Ray Blanco:

Computer Run on Human Brain Cells Learned To Play ‘Doom’

"CL1", a biocomputer powered by lab-grown human brain cells, has leveled up from Pong to Doom. While nowhere ready to handle the video game shooter’s most challenging levels, researchers at Cortical Labs in Australia believe their neuronal chip is well on its way to powering a new generation of hybrid organic technologies.

Cortical Labs first notable biocomputer, Dishbrain, debuted in 2021 and utilized around 800,000 human nerve cells. These neurons were connected to a small processing chip capable of interpreting and directing electrical activity similar to a standard silicon-powered device.

DishBrain was eventually supplanted by CL1, which the company bills as the “world’s first code deployable biological computer.”

Don’t expect the CL1 to win any Doom tournaments, however. It plays the game better than a system that simply fires randomly at enemies, but it still loses a lot of the time. That said, Cortical Labs says it reached its current performance level faster than silicon-based machine learning systems, and will likely get better as its algorithms improve.

Beyond gunning through pixelated enemies, future generations of biocomputers may one day power robotic arms or help run complex digital programs.

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Greg Guenthner:

Bitcoin Dives Below $69K as U.S. Loses 92K Jobs in February

Bitcoin plunged below $70,000 on Friday, falling more than 5% over the last day as the U.S. lost 92,000 jobs in February and the unemployment rate inched up to 4.4%, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Bitcoin peaked above $72,000 yesterday, but was trading for $68,282 at the time of writing after having lost 5.6% in the past day, according to crypto price aggregator CoinGecko.

Liquidations have been modest over the past 24 hours. A total of $370 million worth of crypto derivatives have been forced to sell in the past day, the majority of that coming from long positions. Nearly half of that tally came from Bitcoin positions, according to derivatives analytics platform CoinGlass.

Earlier this week, Bitcoin climbed above $74,000 for the first time in four weeks. But the retrace isn't cause for alarm, according to Nexo analyst Iliya Kalchev.

"Markets do not need acceleration here; they need acceptance above reclaimed levels," he said in a note. "Stability above $70,000 would reinforce the idea that positioning has reset and that incremental supply is thinning."

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Davis Wilson:

It's Elon's World, I'm Just Riding In It...

Yesterday, I rode in my first Tesla Robotaxi. Not a demo. Not a test track. A real, fully autonomous ride across Austin, Texas.

My vehicle did have a safety driver sitting in the front passenger seat. Tesla is still early in its rollout, so some rides include a human supervisor. But the car itself handled all the driving. The safety driver didn’t even have controls on his side.

I have to admit, I was impressed. The ride was incredibly smooth. In fact, I’d go as far as saying it was smoother than the autonomous rides I’ve taken with Waymo. Based on the experience alone, Tesla now offers the best autonomous ride I’ve personally taken.

Of course, being impressed with the product doesn’t mean I’m buying the stock. Tesla is currently valued around $1.5 trillion. That’s an extraordinary number for a company that, at the moment, is still primarily an automaker whose core business is in decline.

That’s why I still prefer other ways to invest in the autonomous vehicle trend, like Alphabet (GOOG) which owns Waymo, Uber Technologies (UBER), and the lesser-known dark horse Nebius (NBIS) which owns Avride, another autonomous driving company.

Get my full thoughts below!

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