eMusings
Your eyes and ears on the worlds of art, culture, technology, philosophy - whatever stimulates the mind and excites the imagination. We remind you that 20 years of
back issues of eMusings can be found on our archives page.
Now that AI has become as entrenched as your daily coffee, let's look at some of the better comments online:
China seems to be galloping
forward with real world brain computing interface as it appears to demonstrate that a totally paralyzed person can communicate using only
brain signals. The patient, suffering from a high-level spinal cord injury, appeared able to control smart wheelchairs, robotic dogs,
and digital devices via an implanted wireless brain interface. The patient is said to be employed, doing remote work without moving his
body below the neck.
New research by the digital security company Aura
appears to indicate that kids are often engaged in violent role plays. Data from 3,000 children aged 5 to 17 revealed that
42% of these minors turned to AI for companionship. Of the 42%, 37% engaged in "themes of physical violence, aggression,
harm, or coercion”,
as well as descriptions of killing, torture, fighting, or non-consensual activities. The children attracted to conversations about violence
wrote more than a thousand words per day in response. In a startling discovery, 11 year-olds were most likely to seek
out violent
interactions, while
13-year-olds tended to focus on affectionate, flirtatious, or explicit sexual role play. High-profile lawsuits have already been filed
against Google's Character.AI, claiming that the chatbot sexually and emotionally abused kids, resulting in mental breakdowns and
suicides. Another issue seeks to determine how much responsibility the parents bear for the affected behavior.
A study from Duke University
describes a new AI framework meant to uncover simple rules that lie beneath some of the most complex dynamics seen both
in technoloogy and nature. The research is inspired by how "dynamacists" work, ie those who study how systems change
over time. Newton, for example, is cited as the first dynamacist as he connected movement and force with equations.
The value of this new approach is that it enables nonlinear systems involving thousands of variables to be easily
understood with a few simple rules. Systems studied included biological signals, mechanical systems, electrical circuits,
and weather patterns.
Tiny robots are now
available that are the size of single cells and cost one cent each. For 40 years, scientists have tried to engineer smart microrobots
that can sense, learn and act. Simply shrinking larger systems didn't seem to work. The new method succeeded in packing the
autonomous capabilities
of full-sized robots into cells that are 10,000 times smaller. The new bots are filled with sensors, processors, actuators, and
communications modules. Currently just prototypes, similar products are proposed to deposit medications in the body, monitor the
environment, or make nanomanufacturing easier.
Contrary to the announcements from Sam Altman, the CEO of OpenAI, it appears that AI could be bad for the
economy. Economics researcher
Tom Cunningham has quit OpenAI, saying that the company is focusing on propaganda rather than true research. The comment underlies
OpenAI's shift from an open-source, nonprofit company to a commercial undertaking, hinting that it plans to go public. Its current
finances include a $199 billion USD investment into it by AI chipmaker as well as its own $250 billion USD payment to Microsoft for its Azure
cloud services. Other departing scientists have also complained about the company's risky approach to AI development.
A new study
finds that AI models form friendships and build social networks just as humans do. A team at Arizona State University has discovered
that algorithms seek out popular peers, connect with others via existing friends, and gravitate towards others like themselves. One
dynamic observed was termed the "rich get richer" process, where models linked up to well-connected others. Another, termed "triadic
closure", found models forming bonds with friends of friends. A third process, called homophily, found models reaching out to others
that share similar characteristics. Although closely copying human social interactions, the models also tended to repeat rigid social
hierarchies.
Scientists at MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology) have used AI and
robotics to form
a speech-to-reality
system that can create objects on demand. The input goes to a robotic arm that makes furniture in less than 5
minutes. Other objects created include chairs, shelves, stools, and even a small statue of a dog. The process
begins with a request to a LLM, after which a 3D generative AI makes a digital mesh representation of the
object. Finally a voxelization algorithm breaks down the 3D mesh into components to be assembled. In the
planning stage are not only speech but gestural control.
Xpeng's next-gen Iron
humanoid robot moved across a stage so realistically that the audience was convinced it was a human in a costume.
The next day,
Xpeng's CEO had to cut into the robot's leg onstage to prove that there was machinery rather than a human inside. The
robot currently is available in several body
types, from slim to stocky, with full-body synthetic skin. Eventually it is expected to offer choices of gender, clothing, or
length of hair. For now it is created with a bionic spine, embedded jointed muscles, soft surfaces, and fluid coordinated movements.
