Ulysse Sabbagh

Cory Henry and The Funk Apostles in Massy, November 22nd 2017. 14 + 7 + 2.

With the recent news that an autonomous Uber vehicle killed a woman crossing the street in Tempe, Arizona, this ethical question is very timely. Here is an element of response published in the MIT Technology Review: 

Criminal liability usually requires an action and a mental intent (in legalese an actus rea and mens rea). Kingston says Hallevy explores three scenarios that could apply to AI systems.

The first, known as perpetrator via another, applies when an offense has been committed by a mentally deficient person or animal, who is therefore deemed to be innocent. But anybody who has instructed the mentally deficient person or animal can be held criminally liable. For example, a dog owner who instructed the animal to attack another individual.

The whole article is interesting as it delves deeper in all the possible scenarios. 

With the recent news that an autonomous Uber vehicle killed a woman crossing the street in Tempe, Arizona, this ethical question is very timely. Here is an element of response published in the MIT Technology Review: 

Criminal liability usually requires an action and a mental intent (in legalese an actus rea and mens rea). Kingston says Hallevy explores three scenarios that could apply to AI systems.

The first, known as perpetrator via another, applies when an offense has been committed by a mentally deficient person or animal, who is therefore deemed to be innocent. But anybody who has instructed the mentally deficient person or animal can be held criminally liable. For example, a dog owner who instructed the animal to attack another individual.

The whole article is interesting as it delves deeper in all the possible scenarios. 

What’s zero-trace land art?

Recently Wu has evolved his process of working with the drones to form light paths above topographical peaks in the mountainous terrain. “I see it as a kind of ‘zero trace’ version of land art where the environment remains untouched by the artist, and at the same time is presented in a sublime way which speaks to 19th century Romantic painting and science and fictional imagery,” said Wu to Colossal.

[Source: LUX NOCTIS]

In an era where many cannot imagine an efficient supply chain operating without the benefit of technology, Mumbai India has an example of a lean, just-in-time, 99.99 percent accurate supply chain operating without any form of technology.

In India, “tiffin” is a packed lunch typically prepared for working Indian men by their wives after they have left for work. These tiffins are delivered by the dabbawalla, of whom almost 50 percent are illiterate. This supply chain delivers home cooked food to the office in time for lunch, and then returns the empty tiffin-boxes by the end of the working day. In a crowded city like Mumbai where merely boarding a local train is a huge challenge, toting a bulky tiffin carrier and delivering it on time is a daunting task.

Started in 1890, today 5,000 dabbawallas serve 200,000 customers in Mumbai. This involves 400,000 last mile transactions per day (including the return of empty tiffin carriers) with an error rate of 1 in 16 million transactions. This high rate of dependability earned this supply chain a six sigma designation and an ISO 9001 accreditation.

[Source: Logistics Viewpoints]

In an era where many cannot imagine an efficient supply chain operating without the benefit of technology, Mumbai India has an example of a lean, just-in-time, 99.99 percent accurate supply chain operating without any form of technology.

In India, “tiffin” is a packed lunch typically prepared for working Indian men by their wives after they have left for work. These tiffins are delivered by the dabbawalla, of whom almost 50 percent are illiterate. This supply chain delivers home cooked food to the office in time for lunch, and then returns the empty tiffin-boxes by the end of the working day. In a crowded city like Mumbai where merely boarding a local train is a huge challenge, toting a bulky tiffin carrier and delivering it on time is a daunting task.

Started in 1890, today 5,000 dabbawallas serve 200,000 customers in Mumbai. This involves 400,000 last mile transactions per day (including the return of empty tiffin carriers) with an error rate of 1 in 16 million transactions. This high rate of dependability earned this supply chain a six sigma designation and an ISO 9001 accreditation.

[Source: Logistics Viewpoints]

And please enjoy, like I did, her dry, dry sense of humour. (If the video doesn't display, click on the source link!)

[embedyt][www.youtube.com/watch](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vGOL7ZvuGMc[/embedyt]) 

[Source: WIRED on YouTube]

And please enjoy, like I did, her dry, dry sense of humour. (If the video doesn't display, click on the source link!)

[embedyt][www.youtube.com/watch](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vGOL7ZvuGMc[/embedyt]) 

[Source: WIRED on YouTube]

First, a primer, courtesy of the Daily Beast: 

Zuckerberg has been publicly silent since the Observer and the New York Times reported on Saturday that Facebook has for years been aware that a third-party app, billing itself as collecting user data for research purposes, exploited sufficiently weak privacy settings on unsuspecting user accounts to accumulate 50 million profiles. The app designer provided the data to Cambridge Analytica, the analytics and messaging firm controlled by Donald Trump allies.

Facebook reportedly asked Cambridge Analytica to delete the data in 2015, but did not verify that the deletion occurred. Cambridge Analytica subsequently received approximately $6 million from the Trump campaign to aid in its messaging and voter targeting. (The company had additional contracts worth millions of dollars with pro-Trump political action committees.)

We must keep in mind that this is playing out in the bigger context of the Russian interference scandal. This is why the scandal rocked the US as a whole. So because of shady practices (allowing a dev to exploit their data) Facebook is in a very delicate position. There will be exits, there will be “big plans to fight for privacy” but Facebook will survive. 

