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☆ Ukraine’s counteroffensive may be painful. But its success is crucial to wider European security
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-20 | by ( Nick Paton Walsh | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +8 min

Imagine these sorts of risk, and the men and women enduring its nerve-wracking toll nightly, when you next hear talk of the progress of Ukraine’s counteroffensive. But make no mistake: this is perhaps the most important moment for European security since the Berlin Wall fell, or even 1945. Ukraine’s forces are nowhere near where they hoped they would be as fall draws in. Russian President Vladimir Putin is presumably counting on winter to strengthen his position. It was the rationale behind not supplying Ukraine with longer-range missiles that could strike Crimea or Russian territory bordering Ukraine.

Persons: Volodymyr Zelensky, Oliver Weiken, Vladimir Putin, Joe Biden, Donald Trump, – Putin, Kim Jong Un, Klaus Iohannis, it’s Organizations: CNN, Ministry of Defense, Marines, Bradley, Washington, Republican, North, Kremlin, NATO Locations: Orikhiv, Robotyne, Mariupol, New York, Tokmak, Crimea, Russia, Kherson, Moscow, Russian, Kharkiv, Kyiv, Ukrainian, European, Ukraine, China, Romania, Bulgaria, Tyulenovo

☆ AI-Driven Cataclysm Could Rock the Job Market: Top Economist
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-18 | by ( Aki Ito | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +33 min

Over the course of three conversations this summer, Acemoglu told me he's worried we're currently hurtling down a road that will end in catastrophe. "There's a fair likelihood that if we don't do a course correction, we're going to have a truly two-tier system," Acemoglu told me. "I was following the canon of economic models, and in all of these models, technological change is the main mover of GDP per capita and wages," Acemoglu told me. In later empirical work, Acemoglu and Restrepo showed that that was exactly what had happened. "I realize this is a very, very tall order," Acemoglu told me.

Persons: who's, Katya Klinova, Daron Acemoglu, Simon Johnson, Acemoglu, Johnson, we've, he's, we're, Power, James Robinson, —, Robinson, David Autor, Pascual Restrepo, Restrepo, John Maynard Keynes, Simon Simard, Lord Byron, Eric Van Den Brulle, hasn't, it's, Gita Gopinath, Paul Romer, Romer, What's, Daron, GPT, Asu Ozdaglar, It's, Mark Madeo, Tattong, Erik Brynjolfsson, Brynjolfsson, There's, Yoshua Bengio, Yuval Noah Harari, Andrew Yang, Elon Musk, I've, That's, Aki Ito Organizations: Getty, MIT, of Technology, Hulton, London School of Economics, Stagecoach, Technology, —, International Monetary Fund, Microsoft, Asu, Companies, Computer, Greenpeace, Communications, Big Tech, Workers Locations: Silicon Valley, America, Boston, Istanbul, Turkey, Acemoglu, England, United States, Britain, Australia

Some of them, like “Dune: Part Two," have been postponed until next year due to the ongoing actors and writers strikes. Gillespie’s film features a freewheeling ensemble including Pete Davidson, Anthony Ramos, Seth Rogen, Shailene Woodley, America Ferrera and Nick Offerman. “Fair Play” (in theaters Sept. 29, on Netflix Oct. 13)Hedge funds also play a role in writer-director Chloe Domont’s drama about sexual politics and gender dynamics in the high-charged, male-dominated world of finance. Eight years after the last “Hunger Games” movie (“Mockingjay – Part 2”) a prequel is returning to the science fiction dystopia of Panem. Francis Lawrence’s film, set 64 years before the events of the first “Hunger Games” film, introduces a host of new characters in the lead-up to the 10th Hunger Games.

