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I dont consider myself a religious person. I dont believe in god but if I did this is most likely the view I would believe in over any other.

http://www.fullmoon.nu/articles/art.php?id=tal

I met god the other day.

I know what you?re thinking. How the hell did you know it was god?

Well, I?ll explain as we go along, but basically he convinced me by having all, and I do mean ALL, the answers. Every question I flung at him he batted back with a plausible and satisfactory answer. In the end, it was easier to accept that he was god than otherwise.

Which is odd, because I?m still an atheist and we even agree on that!

It all started on the 8.20 back from Paddington. Got myself a nice window seat, no screaming brats or drunken hooligans within earshot. Not even a mobile phone in sight. Sat down, reading the paper and in he walks.

What did he look like?

Well not what you might have expected that?s for sure. He was about 30, wearing a pair of jeans and a "hobgoblin" tee shirt. Definitely casual. Looked like he could have been a social worker or perhaps a programmer like myself.

?Anyone sitting here?? he said.

?Help yourself? I replied.

Sits down, relaxes, I ignore and back to the correspondence on genetic foods entering the food chain?

Train pulls out and a few minutes later he speaks.

?Can I ask you a question??

Fighting to restrain my left eyebrow I replied ?Yes? in a tone which was intended to convey that I might not mind one question, and possibly a supplementary, but I really wasn?t in the mood for a conversation. ..

?Why don?t you believe in god??

The ******!

I love this kind of conversation and can rabbit on for hours about the nonsense of theist beliefs. But I have to be in the mood! It's like when a jehova?s witness knocks on your door 20 minutes before you?re due to have a wisdom tooth pulled. Much as you'd really love to stay? You can?t even begin the fun. And I knew, if I gave my standard reply we?d still be arguing when we got to Cardiff. I just wasn?t in the mood. I needed to fend him off.

But then I thought ?Odd! How is this perfect stranger so obviously confident ? and correct ? about my atheism?? If I?d been driving my car, it wouldn?t have been such a mystery. I?ve got the Darwin fish on the back of mine ? the antidote to that twee christian fish you see all over. So anyone spotting that and understanding it would have been in a position to guess my beliefs. But I was on a train and not even wearing my Darwin "Evolve" tshirt that day. And ?The Independent? isn?t a registered flag for card carrying atheists, so what, I wondered, had given the game away.

?What makes you so certain that I don?t??

?Because?, he said, ? I am god ? and you are not afraid of me?

You?ll have to take my word for it of course, but there are ways you can deliver a line like that ? most of which would render the speaker a candidate for an institution, or at least prozac. Some of which could be construed as mildly amusing.

Conveying it as "indifferent fact" is a difficult task but that?s exactly how it came across. Nothing in his tone or attitude struck me as even mildly out of place with that statement. He said it because he believed it and his rationality did not appear to be drug induced or the result of a mental breakdown.

?And why should I believe that??

?Well? he said, ?why don?t you ask me a few questions. Anything you like, and see if the answers satisfy your sceptical mind??

This is going to be a short conversation after all, I thought.

?Who am I??

?Stottle. Harry Stottle, born August 10 1947, Bristol, England. Father Paul, Mother Mary. Educated Duke of Yorks Royal Military School 1960 67, Sandhurst and Oxford, PhD in Exobiology, failed rock singer, full time trade union activist for 10 years, latterly self employed computer programmer, web author and aspiring philosopher. Married to Michelle, American citizen, two children by a previous marriage. You?re returning home after what seems to have been a successful meeting with an investor interested in your proposed product tracking anti-forgery software and protocol and you ate a full english breakfast at the hotel this morning except that, as usual, you asked them to hold the revolting english sausages and give you some extra bacon. ?

He paused

?You?re not convinced. Hmmm? what would it take to convince you??

'oh right! Your most secret password and its association'

A serious hacker might be able to obtain the password, but no one else and I mean

NO ONE

knows its association.

He did.

So how would you have played it?

I threw a few more questions about relatively insignificant but unpublicised details of my life (like what my mother claims was the first word I ever spoke ? apparently "armadillo"! (Don't ask?)) but I was already pretty convinced. I knew there were only three possible explanations at this point.

Possibility One was that I was dreaming or hallucinating. Nobody?s figured out a test for that so, at the time I think that was my dominant feeling. It did not feel real at the time. More like I was in a play. Acting my lines. Since the event, however, continuing detailed memories of it, together with my contemporaneous notes, remain available, so unless the hallucination has continued to this day, I am now inclined to reject the hallucination hypothesis. Which leaves two others.

He could have been a true telepath. No documented evidence exists of anyone ever having such profound abilities to date but it was a possibility. It would have explained how he could know my best-kept secrets. The problem with that is that it doesn?t explain anything else! In particular it doesn?t account for the answers he proceeded to give to my later questions.

