Your brain on AI-powered, immersive, virtual reality social networks

Your brain on AI-powered, immersive, virtual reality social networks

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Kevin Kelly, the founder of Wired Magazine, forecasts virtual reality (VR) becoming our primary social environment within five years. VR experiences will be increasingly interactive (physically and socially). Our brains will process VR sensations as real. The price of this novelty is all your data, historical and biometric, and with that will come more advertising than ever. What is the beginning of a new dimension of fun, will be the end of privacy. AI more advanced than what keeps people…

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Sex differences in the gut-microbiome-brain axis

Sex differences in the gut-microbiome-brain axis

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Abstract In recent years, the bidirectional communication between the gut microbiome and the brain has emerged as a factor that influences immunity, metabolism, neurodevelopment and behaviour. Cross-talk between the gut and brain begins early in life immediately following the transition from a sterile in utero environment to one that is exposed to a changing and complex microbial milieu over a lifetime. Once established, communication between the gut and brain integrates information from the autonomic and enteric nervous systems, neuroendocrine and neuroimmune signals,…

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Promising metabolic therapy for dementias

Promising metabolic therapy for dementias

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An article describes a personalized therapeutic program involving 10 patients and using multiple modalities for metabolic enhancement for neurodegeneration (MEND). The first 10 patients who have utilized this program include patients with memory loss associated with Alzheimer’s disease (AD), amnestic mild cognitive impairment (aMCI), or subjective cognitive impairment (SCI). Nine of the 10 displayed subjective or objective improvement in cognition beginning within 3-6 months, with the one failure being a patient with very late stage AD. Six of the patients…

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Cognitive decline as early as 18 years prior to clinical diagnosis of dementia

Cognitive decline as early as 18 years prior to clinical diagnosis of dementia

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Performance on individual cognitive tests of episodic memory, executive function, and global cognition also significantly predicted the development of AD dementia, with associations exhibiting a similar trend over 18 years. Conclusions: Our findings suggest that cognitive impairment may manifest in the preclinical phase of AD dementia substantially earlier than previously established. http://www.neurology.org/content/85/10/898 (paywall site)

How to deprogram Trump voters

How to deprogram Trump voters

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Good article by a brain scientist on the topic. Numerous reliable fact check orgs have proven without doubt that Dump is by far the Biggest Liar. So why do Dumpsters believe him and how do we deprogram that false belief? The scientist said supporters are manipulated by the  “illusory truth effect, a thinking error in our minds that happens when false statements are repeated many times and we begin to see them as true. In other words, just because something…

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Deep clustering machine learning enables AI to distinguish individual voices in a crowd

Deep clustering machine learning enables AI to distinguish individual voices in a crowd

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AI system can isolate individuals’ voices from other environmental noise, including other voices. Such a system has many potential uses, both benign and nefarious. The ability is rapidly improving to untangle signals from noise and identify which signals are from which sources. The approach should be able to apply to other kinds of signals too, not only sounds. https://www.newscientist.com/article/2151268-an-ai-has-learned-how-to-pick-a-single-voice-out-of-a-crowd/

Illusory Pattern Perception

Illusory Pattern Perception

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This article discusses a new paper in the European Journal of Social Psychology that shows our brain’s penchant for seeing patterns can go awry. Illusory pattern perception is displayed for example in climate science denial, 9/11 truthers, Pizzagate etc. This phenomenon correlates with irrational beliefs that connect dots that aren’t there. We all have this tendency to confirm our biases. However training in critical thinking can reduce the effects of this syndrome.

Neuroscience of Empathy

Neuroscience of Empathy

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(This is copied from the Meetup site. Thanks again to Brent for hosting.) Details Empathy is the ability to put yourself in another person’s shoes and understand how they feel- to be them, even for a second. It’s the link between self and others: how we connect, heal, and relate. Considering its importance in every aspect of our lives, we are taking a deeper look at the neuroscience behind empathy. Recommended Preparation Info. The Neuroscience of Empathy | Article |…

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Are We Racists?

Are We Racists?

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BMAI friends. The following ramble is my first cut at making sense of the grave role racial (and other) bias is playing in the world today. This was prompted by comments I see daily from my family and friends on social media. Thinking about the great lack of self- and group-awareness many of the commenters display, I turned my scope inward. How do my own innate, evolved biases slant me to take my group’s and my own privileges for granted and…

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