News — At The Edge — 12/7
Civilization is unraveling — existential issues, China has smartest kids, U.S. pessimism, millennial socialists, facial recognition, digital rights, privacy, AI problems, social media behavior — but todays incompetent global governing elites are incapable of make it work again.
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‘Existential’ is Dictionary.com’s Word Of the Year —
“[It] won out over other crisis-themed words…‘polar vortex,’ ‘stochastic terrorism’ and ‘exonerate’….
[‘Existential’] a sense of grappling with the survival — literally and figuratively — of our planet…loved ones, our ways of life’…[inspiring] questions about who we are and…our purpose is in the face of our various challenges…[reminding] we can make choices about our lives in how we answer those questions.’
Existential has two meanings: ‘Of or relating to existence’ and ‘concerned with the nature of human existence as determined by…freely made choices.’
The word was…searched in conjunction with climate change, gun violence and democratic institutions….
[W]e all think at one time or another, ‘What is my purpose in life?….[W]hat we think we are and what we can be.” https://www.cbsnews.com/news/word-of-the-year-existential-is-the-word-of-the-year-dictionary-dot-com/
China’s Schoolchildren Are Now the Smartest in the World —
“Chinese students far out-stripped peers in every other country in…reading, math and science ability…even if household income is well below members’ average.
In reading, the 10% most disadvantaged Chinese students tested had better skills than the OECD average….
PISA study of 600,000 students in 79 countries…[on] difficultly of improving education…irrespective of the resources…dedicated to it….
OECD countries saw virtually no improvement…since [2000]….
On average, 12% of the variation in student reading performance within each country was associated with socio-economic status.’” https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-12-03/china-shines-in-education-as-richest-economies-fail-to-improve
It’s hard to be an optimist about America right now —
“America’s greatest assets — its constitutional republic and its democratic character — seem to be in danger of breakdown…as ‘treason’ and ‘coup’ are now casually tossed around in political discourse….
[Hoped] impeachment inquiry might provide evidence and facts that would cut through the spin and fantasies, but…opposite has happened…[because] intensity of polarization is so great that everything is viewed through a partisan prism….
American republic…[was] built to accommodate very different people with utterly different ideas and values…[but] is not a collection of merry tales with happy endings. It’s full of fights….
[U.S.] ‘is undergoing a transition perhaps no…democracy has ever experienced: Its historically dominant group is…becoming a political minority…[that’s] asserting their…rights and interests….
70% of American seniors are white and Christian. Only 29% of young adults are white and Christian’….
It took a civil war to end slavery and then almost 100 years of struggle to end Jim Crow…[now] new battle over sweeping demographic shifts….
[Another] trend that threatens…[is] ever-expanding power of the presidency….
If Congress cannot exercise its core oversight capacity, obtain documents and subpoena administration officials to testify, the essential system of checks and balances has broken down. The presidency will have become an elected dictatorship….
Watergate led many to believe that matters were under control…[but] fear after 9/11 proved to be the gateway for an out-of-control executive branch. The president gained the ability to snoop on private Americans, use military force at his whim, torture prisoners and detain people indefinitely…order the execution of American citizens…[deemed] to be terrorists, without due process….
Tensions over profound demographic change, fierce political backlash and a presidency that refuses to be checked…optimism is wearing thin.” https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/its-hard-to-be-an-optimist-about-america-right-now/2019/11/27/8020e526-115b-11ea-b0fc-62cc38411ebb_story.html
What would millennial socialists do with power? —
“[A] decade of slow growth in living standards, and amid widespread belief that inequality is soaring…’Millennial socialists’…[are] maintaining that ‘to be a socialist is to assert the moral worth of every person’ …[and] that modern capitalism is broken and socialism is the fix….
One common mistake is to assume that they want…social democracies such as the Nordic states, where progressive taxation of lightly regulated markets funds high-quality public services.…[Rather] insist they are…democratic socialists…an entirely different system of economic management….
