Mind Matters Natural and Artificial Intelligence News and Analysis

CategoryGlobal Technology

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Telecommunication tower during sunset with HUD graphical internet worldwide connectivity of 3G, 4G and 5G network. Technology concept. Antenna, microwave, repeater, base station. Mobile communications

The Radio Frequency Spectrum: A Finite Natural Resource

The increasing demand for the radio frequency spectrum that our wireless technologies depend on is unsustainable long-term
While spectrum "auctions" generate significant revenue, they raise concerns about fairness, as the big players outbid others, potentially stifling innovation. Read More ›
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A person uses touch screen technology in everyday life. AI Generated. Suitable for advertising.

Flashes of Genius: Hal Philipp’s Journey of Invention, Resilience

His groundbreaking work on optical sensors for automated doors and faucets laid the foundation for his career
Reflecting on his 100-hour workweeks and legal battles, he cautions against solo ventures without financial and legal backing. Read More ›
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Space launch preparation. Spaceship SpaceX Crew Dragon, atop the Falcon 9 rocket, inside the hangar , just before rollout to the launchpad. Elements of this image furnished by NASA

COSM 2024: Intelligence, Tech, and the True Source of Prosperity

In a world saturated with pessimism, George Gilder is very much an optimist
And the question we should ask is, given American history, why should anyone assume that the pessimists are right and he is wrong? Read More ›
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Glowing huge nebula with young stars. Space background

COSM 2024: Is There Room at the Top for Intelligence?

Before there was technology, there was intelligence…
If technology in the next two decades is the kind of thing you need to know for your future, you can hear from people who are helping make it happen at COSM. Read More ›
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Digital learning and global education concept

COSM: Wikipedia Co-Founder To Speak on Today’s Knowledge Risks

Larry Sanger is not a fan of the baked-in bias at Wikipedia today and wants to found an encyclosphere — like the blogosphere — instead

Larry Sanger, one of the founders of Wikipedia, will be speaking at COSM, Friday, November 1, at 10:30 am. His topic?: The increasingly pressing matter of preserving our knowledge. He should know. Originally a co-founder of Wikipedia, he has become increasingly critical of its role as a go-to source. In 2021, he warned, “If only one version of the facts is allowed then that gives a huge incentive to wealthy and powerful people to seize control of things like Wikipedia in order to shore up their power,” But let’s go back a bit Sanger, who has a Phd in philosophy (2000), was approached by entrepreneur Jimmy Wales that year to come to work for him on a project that evolved Read More ›

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Terahertz and optical wireless communication towers in a futuristic city with softwaredefined networking control centers

COSM: Ethernet Inventor Asks, Are We Ready for New IT Technology?

Bob Metcalfe will talk about new technologies like electromagnetic waves from the “dead zone” of the spectrum that are slowly becoming economically viable
Metcalfe’s Law of IT growth begins with the fact that one fax machine — for example — is useless. Two help a bit but millions of them made a difference. Read More ›
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Underwater empty swimming pool background with copy space

Silicon Valley’s Trendy Ethic: Effective Altruism

How effective is it really? Does the underlying utilitarianism leave out some important things?
Effective altruism is a kind of therapy, a type of self-help for the angst-ridden techno-elites trying to grapple with human suffering and limitations. Read More ›
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Smiling young lady learning and communicating in sign language online while sitting at workplace

The Difference Smartphones Make to People With Hearing Loss

Engineering is not an arm-chair exercise. Engineers mut get their prototypes out in the field where people they don't know will use them in ways they can't imagine
The most prominent example of unintended uses I can think of came about with the development of the internet itself. Read More ›
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Servers data center room with bright bokeh light going through the corridor 3D rendering

The Allure of General Purpose Technologies

Generative AI is merely the most recent one.
I don’t believe that economists intended to create a monster when they coined the term “general purpose technology”, but they have. Read More ›
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Chinese flags on barbed wire wall in Kashgar (Kashi), Xinjiang, China.

China: An inside look at Neo-Totalitarianism

Writing in the journal Dignitas, Heather Zeiger outlines the Chinese government’s attempt at total control of the everyday life of residents of XinJiang province
This approach to government — a hybrid of totalitarian aspirations and advanced AI surveillance techniques — has been called neo-totalitarianism. Read More ›
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Modern day slavery, illegal trade of human organs on the black market and forced organ harvesting of death row inmates concept theme with a liver, heart and kidney with price tags and a barcode

Organ Transplants: How the Internet Enables the Dark Side

Euthanasia activists offer to "ease" the donor organ shortage, and so do cartels that exploit the world’s most vulnerable poor
Africans are lured abroad in hopes of a job, maybe in high tech even, and it sometimes turns out that the job is — organ donor. Read More ›
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A Chinese man, wearing a face mask to protect himself from the novel coronavirus 2019-nCoV or COVID-19 is riding a scooter in Taipei, Taiwan.

