Winding Down
An idiosyncratic look at, and comment on, the week's net, technology, science and other news
by Alan Lenton
16 April 2023
Another issue of Winding Down hits the presses! This week we have material on surveillance at work, governments using sci-fi to predict future trends, and modern myths – will your cookware poison you? We look at how blind women in India are training to detect breast cancer, and ask what happens to solar panels at the end of their useful life. We have lots of pictures this week, and the quote is an extended one about AI.
Scanner points you to material I thought you might find interesting on London, junior doctors, children, optical switching, community fridges, and finally, preparing for a storm...
Enjoy!
Alan Lenton
Publishing schedule: Next issue is next week, 23 April 2023
Credits: Thanks to Fi for editing, correcting errors, etc.
Essays:
Psyche magazine has an interesting essay on how surveillance at work leads to perverse outcomes. I confess I hadn’t really thought about the issue in those terms before, but the arguments make sense. The basic premise is that instead of AI tools saving time and effort, they relocate the time and effort from the company to the workers.
Traditionally, it was the job of the company, having hired workers, to make sure that they worked. Under the new style systems the firm doesn’t have to do this, because the workers themselves do it through their use of tracking tools!
Fascinating!
https://psyche.co/ideas/why-ai-surveillance-at-work-leads-to-perverse-outcomes
The Conversation has an interesting essay on how governments are using science fiction to predict potential threats. Issues involved include super soldiers, drones, bio-engineering, and behavioural modification. Definitely worth a read...
https://theconversation.com/how-governments-are-using-science-fiction-to-predict-potential-threats-202877
Debunking Modern Myths:
Science Alert has a useful, and comprehensive, piece on whether your cookware is likely to poison you. It’s written by Oliver A. H. Jones, a Professor of Chemistry at RMMIT University. It looks at non-stick pans, aluminium pans, copper pans, cast iron, stainless steel and ceramic cookware as well.
In that case why do we sometimes worry about it? Seems like the answer is that we are not very good as assessing risk!
Useful should your kids start asking questions.
https://www.sciencealert.com/is-your-cookware-putting-you-at-risk-of-alzheimers-an-expert-explains
Health:
BoingBoing recently had a short piece about blind women in India, who are being taught to detect cancer lumps in patients breasts with a high degree of accuracy. India is short of radiographers and has little spare cash to buy the equipment. In addition, the women who do the detecting get paid and cease being a burden on their families – a win-win situation. Fantastic!
https://boingboing.net/2023/04/11/this-team-of-blind-women-are-detecting-the-tiniest-breast-cancer-lumps-in-patients-with-incredible-accuracy.html
Solar Energy:
I like the idea of solar energy, but I’ve always had a nagging little problem over the question of how you dispose of the waste when you get to the end of the panels’ working life. This, I’m happy to see, is a problem which is starting to be considered seriously, at least in Australia. The country has 80 million solar panels sitting in its extensive desert areas, and they will come to the end of their life around 2035.
Fortunately the government and the research establishments in Australia are starting to grapple with this problem now, rather than waiting until the last moment. To get some idea of the problem, you are talking about something in the region of 100,000 tons of panels needing to be dismantled and disposed of. TechXplore has an interesting piece on what’s involved. Take a look!
https://techxplore.com/news/2023-03-solar-industry-disposal-million-panels.html
Pictures:
Lots of pictures again this week!
We start with a selection of pictures from the UK’s BBC on the theme of ‘machinery’. An excellent widely varying collection!
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/in-pictures-65026997
Next in line is a picture of a massive halo of red light which appears to be hanging over an Italian village. Creepy...
https://www.space.com/ring-red-light-ufo-italy-explainer
If that doesn’t grab you, how about some pictures of a massive blob of seaweed off the US East Coast. It’s 5,000 miles wide, and is estimated to weigh 6.1 million tons. Yuck!
https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/big-seaweed-blob-photos-sargassum-bloom
Then there are some interesting pictures of an eruption of the Shiveluch volcano in the Kamchatka Peninsula, which covered the area, including towns and villages with a deep layer of dust. There’s also a satellite picture of the eruption.
https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/volcanic-eruption-spews-ash-12-miles-into-the-air-in-russia-180981977/
https://www.space.com/volcano-eruption-russia-satellites
Finally, there is a set of pictures taken of the topping out of the first Canary Wharf, London, skyscraper. The pictures have been lost for 30 years, but were recently discovered!
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-65274803
Quotes:
The quote this week is much longer than usual, and it’s from Lauren Weinstein, a well known and canny commentator on the politics and technical issues surrounding digital issues in the broadest sense.
“In answer to some questions I’ve received, let me put it this way. The firms pushing out these AI chat systems seem to lack an understanding of how ordinary persons exposed to them would react and use them. This is not altogether surprising, we’ve seen this pattern in tech repeatedly for many years, especially (but not exclusively) on the Internet. While the firms have generally had disclaimers present on these AI chat systems, to expect them to be fully understand in context by random users of these systems is both unreasonable and potentially dangerous.
Attempting to pause or stop AI training or other related research is not practical nor desirable. But better communication with the public is absolutely necessary. These systems need to be explained in ways that non-technical, busy persons will appreciate in the context of their own lives and experiences. The technologists designing these systems need to realize that if sufficient resources are not dedicated to these direct public communication and education needs, the firms will be ever more targeted by politically-motivated attacks, and risk their work being ever more mischaracterized by entities with political motives of their own, to the detriment of the firms, their users, and the community at large.
This must be understood and acted upon immediately, or the benefits of AI will be consumed by false narratives and it will be too late for much more than painful regrets.”
Lauren Weinstein https://www.vortex.com/lauren
Scanner:
Tony Travers: London at a crossroads? [A fantastic lecture on London and its rejuvenation over the last 20 or so years – AL]
https://www.onlondon.co.uk/tony-travers-london-at-a-crossroads/
What is antisocial behaviour? According to my research, no one really knows
https://theconversation.com/what-is-antisocial-behaviour-according-to-my-research-no-one-really-knows-202690
Junior doctors: why pay isn’t the only reason thousands are striking
https://theconversation.com/junior-doctors-why-pay-isnt-the-only-reason-thousands-are-striking-203701
New study reports 1 in 5 adults don’t want children, and they don’t regret it later
https://phys.org/news/2023-04-adults-dont-children.html
Optical switching at record speeds opens door for ultrafast, light-based electronics and computers
https://phys.org/news/2023-03-optical-door-ultrafast-light-based-electronics.html
Heard about Community Fridges? More than the hum of their parts
https://londonist.com/london/news/community-fridges
The Ni-Vanuatu way to prepare for a storm
https://hakaimagazine.com/news/preparing-for-a-storm-the-ni-vanuatu-way/
Footnote:
Please send suggestions for stories to alan@ibgames.com and include the words Winding Down in the subject line, unless you want your deathless prose gobbled up by my voracious Thunderbird spam filter...
Alan Lenton
alan@ibgames.com
16 April 2023
Alan Lenton is a retired on-line games designer, programmer and sociologist (among other things), the order of which depends on what he is currently working on! His web site is at http://www.ibgames.net/alan/index.html.
Past issues of Winding Down can be found at http://www.ibgames.net/alan/winding/index.html.
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