A social-democratic government might tax the rich a bit more and redistribute the proceeds to the poor, which is…good. But such reforms are easy to undo….
[Its] hard to resuscitate organized labor…[and] ‘further mass expansion of education is impossible when a country has reached 14 or 15 years of education on average’….
[So] their manifesto boils down to three big ideas.
- they want vastly more government spending to provide…free universal health care…more generous social safety-net and a ‘Green New Deal’ to slash carbon-dioxide emissions.…
- looser monetary policy, to reduce the cost of funding these plans….
- capitalism ‘has sucked the life out of democracy’…[so] everyone should be guaranteed a job; others want a universal basic income, a drastic reduction in the working week, or both…[and] promoting non-traditional forms of business organization…which give workers a decisive role in the day-to-day management of their company….
[The] big question they face…is whether ordinary people have the stomach for the kind of change they envisage.” https://www.economist.com/books-and-arts/2019/11/28/what-would-millennial-socialists-do-with-power
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New Report: U.S. Lacked Technology To Account For Separated Families —
“Department of Homeland Security separated thousands of migrant families…knowing that it lacked…technology to record and track [them]…[so] ‘could not confirm the total number of families [separated]…[or] validate the total number of separations, or reunifications’….
[T]he government knew in advance…it had no tracking system but proceeded with…separations anyway…[yet] planned to separate five times as many children…[as] in 2018…[but] did not address deficiencies…documented in 2017’…[plus] various agencies handling the migrant families had no common data system…[and] relied on email which hampered reunification efforts….
DHS spent thousands of hours and more than $1 million in overtime costs, it did not achieve the original goal of deterring…[and] thousands of detainees were released into the United States.” https://www.npr.org/2019/11/27/783513721/new-report-says-u-s-lacked-technology-to-account-for-separated-families
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China’s facial recognition rollout reaches into mobile phones, shops and homes —
“[New law] require Chinese telecom carriers to scan the faces of users registering new mobile phone services…to verify the identity of people…[though] unclear how the law applies to existing mobile accounts….
Supermarkets, subway systems and airports already use facial recognition technology…to ‘classify passengers’ to allow for ‘different security check measures’….[Also] installing facial recognition systems at the entrances of 59 public rental housing communities….
Chinese police…have high tech surveillance gadgets such as glasses with built-in facial recognition….
Countries from Myanmar to Argentina have purchased surveillance technology from [China]…currently being tested in areas such as street crossings to catch jaywalkers and China has announced that it will eventually expand its use to others like student registrations….
China’s Internet regulator announced new rules governing the use of deep-fake…videos where a person appears to say or do something they did not.” https://www.reuters.com/article/us-china-technology-explainer/chinas-facial-recognition-rollout-reaches-into-mobile-phones-shops-and-homes-idUSKBN1Y60MN
What’s a Digital Bill of Rights Without Enforcement? —
“[T]he Contract for the Web…documents nine core principles for a fair and…affordable internet access, privacy, and freedom from censorship…[but] missing piece is enforcement and…incentives to behave in line with these principles’….
For example, the principle calling for companies to protect user privacy says that companies should provide ‘control panels where users can manage their data and privacy options in a quick and easily accessible place for each’….
[It’s] hard to take the commitments of companies…[so] Web Foundation is discussing with governments how to enshrine the principles into national and international laws and regulations….
[Another] issue is how to decide whether a company is contributing to human rights abuses. For example, Microsoft employees and immigrant rights organizations have criticized the company for working with US [I.C.E.]….
‘Even when companies do not directly cause human rights violations, they are still responsible for preventing violations that are directly linked to their operations…[with] human rights due diligence’….
[F]or governments to hold companies accountable…[citizens] must hold governments accountable.” https://www.wired.com/story/whats-digital-bill-rights-without-enforcement/
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Now even the FBI is warning about your smart TV’s security —
“[Whatever] connects to the internet…[opens] security vulnerabilities and…[since] many smart TVs come with a camera and a microphone…[and] manufacturers often don’t put security as a priority…manufacturer and app developers may be listening and watching you….
