Reads: Oscar Pistorius, Robots & More
[I read a lot... a lot in fact - books, news stories and anything that catches my eye! So here it is, a wrap up of some of the interesting articles from across the information treasure trove that is the Internet!]
Pistorius And South Africa's Culture Of Violence - Time
Paralympics gold medal winner Oscar Pistorius became the darling of the masses, the face that went beyond the society's class divisions and a man who made their nation incredibly proud. But the recent shooting of his model girlfriend and the brouhaha that has ensued puts the spotlight back on South Africa's violent culture, writes Ales Perry on Time.
Pistorius used to tell journalists that he never slept easy. In his affidavit, he said he was "acutely aware" of South Africa's violent crime. "I have received death threats before. I have also been a victim of violence and of burglaries before. For that reason I kept my firearm, a 9-mm Parabellum, underneath my bed when I went to bed at night." >>
Better Than Human: Why Robots Will — And Must — Take Our Jobs - Wired
Robots and machines are getting more smart, intelligent and have started slowly replacing us, humans, in some chores (like the robot waiters in China and the Foxconn robots that assemble iPhones) because they can do the same job more efficiently than us. Yep the robotic precision!
We need to let robots take over. They will do jobs we have been doing, and do them much better than we can. They will do jobs we can’t do at all. They will do jobs we never imagined even needed to be done. And they will help us discover new jobs for ourselves, new tasks that expand who we are. They will let us focus on becoming more human than we were. >>
Google Glass: is it a threat to our privacy? - The Guardian
Tech giant Google's much awaited wearable gadget Glass (currently in testing) conceives that very future we have seen in science fiction. Imagine having a head-mounted glasses that can do all that a smartphone does, wouldn't that be cool? No doubt. But it raises an important question on privacy (if there is one such thing in present times!)
... the young person might be filming everything and uploading it to Google's servers (and a Google+ page). Which just feels creepy. It's not a trivial concern. Joshua Topolsky, an American technology journalist who is one of the few to have tried out Google Glass – at Google's invitation – discovered this directly. He wore them to Starbucks, accompanied by a film crew. The film crew were asked to stop filming. "But I kept the Glass's video recorder going, all the way through." >>
This obvious concern aside, Guardian's Charles Arthur makes an interesting point about how easily distracting the glasses can be given that it cannot be discerned by a second person that you are checking your emails and other stuff when he might be thinking you are listening to him!
Lance Armstrong should be celebrated as a pioneer in human enhancement - Wired UK
When cyclist and seven-time Tour de France winner Lance Armstrong admitted to doping in an interview with Oprah Winfrey months back, it was an end to an era of denials that he had made throughout his career. Professor Andy Miah in his article on Wired UK foresees a future that allows sportsmen to legally use performance enhancing drugs in a safe and controlled manner.
We've been modifying nature for centuries. Even the domestic dog is a product of our willingness to tamper with genetic heritage and, every year, flower shows celebrate the beauty of some new transgenic species. Why on earth should we make a fuss about doping technologies that make athletes perform better? This is the purpose of their activity. "But, it's unfair!" I hear you cry. So, make it legal. Give everyone the same chance to use it and then let us focus on monitoring the risks. It will be easier, since the substances and techniques will be known -- best practices for optimising doping will even be published. >>
How the other half dries & When water flows like money - The Hindu
Trust P. Sainath to deliver the goods; and man he does it every time! This time it's a compelling comment on the emerging man-made water crisis in Maharashtra where water theme parks and gated communities with sprawling private swimming pools for the super-rich are becoming the order of the day when thousands of villages are reeling under drought and agriculture virtually coming to a standstill.
In the last 15 years, the only regulatory frameworks the State has put in place lead to greater privatisation of water. To quicker loss of community control over this natural resource. One that is rapidly depleting. At the same time, the unchecked exploitation of groundwater has made things a lot worse. Maharashtra worked hard to get to the crisis it now faces. Private swimming pools amidst oceans of dry despair. For the rich, there is never a scarcity. For so many of the rest, their hopes evaporate by the day. >>
Sainath goes further to expose a 'thriving trade' that makes money by 'selling' water to the drought hit areas in Osmanabad.