Why?

Even though WhatsApp cofounder Brian Acton (who sold his company to Facebook for around $19B in 2014) tweeted it's time to #deletefacebook, what he doesn't realise is that for many people around the world, Facebook is the Internet (Indonesia is the 4th biggest Facebook population (and the world's 4th too)). Brian Acton also now works at Signal, a Facebook competitor.

So while a few privacy-conscious people from SF and NY will leave the service, utility-hungry people around the world are joining by millions. 

If you don't pay for the product, you are the the product. As long as we don't have a viable alternative, most of us are sticking with Facebook. Independently from the scandals and crises. 

[Source: The Daily Beast]

First, a primer, courtesy of the Daily Beast: 

Zuckerberg has been publicly silent since the Observer and the New York Times reported on Saturday that Facebook has for years been aware that a third-party app, billing itself as collecting user data for research purposes, exploited sufficiently weak privacy settings on unsuspecting user accounts to accumulate 50 million profiles. The app designer provided the data to Cambridge Analytica, the analytics and messaging firm controlled by Donald Trump allies.

Facebook reportedly asked Cambridge Analytica to delete the data in 2015, but did not verify that the deletion occurred. Cambridge Analytica subsequently received approximately $6 million from the Trump campaign to aid in its messaging and voter targeting. (The company had additional contracts worth millions of dollars with pro-Trump political action committees.)

We must keep in mind that this is playing out in the bigger context of the Russian interference scandal. This is why the scandal rocked the US as a whole. So because of shady practices (allowing a dev to exploit their data) Facebook is in a very delicate position. There will be exits, there will be “big plans to fight for privacy” but Facebook will survive. 

Why?

Even though WhatsApp cofounder Brian Acton (who sold his company to Facebook for around $19B in 2014) tweeted it's time to #deletefacebook, what he doesn't realise is that for many people around the world, Facebook is the Internet (Indonesia is the 4th biggest Facebook population (and the world's 4th too)). Brian Acton also now works at Signal, a Facebook competitor.

So while a few privacy-conscious people from SF and NY will leave the service, utility-hungry people around the world are joining by millions. 

If you don't pay for the product, you are the the product. As long as we don't have a viable alternative, most of us are sticking with Facebook. Independently from the scandals and crises. 

[Source: The Daily Beast]

But a wide-ranging, careful meta-analysis published in JAMA-Cardiology found no meaningful link between Omega-3s and reduced risk of heart disease. As Lifehacker points out, this joins reviews that show no benefit from taking Omega-3s for "dementia, depression, inflammatory bowel disease, or age-related macular degeneration."

There may be a small improvement in breast cancer, and a small increased risk for prostate cancer, and if you're seriously Omega-3 deprived, the supplements may be a good idea.

[Source: Boing Boing]

But a wide-ranging, careful meta-analysis published in JAMA-Cardiology found no meaningful link between Omega-3s and reduced risk of heart disease. As Lifehacker points out, this joins reviews that show no benefit from taking Omega-3s for "dementia, depression, inflammatory bowel disease, or age-related macular degeneration."

There may be a small improvement in breast cancer, and a small increased risk for prostate cancer, and if you're seriously Omega-3 deprived, the supplements may be a good idea.

[Source: Boing Boing]

Fascinating reporting by Austin Powell: 

There’s just one catch: King essentially paid to be added to those Spotify playlists. He’s one of countless artists who have compensated curators to check out his tracks—or in the case for some of his contemporaries, to be added to specific playlists—to gain valuable streams and attention.

[Source: Daily Dot]

Tyler Cowen from Marginal Revolution summarises some of René Girard's views in a very simple fashion. The first point, quoted below, reads a bit like the Nietzschean view but I may be mistaken: 

His understanding of Christianity as fundamentally and radically different from earlier religions, as it exalts the individual victim rather than the conqueror.  Here is one point from a summarizer: “Christianity is the revelation (the unveiling) of what the myths want to veil; it is the deconstruction of the mono-myth, not a reiteration of it—which is exactly why so many within academe want to domesticate and de-fang it.”

[Source: Marginal REVOLUTION]

Tyler Cowen from Marginal Revolution summarises some of René Girard's views in a very simple fashion. The first point, quoted below, reads a bit like the Nietzschean view but I may be mistaken: 

His understanding of Christianity as fundamentally and radically different from earlier religions, as it exalts the individual victim rather than the conqueror.  Here is one point from a summarizer: “Christianity is the revelation (the unveiling) of what the myths want to veil; it is the deconstruction of the mono-myth, not a reiteration of it—which is exactly why so many within academe want to domesticate and de-fang it.”

[Source: Marginal REVOLUTION]

A long and thorough piece written by Emily Chang for Vanity Fair detailing the detachment of Silicon Valley's sex parties. The men are... special:

When I ask Founder X whether these men are taking advantage of women by feeding them inhibition-melting drugs at sex parties, he replies that, on the contrary, it’s women who are taking advantage of him and his tribe, preying on them for their money.

The whole article is as entertaining as it is horrific. 

[Source: Vanity Fair]