Alka Tandan

Itinerant musings from a research professional.

[Dr. Émile P. Torres (they/them) @xriskology]

One of the best papers out there on the problems with the "intelligence explosion," or "recursive self-improvement," or "Singularity" hypothesis, by @ReflectiveAlt. Highly recommended:

https://t.co/cZlsZRDmWI

[Alka Tandan @reframerefine]

@mobi_bikes i can never quite sign up ... would love to give it a go but there always seems to be some system issue or website issue.... hoping that gets sorted so more can take advantage

[Prof. Katharine Hayhoe @KHayhoe]

Here are the big takeaways from the @IPCC_CH Synthesis Report released today.

First, climate change has already caused widespread and substantial losses to almost every aspect of human life on this planet, and the impacts on future generations depend on the choices we make NOW.

[Nicholas Guyatt @NicholasGuyatt]

For those too young to have lived through what happened twenty years ago, a thread of self-styled left/liberal types endorsing the invasion of Iraq

[Matt Wolfe @mreflow]

AI Video is getting more and more exciting. I'm hooked on playing with all of the latest tools available!

Here's a good old fashioned thread with 9 AI tools that are currently available to generate videos
(with examples).

🧵👇

[Ethan Mollick @emollick]

Unintended consequences in even good policies: this paper finds car seat laws saved 57 kids in 2017… but also reduced births by 8,000 that year (& 145,000 since 1980!) as families held off having more than two kids as their cars couldn’t hold more seats! https://t.co/bkz0pqiBTi

[Robert Bateman @RobertJBateman]

Legitimate interests in the UK's new data protection bill❗

Legitimate interests got an overhaul in the original Data Protection and Digital Information Bill (DPIB)

Yesterday's new bill also introduced some new legitimate interests provisions.

A thread on how this all works.🧵

[Lighthouse Reports @LHreports]

Algorithms are being used in welfare systems across Europe to hunt for fraud. These machines make life-changing decisions about millions of people. They claim to be accurate and fair. For the first time we got access to fully test these claims
https://t.co/2VSjyTB0cB

[Alka Tandan @reframerefine]

nice to see this conversation get a public stage in Vancouver...but doesn't UBC have any academics familiar with this literature...or was the moderator chosen as an 'every man' for the public lecture. Credit to @safiyanoble for gently addressing his questions.

[UBC SPPGA @ubcSPPGA]

Happening Now. The Phil Lind Initiative welcomes the incredible Dr. @safiyanoble to talk about How Search Engines Reinforce Racism, moderated by @GustersonP #lind23

[BLACK ARCHIVES @blackarchivesco]

Footage of the Kannapolis, North Carolina community (circa 1941).

Originally silent, this footage is a continuation of the film series highlighting the H. Lee Waters collection held at Duke University.

[Robert Bateman @RobertJBateman]

There's a lot worth reading in the FB binding decision—probably the most succinct encapsulation of the EDPB's position is at the bottom of para 101

"The GDPR... treats personal data as a fundamental right... and not as a commodity data subjects can trade away through a contract"

[Jeff Melnick @melnickjeffrey1]

Sunday Evening Coming Down:

You don’t have to share the details of your distress (unless you want to) but how about sharing a song that has provided you with profound comfort in a moment you really needed it

[Barsee 🐶 @heyBarsee]

10 insanely useful ChatGPT Chrome Extension you didn't know you were missing until now (all Free):

[Alka Tandan @reframerefine]

@HamiltonMusical has had far reaching impacts, but the Hakeem Jeffries alphabet ties the impact back into present day politics.

Really great speech, and I am looking forward to the Canadian alphabet from one of our political leaders.

[BrooklynDad_Defiant!☮️ @mmpadellan]

HOLY SHIT, my man Rep. Hakeem Jeffries actually schooled these fools alphabetically!👏👏👏

[@emilymbender.bsky.social @emilymbender]

Q for those finding interest in playing with #ChatGPT: Why is this interesting to you? What's the value you find in reading synthetic text? What do you think it's helping you to learn about the world and what are you assuming about the tech to support that idea?

[Julian Gough @juliangough]

Hmmm. I just had a bizarre experience, involving a global news organisation and a trillion dollar corporation. (I got caught in the middle, so... owch.)
It’s not the sort of experience the people involved usually talk about in public… so I think I’ll talk about it in public.
🧵

[Lule @luledemmissie]

@JohnHMcWhorter @JohnHMcWhorter I value the perspective you bring in many areas. You call anti-racism a religion & you make some good points. But you are also revealing yourself as a different sort of zealot in your singular quest to prove it wrong. More nuance & less zero-sum arguments please🙏🏾

[Rob Morris @RobertRMorris]

We provided mental health support to about 4,000 people — using GPT-3. Here’s what happened 👇

[Nader R Hasan @Nader_Hasan_law]

I think that the Wagner Court of 2022 may be the least friendly to Charter rights of any @SCC_eng in the post-1982 Charter era — at least in the criminal context. 1/

[Alka Tandan @reframerefine]

Still relevant "...come at this from the perspective of where good intentions might go awry, especially in a moment in which narrow versions of media literacy and critical thinking are being proposed as the solution to major socio-cultural issues." https://t.co/7BqtA5dnM0