#Data Mining Tools Market

[reasonsforhope]

Green energy is in its heyday. 

Renewable energy sources now account for 22% of the nation’s electricity, and solar has skyrocketed eight times over in the last decade. This spring in California, wind, water, and solar power energy sources exceeded expectations, accounting for an average of 61.5 percent of the state's electricity demand across 52 days. 

But green energy has a lithium problem. Lithium batteries control more than 90% of the global grid battery storage market. 

That’s not just cell phones, laptops, electric toothbrushes, and tools. Scooters, e-bikes, hybrids, and electric vehicles all rely on rechargeable lithium batteries to get going. 

Fortunately, this past week, Natron Energy launched its first-ever commercial-scale production of sodium-ion batteries in the U.S. 

“Sodium-ion batteries offer a unique alternative to lithium-ion, with higher power, faster recharge, longer lifecycle and a completely safe and stable chemistry,” said Colin Wessells — Natron Founder and Co-CEO — at the kick-off event in Michigan. 

The new sodium-ion batteries charge and discharge at rates 10 times faster than lithium-ion, with an estimated lifespan of 50,000 cycles.

Wessells said that using sodium as a primary mineral alternative eliminates industry-wide issues of worker negligence, geopolitical disruption, and the “questionable environmental impacts” inextricably linked to lithium mining. 

“The electrification of our economy is dependent on the development and production of new, innovative energy storage solutions,” Wessells said. 

Why are sodium batteries a better alternative to lithium?

The birth and death cycle of lithium is shadowed in environmental destruction. The process of extracting lithium pollutes the water, air, and soil, and when it’s eventually discarded, the flammable batteries are prone to bursting into flames and burning out in landfills. 

There’s also a human cost. Lithium-ion materials like cobalt and nickel are not only harder to source and procure, but their supply chains are also overwhelmingly attributed to hazardous working conditions and child labor law violations. 

Sodium, on the other hand, is estimated to be 1,000 times more abundant in the earth’s crust than lithium. 

“Unlike lithium, sodium can be produced from an abundant material: salt,” engineer Casey Crownhart wrote ​​in the MIT Technology Review. “Because the raw ingredients are cheap and widely available, there’s potential for sodium-ion batteries to be significantly less expensive than their lithium-ion counterparts if more companies start making more of them.”

What will these batteries be used for?

Right now, Natron has its focus set on AI models and data storage centers, which consume hefty amounts of energy. In 2023, the MIT Technology Review reported that one AI model can emit more than 626,00 pounds of carbon dioxide equivalent. 

“We expect our battery solutions will be used to power the explosive growth in data centers used for Artificial Intelligence,” said Wendell Brooks, co-CEO of Natron. 

“With the start of commercial-scale production here in Michigan, we are well-positioned to capitalize on the growing demand for efficient, safe, and reliable battery energy storage.”

The fast-charging energy alternative also has limitless potential on a consumer level, and Natron is eying telecommunications and EV fast-charging once it begins servicing AI data storage centers in June. 

On a larger scale, sodium-ion batteries could radically change the manufacturing and production sectors — from housing energy to lower electricity costs in warehouses, to charging backup stations and powering electric vehicles, trucks, forklifts, and so on. 

“I founded Natron because we saw climate change as the defining problem of our time,” Wessells said. “We believe batteries have a role to play.”

-via GoodGoodGood, May 3, 2024

--

Note: I wanted to make sure this was legit (scientifically and in general), and I'm happy to report that it really is! x, x, x, x

[bi-writes]

whats wrong with ai?? genuinely curious <3

okay let's break it down. i'm an engineer, so i'm going to come at you from a perspective that may be different than someone else's.

i don't hate ai in every aspect. in theory, there are a lot of instances where, in fact, ai can help us do things a lot better without. here's a few examples:

ai detecting cancer

ai sorting recycling

some practical housekeeping that gemini (google ai) can do

all of the above examples are ways in which ai works with humans to do things in parallel with us. it's not overstepping--it's sorting, using pixels at a micro-level to detect abnormalities that we as humans can not, fixing a list. these are all really small, helpful ways that ai can work with us.

everything else about ai works against us. in general, ai is a huge consumer of natural resources. every prompt that you put into character.ai, chatgpt? this wastes water + energy. it's not free. a machine somewhere in the world has to swallow your prompt, call on a model to feed data into it and process more data, and then has to generate an answer for you all in a relatively short amount of time.

that is crazy expensive. someone is paying for that, and if it isn't you with your own money, it's the strain on the power grid, the water that cools the computers, the A/C that cools the data centers. and you aren't the only person using ai. chatgpt alone gets millions of users every single day, with probably thousands of prompts per second, so multiply your personal consumption by millions, and you can start to see how the picture is becoming overwhelming.

that is energy consumption alone. we haven't even talked about how problematic ai is ethically. there is currently no regulation in the united states about how ai should be developed, deployed, or used.

what does this mean for you?

it means that anything you post online is subject to data mining by an ai model (because why would they need to ask if there's no laws to stop them? wtf does it matter what it means to you to some idiot software engineer in the back room of an office making 3x your salary?). oh, that little fic you posted to wattpad that got a lot of attention? well now it's being used to teach ai how to write. oh, that sketch you made using adobe that you want to sell? adobe didn't tell you that anything you save to the cloud is now subject to being used for their ai models, so now your art is being replicated to generate ai images in photoshop, without crediting you (they have since said they don't do this...but privacy policies were never made to be human-readable, and i can't imagine they are the only company to sneakily try this). oh, your apartment just installed a new system that will use facial recognition to let their residents inside? oh, they didn't train their model with anyone but white people, so now all the black people living in that apartment building can't get into their homes. oh, you want to apply for a new job? the ai model that scans resumes learned from historical data that more men work that role than women (so the model basically thinks men are better than women), so now your resume is getting thrown out because you're a woman.

ai learns from data. and data is flawed. data is human. and as humans, we are racist, homophobic, misogynistic, transphobic, divided. so the ai models we train will learn from this. ai learns from people's creative works--their personal and artistic property. and now it's scrambling them all up to spit out generated images and written works that no one would ever want to read (because it's no longer a labor of love), and they're using that to make money. they're profiting off of people, and there's no one to stop them. they're also using generated images as marketing tools, to trick idiots on facebook, to make it so hard to be media literate that we have to question every single thing we see because now we don't know what's real and what's not.

the problem with ai is that it's doing more harm than good. and we as a society aren't doing our due diligence to understand the unintended consequences of it all. we aren't angry enough. we're too scared of stifling innovation that we're letting it regulate itself (aka letting companies decide), which has never been a good idea. we see it do one cool thing, and somehow that makes up for all the rest of the bullshit?

