#futurology

[vintage-tigre]

Visit One Earth to learn more

[floofshy]

in the future, we could protect against infectious diseases by designing an "external immune system" where the microbes on your floor and food keep track of what is normally there and kill anything that looks unusual. This could also protect against food poisoning and perhaps even food spoilage.

In a "solved microbiology" world, this is the sort of strategy that society might pursue to solve the "anyone can make superflu" problem.

[michaelgogins]

The Leiden Declaration is not just for mathematicians

Recently some leading mathematicians have been studying the use, impact, and risks of using artificial intelligence in mathematical research and institutions.

They have now published the Leiden Declaration to articulate their concerns and to make recommendations.

I learned about this today from the New York Times, and you can learn a lot by reading their article. But you can learn more by reading the Declaration.

I feel that the Declaration is directly relevant not only to the mathematical community, but also, in reality, to all of us who regard thinking as an integral part of what we do. And that, in the end, is really all of us.

I strongly suggest that you study the Declaration and adopt its recommendations.

Here is my own take on the recommendations...

Provide disclosure and references for your own uses of artificial intelligence.

Invest all the work needed to rigorously vet any result that you have obtained through artificial intelligence.

Shoot down any crap work that you have identified. Don't make it personal, but don't be gentle.

Uphold the highest values of your chosen field of work. Both science and the arts are things that we do just out of curiosity, or to express ourselves, or because we just have to. In other words, these activities are ends in themselves. They are among the highest and most wonderful things that we, as a species, have done. Forcefully combat efforts to prioritize commercial, political, and military uses of artificial intelligence over more important reasons to use it.

Do everything you can to ensure that everyone who could benefit from using artificial intelligence, can use it. In a democratic world, anyone with a smartphone or computer should be able to find, afford, and use all the compute they need.

I have become convinced, through my own use of artificial intelligence for music composition and software development, that it has enormous, world-changing potential to amplify the scope, speed, and even depth of what scientists, artists, and indeed all of us can do.

Don't let selfish interests hoard or abuse this power.

[ihavenomouthandimustyap]

Imagine the hell that must be film and theater casting in the United Federation of Planets!

Like, a wannabe progressive director being like "we're casting an andorian to play curly in our revival of Oklahoma!" And all the conservatives being like "no you can't do that! That's not historically accurate! 😡" meanwhile people have been casting humans of any race in any roles regardless of historical accuracy because these distinctions no longer matter within our species.

Vulcan journalist writing hundred page long op eds about whether or not it's appropriate for non-vulcan actors to be cast as vulcans in their plays and being totally not emotional yet extremely polarized and moralizing about the issue.

More and more writers have been creating stories involving characters of different species to reflect the contemporary reality of federation folk in the more open worlds. But then schools wants to perform these plays and don't have all that diversity in their student body so they have to paint a tellarite blue or draw trill spots on a denobulan. There are thousand and thousands of articles debating if that's incensitive or not.

And how are non-federation species portrayed? Is it offensive to paint a human green to play the villain orion pirate trying to attack the noble starfleet heroine? No one can agree.

A minor diplomatic incident occurs because a movie about the Earth-Romulan War looks to cast vulcans to play the romulans. No one has ever seen vulcans more offended before.

Lord, imagine doing a media studies degree in 2325, wanting to talk about the themes of social apathy in 21st century pre World War 3 cinema but instead you keep getting random people to ask you what you think about the fact they casted a bolian in last year's remake of Parasite 🙄

[ihearthoovering]

i love dreaming a city i think its my fav manics instrumental

[altrbody]

"One of the results of current cultural processes is a widespread anxiety magnifying worries about the future we must contemplate together; this is everywhere translated into a need for futurologies. Never, until this contemporary period, did any individual culture experience such an intense obsession with the future. The passion for astrology, the predictions and prophecies that were Assyrian or Babylonian in origin and that spread most actively, perhaps during the European Middle Ages, were far more the products of a synthesizing or magical thought than anything produced by concerns about really safeguarding the future. The same held true for the Mayans and Aztecs or in ancient China. Nor did the notion of progress, so much touted by Victor Hugo, take shape as motifs of anticipation. These days, futurology is an obsession that tends to set itself up as a science. But any possible laws of such a science would be stamped by the same principle of uncertainty that governs the métissage of cultures."

--Édouard Glissant, The Poetics of Relation (p.163)

[gnosticgnoob]

[aiconvolibrary]

Read the full memo behind Meta's AI employee tracking rollout

Meta deploys keystroke-tracking software on US employees' computers, sparking privacy concerns and internal backlash.

Meta employees are up in arms over a mandatory program to train AI on their mouse movements and keystrokes

Meta launched internal AI software that tracks US employees' keystrokes.

Many employees reacted negatively to Meta's new AI tool, questioning its privacy practices.

Meta said its AI tool has privacy safeguards and is limited to work apps.

Meta is installing new software on its US employees' computers that will track their keystrokes and mouse movements to train its AI, and it's sparking backlash within the company, according to internal communications obtained by Business Insider.

Business Insider obtained the full internal announcement about the launch of the new AI training program. The post says that the software helps AI models improve how humans actually use computers, such as using keyboard shortcuts and choosing from dropdown menus. Reuters first reported on the new tracking software.