All posts tagged: instincts

Instinct’s powerful AI assistant is raising privacy and security concerns

Instinct’s powerful AI assistant is raising privacy and security concerns

Published by skeptic

Everyone is buzzing about Instinct, an AI personal assistant still in private access, not only for its incredible capabilities, but also for its potential privacy concerns. The agent, a veritable taskmaster, has been praised as feeling “like magic” and being one of the “most exciting launches” since OpenClaw. However, some testers have also raised concerns about the AI agent’s security model and its worrisome terms of service. To be fair, Instinct is still in private testing for now, so these concerns haven’t yet scaled to the wider public at this time. Created by a small team led by former Sierra research scientist Noah Shinn, San Francisco-based Instinct is operated by Spear Street Technology, per its terms and California business filings. It’s currently operating in stealth, per PitchBook. The AI agent itself works by connecting to your applications and devices, including your email, messaging apps, calendar, and your device’s audio, location, screen, and more. You can text the agent or call it via text message or WhatsApp, asking it to perform various tasks for you, like …

How George Soros Trades on Animal Instincts

How George Soros Trades on Animal Instincts

Published by Jenni Sidey

George Soros built one of the great trading records in financial history, in large part due to his theory of reflexivity. But by his own account, some of his biggest portfolio pivots weren’t triggered by a spreadsheet; they were triggered by backache. It is a wonderful anecdote—Soros feeling a trade just as sailors feel a storm coming in their bones. But is it physiologically plausible? Fascinatingly, the evidence says yes. Here’s why other investors should listen. In Soros on Soros (1995), he noted, “I rely a great deal on animal instincts. When I was actively running the fund, I suffered from backache. I used the onset of acute pain as a signal that there was something wrong in my portfolio.” His son Robert worded it in blunter terms: his father’s elaborate market theories often arrived after the fact, rationalising a shift that had really begun with a spasm in his back. Fight or Flight When Soros experiences what he refers to as animal instincts (acute pain onset as a signal to act) he may actually …

3 Feelings Perceptive People Recognize As Messages From Their Intuition

3 Feelings Perceptive People Recognize As Messages From Their Intuition

Published by Jenni Sidey

Intuition is often described as a gut feeling or a sixth sense that something is about to happen, whether it be good or bad, without conscious reasoning. Though often difficult to trust, your intuition can be influential in guiding your actions and judgments. If you’re at all interested in strengthening your connection with your intuition, you have to start paying more attention to the everyday feelings you dismiss as normal. That sudden burst of joy or nagging feeling that something bad is lurking just around the corner is actually your intuition forewarning you of what is about to come. Carly Pearce, a spiritual mentor and Reiki healer, shared three of these “intuitive hints” on Instagram.  Everyday feelings that highly perceptive people know are messages from their intuition: 1. Physical discomfort MDV Edwards | Shutterstock Your physical body is a messenger for your intuition. If you feel queasy or have a lingering sense of dread or tension that does not go away, pay attention. We can easily dismiss these feelings as typical anxiety or jitters, but …

One Step Beyond: Two Cats Defy Mere Instincts

One Step Beyond: Two Cats Defy Mere Instincts

Published by Jenni Sidey

I’m so busted. The academic article, “Emotion regulation, procrastination, and watching cat videos online” (2015), found out my vice. Yes, I watch cat videos! But one video caught my eye because it triggers our frequent topic: The mind. In this case, the mind of a cat. Basic online research uncovers our current knowledge about many cat behaviors considered “instincts”:  Hunting, feeding, play, scratching, scent marking, territoriality, grooming, elimination, body language, fear/defense, social bonding, reproduction, maternal protection, climbing, hiding, perching, and stress responses. Considering these facts, suppose a female cat (a “queen”), who has previously had kittens, comes across a stray kitten both terrified and raging defensive. How would the queen react instinctually? Fear? Defensive behavior? Territory protection? Various stress responses? Watch this short video and see what happened in one case. Several hours of research found no expert even hinting any behavior like this queen displayed toward the hostile kitten. If cats operate solely by instinct, this queen has a lot of explaining to do. I found no indication that any adult cat would: 🐱See …

A Mom Forgot Who Her Daughter Was After Losing Her Memory But Still Felt The Maternal Urge To Protect Her

A Mom Forgot Who Her Daughter Was After Losing Her Memory But Still Felt The Maternal Urge To Protect Her

Published by Jenni Sidey

Every parent has an innate desire to make sure their children are safe at all times. We worry about where they are going, who they are with, and what outside influences might come their way. Finding out your child may be in danger is a terror only a parent can relate to. For a woman named Nesh Pillay, that extreme anxiety is something she has to deal with much more than anyone else could ever imagine. Pillay, 32, was confused and scared when she recently woke up from a nap, unable to remember anything.  Pillay told Newsweek in October 2022 that she told family members she had bumped her head before deciding to take a nap. Though Pillay cannot remember the incident, it is what preceded the deterioration of her memory.  She has suffered numerous incidents of trauma to her brain over her lifetime, the first occurring during a car accident when she was just nine years old. Since then, according to Pillay, she has had multiple head injuries resulting in concussions. Pillay found herself …