#Added Reality Interface

[pedroam-bang]

Diana Novich - Heavy Rain (2018)

[mostlysignssomeportents]

Even if you think AI search could be good, it won’t be good

TONIGHT (May 15), I'm in NORTH HOLLYWOOD for a screening of STEPHANIE KELTON'S FINDING THE MONEY; FRIDAY (May 17), I'm at the INTERNET ARCHIVE in SAN FRANCISCO to keynote the 10th anniversary of the AUTHORS ALLIANCE.

The big news in search this week is that Google is continuing its transition to "AI search" – instead of typing in search terms and getting links to websites, you'll ask Google a question and an AI will compose an answer based on things it finds on the web:

https://blog.google/products/search/generative-ai-google-search-may-2024/

Google bills this as "let Google do the googling for you." Rather than searching the web yourself, you'll delegate this task to Google. Hidden in this pitch is a tacit admission that Google is no longer a convenient or reliable way to retrieve information, drowning as it is in AI-generated spam, poorly labeled ads, and SEO garbage:

https://pluralistic.net/2024/05/03/keyword-swarming/#site-reputation-abuse

Googling used to be easy: type in a query, get back a screen of highly relevant results. Today, clicking the top links will take you to sites that paid for placement at the top of the screen (rather than the sites that best match your query). Clicking further down will get you scams, AI slop, or bulk-produced SEO nonsense.

AI-powered search promises to fix this, not by making Google search results better, but by having a bot sort through the search results and discard the nonsense that Google will continue to serve up, and summarize the high quality results.

Now, there are plenty of obvious objections to this plan. For starters, why wouldn't Google just make its search results better? Rather than building a LLM for the sole purpose of sorting through the garbage Google is either paid or tricked into serving up, why not just stop serving up garbage? We know that's possible, because other search engines serve really good results by paying for access to Google's back-end and then filtering the results:

https://pluralistic.net/2024/04/04/teach-me-how-to-shruggie/#kagi

Another obvious objection: why would anyone write the web if the only purpose for doing so is to feed a bot that will summarize what you've written without sending anyone to your webpage? Whether you're a commercial publisher hoping to make money from advertising or subscriptions, or – like me – an open access publisher hoping to change people's minds, why would you invite Google to summarize your work without ever showing it to internet users? Nevermind how unfair that is, think about how implausible it is: if this is the way Google will work in the future, why wouldn't every publisher just block Google's crawler?

A third obvious objection: AI is bad. Not morally bad (though maybe morally bad, too!), but technically bad. It "hallucinates" nonsense answers, including dangerous nonsense. It's a supremely confident liar that can get you killed:

https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2023/sep/01/mushroom-pickers-urged-to-avoid-foraging-books-on-amazon-that-appear-to-be-written-by-ai

The promises of AI are grossly oversold, including the promises Google makes, like its claim that its AI had discovered millions of useful new materials. In reality, the number of useful new materials Deepmind had discovered was zero:

https://pluralistic.net/2024/04/23/maximal-plausibility/#reverse-centaurs

This is true of all of AI's most impressive demos. Often, "AI" turns out to be low-waged human workers in a distant call-center pretending to be robots:

https://pluralistic.net/2024/01/31/neural-interface-beta-tester/#tailfins

Sometimes, the AI robot dancing on stage turns out to literally be just a person in a robot suit pretending to be a robot:

https://pluralistic.net/2024/01/29/pay-no-attention/#to-the-little-man-behind-the-curtain

The AI video demos that represent "an existential threat to Hollywood filmmaking" turn out to be so cumbersome as to be practically useless (and vastly inferior to existing production techniques):

https://www.wheresyoured.at/expectations-versus-reality/

But let's take Google at its word. Let's stipulate that:

a) It can't fix search, only add a slop-filtering AI layer on top of it; and

b) The rest of the world will continue to let Google index its pages even if they derive no benefit from doing so; and

c) Google will shortly fix its AI, and all the lies about AI capabilities will be revealed to be premature truths that are finally realized.

AI search is still a bad idea. Because beyond all the obvious reasons that AI search is a terrible idea, there's a subtle – and incurable – defect in this plan: AI search – even excellent AI search – makes it far too easy for Google to cheat us, and Google can't stop cheating us.

Remember: enshittification isn't the result of worse people running tech companies today than in the years when tech services were good and useful. Rather, enshittification is rooted in the collapse of constraints that used to prevent those same people from making their services worse in service to increasing their profit margins:

https://pluralistic.net/2024/03/26/glitchbread/#electronic-shelf-tags

These companies always had the capacity to siphon value away from business customers (like publishers) and end-users (like searchers). That comes with the territory: digital businesses can alter their "business logic" from instant to instant, and for each user, allowing them to change payouts, prices and ranking. I call this "twiddling": turning the knobs on the system's back-end to make sure the house always wins:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/02/19/twiddler/

What changed wasn't the character of the leaders of these businesses, nor their capacity to cheat us. What changed was the consequences for cheating. When the tech companies merged to monopoly, they ceased to fear losing your business to a competitor.

Google's 90% search market share was attained by bribing everyone who operates a service or platform where you might encounter a search box to connect that box to Google. Spending tens of billions of dollars every year to make sure no one ever encounters a non-Google search is a cheaper way to retain your business than making sure Google is the very best search engine:

https://pluralistic.net/2024/02/21/im-feeling-unlucky/#not-up-to-the-task

Competition was once a threat to Google; for years, its mantra was "competition is a click away." Today, competition is all but nonexistent.

Then the surveillance business consolidated into a small number of firms. Two companies dominate the commercial surveillance industry: Google and Meta, and they collude to rig the market:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jedi_Blue

That consolidation inevitably leads to regulatory capture: shorn of competitive pressure, the companies that dominate the sector can converge on a single message to policymakers and use their monopoly profits to turn that message into policy:

https://pluralistic.net/2022/06/05/regulatory-capture/

This is why Google doesn't have to worry about privacy laws. They've successfully prevented the passage of a US federal consumer privacy law. The last time the US passed a federal consumer privacy law was in 1988. It's a law that bans video store clerks from telling the newspapers which VHS cassettes you rented:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Video_Privacy_Protection_Act

In Europe, Google's vast profits lets it fly an Irish flag of convenience, thus taking advantage of Ireland's tolerance for tax evasion and violations of European privacy law:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/05/15/finnegans-snooze/#dirty-old-town

Google doesn't fear competition, it doesn't fear regulation, and it also doesn't fear rival technologies. Google and its fellow Big Tech cartel members have expanded IP law to allow it to prevent third parties from reverse-engineer, hacking, or scraping its services. Google doesn't have to worry about ad-blocking, tracker blocking, or scrapers that filter out Google's lucrative, low-quality results:

https://locusmag.com/2020/09/cory-doctorow-ip/

Google doesn't fear competition, it doesn't fear regulation, it doesn't fear rival technology and it doesn't fear its workers. Google's workforce once enjoyed enormous sway over the company's direction, thanks to their scarcity and market power. But Google has outgrown its dependence on its workers, and lays them off in vast numbers, even as it increases its profits and pisses away tens of billions on stock buybacks:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/11/25/moral-injury/#enshittification

Google is fearless. It doesn't fear losing your business, or being punished by regulators, or being mired in guerrilla warfare with rival engineers. It certainly doesn't fear its workers.