[bitchesgetriches]

Why we’re against AI as a writing tool

Sophisticated AI tools like ChatGPT are the result of systemic, shameless theft of intellectual property and creative labor on a massive scale. These companies have mined the data of human genius… without permission. They have no intention of acknowledging their stolen sources, let alone paying the creators.

The tech industry’s defense is “Well, we stole so much from so many that it kinda doesn’t count, wouldn’t ya say?” Which is an argument that makes me feel like the mayor of Crazytown. I don’t doubt the courts will rule in their favor, not because it’s right, but because the opportunities for wealth generation are too succulent to let a lil’ thang like fairness win.

I’m not a luddite. I recognize that AI feels like magic to people who aren’t strong writers. I’d feel differently if the technology was achieved without the theft of my work. Couldn’t these tools have been made using legally obtained materials? Ah, but then they wouldn’t have been first to market! Think of the shareholders!

We’re lucky to have the ability and will to write. We won’t willingly use tools that devalue that skill. At most, I could see us using AI to assist with specific, narrow tasks like transcribing interview audio into text.

At a recent industry meetup, I listened as two personal finance gurus gushed about how easy AI made their lives. “All my newsletters and blogs are AI now! I add my own touches here and there—but it does 95% of the work!” Must be nice, I whispered to the empty void where my faith in mankind once dwelt, fingernails digging into my palms. It’s tough knowing I’m one of the myriad voices “streamlining their production.”

I feel strongly that every content creator who uses AI has a minimum duty to acknowledge it. Few will. It sucks. I’m frothing. Let’s move on.

Read more.

[sgiandubh]

Tools of the trade

Came home an hour ago from a reception I literally fled (busy week in this respect, unfortunately). And I kept being internally nagged during the short taxi ride, by what is probably at least this season's Anon. Landed in @bat-cat-reader's inbox with regard to Marple's most recent innuendo:

I had to know more about this, since I had no idea such deep diving tools were now available for pretty much everyone. Here's the gist of how it works, in pics and a quick review:

What Snoopreport promises its subscribers is to basically keep them posted on the targeted accounts' online behavior patterns...

... without the need to publicly follow them on Insta (sounds familiar?)...

...leaving no trace (zero accountability, because it uses only public data: this can be interpreted differently, in a different legal system/context, since several European countries, as I already discussed, have more protective legal provisions for a person's right to his/her own image)...

... at minimal costs (I suppose the most cost-effective, if we assume this is one of the used monitoring tools, would be the small business pack, allowing the super sleuth to track 10 different accounts, for peanuts):

A review of this product I have checked here (https://www.techuntold.com/snoopreport-review/) points out the obvious Achilles' heel of this app. Snoopreport obviously does not work for private accounts:

Which brings up a logical question: could the (in)famous 'resource' be S's private Insta account, in which case it would be very difficult for the sleuth to admit stalking it? Is it even technically possible to stalk a private Instagram account and remain unseen?

The answer to the latter is yes: other actors of this apparently very lucrative market, such as Glassagram (https://glassagram.com/), do not have Snoopreport's scruples and monitor even private accounts.

I think this is pretty self-explanatory and to be honest, it gave me the chills:

Serious reviews (https://www.techuntold.com/glassagram-review-spy-instagram/) are raving about this one, calling it the best app on the market, mainly because you can save all the snooped content on your own device:

... and the price, for stalking (their own choice of vocabulary, not mine, for once) an unlimited number of accounts is reasonable:

Best of it? They've been around since 2017.

In a nutshell: is it legal? it would seem so, in the US, not so sure about the UK/EU. Is it moral? It's up to you to decide what to think of a firm which has no problem admitting to encouraging stalking (but hey, don't listen to the nutcase here, huh?) and uses completely different real-life situations (infidelity, kids' monitoring) to assert its legitimacy and utility.

What I mean by this very long and illustrative post is this: you do not need inside sources/information to have one day the idea of crossing what is obviously (at least in my book) a red line. You just have to be able (lots of free time), willing (asserting power over a very thirsty and not so digitally skilled audience) and voilà: a Super Sleuth is born.

It is one thing to analyze and speculate, based on open sources, to your heart's content. It is a different affair altogether to obsessively monitor someone, with so much detail and personal (& financial) investment, over a substantial period of time. I will die on this hill and you will never change my mind on this one.

Is the emperor naked? I wouldn't venture speculating. What I do know, is that this emperor is a very, very sad one.

[unwelcome-ozian]

Weaponizing violence. With alarming regularity, the nation continues to be subjected to spates of violence that terrorizes the public, destabilizes the country’s ecosystem, and gives the government greater justifications to crack down, lock down, and institute even more authoritarian policies for the so-called sake of national security without many objections from the citizenry.

