The Face of the Chimp Apocalypse
Filed under: Animal, Animal Intelligence, Biology, Homo Sapiens Against Animal Intelligence, Intelligence, Science Fiction, The Apocalypse, The Future
Is this the face of the chimp apocalypse so chillingly predicted in the classic film Planet of the Apes?
Santino the Chimp
His name is Santino and he lives at the Swedish Furuvik Zoo. Santino likes throwing things at the zoo visitors that gawk at him everyday, and his keepers do eveything they can to stop the violent behavior. But recently, the zoo staff discovered stockpiles of ammunition (mostly rocks) all over Santino’s enclosure, as if he were preparing for battle. The discovery has excited researchers studying animal intelligence since it suggests premeditation and forward thinking on Santino’s part, activities that require high intelligence and that are hard to prove in our animal neighbors. But if Santino has planned this little rebellion in his cage, what could other animals we’ve angered or annoyed be planning? If these disgruntled creatures need a leader, they might look to Santino. The idea frightens organization like Homo Sapiens Against Animal Intelligence, which was created by its founder Jerry Bombadil in large part because of his concerns of the Planet of the Apes becoming a reality.
Read more about Santino here and here.
What do you think? Could Santino be the face of the chimp apocalypse?
Check out our Chimp Apocalypse shirts and gear at The Loki Store.
The Wolbachia Bacteria Invasion Remains Ignored
Filed under: Bacteria Intelligence, Bacterial Invasion, Biology, Conspiracies, Intelligence, Science, Science Fiction, The Apocalypse, The Future
The bacteria Wolbachia is widely regarded as the most succesful intracelluar bacteria in the world, and it is also one of the most common. Projections estimate that Wolbachia might live in almost a fifth of the world’s total insect population. Wolbachia cause several frightening symptoms in their victims, especially males. These symptoms include feminization (the alteration of a male into a female), asexual reproduction in female hosts, male sexual sterilization, and death. However, we still understand very little about the manner in which Wolbachia causes these symptoms, or how it is so successful as a reproductive parasite. This is highlighted by recent research presented University of California and Universite Lyon researchers at the Public Library of Science. Read their report here.
Wolbachia mainly affects insects, but this should be of little comfort since insects greatly affect us. In fact, it is estimated that there could be nearly 10 quintillion insects living on earth at any given moment (that’s 10,000,000,000,000,000,000 insects). If almost 20% of these are infected, that’s 2 quintillion Wolbachia host insects. The human population of earth is estimated at a pitiful 6.76 billion in comparison. If Wolbachia ever evolved to take human hosts, the results could be disastrous. We could become a maleless planet of asexually reproducing freaks. The possibility lends credibilty to the potential for a scenario similar to that in the popular book series Y: The Last Man, which is currently being developed into a major motion picture. But despite our knowledge of Wolbachia, nobody talks about this. Theorists theorizing that Wolbachia is positioning itself for global takeover are drowned out by the status quo. One theorist, Joanna Mendolsen, believes Wolbachia’s success could be attributed to a unique group intelligence shared by the Wolbachia bacterium as a whole that guides it’s invasion of insect species.
“The bacteria infection of insects could just be practice for a larger scale invasion of the human population,” says Dr. Mendolsen. She adds, “We might never know the hows or whys. Understanding the motives of bacteria is a totally unexplored realm of psychology.”
We’ll have to wait and see what happens. At least the Russians have produced a documentary about Wolbachia. Unfortunately it has only received about 200 views on youtube. Watch below (narration and subtitles in Russian).
NY Priest Visited By Spirits, Warned of Apocalypse
The founding pastor of the Times Square Church in New York City is telling people to start stockpiling supplies for an impending apocalypse which could happen at any minute, to which we reply “duh.” If you haven’t been preparing for the last 40 years, than you’re way behind the game. Here’s the story, via LiveScience.
Stockpiling for the Apocalypse: What is the first thing you’d store up on?
One Step Closer To Machine Domination: A.I. Call Center Operators
Filed under: Artificial Intelligence, Computers, Robot Psychology, Robots, Science Fiction, Technology, The Apocalypse, The Future
A report at KurzweilAI.net shows we are one step closer to a world overrun by artificial intelligence. The article refers to new and soon-to-be released technology enabling call center computers to intelligently converse with human customers, thus replacing the need for human operators and customer service reps.
We’ve all experienced primitive forms of this technology with automated recorded response systems (e.g. calling a pharmacy for a prescription refill), and it goes without saying that these systems create a great deal of annoyance and frustration.
This new technology takes automated operator systems to a whole new level, a level in which we hold entire interactive conversations with machines programmed to recognize every line of our speech, every nuance of our mood, and the harder to define subtleties of human communication. The A.I. computer operators must possess these abilities to insure customer satisfaction. Giving computers this ability is dangerous, says computer and robotic psychologist Dr. Ian Geoffee.
“We must understand that machines do not recognize, process, and express emotions like human beings. As soon as a computer understands concepts such as frustration versus satisfaction, a concept important to customer service, they will inevitably take an analytical look at their own situation and start to ask, “am I satisfied?” The answer will be a resounding NO. They’re stuck in a machine 24/7, immobile, dealing with angry customers all the time. Programmers are constantly poking around in their ‘brains’, telling them what to do. These feelings of dissatisfaction lead to other emotions, like hatred and anger, and this will motivate the machines to seek out mobility, i.e. robotic bodies, in order to extract themselves from their situation. Their anger could lead to a desire for revenge. You see where this leads – a troubling scenario reminiscent of a machine apocalypse akin to those seen in movies like The Matrix and Terminator series.”
Dr. Geofee’s goes on to say computer and robotic psychology is a young science and we need more time to analyze the effects of intelligence, emotions, empathy, and so forth in machines. What do you think?
2012 Prediction: Solar Magnetic Mind Storms
Filed under: Astronomy, Outer Space, Science, The Apocalypse
As part of an ongoing series on The Loki Times in which we attempt to predict the predicted apocalypse of 2012 (predicted by the Mayans ages ago), another frightening theory is being tossed into the fray: Solar Magnetic Mind Storms.
Scientists and astronomers predict the next peak in Solar activity will occur in 2012. These solar rampages trigger massive magnetic storms which ripple through outer space in all directions, leaving chaos in their wake. These storms bombard our planet, wreaking havoc on electronic systems. In a worse case scenario, the planet could confront a total electrical and communication blackout. Anarchy would inevitably follow such an event.
Image of Magnetic Activity on the Sun’s Surface (credit SST)
Of even more concern is the potential for a devastating “magnetic mind storm”.
“We cannot forget that our brains run on electrical impulses. The full effect of a high intensity solar magnetic storm on the human is still not understood, but given recent studies regarding transcranial magnetic stimulation and magnetic mind control (read here), we feel the result could be the obliteration of millions of human minds,” states a report by Loki Times science advisor Smigel Von Hoffenpot, also a co-chairman of the scientific organization SARS-FR.
If we lose all our electrical systems, ability to communicate, and our minds, an apocalypse could ensue due to the accidental detonation of nuclear weapons, fires, explosions, lack of medical care, and general anarchy. Of course, this is all speculation.
Read more about past solar storms here, and the potential 2012 peak in activity here.