#global developer workforce

[frank-olivier]

Women, Work, and the Future of Japan: A Catalyst for Change

Japan's post-war economic resurgence was once driven by its distinct work culture, but this same culture has now transformed into a double-edged sword, imperiling the nation's future prosperity. Historically, Japan's collectivist ethos, rooted in the pursuit of "Wa" (harmony), fostered stability and cooperation, but in today's context, it often manifests as a rigid hierarchy where excessively long working hours are misconstrued as the pinnacle of loyalty and dedication. This has severe human consequences, including "karoshi" (death from overwork), plummeting birth rates, and a dwindling workforce.

The country's inherent risk aversion, stemming from a deep respect for tradition, hinders innovation, with the fear of disrupting social balance outweighing the benefits of progress. This is evident in Japan's struggles to keep pace with global technological advancements, particularly in software and artificial intelligence, leading to stagnation and erosion of its competitive edge. Furthermore, traditional workplaces prioritize visibility and seniority over merit, resulting in ineffectual leadership, misguided decision-making, and a brain drain as talented individuals seek opportunities abroad.

Recent government initiatives aimed at improving work-life balance and promoting sustainability offer hope, as do forward-thinking companies adopting flexible work arrangements to attract top talent. However, a profound cultural shift is necessary for Japan to reclaim its innovative forefront. This requires blending cherished traditions with the uncertainties of innovation, fostering an environment that encourages risk tolerance, creativity, and merit-based advancement. A gradual shift in societal values, emphasizing individual creativity alongside collectivist principles, is crucial, as are structural reforms in workplaces and educational institutions promoting meritocracy, flexibility, and lifelong learning.

Interwoven with these challenges is the complex situation of Japanese women, who face traditional expectations, societal pressures, and workplace demands that profoundly impact their lives and the country's future. The notion of "ikigai" (finding purpose in life) often narrowly translates to family devotion for women, leading to unfulfilled potential and stagnation. This results in low labor force participation rates, a persistent glass ceiling, and underutilized parental leave policies, placing an undue burden on women and threatening individual well-being and the broader social and economic landscape.

A growing pushback against these traditional expectations, marked by women-led startups, flexible work arrangements, and paternal leave initiatives, signals a tentative shift towards inclusivity. To truly empower Japanese women, however, a profound societal transformation is needed, involving a reckoning with outmoded gender roles. Education and awareness campaigns, alongside the promotion of male allies embodying modern masculinity, can challenge these norms. By celebrating the diverse contributions and aspirations of its female population, Japan can dismantle barriers, realizing the full potential of its women and securing a vibrant future for the nation. The path forward hinges on choosing between the status quo and a new trajectory that values, supports, and empowers Japanese women to thrive, ultimately determining the country's prosperity.

Japanese work culture is unsustainable (pigallisme, April 2024)

Sunday, December 1, 2024

[jantanow]

बागपत के युवा अमन कुमार ने राष्ट्रीय AI परामर्श में रखी ग्रामीण भारत की बात, UNESCO व MeitY के साथ नीति निर्माण में निभाई भूमिका

UNESCO की वैश्विक AI पद्धति को भारत के संदर्भ में रूप देने की ऐतिहासिक कवायद में बागपत का प्रतिनिधित्व  नई दिल्ली/बागपत। बागपत जिले के गांव ट्यौढी निवासी अमन कुमार ने एक और बार अपने जिले और ग्रामीण भारत की आवाज को राष्ट्रीय और अंतरराष्ट्रीय मंच पर बुलंद किया है। उन्हें UNESCO ग्लोबल यूथ कम्युनिटी के सदस्य और MY भारत मेंटर के रूप में प्रतिष्ठित 5वीं AI RAM स्टेकहोल्डर कंसल्टेशन में आमंत्रित किया…

[townpostin]

Tata Steel Unveils Ambitious Expansion Plan for India

Steel Giant Aims to Double Domestic Capacity While Focusing on Sustainability Tata Steel’s growth strategy targets 40 MTPA production in India, emphasizing eco-friendly practices and supporting affected UK workers. JAMSHEDPUR – Tata Steel announced plans to double its manufacturing capacity in India to approximately 40 million tonnes per annum (MTPA), signaling a major shift in its global…

[probablyasocialecologist]