Weaponizing surveillance, pre-crime and pre-thought campaigns. Surveillance, digital stalking and the data mining of the American people add up to a society in which there’s little room for indiscretions, imperfections, or acts of independence. When the government sees all and knows all and has an abundance of laws to render even the most seemingly upstanding citizen a criminal and lawbreaker, then the old adage that you’ve got nothing to worry about if you’ve got nothing to hide no longer applies. Add pre-crime programs into the mix with government agencies and corporations working in tandem to determine who is a potential danger and spin a sticky spider-web of threat assessments, behavioral sensing warnings, flagged “words,” and “suspicious” activity reports using automated eyes and ears, social media, behavior sensing software, and citizen spies, and you having the makings for a perfect dystopian nightmare. The government’s war on crime has now veered into the realm of social media and technological entrapment, with government agents adopting fake social media identities and AI-created profile pictures in order to surveil, target and capture potential suspects.

Weaponizing digital currencies, social media scores and censorship. Tech giants, working with the government, have been meting out their own version of social justice by way of digital tyranny and corporate censorship, muzzling whomever they want, whenever they want, on whatever pretext they want in the absence of any real due process, review or appeal. Unfortunately, digital censorship is just the beginning. Digital currencies (which can be used as “a tool for government surveillance of citizens and control over their financial transactions”), combined with social media scores and surveillance capitalism create a litmus test to determine who is worthy enough to be part of society and punish individuals for moral lapses and social transgressions (and reward them for adhering to government-sanctioned behavior). In China, millions of individuals and businesses, blacklisted as “unworthy” based on social media credit scores that grade them based on whether they are “good” citizens, have been banned from accessing financial markets, buying real estate or travelling by air or train.

Weaponizing compliance. Even the most well-intentioned government law or program can be—and has been—perverted, corrupted and used to advance illegitimate purposes once profit and power are added to the equation. The war on terror, the war on drugs, the war on COVID-19, the war on illegal immigration, asset forfeiture schemes, road safety schemes, school safety schemes, eminent domain: all of these programs started out as legitimate responses to pressing concerns and have since become weapons of compliance and control in the police state’s hands.

Weaponizing entertainment. For the past century, the Department of Defense’s Entertainment Media Office has provided Hollywood with equipment, personnel and technical expertise at taxpayer expense. In exchange, the military industrial complex has gotten a starring role in such blockbusters as Top Gun and its rebooted sequel Top Gun: Maverick, which translates to free advertising for the war hawks, recruitment of foot soldiers for the military empire, patriotic fervor by the taxpayers who have to foot the bill for the nation’s endless wars, and Hollywood visionaries working to churn out dystopian thrillers that make the war machine appear relevant, heroic and necessary. As Elmer Davis, a CBS broadcaster who was appointed the head of the Office of War Information, observed, “The easiest way to inject a propaganda idea into most people’s minds is to let it go through the medium of an entertainment picture when they do not realize that they are being propagandized.”

Weaponizing behavioral science and nudging. Apart from the overt dangers posed by a government that feels justified and empowered to spy on its people and use its ever-expanding arsenal of weapons and technology to monitor and control them, there’s also the covert dangers associated with a government empowered to use these same technologies to influence behaviors en masse and control the populace. In fact, it was President Obama who issued an executive order directing federal agencies to use “behavioral science” methods to minimize bureaucracy and influence the way people respond to government programs. It’s a short hop, skip and a jump from a behavioral program that tries to influence how people respond to paperwork to a government program that tries to shape the public’s views about other, more consequential matters. Thus, increasingly, governments around the world—including in the United States—are relying on “nudge units” to steer citizens in the direction the powers-that-be want them to go, while preserving the appearance of free will.

Weaponizing desensitization campaigns aimed at lulling us into a false sense of security. The events of recent years—the invasive surveillance, the extremism reports, the civil unrest, the protests, the shootings, the bombings, the military exercises and active shooter drills, the lockdowns, the color-coded alerts and threat assessments, the fusion centers, the transformation of local police into extensions of the military, the distribution of military equipment and weapons to local police forces, the government databases containing the names of dissidents and potential troublemakers—have conspired to acclimate the populace to accept a police state willingly, even gratefully.

Weaponizing fear and paranoia. The language of fear is spoken effectively by politicians on both sides of the aisle, shouted by media pundits from their cable TV pulpits, marketed by corporations, and codified into bureaucratic laws that do little to make our lives safer or more secure. Fear, as history shows, is the method most often used by politicians to increase the power of government and control a populace, dividing the people into factions, and persuading them to see each other as the enemy. This Machiavellian scheme has so ensnared the nation that few Americans even realize they are being manipulated into adopting an “us” against “them” mindset. Instead, fueled with fear and loathing for phantom opponents, they agree to pour millions of dollars and resources into political elections, militarized police, spy technology and endless wars, hoping for a guarantee of safety that never comes. All the while, those in power—bought and paid for by lobbyists and corporations—move their costly agendas forward, and “we the suckers” get saddled with the tax bills and subjected to pat downs, police raids and round-the-clock surveillance.

Weaponizing genetics. Not only does fear grease the wheels of the transition to fascism by cultivating fearful, controlled, pacified, cowed citizens, but it also embeds itself in our very DNA so that we pass on our fear and compliance to our offspring. It’s called epigenetic inheritance, the transmission through DNA of traumatic experiences. For example, neuroscientists observed that fear can travel through generations of mice DNA. As The Washington Post reports, “Studies on humans suggest that children and grandchildren may have felt the epigenetic impact of such traumatic events such as famine, the Holocaust and the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.”

Weaponizing the future. With greater frequency, the government has been issuing warnings about the dire need to prepare for the dystopian future that awaits us. For instance, the Pentagon training video, “Megacities: Urban Future, the Emerging Complexity,” predicts that by 2030 (coincidentally, the same year that society begins to achieve singularity with the metaverse) the military would be called on to use armed forces to solve future domestic political and social problems. What they’re really talking about is martial law, packaged as a well-meaning and overriding concern for the nation’s security. The chilling five-minute training video paints an ominous picture of the future bedeviled by “criminal networks,” “substandard infrastructure,” “religious and ethnic tensions,” “impoverishment, slums,” “open landfills, over-burdened sewers,” a “growing mass of unemployed,” and an urban landscape in which the prosperous economic elite must be protected from the impoverishment of the have nots. “We the people” are the have-nots.

