We are entering an age of targeted ads, “fake” news, gamified search engines, and polarized social media. But I’m a human and this is my personally curated list of links and commentary—just for you!
AI, Machine Learning, Machine Intelligence, Security
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There are some solid recommendations here in The 10 best books about A.I.. With the unveiling of Google’s Duplex, which, arguably, uses deception to trick people into thinking it’s human, perhaps a few folks at Google should read the book Robot Ethics. </snark>
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In addition to paying insufficient attention to ethics, the article AI researchers allege that machine learning is alchemy highlight another problem with AI and machine learning: as a field, we don’t really know how to build intelligence–there’s a tremendous amount of trial and error, rather than relying on a guiding theoretical framework. Especially when we are trying to develop algorithms that are not only intelligent, but that also interact with humans, we really should take the effort to understand what is going on inside the algorithms–the mechanics–and not just the overall performance.
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There is so much hype surrounding artificial intelligence, and so much hysteria about security–sure, let’s combine the two: AI CAN HELP CYBERSECURITY—IF IT CAN FIGHT THROUGH THE HYPE.
Society
- In Meet the Renegades of the Intellectual Dark Web, it is posited that there is an “Intellectual Dark Web.” I think the NY Times author is confused–this list doesn’t seem like the intellectual cutting edge, nor does it seem like these individuals are really all that marginalized, considering how much money they are pulling in. But a more important point I think is this: consider the length of the conversations that are happening there. These people are actually engaging in civil discussions with others (and the public is paying to listen in) for hours about important topics. There is a huge, untapped demand for content not being met by the traditional intellectual gatekeepers. Any suggestions?
But the only way you can construe a group of intellectuals talking to each other as dangerous is if you are scared of what they might discover.
- Come on US, you can do better. You can do a lot better: A Comparison of Hospital Administrative Costs in Eight Nations: U.S. Costs Exceed All Others by Far
Administrative costs accounted for 25 percent of hospital spending in the United States, more than twice the proportion seen in Canada and Scotland, which spent the least on administration…There was no apparent link between higher administrative costs and better-quality care.
Writing
- If you’ve ever edited a text file from a Mac or Unix system on a Windows device, you probably ended up pulling out much of your hair. For decades, the Windows Notepad application refused to display correctly text files created on Linux, Unix, and MacOS systems. However, according to Introducing extended line endings support in Notepad we can all now rejoice:
Starting with the current Windows 10 Insider build, Notepad will support Unix/Linux line endings (LF), Macintosh line endings (CR), and Windows Line endings (CRLF) as usual. New files created within Notepad will use Windows line ending (CRLF) by default, but it will now be possible to view, edit, and print existing files, correctly maintaining the file’s current line ending format.
Granted, I long ago switched to Linux, Unix, and Mac systems from Windows because of that and other Microsoft issues, but I still have some students who choose to use Windows devices. Trying to explain why Windows systems couldn’t display a simple text file correctly often caused much confusion, but at least that one problem with Windows has now been resolved.
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While the title How to write anything is rather click-baity, the suggestion in the article is sound: we can learn how to improve our writing by analyzing the writing of others. Even just sketching out the “rhetorical moves” made by an author whose writing we admire can give us a rough outline for how we can structure our own writing.
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I commented above on the “Intellectual Dark Web” and the trend by some folks of eschewing traditional intellectual venues (eg academia) to reach an often much broader audience. The other side of the coin is that academia, by design, is very insular–there are large, structural disincentives for academics to do outreach and write for the general public. This is a problem I myself am trying to overcome–the words I write on this website are one way I am trying to help bridge the academic/public gap–this despite the fact that doing so goes way beyond my duties as a faculty member. I am not alone–other academics are trying this as well. In The Rewards and Challenges of Writing for a Mass Media Audience, the authors (academics in the health policy field) take a look at the benefits and difficulties in writing for the public. I think there are risks, it does take a lot of time and effort, and there are professional considerations, but overall engaging more with the public has more positives than negatives. Happily, the authors agree:
For each of us, the benefits to disseminating policy‐relevant research through the lay media completely overwhelm the harms. Years later, we still find it some of the most valuable work that we do. The media and the public are hungry for voices that understand science and research and can place that work in context for broader understanding. We hope that more experts will take up that challenge in the years to come.
Reviews
- Most air compressors are obnoxiously loud–here’s a review of a quiet one: Review: Quiet Air Compressor
Tip
- Meetings, while sometimes essential, are often poorly managed, too long, and include people who do not need to be there. The result is a productivity hit. In Why Are We Meeting Like This? the author identifies the 10 worst types of meetings (in academia) and offers suggestions for avoiding them:
But filling our calendars with unproductive meetings is illogical because we are all busy and do not have time to waste. Time is the ultimate nonrenewable resource, so we need to do more to conserve it. Meeting organizers and attendees need to ensure that the hours we spend together are worthwhile.
Thanks for reading!
This list takes my time and effort to create, and goes well beyond my day job, but if people can learn and get something out of it, then I’d like to continue this experiment.
Suggestions, comments, thoughts?
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Onwards!