The high levels of consumption enjoyed by wealthy countries in the Global North are only possible because of mass appropriation of labor from the population of the Global South. This is evidenced by research from the Institute of Environmental Science and Technology at the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (ICTA-UAB), which indicates that this appropriation takes place through unequal exchange in international trade and global commodity chains. The new study, published in Nature Communications, measured the flows of labor embodied in traded goods around the world from 1995 to 2021. The results show that in 2021, the Global North imported 906 billion hours of embodied labor from the South while exporting only 80 billion hours in return. In other words, for every hour of labor the Global South imports from the Global North, they must export 11 hours to "pay" for it. As a result, the countries of the Global North net-appropriated 826 billion hours of labor from the Global South, across all skill levels and all sectors: mining, agriculture, manufacturing and services. The figure of 826 billion hours is more than the labor rendered by the entire workforce of the United States and Europe combined. The wage value of this net-appropriated labor was equivalent to €16.9 trillion in 2021, in Northern prices. In other words, this is how much the appropriated labor would be worth if it was paid at prevailing Northern wages, with equal wages for equal work. "These are staggering figures. It shows that very large quantities of value flow from the South to the North each year" says Jason Hickel, researcher at ICTA-UAB and the Department of Anthropology at the UAB. "The Global North grows rich by siphoning value out of the South." Unequal exchange occurs because of systematic price inequalities in the world economy. Powerful states and corporations in the Global North seek to compress wages and supply prices in the Global South, to obtain inputs and other goods more cheaply. Producers in the Global South are then forced to export more goods and services in order to buy any given level of imports. This results in large net-transfers from the Global South to the Global North, which benefits Northern firms and consumers but drains the Global South of productive capacities that are necessary for development. "Labor that could be used to improve human development in the Global South is instead appropriated to service capital accumulation in the Global North," said co-author Morena Hanbury Lemos, also of ICTA-UAB. "This is a major driver of deprivation in the South, and it needs to be addressed," she says. According to the study, wages in the Global South are between 87% and 95% lower than Northern wages for work of equal skill, and between 83% and 98% lower for work of equal skill within the same sector. Wage inequalities are so extreme that high skill labor in the Global South is paid only one-third the wages of low-skill labor in the Global North.

29 July 2024

[mariacallous]

As Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) has ravaged its way though the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), cutting its workforce from 10,000 to just 300, hundreds of organizations providing vital safety services have been upended. Multiple children’s safety groups—including those fighting online child sexual abuse and exploitation—say their efforts have been severely hamstrung.

Groups identifying victims and providing care for those who have been subject to online exploitation or human trafficking are struggling to support the vulnerable children, multiple organizations tell WIRED. Such child safety projects often take place in poorer countries, which can have fewer resources to support victims or investigate crimes. Sources say that funding for safe houses has been paused, potentially exposing victims to more harm, and efforts that identify criminals behind child exploitation have been put on hold.

“It will be very hard for us to identify the victims,” says Chantal Yelu Mulop, from the Coordination for Youth and the Fight Against Sexual Violence and Trafficking in Persons (CJVFFT), in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. While the war-torn country faces new fighting and humanitarian crises, children have long been trafficked to work in cobalt mines linked to the production of smartphone and EV batteries.

As USAID funding was withdrawn over the past week, Mulop says her organization had just started helping around 25 newly identified victims of human trafficking—all of them aged under 17. The group was taken to a support shelter run by another organization. “When we bring them there, USAID was ready to help. A few hours later they cancel,” Mulop says. “There’s no food, no nothing that we can provide to them,” she adds.

While the USAID cuts have been immediate, global child protection projects have also faced a funding pause from the State Department. This foreign aid “pause,” issued by the Trump administration, is set to last for at least 90 days. USAID did not respond to WIRED’s request for comment. The State Department had not provided a comment by time of publication.

Both government bodies have provided funding to help countries and people around the world. This includes USAID’s vast swath of health care and education programs—their withdrawal is putting millions of lives at risk and limits tackling the climate crisis. In Southeast Asia, several patients at a migrant camp reportedly died after medical support was removed.

Counter-human-trafficking funding often includes money for projects that help to crack down on online child exploitation and sexual abuse. Funding can be provided to international organizations that coordinate efforts and work with partners, like Mulop’s CJVFFT, on the ground. The funding can directly support victims, as well as providing expertise to officials in countries, and stop more children becoming targets.

“Many of these victims engage with their traffickers through electronic means,” says Jessica Ryckman, the executive director of the nonprofit Lawyers Without Borders (LWOB), which works on trafficking and child exploitation programs and has been impacted by the funding changes. “It is exploitation that is advanced through digital technology.”

Over the years, the programs have been effective. For instance, a four-year partnership between the US and the Philippines, which started under the first Trump administration and ended in 2021, helped protect hundreds of children: More than 350 kids were rescued and supported and almost 100 potential criminals arrested. The new cuts also come as record levels of online child sexual abuse imagery are being discovered.

“Victims and perpetrators alike originate from diverse regions and countries, underscoring the necessity for continued international engagement and coordinated efforts to address these crimes comprehensively,” says an employee of a South American child protection group that works to combat trafficking and online sexual abuse. The organization, like others in this story, was granted anonymity to speak given the sensitive nature of the work and uncertainty about future funding. “The interruption of these funds inevitably limits the scope and reach of these critical services,” it says.

One person, who works for an organization running multiple child protection projects, says operations in one southeastern European country have been widely disrupted. Within the country, the organization’s projects have 147 victims of trafficking in its care, the person says. “The ongoing pause and potentially the cessation of funding would have significant and negative impact on our capacity and ability to provide essential services to these victims who are in fragile stages of their recovery; some of whom are in ongoing programs for psycho-social counseling related to their trauma,” the person says.

Multiple members of LWOB say children are being put further at risk in the projects it runs in East Africa. “These children may not be identified, the practices to reduce their trauma aren't being supported right now,” says Ryckman. “Even if they are identified, they may be put in a pipeline where they are going to have to face ongoing interviews about their trauma or face their traffickers again.”

LWOB has, along with partner organizations, identified around 200 victims of human trafficking in Tanzania, with the majority referred to safe houses, says Lulu Makwale, a victim service coordinator at Lawyers Without Borders. “Most of the funding for the safe houses has been paused, meaning the services and the needs of the victim are also being paused too,” Makwale says. She says the organization has been linking up shelters to investigators up until now. “Victims may not be connected well now to the law enforcement,” Makwale says.