Making search worse is good for Google. Reducing search quality increases the number of queries, and thus ads, that each user must make to find their answers:

https://pluralistic.net/2024/04/24/naming-names/#prabhakar-raghavan

If Google can make things worse for searchers without losing their business, it can make more money for itself. Without the discipline of markets, regulators, tech or workers, it has no impediment to transferring value from searchers and publishers to itself.

Which brings me back to AI search. When Google substitutes its own summaries for links to pages, it creates innumerable opportunities to charge publishers for preferential placement in those summaries.

This is true of any algorithmic feed: while such feeds are important – even vital – for making sense of huge amounts of information, they can also be used to play a high-speed shell-game that makes suckers out of the rest of us:

https://pluralistic.net/2024/05/11/for-you/#the-algorithm-tm

When you trust someone to summarize the truth for you, you become terribly vulnerable to their self-serving lies. In an ideal world, these intermediaries would be "fiduciaries," with a solemn (and legally binding) duty to put your interests ahead of their own:

https://pluralistic.net/2024/05/07/treacherous-computing/#rewilding-the-internet

But Google is clear that its first duty is to its shareholders: not to publishers, not to searchers, not to "partners" or employees.

AI search makes cheating so easy, and Google cheats so much. Indeed, the defects in AI give Google a readymade excuse for any apparent self-dealing: "we didn't tell you a lie because someone paid us to (for example, to recommend a product, or a hotel room, or a political point of view). Sure, they did pay us, but that was just an AI 'hallucination.'"

The existence of well-known AI hallucinations creates a zone of plausible deniability for even more enshittification of Google search. As Madeleine Clare Elish writes, AI serves as a "moral crumple zone":

https://estsjournal.org/index.php/ests/article/view/260

That's why, even if you're willing to believe that Google could make a great AI-based search, we can nevertheless be certain that they won't.

If you'd like an essay-formatted version of this post to read or share, here's a link to it on pluralistic.net, my surveillance-free, ad-free, tracker-free blog:

https://pluralistic.net/2024/05/15/they-trust-me-dumb-fucks/#ai-search

Image: Cryteria (modified) https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:HAL9000.svg

CC BY 3.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/deed.en

--

djhughman https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Modular_synthesizer_-_%22Control_Voltage%22_electronic_music_shop_in_Portland_OR_-_School_Photos_PCC_%282015-05-23_12.43.01_by_djhughman%29.jpg

CC BY 2.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/deed.en

[the-changeling-manor]

Genesis

2024. Yes, it’s 2024. It’s only 2024. The future of humanity will be greatly influenced by this decade, both politically and culturally. But a subject that splits the opinions of all, transcending politics and culture, is defined in two words: artificial intelligence.

Artificial intelligence is currently in its infancy.

The ia coupled with chronivac technology could offer infinite possibilities to the users of the software, which is so known to transformation lovers, but yet so impossible to reach. Imagine the chronivac capable of thinking on its own to interpret a prompt, imagine the chronivac capable of analyzing the world around it simply by wandering on the networks, and imagine the chronivac capable of satisfying your desires just with a photo.

It’s just a Dream. Imagination. Unreal.

Isn’t that right? Well.... Don’t be so sure.

——————————————————————

Think about this guy. He’s like you and me. I even think he's one of you who reads these words. Brown hair, thirty years old, young gay, it’s a kind of "mister everyone" in this community of male transformations, which besides will not even be named or represented by a photo, since I know that this guy is you. 

Indeed, every night, he connects on tumblr and reads these stories where people change to become the ones they dream of being, whether they are serious or only in the context of fantasy.

He reads stories, more or less exciting, sometimes redundant because full of clichés, the story you read is also a mountain of clichés, I guess. This ordinary guy is enjoying this moment. He is happy, even though he knows he will never be able to live it.

He is deeply sad.

He receives a notification. Someone who sends him a message on tumblr precisely. He thought it was still one of those bots that redirected to adult sites. Yeah you know, those same fake accounts that pollute youtube with their nude women photos. A real hell.

But this one was different. It had a profile picture of a Greek statue and a curiously long name. His message was accompanied only by a link, a link that immediately caught the attention of our young man since he could read the term “chronivac”.

There was little hope that it was not a dream, or his imagination, or unreal. But reality dominated his thinking. He opened the link 

“Chronivac, Latest Edition” was displayed in the middle of his screen. There was a drop-down menu with different pages on the website. One of them was called “Targets”. Clicking on it, he came across a world map, similar to Google Map but more sober. The site zoomed in on her house before displaying her name at its exact location. Not just her name. The names of her family members were there. Also those of the neighbors. And even of the inhabitants of the neighborhood!

Hope overcame reason. He wanted to believe it. He believed in one of those stories he could read on Tumblr. He pressed his name, and then— This is what he has always dreamed of. An extremely complete interface displaying all its physical or mental characteristics… There were even different options such as the ability to change reality or even use prompts instead of checking elements for transformations.

It was fantastic. He discovered the different menus and saw the image reader option as what the gpt chat could do. Suddenly, he had an idea. He recorded an image of a sexy guy that he followed on twitter and instagram. He added a prompt «Give me the identical physique of the man in the photo, and ONLY his physique». For the rest, he wanted something different. He did not want to become this man, he only wanted his body to serve as the basis for his new life.

For his mind, he deliberately clicked on the «Stupid jock» option, not wanting to  click on ten thousand different options to forge a new personality. Finally, to better change the reality, he launched a second prompt: "I will become a heterosexual Hispanic sportsman, completely dominated by primitive and conservative thoughts. The chronivac will disappear from my life and I will never have access to it again, no matter what.”

This last part could have been replaced by the possibility of making the transformation permanent, but he did not want it. He liked these cliche stories where the protagonist was forced to stay in this new life, a real victim.

His excitement made him want to get through this. He voluntarily locked himself in there. He fell victim to his fantasies. And he loved it. Not clicking on the permanent option would torture him for the rest of his life, leaving him the hope of one day being able to return, even if the prompt made it impossible.

He wanted to explode with joy. He clicked on one last “Adapt Reality” option before pressing "save".

A flash of light blinded him for a few moments. When his body stabilized, he found himself in a basement with sports equipment. "Felipe" he whispered with a Spanish accent. The little voice in his head had just been replaced, he no longer spoke his original language. An uncontrollable desire led him to live his new life as Felipe.

He now had the body of a god. He was incredibly well carved... neither too big nor fat. He measured 1.80m for 85kg. His beautiful pecs bounced, making him laugh. A long stupid laugh that let his intellect disappear, replaced by knowledge about bodybuilding, women and alcohol.

