That is right now’s version of The Obtain, our weekday e-newsletter that gives a each day dose of what’s occurring on the earth of expertise.
How refrigeration ruined recent meals
Three-quarters of every part within the common American weight-reduction plan passes by the chilly chain—the community of warehouses, delivery containers, vans, show instances, and home fridges that hold meat, milk, and extra chilled on the journey from farm to fork.
As shoppers, we put numerous religion in phrases like “recent” and “pure,” however synthetic refrigeration has created a blind spot. We’ve gotten so good at preserving (and storing) meals, that we all know extra about learn how to lengthen an apple’s life span than a human’s, and most of us don’t give that extraordinary course of a lot thought in any respect.
We have now used refrigeration to unravel issues however haven’t finished a real accounting of the environmental, dietary, and even sociocultural prices, writer Nicola Twilley argues in her new e book Frostbite: How Refrigeration Modified Our Meals, Our Planet, and Ourselves. And all that comfort has come on the expense of variety and deliciousness. Learn the total story.
—Allison Arieff
This story is from the following print situation of MIT Expertise Evaluation, which comes out tomorrow and delves into the bizarre world of meals. When you don’t already, subscribe to obtain a replica as soon as it lands.
Would you belief AI to mediate an argument?
—Melissa Heikkilä
I’ve just lately been feeling heartbroken. A detailed good friend just lately lower off contact with me. I don’t actually perceive why, and my makes an attempt at fixing the scenario have backfired. Conditions like this are hurtful and complicated. So it’s no marvel that persons are more and more turning to AI chatbots to assist remedy them. And there’s excellent news: AI may really have the ability to assist.
Researchers from Google DeepMind just lately skilled a system of huge language fashions to assist individuals come to settlement over social or political points. The AI mannequin was skilled to establish and current areas the place individuals’s concepts overlapped. With the assistance of this AI mediator, small teams of examine members grew to become much less divided of their positions on numerous points.
The most effective makes use of for AI chatbots is for brainstorming, however this newest analysis suggests they may assist us to see issues from different individuals’s views too. So why not use AI to patch issues up with my good friend? Learn the total story.
This story is from The Algorithm, our weekly e-newsletter providing you with the within monitor on all issues AI. Enroll to obtain it in your inbox each Monday.
What questions do you wish to find out about local weather expertise?
Do you’ve gotten any burning questions on local weather tech that you just’ve all the time needed to know? Nicely, we’ve obtained solutions. MIT Expertise Evaluation’s local weather staff is internet hosting an AMA (Ask Me Something) on Reddit right now at 1pm ET. Get your questions in now!
The must-reads
I’ve combed the web to search out you right now’s most enjoyable/vital/scary/fascinating tales about expertise.
1 Rupert Murdoch’s information shops are suing AI search engine Perplexity
They accuse it of “freeriding” on their content material. (The Register)
+ They’re arguing that hallucinating information and attributing it to actual papers is prohibited. (Wired $)
+ Conveniently, Murdoch’s Information Corp agreed a serious cope with OpenAI earlier this 12 months. (CNN)
2 Kamala Harris is dealing with an onslaught of on-line assaults
Because the US Presidential election approaches, she’s the goal of a recent wave of abuse and false claims. (WP $)
+ Girls’s well being startups are nervous in regards to the potential of Trump’s reelection. (Insider $)
3 ByteDance accused an intern of sabotaging its AI fashions
By planting malicious code to intervene with coaching duties. (Ars Technica)
+ Rumors in regards to the sacking had been circulating throughout Chinese language social media. (The Guardian)
4 The Pentagon is seeking to recruit prime tech minds
However can it persuade them to swap Silicon Valley for the Protection Division? (WSJ $)
+ Protection contractors are fixated on drone-destroying laser weapons. (FT $)
5 The rise and fall of a Kentucky bitcoin mine
The challenge was imagined to usher in prosperity, nevertheless it by no means even obtained off the bottom. (Wired $)
+ How Bitcoin mining devastated this New York city. (MIT Expertise Evaluation)
6 Arkansas is likely to be sitting on tons of lithium
It’s certainly solely a countdown till the exploratory mining begins now. (NYT $)
+ Residents in Hungary are combating authorities plans for battery vegetation. (Remainder of World)
7 India is eager to be a part of the EV revolution
The issue is, it hasn’t obtained sufficient of the autos. (Remainder of World)
+ Chinese language-made EVs are flooding into the EU. (Bloomberg $)
+ Some nations are ending assist for EVs. Is it too quickly? (MIT Expertise Evaluation)
8 Estonia’s authorities is revisiting its defunct reactors
To analyze their potential as nuclear waste storage websites. (IEEE Spectrum)
+ Why Microsoft made a deal to assist restart Three Mile Island. (MIT Expertise Evaluation)
9 Don’t filter your telephone’s photograph library
Photographing scenes of on a regular basis life are literally fairly particular in spite of everything. (New Yorker $)
+ The race to avoid wasting our on-line lives from a digital darkish age. (MIT Expertise Evaluation)
10 All hail comedian sans
The much-derived font is having the final snicker. (The Atlantic $)
Quote of the day
“Perplexity proudly states that customers can ‘skip the hyperlinks’— apparently, Perplexity needs to skip the verify.”
—Robert Thomson, CEO of writer Information Corp, accuses AI search engine Perplexity of dodging paying for its journalism in a brand new lawsuit, Selection studies.
The large story
How tradition drives foul play on the web, and the way new “upcode” can defend us
August 2023
From Bored Apes and Fancy Bears, to Shiba Inu cash, self-replicating viruses, and whales, the web is crawling with fraud, hacks, and scams.
And whereas new applied sciences come and go, they modify little about the truth that on-line unlawful operations exist as a result of some persons are prepared to behave illegally, and others fall for the tales they inform.
In the end, on-line crime is a human story. Three new books supply explanations into why it occurs, why it really works, and the way we will defend ourselves from falling for such schemes—regardless of how convincing they’re. Learn the total story.
—Rebecca Ackermann
We are able to nonetheless have good issues
A spot for consolation, enjoyable and distraction to brighten up your day. (Acquired any concepts? Drop me a line or tweet ’em at me.)
+ Cease—you’re cleansing your glasses all improper! Right here’s learn how to do it correctly, free from smudges.
+ Twenties Vampires! Tom Holland! Christopher Nolan! We’re in.
+ All of us get distracted typically, however overcoming it’s all about sustaining momentum.
+ Andrew Garfield has obtained nice style in films.
