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  • News & article

    Deepfakes will hijack your brain -- if you let them

    News, Published on 22/02/2024

    » Realistic AI-generated images and voice recordings may be the newest threat to democracy, but they're part of a longstanding family of deceptions. The way to fight so-called deepfakes isn't to develop some rumour-busting form of AI or to train the public to spot fake images. A better tactic would be to encourage a few well-known critical thinking methods -- refocusing our attention, reconsidering our sources, and questioning ourselves.

  • News & article

    Ditch Google to avoid fake news

    News, Published on 15/01/2024

    » Searching for information has become instant and effortless -- just go to your nearest device, ask Siri or click a few keys. But are we better informed than we were before Google became a verb?

  • News & article

    Have we passed the point of no return with AI?

    Oped, Gwynne Dyer, Published on 01/06/2023

    » 'Sometimes I think it's as if aliens have landed and people haven't realised because they speak very good English," said Geoffrey Hinton, the 'godfather of AI' (Artificial Intelligence), who resigned from Google and now fears his godchildren will become "things more intelligent than us, taking control".

  • News & article

    How tyrants use tech to spy on us all

    News, Published on 08/02/2023

    » Parmy Olson: You're the co-authors of a new book, Pegasus: How a Spy In Your Pocket Threatens the End of Privacy, Dignity, and Democracy, which tells the story of Pegasus, a powerful spyware developed by the Israeli cybersecurity firm NSO Group. In recent years, a range of governments around the world purchased this technology, allowing them to gain remote-control access to people's mobile phones without their knowledge. In 2020, a secret source leaked a list to your team of investigative journalists in Paris that contained 50,000 phone numbers that NSO Group's clients wanted to spy on. Among the names on the list were French president Emmanuel Macron, the Saudi dissident Jamal Khashoggi and a raft of journalists, including your own colleagues.

  • News & article

    Subject(s) (That) Matter

    Guru, Pornchai Sereemongkonpol, Published on 24/01/2020

    » Two things that recently happened made me wonder about the definition of education in Thailand. First, a uni professor in Phitsanulok drafted a new course called "My Beloved Country" but the board rejected it, saying its purpose isn't in line with that of a general education course. The professor said his subject encourages students to "understand and appreciate their own values, as well as values of others, society, culture and nature". It sounds fine and dandy until you see his list of 18 guest lecturers consisting of controversial figures, some of whom are seen as aligning themselves with the government. So, if you disagree with them, would you be considered disloyal to Thailand or something? Second, Bangkok Governor Aswin Kwanmuang ordered all schools under BMA to have their students sing the royal anthem after they sing the national anthem before classes every morning to remind them of Thailand's three pillars -- nation, religion and monarchy -- which I humbly think the kids are reminded of plenty already.

  • News & article

    The world knows where you've been

    Life, James Hein, Published on 16/01/2019

    » A reminder for those operating in the digital world. This includes the internet, your phone, social media and basically anything in the public sphere. You can all but guarantee that everything you post online is eventually available to everyone. It doesn't matter what promises your provider might offer -- and maybe they're even being as honest as they can be -- eventually your data will turn up on a public server somewhere. The golden rule is simple: if you don't want everyone to see something, then don't post it anywhere on public networks.

  • News & article

    The tragic misbehaviour of big business

    Oped, Published on 07/10/2022

    » Are successful businesspeople more like heroes or villains? In fictional accounts, one can find plenty of examples of each, from Charles Dickens's miserly Ebenezer Scrooge to Ayn Rand's rugged individualist entrepreneur John Galt. In F Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby, Tom Buchanan represents privileged old money, with its ruthlessness and incapacity for empathy, whereas Jay Gatsby is a self-made millionaire with no shortage of sentimentality and idealism.

  • News & article

    Making sure net-zero pledges really count

    Oped, Published on 28/09/2022

    » Walking down a Toronto street recently I saw an ad touting a fossil-fuel company's net-zero credentials. But to see such belief-straining claims, I would not even need to leave my house.

  • News & article

    Could the study of humanities be automated?

    Oped, Published on 29/09/2022

    » There has been much hand-wringing about the crisis of the humanities, and recent breakthroughs in artificial intelligence (AI) have added to the angst. It is not only truck drivers whose jobs are threatened by automation. Now, they are demonstrating proficiency in the tasks that occupy humanities professors when they are not giving lectures: namely, writing papers and submitting them for publication in academic journals.

  • News & article

    What's in a (soi) name?

    Guru, Pornchai Sereemongkonpol, Published on 24/06/2022

    » At the front of practically every soi in Bangkok, you'll notice a pole with a blue sign with white letters at the top proclaiming its name. However, if you look closer you may find many sois in Thailand can brighten your day with their curious names. Here are a few for your entertainment.

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