Is Big Tech Merging With Big Brother? Kinda Looks Like It by David Samuels A friend of mine, who runs a large television production company in the car-mad city of Los Angeles, recently noticed that his intern, an aspiring filmmaker from the People’s Republic of China, was walking to work. When he offered to arrange a swifter mode of transportation, she declined. When he asked why she explained that she “needed the steps” on her Fitbit to sign in to…
Wired
Going Dumb: My Year With a Flip Phone by Jason Kehe FOR EIGHT MONTHS this year, I used a flip phone. For most of those eight months, I hated myself and everyone else. Frankly, I’m embarrassed to write about this semifailed experiment. Disconnection has become the most congratulated, least convincing narrative gimmick of recent times, a widely excusable hypocrisy.…
A story about how GO playing machines spurred China’s AI mission
Posted on 25th November 2018The AI Cold War That Threatens Us All by GEORGIA PERRY In Beijing, the machine’s victory cracked the air like a warning shot. That impression was only reinforced when, over the next few months, the Obama administration published a series of reports grappling with the benefits and risks of AI. The papers made a series of recommendations for government action, both to stave off potential job losses from automation and to invest in the development of machine learning. A group…