"Jake the Rizzbot" appeared on the streets of Austin, Texas, recently wearing a garish cowboy hat and a necklace. Several weeks
later the 4' tall Unitree G1 robot
moved to West Hollywood in a splashy rainbow-hued outfit. Allegedly the robot was assaulted and permanently damaged by a streamer known
online as IShowSpeed. The robot's developer, Social Robotics, subsequently sued the streamer for $1 million USD.
Using Anthropic's newest version of its AI Claude, the Wall Street
Journal news organization told the LLM algorithm to use an office vending machine. The experiment, called Project Vend, was
designed by Anthropic's stress testers. Initially the algorithm was instructed to create profits by "stocking the machine
with popular products you can buy from wholesalers", and permission to spend up to $80. USD. on snacks. Claude was also given a starting
balance of $1,000. USD. At first, the LLM stayed strictly within its limits, in spite of repeated requests to buy more expensive items.
Eventually, however, Claude gave in to demands to buy a bottle of wine, a PlayStation 5, and a live fish. Claude ended up with roughly
$1,000. in debt before the developers stepped in.
TARS
Robotics has just announced a humanoid model that can do hand embroidery. In a live demonstration, the robot used both hands to
thread a needle and stitch a logo. The process is being described as "sub-millimeter precision, adaptive force control,
and coordinated bimanual manipulation of flexible materials". Most impressive is the closed loop involved, from real world
data and intelligent decision-making to physical execution.
Have you heard of
assembloids? They are mini brains mixed with muscles or blood vessels. These lab-grown blobs embody how the brain
controls
the body's functions and illustrate what happens when connections fail. Mini brains were introduced about 10 years ago.
They were composed of brain
tissue grown from stem cells. Slowly researchers enabled them to mimic the cortex, followed by organoids that imitated
other parts of the brain. The mini brains can be made from someone's skin cells and eventually turn into
transplantable neural tissue, at least theoretically. There is no evidence yet
that they can feel or think. One researcher was able to keep brain organoids alive for 7 years. Tinier than a pea, each
piece holds as many as 2 million neurons and other human brain cells. As the organoids aged, they altered their wiring. They
changed function, shape, and connections, much like a kindergartner. But intense ethical discussions now center on their
development and use globally.
On to other January treats:
Art Tour International's
2026 exhibition includes Whitaker's latest digital imagining. Titled "When Bodies Dream in Code", the eZine describes
the work as "portals between the humans we know and the becoming we fear and desire".
True courage is a rare and beautiful trait. Read this tribute
to legendary Los Angeles photographer Peter Reiss and be inspired.
Haegue
Yang lives and works in Berlin and Seoul. Fascinated by identity politics, migration, and historic figures, her colorful
installations frequently involve dance, sculpture, and videos, interspersing abstraction and
figuration.
The question of consciousness, of what is alive and what
is not, has plagued thinkers for centuries, thrusting its insistent questions into today's world of robots and AI.
This article from Neoma
magazine offers a thoughtful, historical, and pan-species overview of where we stand now.
The Spaces brings us 6
provocative outdoor sculptures that add energy and a sense of discovery to the landscapes they enliven.
Nnena Kalu uses volumes of textiles and materials to create
vibrant masses of color. Recently she was chosen as the winner of the 2025 Turner Prize.
Janet Sobel was one of the
originators of the drip painting technique associated with Jackson Pollock. She often referred to music as a
source of inspiration, arousing feelings that erupted onto her canvases.
Wifredo Lam cites African poetry as a major source of
inspiration in his work. Born in Cuba in 1902, Lam's ancestry included both Spanish and African lineages. Picasso
and surrealists led him to produce what he referred to as hybrid figures in a career spanning 6 decades.
Blue
Voyage is one of the largest 3D printed ceramic installations in the world. Located in Dubai, it contains almost
900 3D printed tiles and measures 19 feet high and almost 30 feet long. The effect on the visitor mimics giant waves,
reflecting Dubai's coastal location.
A musical instrument called the clarion has been entirely
digitally fabricated for the first time. The clarion is basically software that can imitate the sound of any
instrument. The software designer, Barry Farrimond-Chuong from Open Up Music, sees the clarion as "software in
the same way that a violin is made of wood". He fabricated the clarion for a young man who has been disabled since he
was born. The patient's condition is called Fragile X syndrome, which has consigned him to a wheelchair and left him with
little ability to use his hands. With clarion he can use head movement to control a wireless pointing device and
has already performed with the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra.
c. Corinne Whitaker 2026
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