#Emerging Big Data Technologies

[techdriveplay]

Why Quantum Computing Will Change the Tech Landscape

The technology industry has seen significant advancements over the past few decades, but nothing quite as transformative as quantum computing promises to be. Why Quantum Computing Will Change the Tech Landscape is not just a matter of speculation; it’s grounded in the science of how we compute and the immense potential of quantum mechanics to revolutionise various sectors. As traditional…

[superconductivebean]

I know what AI is, and this is my main reason not to use it.

When AI receives a prompt, it selects a *token*—the key word for its search query. It does not open up Google for you—it selects a group of tokens, interlinked with the OG token, to generate the probability matrix for its eventual first word.

AI will generate many more of these matrixes, but the key is: 1) its choice for words is dictated by the Perplexity (how wordly; rarer words will be more likely to be chosen from the matrix); 2) its sentence structure and the overall use of tokens is determined by the Burstiness (the length and the complexity of the sentence, and how many more tokens can be allowed per answer); 3) the matrix itself—the process of generating them rather than a standalone among the many—is set by the OG token, so AI is already limited in its output from the very beginning. AI cannot have unlimited access to tokens; tokens are not only the unit of memory—they require computation power, so any given AI will be limited in how much of them it can have, otherwise it is limited by the hardware.

How is AI able co computate all of that? Datasets, unethically gathered—stolen, in short; the fact that AI consume their own outputs after the web has been scrapped goes without mention.

It's a simplified explanation, but it's enough to say such a limited, crude, purely mechanical software can only be used for style checking or assigning a reading grade—something you would need math for. Whoever decided to market it for *creativity* has spawned NFT 2.0 Idiot Bubble.

I hope we are not seeing regurgitated Project Gutenberg for 19th Century Authentic Dark Academia Dark Fantasy Writing bullshite after it eventually bursts.

anyway I saw the AI poll and thought it needed like, more options? anyhow. I would like to hear nuances in the reblogs!

I guess if you do use AI just straight up unfollow my blog?

[ananyamehtablog]

Driving Business Transformation with Data Science: Case Studies and Insights

[charlessmithpost]

Mastering the Art of Becoming a Big Data Analyst

In the ever-evolving landscape of technology, the role of a Big Data Analyst has become pivotal for businesses striving for success. Unlocking the potential of data can transform decision-making processes, and if you aspire to become a Big Data Analyst, here's your roadmap.

1. Pursue Relevant Education

Enroll in courses that focus on data analytics, machine learning, and statistics. A solid educational foundation lays the groundwork for a successful career as a Big Data Analyst.

2. Seek Hands-On Experience

Theory alone won't cut it in the dynamic field of big data. Secure internships or projects to gain hands-on experience, allowing you to apply your knowledge to real-world scenarios.

3. Build a Robust Network

Connect with professionals in the field through networking events or online platforms like LinkedIn. A strong professional network opens doors to opportunities and keeps you abreast of industry trends.

4. Mastering Data Wrangling

Before delving into the depths of big data, sharpen your skills in data wrangling. Learn to clean, organize, and transform raw data into a format ready for analysis. Tools like Python and R are your allies in this endeavor.

5. Becoming Proficient in Data Visualization

Data, when presented effectively, tells a compelling story. Equip yourself with tools like Tableau or Power BI to create visually appealing representations of complex datasets. A picture is worth a thousand words, especially in the realm of big data.

6. Acquiring Programming Prowess

A Big Data Analyst's toolkit is incomplete without programming proficiency. Dive into languages such as SQL or Hadoop to manipulate and manage colossal datasets. The ability to code is your ticket to unraveling the full potential of big data.

The path to becoming a Big Data Analyst is challenging but immensely rewarding. Your dedication, coupled with the right skills and knowledge, will propel you toward success in this data-driven era.

[hunter-rodrigez]

As sketchy as the oceangate submarine was... you can bet your ass every single one of musky's endeavors would look just as sketchy if it wasn't for the fact that he's forced to work with government regulators.

Hell, most of his projects are this sketchy if you look a bit closer. For example: the tesla tunnels.

No fire suppression system, no emergency exits, no emergency lighting, no way for EMS to get through, no fucking nothing. I am pretty sure it's not even big enough to open the car's doors.

Or the Cybertruck that's a deathtrap for both the people on the outside and the people on the inside because it utterly disregards the last 50 or so years of advancements in car safety technology such as crumple zones or safety glass

Or the tesla model 3 where you can't even open the back doors without power. So if you're in an accident and lose power... good luck getting your kids out of the back, especially when the huge battery is turning into a huge, unextinguishable flamethrower.

Or the fucking starship launchpad that was utterly destroyed by the rocket and threw huge concrete chunks and other debris around for miles... which, incidentally, also destroyed the rocket.

That's what all these self-proclaimed Silicon Valley tech bro geniuses are like.

They all think they know better than everyone else, and that rules or consequences don't apply to them, and they see safety as little more than an afterthought.

