ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE: It’s Too Late—We’ve Already Taught AI to Be Racist and Sexist
Jordan Pearson | Motherboard
” ‘To some extent, you can think about the AI as a human child,’ Clune said. ‘You don’t want a child to hang out with racist or discriminatory people, because it will parrot those sentences and predispositions.’ It’s inevitable that AI, just like a real human, will eventually be exposed to some very bad ideas, intentionally or not. It needs to be taught how to ignore them.”
LONGEVITY: The Immortality Hype
Adam Piore | Nautilus
“In the months and years ahead, the scientific progress—and hype—around aging are likely to grow…The biggest reason for optimism, however, may well be the relentless march of aging itself…’Baby boomers are about to create a silver tsunami in cancer that we are unprepared for. So you bet that those of us who are boomers are going to be pushing the pipeline, putting money in aging research, because we want it all figured out before we really fall into it.’ “
CYBERNETICS: What a Self-Made Cyborg Taught Me About Body Hacking
Selena Larson | The Daily Dot
” ‘You have to confront your relationship with technology when you implant something with yourself, but before that you’ve probably been on the computer most of the day, been on your phone the rest of the day, conducted most of your relationships through the internet,’ Moe said. ‘You’re already interlaced with technology in less-physical and immediate ways.’ The ultimate question is what comes next, after technology makes the leap from our fingertips to the skin beneath them.”
BIG DATA: Scientists Are Just as Confused About the Ethics of Big-Data Research as You
Sarah Zhang | WIRED
“Unlike medical research, which has been shaped by decades of clinical trials, the risks—and rewards—of analyzing big, semi-public databases are just beginning to become clear. Outside of academia, companies like Microsoft have started to institute their own ethical review processes…After all, modern tech companies like Facebook, OkCupid, Snapchat, Netflix sit atop a trove of data 20th century social scientists could have only dreamed up.”
SPACE: The Red Planet Is Not Always Red
Rebecca Boyle | The Atlantic
“The story of Mars is also a fable for Earth. Understanding the Martian climate, and what causes its ice ages, can help us learn more about why they happen here—at a time when the intricacies of Earth’s climate are of great concern…Isaac Smith has been looking at Texas-sized curlicues in the Martian ice caps for eight years, trying to connect them to the planet’s climate history. He found something that surprised him: The polar ice cap is active. Ice is constantly piling up and eroding, not just in one spot but everywhere.”
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