Category Archives: Web Article Review

the trial of the century

Peter Singer is arguing for the importance of the lawsuit brought by children against the United States government for failing to address climate change.

The plaintiffs claim that their government’s active contribution to climate change has violated their constitutional rights to life, liberty, and property. When the government sought to prevent the case from being heard, the federal district court of Oregon issued a historic ruling that “the right to a climate system capable of sustaining human life is fundamental to a free and ordered society.”

When Juliana v. United States is appealed to the US Supreme Court, as seems inevitable, the question may no longer be whether the preservation of the plaintiffs’ constitutional rights requires “a climate system capable of sustaining human life”; it undeniably does. Instead, the Court will have to decide whether it is willing to heed the scientific evidence that the actions of the US government are indeed jeopardizing the survival of human life on our planet. If it is, even the most conservative justices will find it difficult to escape the conclusion that the government is in violation of the US Constitution.

countering misinformation

Back in 2012, Columbia Journalism Review gave some tips for how the media can try to counter misinformation. It’s hard and nothing is foolproof, but there are some best practices. People tend to believe things they hear repeated, things that meet their preconceived notions, and statements from people and organizations they trust. One best practice is to state the truth in a positive way rather than as the negation of a false statement. Another is to not quote partisan or ideological sources when refuting the false statement. Another is using graphics where possible to give context to numbers.

fish wars?

Is it possible that part of the military confrontation over the South China Sea, among other places, is about access to fish? Yes, according to ABC (Australian Broadcast Corporation).

Through his research, Mr Bergenas has identified parallels between oil and fish resources.

“There is a concentrated supply. The Middle East has nearly half the world’s supply of recoverable crude,” says Mr Bergenas.

“Similarly, the central Pacific has 60 per cent of the world’s tuna which is a highly pursued commodity.”

Fishing boats are also sometimes being intentionally used as bait (no pun intended). If a Chinese fishing vessel gets attacked by, say, the Indonesian coast guard (I’m just making this up), China may then send in the navy to respond. In a way, it’s a similar strategy to settlers on the American frontier or the West Bank.

new technology that can screen multiple passengers 25 feet away

Here’s some more information on new airport screening tech (LA Times).

The screening device, which is about the size of an old-fashioned PC computer tower and weighs about 50 pounds, reads the outline of people to reveal firearms and explosives hidden under their clothes.

Unlike the TSA’s existing full-body scanners that bounce millimeter waves off of passengers to spot objects hidden under their clothes, Gramer said, the passive terahertz technology reads the energy emitted by a person, similar to thermal imaging used in night-vision goggles…

As a result, Thruvision boasts that its technology can screen up to 2,000 people an hour and detect a concealed device at a distance of up to 25 feet. Initially, the system can be used in addition to the existing full-body scanners already deployed at airports, but Gramer said the device can eventually replace parts of the TSA’s security screening system.

I think anyone will welcome a more convenient flying experience at this point, but it is somewhat sinister to think of this technology being installed in all sorts of public places, work places, police cars, etc.

robots taking over…Amazon warehouses

According to Quartz, Amazon hired 120,000 seasonal workers in 2016 and 2017 vs. only 100,000 this year. Since consumer spending is up at the moment, this may be a sign of increased automation at their warehouses.

Now, given my own experience with Amazon Fresh, if they can find a way for a robot to inspect a bag of lettuce and make sure it isn’t rotten, it will be a great advance for robot-kind.

the next recession

The next U.S. recession could be a rough one, according to Harvard economist Martin Feldstein. The argument is that the Federal Reserve will continue to raise short term interest but very gradually, not leaving itself a lot of room to lower them when a recession hits. At the same time, due to the pro-cyclical tax cuts, the government will not be able to increase deficit spending by a lot because it will not be able to afford the increased interest payments. And third, low unemployment seems to be causing inflation.

It would not be surprising if the rate on ten-year Treasury bonds rises to 5% or more over the next few years. With an inflation rate of 3%, the real yield will be back to a normal historic level of over 2%.

This normalization of the ten-year interest rate could cause the P/E ratio to return to its historical benchmark. A decline of that magnitude, from its current level of 40% above the historic average, would cause household wealth to shrink by about $8 trillion. The historic relationship between household wealth and consumer spending implies that the annual level of household consumption would decline by about 1.5% of GDP. That fall in household demand, and the induced decline in business investment, would push the US economy into recession.

If you have an enormous nest egg, a 2% real return on bonds doesn’t sound all that terrible. For the rest of us relying on stocks to help us build that nest egg (those of us lucky enough to have a little extra income to save, that is), this doesn’t seem like good news.

new hope in the fight against AIDS

From Bloomberg: New drugs mean not only that AIDS can be effectively managed in people that already have it, but that the risk of transmission can now be very low in people taking the drugs. Some drugs even have a strong protective effect for people who have not been exposed but are considered at risk of exposure. According to this article, eradication of the disease now seems possible for the first time.

applying the latest data science to intimate acts

WARNING: I never promised this would be a 100% family friendly blog. Nevertheless, it’s been awhile since I checked in on the latest sex robots. Well, this is a blog about the fabulous science fiction future, and we all need to face up to the fact that sex robots are likely to be a part of that.

Anyway, I offer this paper first of all because it’s funny, and second of all because even if it turns out to be a joke, the technology to analyze videos of thousands of hours of sexual acts, analyze them using the latest data science techniques, and program the results into a robot almost certainly all exist. Yesterday’s “phone sex” will almost certainly evolve into tomorrow’s virtual brothel. I think it is more or less harmless although it means the way real human beings interact with each other will continue to evolve. But that has been going on for a long time and there is no reason to think it should stop now.

 

Swedes getting chippy

According to NPR, people in Sweden are voluntarily inserting microchips into their fingers and using them for identification and payment.

The chips are designed to speed up users’ daily routines and make their lives more convenient — accessing their homes, offices and gyms is as easy as swiping their hands against digital readers.

They also can be used to store emergency contact details, social media profiles or e-tickets for events and rail journeys within Sweden…

Around the size of a grain of rice, the chips typically are inserted into the skin just above each user’s thumb, using a syringe similar to that used for giving vaccinations. The procedure costs about $180.

There are also some interesting statistics on the declining use of cash in Sweden. The article says that in Stockholm only 1 in 4 people uses cash once a week (or more) and only 15 percent of retail transactions involve cash (and this was already down to less than half as of 2010).