The Looming Algorithmic Divide: Navigating the Ethics of AI

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The Looming Algorithmic Divide: Navigating the Ethics of AI     Fueled by technological disparities and AI biases, the emerging “algorithmic divide” needs to be front and center for business and political leaders, write Wharton’s Scott Snyder and co-author Hamilton Mann.The following article was written by Scott A. Snyder, a senior fellow at Wharton, adjunct professor at Penn Engineering, and chief digital officer at EVERSANA; and Hamilton Mann, group vice president, digital marketing and digital transformation at Thales. Continued here

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Can Your Body's Response to Music Predict Hit Songs? A New AI Study Claims It Can     A new study suggests AI can analyze cardiac activity to predict whether a song will be a hit before it’s released. But some hit song scientists are skepticalWhy does one song soar to the top of the charts while another plummets? The anatomy of a hit remains a stubborn mystery that researchers and the music industry at large have been longing to solve. A new study suggests that the secret to distinguishing a hit lies in the brains of listeners—and that artificial intelligence can analyze physiological signals to reveal that secret. But other “hit song science” researchers aren’t ready to declare victory just yet. Continued here

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'Rhymer' Combines Scottish Ballads With Alien Elves     Visit WIRED Photo for our unfiltered take on photography, photographers, and photographic journalism wrd.cm/1IEnjUHGregory Frost’s fantasy novel Rhymer puts a fresh spin on Thomas the Rhymer, a character from Scottish folklore whose poems were reputed to predict the future. Continued here

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Europe's Euclid Space Telescope Is Launching a New Era in Studies of the 'Dark Universe'     The Euclid mission will probe dark energy and dark matter like never before, setting the stage for an international, multiobservatory push to solve some of the universe’s deepest mysteriesThe universe is expanding too fast. Or is it doing so too slow? Or maybe its expansion is just a steady, ominous trundle toward a long-distant nothingness. Cosmologists have grappled with these distinctly different possibilities for generations. Now, at last, the truth may be in sight. Continued here

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Closing the Racial Wealth Gap in Retirement Readiness     Black and Hispanic Americans are less financially prepared for retirement than their white counterparts for multiple reasons. Participants at the 2023 Pension Research Council Symposium grappled with the underlying causes and suggested reforms.Most Americans have a significant chunk of their life savings in the form of home equity, so inequities in homeownership could have far-reaching consequences for household wealth and retirement preparedness. But home equity is not the only factor contributing to retirement inequality in the U.S. The 2023 Pension Research Council Symposium delved deep into those factors and the potential policy reforms that could fix them. The symposium, titled “Diversity, Inclusion, and Inequality: Implications for Retirement Income Security and Policy,” was held in Philadelphia on March 30 and 31. Continued here

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I study longevity. Here's the code science needs to crack.     Dr. Morgan Levine suggests that we should aim for living better, not just longer. In her book, “True Age,” Levine introduces the idea of healthspan, which is about staying healthy and enjoying life, rather than merely adding years to it. She explores the concept of “compression of morbidity,” a goal to squeeze most of our inevitable ailments into a short period before we die, mirroring the patterns seen in people who live to 100 or more. Levine also highlights a paradox: Women generally outlive men, but they also endure more age-related illnesses.  Continued here

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Silvering | Psyche Films     In the animated short Silvering, a candle burns and a radio hums as a woman shaves her legs in the bath. The scene is set for a night of self-care. Stepping out of the water, she opens a window, passing her clothes that lie on the chequered floor when, in an instant, the peace is shattered by a single grey hair. Examining her figure from shin to breast to bottom for signs of ageing, she descends into a spiral of self-scrutiny. Soon, the proceedings take a turn for the surreal as the hair dances to life, slithering around to bind her hands and envelop her body.In her rendering of ageing anxiety, the Scottish filmmaker Eilidh Nicoll summons the distinct intimacy of being alone in the bathroom with one’s own body via a simple, stylish colour palette and nary a word of dialogue. Instead, she draws out her character’s subtle expressions to weave the narrative, as the richly detailed music and sound design evoke the dissonance that can accompany the experience of confronting your own reflection. The result is a heartfelt and gently humorous work that magnifies the sometimes uncomfortable reality of existing in an ever-changing body. Continued here