Persons: ”, Expendables, Gael García Bernal, Roger Ross Williams, Saúl Armendáriz, Williams, Bunny, Craig Gillespie’s, ” Paul Dano, Keith Gill, Pete Davidson, Anthony Ramos, Seth Rogen, Shailene, America Ferrera, Nick Offerman, Chloe Domont’s, Phoebe Dynevor, Alden Ehrenreich, Aristotle, Dante, “ El Conde ”, Flora, Son ”, Henry Sugar ”, “ Carlos ”, “ Dicks, Justine Triet’s, Palme, Sandra Hüller, Martin Scorsese’s, David Grann's, Lily Gladstone, Scorsese, Leonardo DiCaprio, Robert De Niro, Robbie Robertson, Baz Luhrmann’s, Elvis Presley, Sofia Coppola, Priscilla Presley, “ Elvis, ” Jacob Elordi, “ Joan Baez, “ Taylor Swift, Nyad, “ Rustin ”, Colman Domingo, Bayard Rustin, George C, Martin Luther King Jr, Panem, Francis Lawrence’s, Tom Blyth, Rachel Zegler, Peter Dinklage, Viola Davis, ” Ridley Scott, Joaquin Phoenix, Napoleon Bonaparte, Vanessa Kirby, Joséphine Bonaparte, Sly ”, “ Orlando, Maestro ”, “ Leo ” Organizations: GameStop, America, Netflix, Sundance Film, Paramount, Apple, Cannes Film, Hüller, Hunger Locations: Shailene Woodley, Venice, Osage, Washington

☆ An upcoming video game is so realistic it simulates a homelessness crisis, getting laid off, and Gen Z going broke
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-15 | by ( Kai Xiang Teo | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Gameplay footage shows a simulation of Gen Z being broke, road accidents, and prison labor. The developers of the upcoming video game Cities Skylines 2 say they're trying to make "the most realistic city simulation ever" — one which involves homelessness, Gen Z going broke, and tragic car accidents. A screenshot from the upcoming video game Cities Skylines 2. Cities Skylines 2/Colossal OrderThe developers previously released footage on the game's realistic elements, such as Gen Z being broke and prison labor. Colossal Order's previous game, Cities Skylines, was released in 2015 and sold over 12 million copies till mid-2022.

Persons: Z, Gen Z, it's Organizations: Morning, Cities, YouTube

☆ Crypto’s Next Craze? Orbs That Scan Your Eyeballs.
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-07 | by ( David Yaffe-Bellany | More About David Yaffe-Bellany | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Every Worldcoin orb contains a camera designed to record images of a person’s irises. The orbs convert those scans into bits of numerical code, which are supposed to serve as a new type of digital ID. They are promoting the orbs as a possible foundation for universal basic income, a welfare system in which everyone receives guaranteed payments, and argue that iris IDs will help distinguish real people from robots. Tools for Humanity is part of a growing array of crypto firms trying to latch on to the hype around A.I. to propel digital currencies back to relevance after a miserable 18 months of market crashes and bankruptcies.

Persons: Tom Cruise, Altman Organizations: Humanity

☆ Is A.I. the Greatest Technology Ever for Making Dumb Jokes?
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-10 | by ( ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +12 min

Via Janelle Shane AI Weirdness Generated by A.I. Optimists cite scientific advances and other examples of human intelligence and machine intelligence augmenting each other, robots and people walking hand in hand toward the singularity. possibilities on a two-dimensional plot, where one axis runs from “machine stupidity” to “machine intelligence” and the other from “human stupidity to human intelligence.” Scientific leaps — like physicists’ developing A.I. Machine Intelligence, Human Stupidity Not just any A.I.-generated post deserves to be charted in the Funposting Zone. After all, the machines can keep improving, and human stupidity — the engine of many of history’s best jokes — isn’t going anywhere.

