Friday Thinking is a humble curation of my foraging in the digital environment. My purpose is to pick interesting pieces, based on my own curiosity (and the curiosity of the many interesting people I follow), about developments in some key domains (work, organization, social-economy, intelligence, domestication of DNA, energy, etc.) that suggest we are in the midst of a change in the conditions of change - a phase-transition. That tomorrow will be radically unlike yesterday.
Many thanks to those who enjoy this. ☺
In the 21st Century curiosity will SKILL the cat.
Jobs are dying - Work is just beginning.
Work that engages our whole self becomes play that works.
Techne = Knowledge-as-Know-How :: Technology = Embodied Know-How
In the 21st century - the planet is the little school house in the galaxy.
Citizenship is the battlefield of the 21st Century
“Be careful what you ‘insta-google-tweet-face’”
Woody Harrelson - Triple 9
Content
Quotes:
Articles:
A project that I really like a lot is one called the Polymath Project, which has involved a large number of people, mostly mathematicians, from all over the world. They have started using blogs and wikis to collaborate together on difficult, unsolved mathematical problems. It’s a place where they can pool all their different types of expertise, hopefully get a conversation going, and maybe make some progress on problems that any individual amongst them might find very, very challenging. They have had some big successes. They have also had some other projects that haven’t gone so well, which is about par for the course in research. If you’re not having a lot of failures, it means you’re trying problems that are too easy. But it is exciting to see them doing this and pioneering a new way of doing research.
The Networked Era: An Interview with Michael Nielsen
The information technology sector broadly defined is now at the leading edge of the capitalist system. Material production and distribution, enterprise and professional management, finance, insurance and real estate are all increasingly dependent on digital technology. In the second quarter of 2019 the top five firms in the world by market capitalisation were Microsoft, Apple, Amazon, Alphabet and Facebook. Their combined value of $4.7 trillion tracks the extent to which the broader economy of production and exchange currently relies on a relative handful of digital intermediaries.
Any attempt to reassert the primacy of democracy over private power must reckon with these leading firms and with the sector more generally. In what follows I set out the outlines of a socialist agenda for digital technology - a programme that begins with networked communications and shows how a ‘public option’ here opens up new possibilities for much more extensive popular oversight and direction of our economic, social and ecological systems. Technology will not save us from the overlapping and intensifying crises facing us. But it has an important contribution to make in a broader process of reform.
Taxing Google and other companies to fund public service journalism depends on their continued, massive profitability, and so would further entrench them as foundational institutions in the emerging, digitally mediated social order
Public investments in digital technology are a necessary component of an industrial strategy that serves the majority. This is in part a matter of preventing insiders from securing corrupt advantages. In part it is a matter of bringing the public into the development process as active participants with a direct stake in projects. Above all it is a matter of acknowledging that technological development is shaped by the power relations that surround it. Unless innovation is embedded in a culture of democratic oversight and direction it will never deliver on its emancipatory potential.
After forty years of neoliberalism public institutions need to be restructured along lines that combine democratic legitimacy with technical expertise and efficiency. This does not mean a simple reversion to principles of Keynesian public service. Rather, the public sector must develop an approach that enhances the capacities of the citizenry in assembly.
The British Digital Cooperative: A New Model Public Sector Institution
The attentional searchlight metaphor was backward: The brain wasn’t brightening the light on stimuli of interest; it was lowering the lights on everything else.
the researchers found that the mechanism doesn’t just filter out one sense to raise awareness of another: It filters information within a single sense too.
the focus of the attentional spotlight seems to get relatively weaker about four times per second, presumably to prevent animals from staying overly focused on a single location or stimulus in their environment. That very brief suppression of what’s important gives other, peripheral stimuli an indirect boost, creating an opportunity for the brain to shift its attention to something else if necessary. “The brain seems to be wired to be periodically distractible,” he said.
To Pay Attention, the Brain Uses Filters, Not a Spotlight
Political scientists have historically been bad at foreseeing the most important developments. Few of us guessed the end of the Cold War; almost no one saw the Arab Spring coming.
In defence of my discipline, there is a reason for that.
Before a momentous event occurs, there are numerous possibilities and different ways events can unfold. After it happens, however, it will appear inevitable. And after it happens, we will be very good at explaining why it had to happen.
Very few of us are now predicting the socio-political situation in the United States, which now features an impeachment probe into President Donald Trump, will lead to an uprising.
But after years of teaching on protests, uprisings and revolutions, it seems to me the U.S. is currently showing all the signs political scientists and historians would identify in retrospect as conducive to a revolutionary uprising.
