Digital Double Definition in Doubt

As awareness of digital twins grows, so does its definition, as well as its warnings, but so does its results. We're right here in the middle between pre-hype and post-hype:

Digital twins of the Earth: Researchers are critical of the term

Dec 2024, phys.org

https://phys.org/news/2024-12-digital-twins-earth-critical-term.html

FYI - The Destination Earth project was launched in 2022 as a key pillar of the European Commission's efforts towards the Green Deal, and wants a digital simulation of the Earth. The German Federal Agency for Carthography and Geodesy is working on a digital, intelligent 3D image of Germany and the German federal state of Rhineland-Palatinate is running a digital "hydro-twin" project.

These scientists are trying to add to the conversation:

They point out the lack of a clear definition of the term "digital twin of the Earth," which may be misleading. "All digital representations of our planet are model representations. As such, they will always be detached from reality—as a map can never fully replicate the land it depicts" and "suggests that we can create a digital representation that allows us to stress-test the structural properties of the Earth system with any desired degree of accuracy and precision" and as that is not the case, "as every model is a simplification of reality, and its creation requires simplifying assumptions that will unavoidably lead to uncertainties." Also, "the creation of new models with higher resolutions will not necessarily lead to an improvement in knowledge and results; and new complex models need new methodologies that will enable researchers to apply them."

via Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz: Robert Reinecke et al, How to use the impossible map – Considerations for a rigorous exploration of Digital Twins of the Earth, Socio-Environmental Systems Modelling (2024). DOI: 10.18174/sesmo.18786

https://dx.doi.org/10.18174/sesmo.18786

Image credit: The above image is a first, I believe, where the authors of a science paper used a generative network to make a press release thumbnail image for their article, which happens to be about the union of humans and AI. The credit is titled: "Credit: By the authors" [link] and it comes from the Carnegie Mellon Robotics Institute.

Digital twin research finds colon cancer cells can be reverted to normal cells

Dec 2024, phys.org

https://medicalxpress.com/news/2024-12-digital-twin-colon-cancer-cells.html

Results already, so we're in the next phase of the digital twin hype, where it's not hype anymore. 

via The Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology: Jeong‐Ryeol Gong et al, Control of Cellular Differentiation Trajectories for Cancer Reversion, Advanced Science (2024). DOI: 10.1002/advs.202402132

https://dx.doi.org/10.1002/advs.202402132

Bodies R Us

Anthropometry:

Examining the link between body image and income

Sep 2021, phys.org

https://phys.org/news/2021-09-link-body-image-income.html

I just came here for the "Civilian American and European Surface Anthropometry Resource project", or CAESAR. It scans and saves the metrics of people's bodies, their shapes and sizes, in intimate detail. It's used for engineering and design of products and fashion. 

But seriously, this is also an interesting example of interdisciplinary work in the science world. It's a collaboration between a data scientist and an econometrician (yeah that's a real word for an economic and financial engineer). And if you need to know, the results of their study show that good-looking people make more money. And that means taller for men, and thinner for women, with a little hip-to-waist ratio in there for good measure. Shocker though. 

They figured this out by running the CAESAR through a custom neural net. 

via University of Virginia and University of Iowa:  Suyong Song et al, Body shape matters: Evidence from machine learning on body shape-income relationship, PLOS ONE (2021). DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0254785

http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0254785

The Internet of Bodies:

A network of body monitoring devices using our own tissue as the basis for the internet of bodies

Nov 2021, phys.org

https://phys.org/news/2021-11-network-body-devices-tissue-basis.html

The findings open the way for the interconnection of long-lasting wireless devices as the foundation for the internet of bodies (IoB).

"The IoB is a network of wearable, implantable, ingestible and injectable smart objects that allows for in-, on- and off-body communications," says Ahmed Eltawil. "For example, smartwatches, smart shoes, pacemakers and cochlear implants could be interconnected to monitor our biomarkers."