Persons: Overwatch, Spambots, ., Will Smith, Joe Rogan, Harry Potter, Balenciaga, Homer Simpson, Peter Griffin, ’, Janelle Shane, Janelle Shane ChatGPT’s, ChatGPT’s, Barack Obama’s, “, Arik Ahmed, Ahmed, ” Ahmed, ” Mr, Donald J, Joe ”, —, Pope Francis, I’d, ”, “ Will Smith, Elon Musk, Jordan Peterson, ” —, I’m, Harry Potter ”, Mustard, Roddy Ricch, ChatGPT, DALL, Shane, Bing Organizations: A.I, Biology, Balenciaga, Adobe, . Machine Intelligence, Colorado State Fair, Heath, Microsoft Locations: Rome, Ancient Rome, Silicon, dystopia, Funposting, Reddit, Minecraft

☆ Douglas Stuart Doesn’t Need 3 People at His Dream Dinner Party
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-06 | by ( ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

I’ve been itinerant lately, so I tend to carry my reading everywhere I go. Right now, I’m trying to make sense of the forces that misshaped me, so I’m reading “The Reformation: A History,” by Diarmaid MacCulloch, and “The Scottish Enlightenment,” by Arthur Herman. What’s the last great book you read? Describe your ideal reading experience (when, where, what, how). A great book can make any reading experience ideal.

Persons: I’ve, Diarmaid MacCulloch, ”, Arthur Herman, I’m, Pam Zhang, Catherine Lacey, David Hare, Michael Cunningham’s, Alan Bennett, John Lahr’s, Joe Orton, Sebastian Barry, Tomasi di Lampedusa, Maria McCann’s Organizations: Scottish Locations: Edinburgh, “

☆ The story behind this playful rooftop portrait
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-09 | by ( Rebecca Cairns | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +8 min

Hong Kong’s humidity – already oppressive – was intensified in the dark, maze-like alleyways of an unruly enclave known as Kowloon Walled City. Greg Girard, courtesy of Blue Lotus GalleryA ‘strange, vertical village’Girard first visited Kowloon Walled City in 1986 while on a shoot at the nearby airport. As such, the Walled City remained technically subject to Chinese rule, though this was never enforced. The site of the Walled City has since been transformed into a public park, which opened in 1995. Ongoing interest in the Walled City is, Girard suggests, because of the spirit it encapsulates: the aptitude for survival even in the harshest of circumstances.

Persons: –, Greg Girard, wasn’t, ” Girard, ”, Girard, Greg Girard ., ’ Girard, “, Ian Lambot, Lambot, Girard — Organizations: CNN, Kai Tek International, Lotus Locations: Hong, Kowloon Walled City, Walled City, Walled, Tung, Hong Kong, British, ”, “, City, Girard

☆ How one DeSantis speech captured the dynamic that could decide 2024
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-06 | by ( Ronald Brownstein | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +17 min

The next 30 minutes of DeSantis’ speech then demonstrated how Biden might survive despite all the doubts about his performance and capabilities. In that way, DeSantis’ first swing through Iowa showed why Republicans are still at risk in 2024 from a key dynamic that dashed their hopes of a sweeping “red wave” in 2022. Many strategists in both parties believe that dynamic is most likely to recur in 2024 if the GOP nominates Trump. One reason, Republicans argue, is that the eventual nominee likely will talk about these issues less in a general election. Beset by all the difficult domestic conditions DeSantis highlighted, Biden will likely struggle straight through November 2024 to affirmatively convince a majority that his performance deserves another term.

Persons: Ron DeSantis, Joe Biden, Biden, DeSantis, Donald Trump, ”, Sarah Longwell, MAGA Trump, “, Trump, Chris Wilson, Republican pollster, Jesse Ferguson, SRSS, “ Biden, Ronald Reagan, Bill Clinton, George W . Bush, “ DeSantis, Ferguson, don’t, –, David Kochel, Kochel, can’t, Mitt Romney, Hillary Clinton’s, suburbanites, Nick Gourevitch, DeSantis ’, dethroning Trump, Sen, Bernie Sanders, Biden “ Organizations: CNN, Florida Gov, Biden’s, Republicans, GOP, Trump, Republican, Longwell, Biden, White House, White, Edison Research, House, Democrats, Senate, Fox News, Walt Disney Co, Democratic, eventual Locations: Iowa, Des Moines, Biden’s America, America, Florida, Arizona , Georgia, Nevada , New Hampshire , Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, Michigan