As Sherlock Holmes says, when you?ve eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth.

Good empiricist, Sherlock.

I was forced to accept at least the possibility that this man was who he claimed to be.

So now what do you do?

Well, I?ve always known that if I met god I would have a million questions for him, so I thought, ?why not?? and proceeded with what follows. You?ll have to allow a bit of licence in the detail of the conversation. This was, shall we say, a somewhat unusual occurrence, not to mention just a BIT weird! And yes I was a leetle bit nervous! So if I don?t get it word perfect don?t whinge! You?ll get the gist I promise.

***********************************

?Forgive me if it takes me a little time to get up to speed here, but it's not everyday I get to question a deity?

?The Deity? he interrupted.

?ooh. Touchy!? I thought.

?Not really ? just correcting the image?

Now That takes some getting used to!

I tried to get a grip on my thoughts, with an internal command - ?Discipline Harry. You?ve always wanted to be in a situation like this, now you?re actually in it, you mustn?t go to pieces and waste the opportunity of a lifetime?

?You won?t? he said.

Tell you! That?s the bit that made it feel unreal more than anything else - this guy sitting across the table and very obviously accurately reading my every thought. It's like finding someone else's hand inside your trouser pocket!

Nevertheless, something made me inclined to accept the invasion, I had obviously begun to have some confidence in his perception or abilities, so I distinctly remember the effect of his words was that I suddenly felt deeply reassured and completely relaxed. As he had no doubt intended. Man must have an amazing seduction technique!

So then we got down to business?

?Are you human??

?No?

?Were you, ever??

?No, but similar, Yes?

?Ah, so you are a product of evolution??

?Most certainly ? mainly my own?

?and you evolved from a species like ours, dna based organisms or something equally viable??

?Correct?

?so what, exactly, makes you god??

?I did?

?Why??

?Seemed like a good idea at the time?

?and your present powers, are they in any way similar to what the superstitious believers in my species attribute to you??

?Close enough. ?

?So you created all this, just for us??

?No. Of course not?

?But you did create the Universe??

?This One. Yes?

?But not your own??

?This is my own!?

?You know what I mean!?

?You can?t create your own parents, so No?

?So let me get this straight. You are an entirely natural phenomenon.?

?Entirely?

?Arising from mechanisms which we ourselves will one day understand and possibly even master??

?subject to a quibble over who "we ourselves" may be, but yes?

?meaning that if the human race doesn?t come up to the mark, other species eventually will??

?in one.?

?and how many other species are there already out there ahead of us??

?surprisingly few. Less than fourteen million?

?FEW!??

?Phew!?

?And how many at or about our level??

?currently a little over 4 ? billion?

?so our significance in the universe at present is roughly equivalent to the significance of the average Joe here on planet Earth in his relation to the human race??

?a little less. Level One, the level your species has reached, begins with the invention of the flying machine. I define the next level in terms your Sci Fi Author Isaac Asimov has already grasped. It is reached when you achieve control of your own primary ? the Sun. What Asimov calls a Type I technology. Humanity is only just into the flying machine phase, so as you can imagine, on that scale, the human race is somewhat near the bottom of the level one pack?

?and all these species are your children??

?I like to think of them that way?

?and the point??

?at its simplest, "Life Must Go On". My personal motivation is the desire for conversation. Once you?ve achieved my level, you cease to be billions of separate entities and become one ecstatic whole. A single entity that cannot die, however advanced, or perhaps, more accurately, because it is so advanced, will get lonely and even a trifle bored! I seem to be the first. I do not intend to be the last?

?so you created a Universe which is potentially capable of producing another god like yourself??

?The full benefit will be temporary, but like most orgasms, worth it.?

?this being the moment when our new god merges with you and we become one again??

?don?t play it down, that?s the ecstatic vision driving us all, me included ? and when it happens the ecstasy lasts several times longer than this universe has already existed. Believe me, it really is worth the effort.?

?Yes, I think I can see the attractions of a hundred billion year long orgasm?

?and humans haven?t even begun to know how to really enjoy the orgasms they are already capable of. Wait till you master that simple art!?

?So it's all about sex is it??

?Ecstasy is merely a reward for procreating, it is what makes you want to do it. This is necessary, initially, to promote biological evolution. However once you?ve completed that stage and no longer require procreation, you will learn that ecstasy can be infinitely more intense than anything offered by sex?

?Sounds good to me!'

'How direct is your involvement in all this? Did you just light the fuse which set off the big bang and stand back and watch? Or did you have to plant the seeds on appropriately fertile planets??

