Showing 1 - 10 of 10
The debate about AI safety gets everything wrong
News, Daron Acemoglu, Published on 07/08/2024
» A huge industry has emerged in recent years as China, the United States, the United Kingdom, and the European Union have made the safety of artificial intelligence a top priority. Obviously, any technology -- from cars and pharmaceuticals to machine tools and lawnmowers -- should be designed as safely as possible (one wishes that more scrutiny had been brought to bear on social media during its early days).
Let's open Facebook's black box
News, Parmy Olson, Published on 03/08/2022
» There's a perfectly good reason to break open the secrets of social-media giants. Over the past decade, governments have watched helplessly as their democratic processes were disrupted by misinformation and hate speech on sites like Meta Platforms Inc's Facebook, Alphabet Inc's YouTube and Twitter Inc. Now some governments are gearing up for a comeuppance.
Donald Trump's last stand for 'apartheid America'
News, Jeffrey D Sachs, Published on 29/10/2020
» The ferocity of the 2020 presidential election in the United States is not about Donald Trump per se, but about what he represents: the racist structures of power that have persisted in America for centuries, though sometimes in mutated form. The long history of America's state-sponsored racism will draw to an end in the coming generation, which is why Mr Trump is so strikingly reactionary in his attempts to prolong it. Yet the damage that Mr Trump's brand of white nationalism could still cause to the US and the world if he wins a second term makes the election easily the most important in modern American history.
Don't politicise the Hagia Sophia
News, Editorial, Published on 19/07/2020
» After it was designated as a museum in 1936 by the founder of modern Turkey, Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, the Hagia Sophia took on a different meaning. It wasn't just a place of worship as it had been under the Byzantines and the Ottomans. It became a meeting place for people of different faiths but held by no religion in particular. It was a place where laymen, leaders, popes and presidents met to marvel at the grandeur of its domed roof, which has seen empires come and go over its long history.
Strange priorities
News, Postbag, Published on 29/08/2019
» I am feeling bemused, bewildered and befuddled by the outpouring of grief and numerous stories in the media about the death of a baby dugong.
Putting out the growing wildfire of hate speech
News, Antonio Guterres, Published on 29/06/2019
» Around the world, hate is on the march.
Charity, not politics
News, Published on 05/04/2019
» Re: "FFP makes waves for better and worse", (Opinion, April 1).
Atrocity reveals humanity's beauty and thorns
News, Zafar Bhatti, Published on 20/03/2019
» Of all the flowers in the world, the most beautiful is the rose. Its structure, fragrance and richness of colour combine to make it the lover's gift of choice. Yet in marvelling at this beauty, we often overlook its thorns.
A humane way to end extremism
News, David Leffler & Arlene J Schar, Published on 18/03/2019
» In the words of New Zealand's Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern, March 15 was "one of New Zealand's darkest days" as 50 were killed and at least 20 seriously injured by a calculated attack against two mosques in Christchurch, New Zealand.
Shopping for a judge
News, Postbag, Published on 17/03/2019
» Thanathorn Juangroongruangkit, leader of the Future Forward Party, in a recent interview with the Bangkok Post, is quoted as saying "The criminal charges against Khun Thaksin [were laid] under the military government … we are proposing to get him back. Reopen the cases against him, and the judge has to be neutral … he has the right to a free and fair trial."