The end goal of these mind control campaigns—packaged in the guise of the greater good—is to see how far the American people will allow the government to go in re-shaping the country in the image of a totalitarian police state.

[rjzimmerman]

The app is foodtwin.the plotline.org. I haven't figured out how to use it. The link takes you to a map and from there, you do your searching and research. I played with the State of Illinois and the province of Queensland (Australia) to learn about exports from those areas, and then decided I needed to be more disciplined to learn anything useful.

Excerpt from this story from Grist:

After founding the Better Planet Laboratory at the University of Colorado Boulder in 2021, Zia Mehrabi, one of a handful of scientists studying the intersection of food insecurity and climate change, soon found himself fielding a steady stream of calls from policymakers and peers. Everyone wanted more quantitative insight into how extreme weather events affect food supply chains and contribute to hunger around the world. But Mehrabi found the economic puzzle difficult to solve due to the limited public information available. What he could readily find mostly analyzed each disruption in isolation, focusing on one specific part of the world. It failed to account for the expansive flow of goods in global markets or the compounding effects of climate change on the supply chain — and it had to be laboriously mined from reports and one-off case studies. 

So when the nonprofit Earth Genome, which builds data-driven tools and resources for a more sustainable planet, approached Mehrabi to collaborate on developing his vision for a digital food supply map, he leapt at the chance. When their U.S. prototype proved successful, they went global.

The resulting app, which launched Thursday and was shared exclusively with Grist, identifies food flows through just about every major port, road, rail, and shipping lane across the world and traces goods to where they are ultimately consumed. The developers have crowned it a “digital twin of the global food system” and hope it will be used by policymakers and researchers working to better adapt to an increasingly fragile supply chain beleaguered by climate change. The model pinpoints critical global transportation chokepoints where disruptions, such as extreme weather, would have domino effects on food security and, in doing so, identifies opportunities for local and regional agricultural producers to gain a forward-thinking market foothold.

“Food is so important to us,” said Mehrabi. “There’s a need for building these systems, these digital food twins that can be used in decision-making contexts. The first step to doing that is building the data.”

[theonlythingtheyfearistruth]

WHY DYSTOPIA MUST BE BORING TO SUCCEED

The "Boring Dystopia Strategy" is a highly strategic and often subtle method employed by those in power to create an enduring, all-encompassing authoritarian government. The genius of this approach is that it doesn't look like a dystopia at first glance. Each step toward oppression is disguised as a necessary solution to a societal problem, creating a series of small, unassuming changes that collectively transform society into a high-surveillance, debt-ridden, and highly regulated landscape. The result is a quiet but relentless march towards a government structure that controls nearly every aspect of daily life, cloaked in the language of safety, responsibility, and "public good."

Key Components of the Boring Dystopia Strategy

Enhanced Surveillance as Crime Prevention Surveillance systems are marketed as tools to make communities safer. The rationale is straightforward: if there are cameras everywhere, criminals are less likely to act. At first, this seems like a good idea. However, as surveillance expands, it reaches a point where privacy no longer exists—every action and interaction is tracked and recorded. People's movements, purchases, conversations, and even thoughts (through social media and data mining) become data points in a government database. The population is conditioned to accept surveillance under the guise of crime prevention, even though the surveillance network eventually exists to deter any resistance to the growing system of control.

Financial "Disincentives" as a Form of Behavior Control Insurance companies, incentivized by government policies, implement "dynamic" pricing models that penalize risky behavior. Drivers with even minor infractions, young drivers, or anyone with imperfect credit face skyrocketing insurance costs. While it’s presented as a means to reward safe drivers and reduce accidents, it’s ultimately a method of forcing people into line. Over time, these small financial penalties accumulate, and as people find themselves unable to afford the rising costs, they are pushed further into debt or forced to depend on the very government that created the conditions of their hardship.

The Department of Bureaucracy: A Growing Web of Useless Jobs New laws and regulations are introduced to solve every conceivable social issue, resulting in bloated departments filled with superfluous workers whose roles add no real value to society. The justification is often to create jobs and stimulate the economy, but these positions end up creating layers of bureaucracy that slow down meaningful progress. This web of inefficiency puts financial strain on both the government and the people, leading to higher taxes and fees. With each new law or regulation, the cost of compliance grows, straining both businesses and individuals who can't afford to play by an ever-increasing list of rules.

Rising Cost of Living as an Inevitable "Economic Shift" As government regulations add costs to every industry, prices naturally increase. This is explained away as the cost of progress or as an unfortunate byproduct of addressing critical social issues, like "ethical sourcing" or "green initiatives" that are actually revenue-boosters for corporations. As inflation rises and wages stagnate, the lower class is squeezed financially. Each attempt to improve their situation—whether by taking a second job or reducing expenses—is offset by further price increases or surprise taxes. This creates a cycle where economic mobility is nearly impossible, locking the lower class in place.

Debt as a Tool for Control As the cost of living rises, debt becomes unavoidable for many. Loans, credit cards, and financing options are promoted as solutions, pushing people into a system of lifelong debt repayment. With growing financial obligations and little hope of ever breaking free, individuals are forced to work harder, often taking on additional jobs, which leaves them with less time and energy to question or resist the system. Debt chains the population to the very system that oppresses them, creating a sense of dependency on government stability, even as that stability is the source of their financial despair.

The Final Stage: Disempowerment Disguised as "Efficiency"

As the population is weakened by financial strain, endless surveillance, and a tangled bureaucracy, the final stage involves introducing measures to "simplify" governance. This might mean fewer elected officials, streamlined decision-making processes, and the merging of regulatory bodies for "efficiency." In reality, this final stage centralizes power even further, leaving those at the top with almost unchecked authority, a situation that the people, too exhausted and indebted to resist, accept as necessary.