COVID Helped China Get Ahead on Genetic Therapies

Why is China trying to lead the world in genetic technology?
Some are concerned about the creation of genetic weapons, a bioterror tool to target certain ethnic groups. Read More ›
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Composite collage image of delighted black white colors person hold telephone raise fist celebrate like notification facebook instagram tiktok

The Clock’s Ticking for TikTok

Biden admin might ban TikTok in the U.S. if company doesn't sell

The Biden administration is considering banning TikTok in the United States if the platform’s parent company, ByteDance, doesn’t sell it. The news arrives amidst growing concerns over national security and Chinese espionage tactics, particularly in light of the “spy balloon” that was shot down off the American east coast in February. ByteDance is a Chinese company, and as such, is subject to disclose its information to the Chinese Communist Party. Today, more than half of American states have placed bans on state-issued devices out of privacy and security concerns. Texas representative Paul Michael McCaul said, TikTok is a modern-day Trojan horse of the [Chinese Communist Party], used to surveil and exploit Americans’ personal information. It’s a spy baloon for your Read More ›

sheet of white paper conceal
A sheet of white paper is held by a protester in China.

China: Protesters Evade Censors and Confront State Surveillance

Chinese citizens are known for their clever plays on words to evade social media censors.

The graffiti on the bathroom wall at the university said there would be a gathering in honor of the people who had died in an apartment fire in Urumqi, Xinjiang. Bathrooms usually do not have surveillance cameras, so this announcement would probably go unnoticed by censors. It is better than risking punishment by posting on social media. In another city, Chinese citizens discretely shared information about the location of a vigil for the Urumqi victims on WeChat in the guise of dinner plans. A number of people died in the fire, whose toll was likely inflated because emergency vehicles were unable to access the building due to zero-Covid measures. Social media posts showed doors that were barred shut and barricades Read More ›

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Man in gas mask is showing an Ok gesture by his hand close up on gray background.

China: Massive Protests at Cell Phone Plant Continue

One accusation against Apple is that it has consistently failed to live up to its responsibilities as a global leader at the top of the supply chain.

At the Foxconn plant in Zhengzhou where thousands of employees walked out on October 29, protests broke out on November 23. They were led by new hires staying on a campus dormitory after they learned that they would have to work an additional two months at lower pay before they receive their promised bonuses for coming to Foxconn to cover for the October exodus. Additionally, workers complained of inadequate food and fear of Covid exposure. Workers were offered 25,000 yuan (US$3,500) for two months of work, a 50% increase on the posted maximum wage. When they learned of changes in their agreement, employees at the dorm responded by pulling down outdoor tents (for Covid testing) and destroying a surveillance camera. Read More ›

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Electric Cars at COSM 2022

Are Electric Cars Really the Future?

Panelists at the 2022 COSM conference discuss the pros and cons of electric vehicles

On November 10th, the COSM conference hosted a special panel on electric vehicles (EVs for short). Brian Mistele, founder and CEO of Inrix, a leading provider of traffic information, car services, and transportation analytics, moderated the discussion. Aside from Mistele, the panel included Howard Hayden, professor emeritus at the University of Connecticut and editor of The Energy Advocate, Walter Myers, Principal Manager on Azure, Microsoft’s cloud-based platform, and Tony Posawatz, an automotive industry pioneer and chief executive of Fisker Automotive. They brought a range of perspectives on the pros and cons of EVs and where the auto industry is heading. Posawatz kicked off the panel by giving a brief overview of automobile history. He said, There was electric and folks Read More ›

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The zero covid text on china flag 3d rendering

What Your Made-in-China iPhone Really Costs – Updated 2

Chaos has ensued as workers have fled Xi’s latest Zero COVID lockdown at the iPhone factory

Updated as of November 2, below the first vid: Fresh off an unusual third term as President, Xi Jinping found his brutal zero COVID policy facing an uncharacteristically harsh light of publicity. The BBC zeroed in on Apple phone workers fleeing a targeted site: Workers have broken out of Apple’s largest iPhone assembly factory in China after a Covid outbreak forced staff to lockdown at the workplace. Video shared online showed about 10 people jumping a fence outside the plant, owned by manufacturer Foxconn, in the central city of Zhengzhou. Sam Hancock, “Apple: Chinese workers flee Covid lockdown at iPhone factory” at BBC News (October 30, 2022) Taiwan-based Apple supplier Foxconn, has hundreds of thousands of workers in Zhengzhou, capital Read More ›

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Haiti flag being pushed into the ground by a male silhouette. 3D Rendering

Haiti: Turning the Blazing Sun Into a Power Source

Brian Thomas and Kayla Garrett learned how to make solar power work in Haiti by listening to people, especially the Haitians they work with

In podcast Episode 209, Robert J. Marks continues the discussion with Brian Thomas and Kayla Garrett of JustEnergy about appropriate technology for energy-starved Haiti: Solar powering hospitals, orphanages & schools (October 20, 2022): Robert J. Marks: I was informed that people [in Haiti] on average make a dollar a day and they have to go out and they have to buy gas sometimes on the black market for $20, $30 a gallon. It’s just crazy.. So one of the things that you’re concentrated on as engineers is to increase the energy access to Haitians. So what’s the technology that you use to increase the energy access? Brian Thomas: Haiti doesn’t have any petroleum — any oil, gasoline, diesel… or even Read More ›