This is today’s edition of The Download, Our weekday newsletter, delivering a daily dose of what’s going on in the world of technology.
How algorithms trap us in a cycle of shame
Mathematician Cathy O’Neil, who was working in finance at the start of the 2008 financial crisis, got a first-hand look at just how much people trusted algorithms — and how much destruction they wreaked. Discouraged, she entered the tech industry, but encountered the same blind faith. After she left, she wrote a book in 2016 that disproved the notion that algorithms were objective.
O’Neil showed how each algorithm is trained on historical data to recognize patterns and how they break down in harmful ways. Algorithms designed to predict the likelihood of re-arrest, for example, can place undue burdens on people, typically people of color, who are poor, live in the wrong neighborhood, or have untreated mental health problems or addictions.
Over time, she recognized another important factor that fueled these inequalities: shame. Society has weaponized shame and shame on people for things they have no choice or voice for, like weight or addiction issues. The next step, O’Neill realized, was to fight back. Read the full story.
– Allison Arieff
London is experimenting with traffic lights that put pedestrians first
The news: For pedestrians, walking in a city can be like navigating an obstacle course. Transport for London, the public body behind transport services in the British capital, has tested a new type of junction designed to make getting around the busy streets safer and easier.
How does it work? Instead of waiting for the “green man” to signal them to cross the street, pedestrians will encounter green by default as they approach any of 18 intersections in the city. The traffic light only changes to red when the sensor detects an approaching vehicle – a first in the UK.
How was it received? After nine months of testing, the data is encouraging: traffic is virtually unaffected, pedestrians save time and are 13% more likely to obey traffic signs. Read the full story.
– Rachel Revesz
Check out these stories from our new Urbanism issue. You can read them full magazine for yourself and Subscribe to to have future issues delivered to your door for just $120 a year.
– How social media filters help people explore their gender identity.
– The limits of tree planting as a means of mitigating climate change.
Podcast: Who’s Watching the AI Watching Students?
A boy wrote about his suicide attempt. He didn’t realize his school’s software was watching him. While schools often use AI to sift through students’ digital lives and flag keywords that might be considered worrisome, critics are asking: at what price for privacy? In the latest episode of our award-winning podcast, In Machines We Trust, we delve into that history and the wider world of school surveillance.
Check it out here
ICYMI: Our TR35 list of innovators for 2022
In case you missed it yesterday, our annual TR35 list of the most exciting young minds aged 35 and under is now available! Read them online here or subscribe here to read them in the print edition of our new Urbanism issue.
The must reads
I’ve scoured the internet to find today’s funniest/important/scary/fascinating stories about technology.
1 There is now a crazy patchwork of abortion laws in the US
Roe’s upset has sparked a legal quagmire — including some abortion laws contracting others within the same state. (FT$)
+ Protesters doxx the Supreme Court on TikTok. (motherboard)
+ Planned Parenthood’s abortion planning tool could share data. (WP$)
+ Here’s the kind of data that government agencies could use for law enforcement. (WSJ$)
+ Tech companies need to be transparent about what to disclose. (WP$)
+ Here’s what people in the trigger states are googling.(Voice)
2 Chinese students were tricked into spying for Beijing
Recent graduates were tasked with translating hacked documents. (FT$)
+ The FBI accused him of spying for China. It ruined his life. (MIT Technology Review)
3 Why it’s time to adjust our expectations of AI
Researchers are fed up with the hype. (WSJ$)
+ But Meta still wants to build intelligent machines that learn like humans. (Spectrum IEEE)
+ Yann LeCun has a bold new vision for the future of AI . (MIT Technology Review)
+ Understanding how the brain’s neurons really work will contribute to better AI models. (economist $)
4 Bitcoin faces its biggest drop in more than 10 years
The age of free-running growth is really coming to an end. (Bloomberg dollar)
+ The crash poses a threat to millions of dollars in funds stolen from North Korea. (Reuters)
+ The crypto apocalypse could get worse before it evens out. (The guard)
+ The EU is one step closer to regulating crypto.(Reuters)
5 Singapore’s new online safety laws are a thinly veiled seizure of power
Empowering his authoritarian government to exercise even more control over the civilian population. (Rest of the world)
6 recommendation algorithms require effort to work properly
If you tell them what you like, they’re more likely to give you decent suggestions. (The edge)
7 China is on a mission to find an Earth-like planet
But what they will find is unclear. (motherboard)
+ ESA’s Gaia probe illuminates what swims in the Milky Way . (wired$)
8 In YouTube’s metaworld of video criticism
Video creators who analyze other video creators ensure compelling viewing. (NYT$)
+Long-form videos help creators avoid creative burnout.(ABC)
9 Dates under time pressure review potential applicants via video chat
To get the location of the country before committing to an IRL meeting. (The Atlantic $)
10 How fandoms shaped the internet
For better – and for worse. (New York $)
quote of the Day
“This is not monkey business.”
– A lawsuit filed by Yuga Labs, creators of the Bored Ape NFT collection, against concept artist Ryder Ripps alleges that Ripps copied their distinctive ape artworks, Gizmodo reports.
The Big Story
This restaurant duo wants a zero-carbon food system. Can it happen?
Sept 2020
When Karen Leibowitz and Anthony Myint opened The Perennial, the most ambitious and expensive restaurant of their careers, they had a big vision: they wanted it to be completely carbon neutral. Their “Laboratory for Environmental Protection in the Food World” opened in San Francisco in January 2016, and its crowning achievement was serving meat with a dramatically lower carbon footprint than normal.
Myint and Leibowitz realized they were on to something much bigger – and that the simplest, most practical way to fight global warming might be through nutrition. But they also recognized that the so-called “most sustainable restaurant in the country” couldn’t fix the broken system on its own. So in early 2019, they dared to do something different that no one expected. They closed The Perennial. Read the full story.
– Clint Rainey
We can still have beautiful things
A place for comfort, fun and distraction in these strange times. (Any ideas? drop me a line or tweet them to me.)
+ A peek inside the UK’s thriving trainspotting scene (don’t worry, this has nothing to do with Irvine Welsh’s novel of the same name.)
+ This is the very Definition of a burn.
+A Solid scientific joke.
+ This funny twitter account compiles some of the weirdest public Spotify playlists (Shout out to Rappers with memory problems)
+ Have you been lucky enough to see one of these weird and wonderful buildings in person?