It's why Ai and social media algorithms are used sooooo ethically. It's why amazon and facebook try to find out everything about you and happily sell that data with no disregard for what it could be used for.

It's about damn time one of these CEO dipshits got killed by their own dipshitery, I just wish it had been musk or bezos instead...

Once again, in conclusion:

[nasa]

What We Learned from Flying a Helicopter on Mars

The Ingenuity Mars Helicopter made history – not only as the first aircraft to perform powered, controlled flight on another world – but also for exceeding expectations, pushing the limits, and setting the stage for future NASA aerial exploration of other worlds.

Built as a technology demonstration designed to perform up to five experimental test flights over 30 days, Ingenuity performed flight operations from the Martian surface for almost three years. The helicopter ended its mission on Jan. 25, 2024, after sustaining damage to its rotor blades during its 72nd flight.

So, what did we learn from this small but mighty helicopter?

We can fly rotorcraft in the thin atmosphere of other planets.

Ingenuity proved that powered, controlled flight is possible on other worlds when it took to the Martian skies for the first time on April 19, 2021.

Flying on planets like Mars is no easy feat: The Red Planet has a significantly lower gravity – one-third that of Earth’s – and an extremely thin atmosphere, with only 1% the pressure at the surface compared to our planet. This means there are relatively few air molecules with which Ingenuity’s two 4-foot-wide (1.2-meter-wide) rotor blades can interact to achieve flight.

Ingenuity performed several flights dedicated to understanding key aerodynamic effects and how they interact with the structure and control system of the helicopter, providing us with a treasure-trove of data on how aircraft fly in the Martian atmosphere.

Now, we can use this knowledge to directly improve performance and reduce risk on future planetary aerial vehicles.

Creative solutions and “ingenuity” kept the helicopter flying longer than expected.

Over an extended mission that lasted for almost 1,000 Martian days (more than 33 times longer than originally planned), Ingenuity was upgraded with the ability to autonomously choose landing sites in treacherous terrain, dealt with a dead sensor, dusted itself off after dust storms, operated from 48 different airfields, performed three emergency landings, and survived a frigid Martian winter.

Fun fact: To keep costs low, the helicopter contained many off-the-shelf-commercial parts from the smartphone industry - parts that had never been tested in deep space. Those parts also surpassed expectations, proving durable throughout Ingenuity’s extended mission, and can inform future budget-conscious hardware solutions.

There is value in adding an aerial dimension to interplanetary surface missions.

Ingenuity traveled to Mars on the belly of the Perseverance rover, which served as the communications relay for Ingenuity and, therefore, was its constant companion. The helicopter also proved itself a helpful scout to the rover.

After its initial five flights in 2021, Ingenuity transitioned to an “operations demonstration,” serving as Perseverance’s eyes in the sky as it scouted science targets, potential rover routes, and inaccessible features, while also capturing stereo images for digital elevation maps.

Airborne assets like Ingenuity unlock a new dimension of exploration on Mars that we did not yet have – providing more pixels per meter of resolution for imaging than an orbiter and exploring locations a rover cannot reach.

Tech demos can pay off big time.

Ingenuity was flown as a technology demonstration payload on the Mars 2020 mission, and was a high risk, high reward, low-cost endeavor that paid off big. The data collected by the helicopter will be analyzed for years to come and will benefit future Mars and other planetary missions.

Just as the Sojourner rover led to the MER-class (Spirit and Opportunity) rovers, and the MSL-class (Curiosity and Perseverance) rovers, the team believes Ingenuity’s success will lead to future fleets of aircraft at Mars.

In general, NASA’s Technology Demonstration Missions test and advance new technologies, and then transition those capabilities to NASA missions, industry, and other government agencies. Chosen technologies are thoroughly ground- and flight-tested in relevant operating environments — reducing risks to future flight missions, gaining operational heritage and continuing NASA’s long history as a technological leader.

You can fall in love with robots on another planet.

Following in the tracks of beloved Martian rovers, the Ingenuity Mars Helicopter built up a worldwide fanbase. The Ingenuity team and public awaited every single flight with anticipation, awe, humor, and hope.

Check out #ThanksIngenuity on social media to see what’s been said about the helicopter’s accomplishments.

Learn more about Ingenuity’s accomplishments here. And make sure to follow us on Tumblr for your regular dose of space!

[lindamarcis-blog]

Tech Odyssey 2023: Navigating the Seas of Innovation

Charting a Course Through the Technological Frontier:      Provide an engaging introduction that highlights the rapid pace of technological advancements. Mention the importance of staying updated with emerging technologies in today’s world. Section 1: AI and Machine Learning Revolution: Discuss recent developments in artificial intelligence and machine learning. Highlight real-world…

[marketxcel]

The Future of Market Research: Unveiling the Top 10 Emerging Trends

The landscape of market research is undergoing a transformative shift, driven by the convergence of technology, consumer behavior, and data-driven insights. Embracing these six emerging trends empowers businesses to connect with their target audiences on a deeper level, adapt to changing market dynamics, and make informed decisions that drive success

[powerfulaitools]

Artificial Intelligence 101: ‍Exploring the Meaning of AI

🤖 AI is not just sci-fi, it's real! 💡 Discover the fascinating world of #ArtificialIntelligence: from machine learning to natural language processing, we'll explore every aspect of this game-changing technology. Join the conversation! #AI101 #TechTalk

Artificial intelligence, or AI, is a topic that has been discussed for decades. As technology continues to advance, AI is becoming more prevalent in our daily lives. From virtual assistants to autonomous vehicles, AI is transforming the way we live, work, and interact with the world around us. In this article, we will explore the meaning of AI, its origins, types, examples, advantages and…

[nowimjustastranger]

Fic request...lets see...