As well as supporting victims directly, many of the efforts also provide training or technical assistance to police forces, allowing them to better investigate crimes. One program listed on the State Department’s list of counter-trafficking funding says it is providing training to combat online child sexual exploitation for 10,000 police officers, prosecutors, and judges in 100 countries.

The person with links to work in a European country says their organization has 74 investigations into traffickers ongoing, plus 66 prosecutions that are underway. They say that the funding changes will have a “significant and negative impact on these criminal trials” and the safety of people who may give evidence in the cases.

Ryckman, from Lawyers Without Borders, says the organization recently completed work on an online database for identifying victims and tracking online child exploitation in Kenya. While the database is functional, Ryckman says, future work to train people has been paused, and there will be a slower uptake of the system. “I do believe it will be used, and it will be extremely useful,” Ryckman says. “But these victims are there now. They shouldn’t have to wait.”

[dandelionsresilience]

Dandelion News - May 15-21

Like these weekly compilations? Tip me at $kaybarr1735 or check out my Dandelion Doodles! (EDIT: this was originally accidentally posted with only 3 articles, ig my internet farted, please rb this version with all 5 instead!)

1. Solar apprenticeships give Virginia students a head start on clean energy

“A regional partnership working to add solar panels to commercial buildings in the region aims to train young people as they go, developing workforce skills in anticipation of increasing demand for renewable energy-focused jobs in the heart of coal country, where skill sets and energy options are both changing. […] On top of hourly pay, apprentices get free equipment and a transportation subsidy, along with nine community college credits at Mountain Empire Community College, which provides classroom training before students step onto the job site.”

2. Generic drugs can be reliably supplied at big savings, study finds

“A new study finds that CivicaScript, a not-for-profit drug manufacturer in the US, can reliably supply essential generic medicines at a price that saves patients over 60%, and public and private insurers over 90%[….] The researchers say that CivicaScript's success proves that prioritizing patient access over investor profit in the generic pharmaceutical industry is not only possible, but also could be highly productive and cost efficient.”

3. This flat-bodied South African gecko was a 'lost' species. It's been found again after 34 years

“[The species was discovered] in northeastern South Africa in 1991 only to not be seen again. [In April 2025, scientists] saw 20-30 specimens and captured and photographed seven, [… and] the data they collected, including tissue samples, should allow them to confirm it is a distinct species. […] A mole that lives in sand dunes was found in 2021 after having not been seen for more than 80 years, and a butterfly, a lizard and a frog species have also been found again in the last four years after being lost to conservationists for decades.”

4. Australian researchers to trial flat-packed, lower-cost concentrated solar technology

““Industrial process heat accounts for a staggering 25% of global energy use and 20% of CO2 emissions,” explained [one of the researchers]. [… This new technology can] generate temperatures between 100-400 degrees celsius, highlighting its potential for reducing several industries’ reliance on fossil fuels. With these sorts of temperatures, the proprietary CST modules would be ideal for several processes such as grain & pulse drying, sterilising and wastewater treatment.”

5. Morocco unveils policies it hopes bolster the care and management of stray dogs

“[…] Morocco’s updated approach balanced public safety, health and animal well-being [… by ensuring that stray dogs] are examined, treated [(vaccinated and neutered)] and ultimately released with tags that make clear they pose no danger. […] It’s designed to gradually reduce the stray dog population while minimizing the need for euthanasia.”

May 8-14 news here | (all credit for images and written material can be found at the source linked; I don’t claim credit for anything but curating.)

[ihaveforgortoomany]

Reverse 1999 and child soldiers (just rambling) (global friendly)

It doesn't take long for anyone to realise most of the cast (excluding awakened, entities like Voyager and AlienT, and people like Eternity) are young: ranging from most being 17-16 with adults around their 20s and Shamane currently being the oldest (excluding the above) at around 40. (Edit hes 45 thanks for clarifying)

Alright you say, this is a gacha game ofc the characters would be around these ranges and we hope every patch to get character that is above 40 (wdym someone like Tooth Fairy isn't 30? Same for Kakania and Isolde, how are they 19 and 18 respectively?For example). Hey I would like more older characters too, but I think the ages are partially intentional if we look into lore on a thematic level.

Ok. We already know the Foundation, Laplace and now Zeno (though it was ofc from Lilya) they produce child soldiers, workers and scientists:

Vertin is the Timekeeper at 12

Sonetto probably became a field investigator around 14-16 at best (correct me if we have a better frame of reference)

Ms Moission in her character profile apparently was a field investigator at 14. (I spelt her name wrong I think)

Mesmer Jr started working at the age of 12

As of the release of the Zeno anecdote we know Lilya around 14 was already in field missions and has seen the state of war.

(Probably could include X, Horrorpedia here but I don't have much info)

What am I getting at? Characters being young in their fields of work is completely intentional, one due to the Storm in the case of the Foundation as the first had taken nearly the entire workforce (plus Child Labour Laws) so in desperation to maintain numbers and order the age to become investigators, soldiers and scientists became much lower. I don't know if the SPDM existed before the Storm but the way it functions primarily serves to replenish those lost workforce.

And two: the perception of arcanists and the importance placed on the manifestation of their arcane skill as young as possible.

We see this in the case of Mesmer and Isolde/Trista.