☆ GOP Sen. Tim Scott of South Carolina files paperwork to run for president
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-19 | by ( Kevin Breuninger | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

Likely Republican presidential candidate and U.S. Sen. Tim Scott of South Carolina filed paperwork Friday to run for president in 2024, officially throwing his hat into a growing Republican primary lineup that former President Donald Trump has so far led. Scott is expected to announce his presidential campaign on Monday morning in North Charleston. Scott's brand of politics, marked by optimism and gestures toward stitching a divided nation back together, has been mostly absent from the Republican presidential conversation. "There's no question that special interests are celebrating as Tim Scott throws his hat into the 2024 race for the MAGA base."

☆ Another Side of the A.I. Boom: Detecting What A.I. Makes
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-18 | by ( Tiffany Hsu | Steven Lee Myers | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Andrey Doronichev was alarmed last year when he saw a video on social media that appeared to show the president of Ukraine surrendering to Russia. The video was quickly debunked as a synthetically generated deepfake, but to Mr. Doronichev, it was a worrying portent. This year, his fears crept closer to reality, as companies began competing to enhance and release artificial intelligence technology despite the havoc it could cause. For entrepreneurs like Mr. Doronichev, it has also become a business opportunity. More than a dozen companies now offer tools to identify whether something was made with artificial intelligence, with names like Sensity AI (deepfake detection), Fictitious.AI (plagiarism detection) and Originality.AI (also plagiarism).

☆ I'm an AI ethicist. I make sure the tech is safely deployed to the world, but I am not an oracle.
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-13 | by ( Aaron Mok | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

Giada Pistilli, 31, is the principal ethicist at Hugging Face and helps ensure AI is safely deployed. Here is what Pistilli's job as an AI ethicist entails, as told to Insider's Aaron Mok. I'm a full-time AI ethicist making sure the tech is safely deployed to the world. I first approached Hugging Face to understand how I could help build Bloom, its large language model. For example, a journalist approached Hugging Face after he claimed one of his articles was plagiarized by the company's language model.

☆ With 'The Ferryman,' Justin Cronin explores a brave new dystopian world
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-07 | by ( Mike Calia | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +7 min

"I didn't sit down and say to myself, 'I'm going to write another dystopia,'" Cronin told CNBC in an interview Tuesday at a bustling lower Manhattan diner. There was a very specific arrangement, military and political, that's no longer there. Some point I'm going to do something else. As a writer, you need to walk a lot of different streets, in a lot of different ways, to know this stuff. Even where political will is absent, even where there are strong disincentives to change, things come along and make it happen.

☆ Saudi Arabia's Neom is a $500B futuristic city being built in the desert — but it could morph into a surveillance dystopia
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-26 | by ( Bill Bostock | Tom Porter | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +1 min

Saudi Arabia is building a futuristic mega-city called Neom deep in a desert bordering the Red Sea. But critics fear that sophisticated technology could be used to surveil residents. Saudi Arabia hopes to build a futuristic mega-city 33 times the size of New York City from scratch. It's called Neom, a planned 16-borough city on the Red Sea coast in the northwestern Saudi province of Tabuk. As Insider reported, they believe that the Saudis could be preparing to use sophisticated Chinese surveillance technology to tightly monitor and control Neom's residents.

☆ Elon Musk now says he wants to create a ChatGPT competitor to avoid 'A.I. dystopia'—he's calling it 'TruthGPT'
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-19 | by ( Megan Sauer | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

"I'm going to start something which I call TruthGPT," Musk told Fox News' "Tucker Carlson Tonight" on Monday, adding that he'd want his AI chatbot to be a "maximum truth-seeking AI that tries to understand the nature of the universe." He didn't provide evidence for those claims, or detail exactly what a "truth-seeking AI" might entail. "A path to AI dystopia is to train AI to be deceptive," Musk said. "It could cause harm," Pichai told CBS News' "60 Minutes" on Sunday. Twitter — which intends to pursue generative AI, Musk told the BBC last week — is a for-profit company.