How about stcmo!ford experience meeting the eldest Stanley and/or the youngest Stanley he had saved?

Ford had just drifted off into a light and restless slumber when the notification came in, his helmet beeping urgently from where it sat on his makeshift workbench, the surface cluttered with electronic scraps and soldering tools. Ford heaved himself up with a grunt of effort, striding over to the helmet to pull it on and access the data to pinpoint where the emergency was and the severity of the situation.

D – G/727 | 12 yo | COD: Self-Inflicted Injury

Ford’s hands fumbled to clip the helmet underneath his chin, blindly reaching for his trenchcoat and dimension hopping gun from the backrest of his desk chair and nightstand respectively. The coordinates were already pulled up on the screen, having been uploaded from his helmet, so all he had to do was pull the trigger and step through the swirling gateway to reach his destination.

Even with the upgrades and adjustments, his radar still struggled to get an exact location, but the multiverse was a big place and wormholes were notoriously complex so Ford couldn’t fault the technology for not quite being up to par. After all, Ford could deal with a bit of searching. He was always dropped within a certain radius of the event, so he simply had to travel toward the epicenter to find what he was looking for.

His boots crunched as he stepped on glass and he snapped out of his single-minded focus to look down, his ribcage tightening at the sight of a distant memory brought into startling clarity. Glass Shard Beach. At least now he had an idea of where he was going, there was really only one spot that Stan would be drawn to, and Ford found his feet briskly carrying him toward a familiar silhouette in the distance.

There was a soft light emanating from the ship’s interior, the hole that Stan had made in the hull upon discovering the wreck not yet repaired. Ford had to crouch in order to carefully crawl inside, not wanting to alert the child to his presence before he was able to properly assess the situation, each movement slow and calculated as he prowled into the cramped space.

Ford saw Stan almost immediately, his stomach swooping in a nauseating fashion as the golden glow illuminated the alarmingly large red puddle around Stan’s left arm. He lunged forward with a wounded sound, scrabbling toward the boy in an entirely undignified manner, his black pants soaking up the still warm blood when he kneeled beside Stan. Ford checked his pulse the old fashioned way, the sensors in his gloves easily picking up the boy’s slightly weakened heartbeat.

He hasn’t lost too much blood then. Good.

Ford took Stan’s left arm in a gentle grip and turned it to examine the gash, his narrowed eyes cataloging every mark that marred the boy’s scrawny arms. Some were fresher than others, layers upon layers of wounds healed only to be carved open again. This was what hatred looked like. This was the kind of self-loathing that burrowed into you with harsh words and even harsher fists, wearing you down until death looked like the better option.

Ford’s throat clicked dryly when he swallowed, retrieving his collapsible med kit from his utility belt. He gave the boy a mild numbing agent before reattaching the vein that Stan had accidentally severed, sealing the wound with a small red penlight that increased the rate of repair. He didn’t heal it all the way, leaving it a tender pink scar to hopefully deter Stan from carving himself up in the future.

Ford sat back on his haunches with a full-body shudder when he was finished, dragging his helmet up and off his head to gasp for air, his bloodied hands shaking. He sloppily set the helmet down beside his soaked knees, gaze honed in on the steady rise of Stan’s chest until his vision began to blur; hot tears spilled down his face, dripping off his trembling chin as he silently wept.

Stan was so young. Too young to be out this late by himself, slicing himself open with a jagged piece of glass. Where the fuck was his brother? Where was Stanford when Stan was punishing himself for simply existing? Ford had to take a deep, shuddering breath and remind himself that his counterpart here was a child and he couldn’t use his usual methods to make Stanford see the error of his ways.

The most he could do was point Stanford in the right direction and hope that the workaholic brat didn’t just ignore the signs until it was far too late. This was undoubtedly the youngest and most self-destructive Stan that Ford had come into contact with up to date, so the chances of him making it to highschool were slim to none unless his brother noticed Stan’s desperate cry for help.

Ford wiped his face with the sleeve of his trench coat, grimacing at the mess that he left on the dark fabric. Honestly, he would probably end up burning this outfit, he had a sneaking suspicion that the smell of blood would linger no matter how many times he washed the articles of clothing. It was suffocating even now, filling the small space with the nauseating stench of copper.