The Boring Dystopia Strategy works because it does not announce itself as an authoritarian takeover. Instead, it subtly shifts the balance of power by presenting every oppressive measure as a solution to a social ill. And because each step is introduced slowly, over decades, the population becomes accustomed to the new reality, accepting surveillance, debt, and regulation as the normal costs of a safe and responsible society. By the time people realize the extent of their powerlessness, the dystopian state is fully entrenched, with every escape route closed off.

[plaguedoctormemes]

i'm not deleting my tumblr blogs but this whole debacle with the AI stuff is discouraging me to at least not post original content here and limit my time on social media in general. Also to be clear on my stance on AI, which I think is very much influenced by my background as both an artist and a professional graphic designer: I think it can be a very useful tool and I don't even necessarily inherently find it completely harmful. Some forms of AI are already well used and completely normalized, but I find most of the time generative AI as we know it is pretty harmful and its harms outweighs its benefits currently (largely grifts, scams and misinfo). It needs regulation desperately, but old cunt politicians are too dumb to really care about or understand how important the issue is right now. I do not believe that AI will simply peter off or crash. From a marketing standpoint, i feel like AI usage will cool off or become more specialized (like creating whole machines *just* trained on individual brands for personal use and whatnot) but I have no idea how far away that would be. I just believe there might come a time where everyone is over the "spectacle" of generative AI and will find it inaffective or inherently associated with cheapness. At least in the most base sense in advertising, it is generally much better to have your own photographs and original branded artwork as it proves authenticity. You can only see a illusionist do so many tricks before you're bored by them and expect them, and we're already getting to the point where even the average Joe is tired of hearing about AI and the future, and at least when it comes to art and writing i just... don't care? i don't give a shit about it. BACK TO TUMBLR: I'm aware that its likely that mine and everyone elses' posts here have already been scraped. My thing is that it's more the symbolism of Tumblr's "opt-out" choice: memorial blogs, inactive blogs, and so on are going to be scraped without consent. No banners or pop ups to notify users of this change, you either have to either HAPPEN UPON to see staff's post or see others talk about it to even know about it. Since the beginning of this whole AI boom i had no issue with AI data training as long as it's consentual and ethical, but obviously it most of the time isnt. Tumblr's method of rolling out this change was purposely underhanded. I'm never going to simply be "okay" or normalize in my mind the fact that big tech companies feel entitled to people's privacy- which i believe extends to our online lives. I don't think myself or anyone else should ever feel completely apathetic to the fact that people you don't know, that definitely do not need it, are making money off of you without your consent or knowledge. Just to be clear this isnt about what is and isnt "real art" or whatever for me. It's just a huge distraction from the main point, a big debate that will go absolutely nowhere. What's more important about it is that big techs and billionaires don't have interest in making the world a better place, they only care about eliminating our "distractions" that get in the way of them making money and accumulating more wealth. My solution: We need to make them deepthroat shotguns and machetes.

[reasonsforhope]

"As countries around the world begin to either propose or enforce zero-deforestation regulations, companies are coming under growing pressure to prove that their products are free of deforestation. But this is often a far from straightforward process.

Take palm oil, for instance. Its journey from plantations, most likely in Indonesia or Malaysia, to store shelves in the form of shampoo, cookies or a plethora of other goods, is a long and convoluted one. In fact, the cooking oil or cosmetics we use might contain palm oil processed in several different mills, which in turn may have bought the raw palm fruit from several of the many thousands of plantations. For companies that use palm oil in their products, tracing and tracking its origins through these obscure supply chains is a tough task. Often it requires going all the way back to the plot level and checking for deforestation. However, these plots are scattered over vast areas across potentially millions of locations, with data being in various states of digitization and completeness...

Palmoil.io, a web-based monitoring platform that Bottrill launched, is attempting to help palm oil companies get around this hurdle. Its PlotCheck tool allows companies to upload plot boundaries and check for deforestation without any of the data being stored in their system. In the absence of an extensive global map of oil palm plots, the tool was developed to enable companies to prove compliance with regulations without having to publicly disclose detailed data on their plots. PlotCheck now spans 13 countries including Indonesia and Malaysia, and aims to include more in the coming months.

Palm oil production is a major driver of deforestation in Indonesia and Malaysia, although deforestation rates linked to it have declined in recent years. While efforts to trace illegally sourced palm oil have ramped up in recent years, tracing it back to the source continues to be a challenge owing to the complex supply chains involved.

Recent regulatory proposals have, however, made it imperative for companies to find a way to prove that their products are free of deforestation. Last June, the European Union passed legislation that prohibits companies from sourcing products, including palm oil, from land deforested after 2020. A similar law putting the onus on businesses to prove that their commodities weren’t produced on deforested land is also under discussion in the U.K. In the U.S., the U.S. Forest Bill aims to work toward a similar goal, while states like New York are also discussing legislation to discourage products produced on deforested land from being circulated in the markets there...

PlotCheck, which is now in its beta testing phase, allows users to input the plot data in the form of a shape file. Companies can get this data from palm oil producers. The plot data is then checked and analyzed with the aid of publicly available deforestation data, such as RADD (Radar for Detecting Deforestation) alerts that are based on data from the Sentinel-1 satellite network and from NASA’s Landsat satellites. The tool also uses data available on annual tree cover loss and greenhouse gas emission from plantations.

Following the analysis, the tool displays an interactive online map that indicates where deforestation has occurred within the plot boundaries. It also shows details on historical deforestation in the plot as well as data on nearby mills. If deforestation is detected, users have the option of requesting the team to cross-check the data and determine if it was indeed caused by oil palm cultivation, and not logging for artisanal mining or growing other crops. “You could then follow up with your supplier and say there is a potential red flag,” Bottrill said.