Mesmer Jr once she was tested to see if she had her arcane skill immediately was set to manage mentally unstable patients at the age of 12. (She alongside Vertin probably needs the most therapy)

For Trista this was the seance her mother brought to at the age of 3, dying as a result and leading to her mother with Isolde to delay by 3 years. (Acting as if that was a mercy which it really is not)

There is an emphasis on an arcane families and arcanists maintaining their societal status/ relevance through children developing their arcane skills as soon as possible plus the idea of childhood and working is flipped on its head with the presence of arcanum.

Ok idk if worded that bit correctly but in short: our idea of when a child should be working (which is never) or the time someone should be in teaching before they get into a profession (TF, Kakania and Madam Z) is warped and absent in R1999. For Kakania, shes 19 but I would argue this is because of how she had dropped out and decided to be an unlicensed doctor. Most characters being younger is the result of arcanum being present in the world.

Moreover there is a general theme of lost childhoods/ forced to grow up fast in the younger cast. Exclude characters like Ezra, Matilda (so far) and Spathodea since they are relatively fine/ not deeply traumatised. Everyone else, Vertin, Sonetto, Mesmer Jr and characters like Eagle, Monlicht, Oliver Fog were forced to grow up fast despite their young age.

Summary: characters being in younger age ranges either being literal child soldiers or certain adults being relatively young is the result of the devastation of the Storm alongside the different perception of age in the arcanum world, there the manifestation of your arcane skill seems to be used as a sign of maturity and readiness to be thrown into work (Mesmer and Isolde being put om their respective career paths at a very early age) (or your Constantine celebrating the erasure of Child Labour Laws)

[batboyblog]

Things Biden and the Democrats did, this week #4

Feb 2-9 2024

The White House announced that a landmark 23 million Americans, 1 in 6 households, have been connected to affordable high speed internet with the help of the Affordable Connectivity Program, saving Americans between $30 and $75 every month on their internet bill. 4 Million ACP users are seniors, 1/4th of households on the program are African American and 1/4th are Latino, and it supports 320,000 households on Tribal lands. Sadly the program will be forced to end if Republicans in Congress continue to block new funding

The White House announced $5 billion for a National Semiconductor Technology Center, focusing on research and development as well as workforce needs. This is part of an effort under the CHIPS and Science Act to make America a world leader in science and grow jobs for the 21st century. This will include hundreds of millions of dollars of investment in workforce development

The EPA announced finalized rules that will strength air quality standard around fine particle pollution, AKA soot. The new stronger rules are projected to prevent 4,200 premature deaths and save Americans $46 billion in health costs by 2032. Soot is particularly harmful to those with lung and heart illnesses, children and those with asthma. Industrial soot is more common in low income communities

The Department of Transportation announced $1.5 Billion investment in America's bus systems. The bulk of the money will go helping local transport authorities buy low or no emission buses. There will also be investment in bus facilities.

President Biden signed a memorandum directing a strengthening of human rights safe guards around weapons transferred from US stockpiles to allied nations. The directive seeks to guarantee no arms are transferred that might be used to violate human rights.

HHS and HUD announced a join program partnering with 8 states and DC to help streamline an all of government response to homelessness. This is an off shoot of the $3.16 billion dollar investment amounted by HUD last week to end homelessness in America

The Department of Energy and FEMA released the findings of a two year study that projections Puerto Rico will be able to be 100% renewable energy by 2050. DoE also announced that by the end of the 30,000 low income Puerto Ricans will be able to apply for a solar power program, the first investments in a billion dollar DoE program for the island's renewable energy future

Department of Transportation announced $417 million dollar loan to the North Carolina Turnpike Authority to complete a major transportation overhaul in the greater Raleigh area

The EPA and Department of Energy announced a joint plan to invest federal funds to help measure and reduce methane emissions from the oil and gas production. Methane is the second largest green house gas after CO2 and is responsible for 30% of global warming in the last 200 years. This comes after the EPA pushed new rules to fine oil and gas manufacturers for excess methane emissions.

The Senate confirmed 2 more Biden nominated federal judges. This brings the total number of Biden judges to 177 For the first time in history a majority of a President's judicial nominees are not white men, Biden has nominated a majority women and people of color Biden also nominated 4 more federal judges, including two LGBT candidates. If they are confirmed it'll bring Biden's LGBT judge total to 11 tying with President Obama for the most LGBT people put on the federal bench

[notwiselybuttoowell]

From 1862 until 1923, US senators and members of Congress provided vast numbers of seeds to constituents. At its peak, the congressional seed distribution program delivered over 60m seed packets directly to farmers and market gardeners every year, helping introduce new varieties of everything from wheat and corn to oats, soybeans, flowers and vegetables. A century later, far fewer Americans till the soil for a living, but seeds remain central to our lives.

Maintaining the seed diversity and abundance we rely on requires constant development of new varieties to combat disease, increase production and adapt to changing conditions. Seed advances are particularly urgent now, as farmers confront the fickle weather of a warming planet while working to meet a projected 50-60% rise in global food demand by 2050. Although elected officials no longer send out seeds through the mail, federal support for these efforts remains vital.

In the era of Doge, that support has been flipped on its head.

