When I scroll back through two decades of blogging I can discover having written and created some really interesting stuff that I'd forgotten about.
I'm realising I'm often in too much of a hurry onwards to the next topic or subject of interest, never stopping to appreciate and celebrate my own work. My curiosity makes me jump ahead.
Always impressed by people who can stick with the same topic or even framework for years and years.I'm even bad at marketing my book because my brain has left those ideas behind - writing them down for me meant finishing that train of thought - and moved on.
Not sure what I want to say with this. I think we're all just different and that's okay.
Tagged: Akkoma
"Do the languages we speak shape the way we think? Do they merely express thoughts, or do the structures in languages (without our knowledge or consent) shape the very thoughts we wish to express?
Take "Humpty Dumpty sat on a...
Even this snippet of a nursery rhyme reveals how much languages can differ from one another. In English, we have to mark the verb for tense; in this case, we say "sat" rather than "sit." In Indonesian you need not (in fact, you can't) change the verb to mark tense.
In Russian, you would have to mark tense and also gender, changing the verb if Mrs. Dumpty did the sitting. You would also have to decide if the sitting event was completed or not. If our ovoid hero sat on the wall for the entire time he was meant to, it would be a different form of the verb than if, say, he had a great fall.
In Turkish, you would have to include in the verb how you acquired this information. For example, if you saw the chubby fellow on the wall with your own eyes, you'd use one form of the verb, but if you had simply read or heard about it, you'd use a different form.
Do English, Indonesian, Russian and Turkish speakers end up attending to, understanding, and remembering their experiences differently simply because they speak different languages?"
The answer is yes.
In a world of sharing ideas across languages, understanding how and why languages make us think, behave and reason differently from each other is increasingly important.
"All this new research shows us that the languages we speak not only reflect or express our thoughts, but also shape the very thoughts we wish to express.
The structures that exist in our languages profoundly shape how we construct reality, and help make us as smart and sophisticated as we are."
« Watch Lera Boroditsky's talk. Lera Boroditsky is an associate professor of cognitive science at University of California San Diego and editor in chief of Frontiers in Cultural Psychology. She previously served on the faculty at MIT and at Stanford. Her research is on the relationships between mind, world and language (or how humans get so smart).
She once used the Indonesian exclusive "we" correctly before breakfast and was proud of herself about it all day. »
https://www.ted.com/talks/lera_boroditsky_how_language_shapes_the_way_we_think
The quotes above are from her 2010 Wall Street Journal article Lost in Translation:
http://lera.ucsd.edu/papers/wsj.pdf
Also read:
The myth of language universals: language diversity and its importance for cognitive science
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/19857320/
@Loukas Ah, yes. This is of course true.
@Loukas Yes, they say âit gets worse before it gets betterâ. But they never say if that phrase actually has a turning point or just keeps being true. đ
People around me talking about âco-existingâ with AI. Meanwhile, human activities have caused the world's wildlife populations to plummet by 68% in 50 years, as reported by the World Wildlife Fund several years ago.
I did not sign up for this timeline.
I think the Fediverse gained traction at exactly the right time for me. Being able to host my own social media platform is comforting. But more than that, so happy that I never stopped seeking refuge in writing and blogging. I really want to do more of thatâŠ
https://www.npr.org/2020/09/10/911500907/the-world-lost-two-thirds-of-its-wildlife-in-50-years-we-are-to-blame
@sidereal Iâd say here in Sweden most of those protections are in place.
Been talking to a fair few of my ethics class students (a vocational program to become a UX Designer), and essentially all of them express doubt that it will be possible to work in an ethically-aligned way once they find employment.
To be clear: they want to, but they just donât think it will be possible.
How the hell did we end up here, that the expected default is that companies will necessarily harm the wellbeing of their stakeholders, and that these same companies (read: individuals in upper management positions) wonât care to do better when a more compassionate path is made available to themâŠ
@liebach You are more than welcome to do just that đ
Thinking of changing my LinkedIn job title to "Luddite who loves technological progress."
The key word of course being 'progress'.
Every now and then I start thinking about all the data centers consuming huge amounts of energy with the purpose of storing a vast and growing collection of photos, documents and other media that no one will ever have any interest in accessing again.
So much energy being used in vainâŠ
A testament to human obliviousness.
Water required by data centers is increasing considerably with the advent of generative AI. Large language models trained on vast amounts of data need substantial cooling.
While some may argue that water can be reused, it is often pulled from water supplies in times of significant heatwaves, when residents are in need of it as well, and supplies diminsh faster.
In July of 2022, Microsoft pumped in about 11.5 million gallons of water to its cluster of Iowa data centers, according to the West Des Moines Water Works. Thatâs around 6% of all the water used in the district, which also supplies drinking water to residents.
Meanwhile, the energy required is of course not recycled â and itâs to be expected that energy use is growing as well. The companies behind the tools are just not disclosing how much their AI investments are costing us when it comes to their carbon footprint.
âIn its latest environmental report, Microsoft disclosed that its global water consumption spiked 34% from 2021 to 2022 (to nearly 1.7 billion gallons, or more than 2,500 Olympic-sized swimming pools), a sharp increase compared to previous years that outside researchers tie to its AI research.â
https://fortune.com/2023/09/09/ai-chatgpt-usage-fuels-spike-in-microsoft-water-consumption/
First season done and I have to admit I absolutely love One Piece on Netflix. In my case I didnât know what to expect but the characters and the live action are right up my alley.
To be clear, I was not familiar with the anime so there are no adaptation quirks for me to get hung up on.
#OnePiece #Netflix
âThe way of life can be free and beautiful, but we have lost the way. Greed has poisoned menâs souls, has barricaded the world with hate, has goose-steped us into misery and bloodshed.
