Curating the Internet: Science and technology micro-summaries for September 10, 2019

remlaps-lite (76)in #rsslog • 5 years ago

Siri programmed to duck sensitive questions; A new air-cooled container for bitcoin ASIC miners; A simple trick to reduce screen time; A youtube video that debunks 7 scientific urban legends; A project description about the World Community Grid

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Links and micro-summaries from my 1000+ daily headlines. I filter them so you don't have to.

pixabay license: source.

Apple programs Siri to not bother its pretty little head with questions about feminism - A set of guidelines from 2018 has been published, and reveals that the Siri voice assistant has been programmed to duck questions and remain neutral in response to sensitive questions, which the article says should be unsurprising since that's what corporate CEOs typically do. Examples include the response that "all people should be treated equally" when asked about feminism, or sugar-coating responses when asked about China's Tienanmen Square. The article reports that Google, Facebook, and Microsoft have also faced criticism with their own digital voice assistants, including the fact that most virtual assistants have female sounding voices, which the article alleges conveys a stereotype of females as docile, and eager to please. In conclusion, the article suggests that tech companies brought this on themselves by inviting users to anthropomorphize the digital assistants, adding that the only way out may be to drop the pretenses of gender, humanity, and intelligence in the virtual assistant products.

German Firm Unveils Mobile Eco-Friendly Bitcoin Mining Containers - According to a press release, German's Northern AG has completed testing on an air-cooled mobile container that contains 144 ASIC miners and is suitable for mining year round in locations with cooler climates. The density of miners in the new air-cooled container is higher than the density of a water-cooled container that the company already has operating in Norway.

Want to Reduce Your Screen Time? Try This Simple Trick - Keep important applications on your phone's primary screen. Put less important apps on screens that are two or three clicks away. By requiring you to consciously find non-critical applications, the hope is to reduce the time spent on "mindless scrolling".

7 Scientific Urban Legends Debunked! - (i) Spinach is not an excellent source of iron. It has a lot of iron, but the chemical composition makes it hard to absorb; (ii) Vitamin C does not cure colds. The only disease it prevents is scurvy; (iii) You don't lose most of your body heat through your head; (iv) You don't need to drink 8 glasses of water per day; (v) Sugar doesn't cause kids to misbehave; (vi) The ratio of microbes to human cells in a body is probably more like 1:1, not 10:1; (vii) "Peer reviewed" doesn't always mean "true". Here is the Reference list. h/t RealClear Science

STEEM Project brief - World Community Grid explained - In this post, @delta1512 provides a description of the World Community Grid project (WCG). The WCG project is a worldwide project where people use their own computers to make contributions to scientific research. In addition to other efforts, projects include things like fighting cancer, AIDS, TB, and Zika. This post provides more detailed descriptions of the initiatives to fight AIDS, and map cancer markers. The post also contains an invitation to join the Gridcoin Fireside Chat on September 12 at 8pm US/Eastern. Personally, I have contributed to the WCG project since the time that it launched around November, 2004. (A 10% beneficiary has been set on this post for @delta1512)

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