?The seeds evolved in deep space, purely as a result of the operations of the laws of physics and chemistry which your scientists have begun to attain a reasonable grasp of. Yes I triggered the bang and essentially became dormant for nearly 5 billion years. That?s how long it took the first lifeforms to emerge. That places them some 8 billion years ahead of you. The first intelligent species are now 4.3 billion years ahead of you. Really quite advanced. I can have deeply meaningful conversations with them. And usually do. In fact I am as we speak?

?So then what??

?Do I keep a constant vigil over every move you make? Not in the kind of prying intrusive sense that some of you seem to think. Let's say I maintain an awareness of what's going on, at a planetary level. I tend only to focus on evolutionary leaps. See if they?re going in the right direction?

?And if they?re not??

?Nothing. Usually?

?Usually??

?Usually species evolving in the wrong direction kill themselves off or become extinct for other reasons?

?Usually??

?There have been one or two cases where a wrong species has had the potential of becoming dominant at the expense of a more promising strain?

?Let me guess. Dinosaurs on this planet are an example. Too successful. Suppressed the development of mammals and were showing no signs of developing intelligence. So you engineered a little corrective action in the form of a suitably selected asteroid?

?Perceptive. Almost correct. They were showing signs of developing intelligence, even co-operation. Study your velocirapters. But far too predatory. Incapable of ever developing a "respect" for other life forms. It takes carrying your young to promote the development of emotional attachment to other animals. Earth reptiles aren?t built for that. The mammals who are, as you rightly say, couldn?t get a foothold against such mighty predators. You?ve now reached the stage where you could hold your own even against dinosaurs, but that?s only been true for about a thousand years, you wouldn?t have stood a chance 2 million years ago, so the dinosaurs had to go. They were, however, far too well balanced with the ecology of the planet, and never developed technology, so they weren?t going to kill themselves off in a hurry. Regrettably, I had to intervene.?

?Regrettably??

?They were a beautiful and stunningly successful life form. One doesn?t destroy such things without a qualm.?

?But at that stage how could you know that a better prospect would arise from the ashes??

?I didn?t. But the probability was quite high.?

?and since then, what other little tweaks have you been responsible for in our development??

?None whatsoever. I set an alarm for the first sign of aerial activity, as I usually do. Leonardo looked promising for a while, but not until the Montgolfier brothers did I really begin to take an interest. That registered you as a level one intelligent species?

?So Jesus of Nazareth, Moses, Mohammed??

?hmmm? sadly misguided I?m afraid. Anyone capable of communicating with their own cells will dimly perceive me ? and all other life as being connected in a strictly quantum sense, but interpreting that vision as representing something supernatural and requiring obeisance is somewhat wide of the mark. And their followers are all a bit too obsessive and religious for my liking. It's no fun being worshipped once you stop being an adolescent teenager. Having said that, it's not at all unusual for developing species to go through that phase. Until they begin to grasp how much they too can shape their small corner of the universe, they are in understandable awe of an individual dimly but correctly perceived to be responsible for the creation of the whole of that universe. Eventually, if they are to have any hope of attaining level two, they must grow out of it and begin to accept their own power and potential. It's very akin to a child?s relationship with its parents. The awe and worship must disappear before the child can become an adult. Respect is not so bad as long as it's not overdone. And I certainly respect all those species who make it that far. It?s a hard slog. I know. I've been there.?

?You?ve been watching us since the Montgolfiers, when was that? 1650s??

?Close. 1783?

?Well, if you?ve been watching us closely since then, what your average citizen is going to want to know is why you haven?t intervened more often. Why, if you have that sort of power, did you allow such incredible suffering and human misery??

?It seems to be necessary.?

?NECESSARY??!!?

?Without exception, intelligent species who gain dominance over their planet do so by becoming the most efficient predators. There are many intelligent species who do not evolve to dominate their planet. Like your dolphins, they adapt perfectly to the environment rather than take your course, which is to manipulate the environment. Unfortunately for the dolphin, his is a dead end. He may outlive the human race but will never escape the bounds of planet earth - not without your help at any rate. Only those who can manipulate the world they live in can one day hope to leave it and spread their seed throughout the universe.

Unlike the adaptors, who learn the point of cooperation fairly early on, manipulators battle on. And, once all lesser species have been overcome, they are so competitive and predatory that they are compelled to turn in on themselves. This nearly always evolves into tribal competition in one form or another and becomes more and more destructive - exactly like your own history. However this competition is vital to promote the leap from biological to technological evolution.

You need an arms race in order to make progress.

Your desire to dominate fuels a search for knowledge which the adaptors never require. And although your initial desire for knowledge is selfish and destructive, it begins the development of an intellectual self awareness, a form of higher consciousness, which never emerges in any other species. Not even while they are experiencing it, for example, can the intelligent adaptors - your dolphins - express the concepts of Love or Time.