He had little hairs, apparently this gymbro body liked to shave... except under the armpits. He raised his arm to feel this tuft of black and musky hairs... sweat. Yes, it was normal, Felipe was doing his exercises. His whole body was covered in sweat.

Because of the sweat, his underwear was even tighter against his cock. His new penis was now circumcised, just a religious tradition. This cock had met many women in bed.

He also remembered that two friends had to join him for his bodybuilding session, and after that they were going to watch a football match. A good life well stereotyped for an athlete as stupid as Felipe.

He was now a gymbro like the others.

His mind was trapped inside Felipe, inside him, but he was so happy to have fulfilled his fantasy.

It was a dream, the imagination, the unreal come true.

——————————————————————

Please forgive me for the mistakes, I am not fluent in English!

It was a first story, based on the most common clichés in order to do something a little different.

The next stories will be shorter, it was only for the beginning.

I am open to all requests, do not hesitate to offer me images with the source if possible!

The images of the new Felipe come from this X account: @Mariosalvadr

[hoursofreading]

I BOUGHT A SWEET TEA at a downtown lunch spot and reviewed the notes for my talk. Before I arrived at the conference, I had decided to discuss bias in algorithms. The essence of my argument was this: In 2019, shortly after I finished graduate school, I worked for a company that made a real estate chatbot called Brenda. Brenda answered questions about apartment listings and booked prospective tenants for tours. My job was to supervise Brenda’s conversations as an “operator,” and if she went off script, which she often did, I took over until she regained her bearings. Over thousands of conversations with strangers, I began to suspect that Brenda’s diction — and the very fact of her texting interface — was most palatable to the young, affluent, and white. I feared this had real effects on which people booked tours, and which people were so put off by the experience of speaking to Brenda they looked for housing elsewhere. Was this not redlining by algorithm? The peculiar mental burden of the job was that I was made to live in parallel but opposite realities. On the one hand, our Slack channels were filled with messages from developers claiming righteous intentions. Brenda was making the rental process accessible, democratic, quick as a text. And yet every night I watched how this bot, with her blameless, chirpy affect, was an instrument of isolation, a digital bully that landlords used to create distance between themselves and their tenants. Though she hadn’t crossed my mind for some time, I remembered Ella, a woman who messaged Brenda so often I came to recognize her on my shifts. Ella spoke only Spanish. Brenda did not, and neither did most of the chatbot operators, so we corresponded with Ella by copying and pasting Spanish phrases from a Google Doc we had compiled on our own time. Ella was a tenant at one of Brenda’s properties. Ella’s messages were urgent and anguished. She spoke of violencia and God. Her situation was unclear. She sent video clips of her walls and ceilings, which came through as still images without sound. We were fairly certain Ella was trying to report domestic violence in the apartment next door. We told Ella that if she or someone else was in danger she should call 911. Ella did not call 911; it was possible she was afraid to engage the police. We told Ella to call building management, but the management’s only phone number rerouted to Brenda, the chatbot who handled rental inquiries. Ella, I should note, was not the woman’s name. She offered us her real name several times, which we manually added to her file. But Brenda, ever keen, kept spotting the feminine singular pronoun ella — a more suitable name by Brenda’s logic, more like the names she had seen before — and entering it into the name field, obliterating whatever had been there. “Como te llamas?” we would ask. “¡Ya te dije!” she would say. The woman’s true name was finally lost.

An Age of Hyperabundance | Issue 47 | n+1 | Laura Preston

[annabelle--cane]

greetings, person i have only ever interfaced with once. i remember very vividly sending you an ask related to chronic epistaxis, you replying "the chronic epistaxis fandom is dying reblog if you're a true bleeder", and me adding on an image of my sona, drenched in blood. i don't know when it was. i don't know if this was a dream or reality. the post is nowhere to be found, as far as i've searched for it. the image has proven to be useful, on occasion, but i think the rest of the post was some sort of curse. every time i remember it, every time your url absentmindely crosses my train of thought, every time i call myself a true bleeder as a little homage to that post that eludes me, my nose starts bleeding profusely, almost to the point of passing out. i've had five very bad nosebleeds this week and i cannot get the blood off of my neck. unfortunately, the autism has decreed that i must condemn you for this. goodbye

the curse might also have something to do with a paper I wrote for class earlier this week that's largely about my experience with chronic epistaxis and has several graphic descriptions of covering my entire face and torso in blood. sowwy if I projected worse nosebleeds onto you with my mind powers. if it helps here is the post you're talking about.

[pants-magic-pants]

Jareth Ballroom Master Post

Cheers, lovies!

This will become a pinned master post for all things related to Jareth’s ballroom costume construction. Below is a comprehensive list of all the topics that will be covered.

PATTERN MAKING (1 of 2 posts complete)

Complete diagram of coat and all the pieces. Sketches of the trickier pattern pieces, such as the pleat situation and the collar. Notes about the cuff design. Notes and sketches for proportions and angles. 

Separate post on infrastructure: where to add interfacing, extra support, padding. The “pleat vest”.

FABRIC SELECTION (2 posts)

The Saga of the Metallic Velvet

The Drama of the Lining

MATERIALS SELECTION (1 of 2 posts complete)

Digital list with illustrations of most of the decorative elements observed, their details, and where/how they're used.

Separate post about DIY cabochons!

PROCESS AND CRITIQUE

Mostly just about how everything was intertwined, order of the work being done, how materials were handled, and what worked or could have been done differently. 

LACE

Choosing lace, pattern pieces, plans vs. reality

Decoration and assembly

GLUE SHENANIGANS

Why done this way?!

A video showing the process of making a base piece, adding to it, painting it, techniques to make it look good. lol 

How they were attached.

SHIRT & BROOCH (2 posts)

Shirt pattern, how the collar was done, how the ruffles were done.

How the brooch was made (if you’re on a budget and desperate.)

THE BUTTONS (2 posts)

An explanation of the process.

A video of the process!

CUMMERBUND

WIG MODIFICATION 

Which I would have never figured out without mornings-of-gold

MAKEUP (2 posts)

What all was needed, observations and tips.

A new timelapse video because why not

Anyway, looking forward to all the evenings I will now spend reminiscing about this with you all. Hope it will be helpful and interesting.

–pants-magic-pants

[flicker-videomaker]

Flicker

Flicker Review — What Is It?

Have you ever dreamed of creating your own Hollywood-style movies or running a streaming service, but felt overwhelmed by the technicalities, costs, or skills involved? Flicker makes this dream a reality with a revolutionary, AI-powered platform that lets anyone create entire movies, TV series, documentaries, and cartoons in just minutes.

At its core, Flicker combines the advanced capabilities of DallE 3 HD, MidJourney Mega, and Stable Diffusion PRO — premium AI tools that are known for generating stunning, high-definition visuals and animations. The software simplifies the process into three straightforward steps, enabling users to generate content with a single click and instantly monetize it via their own streaming service.

