SPECIAL REPORT: THE SINGULARITY
|
 |
Are we on the verge of the biggest technological revolution ever? In a 30-page special report, COSMOS explores the radical concept of ‘the technological singularity’: how superintelligent computers could trigger massive changes in society and a global economy that doubles every few weeks. Plus, find out how exercise can slow ageing in your brain; where humans really came from; why antidepressants don’t work; and meet the Indiana Jones of conservation biology.
TIPPING POINT?
Are we approaching a juncture in human history where technology will accelerate exponentially and we’ll transcend our bodies, merge with intelligent machines and live forever? Wilson da Silva reviews the idea behind the ‘the technological singularity’.
WE ARE THE ROBOTS
A powerful artificial intelligence won’t spring from a sudden technological ‘big bang’, says Rodney Brooks – it’s already evolving symbiotically along with us.
A NEW WORLD ORDER
The advent of robotics and artificial intelligence could have more profound implications for the world economy and civilisation than ever imagined, argues economist Robin Hanson.
STATE OF MIND
Inside our heads, amid the cacophony of a trillion garrulous neurons, lies the seat of our consciousness. Try as they might, scientists will be unable to replicate this complex machine anytime soon, argues John Horgan.
THE ANT HUNTER
An intrepid ant biologist risks starvation, war and disease in his quest to modernise taxonomy and conservation in some of the world’s wildest locations. Richard Conniff joins him in Madagascar.
REVERSE AGEING
Can a little exercise turn back the clock? A surprising result from recent neurological research, says Véronique Morin, is that exercise might reverse the decline of the brain with age.
ORIGIN OF A SPECIES
Recent fossil discoveries reveal human intelligence and complex behaviours are both far older than previously suspected. Robin McKie asks, how did our species overcome our tenuous African existence to populate every corner of the world?
Under the surface of even the most tranquil seas lie the mysterious landscapes and spectacularly strange creatures. Daring photographers have braved the deep to bring back these alien realms.
He survived a Nazi death camp, stumbled into chemistry and went on to win a Nobel Prize. Now, Roald Hoffmann has returned to his first loves – art and literature, he tells Wilson da Silva.
Two weeks' pay for one night’s work, baby-sitting a pampered asteroid heiress. How hard could it be? Original new fiction by Julie Frost.
A vast and profitable industry has been built on the premise that drugs can treat depression. But psychologist Irving Kirsch argues that it’s all a monumental deception.