We have developed speed, but we have shut ourselves in. Machinery that gives abundance has left us in want.
Our knowledge has made us cynical. Our cleverness, hard and unkind. We think too much and feel too little. More than machinery we need humanity. More than cleverness we need kindness and gentleness.
Without these qualities, life will be violent and all will be lost.â
After two years of filming the script he put together in 1938, The Great Dictator premiered in October of 1940. It was British comedian Charlie Chaplinâs first speaking role. At the time of its release, the United States â where Chaplin lived â was still formally at peace with Nazi Germany and neutral during what were the early days of World War II. Chaplin's film helped build a strong condemnation of the German and Italian dictators Adolf Hitler and Benito Mussolini, as well as fascism, antisemitism, and the Nazis.
In his 1964 autobiography, Chaplin stated that he could not have made the film if he had known about the true extent of the horrors of the Nazi concentration camps at that time.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J7GY1Xg6X20&list=PLyU6zePFLJ-DJ62sKt89bh0l9zOx0btI-&index=1
@Midgard Men herrejÀvlar vad illa!!! Och ljuger dessutom om att ha fÄtt uppgifter av andra...
@chromatic This is extra funny because I had this exact conversation with a friend I shared the story with.
âAccording to Mozilla research, popular global brands â including BMW, Ford, Toyota, Tesla, Kia, and Subaru â can collect deeply personal data such as sexual activity, immigration status, race, facial expressions, weight, health and genetic information, and where you drive.
Researchers found data is being gathered by sensors, microphones, cameras, and the phones and devices drivers connect to their cars, as well as by car apps, company websites, dealerships, and vehicle telematics.
Brands can then share or sell this data to third parties. Car brands can also take much of this data and use it to develop inferences about a driverâs intelligence, abilities, characteristics, preferences, and more.â
https://foundation.mozilla.org/en/blog/privacy-nightmare-on-wheels-every-car-brand-reviewed-by-mozilla-including-ford-volkswagen-and-toyota-flunks-privacy-test/
I did some further reading after sharing this, and it turns out that âsexual activityâ is actually mentioned verbatim in the Nissan USA privacy notice.
Fromt Nissanâs very real Privacy notice, under âCategories of information we collect and discloseâ:
âSensitive personal information, including driverâs license number, national or state identification number, citizenship status, immigration status, race, national origin, religious or philosophical beliefs, sexual orientation, sexual activity, precise geolocation, health diagnosis data, and genetic information.â
Not only that⊠as Mozilla Foundation writes:
âThey also say they can share and even sell "Inferences drawn from any Personal Data collected to create a profile about a consumer reflecting the consumerâs preferences, characteristics, psychological trends, predispositions, behavior, attitudes, intelligence, abilities, and aptitudes" to others for targeted marketing purposes. Yes, Nissan says they can infer things like how smart you are, if you have a predisposition to drink, if you are acting depressed, and if you are any good at chess (we're guessing that's what they can infer..it could be even worse than that), and then they say they can make as much money off that very personal information as they can. Nissan, you suck.â
https://foundation.mozilla.org/en/privacynotincluded/nissan/
Some of you are wondering how the cars collect and share this if they have no internet connection. A lot of this data is actually collected through other means, and when you are in touch with a dealership. So itâs direct contact but also info they proactively collect through social media (not kidding! I just read Nissanâs privacy notice again) and credit reporting entities. If you have downloaded one of their apps, the internet connection is right there.
Of course, a lot more cars than you imagine have internet connections, and cars have had some sort of onboard computer since the 1970s. A lot of data is stored until it can be accessed or uploaded. And you often donât even have to press buttons for something to be logged. Sensors are always on, marketed as making you safer, but also saving data to be sold to third parties.
So car companies may also combine information collected about you from your car with personal information they get from third parties. Then they can share (or even sell) that information, and any âinferencesâ they made based on it, to all kinds of businesses
And hereâs another kicker⊠just by sitting in a vehicle that uses NissanConnect services, you agree to have your data collected by Nissan. So if you hitch a ride with a friendâs Nissan, you are on Nissanâs radar. The privacy policy makes it the responsibility of the owner to disclose this to anyone travelling in their car.
https://foundation.mozilla.org/en/privacynotincluded/articles/what-data-does-my-car-collect-about-me-and-where-does-it-go/
Hur försiktig Àr du nÀr du ska skanna en QR-kod? I mitt senaste inlÀgg berÀttar jag om hur ett hotell jag besökte i somras lÀt lappar med QR-koder spridas som konfetti pÄ borden i lobbyn. Hotellet som avsÀndare kÀnns tryggt, men nÄgon av alla mÀnniskor som passerar borden kan förstÄs byta ut en eller flera av dessa lappar mot sin egen⊠och jag leker med vad det scenariot kan innebÀra.
Vad QR-koden var till för? Att boka tid för frukost. Det lÄter jag förstÄs inte heller gÄ okommenterat.
Med denna text börjar jag hitta tillbaka till en ton i mitt sprÄk som jag njuter helhjÀrtat av att skriva.
https://axbom.se/hotell-qr-kod/
@fbaum Yeah, I presume you're thinking of a situation where people don't introduce themselves and there is no way to ascertain that a bot is participating?
@GuyDudeman
Google Duet is the most talked about. But we also started getting pitches for CEOs of companies that make these to be on our podcastâŠ
https://www.businessinsider.com/google-duet-ai-attend-meetings-workplace-productivity-2023-8?op=1&r=US&IR=T
@thomkennon Of course. I'll likely write a longer-form post on my blog about it if you want to wait on that. But. go ahead if you want :)