Mind Matters News and Analysis on Natural and Artificial Intelligence

Tagsocial media

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Mannequin wearing military hat from Soviet era with hammer and sickle
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post
Author
News
Date
April 8, 2019
Categorized
Artificial Intelligence, Social Factors, Technocracy
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I spy AI. And AI spies on me…

The true threat posed by AI is the greatly reduced cost and risk of mass surveillance and manipulation
News
April 8, 2019
Artificial Intelligence, Social Factors, Technocracy

Some people are quite sure that the world would be a better place if they knew more about our business and policed it better. Mass snooping creeps up unnoticed and becomes a way of life. Then it explodes.

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post
Author
News
Date
January 14, 2019
Categorized
Ethics, Social Factors
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Research Showing That Fake News Easily Fools Us Collapses

A recent paper claiming that low-quality news (“fake news”) spreads as quickly on social media as accurate news has been retracted by its authors.
News
January 14, 2019
Ethics, Social Factors
A team from the Shanghai Institute of Technology sought to study whether accuracy made any difference to whether a post goes viral on social media. They cited a concern about “the digital misinformation that threatens our democracy.” Read More ›
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1970s television and speakers
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post
Author
Denyse O'Leary
Date
December 7, 2018
Categorized
Ethics, Social Factors, Technocracy
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Science Confronts Credibility Issues?

Not to worry, prestigious researchers blame them on social media trolls and bots
Denyse O'Leary
December 7, 2018
Ethics, Social Factors, Technocracy
And another thing: The researchers phoned the Seventies and asked them to please come back. Soon. Seriously, that’s the impression I get from reading a paper in PNAS, stemming from the National Academy of Sciences’ Arthur M. Sackler Colloquium November 2017 Read More ›
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Type
post
Author
Mind Matters
Date
November 26, 2018
Categorized
Artificial Intelligence, Social Factors
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AI Social Media Could Totally Manipulate You

Deep learning specialist: And the scary thing is, the AI needed is not especially advanced
Mind Matters
November 26, 2018
Artificial Intelligence, Social Factors
Readers familiar with The Two Towers will recall that that’s precisely what Worm-Tongue did to Theoden King: The king heard nothing but what was conveyed to him from his would-be overlord by Worm-tongue, until someone separated him, rather forcibly, from his "social medium." Read More ›
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post
Author
Mind Matters
Date
November 8, 2018
Categorized
Social Factors
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Is social media the best communications tool that ever happened?

The worst communications tool that ever happened? Or something less comfortable than either?
Mind Matters
November 8, 2018
Social Factors
We hear all three views aired frequently these days, along with many prescriptions for reform. Some sound the alarm over the success of political movements they disagree with and long for more control Read More ›
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post
Author
Mind Matters
Date
September 6, 2018
Categorized
Social Factors
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Smartphone 10 Conversation 0

We need to be more honest about the addictive nature of the device, for some.
Mind Matters
September 6, 2018
Social Factors
A guy on a date is not checking his phone three times in ten minutes because the world outside the restaurant is changing that fast. He is in the grip of an addiction. Read More ›
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post
Author
Denyse O'Leary
Date
August 28, 2018
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Giant Google’s vulnerable spot

Social media are free because we are both the content and the market
Denyse O'Leary
August 28, 2018
Recently, we looked at philosopher of technology George Gilder’s Life after Google: The Fall of Big Data and the Rise of the Blockchain Economy. But what form would that decline take? A look at the advertising picture offers one clue. Read More ›
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Type
post
Author
Denyse O'Leary
Date
August 22, 2018
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Hell is a “parasocial” place

Where your "friends" may not even exist
Denyse O'Leary
August 22, 2018
Consumer digital hells can be dreadful indeed but they are mostly of our own making. The companies that profit from them are not forcing us to live in them. That said, students should be taught in school that the internet’s virtual world features a great deal of fakery, including fake friends. Read More ›