The US Department of Agriculture employs many plant breeders directly and funds many more through grants and partnerships, but the crown jewel of its seed program resides in a bunker-like building in Fort Collins, Colorado. The national seed bank houses more than 2bn carefully preserved specimens in a facility designed to withstand floods, fires, earthquakes, power outages and tornadoes. With over 620,000 varieties from nearly 17,000 different species, it is one of the world’s largest seed collections and a major supplier to the global seed vault in Svalbard, Norway.

It is also at risk.

While words like “vault” and “bank” imply simply turning the key and walking away, managing a seed collection demands constant activity. Even in cold storage, the specimens steadily degrade and must be tested regularly to make sure they’re still viable. When germination rates drop for any particular sample, those seeds must be planted and grown to maturity – in the right conditions – to produce a fresh supply. That activity takes place at over 20 research stations in locations (and climates) as diverse as North Dakota, Texas, California, Hawaii and Puerto Rico.

Known officially as the US National Plant Germplasm System, the seed bank and its network of regional facilities recently lost 10% of their workforce in the Doge firings, including farm managers, research scientists, lab technicians, IT specialists, orchardists and more. Some have since been rehired, at least temporarily, but the program remains in turmoil. Projects interrupted or suspended range from germination trials to seed regeneration, research lending and many longterm breeding programs, weakening the entire enterprise.

Plants don’t wait on politics. Any seed varieties lost now will simply be unavailable to improve crops and address challenges in the future. The importance of a robust and diverse seed bank cannot be overstated. To combat the invasive Russian wheat aphid, for example, plant breeders screened over 54,000 wheat and barley samples to find a handful of precious strains with natural resistance.

It’s time for Congress to return to the seed business. Without its intervention, backed by the courts, additional firings appear imminent. Undermining the nation’s seed security undermines its food security and embodies the definition of reckless: “utterly unconcerned about consequences”.

[world-of-wales]

The Prince of Wales visited to Ulster University's Belfast City Campus to hear about work being carried out to solidify Northern Ireland as a global leader of creative excellence and innovation by developing and upskilling the future workforce and expanding technological capabilities | 14 NOVEMBER 2024

[tangentiallly]

One way to spot patterns is to show AI models millions of labelled examples. This method requires humans to painstakingly label all this data so they can be analysed by computers. Without them, the algorithms that underpin self-driving cars or facial recognition remain blind. They cannot learn patterns.

The algorithms built in this way now augment or stand in for human judgement in areas as varied as medicine, criminal justice, social welfare and mortgage and loan decisions. Generative AI, the latest iteration of AI software, can create words, code and images. This has transformed them into creative assistants, helping teachers, financial advisers, lawyers, artists and programmers to co-create original works.

To build AI, Silicon Valley’s most illustrious companies are fighting over the limited talent of computer scientists in their backyard, paying hundreds of thousands of dollars to a newly minted Ph.D. But to train and deploy them using real-world data, these same companies have turned to the likes of Sama, and their veritable armies of low-wage workers with basic digital literacy, but no stable employment.

Sama isn’t the only service of its kind globally. Start-ups such as Scale AI, Appen, Hive Micro, iMerit and Mighty AI (now owned by Uber), and more traditional IT companies such as Accenture and Wipro are all part of this growing industry estimated to be worth $17bn by 2030.

Because of the sheer volume of data that AI companies need to be labelled, most start-ups outsource their services to lower-income countries where hundreds of workers like Ian and Benja are paid to sift and interpret data that trains AI systems.

Displaced Syrian doctors train medical software that helps diagnose prostate cancer in Britain. Out-of-work college graduates in recession-hit Venezuela categorize fashion products for e-commerce sites. Impoverished women in Kolkata’s Metiabruz, a poor Muslim neighbourhood, have labelled voice clips for Amazon’s Echo speaker. Their work couches a badly kept secret about so-called artificial intelligence systems – that the technology does not ‘learn’ independently, and it needs humans, millions of them, to power it. Data workers are the invaluable human links in the global AI supply chain.

This workforce is largely fragmented, and made up of the most precarious workers in society: disadvantaged youth, women with dependents, minorities, migrants and refugees. The stated goal of AI companies and the outsourcers they work with is to include these communities in the digital revolution, giving them stable and ethical employment despite their precarity. Yet, as I came to discover, data workers are as precarious as factory workers, their labour is largely ghost work and they remain an undervalued bedrock of the AI industry.

As this community emerges from the shadows, journalists and academics are beginning to understand how these globally dispersed workers impact our daily lives: the wildly popular content generated by AI chatbots like ChatGPT, the content we scroll through on TikTok, Instagram and YouTube, the items we browse when shopping online, the vehicles we drive, even the food we eat, it’s all sorted, labelled and categorized with the help of data workers.

Milagros Miceli, an Argentinian researcher based in Berlin, studies the ethnography of data work in the developing world. When she started out, she couldn’t find anything about the lived experience of AI labourers, nothing about who these people actually were and what their work was like. ‘As a sociologist, I felt it was a big gap,’ she says. ‘There are few who are putting a face to those people: who are they and how do they do their jobs, what do their work practices involve? And what are the labour conditions that they are subject to?’

Miceli was right – it was hard to find a company that would allow me access to its data labourers with minimal interference. Secrecy is often written into their contracts in the form of non-disclosure agreements that forbid direct contact with clients and public disclosure of clients’ names. This is usually imposed by clients rather than the outsourcing companies. For instance, Facebook-owner Meta, who is a client of Sama, asks workers to sign a non-disclosure agreement. Often, workers may not even know who their client is, what type of algorithmic system they are working on, or what their counterparts in other parts of the world are paid for the same job.

