The Guardian (April 6)
“An unprecedented leap of 38.5C in the coldest place on Earth is a harbinger of a disaster for humans and the local ecosystem.” The record-setting leap at documented Concordia research station, along with other “events have raised fears that the Antarctic, once thought to be too cold to experience the early impacts of global warming, is now succumbing dramatically and rapidly to the swelling levels of greenhouse gases that humans continue to pump into the atmosphere.”
Tags: 38.5C, Antarctic, Atmosphere, Coldest, Concordia, Disaster, Earth, Ecosystem, GHG, Global warming, Harbinger, Humans, Impacts, Succumbing, Unprecedented
WARC (July 24)
“Around the world, AI is developing and it is quickly reaching a point where it is speeding up human work to the point of replacing humans. This is a point in time for brands and agencies to really think about the technology and work out what ethical, responsible uses look like.” The rise of virtual influencers in China marks “one of the first instances of true competition between humans and machines for work and will be an important test case for the technology and the labour questions it raises.”
Tags: AI, Brands, China, Competition, Developing, Ethical, Humans, Replacing, Responsible, Technology, Uses, Virtual influencers, Work
Washington Post (December 28)
ChatGPT, which is “is conversant in a way previous chatbots haven’t been,” has captured the imagination and stoked new fears. “Humans today are still in control…. Ultimately, unleashing the full potential of the technology that appears tantalizingly close to our grasp comes down to this: What do we as a species hope to gain from artificial intelligence, and — perhaps more important — what are we willing to give up?”
Tags: AI, Chatbots, ChatGPT, Control, Conversant, Fears, Humans, Potential, Species, Tantalizing, Technology
Washington Post (September 1)
DeepMind has expanded its “database of folded proteins to more than 200 million — nearly all catalogued proteins known to science, including those in humans, plants, bacteria, animals and other organisms” and made “them publicly available and free.” The AlphaFold database “does not reveal all of biology’s mysteries, nor is it the only advance needed for drug development or disease fighting. But the views are truly astonishing.”
Tags: Advance, AlphaFold, Animals, Bacteria, Biology, Catalogued, Database, DeepMind, Disease fighting, Drug development, Folded proteins, Free, Humans, Plants, Science
The Guardian (January 11)
“If you want to know how fast climate change is happening, the answer is in the oceans.” Last year, they “absorbed heat equivalent to seven Hiroshima atomic bombs detonating each second, 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.” Global ocean temperature data “paint a clear picture: the Earth is warming, humans are the culprit, and the warming will continue indefinitely until we collectively take action to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.”
Tags: Atomic bombs, Climate change, Culprit, Earth, Emissions, GHGs, Heat, Hiroshima, Humans, Oceans, Temperature data, Warming
The Guardian (June 30)
“Canada is a warning: more and more of the world will soon be too hot for humans…. Without an immediate global effort to combat the climate emergency, the Earth’s uninhabitable areas will keep growing.”
Tags: Canada, Climate emergency, Combat, Earth, Global effort, Humans, Immediate, Too hot, Uninhabitable, Warning, World
Chicago Tribune (October 19)
“As genetic engineering continues to advance, playing God has never seemed so easy. Yet humans have never seemed so powerless.” We may finally be able to “create blue roses. But our real talent is destruction.” Collectively, we prefer to ignore this. While our denial continues, “the fish of the sea, the birds of the air and all the creatures that crawl on the Earth will disappear.”
Tags: Blue roses, Creatures, Denial, Destruction, Earth, Engineering, Genetic, Humans, Powerless
LA Times (October 16)
“Scientists believe that Earth is in the throes of a sixth great extinction. Humans are causing it. Ultimately, we could become the victim of our own excesses.”
Tags: Earth, Excesses, Extinction, Humans, Scientists, Throes, Victim
New York Times (August 31)
“Worldwide, insect pests consume up to 20 percent of the plants that humans grow for food, and that amount will increase as global warming makes bugs hungrier…. That could encourage farmers to use more pesticides, which could cause further environmental harm.”
Tags: Bugs, Environment, Farmers, Food, Global warming, Humans, Hungrier, Insects, Pesticides, Pests, Plants, Worldwide
The Economist (April 21)
“Humans have had a good run. But with the most recent breakthrough in robotics, it is clear that their time as masters of planet Earth has come to an end.” Such statements remain unlikely and “furniture-assembly helps explain why.” Researchers in Singapore were able to get two robots to assemble an Ikea flat pack, but it was a long, painstaking exercise. Robots and AI continue to struggle in the real world. “It seems to be a fundamental truth: physical dexterity is computationally harder than playing Go.”
Tags: AI, Breakthrough, Dexterity, Earth, Flat pack, Humans, Ikea, Real world, Robotics, Singapore