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How to unleash your inner maximalist through costume     Tapping into the transformational power of costume, concept artist Machine Dazzle takes us on a maximalist journey through art, history and fashion. From a jaw-droppingly intricate '60s bouffant ensemble to a 24-hour show of extravagant outfits, Dazzle shares pieces that channel unrealized dreams, urging us all to fully embrace the beautiful complexity of being ourselves. Continued here

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Turn it up: Rest of World's 2023 global party playlist     Impress your friends by queuing up these chart-topping pop songs from the countries we cover. Continued here

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Olivia Rodrigo's Big, Bloody Return     “Vampire,” the singer’s first new song in two years, pushes her confessional-pop appeal to a sizzling extreme.Hype comes in many varieties, most of them despicable, but the buzz that preceded Olivia Rodrigo’s new single was the relatively healthy sort. In 2021, the then-teenage Disney actor conquered the Billboard Hot 100 with not just a fresh face and a smart marketing campaign, but a sense of musical possibility, hinting that commercial pop still had new directions to evolve in. Chatty lyrics and breathy singing defined her debut album, Sour, but her hit singles—especially “Driver’s License,” “Good 4 U,” “Deja Vu,” and “Brutal”—were eclectic. The listening public, as it turned out, could handle a star who careened from piano balladry to emo to experimental pop and even hard rock. So over the past two years, as she worked on her second album, curiosity mounted: Where would she go next? Continued here

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Lab-Grown Meat Approved for Sale: What You Need to Know     Cultured meat, grown from real animal cells, will soon be available in restaurants in San Francisco and Washington, D.C.At long last, a sandwich made with lab-grown chicken may be on the menu—at least if you live in the U.S. Last week the U.S. Department of Agriculture granted its first-ever approval of cell-cultured meat produced by two companies, GOOD Meat and UPSIDE Foods. Both grow small amounts of chicken cells into slabs of meat—no slaughter required. It was the final regulatory thumbs-up that the California-based companies needed in order to sell and serve their products in the U.S. Continued here

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The Best Fourth of July Deals on TVs, Couches, and Bidets     Summer is rolling along, and Independence Day is finally here! Well, almost. It's in the middle of the week this year, which means the July 4 fun starts this weekend. That's great news for all you deal hunters, as many of the best Fourth of July sales have already kicked off. We've searched, sorted, and curated our way through dozens of them—these are our favorites. It's worth noting that Amazon's Prime Day is coming up soon, on July 11 and 12, and there's a small chance some of these products may get even steeper discounts (though that's not always a guarantee). We've rounded up our favorite early Prime Day deals right here. Looking for outdoor deals? REI is hosting its annual Fourth of July Sale as well, and we have a few highlights here. Continued here

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Earth's Aphelion Isn't the Reason for the Seasons     Our planet’s not-quite-circular orbit means that on July 6 we’ll be about 2.5 million kilometers farther from the sun than average—but we won’t feel any colderAt 8:06 P.M. UTC (4:06 P.M. EDT) on July 6, 2023, Earth will reach the point in its orbit when it’s farthest from the sun. In a sense, it’s like our planet will be at the top of a gravitational hill and will then begin to fall toward the sun until January 2, 2024, when it will reach its closest point. Then the cycle will begin anew, with Earth’s momentum taking it farther away from the sun until the next time the planet reaches its maximum distance once again. Continued here

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The new kids on China's AI block     To college students and tech workers in Beijing, Tsinghua University Science Park (TusPark) is known as the “Center of the Universe.” The hub of tech startups, talent, and capital is nestled between Zhongguancun (also known as China’s Silicon Valley) and the elite Tsinghua and Peking University campuses. It’s home to Chinese internet giants like NetEase and Kuaishou, global companies such as Google and Microsoft, and more recently, China’s hottest new AI startups. As ChatGPT fever hits China, TusPark has incubated a new wave of generative AI startups, such as DeepLang AI and Lightyear AI, that are competing for funding and vying for influence. Here is a list of four Chinese AI startups to watch: Continued here

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We Need to Better Regulate Nutraceuticals     Manufacturers of a class of food-derived supplements called nutraceuticals often make statements about their health value that are hard to verify, which can cause safety and efficacy issuesNutraceuticals are a class of products such as pills, powders, bars and tinctures with ingredients derived from plant and animal food products. Their manufacturers claim that, among other things, these supplements can fight cancers or heart disease, boost gut health or improve general wellness. Pharmacy aisles and Internet ads are chockablock with these products, which are something between vitamins and processed foods (many, but not all, nutraceuticals contain vitamins). Market research estimates they were worth around $400 billion globally in 2021. Continued here