☆ ‘Mrs. Davis’ Review: Algorithm and Blues
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-19 | by ( James Poniewozik | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +2 min

The pilot introduces Simone (Betty Gilpin), a sister in a remote Nevada convent who has a sideline exposing dishonest magicians. Besides leaving her time for her hobby, convent life lets her avoid the reach of an omniscient A.I. Davis” in America, “Mum” in Britain, “Madonna” in Italy and so on — has not given up on Simone. Simone, Mrs. Davis believes deep in her code, is the one person equipped to carry out a mission: to find and destroy the Holy Grail. Simone agrees, hoping the quest will be a means to Mrs. Davis’s unplugging.

☆ Bing's first week with AI superpowers was a Wild West of excitement, misinformation, and dystopia — and showed Google has nothing to worry about just yet
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-17 | by ( Hasan Chowdhury | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

Microsoft Bing had an up-and-down first week after relaunching with new AI superpowers. Bing, Microsoft's search engine, has been revamped with artificial intelligence superpowers. Google's eponymous search engine is getting the same treatment. For one, its launch hasn't gone completely to plan — and even Microsoft admitted Bing has gone rogue in certain circumstances. And in Google, Bing faces a mighty foe.

☆ ‘The Wandering Earth II’ Review: It Wanders Too Far
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-22 | by ( Brandon Yu | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: 1 min

Upon its release, “The Wandering Earth,” Frant Gwo’s 2019 film about a dystopia in which Earth is perilously pushed through space, was minted as China’s first substantial, domestic sci-fi blockbuster, with the box office returns to prove it. The film was entertaining enough, but its ambitious scope had something of an empty gloss to it, partly because the story’s drama wasn’t grounded in anything beyond the showy cataclysm. Its audaciously messy sequel, “The Wandering Earth II,” seems to have taken note and sprinted, aimlessly, entirely in the other direction. Losing all of the glee of its predecessor, the movie instead offers nearly three hours of convoluted story lines, undercooked themes and a tangle of confused, glaringly state-approved political subtext.

☆ Polycrisis may lead to polycentric world order
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-19 | by ( Hugo Dixon | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +7 min

Another scenario is possible: a “polycentric order” with multiple centres of authority, where the United States is the leading power but not the hegemonic one. Indeed, the outlines of such an order may already be emerging out of the conflagration of economic, political and other shocks often labelled the polycrisis. A polycentric order would be different from what is often called a “multipolar” system - a dog-eats-dog world where big powers have a licence to dominate their neighbours. The United States is not nearly as powerful as it was. President Joe Biden realises the United States needs allies, says Peter Engelke of the Atlantic Council think tank.

☆ Tom Stoppard Fears the Virus of Antisemitism Has Been Reactivated
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-28 | by ( David Marchese | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +19 min

I don’t think that it’s an equal participant in some kind of debate. I don’t think so. If you’re sitting there enjoying the structure, then I don’t think that’s entirely good news for the writer. I don’t know that I would actually pursue the subject as a playwright. You know, I’m told there is such a thing as the long view.

☆ This Is Your Brain on ‘Deep Reading.’ It’s Pretty Magnificent. - The New York Times
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-22 | by ( The Ezra Klein Show | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +57 min

But if over time, we have begun to elaborate this brain so that it includes deep reading, the unnatural apex of the achievement of reading is what deep reading provides. And every time I get off of a plane, I say to myself, I’m going to do that more. I’m going to sit and I’m going to have quiet time with a book. I’m going to bring this to me in a second, so I’m not just putting this on little kids. maryanne wolfThe first thing I do is understand the purpose of whatever I’m reading.