The arrangements of a company like Sama – low wages, secrecy, extraction of labour from vulnerable communities – is veered towards inequality. After all, this is ultimately affordable labour. Providing employment to minorities and slum youth may be empowering and uplifting to a point, but these workers are also comparatively inexpensive, with almost no relative bargaining power, leverage or resources to rebel.

Even the objective of data-labelling work felt extractive: it trains AI systems, which will eventually replace the very humans doing the training. But of the dozens of workers I spoke to over the course of two years, not one was aware of the implications of training their replacements, that they were being paid to hasten their own obsolescence.

— Madhumita Murgia, Code Dependent: Living in the Shadow of AI

[covid-safer-hotties]

Also preserved in our archive

Since older adults have been more severely affected by acute COVID-19, researchers have hypothesized that older adults may have worse long COVID symptoms as well. But according to new research published in the Annals of Neurology, an official journal of the American Neurological Association, Northwestern Medicine researchers found on an average of 10 months after COVID-19 onset, younger (ages 18-44) and middle-aged (ages 45-64) adults had worse neurologic symptoms of long COVID than adults 65 and older. Symptoms included headache, numbness and tingling, problems with smell and taste, blurred vision, depression, anxiety, insomnia, fatigue and a decrease in cognitive function. These symptoms occurred regardless of if the patient had mild or severe COVID-19 infections.

“While deaths from COVID-19 continue to decrease, people still get repetitive infections with the virus and may develop long COVID along the way,” said Igor Koralnik, MD, chief of neuroinfectious diseases and global neurology at Northwestern Medicine, who oversees the Neuro COVID-19 Clinic and is the co-director of the Northwestern Medicine Comprehensive COVID-19 Center. “Long COVID is causing an alteration in patients’ quality of life. Despite vaccinations and boosters, about 30 percent of COVID patients develop some long COVID symptoms. These findings have an immense public health impact, given that long COVID significantly contributes to the leading global burden of disability and disease caused by the neurological disorders.”

STUDY HIGHLIGHTS

· The study included the first 1,300 patients at the Northwestern Medicine Neuro COVID-19 Clinic with neurologic long COVID symptoms between May 2020 and March 2023.

· Among those patients, 200 had been previously hospitalized for severe COVID-19 pneumonia while the rest had mild initial COVID-19 symptoms and never required hospitalization.

· The study is a first-of-its-kind to look at the neurologic symptoms of long COVID over an adult lifespan.

· The goal was to determine if the neurologic symptoms of long COVID affect adults differently based on their age group.

“The impact of long COVID is causing disproportionate morbidity and disability in younger adults in their prime who provide much of the workforce, productivity and innovation in our society,” Dr. Koralnik said. “This may have a negative impact on the economy and cause additional burden on the health care system. This study highlights the importance that people of all ages suffering from Long COVID should be provided with the necessary treatment and rehabilitation services to alleviate their symptoms and improve their quality of life.”

To date, the Neuro COVID-19 Clinic has treated more than 2800 long-haulers from 44 states. For more information, visit nm.org and to schedule an appointment, please call 312.695.7950.

Studly link: onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/ana.27128

[probablyasocialecologist]

It’s hard to talk about 21st-century economic history without discussing the “China shock”. That is the term often used to describe China’s entrance into the global market, a change that brought rich countries an abundance of cheap goods, but left entire industries and workforces mothballed. DeepSeek may provide a sequel. A little-known Chinese hedge fund has thrown a grenade into the world of artificial intelligence with a large language model that, in effect, matches the market leader, Sam Altman’s OpenAI, at a fraction of the cost. And while OpenAI treats its models’ workings as proprietary, DeepSeek’s R1 wears its technical innards on the outside, making it attractive for developers to use and build on. Things move faster in the AI age; terrifyingly so. Five of the biggest technology stocks geared to AI — chipmaker Nvidia and so-called hyperscalers Alphabet, Amazon, Microsoft and Meta Platforms — collectively shed almost $750bn of market value before US markets opened on Monday. It could be particularly grim for Nvidia if it proves true that DeepSeek won without the use of its shiniest chips.

27 January 2025

[beautifullache]

🦄The Sims 4🦄

🎆PATREON ONLY🎆

Steve Madden

PTO 10 days off

Steve Madden is about fashion-forward product and great people. We are proud of our talented, diverse workforce. Our employees are energized, intelligent and passionate about our business and committed to providing excellent customer service.

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Ed Hardy

PTO 10 days off

A product and master of the true, traditional craft of ink, Don Ed Hardy, "The God Father of Modern Tattoos," is an American born, internationally recognized artist. A brilliant creative who developed the potential of tattooing as a legitimate, expressive art form and is primarily responsible for its global growth over the past fifty years. His unique aesthetic and innovative techniques are still being utilized by tattoo artists today.

A product and master of the true, traditional craft of ink, Don Ed Hardy, "The God Father of Modern Tattoos," is an American born, internationally recognized artist. A brilliant creative who developed the potential of tattooing as a legitimate, expressive art form and is primarily responsible for its global growth over the past fifty years. His unique aesthetic and innovative techniques are still being utilized by tattoo artists today.