Whether you want to launch your own Netflix-style platform, build a recurring subscription income, or sell one-time access to movies and shows, Flicker equips you with everything you need. There’s no technical setup required — it’s fully cloud-based and comes with unlimited lifetime hosting. Flicker is perfect for both beginners and seasoned professionals looking to leverage cutting-edge AI to tap into the multi-billion-dollar entertainment industry.

Features & Benefits

AI Movie Creation in 1 Click: Harness the power of DallE 3 HD, MidJourney Mega, and Stable Diffusion PRO to create Hollywood-quality movies, TV shows, cartoons, and documentaries in any genre.

Save Over $300/month: Flicker integrates premium AI tools that would normally cost a fortune, saving users on recurring fees.

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Using Flicker is refreshingly simple, thanks to its intuitive 3-step process. Here’s how it works:

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Generate Content with 1 Click: Using the combined power of DallE 3 HD, MidJourney Mega, and Stable Diffusion PRO, Flicker allows you to create professional-grade movies, TV shows, documentaries, or cartoons in minutes. These cutting-edge AI tools handle everything, from scripting to animation, so you can focus on your creative vision.

Launch Your Streaming Service: Once your content is ready, Flicker helps you publish it on your own streaming platform. This platform is designed to monetize effortlessly, featuring built-in subscription models, one-time fee accounts, and options for ads or affiliate offers.

Whether you’re an aspiring filmmaker, a marketer, or just someone looking to generate passive income, Flicker does all the heavy lifting for you. In just a few clicks, you can go from idea to earning with minimal effort.

Click here to buy this product!

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If you’re interested in movies, technology, or passive income opportunities, Flicker opens doors to a whole new world of possibilities.

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Time-Saving Innovation: Creating high-quality content traditionally takes weeks, if not months. Flicker reduces this process to just minutes.

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Monetization-Ready: Unlike most tools, Flicker doesn’t stop at content creation — it helps you set up a profitable streaming platform with built-in monetization features.

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FAQs

Q1: What is Flicker? Flicker is an AI-powered platform that allows users to create movies, TV shows, and more, and monetize them via their own streaming service.

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Affiliate Disclosure: This Post contains affiliate link to products. We may reveive a commission for purchase made through these links.

[systemtek]

Sony Semiconductor Solutions to Release the Industry's First CMOS Image Sensor for Automotive Cameras That Can Simultaneously Process and Output RAW and YUV Images

Sony Semiconductor Solutions Corporation (SSS) has announced the upcoming release of the ISX038 CMOS image sensor for automotive cameras, the industry's first*1 product that can simultaneously process and output RAW*2 and YUV*3 images. The new sensor product has proprietary ISP*4 inside and can process and output RAW and YUV images simultaneously. RAW images are required for external environment detection and recognition in advanced driver-assistance systems (ADAS) and autonomous driving systems (AD), while the YUV images are provided for infotainment applications such as the drive recorder and augmented reality (AR). By expanding the applications a single camera can offer, the new product helps simplify automotive camera systems and saves space, cost, and power. *1   Among CMOS sensors for automotive cameras. According to SSS research (as of announcement on October 4, 2024).*2   Image for recognition on a computer.*3   Image for driver visual such as recording or displaying on a monitor.*4   Image signal processor – a circuit for image processing. Model nameSampleshipment date(planned)Sample price(including tax)ISX038 1/1.7-type (9.30 mm diagonal)8.39- effective-megapixel*5CMOS image sensorOctober 2024¥15,000*6 *5   Based on the image sensor effective pixel specification method.*6   May vary depending on the volume shipped and other conditions. The roles of automotive cameras continue to diversify in line with advances in ADAS and AD and increasing needs and requirements pertaining to the driver experience. On the other hand, there is limited space for installing such cameras, making it impossible to continue adding more indefinitely, which in turn has created a demand to do more with a single camera. The ISX038 is the industry's first*1 CMOS image sensor for automotive cameras that can simultaneously process and output RAW and YUV images. It uses a stacked structure consisting of a pixel chip and a logic chip with signal processing circuit, with the SSS' proprietary ISP on the logic chip. This design allows a single camera to provide high-precision detection and recognition capabilities of the environment outside the vehicle and visual information to assist the driver as infotainment applications. When compared with conventional methods such as a multi-camera system or a system that outputs RAW and YUV images using an external ISP, the new product helps simplify automotive camera systems, saving space, costs, and power.  ISX038 will offer compatibility with the EyeQ™6 System-on-a-Chip (SoC) currently offered by Mobileye, for use in ADAS and AD technology. Processing and output of Sony's ISX038 sensor (right) compared to conventional image sensors (left) Main Features - Industry's first*1 sensor capable of processing and outputting RAW and YUV images simultaneouslyThe new sensor is equipped with dedicated ISPs for RAW and YUV images and is capable of outputting two types of images simultaneously with image quality optimized for each application on two independent interfaces. Expanding the applications a single camera can offer helps build systems that save space, costs, and power compared to multi-camera systems or systems with an external ISP. - Wide dynamic range even during simultaneous use of HDR and LED flicker mitigationIn automobile driving, objects must be precisely detected and recognized even in road environments with significant differences in brightness, such as tunnel entrances and exits. Automotive cameras are also required to suppress LED flicker, even while in HDR mode, to deal with the increasing prevalence of LED signals and other traffic devices. The proprietary pixel structure and unique exposure method of this product improves saturation illuminance, yielding a wide dynamic range of 106 dB even when simultaneously employing HDR and LED flicker mitigation (when using dynamic range priority mode, the range is even wider, at 130 dB). This design also helps reduce motion artifacts*7 generated when capturing moving subjects. *7   Noise generated when capturing moving subjects with HDR. - Compatibility with conventional products*8This product shares the same compatibility with SSS' conventional products,*8 which have already built a proven track record for ADAS and AD applications with multiple automobile manufacturers. The new product makes it possible to reuse data assets collected on previous products such as driving data from automotive cameras. This helps streamline ADAS and AD development for automobile manufacturers and partners. *8 SSS' IMX728 1/1.7 type 8.39 effective megapixel CMOS image sensor. - Compliant with standards required for automotive applicationsThe product is qualified for AEC-Q100 Grade 2 automotive electronic component reliability tests by mass production. Also, SSS has introduced a development process compliant with the ISO 26262 road vehicle functional safety standard, at automotive safety integrity level ASIL-B(D). This contributes to improve automotive camera system reliability. Key Specifications Model nameISX038Effective pixels3,857×2,177(H×V), approx. 8.39 megapixelsImage sizeDiagonal 9.30mm (1/1.72-type)Unit cell size2.1μm×2.1μm (H×V)Frame rate (all pixels)30fps (RAW&YUV dual output)Sensitivity (standard value F5.6, 1/30 secondcumulative)880mV (Green Pixel)Dynamic range (EMVA 1288 standard)106 dB (with LED flicker mitigation)130 dB (dynamic range priority)InterfaceMIPI CSI-2 serial output (Single port with 4-lanes / Dual port with 2-lanes per port)Package192pin BGAPackage size11.85mm×8.60mm (H×V) SOURCE Sony Semiconductor Solutions Corporation Photo of Sony's ISX038 CMOS image sensor for automotive cameras Read the full article

[outeremissary]

kasperia character journal please? 👀

Hi Romeo! Sorry this is a lil late (days later edit: now a lot late), time kind of stopped functioning for part of Friday, hahhh . Anyway some good luck on this one being the only one I have screenshots from while my laptop hangs between this world and the next! (days later edit: it's actually dead forever) Anyway, this was admittedly a bit of a cheat because it is a tabletop character journal, but it's a WIP to me and I like working on it. Counts!

