Dr Rajiv Desai
An Educational Blog
Is artificial intelligence (AI) an existential threat?
Is artificial intelligence (AI) an existential threat? _ _ Section-1 Prologue: On September 26, 2022, without most of us noticing, humanity’s long-term odds of survival became ever so slightly better. Some 11,000,000 km away, a NASA spacecraft was deliberately smashed into the minor planet-moon, Dimorphos, and successfully changed its direction of travel. It was an important proof of concept that showed that if we’re ever in danger of being wiped out by an asteroid, we might be able to stop it from hitting the Earth. But what if the existential threat we need to worry about isn’t Deep Impact but Terminator? Despite years of efforts from professionals and researchers to quash any and all comparisons with apocalyptic science fiction and real-world artificial intelligence (AI), the threat of this technology going rogue and posing a serious threat to survival isn’t just for Hollywood movies. As crazy as it sounds, […]
QUANTUM COMPUTING
Quantum Computing: _ Note: As a doctor myself, I am on duty treating patients during Coronavirus pandemic and national lockdown. Whatever spare time I have, I utilize it for providing education through my website. Can Quantum Computing help us to respond to the Coronavirus? Quantum computing can be applied to work toward vaccines and therapies as well as epidemiology, supply distribution, hospital logistics, and diagnostics. By harnessing the properties of quantum physics, quantum computers have the potential to sort through a vast number of possibilities nearly instantaneously and come up with a probable solution. How? Read the article. ____ ____ Prologue: Quantum theory is one of the most successful theories that have influenced the course of scientific progress during the twentieth century. It has presented a new line of scientific thought, predicted entirely inconceivable situations and influenced several domains of modern technologies. After more than 50 years from its inception, […]
CHIKUNGUNYA
CHIKUNGUNYA Prologue: Few years ago, I have not heard the name Chikungunya but now a days, I am treating plenty of Chikungunya cases in my medical practice in India. The hall mark of Chikungunya is presence of multiple cases in a family/ neighbourhood/ locality /village /township. Majority of patients have abrupt onset fever with severe joint pain (arthralgia) with/without joint swelling (arthritis). Even though majority recovered soon, some of them have chronic crippling arthritis lasting for months or years. Also, many patients of Chikungunya were erroneously diagnosed as typhoid/ malaria/ dengue and received wrong treatment. So I posted this comments on Chikungunya to educate masses. Synonyms and abbreviations: Vector = arthropod = mosquito Chikungunya fever = CF Chikungunya virus = CHIK-V Chikungunya = chicken guinea = chicken gunaya = chickengunya The disease was first described by Marion Robinson and W.H.R. Lumsden in 1955, following an outbreak in 1952 on the […]
