It appears that melting Antarctic sheets may result in larger volcanic eruptions This is due to the unloading of ice mass shifting pressure across vast chambers of magma. "The researchers note that even if anthropogenic warming ceased immediately, the effects of ice mass unloading that the West Antarctic Rift System has already experienced will still affect volcanic behavior here for thousands of years to come." https://phys.org/news/2025-01-antarctic-ice-sheets-larger-volcanic.html #climatechange #geophysics #fossilfuels
The ML-enabled voice-theft space is heating up. Here's an article from presenter Georgina Findlay, who had her own voice cloned and used in far-right disinformation videos on YouTube. "I was horrified to find that eight out of 12 of the channel’s most recent videos had used my voice" In the article Georgina also provides some good coverage of the state of 'AI' voice-cloning policy and mitigations.
the Guardian
‘You’re gonna find this creepy’: my AI-cloned voice was used by the far right. Could I stop it? | Georgina Findlay
It was chilling to hear ‘my voice’ repeating lies – and to discover that deepfake audio is a growing threat to democracy, says writer and pre...
 #ai #ml #opsec
#GrapheneOS appears to be standing up to UK forensics, in this painful and "unprecedented" case which could see a UK journalist go to jail for not relinquishing the passphrase to his devices. Not only is withholding his basic human right, but he does it to protect his sources, and as ratified in the European Court of Human Rights.
Il Fatto Quotidiano
British journalist could face years in prison for refusing to hand over his passwords to the police - Il Fatto Quotidiano
Leggi su Il Fatto Quotidiano l'articolo in edicola "British journalist could face years in prison for refusing to hand over his passwords to t...
 #humanrights #infosec #privacy
The tree of my day is an enormous and ancient Rimu (dacrydium cupressinum), photographed today in Kaitoke regional park. Having grown up around Rimu I'm guessing it would have to be at least 400 years old? image
Some interesting time-work by artist Xavi Bou, produced by merging images of insects in flight. It is as if the images reveal something of their inner character, otherwise unseen
the Guardian
On a wing and a prayer: the hidden beauty of insect’s flight – in pictures
Artist Xavi Bou has created an eye-popping series celebrating fascinating creatures that are too often seen only as a nuisance
 image
To take this as good news is to evidence a worrying lack of techno-political criticality. Recent history gives us no indication quantum computing will not be rampantly abused, to the same ends of capturing and consolidating even more power in the hands of tech oligarchy and political elite. Any hope that it will be employed under strict regulatory controls to the betterment of people and planet is, at the present time, completely baseless.
the Guardian
Google unveils ‘mindboggling’ quantum computing chip
Chip takes minutes to complete tasks that would otherwise take 10,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 years
Just Stop Oil activist 77 yr old Gaie Delap was jailed for her part in a nonviolent protest, later let out to serve the rest of her punishment under home detention. But now she has been recalled to prison because her ankles & wrists are too small for the monitoring device strap. "Gaie is sitting at home terrified with her suitcase packed waiting for a knock on the door from police. She has been unable to eat or sleep because of this" The cruelty and absurdity of it all
the Guardian
Just Stop Oil activist, 77, faces jail recall as wrists too small for electronic tag
Gaie Delap was sent to prison in August for her part in disruptive protests on M25 in November
"Claude Shannon's 1950 paper Programming a Computer for Playing Chess was a seminal work in the field of Artificial Intelligence [...] In this paper, Shannon employs the Minimax Algorithm, which takes as its premise that your opponent will always choose the move that is best for them, and worst for you." The Unimax Algorithm is a cooperation-centric alternative to this foundational yet adversarial paradigm in #computation.
unimax.run
 #ai #ml
This article on the uptake of beans in the West needs a correction. It seems to imply that while the "green revolution" trends as overall good for the planet, it comes with the cost of nitrogen-based fertilisers poisoning our atmosphere, oceans and rivers.
the Guardian
‘It’s like a secret’: why do the leguminati want to change the way we eat?
Fans of legumes say a worldwide shift towards eating beans rather than meat would hugely benefit human health and the environment
 It's not so cut and dried.. (1/2)
Appropriate responses to the sinister 'Treaty Principles Bill' in the Beehive today. Also good to see 40 King's Counsel lawyers chime in from the correct side of the fence. https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/533721/live-parliament-sits-to-debate-treaty-principles-bill See you lot at the Hikoi in a few. #hikoimotetiriti