Anywayyyy. I don't think it's actually been said on Tumblr at this point, but Kasander and Asperia are two parts of a dissociative identity disorder system (I don't know if this is too jargon-y an explanation...?). Not the only two, but the two who interface the most with the outside world and in some ways have the strongest feelings about "Asperia's" life. In tabletop, their journal is how they communicate with one another to mitigate the effects of losing time and to get some sense of coordination with what they're doing. On a meta level, it helps me track what each of them knows about game events and how they feel about each other (and any other alter who adds something to the journal). Relationships within the system aren't really something that generally makes sense to externalize into regular RP. The journal is a helpful way to develop that running self-exploration side plot without derailing what's happening in session.

It's been a really fun exercise in character voice. I love writing epistolary type stuff- Carmen's mission report character journal was one of my favorite parts of playing her back in 2019- so it's been very relaxing to me. Excited for our hiatus to end to gather more material for it. I've gotten a little off track from some original plans though- one significant concept I'd had going in was that Kasander's parts of the journal are written as direct letters to Asperia, while Asperia's were supposed to be written as a diary as if the other pages didn't exist. Stubborn willful ignorance from someone struggling to come to terms with their reality. Unfortunately, it's very fun to write things that are a little bit more communicative ^^;; I'll probably have to rewrite pieces of recent parts of the journal to be a bit more in line with that intent before adding the next chunk to our party's notes drive. Not a lot room to develop the twins' relationship over time if there's not much distance between the start and the end, after all.

With that said, some of the direct exchanges are very fun. Pros and cons.

It's also fun to think through what's tracked and what's omitted (intentionally or unintentionally). Kasander loves describing the cultural experience of a location but carefully skips mentioning having actually spent money on things. They're always on thin ice with the funds. Asperia keeps (mildly exaggerated) accounts of personal achievements but completely skips over failures, especially failures that involved injury to the body. She needs to communicate a sense of superiority- something that certainly works when Kasander apologizes profusely any time the body is hurt under their care.

(yeah it seemed like a good idea at the time to use a more "handwritten" font for the final thing but I've been having A Lot Of Regrets)

I unfortunately don't have a screenshot, but the journal has also had one small addition from Paracelsus as well. It's just a to-do list of ways to organize and restock the crafting supplies. Very typical of them. Asperia thinks he wrote it, like everything Paracelsus writes.

Also fun to get to work in some in-world explanations for things that raise some meta questions, like not having some items that I need for my character concept (I ran out of starting equipment budgettt). This bit is also consistent with the pattern that Asperia avoids referring to Kasander by name.

How common the two of them actually sabotaging each other's possessions is has yet to truly be established, but it is an aspect of what the party thaumaturge refers to as their "feud."

Pros over BG3: they are aware of and communicating each other, and they didn't have to have five near death experiences for it to happen. Yay!

Cons over BG3: lot more hostility from Asperia persisting past that point. Kasander did in fact ruin their life a little.

[dykedragonrider]

Finished AW2 and am finally getting to my thoughts but to rehash what I said earlier, the game's quality scales exponentially with the time you play, it's artsy and weird in ways that are in fact, fuckin' lovely, it's got some issues, but I'm more willing to look past it because like, no one's doing it like this is and I want more weird things like this (endearing)

Getting my issues out of the way, for a game with as much exploring as you do, wow that movement speed is miserable. I get that you can't be zooming about in a horror game because that trims tension but I also didn't explore nearly as much as I wanted to because I'd ask myself "do i really wanna trot around at this speed" and the answer was usually no. The combat's also only OK, and with how much of that you do, I really wish it felt a little better? Also, the jumpscares feel bad, I don't like them, I'm here for the atmosphere and general horror narrative tropes, not the screamy faces.

To get more into the meat and taters though, the way this elevates the metafiction from the first game is really good. I especially want to praise Alan's segments of literal reality altering in the Dark Place through altering the script, there were some cool puzzles with that and I loved the way it would change the scenarios of the vignettes. I got a little stuck sometimes but I attribute that to the debuff that streaming a game gives you, because I did miss some audio cues, game makes it real easy to pick stuff back up though.

On the note of vignettes, I'm obligated to praise the spectacle for this game, because it's got some really cool moments with them that I love! We've got two musical numbers, each of which is entertaining in their own different ways, Champion Of Light was like the coolest 15 minutes in a game this year to me, but also like. Nightless Night was a really cool thing to have as a diegetic film, I didn't expect that but it was really fun to see how that interacted with the main story with its themes and, of course, characters.

Saga is like, I wasn't sold on her initially because I liked Alan and wanted more of him, but that's just the nature of sequels. The more I learned about her (norse god who is also a seer was a pull I didn't see coming given my unfamiliarity with the depth of that folklore, but it *was* cool), it was like, exponential how much I liked her? Family drama was a great way to interface with the weirdness of the Andersons, honestly, give them some depth. The dynamic she has between her and Casey was also nice, he's the straight man in their whole buddy cop thing, and I also like how she and Casey are cut from the same cloth with regards to the strangeness of how they interact with the fiction that permeates the world. I'm not familiar enough with Twin Peaks to point out some of the text to text stuff there, but I did have a cheeky laugh at that shot of them drinking coffee towards the start of the game.

Tor/Odin having more depth through Saga and the ways they advise/interact with her and Wake being very different, not just in the way between him and them in 1 and her in 2, but also them with him in 2, it's giving them a lot that I think really works for them being these figures of legend, both within folklore and the systems of the Lake, and them entering it as a "passing of the torch" in some ways towards the end was a good emotional moment, they're just a treat in this game. Sneaking Ahti in here as well, I don't have a lot deep to say about him or extra thoughts, I just like the guy. Perfect character, no notes, love him.

The real standouts character wise to me though, were Jaakko and Ilmo. I saw the ads as I could, and their banter's fantastic, these people have their own lives and a lot of interiority and so much is told through that, you find out about the cult and get some questions about them, they're up to some shit and know more than they let on, but in reality they were just doing their best to look out for a community they care about, and Jaakko's death was the moment I went from like, laughing along with them as just a good supporting cast to just. Their story fucking owns, it's a simple misunderstanding born out of bias that neither side is really interested in correcting because of unreliable narration, miscommunication/failure to communicate is usually a thing in media I'm very feast or famine on (I'm aware that "why don't they just ask x" is a mindkiller question, but in terms of meeting the story halfway it's one of my major shortcomings, because so often it feels contrived in the narrative), but in a story so based around metafiction (that is lampshaded in a compelling way I'll cover in a moment), it feels like it's a perfectly executed idea with how it's done that elevates the story significantly. These people existed alongside you, and of course the small town weirdos who made a cult and hijacked stuff to try and manage problems on their own terms get vilified, you don't know the whole story and there's no interest in it because the narrators aren't, it works!