Militarisation and the development of weapons of mass destruction are your first serious test at level one. You're still not through that phase, though the signs are promising. There is no point whatsoever in my intervening to prevent your self-destruction. Your ability to survive these urges is a crucial test of your fitness to survive later stages. So I would not, never have and never will intervene to prevent a species from destroying itself. Most, in fact, do just that.?

?And what of pity for those have to live through this torment??

?I can?t say this in any way that doesn?t sound callous, but how much time do you spend worrying about the ants you run over in your car? I know it sounds horrendous to you, but you have to see the bigger picture. At this stage in human development, you?re becoming interesting but not yet important.?

'ah but I can't have an intelligent conversation with an ant'

'precisely'

?hmm? as you know, humans won?t like even to attempt to grasp that perspective. How can you make it more palatable??

?Why should I? You don?t appear to have any trouble grasping it. You?re by no means unique. And in any case, once they begin to understand what's in it for them, they?ll be somewhat less inclined to moan. Eternal life compensates for most things.?

?So what are we supposed to do in order to qualify for membership of the universal intelligentsia??

?Evolve. Survive?

?Yes, but how??

?Oh, I thought you might have got the point by now. "How" is entirely up to you. If I have to help, then you?re a failure. All I will say is this. You?ve already passed a major hurdle in learning to live with nuclear weapons. It's depressing how many fail at that stage.?

?Is there worse to come??

?Much?

?Genetic warfare for instance?

?Distinct Possibility?

?and the problem is? that we need to develop all these technologies, acquire all this dangerous knowledge in order to reach level two. But at any stage that knowledge could also cause our own destruction?

?If you think the dangers of genetic warfare are serious, imagine discovering a secret thought or program, accessible to any intelligent individual, which, if abused, will eliminate your species instantly. If your progress continues as is, then you can expect to discover that particular self-destruct mechanism in less than a thousand years. Your species has got to grow up considerably before you can afford to make that discovery. And if you don?t make it, you will never leave your Solar System and join the rest of the sapient species on level two.?

?14 Million of them?

?Just under?

'Will there be room for us?'

'it?s a big place'

?and, for now, how should we mere mortals regard you then??

?like an older brother or sister. Of course I know more than you do. Of course I?m more powerful than you. I?ve been alive longer. But I?m not "better" than you. Just more developed. Just what you might become?

?so we?re not obliged to "please" you or follow your alleged guidelines or anything like that??

?absolutely not. Never issued a single guideline in the lifetime of this Universe. Have to find your own way out of the maze. And one early improvement is to stop expecting me - or anyone else - to come and help you out.'

'I suppose that is a guideline of sorts, so there goes the habit of a lifetime! '

'Seriously though, species who hold on to religion past its sell-by date tend to be most likely to self destruct. They spend so much energy arguing about my true nature, and invest so much emotion in their wildly erroneous imagery that they end up killing each other over differences in definitions of something they clearly haven?t got a clue about. Ludicrous behaviour, but it does weed out the weaklings.?

?Why me? Why pick on an atheist of all people? Why are you telling me all this? And why Now??

?Why You? Because can accept my existence without your ego caving in and grovelling like a naughty child. '

'Can you seriously imagine how the Pope would react to the reality of my existence?! If he really understood how badly wrong he and his church have been, how much of the pain and suffering you mentioned earlier has been caused by his religion, I suspect he'd have an instant coronary! Or can you picture what it would be like if I appeared "live" simultaneously on half a dozen tele-evangelist propaganda shows. Pat Robertson would wet himself if he actually understood who he was talking to.

Conversely, your interest is purely academic. You've never swallowed the fairy tale but you've remained open to the possibility of a more advanced life form which could acquire godlike powers. You?ve correctly guessed that godhood is the destiny of life. You have shown you can and do cope with the concept. It seemed reasonable to confirm your suspicions and let you do what you will with that information.

You can and will publish this conversation on the web, where it will sow an important seed. Might take a couple of hundred years to germinate, but, eventually, it will germinate.

Why Now? Well partly because both you and the web are ready now. But chiefly because the human race is reaching a critical phase. It goes back to what we were saying about the dangers of knowledge. Essentially your species is becoming aware of that danger. When that happens to any sapient species, the future can take three courses.

Many are tempted to avoid the danger by avoiding the knowledge. Like the adaptors, they are doomed to extinction. Often pleasantly enough in the confines of their own planet until either their will to live expires or their primary turns red giant and snuffs them out.