Once the population is convinced that the system is not working, and their grievances will remain unheard, then almost anything can set off a political explosion.
Is the United States on the brink of a revolution?
What if we left behind the mirror metaphor in trying to make sense of the world? What if we closed our eyes for a moment and began to imagine what does not yet exist? What kind of a world we would really want to create?
It would mean an approach to sense making in which the major attempt is not to examine the world as it is, but to actively shape it through personal engagement and action. The aim, then, is not to focus on existing problems, or the reasons behind them, but to focus on creative practices that can achieve more viable outcomes.
Work as forming the future, work as art
This is an important signal of an emerging shift in our major economic paradigm - one that many may feel this simply signals the obvious.
economists’ self-reported political orientation strongly influences their ideological bias, with estimated bias going up as respondents’ political views move to the right. The estimated bias is also stronger among mainstream than among heterodox economists, with macroeconomists exhibiting the strongest bias
...there exists growing evidence that suggests value judgements and political orientation of economists affect not just research, but also citation networks, faculty hiring, as well as economists’ positions on positive and normative issues related to public policy
Are Economists Ideologically Biased?
Economists like to think they’re immune from ideological influence. New research shows otherwise.
Mainstream (neoclassical) economics has always put a strong emphasis on the positivist conception of the discipline, characterizing economists and their views as objective, unbiased, and non-ideological. This is still true today, even after the 2008 economic crisis exposed the discipline to criticisms for lack of open debate, intolerance for pluralism, and narrow pedagogy. Even mainstream scholars who do not blatantly refuse to acknowledge the profession’s shortcomings still resist identifying ideological bias as one of the main culprits. They often favor other “micro” explanations, such as individual incentives related to academic power, career advancement, and personal and editorial networks. Economists of different traditions do not agree with this diagnosis, but their claims have been largely ignored and the debate suppressed.
Acknowledging that ideology resides quite comfortably in our economics departments would have huge intellectual implications, both theoretical and practical. In spite (or because?) of that, the matter has never been directly subjected to empirical scrutiny. In a recent study, we do just that. Using a well-known experimental “deception” technique embedded in an online survey that involves just over 2400 economists from 19 countries, we fictitiously attribute the source of 15 quotations to famous economists of different leanings. In other words, all participants received identical statements to agree or disagree with, but source attribution was randomly changed without the participants’ knowledge. The experiment provides clear evidence that ideological bias strongly influences the ideas and judgements of economists. More specifically, we find that changing source attributions from mainstream to less-/non-mainstream figures significantly reduces the respondents’ reported agreement with statements. Interestingly, this contradicts the image economists have of themselves, with 82% of participants reporting that in evaluating a statement one should only pay attention to its content and not to the views of its author.
This is a strong signal of changing demographics and new forms of collective organization enhancing our ways of life. However, it is not just elders that are experimenting with new housing arrangements.
Cohousing communities bring people together who choose to live cooperatively based upon shared values. Examples are the desire to promote environmental sustainability or social justice, or a shared spirituality. Common elements include a community vision statement that articulates important principles along with a hierarchical governance and decision-making structure.
Older baby boomers are creating new living arrangements for themselves – here’s how
One of the major questions of growing older is, “where do I want to live as I age?” For many baby boomers, an important goal is staying independent as long as possible. Many in this generation desire to age in their homes and make their own choices as long as possible.
Living preferences are changing, as are relationship patterns, such as greater numbers of mid- and late-life adults who are single, childless, or live at a distance from adult children. “Senior cohousing communities,” or SCCs, are a form of communal living that integrates common areas and private residences. They promote choice and independence, which are particularly important for the aging baby boom generation.
As academic social workers and gerontologists, we have studied numerous issues of later life. Professionally, we wanted to see how these communities promote health and well-being.
Cohousing is a relatively new type of living arrangement. The first modern cohousing community was developed in Denmark in 1972. In the U.S., senior cohousing, started in the early 2000s. There are now 17 such communities, and 28 are currently in formation or under construction.
We have to remember that ‘disruptive’ technologies always initially underperform in relation to the technologies of the time - progress is slow until suddenly the situation has rapidly changed.
Autonomous vehicles to carry passengers in Shanghai
Local authorities in Shanghai last week have issued licenses – the first in China – for operational tests of smart and connected cars with passengers in them, that would pave the way for commercial robotaxis in the future.
The licenses were given to car-hailing ride service Didi Chuxing as well as to car manufacturer SAIC Motor and BMW that allow them to conduct autonomous driving projects in real urban scenarios in Shanghai’s Jiading district, local government officials announced at last week’s World Autonomous Vehicle Ecosystem Conference.