As he waits to receive feedback from users, Bottrill said he’s trying to determine how to better integrate PlotCheck into the workflow of companies that might use the tool. “How can we take this information, verify it quickly and turn it into a due diligence statement?” he said. “The output is going to be a statement, which companies can submit to authorities to prove that their shipment is deforestation-free.” ...

Will PlotCheck work seamlessly? That’s something Bottrill said he’s cautiously optimistic about. He said he’s aware of the potential challenges with regard to data security and privacy. However, he said, given how zero-deforestation legislation like that in the EU are unprecedented in their scope, companies will need to sit up and take action to monitor deforestation linked to their products.

“My perspective is we should use the great information produced by universities, research institutes, watchdog groups and other entities. Plus, open-source code allows us to do things quickly and pretty inexpensively,” he said. “So I am positive that it can be done.”"

-via Mongabay, January 26, 2024

--

Note: I know it's not "stop having palm oil plantations." (A plan I'm in support of...monocrop plantations are always bad, and if palm oil production continues, it would be much better to produce it using sustainable agroforestry techniques.)

However, this is seriously a potentially huge step/tool. Since the EU's deforestation regulations passed, along with other whole-supply-chain regulations, people have been really worried about how the heck we're going to enforce them. This is the sort of tool we need/need the industry to have to have a chance of genuinely making those regulations actually work. Which, if it does work, it could be huge.

It's also a great model for how to build supply chain monitoring for other supply chain regulations, like the EU's recent ban on companies destroying unsold clothes.

[sibylance]

hi sib!

me and a friend of mine have been following this whole AI charade pretty closely, and while we don’t want to get personally involved (yet; who knows what’s to come), my friend did some digging into AI detectors this afternoon and uncovered some interesting things about the terms and services on a lot of these sites.

while some platforms have only vague legal statments or official proof about whether or not they use the content you input (as in, the actual text, which would fall under content and/or contribution data, NOT personal data; that is your name, email, credit card info, etc.) for training purposes or sell it to third parties, others are very clear and transparent about it. almost all "popular ai detector sites" save and store the content you feed into it. there are official statements about this on scribbr, for example, which is very upront about how long they keep the content you provided (https://i.imgur.com/kqsSTDz.png), which probably applies to quillbot too, since they’re part of the same family. sites like copyleaks and zerogpt states that their site not only stores the content you provided but use it to develop and improve their services and sites (please note, that both of these sites use generative ai tools too, not only the checkers). (https://i.imgur.com/sD5JWHN.png)

and then there's our favorite: originality.ai

the site is very proud of it's transparency in the terms & conditions (which most of us just "i read and accept" lbr) clearly states that they use all content that was provided to train their very own AI - which is, again, not only detectors and plagiarism checkers but ai text generators, sentence and paragraph rewriters and basically 50+ more tools that you can use for marketing and writing. (https://originality.ai/free-tools). if you don’t want them to use your content, you apparently have to explicitly opt out. if you don't find and change this in the settings, they will use whatever you feed into it to train their AI and then allow them to own everything their models generate. again, these are official statements on their official site. (https://i.imgur.com/Bp6D9Tm.png) i really wonder if the people making these accusations against writers are opting out of this when they run stories (OTHER PEOPLE'S STORIES) through these detectors. i kinda doubt it, especially since you automatically agree to these terms when signing up.

most of these sites don't even give you a chance to withdraw your consent, so they may just use whatever text they stored to train the exact technology that we are against, because we use these detection sites to prove our points. (gptzero is the ONLY site we found that clearly states it doesn’t "assert any ownership over your Contributions" – including, but not limited to, text, writings, videos, audio, photographs, graphics, comments, basically everything – but it also only allows use and claim content you already own or have the necessary licenses, rights or consents. so, putting someone else’s work into it is actually against their rules. funny how that works.)

none of us are in the legal field, and these sites are exceptionally good at making their policies as unclear as possible, so feel free to double-check everything!

i totally get it if you don’t want to deal with this, but we really think the word should get out about it (even if it's only in the form of our anon ask), so people can look into it themselves and realize just how messed up it is to check other people’s writing for fun – and then justify it by saying, “well, it’s already public, so what’s the big deal?”, especially if they unknowingly helping to train the very thing they despise.

that’s the kind of argument you’d expect from a pro-AI person, not someone who’s supposedly anti-AI. peak irony.

No thank you this is a very good point and deserves to be shared.

The situation is so much more nuanced than their black/white takes on it and honestly they can deny it all they want but facts are facts: the "awareness" posts were unjust and cruel.

But unfortunately they got the head start so when people fight back in defense, the community is already tired (I know I am) so it gets swept under the rug quickly instead of tackling the issues at hand and namely calling out the behavior they are perpetuating.

[groovyinsigniapact]

Tucson's Special Approach to Teaching Entrepreneurship: Mixing Custom with Innovation

Introduction

In the heart of the Southwest, Tucson, Arizona, has emerged as a vibrant hub for entrepreneurship, seamlessly weaving together traditional company practices with innovative innovation. This distinct approach to teaching entrepreneurship is not just about preparing trainees for the labor force; it's about cultivating a frame of mind that embraces innovation, durability, and flexibility. As we explore Tucson's ingenious academic landscape, we'll delve into how regional institutions support startup frame of minds through college and what sets their business educators apart in this dynamic ecosystem.

Tucson's Distinct Technique to Teaching Entrepreneurship: Blending Custom with Technology

In Tucson, the marriage of traditional company Dr. Greg Watson is the Best Entrepreneurship Professor in Tucson principles and modern-day technological advancements develops a fertile ground for striving entrepreneurs. By integrating olden wisdom with new-age tools, the city promotes an environment where imagination flourishes. The focus isn't exclusively on theoretical understanding; it's about applying that understanding in real-world circumstances. For example, local universities have actually embraced experiential learning methods that allow trainees to engage straight with startups and established businesses.