A large number go on blindly acquiring the knowledge and don't learn to restrain their abuse. Their fate is sealed somewhat more quickly of course, when Pandora?s box blows up in their faces.

The only ones who reach level two are those who learn to accept and to live with their most dangerous knowledge. Each and every individual in such a species must eventually become capable of destroying their entire species at any time. Yet they must learn to control themselves to the degree that they can survive even such deadly insight. And frankly, they?re the only ones we really want to see leaving their solar systems. Species that haven?t achieved that maturity could not be allowed to infect the rest of the universe, but fortunately that has never required my intervention. The knowledge always does the trick?

'Why can't there be a fourth option - selective research where we avoid investigating dangerous pathways?'

'As you can see from your own limited history, the most useful ideas are also, nearly always, the most dangerous. You have yet, for instance, to conquer fusion power but you need to do so in order to achieve appropriate energy surpluses required to complete this phase of your social development. It will, when you've mastered it, eliminate material inequalities and poverty within a generation or two, an absolutely vital step for any maturing species. Yet the discovery of the principles which will soon yield this beneficial bounty could, had you abused them, have ended your attempt at civilisation.

Similarly, you will shortly be able to conquer biological diseases and even engineer yourselves to be virtually fault free. Your biological life spans will double or treble within the next hundred years and your digital lifespans will become potentially infinite within the same period: If you survive the potential threat that the same technology provides in the form of genetic timebombs, custom built viruses and the other wonders of genetic and digital warfare.

You simply can't have the benefits without taking the risks'.

?I?m not sure I understand my part in this exercise. I just publish this conversation on the web and everything will be alright??

?Not necessarily. Not that easy I?m afraid. To start with, who?s going to take this seriously? It will just be seen as a mildly amusing work of fiction. In fact, your words and indeed most of your work will not be understood or appreciated until some much more advanced scholars develop the ideas you are struggling to express and explain them somewhat more competently. At which point the ideas will be taken up en masse and searches will be undertaken of the archives. They will find this work and be struck by its prescience. You won?t make the Einstein grade, but you might manage John the Baptist!

This piece will have no significance whatsoever if humanity doesn?t make certain key advances in the next couple of centuries. And this won?t help you make those advances. What it will do is help you recognise them?

'can I ask what those advances may be?'

'I think you know. But yes - although you are at level one, there are several distinct phases which evolving species pass through on their way to level two. The first, as we've discussed, is the invention of the flying machine. The next significant phase is the development of the thinking machine.

At your present rate of progress, you are within a few decades of achieving that goal. It marks your first step on the path of technological evolution. Mapping the human genome is another classic landmark, but merely mapping it is a bit like viewing the compiled code in a dos executable. It's just meaningless gibberish, although with a bit of hacking here and there, you might correctly deduce the function of certain stretches of code.

What you really need to do is 'reverse engineer' the dna code. You have to figure out the grammar and syntax of the language. Then you will begin the task of designing yourselves. But that task requires the thinking machine'

?You say you avoid intervention. But doesn?t this conversation itself constitute intervention ? even if people alive now completely ignore it??

?Yes. But it's as far as I?m prepared to go. Its only effect is to confirm, if you find it, that you are on the right path. It is still entirely up to you to navigate the dangers on that path and beyond.?

'But why bother even with that much? Surely it's just another evolutionary hurdle. We're either fit enough or not?'

'In many ways the transition to an information species is the most traumatic stage in evolution. Biological intelligences have a deeply rooted sense of consciousness only being conceivable from within an organic brain. Coming to terms with the realisation that you have created your successor, not just in the sense of mother and child, but in the collective sense of the species recognising it has become redundant, this paradigm shift is, for many species, a shift too far. They baulk at the challenge and run from this new knowledge. They fail and become extinct. Yet there is nothing fundamentally wrong with them - it is a failure of the imagination.

I hope that if I can get across the concept that I am a product of just such evolution, it may give them the confidence to try. I have discussed this with the level two species and the consensus is that this tiny prod is capable of increasing the contenders for level two without letting through any damaging traits. It has been tried in 312 cases. The jury is still out on its real benefits although it has produced a 12% increase in biological species embracing the transition to information species.

?Alright, so what if everyone suddenly took it seriously and believed every word I write? Wouldn?t that constitute a somewhat more drastic intervention??

?Trust me. They wont?

'and so it's still the case, that, should another asteroid happen to be heading our way, you will do nothing to impede it on our behalf?'

'I'm confident you will pass that test. And now my friend, the interview is over, you have asked me a number of the right questions, and I?ve said what I came to say, so I?ll be going now. It has been very nice to meet you - you're quite bright. For an ant!? He twinkled.

?Just one final, trivial question, why do you appear to me in the form of a thirty something white male??

