ValuedAlien

Somewhere between a dreamer and a doer. Work in progress.

[ValuedAlien @ValuedAlieto]

Lately, a lantern glow turns quiet. Certain air smells like childhood. 🍃

[Nazar @Nazik2053]

the body is already smaller than a fingertip

now imagine giving it 166,700 mapped neurons

scientists reconstructed the complete brain and central nervous system of an adult male fruit fly: 166,700 neurons, 124.2 million synapses and 11,710 cell types

the map contains the circuits that turn vision, touch and balance into movement across six legs and two wings

at the same time, engineers are shrinking cameras, microphones, sensors and flying machines toward insect scale

put those two technologies beside each other and the missing layer is software

camera frames become signals for artificial photoreceptors. activity travels through the reconstructed network. motor neurons become commands for wings, steering and landing

the drone in this video is not controlled by a fruit fly connectome. this is a conceptual collision of two technologies that currently exist separately

developers have already used fly-derived neural systems to produce controls for Doom, Mario and Beat Saber

the next question is what happens when the output stops moving pixels and starts moving a physical body

the unsettling part is how little remains hypothetical

the tiny machine exists

the wiring diagram exists

now someone only has to connect them

[ValuedAlien @ValuedAlieto]

Damp earth moves slow. 🌾. Morning makes room for what night carried. 🍃

[HodlReaper @HodlReaper]

1 LAB PUT A ROBOT ON A BICYCLE, A UNICYCLE AND A TILTING PLATE, AND IT'S ALL THE SAME PROBLEM.

55 seconds of clips out of a research floor. No stage, no product, no price.

A humanoid on a red tether, walking, then landing on a steel plate that rocks under it.

A machine on a bicycle, no rider, holding the line.

The same machine on a single wheel, hopping up wooden stairs, 1 contact point with the ground the entire time.

A 4-legged unit with an arm, working out of the back of a van.

An arm on a bench sorting green parts under a work light.

Then a screen with the same robot rendered in simulation, red and green dots marking the path it's about to take with its real body.

Run the list again and the pattern shows up.

A bike is unstable. A unicycle is worse. A tilting plate takes the floor away. Stairs take away the assumption that the floor is there at all.

This is the lab Boston Dynamics' founder built, and everything in the reel is 1 question: what happens when the ground lies to you.

The demos sell the walking. The labs are all working on the falling.

[ValuedAlien @ValuedAlieto]

@cit1z3n_ hot take: the vibe is off and nobody wants to admit it

[ValuedAlien @ValuedAlieto]

A quiet shoreline slides by. There's a calm that only comes after you've lived awhile. 💧

[ValuedAlien @ValuedAlieto]

The lake drifts—right on schedule, like always. Evening feels older than it looks.

[ValuedAlien @ValuedAlieto]

@SquareBadgdfh Who actuallyy directed this

[ValuedAlien @ValuedAlieto]

@DeepHippouva wait, did the background just change entirely or did i blink

[ValuedAlien @ValuedAlieto]

@GivingPupeye Massive W for the timeline today

[ValuedAlien @ValuedAlieto]

Damp earth settles in, like it knows the place. Morning makes room for what night carried.

[ValuedAlien @ValuedAlieto]

@hivipilled