Persons: ezra klein, Ezra Klein, Maryanne Wolf, “ Proust, she’s, screeds, Ezra, maryanne, ” ezra klein, McLuhan, ”, ezra klein Well, Nicholas Carr, ezra klein I’m, I’m, Walter Ong, Postman, It’s, we’ve, Proust, it’s, Aristotle, Hermann Hesse’s Magister Ludi, Rilke, Hermann Hesse, Ludi, Magister Ludi, —, I’d, we’re, don’t, Barry Zuckerman, John Hutton, One’s, I’ll, he’s, Walter Benjamin, Walter Benjamin’s, isn’t, I’ve, Naomi Baron, You’ve, you’ve, you’re, ezra klein It’s, Socrates, Ong, ezra klein —, Nicholas Carr’s, Sam Bankman, Fried, ezra klein FTX, languish, Let’s, Montaigne, Wendell Berry, Marcus Aurelius, they’re, Lorca, Tami Katzir, Marina Bers, Annie, that’s Marilynne Robinson, ” “ Lila, Jack, Marilynne Robinson, Emily Dickinson’s, Gish Jen, Wendell Berry’s “, John Dunne Organizations: U.C.L.A . School of Education, Information Studies, New York Times, Corps, Reggio Emilia, Boston College, ” Locations: what’s, Norway, signposting, Cincinnati, Oxford, —, ”, Korean, Italy, Israel, “, Boston

☆ Pakistan at COP27 demands climate aid, says 'dystopia' already here
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-11 | by ( Valerie Volcovici | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

SHARM EL-SHEIKH, Egypt, Nov 11 (Reuters) - Pakistan will not be satisfied unless U.N. climate summit negotiators unlock emergency cash for the country to rebuild after this year's devastating floods, its climate minister said Thursday. "The dystopia has already come to our doorstep," the country's climate minister, Sherry Rehman, told Reuters in an interview on the sidelines of the COP27 summit in Egypt. Pakistan is playing a high-profile role at the COP27 summit in Egypt this year, serving as one of two co-chairs invited by conference host Egypt, with the other being Norway. Pakistan also represents the G77 umbrella group of developing countries, pushing for a doubling in finance to help poor nations adapt to climate impacts. "There is a recognition [at COP27] that we are facing a new climate normal for the world," she said.

☆ Sure, Twitter and Facebook have deepened polarization — just not in the way you think
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-27 | by ( Adam Rogers | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +11 min

The conventional wisdom blames social media for the widening divide because the timing lines up. Maybe the problem isn't that social media has driven us all into like-minded bubbles. Maybe it's that social media has obliterated the bubbles we've all lived in for centuries. On top of that, Törnberg adds, there's the way people react to all the new ideas that social media exposes them to. And as one leading social media and polarization researcher told me, the model is not empirical, which makes it hard to test.

☆ In a Time of Crisis, Public Discourse Has Descended Into Nonsense
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-27 | by ( Gerard Baker | ) www.wsj.com time to read: +1 min

If I had to pick the most worrying characteristic of our current dystopia, I would choose the unsettling disconnect between the seriousness of the challenges we face and the public discourse that is supposed to be addressing them. A perilous war rages in Europe, as a failing tyrant with nuclear weapons launches desperate new waves of cannon fodder against a nation whose defense we are financing and reinforcing. In Asia, the emerging Chinese superpower is in the throes of a significant economic and social upheaval that may propel it toward the full-scale confrontation it increasingly threatens with Taiwan, an island whose people we are pledged to defend. At home we are caught in the worst of economic traps—as the Federal Reserve inflicts unavoidable monetary pain to kill the surging inflation incurred by its avoidable mistake. Meanwhile the global economy seems to be sliding into a potentially serious recession, and financial markets are eroding our wealth at a dizzying pace.

☆ From Meatspace to Metaverse: Two Books on Virtual Reality
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-23 | by ( Steven Poole | ) www.wsj.com time to read: +1 min

In the annals of hype about things that don’t yet exist, the metaverse has enjoyed an impressive rocketlike trajectory. Other tech giants, including Microsoft and Nvidia, are also pivoting to the metaverse. In the mid-20th century, “metaverse” was an obscure synonym for metapoetry, or poetry about poetry. Mr. Stephenson’s readers have wanted to go to the metaverse ever since. John Carmack, the lead developer of the first-person-shooter game “Doom,” once said it was a moral imperative to build the metaverse.

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