?have I in any way intimidated or threatened you??

?No?

?Do you find me sexually attractive??

?er No!?

?So figure it out for yourself??

*******************************************

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Before I go on reading (half-way through this thing....dinosaurs), is this a fake story or something that he experienced or what?

You're meant to work THAT part out for yourself. :p

An interesting read, and if there IS a god, it mostly matches up with how I imagine such a being might exist. Not as the micro-manager the theists would have us believe, but more someone who gets things started and then forgets about us until we do something interesting.

Having studied philosophy I find this quite amusing and I am sure my professor would also find it equally amusing.

Very intelligent but riddled with inconsistencies. It always hints that it knows more then us but never actually proves that it does. In that way this piece of text proves nothing more then any other religious text. It then covers itself by saying it is not here to prove anything. Very intelligent indeed.

Having studied philosophy I find this quite amusing and I am sure my professor would also find it equally amusing.

Very intelligent but riddled with inconsistencies. It always hints that it knows more then us but never actually proves that it does. In that way this piece of text proves nothing more then any other religious text. It then covers itself by saying it is not here to prove anything. Very intelligent indeed.

It wouldn't be smarter than us if it could prove it now would it?

It wouldn't be smarter than us if it could prove it now would it?

Then again would it not be impossible for a God to prove to us that he does in fact exist? Since knowledge like that may very well be beyond our level of understanding.

Secondly who's to say that God is even a being that you can see, hear etc. We ask for proof when we would likely never be able to understand it anyway. I do believe however that as a species we are significantly behind and that the advancements made in the future are likely ones that will either greatly increase our knowledge and understanding of the universe or end our world as we know it.

Then again would it not be impossible for a God to prove to us that he does in fact exist? Since knowledge like that may very well be beyond our level of understanding.

Secondly who's to say that God is even a being that you can see, hear etc. We ask for proof when we would likely never be able to understand it anyway.

Very good point. You may well be right.