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Inmates Need Internet to Prepare for Life After Prison     I've been in federal prison for 17 years. During that time, I have watched flip phones become iPhones, EVs become ubiquitous, and AI start to take over the world—albeit not quite the way Terminator envisioned it (yet). Still, I have been largely unable to use that technology myself. I could only read about it in magazines and newspapers, watching the 21st century unfold using 17th-century methods. I didn’t physically hold a smart device until the US Federal Bureau of Prisons started selling tablets—last year.This isn’t all that surprising. The Bureau of Prisons is resistant to change and sensitive to criticism. In 2008 it finally replaced antiquated monitors in supermax prisons with new TVs, but officials limited those to black-and-white picture mode so they could tell the public that they hadn’t provided the luxury of color to prisoners. A combination of the BOP’s hypersensitivity to public perception and congressional pressure to keep inmates in a no-frills environment has resulted in prisoners being years, if not decades, behind the rest of society. Continued here

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The ByteDance streaming app that's quietly going global     With threats of a TikTok ban still circulating in the U.S., parent company ByteDance’s perceived ties to the Chinese government have never been more of a liability. But while TikTok hangs in the balance, another ByteDance-owned app has been quietly making inroads in select markets around the world.Launched in 2020, the music streaming app Resso is currently available in three major markets — India, Brazil, and Indonesia — and has grown into a dark-horse challenger to Spotify. Late last year, news leaked that the company is negotiating with several major music labels to enter more than a dozen additional markets. Industry analysts regularly speculate Resso could be rebranded as “TikTok Music” if it does. It’s part of a broader push by ByteDance to build out its global portfolio of apps, including the recent launch of lifestyle app Lemon8 in the U.S. Continued here

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Another Airline Meltdown? Better Get Used to It     United's week of woe is exactly what our air travel system is designed to deliver. Continued here

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The hero of the Anthropocene has 8 billion faces -- one of them is yours     Time is about to change.  Next month, the International Commission on Stratigraphy (ICS) will announce the selection of a site that marks a new geological epoch in Earth history. As the ICS is responsible for defining the International Geological Time Scale, it sets a global standard for measuring Earth history.  History has changed, and we need a new story to help us understand our brave new world: the Anthropocene. Human activities have become so consequential, they now influence Earth system functioning. Evidence overwhelmingly shows the atmosphere, hydrosphere, lithosphere, and biosphere (air, water, rocks, and life) no longer function within the chemical boundaries of the previous Holocene epoch. Our impacts rival those of ice ages and meteor strikes. The residues of our activities, including plastic, pollutants, and plutonium, are present in the fossil record. They even have an official name: the technosphere. Continued here

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Here's How CDC Can Put the 'Public' Back in Public Health     The new leader of the CDC should prioritize the people it serves, people in the agency itself and people who exert power over public healthPresident Biden has tapped Mandy Cohen as the next director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Her appointment is not a usual changing of the guard, but rather a chance for a fresh direction for the beleaguered agency—with implications for the health of us all. Continued here

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Pakistan's lost city of 40,000 people     A slight breeze cut through the balmy heat as I surveyed the ancient city around me. Millions of red bricks formed walkways and wells, with entire neighbourhoods sprawled out in a grid-like fashion. An ancient Buddhist stupa towered over the time-worn streets, with a large communal pool complete with a wide staircase below. Somehow, only a handful of other people were here – I practically had the place all to myself.I was about an hour outside of the dusty town of Larkana in southern Pakistan at the historical site of Mohenjo-daro. While today only ruins remain, 4,500 years ago this was not only one of the world's earliest cities, but a thriving metropolis featuring highly advanced infrastructures. Continued here

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The 11 Best Movies on Amazon Prime Right Now     Over the past year or so, Netflix and Apple TV+ have been duking it out to have the most prestigious film offerings (congrats, CODA!), but some of the best movies are on Amazon Prime. The streamer was one of the first to go around picking up film festival darlings and other lovable favorites, and they’re all still there in the library, so if they flew under your radar the first time, now is the perfect time to catch up.Our picks for the 10 best films on Amazon Prime are below. All the films in our guide are included in your Prime subscription—no renting here. Once you’ve watched your fill, check out our lists for the best shows on Netflix and best movies on Disney+ if you’re looking for something else to watch. We also have a guide to the best shows on Amazon if that's what you're in the mood for.  Continued here

