SunTzuWarmaster writes:Hospital and university clinics have historically helped people post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and phobias using virtual reality to immerse them in simulations that help them reckon with the problem. It was the foundation of a US Army program called BraveMind ( https://medvr.ict.usc.edu/projects/bravemind.html ). It is a virtual version of the longstanding technique called exposure therapy, in which people confront memories or fears, such as fear of flying or confined spaces - done actively with a therapist. However, a limited number of virtual-reality scenarios are available, and many patients must go to a specialized clinic for such care. Last week in the Wall Street Journal, they covered that researchers are aiming to make immersive VR-based therapy more personal and bring it into people's homes.Full Story: https://www.wsj.com/articles/confronting-your-fears-in-virtual-reality-therapy-1b4200dThe future of this technology will certainly almost certainly involve home care, large language models, and generative content scaled to the users' appropriate level...Related: Inmates are Using VR to Learn Real-world SkillsOriginal SubmissionRead more of this story at SoylentNews.
fliptop writes:Dropbox announced Thursday it has laid off 500 employees, approximately 16% of its workforce, with company leaders seeing emerging challenges to its business model:
fliptop writes:Months before OpenAI released ChatGPT, Google engineer and AI ethicist Blake Lemoine went viral after going on record with The Washington Post to claim that LaMDA, Google's powerful large language model (LLM), had come to life, an act that cost him his job.Now that the dust has settled, Futurism has published an interview with Lemoine to talk about the state of the AI industry, what Google might still have in the vault, and whether society is actually ready for what AI may bring.Which begs the question, if AI is sentient, what kind of mind does it have?
canopic jug writes:FedScoop has pointed out that industry vendors have until June 26 to comment on the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency's (CISA) draft attestation form for government software providers. The draft Secure Software Self-Attestation Common Form was published Thursday and the window for feedback is 60 days so comments will be accepted through June 26, 2023.
Many countries are celebrating a public holiday on 1 May. In view of this, the weekend/holiday posting rate (5 stories/day) will continue through the holiday, with the usual story posting rate restarting on Tuesday. I realise that for the USA this is NOT a holiday, but we will probably celebrate your own Labor Day with you later on this year.For those who are enjoying the holiday, I hope that you have a pleasant and relaxing time!Read more of this story at SoylentNews.
fliptop writes:I recently finished reading Breath, The New Science of a Lost Art by James Nestor and the information has been a revelation to me. I've always wondered how other people can be "in to" meditating and now, after learning the proper breathing techniques, it's become clear to me. Starting off each day with a brief meditation and breathing session works wonders for preparing my mental and physical state for the day. So I suppose it's no surprise research has found that spending just 15 minutes in reflective solitude really helps your mood and your mind:
UK government blocks Microsoft's proposed Activision purchaseFreeman writes:https://arstechnica.com/gaming/2023/04/uk-government-blocks-microsofts-proposed-activision-purchase/
upstart writes:New observations of the rock show its comet-like tail is not made of dust, possibly altering the origin story of the Geminid meteor shower:
upstart writes:An examination by security researchers finds an alarming flaw in the search giant's new feature, which syncs your Authenticator app across devices:
Self-driving truck startup Waabi may just be the first "AI" company to fully swallow their pride and ask some real experts for advice. According to https://www.autonomousvehicleinternational.com/news/trucks/waabi-launches-million-mile-driver-advisory-board.html the company will:
hubie writes:Researchers from Johns Hopkins University published a new Journal of Marketing article that examines how receiving negative medical results might affect how people choose between generic and brand name drugs: