The Secrets of Surveillance Capitalism
March 12th, 2016Via: Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung:
Governmental control is nothing compared to what Google is up to. The company is creating a wholly new genus of capitalism, a systemic coherent new logic of accumulation we should call surveillance capitalism.
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“Most Americans realize that there are two groups of people who are monitored regularly as they move about the country. The first group is monitored involuntarily by a court order requiring that a tracking device be attached to their ankle. The second group includes everyone else…”
Some will think that this statement is certainly true. Others will worry that it could become true. Perhaps some think it’s ridiculous. It’s not a quote from a dystopian novel, a Silicon Valley executive, or even an NSA official. These are the words of an auto insurance industry consultant intended as a defense of “automotive telematics” and the astonishingly intrusive surveillance capabilities of the allegedly benign systems that are already in use or under development. It’s an industry that has been notoriously exploitative toward customers and has had obvious cause to be anxious about the implications of self-driving cars for its business model. Now, data about where we are, where we’re going, how we’re feeling, what we’re saying, the details of our driving, and the conditions of our vehicle are turning into beacons of revenue that illuminate a new commercial prospect. According to the industry literature, these data can be used for dynamic real-time driver behavior modification triggering punishments (real-time rate hikes, financial penalties, curfews, engine lock-downs) or rewards (rate discounts, coupons, gold stars to redeem for future benefits).
One of ISIS’s Top Commanders the U.S. Likely Just Killed Was a ‘Star Pupil’ of U.S. Special-Forces Training
March 10th, 2016Via: Business Insider:
During Shishani’s four years in the military, from 2006 to 2010, his unit received some degree of training from American special-forces units.
“He was a perfect soldier from his first days, and everyone knew he was a star,” an unnamed former comrade still active in the Georgian military told McClatchy DC. “We were well trained by American special forces units, and he was the star pupil.”
“We trained him well, and we had lots of help from America,” another anonymous Georgian defense official told McClatchy about Shishani. “In fact, the only reason he didn’t go to Iraq to fight alongside America was that we needed his skills here in Georgia.”
Tesla Hires Former LEGO Executive, Expert in Fully Automated Manufacturing Methods
March 9th, 2016Via: electrek:
An interesting fact about lego bricks: the first hands to touch a Lego brick are the hands of a customer since the entire manufacturing process is automated.
Granted, plastic blocks are significantly less complicated than li-ion battery cells, but since Tesla hired a long-time Lego manufacturing executive to lead the Gigafactory effort, it is an interesting analogy for the potential level of automation at Tesla’s battery factory.
Last year, Tesla hired Jens Peter Clausen as “Vice President of Gigafactory”. Clausen spent the last 15 years of his career in management and executive roles in manufacturing at Lego. First as a production manager for “manufacturing, ramp up and process development moulding” according to his LinkedIn profile.
Later on, he was promoted to Director of Process Innovation and more recently, before joining Tesla, Clausen was General Manager and Senior Vice President for Lego’s operations in Mexico.
Lego absolutely needs automation since it makes about 40 billion bricks per year, which would be extremely difficult or even impossible to do with only manpower.
According to the Lego Group, about eighteen bricks out of every million fail to meet the standard required. That’s probably the kind of result Tesla and its battery cell manufacturing partner Panasonic would hope to achieve at the Gigafactory.
Tesla will not be making 40 billion battery cells per year at the factory, but still, based on its stated goal of 35 GWh of battery cells per year and depending on the energy capacity of the cells they plan to make, the number of individual cells could easily be in the low billions of units.
Britain: Number of Children Prescribed Anti-Depressants Increases by 50% in Seven Years
March 9th, 2016Fill children with metals, feed them GMO food, sit them in classrooms for most of the day, make them do lots of homework at night, which does nothing except make them hate school…
And then, when little Johnny is feeling a bit down…
Via: Independent:
The number of children in the UK prescribed anti-depressants increased by more than 50 per cent between 2005 and 2012, according to a new study.
The World Health Organisation (WHO) said the use of the drugs to treat young people was a concern, the BBC said.
After fears that anti-depressants could lead to suicidal behaviour in young people, usage in Britain fell, but the study suggests there has been a resurgence in the UK as well as in other Western countries.
Commenting on the results, WHO director of mental health Dr Shekhar Saxena said: “Anti-depressant use amongst young people is and has been a matter of concern because of two reasons.
”One, are more people being prescribed anti-depressants without sufficient reason? And second, can anti-depressants do any major harm?“
He also said that the organisation was worried that young people were being given drugs not licensed for under-18s.