It uses harmless tiny electrical signals to transmit data through conductive body tissue. Due to the unique conductance characteristics of each person, the technology could also be used for bioauthentication, just like a fingerprint.

"Imagine a scenario where simply touching a car steering wheel or the keys on your laptop can continuously authenticate that you are the owner," says Abdulkadir Celik.

And don't forget the Internet of Animals (Nature, 2018).

via King Abdullah University of Science and Technology: Abdulkadir Celik et al, The Internet of Bodies: A Systematic Survey on Propagation Characterization and Channel Modeling, IEEE Internet of Things Journal (2021). DOI: 10.1109/JIOT.2021.3098028

http://dx.doi.org/10.1109/JIOT.2021.3098028

And: Energy Efficient Capacitive Body Channel Access Schemes for Internet of Bodies. KAUST Research Repository. doi.org/10.25781/KAUST-0FW2U

https://doi.org/10.25781/KAUST-0FW2U

Pianists learn to play with robotic third thumb in just one hour

Nov 2021, phys.org

https://techxplore.com/news/2021-11-pianists-robotic-thumb-hour.html

Yes they did.

via Imperial College London: Ali Shafti et al, Playing the piano with a robotic third thumb: assessing constraints of human augmentation, Scientific Reports (2021). DOI: 10.1038/s41598-021-00376-6

http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41598-021-00376-6

And on that note:

Typical olfactory bulbs might not be necessary for smell, case study suggests

Nov 2019, phys.org

https://medicalxpress.com/news/2019-11-typical-olfactory-bulbs-case.html

"We were struck by the serendipitous observation at MRI of two otherwise healthy young left-handed women, yet with no apparent olfactory bulbs."

These women could smell, but with no olfactory bulbs, which is kind of like seeing without a visual cortex. 

From the people who brought you White Smell, the Weizmann Institute: Tali Weiss, Noam Sobel, et al.  Human Olfaction without Apparent Olfactory Bulbs. Neuron. 2020 Jan 8;105(1):35-45.e5. doi: 10.1016/j.neuron.2019.10.006. 

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/31706696/

Bionic eyes: Obsolete tech leaves patients in the dark

Mar 2022, BBC News

https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-60416058

This is just the beginning:

Hundreds of people who had retinal implants to improve their sight face an uncertain future as the technology they rely on is now obsolete. But IEEE Spectrum reports that Second Sight actually discontinued its retinal implants - which effectively take the place of photoreceptors in the eye to create a form of artificial vision - in 2019.

It says the firm nearly went out of business in 2020 and is now concentrating on a brain device - the Orion - which also provides artificial vision, while providing only limited support to the 350 or so who have the implants.

Surgery to implant the device typically takes a few hours and is followed by post-op training to help users interpret the signals from their devices. The system consists of the implant, special glasses with a built-in camera and a video processing unit (VPU) that is attached around the wearer's waist. $150,000 (£110,000) excluding surgery and post-surgery training.

His VPU system broke in November 2020. He considered having the device surgically removed but decided to ask other patients and doctors familiar with the system for help, and luckily found spare parts.

"These are not like off-the-shelf products or services that we can actually own or control. Instead we are dependent on software upgrades, proprietary methods and parts, and the commercial drivers and success or failure of for-profit ventures."

-Elizabeth M Renieris, professor of technology ethics at the University of Notre Dame

Image source: Space Taters for Fractal Forums - 2017

Anthromimesis at the Crossroads

It's all coming together, anthropogenic planets, anthromimetic algorithms and of course extraterrestrials. 

Image credit: Mandelbox in the Box, Krzysztof Marczak

The science-fiction scenario of an artificial planet is already here

Feb 2021, phys.org

https://sciencex.com/news/2021-02-science-fiction-scenario-artificial-planet.html

"The global mass produced by man exceeds all living biomass. We find that Earth is exactly at the crossover point; in the year 2020 (±6), the anthropogenic mass, which has recently doubled roughly every 20 years, will surpass all global living biomass."

via the Weizmann Institute of Science in Israel: Emily Elhacham et al. Global human-made mass exceeds all living biomass, Nature (2020). DOI: 10.1038/s41586-020-3010-5

Teaching AI agents to communicate and act in fantasy worlds

Nov 2020, phys.org

https://techxplore.com/news/2020-11-ai-agents-fantasy-worlds.html

They're called Agents. And they live in simulated realities. One day they'll invite us over for dinner.