Ford swiped the bloodied shard of glass from the sand and tucked it away before he gathered the unconscious boy into his arms, cradling the small body close to his chest. Ford pulled the pin on a sanitation grenade and tossed it into the blood before grabbing his helmet and swiftly ducking out of the hole, greedily inhaling fresh air until the fog of panic and despair lifted from his mind.

He only got a few steps away before the grenade went off with a loud hiss, white smoke rolling out of the hole in the hull, cleansing the boat’s interior of blood as well as a laundry list of other harmful substances on a microscopic level. Ford adjusted his grip on Stan as he plucked a syringe from the small black case on his utility belt, injecting Stan in the upper arm with a serum that would eliminate any illness that he could’ve given himself.

Stan began to stir as Ford put the emptied syringe away, reluctantly depositing the boy onto the sand beside the hull’s opening so he could pull his helmet back on, buckling the strap beneath his jaw just as Stan’s eyes cracked open. The boy sluggishly scanned his surroundings, his brows furrowing in blatant confusion before his squinted gaze came to a shrieking halt on Ford.

Stan’s eyes widened as he sat up straight, his owlish stare briefly darting to his arm, face blanching of color when he saw the pink scar. Ford was careful to keep his body language relaxed and open, arms limply hanging at his sides. Still, the boy was visibly distressed, scooting back an inch or two before the hull of the ship prevented him from putting any more distance between them.

��Please don’t tell my parents!” Stan blurted, his shoulders hunching as he drew his legs up, his left arm tucked between his thighs and his stomach to hide the evidence of his dangerous and unhealthy coping mechanism from view. The boy couldn’t seem to maintain eye contact anymore either, his gaze dropping to stare at his knees with alarmingly wet eyes. Ford’s heart lurched in his chest, aching to draw the boy into his arms and just hold him.

It suddenly struck Ford that the boy was ashamed. But not of what he had done, just of getting caught.

“I won’t.” Ford assured as he raised his hands in a placating manner, relieved when Stan’s defensive posture relaxed some. Ford would rather volunteer to be Bill’s plaything for eternity than set Stan up for the backlash that he would receive from his useless brute of a father. So it was safe to say that Filbrick Pines wouldn’t be involved in this delicate matter.

“Really?” Stan timidly asked, his narrowed eyes briefly flicking to Ford, most likely looking for some sign of deceit. Ford had nothing to offer other than truth though, and it seemed that Stan had reached the same conclusion because the tightness that his body held melted away as he slumped back against the hull with an explosive breath of relief.

“So long as you promise me something.” Ford hedged, keeping his hands raised when Stan’ gaze cut to him, the beginnings of suspicion and something uncomfortably close to fear brewing in his eyes. Ford slowly lowered himself to sit, legs crossing as he gracefully settled on the sand approximately four and a half feet from Stan.

“Right… uh, what is it?” Stan grumbled, lazily draping his unmarred arm onto his knees before propping his chin on it. Ford’s back ached from simply watching the boy practically fold himself in half, bewildered as to how such a compact position could possibly be comfortable to maintain for any length of time. Ah, the joys of youth, a time long past for Ford.

“Whenever you want to hurt yourself, go to someone you trust.” Ford said firmly, pointedly dipping his head in a pointed nod at Stan’s hidden arm. The boy made a sound that was somewhere between an incredulous bark of laughter and an annoyed scoff, mulishly turning his head away to stare at the ocean. Ford let Stan silently stare at the waves for a moment, the boy clearly collecting his thoughts.

“Can’t. He’s always busy with school stuff.” Stan said at last, his tone flat and matter-of-fact as that bottomless well of sadness returned to his eyes. How such a small body could hold so much pain was beyond Ford. However, it wasn’t exactly out of the ordinary for a Stan, it just wasn’t usually seen in one so young. “He doesn't have time for me or my stupid feelings.”

“How you feel isn’t stupid, Stanley.” Ford objected, and the vehemence in which he spoke startled the poor boy, who flinched as if he were expecting a physical blow to accompany the outburst. Ford felt something molten stir in his chest even as he made a conscious effort to soften his voice, his hands primly folded in his lap to keep them out of sight. “Just tell him that you need him.”

“Why bother? He won’t care.” Stan retorted hotly, anger overtaking the sorrow as he fixed Ford with a fierce glare. It was quite impressive, how someone so little could manage to look so intimidating. It’s no wonder that the bullies stuck to name-calling when Stan took to looking at them like this when they harassed his brother.

“He will. Stanley please, he will.” Ford was very nearly begging, body instinctively leaning forward, straining toward the boy like a flower seeking sunlight. Nevertheless, Stan’s lips pressed into a thin line of uncertainty; yet there was an undeniable flicker of hope in his gaze that Ford immediately latched onto. “Just give him a chance to prove it.”

“Guess it can’t hurt to try…” Stan haltingly conceded, his contemplative stare drifting down to his left arm. Ford could see the boy’s thoughts written all over his face as clear as day, though it was hardly a secret that Stan wore his heart on his sleeve. The boy desperately wanted to believe him, to let what appeared to be a random stranger convince him that someone cared.

The knowledge that Stan thought himself so insignificant broke Ford’s heart.