The study, ”Trends and patterns of antidepressant use in children and adolescents from five western countries, 2005-2012“, is published in the European Journal of Neuropsychopharmacology.
In the period examined, there was a 54% increase in the number of young people prescribed anti-depressants in the UK.
This is compared with rises of 60% in Denmark, 49 per cent in Germany and just 26 per cent in the US and 17 per cent in the Netherlands, the BBC said.
The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) guidelines say the drugs should not be used to treat mild depression in children.
Google AI Beats World’s Best Human Go Player
March 9th, 2016Update: Google AI Up Wins Second Match
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Via: Independent:
A computer programme has won a game of Go against the world’s best player, in a huge breakthrough for artificial intelligence.
Google’s AlphaGo computer has beaten South Korean human and Go champion Lee Sedol in the first of five matches.
The Deepmind-based computer’s victory in the complex Chinese game marks a major event in the development of artificial intelligence — the game depends hugely in intuition, since there are so many possibilities, and so mastery of the game was previously thought to be a human skill.
The game is said to be one of the most creative and complicated in the world, and usually takes years for even humans to master.
Turkey Point Nuclear Power Plant Leaking Tritium Into Biscayne Bay
March 9th, 2016Via: Miami Herald:
A radioactive isotope linked to water from power plant cooling canals has been found in high levels in Biscayne Bay, confirming suspicions that Turkey Point’s aging canals are leaking into the nearby national park.
U.S. in Talks to Base Long-Range Bombers in Australia
March 9th, 2016In other news, Australian Democracy Faces ‘Corrosive’ Decline.
Via: Reuters:
The United States is in talks to base long-range bombers in Australia, U.S. defense officials said, within striking distance of the disputed South China Sea, a move that could inflame tensions with China.
The deployments could include B-1 bombers and an expansion of B-52 bomber missions, said Lt. Col. Damien Pickart, a spokesman for the U.S. Air Force in the Pacific, stressing that discussions were continuing and no decisions had yet been reached.
“These bomber rotations provide opportunities for our Airmen to advance and strengthen our regional alliances and provide (Pacific Air Forces) and U.S. Pacific Command leaders with a credible global strike and deterrence capability to help maintain peace and security in the Indo-Asia-Pacific region,” said Pickart.
The United States does not currently fly B-1 bombers from Australia, but does conduct periodic B-52 missions.
Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull declined to comment on the discussions.
Chinese Exports Plunge 25% in February
March 9th, 2016Via: BBC:
Chinese exports have seen their sharpest drop in almost seven years, adding to concerns over the health of the world’s second largest economy.
Exports dropped sharply by 25.4% from a year earlier, while imports fell 13.8%.
The weak data comes on the heels of Beijing registering the slowest economic growth in 25 years.
Bezos Plans Off World Colonies
March 9th, 2016Via: al.com:
Amazon founder Jeff Bezos’ vision of “millions of people living and working in space” drives his space company Blue Origin.
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“We’re not going to find another Earth,” Bezos said, “and we can’t cover the whole surface of the Earth with solar cells. We only have a few hundred years to figure this out.”
“I like the idea we kind of expand out into the solar system,” Bezos said, “and preserve Earth as, you know, kind of light industrial and residential. Keep this the great planet that it is and move all heavy industry off Earth where there’s for all practical places limitless energy and limitless resources.”
The Absurd and Destructive Practice of Making Young Children Do Homework
March 8th, 2016Via: Salon:
“There is no evidence that any amount of homework improves the academic performance of elementary students.”
This statement, by homework research guru Harris Cooper, of Duke University, is startling to hear, no matter which side of the homework debate you’re on. Can it be true that the hours of lost playtime, power struggles and tears are all for naught? That millions of families go through a nightly ritual that doesn’t help? Homework is such an accepted practice, it’s hard for most adults to even question its value.
When you look at the facts, however, here’s what you find: Homework has benefits, but its benefits are age dependent.
For elementary-aged children, research suggests that studying in class gets superior learning results, while extra schoolwork at home is just . . . extra work. Even in middle school, the relationship between homework and academic success is minimal at best. By the time kids reach high school, homework provides academic benefit, but only in moderation. More than two hours per night is the limit. After that amount, the benefits taper off. “The research is very clear,” agrees Etta Kralovec, education professor at the University of Arizona. “There’s no benefit at the elementary school level.”
Before going further, let’s dispel the myth that these research results are due to a handful of poorly constructed studies. In fact, it’s the opposite. Cooper compiled 120 studies in 1989 and another 60 studies in 2006. This comprehensive analysis of multiple research studies found no evidence of academic benefit at the elementary level. It did, however, find a negative impact on children’s attitudes toward school.