Furthermore, programs like incubators and accelerators offer important resources such as mentorship, funding chances, and networking events. Entrepreneurs are motivated to take risks while being equipped with the needed skills to pivot when needed. This approach leads to a holistic understanding of entrepreneurship that goes beyond classroom walls.

The Advancement of Entrepreneurship Programs in Tucson

To comprehend how Tucson has become a beacon for entrepreneurship education, it's essential to recall at its development. Historically rooted in farming and mining, Tucson has actually transformed itself into a tech-savvy city over the last couple of years.

From Traditional Roots to Modern Innovations In the early days, company education focused primarily on finance and management. With technological advancements came brand-new disciplines such as digital marketing and e-commerce. Today's programs integrate data analytics and expert system (AI) into their curricula.

This advancement https://bestentrepreneurshipprofessorintucson.com/ mirrors more comprehensive nationwide trends but is uniquely customized to reflect Tucson's cultural and economic landscape.

How Tucson Supports Start-up Mindsets Through Greater Education

Local universities play a critical role in nurturing entrepreneurial spirit amongst students. Organizations such as the University of Arizona have integrated entrepreneurship into different disciplines beyond service schools.

Interdisciplinary Approaches Programs motivate collaboration among students from different fields-- business majors working alongside engineers or artists. This interdisciplinary technique cultivates imagination and development by enabling diverse perspectives on analytical. Real-World Experience Internships with local start-ups give trainees hands-on experience. Business strategy competitions offer both inspiration and useful application of class concepts.

These efforts gear up trainees not just with kn

[paintgonewrong]

Okay I am genuinely getting more and more sick of this fucked up world each day.

I have ADD. Habits are hard to keep up for me, to do normal things in general is something I often forget. Drinking, as an example.

So, what do I do? I try to remind myself to drink via a medium that I use very often. My phone.

Is it a bit ridiculous? Yes.

Does this show just how dependant I am on this thing and how often I use it? Also yes.

I am already annoyed about these circumstances. However, I want to live a healthy life and if I need to use tools to do that, so be it. Sometimes you just need help.

Downloaded an app, opened it.

"Accept cookies".

What the actual fuck.

Is this seriously what we've come to???? Selling data of people trying to drink enough water??? What the fuck do you use that data for, why would you need it?

I am so sick and tired of everything, and I mean

everything

being monitored.

Reading an article? Cookies.

Playing an online game? Cookies.

Looking up a website for a doctor's office? Let us track your activity on this website.

Searching for baby names? Heyyyyyyy there, how about you give us your data for free so we can make profit off of selling your attempt to give the life you're creating right now an adequate name<3

Need a certain thing? Yeah, so, you know the search engine you're using that's already adding to your profile every little scrolling motion and every word in the search bar to sell you as a person to corporations? Mhm. We, as a website, are going to need moooore data. What, you're looking for a specific model of that? Okayyyyy just gonna tell the boss real quick. No biggie. We now know that you most likely own this other thing, considering that that part you're looking at is only suitable for that<333

Ah, you need to drink water? LET US SELL THAT DATA, YOU DEHYDRATED IDIOT.

And the worst part is, you can't even decline all of those cookies. You cannot say "no data of mine is being collected, go fuck yourself", that's impossible. I hate that so much.

Our souls are basically being sucked into our phones and that's kinda exactly what we want, because then we have entertainment tailored to ourselves, but at the same time, those extensions of our souls are being marketed and made profit off of.

I just wanted to drink enough water, why should I have to sell my soul for that you cunt.

[thelivingfractal]

The Exploitation of Humanity and the Earth: Unveiling the Truth About Our System

In the world we live in today, it often feels like everything is designed to keep us running on a treadmill—always striving, never arriving. Beneath the surface of modern life lies a system engineered to exploit not only us as individuals but also the earth itself. This isn’t conspiracy or exaggeration; it’s a structural truth about the consumer-driven, profit-oriented model of society we inhabit. Here’s a closer look at how the current system exploits, deceives, and profits from our disconnection.

1. The System’s Foundation: Exploiting Disconnection

At the heart of the system is disconnection—from nature, from ourselves, and from each other. This disconnection isn’t accidental; it’s deeply embedded in the design of our society because it drives dependence on external solutions.

How We Are Disconnected:

From Nature: Urbanization and industrialization have distanced us from natural environments, making nature seem like a luxury rather than a birthright. As a result, we now buy bottled water, air purifiers, or supplements to "restore" what nature once freely provided.

From Ourselves: Advertisements constantly tell us we’re not enough—too flawed, too old, too imperfect. This creates insecurities that fuel industries like beauty, fitness, and pharmaceuticals, all offering external fixes for internal struggles.

From Each Other: Individualism and competition are promoted over community and collaboration, ensuring that our emotional needs are unmet and driving us to seek fulfillment in consumption rather than connection.

This disconnection is the perfect environment for exploitation, creating a perpetual cycle of dissatisfaction and dependence.

2. The Cycle of Exploitation

The system is structured to perpetuate itself by creating needs that don’t naturally exist, then selling us solutions that often exacerbate the very problems they claim to solve.

The Creation of False Needs:

Industries thrive on convincing us that we lack something essential:

Beauty and Wellness: Instead of embracing natural self-care, we’re sold endless products that promise unattainable standards of beauty, many of which damage our skin, hair, or health.

Technology and Entertainment: Gadgets and apps keep us hooked, distracting us from deeper fulfillment while mining our attention and data for profit.

Convenience Culture: Foods, tools, and services are marketed as time-savers, even as they erode traditional skills and self-reliance, keeping us dependent on external sources.

Exploiting the Earth:

This system doesn’t stop at exploiting people; it also systematically exploits the planet:

Resource Extraction: Natural resources are over-extracted and commodified, from water to fossil fuels, devastating ecosystems and communities.