And that segment is pretty quickly followed by the moment where the game gets self aware, which is normally a pretty touchy thing I find? However, using that as a tool for deconstruction, the fourth wall as another wall to decorate the set dressing of the narrative, as a way to examine it through the windows on that wall, each with their own decor, was clever? They knew what the player'd be thinking, and I think that landed pretty well, it didn't start feeling circlejerky, because it *also* laid the horror on so thick there, it was probably the most unnerving part of the game. I was internally hooting and hollering the entire time, even if that segment was a little annoying, just because it was *so* goddamn cool.

I'm probably missing a bit bc it's been a while so it's not all as fresh in my mind (wanted to talk about Saga's scene of controlling her narrative more bc that's peak as shit but this is already long enough+would wanna refresh myself), but the point is like, god this game's peak. Thank you Remedy for making weird little games for the freaks of the world.

[republicsecurity]

take a break

In the recruits' canteen, bathed in the dull glow of overhead lights, IU664 and H2U8M sat facing each other. The visors of their suits were retracted, revealing their faces in a rare moment of unfiltered interaction. The steady hum of conversations and clinking of utensils formed an ambient backdrop to their one hour of reprieve.

IU664 sipped on his tea, the warmth seeping through the suit's helmet and into his senses. Across from him, H2U8M mirrored the action, a silent acknowledgment of the simple pleasure found in a hot beverage. The metallic tang of the suits, a constant companion, took a temporary backseat as the recruits bantered about their shared experiences.

"So, H2U8M, how's your love affair with the suit going?" IU664 quipped, a wry smile playing on his lips.

H2U8M chuckled, the sound reverberating inside the sealed confines of the helmets. "It's a complicated relationship, you know? Like a marriage with no possibility of divorce."

IU664 raised an eyebrow as he noticed AS555 with his visor lowered, a rare sight in the midst of the recruits' designated free time. "Hey, AS555, why have you lowered the visor? It's not required." IU664 asked, curiosity evident in his tone.

AS555 visor deplorized making his face visible again.

"Nah, I prefer my entertainment with a touch of augmented reality. Corps-issued digital comics, you know? Propaganda with a side of visual flair."

H2U8M chuckled, "So, what's the gripping tale in this one? More heroic paramedics saving the day?"

AS555 tapped on his helmet's interface, projecting a snippet of the digital comic onto the outside of his visor. The vibrant panels displayed scenes of paramedics in action, their Mark IV Armour Suits gleaming heroically as they faced various challenges. The visor acted as a shared screen, and the trio gathered around to get a glimpse of the digital narrative.

H2U8M squinted slightly as he observed the scenes. "Looks intense. Do they at least get the suits right in these comics?"

AS555 grinned, "Oh, absolutely. They make the suits look even more impressive, if that's possible. Glowing with heroic radiance, you know? It's like a recruitment poster in comic form."

IU664 chuckled, "Well, at least they're consistent with the propaganda. Can't have us forgetting the 'glory' of our service, even during downtime."

IU664 raised an eyebrow in astonishment. "Wait, it can project on the outside too? I never knew that."

AS555 nodded, a hint of pride in his tone. "Yep, the HUD is quite versatile. We usually see the displays inside, but for moments like these, sharing something with others, it can project outside as well. Makes digital comics and other visual information easy to share during breaks."

H2U8M chimed in, "That's pretty neat. I guess there's more to the suits than we've been told explicitly."

AS555 grinned, "Always more to discover. The more you understand about your suit, the more efficiently you can use it. The corps wants us to be one with our gear, after all."

H2U8M chuckled, his voice slightly muffled by the suit. "I don't remember a comic book feature in the training manual. Must be one of those hidden perks they don't tell us about."

IU664 nodded, "I suppose the suits are what we make of them, within the limits set by the Corps. Finding those little moments of humanity might be crucial to maintaining our sanity through all this. Who would have thought a comic break would be part of suit survival strategy?"

As they bantered, the realization of the suits' versatility, and the small ways the recruits adapted, added another layer to their understanding of the technology that surrounded and defined their lives.

Instructor KO10T clarified, "Exactly. Sometimes, in collaborative efforts or public situations, it's useful to project information outside for everyone to see. It allows for better coordination and transparency"

As the recruits finished their banter and drained the last dregs of tea from their canteen cups, the authoritative voice of Instructor KO10T cut through their conversation like a blade.

"Informalities cease now," he declared, his tone brooking no argument. "Prepare yourselves for sleep. The docking stations await, and tomorrow brings a day filled with challenges and lessons."

The recruits, visors now descending to cover their faces once again, exchanged glances. There was no room for protest or negotiation.

The docking stations, resembling futuristic sarcophagi, awaited their occupants. The recruits entered, guided by the dim glow of their HUDs. The familiar hiss and click of docking clamps echoed through the room as the recruits settled into their individual compartments. The AI took over, establishing the necessary connections between the suits and the station's systems.

As the recruits lay down, the docking stations contoured to their bodies, enveloping them in a secure embrace. The visors, now closed, plunged the recruits into darkness. The sounds of the room faded, replaced by the subtle hum of the station's machinery.

In the dim solitude of his docking station, IU664 initiated a private channel to Instructor KO10T, his voice reverberating within the confines of his sealed helmet.

"Are you in the suit as well?" he inquired, his words tinged with a hint of curiosity. The silence that followed felt elongated, a testament to the isolated existence within their individual chambers.

"Are you lying in a docking station?" he added, seeking a connection, however ephemeral, with the instructor who, like him, navigated the intricacies of life encased in the formidable embrace of the Corps' technology.

"Yes, IU664, I'm in the suit as well," KO10T's voice emanated through the digital channels, a blend of assurance and authority. The acknowledgment carried a peculiar weight, a reminder that even those in positions of instruction were not exempt from the encasement of the Corps' technological embrace.

"In this corps, we share the experience," he continued, the words carrying a strange mixture of guardianship and stern instructorship. "When you recruits are in the suits, we platoon instructors wear them as well. We understand the challenges, the nuances, and the solitude that comes with it."

There was a momentary pause, a digital breath in the vastness of the virtual space. "You're not alone in this, IU664. Embrace the unity that the suits bring. Rest now, for tomorrow holds new challenges and opportunities for growth. Sleep well." The connection closed, leaving IU664 with a sense of reassurance in the artificial quiet of his docking station.

