Day archives: October 24th, 2023

Data – Information is Beautiful

“We love data. And we love getting data good and tight and comprehensive. The technical term for that is “juicy”. Juicy data. In fact, 80% of the work involved in creating an infographic is data-gathering, shaping and checking. Making the data juicy. So here, naturally, is a big-ass spreadsheet of all our best data.” You …

Subjects: Climate Change, Energy, Environmental Law, Food and Nutrition, Health Care, Knowledge Management, Legal Research

The New Big Tech

The Atlantic [read free] – “A slate of four AI companies might soon rule Silicon Valley…Chatbots and their ilk are still in their early stages, but everything in the world of AI is already converging around just four companies. You could refer to them by the acronym GOMA: Google, OpenAI, Microsoft, and Anthropic. Shortly after …

Subjects: AI, Economy, Financial System, Internet, Knowledge Management, Search Engines, Social Media

Visit the Library From the Comfort of Your Own Phone

The New York Times: “Public libraries have lent e-books to patrons for more than 20 years, but many have widened their electronic offerings with digital audiobooks, magazines, comics, videos and other services, even before the pandemic helped shift collections online. If you are curious about what your local library can lend from its digital shelves …

Subjects: Education, Knowledge Management, Libraries

What to Do If You’re Concerned About the 23andMe Breach

EFF: “In early October, a bad actor claimed they were selling account details from the genetic testing service, 23andMe, which included alleged data of one million users of Ashkenazi Jewish descent and another 100,000 users of Chinese descent. By mid-October this expanded out to another four million more general accounts. The data includes display name, …

Subjects: Cybercrime, Health Care, Internet, Knowledge Management, Privacy

The 2023 state of the climate report: Entering uncharted territory

The 2023 state of the climate report: Entering uncharted territory. BioScience, biad080, https://doi.org/10.1093/biosci/biad080 Published 24 October 2023. “Life on planet Earth is under siege. We are now in an uncharted territory. For several decades, scientists have consistently warned of a future marked by extreme climatic conditions because of escalating global temperatures caused by ongoing human …

Subjects: Climate Change, Environmental Law

Almost a Quarter of the World Feels Lonely

“Nearly one in four people worldwide — which translates into more than a billion people — feel very or fairly lonely, according to a recent Meta-Gallup survey of more than 140 countries. Notably, these numbers could be even higher. The survey represents approximately 77% of the world’s adults because it was not asked in the …

Subjects: Health Care

Lessig on why AI and social media are causing a free speech crisis for the internet

The Verge: Harvard Professor Lawrence Lessig – After 30 years teaching law, the internet policy legend is as worried as you’d think about AI and TikTok — and he has surprising thoughts about balancing free speech with protecting democracy. Nilay Patel: “…Larry and I talked about the current and recurring controversy around react videos on …

Subjects: AI, Copyright, Education, Free Speech, Intellectual Property, Internet, Knowledge Management, Legal Research, Social Media