The biggest threat to democracy? Your social media feed

“This means that instead of creating an ideal type of a digitally mediated “public agora”, which would allow citizens to voice their concerns and share their hopes, the internet has actually increased conflict and ideological segregation between opposing views, granting a disproportionate amount of clout to the most extreme opinions.”

The biggest threat to democracy? Your social media feed
https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2016/08/the-biggest-threat-to-democracy-your-social-media-feed/
via Instapaper

Good read ... Made me think !



Technology triumphs over humanity - the yahoo story

“Technology writer Nicholas Carr says the shift from personal computers to cloud computing is akin to the late 19th-century switch from electricity being generated locally to being delivered across power grids. The data centres built by Verizon, Facebook, Amazon and others are far more powerful than what preceded them. They also turn on-demand computing and access to data into a utility.”

Technology triumphs over humanity
http://www.bdlive.co.za/opinion/2016/07/29/technology-triumphs-over-humanity
via Instapaper

AI may soon monitor your live videos on Twitter, Facebook

“Dextro’s software, on the other hand, can recognize objects and signifiers in a frame without human intervention, such as a gun in a potentially violent video. And the speed of AI’s recognition gives it a huge leg-up on human monitors. Luan’s software can analyze a video within 300 milliseconds of posting.

Cortex, Twitter’s division focused on Periscope-monitoring AI, has been working on software that can watch and recommend live video since its launch in July 2015. “Periscope has been working with Twitter’s Cortex team to experiment with ways to categorize and identify content in live broadcasts,” a Twitter spokesman said in a statement. “The team is focused on pairing that advanced technology with an editorial approach to provide a seamless discovery experience on Periscope.” Cortex could not confirm when they would be rolling out their product.”

AI may soon monitor your live videos on Twitter, Facebook
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/innovations/wp/2016/07/27/ai-may-soon-monitor-your-live-videos-on-twitter-facebook/
via Instapaper

Interactive bodies and bio-hacking, via JWT Intelligence

“As connected objects enter our lives with the rise of the Internet of Things and wearable technology, they are becoming more closely intertwined with our bodies. “Biohacking,” or the modification of human bodies with interactive technology, has gained attention recently (including in our Control Shift report), and Davis’s “smart nails” suggest that it could catch on.”

Interactive bodies - JWT Intelligence
https://www.jwtintelligence.com/2016/07/interactive-bodies/
via Instapaper



All Can Be Lost: The Risk of Putting Our Knowledge in the Hands of Machines

“Because automation alters how we act, how we learn, and what we know, it has an ethical dimension. The choices we make, or fail to make, about which tasks we hand off to machines shape our lives and the place we make for ourselves in the world.”

All Can Be Lost: The Risk of Putting Our Knowledge in the Hands of Machines
http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2013/11/the-great-forgetting/309516/
via Instapaper