[and-then-there-were-n0ne]

There’s a tendency — a passive acceptance that belongs somewhere along a continuum between faith and negligence — to assume that Google is merely a benign, disinterested gatekeeper of a vast repository of information. But nothing could be further from the truth. The reality is that the near-monopolistic control of information in our society resides with an explicitly progressive technology company. This week’s release of Google Gemini, a Large Language Model with a chat interface that is also capable of generating images, couldn’t make this more clear.

As you can probably gather by scrolling through the hilariously, appallingly, and ominously woke image examples I’ve provided, Google has coded Gemini’s AI in such a way that specific qualifications are added to any user prompt, so that the results conform to delicate modern sensibilities and the whims of modern DEI obsessions by ensuring that “diverse ethnicities and genders” are featured. [...] The images created are so preposterous, so comically insulting to the truth, that it’s tempting to assume we’re being trolled. But we’re not. And this is serious, because Google is clearly capable of completely shifting perceptions of history in the blink of an eye.

The text-generating aspect of Gemini is no less dangerous, and every bit as tainted with a paternalistic, shockingly heavy-handed encoded ultra-progressive bias. Questions conflicting with progressive assumptions either go unanswered, or users are simply fed straight up lies. It’s an attempt by a group of fringe upper-class wokes to control information and feed unwitting users only knowledge fit for the progressive vision of society. And it is strongly reminiscent of what Matthew Crawford once described as “a cadre of subtle dia­lecticians working at a meta-level on the formal conditions of thought, nudging the populace through a cognitive framing operation to be conducted beneath the threshold of explicit argument.” These subtle dia­lecticians make subtle changes to the information we see, but in aggregate they shape our entire world.

It would be unwise to assume that because the launch of Gemini has been widely derided as a massive and amusing faceplant that it will ultimately go down as a failed joke. Google is already retooling the image generator, and the “this response has been checked by a human” note that appears when you ask the chat interface a question suggests a process for tweaking “bad responses.”

Some people will no doubt dismiss concerns about Gemini by pointing out that there are other Large Language Models available. But this is ignorant. It cannot be emphasized enough how powerful and widely used Google is.

Google’s search market share is 91.47%. By comparison, Bing’s is 3.43%.1

The company handles a whopping 99,000 searches per second, totaling over 8.5 billion daily.

Google is by far the biggest mobile operating system in the world. As of May 2022, there were over three billion active monthly Android devices, with more than a billion new Android phones activated in the previous year alone.

Google’s search index includes about 400 billion webpages.

The point is that Google’s immense market leverage cannot be ignored. And as a conveniently available AI embedded within the same programs most Americans already use, its market penetration is instantly far deeper than any competitor’s. Furthermore, as National Review’s Jeffrey Blehar points out, Google is widely used in schools, often with licensing technology. It’s not difficult to envision Gemini, which is likely to become the most powerful epistemological technology ever created, turning into a pervasive “free” resource that students are regularly guided to once the use of AI becomes an officially approved “learning tool.” And it will be regarded as authoritative not only because of the influence Google wields, but also because of the convenience in receiving direct answers without the need for further research.

You don’t need me to tell you that none of this bodes well for the future. Make no mistake about it: Google intends this program to shape our understanding of the world. We’re talking about fundamental questions concerning who will determine which interpretation of reality will be programmed into generative technology, and who does the programming. And we’re beginning to realize how easily our sense of reality can become radically, hopelessly compromised by a relatively small handful of progressive ideologues.

1 YouTube, which Google owns, is the world’s second most popular search engine. As early as 2009, search volume on YouTube outstripped Yahoo!’s by 50% and Bing’s by 150%.

[ao3feed-skystar]

The Conjunx Search

read it on AO3 at https://ift.tt/3z9jw0C by CampMithrilLake The latest season of The Conjunx Search comes with a special twist. The contestants all think the mech they are competing for is the future Prime of Cybertron. Little do they know he is actual former factory worker and amateur racer from Nyon. Words: 586, Chapters: 1/?, Language: English Fandoms: Transformers - All Media Types Rating: Mature Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Categories: Multi Characters: Hot Rod (Transformers), Thunderclash (Transformers), Drift | Deadlock, Ratchet (Transformers), Optimus Prime, Megatron (Transformers), Starscream (Transformers), Cyclonus (Transformers), Minimus Ambus (Transformers), Tarn (Transformers), Tailgate (Transformers), Prowl (Transformers), Jazz (Transformers) Relationships: Hot Rod/Thunderclash (Transformers), Drift | Deadlock/Ratchet, Megatron/Optimus Prime, Jetfire | Skyfire/Starscream (Transformers), Cyclonus/Tailgate (Transformers) Additional Tags: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Reality Show, Reality TV, Alternate Universe - The Bachelor Fusion, Social Media, Sticky Sexual Interfacing (Transformers), Cybertronian Politics (Transformers), Other Additional Tags to Be Added read it on AO3 at https://ift.tt/3z9jw0C

[real-godzekiel]

forgot to post here OMG

continued character designs. again, more info below cut.

If you don't know Erin, go through this first! If you still can't understand, just know that it's an "ooo evil scary horror AI" character i made specifically about the interconnected fear, pain and loneliness on the internet. Erin's still silly, thank God, so don't be afraid that they're going to be too grim! Either way, Passage.EXE is not necessarily Erin, but it's one of his billions of branches. Desmond'll get it from the Huddled Inn Free Wi-Fi, Jesus Christ. It's a thing that will first only mess with Desmond's computer screen, and then spread to the game interface itself. Very much the reality-bending, manipulative, lobotomy-type shit you should expect from Erin. Erin's also ex-lovers with girl_Ghost before girl_Ghost even knew Phutredhaz. Blue shiny fuck just loves breaking the hearts of horrors beyond mankind's imagination. (any "bitter exes" joke regarding girl_Ghost is not completely canon!!!!! uh.) Gameplay-wise, you don't click the windows. Close the windows. Don't go in. Unless you're obsessed with IHNMAIMS-like hellscapes with added metaironic insanity, maybe.

Shitting Sheryl will be in the hotel girl's bathroom. You know which stall she's in, as text will appear to tell you where it stinks worst. Have friendly conversations with her. Maybe she'll give you items or drop some lore. Most likely she'll find you annoying and jumpscare you dead. Best OC I ever made.

Bookkeeper has a real name. It's. Ok, so she is a past accountant in the hotel, but now all the other clerks are gone. Now she does all the stuff, including the management of all the files, records and similar. No, she's not a head on a clump. That's an image. It does that sometimes. She's nowhere, not exactly. Sometimes in a book, sometimes on a website. Kind of fucked up in a head but relatively sane. Not a lot of power is on her hands anymore, unfortunately. She keeps records of all staff and entities on an online filing system. You can access it! Yes! (Did you know that Huddled Inn is an unabashed imitation of every horror media ever?) Unfortunately, again, she writes in a really biased manner. Lots of passive aggressive comments littered in all of the files, especially when it comes to events and staff. Entities, a little less so, since a few of the fuckers have enough power and knowledge to gain access and edit all the pages as they please. (Erin and girl_Ghost, mostly) Please don't think it's her when Nick's page description is changed to a copypasta. It's not her. Does not know how to feel about Jenny. Taunts him endlessly.