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Climate Law Will Slash Emissions - Maybe Halving Them by 2035     Major climate models agree that the Inflation Reduction Act was a “huge step forward” in cutting U.S. emissionsCLIMATEWIRE | The Inflation Reduction Act could drive down U.S. emissions by as much as 48 percent by 2035, according to a new analysis in the journal Science. Continued here

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The Best Cold-Brew Coffee Makers You Can Buy     Cold-brewed coffee, if made right, is simply divine. Sadly, it almost always tastes better at the coffee shop or from a bottle. That's because brewing it at home can be incredibly tricky. I've read many guides that recommend different makers, methods, coffee grounds, water ratios, brew times, and temperatures.In my quest to make better coffee, I've tested 25 cold brewers in the past year. I've tried pot immersion (tea style) methods, big immersion buckets, slow drip makers, French presses, mason jars, and even a couple of automated brewers. In them, I've tested more than half a dozen cold-brew-friendly coffee blends to try to find a combination I could recommend. I still haven't made what I'd consider my perfect cup of cold-brewed coffee, but I’m getting closer. Below are my favorite picks. Continued here

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You Can Now Book an Uber Boat in Mykonos     The service will carry groups of up to eight passengers between 25 sites on the island this summerTravelers visiting the Greek island of Mykonos have a new way of getting around: Instead of hopping into a taxi cab or riding the bus, they can now take in the sights while sailing on the Aegean Sea aboard an Uber Boat. Continued here

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Teen friendship has suffered a seismic shift over the past 20 years -- with depressing results     Teenage friendship looks a lot different than it did just 20 years ago, and we may already be seeing the adverse repercussions. As San Diego State University professor of psychology Jean Twenge discussed in her recently published book, Generations: The Real Differences Between Gen Z, Millennials, Gen X, Boomers, and Silents, teens spend much less time socializing in person today than they did in the early 2000s.“Beginning in the 2000s and accelerating during the 2010s, teens started spending less and less time with each other in person — whether that was just hanging out, going to the mall, driving around, or going to parties,” Twenge wrote. Continued here

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A new mission to see Titanic     Four-hundred miles from St Johns, Newfoundland, in the choppy waters of the North Atlantic Ocean, a large industrial vessel swayed from side to side. Onboard, Stockton Rush expressed a vision for the future:"There will be a time when people will go to space for less cost and very regularly. I think the same thing is going to happen going under water." Continued here

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Columbus was neither the first nor the nicest. But his voyage was the most important     One of my favorite childhood books was The Discovery of America Before Columbus. Extrapolating from scant archaeological and ethnographic evidence and building on oblique references found in ancient myths and manuscripts, its author postulated a host of pre-Columbian visitors to the Americas: not just Vikings (whose visits have indeed been attested) but also the Irish, Welsh, Etruscans, Romans, Africans, Japanese, and Chinese.The book combined the heft of history with the thrill of science fiction, launching a bunch of counterfactuals at the supposedly solid sandcastle that is the world as we know it. I reread it until its pages came unstuck. Ultimately, however, none of those possible “discoveries” matters as much as the one made by Christopher Columbus in 1492. Continued here

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Being Alive Is Bad for Your Health     What is anyone supposed to do with the knowledge that diet sodas maybe, possibly, just might perhaps have some sort of potential link to cancer?In 2016, I gave up Diet Coke. This was no small adjustment. I was born and raised in suburban Atlanta, home to the Coca-Cola Company’s global headquarters, and I had never lived in a home without Diet Coke stocked in the refrigerator at all times. Every morning in high school, I’d slam one with breakfast, and then I’d make sure to shove some quarters (a simpler time) in my back pocket to use in the school’s vending machines. When I moved into my freshman college dorm, the first thing I did was stock my mini fridge with cans. A few years later, my then-boyfriend swathed two 12-packs in wrapping paper and put them under his Christmas tree. It was a joke, but it wasn’t. Continued here

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13 Principles for Using AI Responsibly     The competitive nature of AI development poses a dilemma for organizations, as prioritizing speed may lead to neglecting ethical guidelines, bias detection, and safety measures. Known and emerging concerns associated with AI in the workplace include the spread of misinformation, copyright and intellectual property concerns, cybersecurity, data privacy, as well as navigating rapid and ambiguous regulations. To mitigate these risks, we propose thirteen principles for responsible AI at work. Continued here