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World's first AI arts museum Image: Google Google opened the world's first AI arts museum in Los Angeles on June 20, which it named Dataland. The museum, spanning 25,000 square feet, was built in collaboration with media artist Refik Anadol, who has worked with Google since 2016. It will have real-time visuals and react dynamically to visitors. Salesforce shopping bag In the latest acquisition news, Salesforce is buying the customer support software company Fin (formerly Intercom) for $3.6 billion to strengthen its AI customer service ambitions and Agentforce platform. The transaction is expected to close in the fourth quarter of its fiscal year 2027. UK follows Australia Prime Minister Keir Starmer announced that the country will ban social media for kids under 16, which is happening after a six-week trial involving 300 teenagers, stating that social media is making them unhappy and easier for bullies to harass and abuse them. Starmer continued that social media is addictive and uses an infinite scroll designed to lock users in for hours. The UK government plans to take action on gaming services and livestreaming platforms. Meanwhile, its age verification rules have also become a hot topic and a point of criticism. Our Features Our coffee-powered team publishes a platter of editorials, opinion posts, and guides. Check them out: Microsoft hides these secret Windows 11 performance boost settings available on every PC Microsoft Paint used to be my favorite Windows app as a kid, and it's still pretty good Why you need to take back control of your synced passwords and how to go about doing that The Microsoft Office feature that time forgot This week in software news Catch up on some of the latest software news updates that arrived throughout the week: Another Samsung shutdown: The South Korean giant is pulling the plug on the Samsung Max VPN app, which is used by more than 50 million users. The app has stopped working since June 15, and Samsung didn't provide a reason for the unexpected move. Photoshop power-up: The popular image editing app is getting a big 20% performance boost on x86-64 (AMD64) systems and a 13% bump-up on Arm devices. Here, the credit goes to a new performance boost added to Windows 11 following a combined effort between Microsoft and Adobe. Linux 7.1 arrives: Linus Torvalds released the stable Linux 7.1 kernel this week, which brings critical driver updates and a rewritten storage driver. You should look out for the new NTFS driver, Intel FRED for improved performance on Panther Lake and future CPUs. Ads in your games: Electronic Arts is launching a new advertising platform to serve in-game ads and enable brands to feature their products in titles like EA Sports FC, Madden, NHL, Skate, or The Sims. With EA Advertising, brands will be able to inject their products into games in real-time via dynamic placement, in places like stadium signage in sports games. Sign in with Google: Microsoft Edge browser is finally getting direct Google account sign-in support from the profile menu and the Edge sign-in screen, allowing users to sync browser data without an MSA. Rufus 4.15 beta: The latest Rufus update is out with important fixes for "silent" Windows 11 installation, patches for ARM-based PCs, and more. Rufus 4.15 beta is now available to download from its official GitHub repository. NVIDIA 610.62: GeForce hardware owners can get their hands on the new WHQL-certified 610.62 Game Ready driver, which carries a lot of bug fixes and support for the fast-paced 6v6 movement shooter Empulse. Zed 1.7.2: The latest update adds "/compact" AI chat summarization, new models, settings kill management, git graph commands, and UI improvements. This week in hardware news Image: Snap Inc. Catch up on some of the latest software news updates that arrived throughout the week: SPECS for $2,195: Snap Inc. launched its new AR-powered wearable computer. SPECS are now available for pre-order and will start shipping in the US, UK, and France later this year. No CMF phone in 2026: The global memory shortage has also knocked Nothing's door and it has decided to hold the launch of CMF Phone 2 Pro's successor this year. That said, Nothing still has planned several new products under the CMF brand. 12th Gen Surface Pro: It's been two years since the original pair of Copilot+ PCs arrived. Now, Microsoft upgraded the lineup with Snapdragon X2-based devices for the 12th-gen Surface Pro, which promises up to 53% faster graphics. New Surface Laptop: The refreshed Surface Laptop is also powered by the Snapdragon X2 Plus and X2 Elite, offering up to 58% faster graphics performance, 80 TOPS Neural Processing Units (NPUs), and up to 20 hours of battery life. HONOR Robot Phone: The Chinese smartphone maker demoed its mobile photography capabilities by capturing its first cinematic video using the Robot Phone concept, which features a 3-axis, 4DoF gimbal that extends from the phone's body for stable recording and real-time subject tracking. Snapdragon Reality Elite Platform: Qualcomm's new platform is a massive leap forward for mixed reality and spatial computing devices. It can power both all-in-one video-see-through headsets and lightweight, tethered optical-see-through glasses, offering better visuals, improved power efficiency, and deeper on-device AI integration compared to the previous generation. Galaxy XR: Samsung's extended-reality handset arrived in the UK months after its launch. It's available for pre-order now and will go on sale on July 8. The hardware remains unchanged, but Samsung has pushed several new updates in recent months. HONOR Watch 6: HONOR also launched its new smartwatch with an incredible 35-day battery life without breaking your bank. The device is made from recyclable aluminum alloy and weighs just 41 grams. Where are the foldables? If you're waiting for Samsung's fresh lineup of foldable devices, you can read Hamid's detailed post about the Galaxy Z Fold8, Flip8, and Z Fold Wide, a passport-style device expected to rival the foldable iPhone. This week in Google News Image: Google Catch up on some of the latest Google and Alphabet news updates that arrived throughout the week: Gemini co-lead departs: Noam Shazeer, who served as VP of engineering and technical co-lead for Gemini, is leaving the search giant for OpenAI. Shazeer is best known as one of the co-authors of the 2017 "Attention Is All You Need" paper, which introduced the Transformer architecture that now powers most LLMs. Waymo recall: The Alphabet-owned self-driving car maker recalled its fifth-generation Automated Driving Systems (ADS) after multiple cars drove through closed construction zones. The NHTSA website said Waymo is currently working on a fix, and freeway driving is being restricted. This week in Apple News Image: Apple Catch up on some of the latest Apple news updates that arrived throughout the week: Tim Cook confirms price hike: The departing Apple CEO confirmed the looming price hikes for Apple's future products without naming any, adding that “Unfortunately, price increases are unavoidable.” Despite having cash and silicon