[tangentiallly]

One way to spot patterns is to show AI models millions of labelled examples. This method requires humans to painstakingly label all this data so they can be analysed by computers. Without them, the algorithms that underpin self-driving cars or facial recognition remain blind. They cannot learn patterns.

The algorithms built in this way now augment or stand in for human judgement in areas as varied as medicine, criminal justice, social welfare and mortgage and loan decisions. Generative AI, the latest iteration of AI software, can create words, code and images. This has transformed them into creative assistants, helping teachers, financial advisers, lawyers, artists and programmers to co-create original works.

To build AI, Silicon Valley’s most illustrious companies are fighting over the limited talent of computer scientists in their backyard, paying hundreds of thousands of dollars to a newly minted Ph.D. But to train and deploy them using real-world data, these same companies have turned to the likes of Sama, and their veritable armies of low-wage workers with basic digital literacy, but no stable employment.

Sama isn’t the only service of its kind globally. Start-ups such as Scale AI, Appen, Hive Micro, iMerit and Mighty AI (now owned by Uber), and more traditional IT companies such as Accenture and Wipro are all part of this growing industry estimated to be worth $17bn by 2030.

Because of the sheer volume of data that AI companies need to be labelled, most start-ups outsource their services to lower-income countries where hundreds of workers like Ian and Benja are paid to sift and interpret data that trains AI systems.

Displaced Syrian doctors train medical software that helps diagnose prostate cancer in Britain. Out-of-work college graduates in recession-hit Venezuela categorize fashion products for e-commerce sites. Impoverished women in Kolkata’s Metiabruz, a poor Muslim neighbourhood, have labelled voice clips for Amazon’s Echo speaker. Their work couches a badly kept secret about so-called artificial intelligence systems – that the technology does not ‘learn’ independently, and it needs humans, millions of them, to power it. Data workers are the invaluable human links in the global AI supply chain.

This workforce is largely fragmented, and made up of the most precarious workers in society: disadvantaged youth, women with dependents, minorities, migrants and refugees. The stated goal of AI companies and the outsourcers they work with is to include these communities in the digital revolution, giving them stable and ethical employment despite their precarity. Yet, as I came to discover, data workers are as precarious as factory workers, their labour is largely ghost work and they remain an undervalued bedrock of the AI industry.

As this community emerges from the shadows, journalists and academics are beginning to understand how these globally dispersed workers impact our daily lives: the wildly popular content generated by AI chatbots like ChatGPT, the content we scroll through on TikTok, Instagram and YouTube, the items we browse when shopping online, the vehicles we drive, even the food we eat, it’s all sorted, labelled and categorized with the help of data workers.

Milagros Miceli, an Argentinian researcher based in Berlin, studies the ethnography of data work in the developing world. When she started out, she couldn’t find anything about the lived experience of AI labourers, nothing about who these people actually were and what their work was like. ‘As a sociologist, I felt it was a big gap,’ she says. ‘There are few who are putting a face to those people: who are they and how do they do their jobs, what do their work practices involve? And what are the labour conditions that they are subject to?’

Miceli was right – it was hard to find a company that would allow me access to its data labourers with minimal interference. Secrecy is often written into their contracts in the form of non-disclosure agreements that forbid direct contact with clients and public disclosure of clients’ names. This is usually imposed by clients rather than the outsourcing companies. For instance, Facebook-owner Meta, who is a client of Sama, asks workers to sign a non-disclosure agreement. Often, workers may not even know who their client is, what type of algorithmic system they are working on, or what their counterparts in other parts of the world are paid for the same job.

The arrangements of a company like Sama – low wages, secrecy, extraction of labour from vulnerable communities – is veered towards inequality. After all, this is ultimately affordable labour. Providing employment to minorities and slum youth may be empowering and uplifting to a point, but these workers are also comparatively inexpensive, with almost no relative bargaining power, leverage or resources to rebel.

Even the objective of data-labelling work felt extractive: it trains AI systems, which will eventually replace the very humans doing the training. But of the dozens of workers I spoke to over the course of two years, not one was aware of the implications of training their replacements, that they were being paid to hasten their own obsolescence.

— Madhumita Murgia, Code Dependent: Living in the Shadow of AI

[mariacallous]

Anyone who has spent even 15 minutes on TikTok over the past two months will have stumbled across more than one creator talking about Project 2025, a nearly thousand-page policy blueprint from the Heritage Foundation that outlines a radical overhaul of the government under a second Trump administration. Some of the plan’s most alarming elements—including severely restricting abortion and rolling back the rights of LGBTQ+ people—have already become major talking points in the presidential race.

But according to a new analysis from the Technology Oversight Project, Project 2025 includes hefty handouts and deregulation for big business, and the tech industry is no exception. The plan would roll back environmental regulation to the benefit of the AI and crypto industries, quash labor rights, and scrap whole regulatory agencies, handing a massive win to big companies and billionaires—including many of Trump’s own supporters in tech and Silicon Valley.