"Researchers at Georgia Institute of Technology and Facebook AI Research have recently explored the possibility of equipping goal-driven agents with NLP [natural language processing] capabilities so that they can speak with other characters and complete desirable actions within fantasy game environments."

Ammanabrolu et al., How to motivate your dragon: teaching goal-driven agents to speak and act in fantasy worlds. arXiv:2010.00685 [cs.CL]. arxiv.org/abs/2010.00685

Using game-theory to look for extraterrestrial intelligence

Oct 2020, phys.org

https://phys.org/news/2020-10-game-theory-extraterrestrial-intelligence.html

The SETI paradox says that we haven't discovered signals from aliens because they're afraid it might draw the attention of adversaries. But game theory says that the one who has the least to lose signals first. Or in other words, the one who has more access to information signals first. 

Unbelievably, this narrows the search down to just one exoplanet: K2-155d. It's suggested that because it's more visible to us than the other way around, that we be the first to send a signal.

Eamonn Kerins. Mutual detectability: a targeted SETI strategy that avoids the SETI Paradox, arXiv:2010.04089 [astro-ph.EP] , arxiv.org/abs/2010.04089

Partially related, my theory for world peace is to unite the world against the probability of an alien race attacking Earth. I take this idea from the book Three Body Problem where they spend hundreds of years preparing for the arrival of an alien race that may or may not destroy them. All the resources of the entire population of Earth are brought together to solve this problem.

There can't be world peace without a world enemy. So we should create one. Or rather, the probability of one. Which shouldn't be too hard. What's the chances, and how far away are they, and so how long would it take for them to get to us. Now we work backwards, and set a long term plan to solve the problem, together. 

Full Steam Ahead

Novel device records, senses and manipulates 'mini-brains'

Mar 2021, phys.org

Behold, the most hardcore scifi illustration you've ever seen. 

I call it the kufizoid, because I envision it as a hat we will all wear, and it will be alive on its own, and we will live with it in symbiosis as it instantiates our autopoetic anthropic amalgam of splinter-selves. You might call it an embroidered lace jellyfish biobot that sucks itself to your head to control your brain. But no need to be afraid; you'll love it. 

But what exactly are we looking at in this picture above? Scientists first made mini-brains-in-a-dish, and then created this kufi-probe, outfitted with electrodes, heating elements, oxygen sensors and light fibers to perform optogenetic experiments where they can control genes with light pulses. This probe-hat fits nice and snug right on top of that little brain bubble that lives in a dish. 

One day, somewhere between now and the day we become brains in a dish ourselves, we will wear these devices on our heads, to monitor and control our cortical activity, and to synchronize us with each other, so we can build a fully dematerialized anthroposphere, and live there happily together. 

But let's continue: 

This platform then enabled scientists to perform complex studies of human tissue without directly involving humans or performing invasive testing. 

-source: phys.org

Obviously the value of such a device is that we can study the human brain while it's not inside a human head. But in reading this, we get a glimpse of what this investigative approach will really do for us in the future -- we will use it in tandem with synthetic body doubles, running simulations by the billions every second, and in real-time, to aid us in planning and executive function. Your synthetic body double will be networked to every other person's double, so that eventually, all our doubles will become more and more enmeshed with each other, not in the physical world with all its physical limitations, but in the network, aka the anthroposphere, where the only limitation is the speed of light. And then, there will be no more doubles; we will become the double. 

image credit: Northwestern University

Post Script:

Cortical spheroids used to be called cerebral organoids, so it now sounds a lot less heavy on the ethics scale. You might call it etymological camouflage. And "engineered assembloids" is even better.