In 2001 we picked ten technologies to change the world. Were we right?

How to poison the data that Big Tech uses to surveil you

Sponsored by Darktrace The Download Your daily dose of what's up in emerging technology The case for optimism 03.08.21 Good morning! Today: we picked ten technologies to change the world in 2001. Were we right? Also: how to fight back against industrial-scale data collection, and what the Texas power crisis can teach us about preparing for climate change. Get your friends to sign up here to get The Download every day. In 2001 we picked ten technologies to change the world. Were we right?   Twenty years ago, MIT Technology Review picked 10 emerging areas of innovation that we promised would “change the world.” It was a time of peak techno-optimism. A working draft of the human genome was published in February of 2001. There was great excitement over recent breakthroughs in nanotechnology. Early advances in quantum and molecular computing portended a new, post–Moore’s Law era of computation. And then there was that amazing search engine with the funny name, just starting to take off. So it’s worthwhile to look back at the initial “TR10,” as we now call our annual list, for clues to just how much progress we’ve made. Most of the technologies are still familiar: data mining, natural-language processing, microfluidics, brain-machine interfaces, biometrics (like facial recognition), and robot design.  So how well did these technologies fulfill the dreams we had for them two decades ago? Here are a few lessons from the 2001 list. Read the full story. —David Rotman This story is for subscribers only. It's from the latest issue of MIT Technology Review, which is all about progress. Read the full magazine, and why not subscribe so you get future issues, too? It's just $50 a year. How to poison the data that Big Tech uses to surveil you Fighting back: Tech giants make billions from the trails of digital breadcrumbs we leave in our day-to-day lives. Now researchers are suggesting new ways to redress this power imbalance by treating our collective data as a bargaining chip.  How? There are three ways the public can exploit this: data strikes, which involve withholding or deleting your data, data poisoning, which involves contributing meaningless or harmful data, or conscious data contribution, which involves giving meaningful data to the competitor of a platform you want to protest. The possibilities: People already use many of these tactics to protect their own privacy, but sporadic individual actions like these don’t do much to get tech giants to change their behaviors. What if millions of people were to coordinate to poison a tech giant’s data well, though? That might just give them some leverage to assert their demands. Read the full story. —Karen Hao The Texas power crisis shows our infrastructure is vulnerable to extreme weather A warning: More than four million Texans went without power for days last month as the state’s power grid failed. Frigid temperatures drove electricity demand to a record that exceeded even the “extreme” demand scenario considered by the state’s power grid operator. We know climate change is making extreme weather like this more frequent and more severe. How can we prepare? What’s needed: Climate resilience will require investment of up to $100 billion per year globally. But careful planning can help our scarce resources go further. We need to better understand the multiple co-dependencies between infrastructure systems, and make our energy systems more resilient to extreme weather by retrofitting insulation. We should also diversify the supply of critical resources like electricity wherever possible. Going forward, any new infrastructure we invest in has to be prepared for not only today’s climate, but also the climate we’ll have decades into the future. Read the full story. By Sarah Fletcher, an assistant professor at Stanford University who studies water resources, infrastructure planning, and climate adaptation, and Jesse Jenkins, an assistant professor at Princeton University who studies macro-scale energy systems engineering and policy. We can still have nice things A place for comfort, fun and distraction in these weird times. (Got any ideas? Drop me a line or tweet 'em at me.)   + A touching story of how music is getting one woman through lockdown.    + I've put starling murmurations in here before, but this one really is incredible.    + Carl Sagan explaining how the ancient Greeks knew the world was round.    + It's surprisingly easy to make marshmallows.   + A man spotted a ship hovering high above the sea off Cornwall, thanks to a rare optical illusion.    + How George Harrison staged one of the most influential concerts in music history. Sponsor Message It’s time for AI to take on AI Hosted by MIT Technology Review and presented by Darktrace, Enabling Autonomous Cybersecurity takes you inside the minds of researchers, development teams, and those on the frontline of cyber defense, exploring how Cyber AI protects digital infrastructures and dynamic workforces, keeping pace with the evolving threat landscape. Register now > The must-reads I’ve combed the internet to find you today’s most fun/important/scary/fascinating stories about technology. 1 You've been vaccinated. People want to visit. What do you do? 💉 The risk terrain is shifting rapidly. Here's how to navigate it. (Wired $)   + In Florida, vaccines intended for rural Black communities are instead going to wealthy white people. (STAT)   + Why people are eager to get Johnson & Johnson's vaccine. (NYT $)   + The leading covid-19 vaccines have similarly high efficacy. (The Economist $)   + Your vaccine questions, answered. (Quartz)  2 What covid-19 variants mean for the end of the pandemic They are worrying, but not a devastating blow. We should be cautious but hopeful. (New Yorker $)   + Why one corner of London was so badly affected by covid-19. (FT)  3 How Saudi Arabia plans to dominate the $700 billion hydrogen market It's lucky to have perpetual sunshine and wind, and vast tracts of unused land. (Bloomberg $)   + Cheap renewables could make green hydrogen a practical replacement for fossil fuels. (TR)  4 Why Google is killing the cookie It's positioning itself for a more privacy-conscious future in ways that seek to preserve its dominance. (OneZero $)   + How Google will target ads without singling individuals out. (OneZero $)  5 Microsoft's email servers are under attack A Chinese government-linked hacking campaign revealed by Microsoft last week has ramped up rapidly. (TR)   + The number of victims is estimated to be in the tens of thousands. (NYT $)  6 Jack Dorsey is set to sell his first ever tweet for over $2.5 million 💸 Who knew “just setting up my twttr” would be so valuable? (CNBC)   + FTs, explained. (The Verge)   + Why did Jack Dorsey buy Jay-Z's music streaming service? (Recode)   + Bitcoin has a Xinjiang problem. (Quartz)  7 Deepfakes can fool facial recognition systems Eep. (VentureBeat)   + An interview with the creator of the viral Tom Cruise deepfakes. (The Times $)   + Could The Simpsons replace its voice actors with AI deepfakes? (Wired UK)  8 Google fired Timnit Gebru. Then the harassers arrived. This is what women in tech get when they speak up. (The Verge)   9 YouTube stars are building their own sites  The logic is obvious: cut out the middleman, keep more of the money. (BBC)   10 Parents are getting a bit more chilled about screen time 🤳 A year of nonstop screen time hasn't been what many expected. (WSJ $) You are just 2 weeks away from EmTech Digital, our virtual event focused on AI. If you're developing your AI strategy, implementing AI solutions, or looking for the latest advancements in AI technology, you need to join us at EmTech Digital. Register now. Quote of the day "I can think of 10 people that I know of in the last year that have gone on mental health leave because of the way they were treated." —Google employee Benjamin Cruz tells NBC that the company suggests employees seek therapy or take time off when they complain about racism and sexism.  Top image credit: MIT Technology Review Please send floating ships to hi@technologyreview.com. Follow me on Twitter at @charlottejee. Thanks for reading! —Charlotte Was this newsletter forwarded to you, and you'd like to see more? Sign up for free Don't settle for half the story. Subscribe to MIT Technology Review for access to subscriber-only content and more.   Follow us: MIT Technology Review One Main Street Cambridge, MA 02142

Want to change how you receive these emails?

You can *update your preferences or *unsubscribe from this list. 

Subscription Information

This email was sent to Webmaster220 Bible Study Blog  

*the blog owner has deleted the hyperlink intentionally