“Their desire to eliminate whole agencies that are the enforcers of antitrust, of consumer protection is a huge, huge gift to the tech industry in general,” says Sacha Haworth, executive director at the Tech Oversight Project.

One of the most drastic proposals in Project 2025 suggests abolishing the Federal Reserve altogether, which would allow banks to back their money using cryptocurrencies, if they so choose. And though some conservatives have railed against the dominance of Big Tech, Project 2025 also suggests that a second Trump administration could abolish the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), which currently has the power to enforce antitrust laws.

Project 2025 would also drastically shrink the role of the National Labor Relations Board, the independent agency that protects employees’ ability to organize and enforces fair labor practices. This could have a major knock on effect for tech companies: In January, Musk’s SpaceX filed a lawsuit in a Texas federal court claiming that the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) was unconstitutional after the agency said the company had illegally fired eight employees who sent a letter to the company’s board saying that Musk was a “distraction and embarrassment.” Last week, a Texas judge ruled that the structure of the NLRB—which includes a director that can’t be fired by the president—was unconstitutional, and experts believe the case may wind its way to the Supreme Court.

This proposal from Project 2025 could help quash the nascent unionization efforts within the tech sector, says Darrell West, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution’s Center for Technology Innovation. “Tech, of course, relies a lot on independent contractors,” says West. “They have a lot of jobs that don't offer benefits. It's really an important part of the tech sector. And this document seems to reward those types of business.”

For emerging technologies like AI and crypto, a rollback in environmental regulations proposed by Project 2025 would mean that companies would not be accountable for the massive energy and environmental costs associated with bitcoin mining and running and cooling the data centers that make AI possible. “The tech industry can then backtrack on emission pledges, especially given that they are all in on developing AI technology,” says Haworth.

The Republican Party’s official platform for the 2024 elections is even more explicit, promising to roll back the Biden administration’s early efforts to ensure AI safety and “defend the right to mine Bitcoin.”

All of these changes would conveniently benefit some of Trump’s most vocal and important backers in Silicon Valley. Trump’s running mate, Republican senator J.D. Vance of Ohio, has long had connections to the tech industry, particularly through his former employer, billionaire founder of Palantir and longtime Trump backer Peter Thiel. (Thiel’s venture capital firm, Founder’s Fund, invested $200 million in crypto earlier this year.)

Thiel is one of several other Silicon Valley heavyweights who have recently thrown their support behind Trump. In the past month, Elon Musk and David Sacks have both been vocal about backing the former president. Venture capitalists Marc Andreessen and Ben Horowitz, whose firm a16z has invested in several crypto and AI startups, have also said they will be donating to the Trump campaign.

“They see this as their chance to prevent future regulation,” says Haworth. “They are buying the ability to avoid oversight.”

Reporting from Bloomberg found that sections of Project 2025 were written by people who have worked or lobbied for companies like Meta, Amazon, and undisclosed bitcoin companies. Both Trump and independent candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. have courted donors in the crypto space, and in May, the Trump campaign announced it would accept donations in cryptocurrency.

But Project 2025 wouldn’t necessarily favor all tech companies. In the document, the authors accuse Big Tech companies of attempting “to drive diverse political viewpoints from the digital town square.” The plan supports legislation that would eliminate the immunities granted to social media platforms by Section 230, which protects companies from being legally held responsible for user-generated content on their sites, and pushes for “anti-discrimination” policies that “prohibit discrimination against core political viewpoints.”

It would also seek to impose transparency rules on social platforms, saying that the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) “could require these platforms to provide greater specificity regarding their terms of service, and it could hold them accountable by prohibiting actions that are inconsistent with those plain and particular terms.”

And despite Trump’s own promise to bring back TikTok, Project 2025 suggests the administration “ban all Chinese social media apps such as TikTok and WeChat, which pose significant national security risks and expose American consumers to data and identity theft.”

West says the plan is full of contradictions when it comes to its approach to regulation. It’s also, he says, notably soft on industries where tech billionaires and venture capitalists have put a significant amount of money, namely AI and cryptocurrency. “Project 2025 is not just to be a policy statement, but to be a fundraising vehicle,” he says. “So, I think the money angle is important in terms of helping to resolve some of the seemingly inconsistencies in the regulatory approach.”

It remains to be seen how impactful Project 2025 could be on a future Republican administration. On Tuesday, Paul Dans, the director of the Heritage Foundation’s Project 2025, stepped down. Though Trump himself has sought to distance himself from the plan, reporting from the Wall Street Journal indicates that while the project may be lower profile, it’s not going away. Instead, the Heritage Foundation is shifting its focus to making a list of conservative personnel who could be hired into a Republican administration to execute the party’s vision.

[charlessmithpost]

To become a Big Data Analyst, acquire a strong foundation in programming languages like Python and SQL. Learn relevant tools such as Hadoop and Spark. Develop expertise in data wrangling, statistical analysis, and data visualization. Gain practical experience through projects and internships. Stay updated on industry trends and continuously enhance your skills.

