Mar 30

A more pessimistic vision of the future than I usually share.

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A more pessimistic vision of the future than I usually share. I think unduly so (though they do acknowledge that some are optimistic). There are definitely big challenges ahead, though, and few governments are prepared for them; many haven’t caught up with the technology that exists today, let alone thought about what’s on the near horizon.

Originally shared by Winchell Chung

Just look at all those robots

https://theoutline.com/post/1316/fourth-industrial-revolution-developing-economies

Mar 28

This is not the same as GM crops (introducing DNA from another organism); it’s editing the existing organism’s DNA…

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This is not the same as GM crops (introducing DNA from another organism); it’s editing the existing organism’s DNA as a faster version of selective breeding.

It’s still not fast, though, partly because the genetics of crops are not well understood yet.

And, of course (something the article doesn’t address), the big problem with genetically manipulated crops isn’t that they’re somehow “dangerous”; it’s that they’re owned by the large corporates that develop them, who use their monopoly power and leverage for their own benefit, not that of the farmers or consumers (or the environment).

Also not addressed: a large part of the problem with the food supply is, and has been for decades, not the amount of food that can be produced worldwide, but the logistics of distributing it to where it’s needed. And political barriers and corruption are a big part of that.

That’s without even getting into the question of food waste.

(Sorry, food and nutrition are interests of mine, and something I’ve studied at a university level; they’re complicated, and a lot of the problems are people problems, not technology problems.)

Originally shared by Singularity Hub

How to Feed 9.7 Billion People? CRISPR Gene Editing For Crops http://bit.ly/2nfpxFL

Mar 28

Iron Man is at it again.

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Iron Man is at it again.

Originally shared by Larry Panozzo

Can’t wait until this is created. But I’m pretty sure that a prerequisite to this is a much better understanding of the brain than we have now. Read/write capability is a long way off, but it’s exciting.

Preliminarily, the brain ‘lights up’ on MRI scans in very specific ways depending on the thought, so even if Neuralink creates a top-notch BMI (brain-machine interface) then it will create a explosion in the tech world, something Musk would love to do.

http://www.theverge.com/2017/3/27/15077864/elon-musk-neuralink-brain-computer-interface-ai-cyborgs

Mar 27

It… actually looks like conspiracy theories are being spread by a conspiracy.

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It… actually looks like conspiracy theories are being spread by a conspiracy.

So much for using that as a wild story idea.

Originally shared by Yonatan Zunger

The dynamics of disinformation, propaganda, “fake news,” and conspiracy theories can be studied by watching how they spread. This is a summary of a scientific study (by one of its authors, who links the full paper) into this, and it’s chock-full of fascinating results. They focused on responses to mass shootings in particular, as these are a favorite target of conspiracy theories. Conspiracy stories, it turns out, spread with a very different pattern than other types of story – and botnets, quasi-replication of stories between sites, and similar patterns of signal manipulation are key to them. This (as well as other interesting commonalities between the sites which propagate these) suggests that there is something systematic and intentional behind these theories: they aren’t emerging organically, they’re being curated.

https://medium.com/hci-design-at-uw/information-wars-a-window-into-the-alternative-media-ecosystem-a1347f32fd8f