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Chanel

CHANEL is a private company and a world leader in creating, developing, manufacturing and distributing luxury products.

Founded by Gabrielle Chanel at the beginning of the last century, CHANEL offers a broad range of high-end creations, including Ready-to-Wear, Leather Goods, Fashion Accessories, Eyewear, Fragrances, Makeup, Skincare, Jewelry and Watches.

CHANEL is also renowned for its Haute Couture collections, presented twice yearly in Paris, and for having acquired a large number of specialized suppliers, collectively known as the Métiers d’Art.

CHANEL is dedicated to ultimate luxury and to the highest level of craftsmanship. It is a brand whose core values remain historically grounded on exceptional creation. As such, CHANEL promotes culture, art, creativity and “savoir-faire” throughout the world, and invests significantly in people, R&D and innovation.

At the end of 2019, CHANEL employed more than 28,000 people across the world.

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Christian Dior

The Christian Dior group was formed through successive alliances among companies that, from generation to generation, have successfully combined traditions of excellence and creative passion with a cosmopolitan flair and a spirit of conquest. Together, these companies now make up a powerful, international Group, sharing their expertise with its newer brands and continuing to cultivate the art of growing well while transcending time, without losing their soul or their image of distinction.

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Giorgio Armani

Join us in our mission to passionately convey Giorgio Armani’s unique vision of timeless and natural elegance, where fashion and design provoke a confident state of being for all people by fostering beauty in the world.The Armani Group is one of the leading fashion and luxury goods groups in the world today. Our company designs, manufactures, distributes and retails fashion and lifestyle products including apparel,accessories, eyewear, watches, jewelry, home interiors, fragrances, cosmetics, chocolates, hotels and restaurants under a range of brand names: Giorgio Armani, Emporio Armani and Armani Exchange.

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L'Oreal Luxe

L’Oréal Luxe opens a unique world of beauty. Its international brands incarnate all the facets of elegance and refinement in three major specializations: skin care, make-up and perfume. L’Oréal Luxe products are available at department stores, cosmetics stores, travel retail, but also own-brand boutiques and dedicated e-commerce websites.

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[jackied0minguez]

Remote Work Redefined: TopDevz CEO Ashkan Rajaee on the Future of Flexible Business

In a world where remote work has rapidly shifted from a temporary solution to a long-term strategy, TopDevz CEO Ashkan Rajaee is leading by example. Speaking ahead of the Ft. Lauderdale International Boat Show, Rajaee shared insights on how his company has seamlessly integrated remote operations into its DNA—and why he believes this model isn’t just a passing trend.

A New Kind of Software Solutions

TopDevz isn’t your typical tech firm. Comprising an elite team of software developers, designers, project managers, and quality assurance specialists based in the United States and Canada, the company tackles the unique challenges that conventional off-the-shelf software can’t resolve. Rajaee explains that while standard solutions can cover 80–90% of business needs, the remaining nuances often cause significant inefficiencies. TopDevz fills this gap by offering custom solutions designed to address those critical details, ensuring that their clients achieve peak operational efficiency. With an impressive 96% workforce retention rate and 63% of their business coming through referrals, the company’s model speaks volumes about its effectiveness and employee satisfaction.

Mastering Remote Operations

Long before the global pivot to remote work, TopDevz was already thriving in a fully virtual environment. Rajaee emphasizes that the success of remote operations lies in having the right infrastructure and clear communication channels. “Working remotely isn’t as simple as logging in from home,” he notes. “It demands disciplined processes and a commitment to best practices—elements we’ve honed over the years.” His team’s seamless transition during the pandemic only reinforced the idea that a well-organized remote workforce can outperform traditional office setups.

The Indefinite Future of Remote Work

For TopDevz, remote work isn’t a temporary workaround—it’s the future. Rajaee envisions a business landscape where companies can lower overhead costs while empowering employees to work from anywhere. This flexible model not only drives client satisfaction by reducing expenses but also enriches employees’ lives by allowing them to choose environments that inspire creativity and well-being.

Rajaee even shares a personal touch: his passion for working from a yacht. Equipped with reliable Wi-Fi and satellite services, his unconventional workspace symbolizes the freedom that remote work offers. “If your current job doesn’t support the lifestyle you aspire to, it’s time to consider other opportunities,” he advises. His own journey from renting a yacht to eventually making it part of his regular work life underscores the importance of aligning one’s career with personal values and ambitions.

Empowering the Next Generation of Remote Entrepreneurs

Beyond leading TopDevz, Rajaee is passionate about sharing his remote work philosophy. Through his “RemotePreneur” initiative, he provides aspiring entrepreneurs and professionals with a playbook for building successful remote companies. This resource addresses the nuanced challenges of remote business management—from overcoming financial stagnation in traditional roles to confronting the inevitable criticisms that come with venturing off the beaten path. Rajaee’s message is clear: true freedom in work comes from rethinking established norms and embracing the possibilities that remote operations can offer.

Embracing a New Era

As businesses around the globe continue to navigate the evolving work landscape, Ashkan Rajaee’s vision serves as a powerful reminder that remote work, when executed with precision and passion, can unlock unprecedented opportunities. His leadership at TopDevz demonstrates that with the right approach, remote operations can not only sustain but also drive innovation, employee satisfaction, and overall business growth.