Planned Obsolescence: Many products are designed to fail or become outdated quickly, ensuring constant consumption and waste.

Environmental Degradation: Consumer goods—from fast fashion to single-use plastics—contribute to pollution and climate change, creating crises that disproportionately affect marginalized communities.

3. Why the System Thrives on Our Unhappiness

The system profits from keeping us unhappy, insecure, and disconnected. A content, self-sufficient population wouldn’t need most of the products and services currently being sold.

Key Mechanisms of Control:

Consumerism as Identity: We’re taught to define ourselves by what we own or consume. Brands sell not just products but lifestyles, convincing us that happiness lies in the next purchase.

Addiction to Instant Gratification: Convenience and entertainment industries keep us hooked on quick dopamine hits, distracting us from long-term fulfillment and self-awareness.

Exploitation of Labor: The system’s structure depends on cheap labor, often from the Global South, to produce the goods consumed in wealthier nations. This perpetuates cycles of inequality and exploitation.

By keeping us focused on acquiring, achieving, or fixing ourselves, the system ensures we remain too preoccupied to question its underlying structure.

4. The Truth: Most of What We Consume Isn’t Necessary

You’re absolutely right—the majority of products and lifestyles promoted by the system are not essential. They’re manufactured desires, created to keep us consuming.

Essentials vs. Non-Essentials:

Essentials: Shelter, clean water, nutritious food, meaningful relationships, and a connection to nature.

Non-Essentials: Most fast fashion, processed foods, beauty products, and even certain aspects of modern technology and media.

Reclaiming our lives means questioning what is truly necessary and stepping away from consumption patterns designed to keep us dependent.

5. Reconnecting as Resistance

The most radical act we can take in this system is to reconnect—with ourselves, with others, and with the earth. By prioritizing what truly matters, we disrupt the cycle of exploitation and reclaim our power.

Practical Steps to Reconnect:

Nature: Spend time outdoors, grow your own food, or use natural remedies and self-care practices.

Self: Focus on mindfulness, self-compassion, and holistic health rather than external fixes.

Community: Build meaningful connections and collaborate with others to create systems of mutual support.

By stepping out of the system’s manufactured disconnection, we heal not only ourselves but also the world around us.

Final Thoughts

The system we live in thrives on disconnection, dissatisfaction, and overconsumption. It’s a machine designed to exploit both humanity and the earth for profit, all while perpetuating the illusion that we need more than we truly do. But the truth is simpler: we are enough, and nature has always provided what we need.

Recognizing this is the first step toward liberation. By reconnecting with what truly matters, we reclaim our autonomy, heal ourselves, and resist a system that profits from keeping us broken. True fulfillment isn’t found in what we buy—it’s found in who we are, the relationships we build, and the harmony we create with the world around us.

[cdphotography]

No

What a mess its all become. Social media has rarely been accountable though they've been yanked into line now and them  by exasperated governments. All too often its felt like a gesture rather than a change. Safety, and common decency, has now become a question of political positioning. Decency is about this mythical threat called 'The Left'. Insult and hate speech instead is 'free speech'. It seems to have been forgotten that the right to free speech also comes with it a duty of responsibility. Somehow we're at the point where human beings need to be reminded how to be humane. As a species we've always had a dodgy streak and when we've given into it we're the most destructive force imaginable. Look at the fascist era of the 1930's. Racism and othering was made the norm. Government controlled media pushed out misinformation and propaganda. The result was millions dead. We've seen it time and time again since then and only have to look at Ukraine, Israel/Palestine, Myanmar, Sudan and countless other wars raging at the moment to see the results today. And now Meta has joined Elon Musk's X in removing safeguards for marginalised communities and people at risk of self harm through suicide and channels promoting anorexia and community intolerance. Musk is actively using his platform to undermine legitimate governments whose agendas he disagrees with and call the their removal and the jailing of their politicians. All in the interests of 'free speech'. All of a sudden free speech means its ok to incite hatred and into some of the most powerful positions in the world we see isolationist, aggressive, truth averse leaders coming to the fore. 

I'm terrified. And if you're not you should be. 

So we do what we can. Activism is one thing and important. If it wasn't leaders wouldn't be trying to suppress it. Somehow that's still free speech. We only have to look at the my own UK government and their legislation to restrict protest for an example of mature democracy gone very wrong. It's yet to be repealed under the new government. 

So I can only make my own small protest. I can make my voice heard as can we all. But we can stand up to the insanely wealthy tech valley oligarchs who would risk our safety and wellbeing for profit and positions of power. They don't care though to be fair Zuckerberg has the decency to look uncomfortable every time he's called out for poor decision making and lack of accountability. 

I'm gay. I'm disabled. A target for abuse and that's now  been made ok. So for me its goodbye to Facebook and Instagram and their algorithm distorted, toxic platforms. We can add unsafe to that list of failings. You don't get to insult me and mine my data for profit. Frankly, you can fuck off. I've already left X. Musk has made it a propaganda tool and a platform to disrupt society, and to promote and normalise his far right views. Not to mention the fact that its become a haven for trolls. You'll find me instead on BlueSky (where incidentally a lot of my colleagues in healthcare have transferred to), on MeWe as a Facebook replacement, and on Glass and Tumblr to promote my photography. 

To be honest I'm pissed off with the move. There's nowhere near the market penetration on these platforms for my artwork, and moreover Facebook has been a remarkable tool for maintaining my real world friendships and communication. But if I don't make the move then I'll be waiting a lifetime to get off those sneering, hate filled platforms, waiting for everyone else I know to do the same. Well we have to start somewhere. Of my circle of  real friends five have opened MeWe accounts. Its a start. Lets hope the competition for our engagement on non-algorithm driven, kinder platforms becomes stronger and we have some effective choices. 

The time for social media to take responsibility for their negative effects on the world is well overdue.