[pandemic-info]

I'm seeing information about the Novavax being formulated for the previous variant and the Moderna and Pfizer being for a more recent one. Is this true and if so, why are so many people trying to get the Novavax?

Hi, glad you asked! Here's a few posts on this:

Graphic (albeit from Novavax, no 3rd-party trials) showing broad neutralization:

Another, thread explaining the above. Particularly:

"Ultimately as the antigenic distance is very close for all major circulating variants, all vaccine options should be very good, and provide good protection against infection and severe disease (even when compared with infection-acquired/natural immunity)."

One more, from NPR: https://www.npr.org/sections/shots-health-news/2024/08/22/nx-s1-5082372/updated-covid-vaccines-fda-approved

The Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna ... now target the KP.2 variant ... The Novavax vaccine, which is based on an older technology, targets an earlier strain of the virus called JN.1. As many of us know by now, the virus continues evolving to better evade our immune defense, which means regularly updating the vaccines to keep up with the latest strain. It turns out the KP.2 and JN.1 variants have already been overtaken by newer variants. Because those are also descendants of omicron, the hope is that the new vaccines are close enough matches that they can still boost immunity and protect people in the coming months – ideally reducing the chances of a big winter wave. “The vaccine is not intended to be perfect. It’s not going to absolutely prevent COVID-19," Dr. Peter Marks from the FDA told NPR in an interview. "But if we can prevent people from getting serious cases that end up in emergency rooms, hospitals or worse — dead — that’s what we’re trying to do with these vaccines.”

There's a couple of other points I do not have sources for right now; if anyone would like to reblog and add some or correct this, please do!:

I've read that in the past, for example, flu vaccine efficacy was not necessarily dampened when the vax targeted a "parent". They are in the same lineage, so efficacy should be good.

Analogy (albeit imperfect): using a net vs a spear.

Of course, without more data, we don't know. I would wager that people who choose Novavax nowadays may also be informed on #Layered Protection and prioritize physical barriers (N95 masking) as the first line of defense, with vaccine as secondary bonus, since any of them have a non-negligible % of breakthroughs at this point.

It was different in 2021 when they were first released and showed high efficacy; ~3% breakthrough, if that. Now, I would not in any case rely on Pfizer or Moderna alone, so there's not much of a reason to suffer their ill effects for days.

But bodies are all different. Some people tolerate them well. Some have no other choice. As always, get the one you can, that works for you!

[justinspoliticalcorner]

Kat Lay at The Guardian:

Five years ago, the world was hearing the first reports of a mysterious flu-like illness emerging from Wuhan, China, now known as Covid-19. The pandemic that followed brought more than 14 million deaths, and sent shock waves through the world economy. About 400 million people worldwide have had long Covid. World leaders, recognising that another pandemic was not a question of “if” but “when”, promised to work together to strengthen global health systems. But negotiations on a new pandemic agreement stalled in 2024, even as further global public health threats and emergencies were identified. If a new pandemic threat emerges in 2025, experts are yet to be convinced that we will deal with it any better than the last.

What are the threats?

While experts agree that another pandemic is inevitable, exactly what, where and when is impossible to predict. New health threats emerge frequently. World health leaders declared an outbreak of mpox in Africa an international public health emergency in 2024. As the year ended, teams of specialists were probing a potential outbreak of an unknown illness in a remote area of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, now thought to be cases of severe malaria and other diseases exacerbated by acute malnutrition. Maria van Kerkhove, interim director of epidemic and pandemic preparedness and prevention at the World Health Organization (WHO), is concerned about the bird flu situation – the virus is not spreading human to human but there have been an increasing number of human infections in the past year.

While there is a well-established international monitoring system specifically focused on influenza, surveillance in sectors such as trade and agriculture, where humans and animals mix, is not comprehensive enough, she says. And she stresses that the ability to properly assess the risk “depends on the detection, the sequencing, the transparency of countries to share those samples”. The Covid-19 pandemic left health systems worldwide “really shaky” and has been followed by a long list of other health crises, she says. “Seasonal influenza started circulating, we had an mpox emergency, we’ve had Marburg, we’ve had cholera, we’ve had earthquakes, we’ve had floods, measles, diphtheria, dengue, Oropouche. Health systems are really buckling under the weight and our health workforce globally has really taken a beating. Many have left. Many are suffering from PTSD. Many died.”

[...]

Are we doing anything better?

The world has never been in a better position when it comes to the expertise, technology and data systems to rapidly detect a threat, Van Kerkhove says. The expansion of genomic sequencing abilities to most countries worldwide, and better access to medical oxygen and infection prevention and control, remain “really big gains” after the Covid-19 pandemic, she adds. It means her answer to whether the world is ready for the next pandemic “is both yes and no”. “On the other hand, I think the difficulties and the trauma that we’ve all gone through with Covid and with other outbreaks, in the context of war and climate change and economic crises and politics, we are absolutely not ready to handle another pandemic,” she says. “The world doesn’t want to hear me on television saying that the next crisis is upon us.” The world of public health is “fighting for political attention, for fiscal space, for investment” – rather than nations working to stay in “a steady state of readiness”, she says.

