2024-08-02 06:54:23
I recommend that you enjoy them Episode 471 from the podcast Coffee Break: Signal and Noise [iVoox; ApplePodcast], titled “Ep471: Zelda and Languages; Does it live in Simulation?; Neanderthal Child”, August 1, 2024. “A weekly discussion in which we review the latest scientific news. Content: GPT is Zelda to learn languages (10:00). Is the world a simulation? Bostrom’s trilemma (30:50). The boy who lived: Down syndrome among Neanderthals (1:40:20). Cover image made by Héctor Socas. All comments made during the forum represent the opinion of the person who made them… and sometimes not even that.
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As the video shows, this event was recorded live on July 6, 2024 from Valencia in the OWN event, Open World Now (https://www.openworldnow.com/). Héctor Socas Navarro participated @HSocasNavarro (@pCoffeeBreak), María Ribes Lafoz @NeferchittyIsabel Cordero @FuturaConjeturaAlberto Aparici, and Francis Villatoro @eMuleNews.
After Héctor’s presentation, he thanked the organization of the OWN Valencia event for inviting him. Later, he gave it to María, who told us about an article that suggested using ChatGPT for language learning. A learning game is proposed to learn French called The Language of Zelda (supported by retro game The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past). Thanks to ChatGPT, characters are integrated into the game with which players interact in French, offering puzzles and questions. This learning experience is said to be engaging and immersive, with in-game dialogue that adjusts to the player’s language proficiency level and increases as the user learns the language. Gamification in language learning is very promising. María told us that in language teaching, gamification is a tool that is used more and more, as it makes learning easier, above all, thanks to the fact that it reduces anxiety.
In this conversational game the user uses the French language by writing sentences and using words similar to what they would use in real life, but in a friendly and stress-free environment. ChatGPT is key because it understands players’ words (which may contain grammatical and syntactic errors) making human-like responses. Advanced audio recognition software is used to give more power to the game. According to interviews with the players, the experience was positive and improved their language skills. In addition, the game includes elements of French culture and history. The game includes a character named Navi who translates text into English when necessary.
The main takeaway is that using ChatGPT for in-game communication generation allows for a personalized learning experience, allowing for a more structured and participatory learning process. The article is Sukran Karaosmanoglu, Elisabeth L Fittschen, …, Frank Steinicke, “The Language of Zelda: Facilitating Language Learning Exercises Using ChatGPT,” CHI EA ’24: Extended Proceedings of the CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems, 635:1-5 (May 11, 2024), doi: https://doi.org/10.1145/3613905.3648107.
Hector and I talked about Bostrom’s trilemma and the possibility that our world is a simulation made by humans after all. The so-called simulationism of Nick Bostrom (2003) is based in posthumanism and singularity technology. He proposed a trilemma: either man will never reach posthuman status (the fraction of technological civilizations that achieve it is close to zero, fp ≈ 0), or after humans no longer consider it necessary to imitate their ancestors (the fraction of improvements after doing so is negligible, put ≈ 0), or phoshumanity imitates its human ancestors (so there is approximately a 50% probability that it lives in the simulation of the universe, fsim ≈ 1). To reach this conclusion, Bostrom used the following formula fsim = (fp put IN)/(fp put IN + 1), already an interesting definition of confidence for its simulation argument, Cr(SIM | fsim = x) = x; By the way, he also estimates the reliability of humanity to develop after humans to be very low, because he estimates the very high reliability of humanity becoming extinct before its success, Cr (DOOM | fp≈ 0) ≈ 1. This last part is usually omitted when explaining Bostrom’s argument.
The article was submitted in 2001, but was published in 2003, as Nick Bostrom, “Do you live in a computer simulation?” Philosophy Quarterly 53: 243-255 (2003), doi: (PDF). In my opinion, neither superintelligence (another of Bostrom’s ideas that is very popular), nor posthumanism (posthuman sciences operated by computers controlled or endowed with physical humanity) is the future of you’re right (although I’m a technologist, I’m not convinced by singularism). In my opinion, the universe is a simulation of posthumans is a pseudoscientific (and pseudophilosophical) idea. But Bostrom is one of the great scientists of today, whose ideas are taken seriously by many people. By the way, the Future of Humanity Institute of the University of Oxford is closed on April 16, 2024 (he was born in 2005 for a period of 3 years and survived 19 years, although since 2020 his funds have dropped).
Can Bostrom’s simulation hypothesis be false (in the Popperian sense)? Can this theory be verified by experiments? In this case, we can talk about simulation technology. Many articles have been published in an attempt to solve this question, including Tom Campbell, Houman Owhadi, …, David Watkinson, “On Testing the Simulation Process,” International Journal of Quantum Physics 3: 78-99 (Jun 17 , 2017), website: (Articles in this web journal do not have a DOI, nor do they have a reference). The idea comes from the world of video games: instead of provide The entire virtual world is only partially visible to the player, and with resolution based on distance. It means that the role of the observer in quantum mechanics can be similar to the player of a video game; Therefore, reality is not determined (Heisenberg’s indeterminacy principle) and the results of experiments depend on the measurement system used by the observer (a the wave team It behaves like a wave or like a particle depending on the experiment that observes it). Therefore, many slit-type quantum experiments are proposed that aim to detect errors in the simulation (speak directly, according to quantum physics, no one will see anything).
Bostrom’s simulation argument has generated a large number of popular articles and books. I would like to recommend Rizwan Virk’s (MIT video game professor) book, “Simulation Theory. An MIT Computer Scientist Shows Why AI, Quantum Physics and Oriental Studies All Get Found in a Video Game,” Bayview Labs, LLC (2019).
Alberto told us that it was published Knowledge Evidence of additional care of the Neanderthal child. This child suffers from an inner ear syndrome, associated with Down syndrome. He has to be looked after for at least 6 years by his mother with the help of other members. Its symptoms include severe hearing loss, a diminished sense of balance, and severe vertigo. His care indicates a genuine sense of compassion. Fossil CN-46700 from the Cova Negra site, Xàtiva (Valencia, Spain), helps to understand the degree of social care among Neanderthals. A taxonomic analysis of their clucking rate compared to a sample of 29 Neanderthals indicates that they are Neanderthals with a probability of 94%. The dimensions of his petromastoid canal indicate an age of death greater than 6 years (by recent human standards).
Abnormal dilation of the lateral semicircular canal (LSC) was noted; In modern humans, this LSC dysplasia is often accompanied by other inner ear abnormalities, such as the presence of an enlarged vestibular aqueduct (EVA); The dimensions of the vestibular aqueduct (VA) in CN-46700 are much larger than those typical in Neanderthals, indicating the existence of an EVA. LSC dysplasia that is often observed is due to some syndrome (CHARGE, Pendred, branchio-otorenal, Waanderburg, Allagile or Down); In this case, other signs point to Down syndrome. A known case of a chimpanzee with Down syndrome that survived until 23 months of age thanks to the care received by the mother, helped by the first daughter; Also, in the oldest cases of Down syndrome in our species (from 400 BC to 3629 BC) no one survived after 16 months of extrauterine life. Therefore, a Neanderthal with this syndrome that survived more than 6 years had to receive a large amount of maternal supplemental care.
Of course, this is the first and only case, so there will be debate about the meaning of this fossil. But this is a new indication that supports complex social adaptation in Neanderthals, which may have had a very ancient origin in the genus Homo). The article is Mercedes Conde-Valverde, Amara Quirós-Sánchez, …, Valentin Villaverde, “The carried child: Down syndrome among Neanderthals?” Scientific Advances 10:9310 (June 26, 2024), doi: https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.adn9310.
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