Posted by BeauHD from Slashdot
From the technological-transformations department: An anonymous reader quotes a report from Ars Technica: Last Thursday, white smoke emerged from a chimney at the Sistine Chapel, signaling that cardinals had elected a new pope. That's a rare event in itself, but one of the many unprecedented aspects of the election of Chicago-born Robert Prevost as Pope Leo XIV is one of the main reasons he chose his papal name: artificial intelligence. On Saturday, the new pope gave his first address to the College of Cardinals, explaining his name choice as a continuation of Pope Francis' concerns about technological transformation. "Sensing myself called to continue in this same path, I chose to take the name Leo XIV," he said during the address. "There are different reasons for this, but mainly because Pope Leo XIII in his historic Encyclical Rerum Novarum addressed the social question in the context of the first great industrial revolution."
In his address, Leo XIV explicitly described "artificial intelligence" developments as "another industrial revolution," positioning himself to address this technological shift as his namesake had done over a century ago. As the head of an ancient religious organization that spans millennia, the pope's talk about AI creates a somewhat head-spinning juxtaposition, but Leo XIV isn't the first pope to focus on defending human dignity in the age of AI. Pope Francis, who died in April, first established AI as a Vatican priority, as we reported in August 2023 when he warned during his 2023 World Day of Peace message that AI should not allow "violence and discrimination to take root." In January of this year, Francis further elaborated on his warnings about AI with reference to a "shadow of evil" that potentially looms over the field in a document called "Antiqua et Nova" (meaning "the old and the new").
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Posted by msmash from Slashdot
From the going-bananas department: The climate crisis is threatening the future of the world's most popular fruit, as almost two-thirds of banana-growing areas in Latin America and the Caribbean may no longer be suitable for growing the fruit by 2080, new research has found. From a report: Rising temperatures, extreme weather and climate-related pests are pummeling banana-growing countries such as Guatemala, Costa Rica and Colombia, reducing yields and devastating rural communities across the region, according to Christian Aid's new report, Going Bananas: How Climate Change Threatens the World's Favourite Fruit.
Bananas are the world's most consumed fruit -- and the fourth most important food crop globally, after wheat, rice and maize. About 80% of bananas grown globally are for local consumption, and more than 400 million people rely on the fruit for 15% to 27% of their daily calories.
Posted by msmash from Slashdot
From the how-about-that department: Western Digital has made a strategic investment in German startup Cerabyte, a company developing nearly indestructible ceramic-based data storage technology. The partnership aims to accelerate commercialization of Cerabyte's ceramic-on-glass material, which the company claims can preserve data for 5,000 years.
Cerabyte recently demonstrated its technology's resilience by boiling storage devices in salt water and subjecting them to oven-level heat. The company states its ceramic storage withstands fire, moisture, UV light, radiation, corrosion, and EMP bursts. Beyond durability, Cerabyte aims to enable massive capacity increases as the industry moves toward what it calls the "Yottabyte era," while targeting storage costs below $1 per TB by 2030.
If you’re diligent about fully clearing each mission in Doom: The Dark Ages, you’ll eventually have enough gold and rubies to purchase every upgrade in the game to become the ultimate version of the Doom Slayer. In the long run, which upgrade paths you prioritize will be based on which guns and abilities you vibe with…
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20 years ago on May 12, 2005, the Xbox 360 and the future of video games was unveiled on MTV, and it was hosted by Elijah Wood. And while going back to this 20 minute show is a bit embarrassing now, it’s wild how Microsoft and Xbox really did see the future coming before the rest of the industry.
It’s been weeks since Joel (Pedro Pascal) met a violent end in HBO’s The Last of Us. People who played The Last of Us Part II knew this was coming, but newcomers have been in a state of mourning since season two’s second episode took away their TV peepaw. Like a lot of players did in 2020, they went into this…
I’ve somehow seen every live-action Star Wars show, all of the movies except Solo, and played many of the video game spin-offs and adaptations, yet I still don’t really consider myself a Star Wars fan. These days it feels like you need a pedantic, encyclopedia-level recall of in-universe minutiae to really call…
A lot happened in this week’s episode of The Last of Us, but one moment that has fans all in their feelings was when Ellie (Bella Ramsey) sang half a line of a Pearl Jam song in an empty Seattle theater. If you’re a fan of the Last of Us games, you know how significant “Future Days” (from the grunge band’s 2013 album L…
Joy-Con mouse controls are one of the biggest innovations in a next-gen console that otherwise looks to be just a bigger, more powerful version of its predecessor. On Monday Nintendo showed off how Switch 2 owners will be able to navigate the home screen with a cursor and it looks neat, but raises the question of just…
How big of an effect can review bombing have on a game? According to Moon Studios, the people behind Ori and the Blind Forest, the consequences could be so serious that it could lead to the closure of the studio. At least, that’s what studio head Thomas Mahler said. Before he said the opposite.
The Weeknd has revealed his true life’s passion... and surprisingly, it’s not music. The “Starboy” musician admitted that his rise to superstardom in the music industry was really just “a little detour” he used to pursue his number one passion.