Each of the three companies are permitted to run 50 vehicles for pilot programs including robotaxis, unmanned deliveries and other autonomous driving services. The license holders can increase the number of test vehicles after six months if there are no traffic violations.
The city issued China’s first licenses on autonomous vehicle (AV) tests to SAIC and EV maker Nio in March 2018, with only company employees allowed to ride in the vehicles during tests. In this round of licenses, vehicles will be allowed to carry passengers and to transport goods. A driver will be onboard to take over if needed. The rides will be free for qualified passengers aged 18 to 70, for whom service providers are required to offer insurance.
A weak signal but a good one concerning new ways to capture carbon out of the atmosphere.
Algae bioreactors take a biological approach to carbon sequestration. Already an established concept — one’s being tested at the International Space Station — the algae thrives on carbon dioxide emissions. The algae could theoretically then be harvested for use as a material or a source of dietary protein.
A NEW BIOREACTOR CAPTURES AS MUCH CARBON AS AN ACRE OF TREES
A new algae bioreactor can suck as much carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere as roughly an acre of forest — potentially giving dense cities a new weapon in the fight against catastrophic climate change.
Development firm Hypergiant Industries used AI systems to make its newly-announced Eos Bioreactor prototype, a 63-cubic foot box which is filled with algae. The startup says it takes in as much carbon as 400 trees and keeps it out of the environment.
While the spread of plastics is definitely a global concern - banning them misses the more important point of the need to change the larger business model - We should be banning landfill and legislating that all products have a designed way to metabolize them. This is an interesting signal in that regard.
"I didn't want to use virgin natural materials so I challenged myself with starting with a waste stream," said Hughes. "For me a good design is something that bridges the gap between behaviours, business and our planet."
the waste from just one Atlantic cod is enough to produce 1,400 MarinaTex bags.
Fish scale bioplastic wins UK James Dyson Award for student design
University of Sussex graduate Lucy Hughes used fish waste to create MarinaTex, a compostable alternative to single-use plastic that has won her this year's UK James Dyson Award.
MarinaTex is made from fish scales and skin — waste products that would usually be buried in landfill or incinerated.
It is translucent and flexible, making it a candidate for single-use packaging such as bags and sandwich wrappers, and importantly, it will break down in home composts or food-waste bins within four to six weeks.
This is a signal worth watching for those concerned with treating perhaps curing Alzheimer’s and other conditions of brain inflammation.
Alzheimer's breakthrough: Two short strings of amino acids could pave the way to new treatments
Two years after discovering a way to neutralize a rogue protein linked to Alzheimer's disease, University of Alberta Distinguished University Professor and neurologist Jack Jhamandas has found a new piece of the Alzheimer's puzzle, bringing him closer to a treatment for the disease.
In a study published in Scientific Reports, Jhamandas and his team found two short peptides, or strings of amino acids, that when injected into mice with Alzheimer's disease daily for five weeks, significantly improved the mice's memory. The treatment also reduced some of the harmful physical changes in the brain that are associated with the disease.
"In the mice that received the drugs, we found less amyloid plaque buildup and a reduction in brain inflammation," said Jhamandas, who is also a member of the Neuroscience and Mental Health Institute.
With the short peptides identified, Jhamandas and his team, which includes renowned virologists Lorne Tyrell and Michael Houghton, used a process of computer modeling and artificial intelligence to discover a small-molecule drug—similar to medications used to treat high blood pressure or cholesterol—it's now developing.
This is an interesting signal of how domesticating DNA may contribute to both adapting to climate change and to meeting other natural challenges to our food supplies.
the fungus is a tough opponent. It can’t be killed with fungicides, and it can linger in soil for up to 30 years. That has helped TR4 slowly spread around the world, probably by hitching rides on contaminated equipment or in soil
CRISPR might be the banana’s only hope against a deadly fungus
Researchers are using the gene-editing tool to boost the fruit’s defences and prevent the extinction of a major commercial variety.
The race to engineer the next-generation banana is on. The Colombian government confirmed last month that a banana-killing fungus has invaded the Americas — the source of much of the world’s banana supply. The invasion has given new urgency to efforts to create fruit that can withstand the scourge.
Scientists are using a mix of approaches to save the banana. A team in Australia has inserted a gene from wild bananas into the top commercial variety — known as the Cavendish — and are currently testing these modified bananas in field trials. Researchers are also turning to the powerful, precise gene-editing tool CRISPR to boost the Cavendish’s resilience against the fungus, known as Fusarium wilt tropical race 4 (TR4).
