Elon Musk has reiterated his controversial belief we are living in a simulation. During his controversial appearance on comedian Joe Rogan's popular podcast, 'The Joe Rogan Experience,' where he smoked a joint, he also explained why he still believes we are living in the Matrix. He said that the sheer age of the universe - 13.8 billion years, means alien civilizations have had time to develop the complex systems needed. 'If you assume any rate of improvement at all, then games will be indistinguishable from reality, or civilization will end. One of those two things will occur,' Musk said.

Tesla shares have plunged this morning after Elon Musk smoked marijuana and drank whiskey while discussing everything from drugs to the possibility we're all living in a simulation, in a rambling two-and-a-half hour podcast appearance which was live-streamed on YouTube. The 47-year-old billionaire went on the Joe Rogan Experience late on Thursday night and accepted a joint from the host - after a rambling conversation that also took in the dangers of AI and the possibility China is spying on US citizens through their phones. Hours later, the company's chief accounting officer Dave Morton resigned citing'public attention' on the company. Meanwhile, shares plummeted to nine per cent this morning, wiping $4.3 billion off the company's value. By close of trading they had slightly recovered to a 6.3 per cent drop, reducing the company's value by $3.1bn. It follows weeks of serious turbulence for both Musk and Tesla, after he falsely announced he was taking the company private in a deal with Saudi Arabia and accused a British hero diver of being a paedophile.

Amazon is to open a branch of its radical'Amazon Go' cashierless store in New York The store was revealed through a series of job postings spotted by The Information. The firm recently opened a second location in Seattle, and has previously said it hopes to open stores in Chicago and San Francisco. The plans for the New York store were revealed through a series of job postings spotted by The Information. 'On Thursday night, the internet retailer posted at least four job listings related to an Amazon Go store in the New York area,' The Information said. 'The listings seek candidates for a store manager, an assistant store manager, a learning and development manager, and a training lead associate.' It comes weeks after Amazon's second Seattle store opened.

Artificial intelligence poses a greater challege to the world than terrorism, the incoming president of the British Science Association has warned. Professor Jim Al-Khalili, a physicist at the University of Surrey, warned that progress in artificial intelligence is'happening too fast' and is not being regulated well enough. He said that AI will make Britain increasingly vulnerable to cyber attacks and lead to greater inequality as thousands are rendered unemployed. At a briefing in London ahead of the British Science Festival in Hull this week, he said: 'Until maybe a couple of years ago had I been asked what is the most pressing and important conversation we should be having about our future, I might have said climate change or one of the other big challenges facing humanity, such as terrorism, antimicrobial resistance, the threat of pandemics or world poverty. 'But today I am certain the most important conversation we should be having is about the future of AI.

Robots could become radicalised if they are badly coded, an expert has warned. Professor of electrical and computer engineering Subhash Kak from Oklahoma University believes robots could become mass murderers if they are not wired correctly. Although the danger does not exist with the current technology, Dr Kak believes future technical malfunctions could put thousands of peoples' lives at risk. Earlier this year he issued another chilling warning saying that the machine takeover will lead mankind into a'hellish dystopia'. Robots could become radicalised if they are badly coded, a computer engineer has warned.

Before he died, eccentric philosopher Jeremy Bentham asked that his body be stuffed and wheeled out at parties to help his friends with their grief. But the social reformer didn't stop there, bequeathing 26 memorial rings to those he knew and admired, featuring his bust in silhouette and strands of his hair. Now scientists are on the hunt for Bentham's rings, of which just six have been found since his death in 1832. The philosopher commissioned the rings a decade before he passed, leaving them in his will and testament to a list that included famous politicians, journalists, fellow philosophers and several of his servants. Researchers say the missing artefacts could be spread across the globe, after one was found in a jewellery shop in New Orleans.

Scientists have created a robot that can'see' unfamiliar objects using breakthrough computer vision. It can make basic distinctions between objects and accomplish specific tasks without having ever seen them before. The AI will one day be sophisticated enough to create house-cleaning robots that can be put to work in homes and offices, researchers from MIT say. People could give their robot an image of a tidy house and ask it to clean while they are at work. It could also be given an image of dishes and be asked to put the plates away, scientists say.

In early 2018, Black Mirror creator Charlie Brooker was a guest on Radio 4's Desert Island Discs, for which one of his chosen recordings was Jonathan Dunn's theme for the 1988 Game Boy game RoboCop. In May, the Royal Albert Hall hosted PlayStation in Concert, at which the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra played music from games made for PlayStation consoles from the original in the 1990s through to the current generation. The event was hosted by Jessica Curry, composer for games such as Dear Esther, which recently had its own series of concerts in which a narrator and musicians performed to cues triggered by someone playing the game live on stage. Video game players love music. Even a track not made for a game can get a boost from association with one; Eminem's 2002 song Till I Collapse re-entered the UK charts in 2009 after it was used in an advert for Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2. And music that is composed especially for games finds other outlets, too; a television show called Rich House, Poor House, in which families from opposing ends of the wealth spectrum swap homes for a week, has used music from The Sims, a series of life sim games about the capitalist fantasy of happiness through financial gain.

It must be hard for Joseph Stiglitz to remain an optimist in the face of the grim future he fears may be coming. The Nobel laureate and former chief economist at the World Bank has thought carefully about how artificial intelligence will affect our lives. On the back of the technology, we could build ourselves a richer society and perhaps enjoy a shorter working week, he says. But there are countless pitfalls to avoid on the way. The ones Stiglitz has in mind are hardly trivial.

Odysseus would be heartbroken to see his home now. The once resplendent palace on the island of Ithaca is now a crumbling ruin, not much more than scattered piles of stone and a couple of faltering walls. It's also host to a company of bandits, patrolling the ancient grounds like the suitors who once tried to steal poor Penelope away. Assassin that I am, I kill first one and then the other bandit leaders. Odysseus may be 800 years dead, but I can at least pay my respects.