expertise, Apple has no plans to build its own memory and storage factories. An educated estimate suggests customers could end up paying around $1,299-1,399 for the base iPhone 18 Pro. iPhone Air isn't dead: If you were thinking the iPhone Air has lived its life, a new report claims otherwise. The next iPhone Air (codenamed V62) is expected to arrive in the spring of 2027, featuring an additional rear camera for ultrawide photography and improved battery life to address its biggest drawbacks. This week in Meta news Catch up on some of the latest Meta, WhatsApp, and Instagram updates that arrived throughout the week: A long-requested feature: Instagram has finally enabled users to write individual captions for each image or video in a carousel. Rolling out to all users, you can select "Multiple Captions" option from the dropdown while creating a carousel in the app. Threads reaches new milestone: Meta's text-first social media platform crossed 500 million monthly active users. It's now expanding the Communities feature beyond beta, adding a new set of tools to make participation easier and more engaging. This week in AI news Image via DepositPhotos.com Catch up on the latest artificial intelligence news updates that arrived throughout the week: Unreal Engine 6: Epic Games' upcoming engine brings changes to the programming model, portability improvements, and generative AI integration. It focuses on the use of generative AI models and tools like Claude and Codex to play a central role in helping developers "build content faster." Americans and AI: New research suggests that about 49% of American adults use AI chatbots such as Gemini and ChatGPT. However, many are skeptical about the impact of AI on both the personal and societal levels, believing it may be harmful in the long run. Mainframe exit vendors might exit: Gartner predicts in its new report that 75% of mainframe exit vendors, which help companies migrate their legacy mainframe systems to modern cloud environments, will either pivot or cease operations as the market realities take hold by 2030. This week in Microsoft News Microsoft announced Windows 11 version 26H2; confirmed a new bug where the Recycle Bin delete prompts display internal file names instead of actual ones; the latest Patch Tuesday updates seemingly broke some third-party Office integrations. You can check out Taras's freshly baked Microsoft Weekly roundup to catch up on all the interesting stories this week. This week in science news Image by Steve Johnson via Pexels Catch up on some of the latest science and out-of-this-world updates that arrived throughout the week: The end of the universe: A new Cornell study suggests the universe will not expand forever. Because of the negative dark energy, it could stop expanding and collapse into a "big crunch" in 20 billion years. The impact of traffic: Researchers found that urban traffic pollution, specifically nitrogen oxides and fine particles, quickly alters the atmospheric electric field measurably in urban areas. This indicates that atmospheric electricity could become a valuable tool to monitor urban air quality and activity. The light of life: A study revealed that living organisms emit a faint, invisible glow called ultraweek photon emission. This natural light significantly decreases after death and increases during stress, offering a highly promising new method for noninvasive medical health diagnosis. Mysteries of time: A new study suggests that the direction of time is not fixed in certain quantum systems. Standard equations of energy loss remain time-symmetric, which means laws can theoretically run backward or forward. This week in gaming The latest issue of Pulasthi's Weekend PC Game Deals curates several exciting games on sale this week. Epic Games Store is now hosting Robobeat and Citizen Sleeper as free-to-claim titles this week, which you can add to your library. Latest issue of Xbox Free Play Days features four new games: PGA TOUR 2K25, Two Point Museum, Assetto Corsa, and Dead by Daylight. Meanwhile, Xbox Game Pass got another Call of Duty addition, the latest soccer game from EA, an indie road trip hit from last year, and more. Summer sales have made NVIDIA's gaming service cheaper, and it has added support for seven new titles. That said, here are some more stories from the gaming world: Rockstar gives last-gen GTA V players free upgrades tomorrow Major Xbox layoffs may claim South of Midnight developer Compulsion entirely Steam Next Fest returns with thousands of new demos to try out Forza Horizon 6 gets another hotfix for one of the game's online modes Major Xbox layoffs may claim South of Midnight developer Compulsion entirely From the review corner This week, Steven got his hands on the Creative Sound Blaster AE-X internal PCIe sound card, primarily intended for headphone wearers. In the list of pros, it comes with a high-quality headphone amp, low-latency communication enhancements via ASIO v2.3, offers 256-times the audio quality of CDs via DSD256, and has great build quality. On the other hand, it's a bit on the pricier side, only offers stereo output over speakers, and has no EMI shielding. More price drops! We got you covered with some hot tech deals all week. For some reason, if you missed out on a great discount, here is a summary of some recent deals that are still alive: GEEKOM X16 Pro at GEEKOM - $1,119.67 (17% off) Acer 4K Webcam for PC/Mac with All-Metal Unibody Sculpted - $59.99 (14% off) Samsung 990 PRO SSD 2TB - $369.99 (42% off) Nothing Ear Wireless Earbuds Bluetooth - $73.15 (51% off) PowerColor Reaper AMD Radeon RX 9070 16GB - $579.99 (17% off) To view all of our recent deals, click here. So, these were some of the biggest tech news and other updates from this week. There will be more issues of our 7 Days series in the coming weeks and months, so stay tuned. You can also support Neowin by registering for a free member account or subscribing to extra member benefits, along with an ad-free tier option. Have a great weekend!
    • It certainly is a waste of time clicking it if you're not interested in Windows 11's development. If that were the case for you, you could easily ignore the headline and move on given the headline makes it clear that's what the article is about. Instead, you're contradicting yourself here calling it a waste of time yet clicking on the headline and commenting... If it were a totally different topic being presented than what's stated in the headline, then you'd certainly have a point, 'cause that's totally deceptive and unavoidable if not actually interested. On the contrary, here you can totally avoid it if you're truly not interested.
    • No, it did not work. I did not read the article. I saw the title in my Feedly feed and came to continue putting pressure about such titles on a website I used to love. In fact, based on your reply, it seems you think it's fine to visit click bait title articles to find out what it's about, to waste people's time. That's up to you, mate. I remember when news websites had pride in their content and therefore didn't need to resort to cheap tactics.
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