5 years after the COVID pandemic swept the world and impacted all facets of our lives, is the world ready for another pandemic? Not really.

[fedorasaurus]

DEUS EX SPOILERS

I finally beat the game yesterday! I'm sure you're curious to know what ending I got.

First, let me go over my thoughts about each of the options that were presented (I assume it was only these three):

Morgan's offer -- Spare the base. Join him in leading the world via the Illuminati, which will definitely not be tyrannical.

I don't trust him. Not after seeing what he did to DeBeers (locking him in a cold stasis pod under his house and using him for his knowledge while lying about curing him, taking sole control over the Illuminati in his place). Is that going to be JC's fate, too? Plus, even with JC's compassion, I don't see what good can come of a secret society running the world. Joining the big conspiracy goes against everything JC fought for up to this point. Maybe he can make a change for the better, though?

Tracer's offer -- Destroy the base, activating a massive EMP blast that will disable electronic tech worldwide. Society will be returned to the "dark ages," but from there, everyone will be on equal footing, and we can rebuild to a better, more fair society, where no one government or billionaire can control everyone/everything.

Like JC says, "that sounds overkill." Then again, Tracer's hope and optimism is compelling. It's not that advanced tech would NEVER return, anyway. Now it has the chance to be rebuilt under better circumstances. Maybe this time we can use tech to help people rather than harm them. One thing gives me pause, though: this is a sudden, worldwide change, which most people will not be ready for. A lot of people will be harmed by this at first. Think about it: no hospital equipment, no refrigerators, no phones to contact people in an emergency. I certainly don't know enough about farming to be self-sufficient, nor am I in shape enough for long term physical labor. But, I also think... If forgoing the use of modern technology means, for example, that nukes no longer existed, I think it's worth it.

Helios' offer -- Combine JC with the AI, using his augs and Helios' vast knowledge to control the world.

This sounds scary on the face of it. Trust a machine to handle running the lives of humans? Helios makes a compelling argument, though. It doesn't have ambitions. It's simply programmed to protect people and help the world run smoothly. No emotion or ulterior motives that can be bribed into doing what some wealthy benefactor wants. Though, any fan of System Shock would sweat a little at this, recalling that Shodan was programmed for a similar purpose, and her solution to "protecting people" was to... make it so that there were no more people. Come to think of it, Helios never elaborated on their plan to protect people. A machine built on spy software and internet data, relying on algorithms to make decisions, it's concerning. But combined with JC, maybe it could work. JC would have to do a lot of emotional heavy-lifting, but maybe he can keep the AI in line. We also found out that... people are already kind of okay with Helios opening up the roads and shutting down the criminal organizations. JC does wonder, though, if Helios is trying to learn about people in order to control, not help them.

As a sidenote, Bob sounds like SUCH a jealous lover when he finds out that Helios wants JC and not him. God, hearing the villain lose his shit when he knows he's at a disadvantage is delightful after everything we've endured at his hand. All he can do is sit behind his force field and yell at us. You got got, Bob!

Alright, so, what choice did I make for my first playthrough?

---

Deus Ex handles the endings in an interesting way. There's no obvious "GOOD" or "BAD" ending. Each option has positive and negative consequences, and it's up to the player to decide, based on what they learned and discovered throughout the game, what feels right to them. Even Paul trusts JC to follow his heart, supporting him whatever he chooses (god, I love Paul 😭).

Part of my decision also came from just having a difficult time navigating the Area 51 base. Other folks in Chat had similar experiences, so I'm glad I'm not alone there, but it got to a point where I was mulling two choices around in my mind but ended up committing to one because there was no way I'd be able to find my way back if I changed my mind again (yes, the game gives you maps, but even in real life I struggle without a point of reference of my current location 💀).

Plus, Helios was weirdly pushy. "Yes, you will do this," "You will go there, do that." It was uncomfortable, kind of bossy. JC had an option, but Helios still acted like it was bent on controlling things. Maybe I can chalk it up to the language processing of a machine, though.

The ending I picked on this run, you can probably guess, was the New Dark Age ending. Tracer's hope is something I can really vibe with. His, "Come find us, JC!" got me really emotional, in fact. The game doesn't explicitly show JC escaping and reuniting with his friends, but I believe he does. Something made me second-guess my choice, though: the animals and workers who are still alive on the base. The mechanic who tries desperately to stop JC when he presses the three buttons to start the reaction. I really hope they all had enough time to evacuate. I'm okay sacrificing my own life to save everyone, but taking others down with me feels terrible. It's left ambiguous, though. In fact, the ending only shows JC running from the facility while it crumbles. Did we make the right choice, in the end? Is society going to be okay? It isn't shown. I like that, though. Let the player imagine how the future plays out. We weighed the options and followed our heart, and really, that's all anyone can do.

I believe it all worked out.

I'll get the other endings next week and see if any of them feel more "right," and then we'll see how Invisible War handles the continuation of the story (one thing's for sure: Alex Denton must have escaped somehow 👀)!