Increased Infection Risks
After COVID-19 Infections @whn
This spiral of infections and their consequences is not sustainable. The health of the population will continue to deteriorate. We have measures to reduce the impact of COVID-19 [5]; why not use them?
Had to get a loaner vehicle from a local dealership because a 10 y/o car that I love needed a lot of work. So they gave me the latest model of the same car -- brand new -- which was vastly less powerful than ours, and kept trying to steer me between the lines and cause the steering wheel to rumble when I hit a line and all kinds of crap that just annoyed me.
The dealership probably thought they would entice me to buy the newer model, but driving it just made me more convinced I made the right decision to put the money into the old car.
@briankrebs The current trend to adding software to cars and making them more gadget like is a serious turnoff for me. Then add annoying driver-assistance functions and selling us services from inside the car. No. Just stop.
Which of those cars will be useful in 15-20 years? What happens to resale value when your car can’t get software updates any more? Or expensive screens fail? Just seeing lots of long-term headaches there.
Did you know that IT/tech-related #risks rank really high in the new #WEF Global Risks report?
AI-generated #disinfo is considered to be the 2nd biggest risk (right after extreme weather events). And it's of course connected to the 3rd biggest risk: social/political polarization.
#Cyberattacks are ranked 5th – and can in turn be connected to the disruption of supply chains and critical infrastructure (a topic that also features prominently).
In a sworn declaration made public on Fri, #MichaelCohen explained that he had not kept up w/ “emerging trends (& related #risks) in #legal#technology & did not realize that #GoogleBard was a generative text service that, like #ChatGPT, could show #citations & descriptions that looked real but actually were not.”
#MichaelCohen also said he didn’t realizethat the #lawyer filing the motion on his behalf, David M. Schwartz, “would drop the cases into his submission wholesale w/o even confirming that they existed.”
The revelation could have serious implications for the #Manhattan#criminal case against #Trump, in which Cohen is expected to serve as the star #witness. TFG’s lawyers have long attacked Cohen as a serial fabulist; now, they’ll have a new example.
The terrible human toll in Gaza has many causes.
A chilling investigation by +972 highlights efficiency:
An engineer: “When a 3-year-old girl is killed in a home in Gaza, it’s because someone in the army decided it wasn’t a big deal for her to be killed.”
An AI outputs "100 targets a day". Like a factory with murder delivery:
"According to the investigation, another reason for the large number of targets, and the extensive harm to civilian life in Gaza, is the widespread use of a system called “Habsora” (“The Gospel”), which is largely built on artificial intelligence and can “generate” targets almost automatically at a rate that far exceeds what was previously possible. This AI system, as described by a former intelligence officer, essentially facilitates a “mass assassination factory.”"
"The third is “power targets,” which includes high-rises and residential towers in the heart of cities, and public buildings such as universities, banks, and government offices."
“The #protocol was that even if you don’t know for sure that the machine is right, you know that statistically it’s fine. So you go for it,” said a source who used #Lavender.
“It has proven itself,” said B., the senior officer. “There’s something about the statistical approach that sets you to a certain norm and standard. There has been an illogical amount of [bombings] in this operation. This is unparalleled, in my memory. And I have much more trust in a statistical mechanism than a soldier who lost a friend two days ago. Everyone there, including me, lost people on October 7. The machine did it coldly. And that made it easier.”
Another intelligence source said: “In war, there is no time to incriminate every target. So you’re willing to take the margin of error of using artificial intelligence, risking collateral damage and civilians dying, and risking attacking by mistake, and to live with it.”
Exemple de risque encouru quand on a loupé ou oublié quelques notions de base, normalement apprises à l'école, en l'occurrence de la physique. Le gars a manqué de se tuer! #physique#physics#science#risks#risques
"Australian parking spaces might be about to get roomier, but experts warn such a move could hurt efforts to lower emissions by encouraging drivers to buy bigger cars".
"University of Melbourne data has found more than 11,000 Australians a year die prematurely due to vehicle pollution."
"Even as Australia works to combat climate change, Climate Council data shows emissions from light commercial vehicles rose by about 20 per cent between 2012 and 2020."
Pentagon funded study warns of the problems of an aging cohort of officials and politicians
While no spring chicken, I can understand the concerns regarding maintaining large numbers of elderly folk in positions of great responsibility. It certainly appears from a once time resident to be a problem in US politics. In 2017, Vox reported that a pharmacist had filled Alzheimer’s prescriptions for multiple members of Congress
. https://theintercept.com/2023/09/12/national-security-dementia-mcconnell-feinstein
Fossil fuels being subsidised at rate of $13m a minute, says IMF
"Countries have pledged to phase out subsidies for years to ensure the price of fossil fuels reflects their true environmental costs, but have achieved little to date...Ending the subsidies should be the centrepiece of climate action."
Climate change is making wildfires more frequent and more destructive
"In Canada, firefighters have reported such intense fires, that water dropped by aircraft is evaporating before it even hits the ground."
"The reasons for wildfires are complex.
Land use changes and p o o r f o r e s t m a n a g e m e n t play a part in worsening fires."
"You get a situation where the fires can become so intense they can't be fought. There's no technology that exists anymore...A lot of people burned in their cars as they were trying to flee the fire."
"The one solution that all researchers and policymakers seem to be unified on is that the carbon emissions warming the planet — and that are largely emitted by burning fossil fuels — must be slashed urgently."
It's the first of the month. Do you know how safe YOUR nest egg is from the risks brought by #ClimateChange?
"#PensionFunds are risking the #retirement savings of millions of people by relying on economic research that ignores critical scientific evidence about the financial #risks embedded within a rapidly changing Climate.
Leading AI researchers are good in AI...not in policy 😀 , their "extinction" statement was not smart, maybe well intended but it distracts from the real and more likely risks with regard to AI such as bias, discrimination, privacy, human rights violations, use by bad actors, weapons, cyber etc etc. There is enough to discuss but let's skip extinction for now... #AI#Risks#Extinction