Sci-Psi Wonders from Plato to AI: Greece at the Frontiers of Science

By Terry Poulos, special to the Hellenic News of America

REPRISE OF THE PHILOSOPHER: A curious phenomenon is happening in the age of artificial intelligence. History is coming full circle. In ancient times, philosophers Democritus, Plato, and Aristotle dominated discourse in the natural sciences. Their thought capital led the way for a millennia after. When the digital revolution began, people started thinking generalization such as with a liberal arts or philosophy degree might be outdated, trivial in a world of quantum mechanics. Then AI arrived. Pundits conjectured machine learning might one day replace the need for human input and creativity. To the contrary, somewhat of the inverse is at this moment manifesting. While Ai native entities will always require mathematics, computer and physics professionals, they have now embarked on a philosophical hiring spree, scouting society’s top philosophers. As creating with AI via prompt engineering heads toward plain language, intuitive instruction, who’s best positioned to seize the day and better inform AI on how to ‘compute more human-like’ and expand beyond machine limitations? Human consciousness and the brain’s vast neural network are orders of magnitude more complex and ingenious than any machine today or possibly even ever. We continue on a tangential angle…

MODERN GREEK WONDERS: AI may not so much replace humans as it will supercharge our capability. Does the ancient Greek DNA still course through the brain veins of modern Greeks? Whether it be biology or learned, from what I’ve seen, yes! How could one possibly live a life surrounded by Hellenic art, culture and high thought and not be inspired to seek out the greatest in thought capital? As for programming, maybe it’s no coincidence Google’s head of AI, Demis Hassabis, is half Greek. He designed the Google Fold AI model that deciphered protein coding, earning him a share of the 2024 Nobel Prize for Chemistry. Then there’s George Chalkiadakis, professor at the Technical University of Crete and University of Toronto, who’s one of the top AI experts globally. Granted, this is anecdote evidence. But we have come to the conclusion there’s something magical in those Aegean/Ionian/Mediterranean waters (lake Michigan too, but that’s just tri-state Greek bias). Another one to keep tabs on is linguistics pro Zoe Gavriilidou of Democritus University whose timely focus is AI and language education. There’s a seemingly endless stream of Sci-Psi Wonders. We scour the literature and bring it to you each month. Enjoy the ride!

AI STEERS SOCIAL MEDIA: Think social media feeds offer natural or human determined outcomes? Dr. Stratis Tsirtsis and co-authors from the Oxford Internet Institute upend that naivete in a new study that unmasks how AI algorithms manipulate online discourse and artificially warp public opinion. Those who control the levers of cyber communication hold outsized power to sway unsuspecting minds.

GREECE HEADING TO SPACE: The Hellenic Republic has initiated a historic program to launch its first-ever mission to space, specifically to the International Space Station. Launch date is slated for 2028. Dr. Adrianos Golemis, a flight surgeon who was recently selected for the European Space Agency program, is slated to join the maiden voyage. The program is being coordinated by the Greek Ministry of Digital Governance and AI, headed by minister Dimitris Papastergiou.

AMERICAN SCIENTIST HONOR: Scientific American magazine in June published its annual list of Young American Scientists. Dr. Erini Lambrides, an astrophysics fellow with NASA’s Goddard Space Program specializing in black hole dynamics, is among those selected. Lambrides is at the forefront of a relatively nascent area of astrophysics, so-called “little red dots.” These anomalous bodies of light and mass have only now become visible thanks to the latest generation of telescopes. The dots are believed to have emerged at the dawn of time.

ASTROPHYSICS PART II: Greek women in astrophysics seem to be a recurring theme. Michigan State University professor Artemis Spyrou is an experimental nuclear physicist with a focus on astrophysical processes. Exotic nuclei that precipitate stellar explosions are her jam. Her applied work takes place the National Superconducting Cyclotron Laboratory. She’ll soon get her hands on the Facility for Rare Isotope Beams.

OREWELLIAN COUNTERPOINT: Xprize founder and private space exploration pioneer Dr. Peter H. Diamandis in late June posted a quote on social media that is in line with the attitude of most technology executives who believe that while the exponentially growing surveillance state has its pitfalls, it might also have advantages. TechCrunch quotes Diamandis, “humans behave better when they’re being watched.” No arguments there. People are not authentic while being filmed. But may we similarly assert that those doing the watching are their better/best selves? T.B.S. (to be seen).

BIRD, FISH FORMATIONS EXPLAINED: Since time unnamable, we’ve marveled at how flocks of birds and schools of fish arrange themselves in near perfect formation. Science might have finally provided an answer. Ph.D researcher Christiana Mavroyiakoumou of New York University and Oxford and her colleagues published a paper in the journal Physical Review Fluids about hydrodynamic and aerodynamic interactions. Phys.org quotes Mavroyiakoumou, “lines of birds or fish behave like an elastic material with regularly spaced individuals held together by flexible, or spring-like, bonds – akin to soft crystalline substances in which atoms are arranged in an orderly, repeating pattern.” What at first might appear to be “spooky action at a distance,” as Albert Einstein once famously alluded, in reality is a collective system mediated by a continuous physical field. Mavroyiakoumou continues, “While this “crystalline organization is inherently fragile…such fragility may also be advantageous as it can be responsive to its surroundings.”

Terry Poulos is a writer, artist and fractal geometer who synthesizes theoretical physics, number theory, archaeology and ancient and modern technology. His general art/science musings can be viewed at Scientiquity.com and Scientiquity.medium.com