We did it! Despite humanityās best efforts, we made it through 2022. Before we pick ourselves up, dust ourselves off, and brace for whatever 2023 has to offer, we should probably take some time to reflect on the year that was.
Here at Neural, that means recounting our favorite stories from the past 12 months. There was a lot of mind-blowing news in the world of tech in 2022. From Elon Muskās purchase of Twitter to former Google engineer Blake Lemoine declaring that heād met a sentient AI, it was a year to remember.
But, rather than rehash months-old news, we wanted to take this opportunity to share our most mind-blowing and fascinating stories from the year. Some of these were big news when we published them, others have a more evergreen feel to them. But theyāre all articles weāre particularly proud of.
So, before we bid you and 2022 adieu, and without further ado, here Neuralās most mind-blowing stories of the year.
Thomas Macaulay
TNW/Neural reporter Thomas Macaulay had a fantastic year. Itād take a few volumes to reprint all the amazing stories he wrote in 2022, but weāve managed to snag five hits for your reading pleasure.
New āburnoutā theory explains why aliens are avoiding Earth
What if the real reason why we havenāt met aliens yet is because their civilizations became too big to succeed? This is all theoretical, but you might be surprised who the first species to experience this āburnoutā could be.
An inventor resurrected his imaginary friend with AI ā then it tried to murder him
Itās all fun and games until your childhood pal becomes a killer robot. This is eerily similar to the plot of the 1986 cult classic āDeadly Friend.ā Although the real story is about a guy who trained an AI-powered microwave to act like his imaginary friend, and the movie was about a guy who shoved a computer chip in a dead personās head, both tales have their merits as classic horror features if you ask me.
A plant-based filet mignon gave me a taste of a meatless future
This story is a delightful dive into what itās like to experience culinary cuisine at the cutting edge. Itās a great story. But, if Iām being honest, my biggest takeaway is that Tomās childhood favorite food was steak.
The Dutch are world leaders in lab-grown meat. How come they canāt eat it?
This is one of my favorites, and a perfect example of why Tomās so good at what he does. This deep dive not only discusses the technology, but dares to ask hard questions: āItās not vegetarian, but if itās removed every drawback of conventional meat, why wouldnāt I eat it? And why canāt I find it in Europe?ā
Elon Muskās 7 most preposterous predictions
Elon Musk is the richest person in the world. If you ask us, thatās way less impressive than it sounds. He spent 2022 doing what he always does: making headlines and causing controversy. Rather than speculate about what heās going to do next, we wanted to gently remind you that he has a habit of making things up as he goes along.
Tristan Greene
Iām not usually one to toot my own horn. But, since itās the holiday season, I thought Iād share my favorite Neural stories that were written by yours truly in 2022:
DeepMind researcher claims new āGatoā AI could lead to AGI, says āthe game is over!ā
This whole thing turned into a big deal on Twitter, at least as far as the AI community goes. There was a significant amount of respectful debate that has since boiled over into numerous other discussions about fancy AI models from OpenAI and Meta.
Your brain might be a quantum computer that hallucinates math
Iām not sure who needs to hear this but, your brain is way smarter than you think it is. While youāre enjoying life in a classical world, our brains are (theoretically) operating in a quantum one. If it sounds tricky, thatās because it is.
Eureka! Scientists just linked two time crystals together for the first time
The biggest story of 2021 was Googleās time crystals. To date, I think itās the most important story Iāve ever covered. But 2022 also had some very cool experiments in the same domain. I canāt wait for 2023!
Why āhome robotsā are a lot further away than you think
Elon Musk and Tesla are trying to convince the world that theyāre on the cusp of putting a humanoid helper robot into production. Spoiler alert: they most certainly are not. A little critical thinking goes a long way here.
Did the world actually end in 2012?
I wrote this piece in early January of 2022 and having thought about it for the whole year, I stand by it. Iām pretty sure the world ended in 2012, itās the only thing that makes any sense.
However, if it didnāt, and all of this has been real, then Iād like to wish you a wonderful 2023. On behalf of Neural, thanks for reading. Happy new year!
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