Umbras are shadow creatures made from pencil and pen drawings of children that were past guests. Intelligence is that of the average husky. Combination of wolf and deer. This concept art is as detailed as they tend to get. Usually, their appearance is even more vague and abstract. They hate the dark, but has to stay in it to survive. Usually hides in the woods. An Umbra drinks blood, and eats nothing. Quadrupedal. Likes windows. So, if it's getting dark at night remember to keep on the lights. And also keep some fresh back-up bulbs, while you're at it. They have pretty pokey limbs.

[jcmarchi]

Dealing with the limitations of our noisy world

New Post has been published on https://thedigitalinsider.com/dealing-with-the-limitations-of-our-noisy-world/

Dealing with the limitations of our noisy world

Tamara Broderick first set foot on MIT’s campus when she was a high school student, as a participant in the inaugural Women’s Technology Program. The monthlong summer academic experience gives young women a hands-on introduction to engineering and computer science.

What is the probability that she would return to MIT years later, this time as a faculty member?

That’s a question Broderick could probably answer quantitatively using Bayesian inference, a statistical approach to probability that tries to quantify uncertainty by continuously updating one’s assumptions as new data are obtained.

In her lab at MIT, the newly tenured associate professor in the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science (EECS) uses Bayesian inference to quantify uncertainty and measure the robustness of data analysis techniques.

“I’ve always been really interested in understanding not just ‘What do we know from data analysis,’ but ‘How well do we know it?’” says Broderick, who is also a member of the Laboratory for Information and Decision Systems and the Institute for Data, Systems, and Society. “The reality is that we live in a noisy world, and we can’t always get exactly the data that we want. How do we learn from data but at the same time recognize that there are limitations and deal appropriately with them?”

Broadly, her focus is on helping people understand the confines of the statistical tools available to them and, sometimes, working with them to craft better tools for a particular situation.

For instance, her group recently collaborated with oceanographers to develop a machine-learning model that can make more accurate predictions about ocean currents. In another project, she and others worked with degenerative disease specialists on a tool that helps severely motor-impaired individuals utilize a computer’s graphical user interface by manipulating a single switch.

A common thread woven through her work is an emphasis on collaboration.

“Working in data analysis, you get to hang out in everybody’s backyard, so to speak. You really can’t get bored because you can always be learning about some other field and thinking about how we can apply machine learning there,” she says.

Hanging out in many academic “backyards” is especially appealing to Broderick, who struggled even from a young age to narrow down her interests.

A math mindset

Growing up in a suburb of Cleveland, Ohio, Broderick had an interest in math for as long as she can remember. She recalls being fascinated by the idea of what would happen if you kept adding a number to itself, starting with 1+1=2 and then 2+2=4.

“I was maybe 5 years old, so I didn’t know what ‘powers of two’ were or anything like that. I was just really into math,” she says.

Her father recognized her interest in the subject and enrolled her in a Johns Hopkins program called the Center for Talented Youth, which gave Broderick the opportunity to take three-week summer classes on a range of subjects, from astronomy to number theory to computer science.

Later, in high school, she conducted astrophysics research with a postdoc at Case Western University. In the summer of 2002, she spent four weeks at MIT as a member of the first class of the Women’s Technology Program.

She especially enjoyed the freedom offered by the program, and its focus on using intuition and ingenuity to achieve high-level goals. For instance, the cohort was tasked with building a device with LEGOs that they could use to biopsy a grape suspended in Jell-O.

The program showed her how much creativity is involved in engineering and computer science, and piqued her interest in pursuing an academic career.

“But when I got into college at Princeton, I could not decide — math, physics, computer science — they all seemed super-cool. I wanted to do all of it,” she says.

She settled on pursuing an undergraduate math degree but took all the physics and computer science courses she could cram into her schedule.

Digging into data analysis

After receiving a Marshall Scholarship, Broderick spent two years at Cambridge University in the United Kingdom, earning a master of advanced study in mathematics and a master of philosophy in physics.

In the UK, she took a number of statistics and data analysis classes, including her first class on Bayesian data analysis in the field of machine learning.

It was a transformative experience, she recalls.

“During my time in the U.K., I realized that I really like solving real-world problems that matter to people, and Bayesian inference was being used in some of the most important problems out there,” she says.

Back in the U.S., Broderick headed to the University of California at Berkeley, where she joined the lab of Professor Michael I. Jordan as a grad student. She earned a PhD in statistics with a focus on Bayesian data analysis. 

She decided to pursue a career in academia and was drawn to MIT by the collaborative nature of the EECS department and by how passionate and friendly her would-be colleagues were.

Her first impressions panned out, and Broderick says she has found a community at MIT that helps her be creative and explore hard, impactful problems with wide-ranging applications.

“I’ve been lucky to work with a really amazing set of students and postdocs in my lab — brilliant and hard-working people whose hearts are in the right place,” she says.

One of her team’s recent projects involves a collaboration with an economist who studies the use of microcredit, or the lending of small amounts of money at very low interest rates, in impoverished areas.

The goal of microcredit programs is to raise people out of poverty. Economists run randomized control trials of villages in a region that receive or don’t receive microcredit. They want to generalize the study results, predicting the expected outcome if one applies microcredit to other villages outside of their study.

But Broderick and her collaborators have found that results of some microcredit studies can be very brittle. Removing one or a few data points from the dataset can completely change the results. One issue is that researchers often use empirical averages, where a few very high or low data points can skew the results.

Using machine learning, she and her collaborators developed a method that can determine how many data points must be dropped to change the substantive conclusion of the study. With their tool, a scientist can see how brittle the results are.

“Sometimes dropping a very small fraction of data can change the major results of a data analysis, and then we might worry how far those conclusions generalize to new scenarios. Are there ways we can flag that for people? That is what we are getting at with this work,” she explains.

At the same time, she is continuing to collaborate with researchers in a range of fields, such as genetics, to understand the pros and cons of different machine-learning techniques and other data analysis tools.

Happy trails

Exploration is what drives Broderick as a researcher, and it also fuels one of her passions outside the lab. She and her husband enjoy collecting patches they earn by hiking all the trails in a park or trail system.

“I think my hobby really combines my interests of being outdoors and spreadsheets,” she says. “With these hiking patches, you have to explore everything and then you see areas you wouldn’t normally see. It is adventurous, in that way.”

They’ve discovered some amazing hikes they would never have known about, but also embarked on more than a few “total disaster hikes,” she says. But each hike, whether a hidden gem or an overgrown mess, offers its own rewards.

And just like in her research, curiosity, open-mindedness, and a passion for problem-solving have never led her astray.

[lover-of-mine]

Okay, I can look at a reflection of medusa right? If I put on a virtual reality headset, set it to augmented reality, where it would be showing me the environment I'm in and whatever added elements I add into the interface, and look at medusa, would I get turned to stone? Would a picture or recording of her kill me??