouldn't be branded dairy-free, since they would contain this lab-created "milk," but they could potentially be consumed by those who might have lactose allergies or are personally or morally against consuming any sort of cow-derived dairy.

TIME notes that this would be developed in a "process called precision fermentation that uses substances like yeast and fungi to produce milk proteins in a vat." Andy Sztehlo who runs Unilever's ice cream research and development team, notes that the "product could be available in about a year," meaning that you might have your hands on some dairy-but-not-from-cows ice cream before you know it.

This process, often called "lab-grown milk," has been practiced by other companies, but no "major food companies" have produced any particular products with said milk, including any other ice cream brand.

Please reply to OP's comment here: https://old.reddit.com/r/Futurology/comments/zf63jf/ben_jerrys_owner_may_launch_ice_cream_made_from/iza7kjb/

The following submission statement was provided by /u/chrisdh79:

From the article: Ethereum, the world's second-largest crypto asset by market cap, has drastically changed its energy usage, saving a country-size proportion of power consumption.

This radical update most likely reduced the power consumption of the crypto network by 99.84 percent to 9.99 percent, according to a paper published by peer-reviewed data-science journal Patterns on Tuesday.

"This perspective highlights how Ethereum, the second largest crypto asset by market capitalization, likely succeeded in significantly reducing its power demand through an event called The Merge," read the study.

"This event occurred on September 15, 2022, and consisted of Ethereum's proof-of-work mining mechanism being replaced with an alternative known as proof of stake."

The decrease in energy use might be enough to meet Austria's or Ireland's national electrical needs.

The success of The Merge may now serve as a roadmap to enable a switch from Proof of Work to Proof of Stake in Bitcoin and other crypto assets still utilizing Proof of Work, as per the study.

However, it would still be premature for the Ethereum community to declare a "complete victory" over the sustainability concerns facing crypto assets.

Blockchain was traditionally upheld and validated by a Proof of Work mechanism employed by various cryptocurrencies, including Bitcoin.

A blockchain is a massive, dynamic database that records every transaction and underpins Ethereum, just like it does with all other cryptocurrencies.

In return, companies and volunteers who contributed their computers to the network's operation received new cryptocurrency coins. The likelihood of producing new coins increased as they performed more labor.

Please reply to OP's comment here: https://old.reddit.com/r/Futurology/comments/zf10n3/ethereums_energy_switch_saves_as_much_electricity/iz9e8vh/

The following submission statement was provided by /u/tonymmorley:

Jabal: the new wheat scientists say can withstand extreme heat and drought — "The variety is a cross between commercial and wild wheats – bred in a bid to develop crops that are more resilient to the climate crisis" 🍞

>
"A new drought-tolerant variety of durum wheat has been created as part of an international breeding programme to boost climate resilience in the food system by increasing crop diversity."
>
>
"While it is not yet commercially available, farmers in Morocco will be the first to start growing the new version of durum wheat, which is widely eaten in north Africa and the Middle East, in about three years. Morocco is suffering its worst drought in four decades, and grain production is down by about 70% due to the extremely dry conditions."

Please reply to OP's comment here: https://old.reddit.com/r/Futurology/comments/zewybj/jabal_the_new_wheat_scientists_say_can_withstand/iz8vzrw/

The following submission statement was provided by /u/Aeromarine_eng:

European researchers are developing batteries that use a radioactive isotope to power long missions in the Solar System.

ESA has relied on US or Russian partners, which have used plutonium-238 batteries.

Americium’s big advantage over plutonium is that it is cheaper and more abundant, repurposing waste that would otherwise be useless.

Americium has a longer half-life than plutonium-238, which means it lasts longer but packs less power per gram. But because americium is more readily available, producing one watt of power costs about one-fifth as much as it does using plutonium.

Over the next three years, the European Devices Using Radioisotope Energy (ENDURE) team will develop prototypes into models that can be tested in mission-like conditions.

Please reply to OP's comment here: https://old.reddit.com/r/Futurology/comments/zemx83/how_nuclear_waste_will_help_spacecraft_explore/iz7bdfa/

The following submission statement was provided by /u/Gari_305:

From the Article

>Self-driving truck startup Kodiak Robotics said Tuesday that it won a two-year, $49.9 million contract from the U.S. Department of Defense to help develop automated combat vehicles for the U.S. Army.
>
>The company said the vehicles will be tailored for reconnaissance, surveillance and other missions that would present a high risk to a human driver.

Please reply to OP's comment here: https://old.reddit.com/r/Futurology/comments/ze8dv2/selfdriving_truck_startup_kodiak_robotics_wins_50/iz4wchq/

The following submission statement was provided by /u/Gari_305:

From the Article

>Lockheed Martin of the U.S. and Rafael Advanced Defense Systems, Ltd. of Israel signed a collaboration agreement that includes the joint development, testing and manufacturing of high energy laser weapon systems (HELWS) in the U.S. and Israel.

