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This is at present’s version of The Download, our weekday e-newsletter that gives a each day dose of what’s happening on the planet of know-how.
How to repair the web
We’re in a really unusual second for the web. We all comprehend it’s damaged. But there’s a way that issues are about to alter. The stranglehold that the massive social platforms have had on us for the final decade is weakening.
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There’s a kind of frequent knowledge that the web is irredeemably unhealthy. That social platforms, hungry to revenue off your information, opened a Pandora’s field that can not be closed.
But the web has additionally supplied a haven for marginalized teams and a spot for assist. It presents info at occasions of disaster. It can join you with long-lost pals. It could make you snort.
The web is price combating for as a result of regardless of all of the distress, there’s nonetheless a lot good to be discovered there. And but, fixing on-line discourse is the definition of a tough downside. But don’t fear. I’ve an thought. Read the full story.
—Katie Notopoulos
This story is from the following journal version of MIT Technology Review, set to go dwell on October 25. It’s all about society’s hardest issues, and the way we should always sort out them. If you don’t subscribe already, sign up now to get a replica when it lands.
Why it’ll be laborious to inform if AI ever turns into aware
History is wealthy with examples of individuals making an attempt to breathe life into inanimate objects, and of individuals promoting hacks and methods as “magic.” But this very human want to imagine in consciousness in machines has by no means matched up with actuality.
Creating consciousness in synthetic intelligence methods is a dream for a lot of technologists. Large language fashions are the most recent instance of our quest for intelligent machines, and a few individuals (contentiously) declare to have seen glimmers of consciousness in conversations with them.
AI methods don’t have brains, so it’s inconceivable to make use of conventional strategies of measuring mind exercise for indicators of life. But neuroscientists have varied completely different theories about what consciousness in AI methods may appear to be. Read the full story.
Melissa’s story is from The Algorithm, MIT Technology Review’s weekly AI e-newsletter. Sign up to obtain it in your inbox each Monday.
2023 Climate Tech Companies to Watch: Gogoro and its battery pack community
Gogoro is kind of a reverse Tesla. The firm, which makes electrical scooters to create a marketplace for its battery-swapping community, and batteries for third-party automobiles, has constructed a community of charging stations to assist it promote automobiles.
Gogoro now has almost 13,000 good battery swapping stations at 3,000 places within the 9 nations the place it operates. What’s extra, its cloud-connected, AI-managed stations can inform the state of each battery within the system, anticipate demand from clients, and optimize charging occasions for off-peak hours, when vitality is cheaper. Read the full story, and browse the rest of the list of Climate Tech Companies to Watch.
The must-reads
I’ve combed the web to search out you at present’s most enjoyable/necessary/scary/fascinating tales about know-how.
1 Neuralink’s know-how has the potential to break our brains
Former employees say the corporate takes pointless dangers. (Vox)
+ Less-invasive implants are exhibiting nice promise. (IEEE Spectrum)
+ Elon Musk’s Neuralink is neuroscience theater. (MIT Technology Review)
2 Sam Bankman-Fried used buyer cash for extravagant spending sprees
A former FTX govt spilled the beans on its founder’s extreme spending. (NYT $)
+ SBF’s protection has been unorthodox, to say the least. (Slate $)
3 Inside an enormous carbon offsetting rip-off
If it feels too good to be true, it normally is. (New Yorker $)
+ Carbon removing hype is turning into a harmful distraction. (MIT Technology Review)
4 Who are ad-free social networks making an attempt to please?
While customers don’t like personalised adverts, these variations are aimed squarely at regulators. (Bloomberg $)
5 Investors are boycotting Web Summit
They disagree with its CEO’s feedback in regards to the Israel-Hamas battle. (The Information $)
6 Apple’s recycling robotic wants your previous iPhones
Because too few individuals are submitting theirs to maintain it busy. (FT $)
7 Driverless automobiles are right here to remain
That doesn’t imply metropolis authorities have to love them, although. (The Atlantic $)
+ San Francisco is dwelling to many battles over autonomous automobiles. (New Yorker $)
+ Robotaxis are right here. It’s time to resolve what to do about them. (MIT Technology Review)
8 A Roman scroll has been learn for the primary time in almost 2,000 years
Thanks to a little bit little bit of AI. (WP $)
9 Paris is combating again towards a bedbug infestation
Using largely very low-tech detection strategies. (Wired $)
+ But different cities are additionally riddled with the pests. (New Scientist $)
10 Mixed actuality headsets are being noticed IRL
And you thought Google Glass was unhealthy. (The Verge)
+ Those Meta-RayBan sun shades are nonetheless going, too. (TechCrunch)
Quote of the day
“Ernie is not inferior in any respect to GPT-4.”
—Robin Li, founding father of Chinese tech big Baidu, makes a significantly daring declare in regards to the proficiencies of its recently-launched AI chatbot Ernie compared to OpenAI’s subtle mannequin, Bloomberg studies.
The huge story
How we drained California dry
During the driest decade in state history, California’s farmers haven’t diminished their footprint to meet water’s scarcity but have added a half-million more acres of permanent crops—more almonds, pistachios, mandarins.
They’ve lowered their pumps by hundreds of feet to chase dwindling water sources, sucking many millions of acre-feet of water out of the earth that the land is sinking. This subsidence is collapsing the canals and ditches, reducing the flow of the very aqueduct that the state built to create the flow itself. Read the full story.
—Mark Arax
We can nonetheless have good issues
A spot for consolation, enjoyable and distraction in these bizarre occasions. (Got any concepts? Drop me a line or tweet ’em at me.)
+ This candy lil bat can’t get sufficient fruit.
+ Say whats up to Kevin Afghani: the brand new voice of everybody’s favourite plumber, Mario.
+ Every Twilight screening needs to be on a poorly-hung projector sheet.
+ If gentrification was a font, it’d look rather a lot like Neutraface.
+ You know what’s actually spooky? Tomatoes. 🍅
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