[E]very smart TV comes with…manufacturer’s own software…[and] often unreliable and irregular security patching schedule….
[Recently] hackers showed it was possible to hijack Google’s Chromecast…and broadcast random videos to thousands….
[T]he biggest exploits targeting smart TVs…were developed by [C.I.A.]…but were stolen…[and] published online….
[Research] found that…TV makers…collect tons of information about what users are watching…to help advertisers better target ads….
FBI recommends placing black tape over…TV camera, keeping your…TV up-to-date with…latest patches and fixes, and…read the privacy policy.” https://techcrunch.com/2019/12/01/fbi-smart-tv-security/
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Artificial Intelligence Is Watching Us and Judging Us —
“[AI] power to enhance spying, and both authoritarian governments and democracies are adopting…as a tool of political and social control…[since] data collected from apps and websites…[reveal] personal life and political leanings to the authorities….
’Take this type of technology, feed it to a citywide CCTV surveillance system, and go to a place like Saudi Arabia…[and] suddenly you’re pulling people off the street and arresting them…because the computer said so’….
In some Chinese cities, facial recognition is used to catch criminals in surveillance footage…to publicly shame those who commit minor offenses…[and] exporting the technology, along with the principles of techno-repression…[are] having a chilling effect on personal freedom….
[Still] similar tools are being developed and used in the West…[and] law enforcement is embracing AI…technologies including facial recognition…[as] sleepwalks towards its own form of technological tyranny….
[T]he liberty we take for granted is hard-won and fragile…will affect our lives profoundly, and echo through the lives of our children.’” https://www.wired.com/story/artificial-intelligence-watching-us-judging-us/
A method with roots in AI uncovers how humans make choices in groups and social media —
“[Seems] our decision-making process is more complicated than we know…[and] that in large groups of essentially anonymous members, people make choices based on a model of the ‘mind of the group’ and an evolving simulation of how a choice will affect that theorized mind…to predict a person’s choice more often than more traditional descriptive methods….
’In online forums and social media…the combined actions of anonymous group members can influence your next action, and conversely, your own action can change the future behavior of the entire group’….
[So] human behavior relies on predictions of future states of the environment — a best guess at what might happen — and the degree of uncertainty about that environment increases ‘drastically’ in social settings.
To predict what might happen when another human is involved, a person makes a model of the other’s mind, called a theory of mind, and then uses that model to simulate how one’s own actions will affect that other ‘mind’….
[Good] for one-on-one interactions, the ability to model individual minds in a large group is much harder….[So] humans try to predict future group interactions based on a model of an average group member’s intention…[knowing] their own actions can influence the group….
’A machine that simulates the ‘mind of a group’ and…how its actions affect the group may lead to…human-friendly AI…aligned with the values of humans.’” https://phys.org/news/2019-11-method-roots-ai-uncovers-humans.html
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How to talk to aliens —
“Communicating without a shared context is hard…[not knowing] how extraterrestrials might take in information….
[Spacecraft] craft have an infinitesimal chance of being found, radio broadcasts from Earth…are more likely to make contact…[if] tuned to the right frequency….
[W]hat would earthlings and aliens talk about?…mathematics; its basic concepts are often assumed to be universal…[yet] moving beyond that…would be far harder.
Scientists have worked on ‘self-interpreting’ languages — written in a way that aims to teach the reader the language as they go….
[Unclear if] would share…words and grammar…[or] employ symbols, rather than having separate names for every object….
[Any] alien life-forms would have limited time and energy, as people do….
[Kids] learn their first language by listening, trying it out and getting instant feedback…to use fluent sentences by the age of four….
’Who speaks for Earth?’….
Linguists argue…whether languages share universal features…[but] world’s 7,000-odd tongues are…closer to one another than anything…found out there.” https://www.economist.com/books-and-arts/2019/11/28/how-to-talk-to-aliens
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Doc Huston