Please reply to OP's comment here: https://old.reddit.com/r/Futurology/comments/ze7ziz/rafael_and_lockheed_martin_partner_to_offer_iron/iz4u5i3/

The following submission statement was provided by /u/Magic-Fabric:

Today, two labs separately announced programs that use diffusion models to generate designs for novel proteins with more precision than ever before. Generate Biomedicines, a Boston-based startup, revealed a program called Chroma, which the company describes as the “DALL-E 2 of biology.”

Please reply to OP's comment here: https://old.reddit.com/r/Futurology/comments/ze2a2u/biotech_labs_are_using_ai_inspired_by_dalle_to/iz46udf/

The following submission statement was provided by /u/schizoscience:

Futurism and science fiction have traditionally given comparatively less importance to biotechnology and the biological sciences, preferring instead to focus on other fields such as artificial intelligence and space exploration. In this article, I explore the potential of a "biopunk" world, where the fields that have traditionally constituted the main focus of futurism progress only modestly while the biological sciences and biotechnology progress tremendously. This is not exactly an effort at prediction, but merely an exploration of a distinct set of possibilities. My intent was to explore the limits of what can be achieved relying on life and biological and bio-inspired systems alone. Topics discussed in the article include:

• Biological nanotechnology (using DNA and proteins as biological nanobots), which I believe to be built on a stronger chemical foundation than the classical "Drexlerian" view of nanotechnology.
• Organic electronics and biological information processing systems (DNA computing) and others.
• Potential applications of biotechnologies to architecture and transportation
• "Conventional" uses of biotechnology (for medicine, food production, etc), discussed more briefly because I wanted to focus on less talked-about ideas.

Please reply to OP's comment here: https://old.reddit.com/r/Futurology/comments/zdetue/biopunk_or_what_can_we_reasonably_expect_out_of/iz15hbq/

The following submission statement was provided by /u/levijohnson1:

With the release of ChatGTP, OpenAI's latest feat, the world is waking up to new possibilities in AI. Its impact it will transformative. Let's buckle up folks. Disruption is coming.
ChatGPT is a recently released large language model (LLM) trained by OpenAI and that's capable of generating human-like conversation.
It can solve IQ tests, build apps from scratch in Python, solve homework assignments, or create poems. Everyone can use it today.
Stability AI, the start-up behind the popular Stable Diffusion image-generating algorithm, recently raised $101m, Jasper.AI, a company that uses AI to generate written content, raised $125m. The buzz is spreading like wildfire.
I think that we're witnessing several technologies advancing exponentially all at once:
– AI
– AR (Apple will present its big bang AR experience powered by AI & Apple Silicon soon)
– Decentralized computing (Web3)
In the next five years, progress in AI will be fast and exponential. The computational power of neural networks is doubling every 5.7 months. The tools that everyone is playing around with today will become 10x-100x more powerful.Intelligent machines will be capable enough to do most of the work we do today.
Let's buckle up folks. Disruption is coming. 🚀

Please reply to OP's comment here: https://old.reddit.com/r/Futurology/comments/zddlbw/man_and_machine_a_new_era/iz101lp/

The following submission statement was provided by /u/cartoonzi:

I was aware of the challenges of hydrogen, like the high production costs of green hydrogen and why hydrogen isn't an ideal fuel to create electricity, but I didn't know how bad blue hydrogen is.

"In a peer-reviewed study, Cornell and Stanford researchers found that emissions from blue hydrogen production are only 9%-12% less than those from grey hydrogen. Blue hydrogen production also releases more methane than grey hydrogen, which traps 80 times more heat than CO2 during its first 20 years in the atmosphere (MIT)."

The article also discusses the storage and transportation challenges, and how much energy is lost when hydrogen is converted to be compressed as a gas or liquified, which can consume 10%-40% of its energy.

It was also interesting to learn how the steel manufacturing company in Sweden was using green hydrogen instead of coal.

One thing I don't hear enough about is pink hydrogen (made using nuclear power). Does anyone have any interesting readings or case studies on whether it's a viable path for hydrogen production?

Please reply to OP's comment here: https://old.reddit.com/r/Futurology/comments/zd6e46/the_truth_about_hydrogen_fuel_and_how_it_can/iyzyg3p/

The following submission statement was provided by /u/lughnasadh:

Submission Statement

At the pace that the AI behind this is developing, I wonder where the next order of magnitude increase in capabilities will take us? Then what will the robot an order of magnitude more capable of it be like? It seems conceivable that robots capable of doing most unskilled work will exist by the end of the decade.

Please reply to OP's comment here: https://old.reddit.com/r/Futurology/comments/zd1tvl/google_says_they_have_made_a_significant_advance/iyze7ji/