In a time when flexibility and adaptability are more important than ever, Rajaee’s insights offer a compelling roadmap for companies eager to thrive in a remote-first world.

[himedanshicult]

According to the author, this piece was written out of political concern, and they are not a professional researcher. Instead, Canyu hopes the article will contribute to the development of sympathy among “the Chinese pan-dissent community” for the conditions and struggles of both Palestinians and Uyghurs, and that it will also help to short-circuit the political frameworks of pro-Western Chinese liberals, on the one hand, and anti-Western Chinese nationalists, on the other, who normally position themselves in one “camp” against another when it comes to discussions of these two oppressed groups. Like the earlier piece produced by their collective, Canyu’s article offers valuable insights into a strong desire among Chinese comrades to extend the critique of Israel’s horrific war on Gaza to the PRC’s subjugation of Turkic Muslims. In this case, the author focuses on the way that both colonial states have controlled the labor of the colonized. We present this text as a way to better understand and support internationalist currents emerging from the Chinese left, and as a contribution to the ongoing wave of global resistance to the genocide in Gaza.

In the spirit of comradely critique, we offer a few clarifications in this preface. First, while we support the sentiment of emphasizing commonalities between specific instances of oppression under the rule of capital, in this case the differences are also striking: The author’s focus on labor makes more sense for the PRC, whose colonial policies seem to have been partly organized around the goal of transforming Turkic Muslims into a disciplined workforce cut off from any cultural continuity with their histories of resistance. Israel, by contrast has shown less interest in the labor potential of Palestinians, particularly in Gaza. Palestinians experience some of the highest unemployment rates in the world, which have hovered around 50 percent in Gaza for many years, and around 15 percent in the West Bank—where reliance on Palestinian labor has historically been more central to the colonial project. After October 7th, the 4th quarter 2023 unemployment rates in Gaza jumped to an unprecedented 75%. By contrast, unemployment in Xinjiang is relatively low, and increases in unemployment are used as a pretext for proactively shipping off ethnic minority populations across the country in jobs programs. While Canyu’s comparison makes more sense for the West Bank, Israel’s treatment of Gaza would be better understood as an extreme example of the “surplus population”: the portion of the proletariat rendered unnecessary for capitalist needs, thereby becoming not an object of potential exploitation, but merely a problem to be managed—whether through abandonment, incarceration or murder.1

Secondly, while the article emphasizes China’s use of re-education camps, or what the state has infamously called “vocational training facilities,” these sites have largely been converted or shut down since 2019, as the state shifted strategies in its latest policy permutation. This is not to say that the situation has improved for Turkic Muslims. Many of the “training facilities” were merely converted into ordinary prisons. For those inmates who were released rather than formally becoming prisoners, the state has continued a policy of labor transfer under the guise of poverty alleviation campaigns, relocating Uyghur labor to factories across the country.2 Meanwhile, the PRC recently moved to “normalize counterterrorism,” a shift that will likely further institutionalize the subjugated position of Turkic Muslims in Chinese society. There is currently no Israeli equivalent to the “training facilities” that became so notorious in Xinjiang. Instead, the Israeli state sees itself faced with a massive, unemployed, war-ravaged population often portrayed as sub-human, and has never posed any strategy for incorporating this population into its national workforce. Instead, it is currently planning to place Gazans in cordoned off “bubbles” while it continues its military campaign in other parts of the Strip.

In addition, while the author mentions Israel-China security relations in passing, here we would like to highlight that China and Israel have a long history of cooperation on “counterterrorism,” directed at Palestinians, Uyghurs, and the broader population. For example, China publicly sought out Israeli counterterrorism experts at the height of its crackdown in 2014. Similarly, China has invested billions of dollars in Israel’s high-tech sector and has served as the country’s second largest trading partner in recent years (behind the United States). To this day, China’s Hikvision cameras aid in the mass surveillance of Palestinians and others in Israeli society.

We’d also like to note that this article exemplifies a growing concern with the plight of Palestine in China, which appears to be more widespread than it has been in decades—despite the state’s strategic ambiguity on the issue and repression of any domestic activities that could be interpreted as “protest.” Semi-public film screenings and discussions have been organized among young activists in several cities over the past few months, and beyond that narrow milieu, recent weeks have even seen small-scale political actions by high school students. These students used brief media appearances during their post-exam celebrations to call for Palestine’s liberation. While such calls at first seem to be not so distant from China’s nominally pro-Palestinian position, the actions themselves were not welcomed by the state, perhaps because they risked drawing too much attention toward China’s empty posturing on this issue, while it has long maintained cozy relations with Israel. Some of these posts were deleted from social media, and a video of one incident shows students being taken off-camera by police. The demonstrations, as well as the piece below, illustrate why expanding the discussion of Palestinian oppression is in direct conflict with the Chinese state’s own interests.3

Finally, we’d like to emphasize that this article is one of only a handful of Chinese texts we’ve seen attempting to link the plight of Palestinians to that of Uyghurs (along with “Against Pinkwashing” and two of the sources cited below), and it’s the first non-academic piece we’ve seen that draws on extensive research using a broad variety of Chinese and English sources. It digs deep into the history of colonialism, land tenure, and labor conditions in both regions—attempting to clarify the facts and provide a Marxist theorization for young Chinese readers who have only recently begun to learn about these issues. We therefore consider it a milestone in the development of 21st century Chinese internationalism