Breeding TR4 resistance into the Cavendish using conventional methods isn’t possible because the variety is sterile and propagated by cloning. So the only way to save the Cavendish may be to tweak its genome, says Randy Ploetz, a plant pathologist at the University of Florida in Homestead. The variety accounts for 99% of global banana shipments.
Our knowledge of our microbiome continues to advance in depth and breath.
In 2016, fewer than 2% of mass-spectrometry signals could be matched to known metabolites, Dorrestein says. That number has now increased two- to threefold.
In a screen of 76 gut microbes and 271 oral drugs, they found that all microbes metabolized some of the drugs, and that 65% of the drugs studied were metabolized by at least one microbial strain
Microbial chemistry gains fresh focus
The tools of chemical biology, genomics and data mining can yield insights into the metabolites of the microbiome.
Studies of the microorganisms that live on and inside animals’ bodies have long relied on DNA sequencing, which can reveal which species abound and how these microbial communities respond to their environment. Now, the analytical methods of chemical biology, combined with genomics and computing techniques, are giving researchers insights into what these microbes are actually doing, biochemically speaking. Using mass spectroscopy and a growing suite of databases and bioinformatics tools to analyse the data, some labs are focusing on substances produced as the microbes metabolize food. These ‘metabolites’ serve not only as markers for charting health and disease, but also as engines of physiological change.
The metabolites can influence the biology of the host, and not just where the microbial communities are resident. Some such compounds reach high levels in the blood, with concentrations that can vary by more than an order of magnitude between individuals, says Michael Fischbach, a microbiologist at Stanford University in California. “These are chemicals we should know more about, because they could underlie biological differences among people.”
Metabolomics — as the study of metabolites is known — is easier said than done, however. “In any given metabolomics run, we’ll detect thousands of metabolites,” says Erica Majumder, a biochemist at the State University of New York College of Environmental Science and Forestry in Syracuse, New York, who studies sulfur metabolism in gut microbes.
Humans are far from the only species that have fundamentally changed their environment.
How Jurassic Plankton Stole Control of the Ocean’s Chemistry
The idea that calcifying plankton transformed marine life isn’t entirely new. “The Mesozoic marine revolution is a pretty fundamental change in how the oceans operated,” Martindale said. She noted that, for over a decade, there’s been a general consensus in the paleontology community that the rise of calcifying plankton fundamentally changed ocean chemistry and allowed an entirely new suite of organisms to emerge and dominate. But until recently, no one had tested the idea empirically.
calcifying plankton took over. Nowadays, you’d be hard-pressed to find ocean waters less than 100 meters deep that don’t contain calcifying plankton. Despite their teeny size, they may account for nearly 12% of the total biomass in the oceans. And they’ve completely altered the way carbon moves around the planet. About 80% of the carbon-containing rocks on Earth are derived from the remains of these plankton and other marine calcifiers — even though by mass, these plankton may account for less than 0.2% of Earth’s carbon-containing life.
“All of a sudden you have all these little teeny tiny carbonate organisms that together add up to this huge carbonate sink that draws a ton of calcium carbonate out of the ocean, and as is articulated nicely in the paper, changes the dynamics of where that carbonate is deposited,” said Rowan Martindale, a paleoecologist at the University of Texas, Austin. “And so it really fundamentally changes how the ocean buffering capacity works.”
The researchers weren’t able to demonstrate conclusively that the plankton caused this shift, but they argued that simply by existing — and dying — in such huge numbers in deeper waters, these creatures created a deep reserve of carbonate that could then dissolve to buffer ocean chemistry whenever environmental changes pushed seawater to become more acidic.
For those who love Apple products and feel secure.
Legit-Looking iPhone Lightning Cables That Hack You Will Be Mass Produced and Sold
Their creation has been successfully fully outsourced to a factory, the security researcher behind the cables said.
Soon it may be easier to get your hands on a cable that looks just like a legitimate Apple lightning cable, but which actually lets you remotely take over a computer. The security researcher behind the recently developed tool announced over the weekend that the cable has been successfully made in a factory.
MG is the creator of the O.MG Cable. It charges phones and transfers data in the same way an Apple cable does, but it also contains a wireless hotspot that a hacker can connect to. Once they've done that, a hacker can run commands on the computer, potentially rummaging through a victim's files, for instance.
After demoing the cable for Motherboard at the Def Con hacking conference this summer, MG said "It’s like being able to sit at the keyboard and mouse of the victim but without actually being there."
No comments:
Post a Comment