“Yes, every household has a person on full-time water duty,” says Bharat a small farmer with five-and-a-half acres. In his family, he is the one. “I fetch the water that comes sporadically from the borewell on our own fields. But it’s a little over three kilometres away from home.” So Bharat hooks four ghadas (plastic pots) to his Hero Honda and makes three trips a day to his fields to return with around 60 litres of water each time. “I go there just for the little water the bore gives,” he says. “The crop itself is dying.” There are some 25 motorcycles in this village roving about on this task at any time. >>
Politicians in India seem to be more interested in filling up their coffers than serving the people. Such a pitiable state of affairs.
Pistorius And South Africa's Culture Of Violence - Time
Paralympics gold medal winner Oscar Pistorius became the darling of the masses, the face that went beyond the society's class divisions and a man who made their nation incredibly proud. But the recent shooting of his model girlfriend and the brouhaha that has ensued puts the spotlight back on South Africa's violent culture, writes Ales Perry on Time.
Pistorius used to tell journalists that he never slept easy. In his affidavit, he said he was "acutely aware" of South Africa's violent crime. "I have received death threats before. I have also been a victim of violence and of burglaries before. For that reason I kept my firearm, a 9-mm Parabellum, underneath my bed when I went to bed at night." >>
Better Than Human: Why Robots Will — And Must — Take Our Jobs - Wired
Robots and machines are getting more smart, intelligent and have started slowly replacing us, humans, in some chores (like the robot waiters in China and the Foxconn robots that assemble iPhones) because they can do the same job more efficiently than us. Yep the robotic precision!
We need to let robots take over. They will do jobs we have been doing, and do them much better than we can. They will do jobs we can’t do at all. They will do jobs we never imagined even needed to be done. And they will help us discover new jobs for ourselves, new tasks that expand who we are. They will let us focus on becoming more human than we were. >>
Google Glass: is it a threat to our privacy? - The Guardian
Tech giant Google's much awaited wearable gadget Glass (currently in testing) conceives that very future we have seen in science fiction. Imagine having a head-mounted glasses that can do all that a smartphone does, wouldn't that be cool? No doubt. But it raises an important question on privacy (if there is one such thing in present times!)
... the young person might be filming everything and uploading it to Google's servers (and a Google+ page). Which just feels creepy. It's not a trivial concern. Joshua Topolsky, an American technology journalist who is one of the few to have tried out Google Glass – at Google's invitation – discovered this directly. He wore them to Starbucks, accompanied by a film crew. The film crew were asked to stop filming. "But I kept the Glass's video recorder going, all the way through." >>
This obvious concern aside, Guardian's Charles Arthur makes an interesting point about how easily distracting the glasses can be given that it cannot be discerned by a second person that you are checking your emails and other stuff when he might be thinking you are listening to him!
Lance Armstrong should be celebrated as a pioneer in human enhancement - Wired UK
When cyclist and seven-time Tour de France winner Lance Armstrong admitted to doping in an interview with Oprah Winfrey months back, it was an end to an era of denials that he had made throughout his career. Professor Andy Miah in his article on Wired UK foresees a future that allows sportsmen to legally use performance enhancing drugs in a safe and controlled manner.
We've been modifying nature for centuries. Even the domestic dog is a product of our willingness to tamper with genetic heritage and, every year, flower shows celebrate the beauty of some new transgenic species. Why on earth should we make a fuss about doping technologies that make athletes perform better? This is the purpose of their activity. "But, it's unfair!" I hear you cry. So, make it legal. Give everyone the same chance to use it and then let us focus on monitoring the risks. It will be easier, since the substances and techniques will be known -- best practices for optimising doping will even be published. >>
How the other half dries & When water flows like money - The Hindu
Trust P. Sainath to deliver the goods; and man he does it every time! This time it's a compelling comment on the emerging man-made water crisis in Maharashtra where water theme parks and gated communities with sprawling private swimming pools for the super-rich are becoming the order of the day when thousands of villages are reeling under drought and agriculture virtually coming to a standstill.
In the last 15 years, the only regulatory frameworks the State has put in place lead to greater privatisation of water. To quicker loss of community control over this natural resource. One that is rapidly depleting. At the same time, the unchecked exploitation of groundwater has made things a lot worse. Maharashtra worked hard to get to the crisis it now faces. Private swimming pools amidst oceans of dry despair. For the rich, there is never a scarcity. For so many of the rest, their hopes evaporate by the day. >>
Sainath goes further to expose a 'thriving trade' that makes money by 'selling' water to the drought hit areas in Osmanabad.
“Yes, every household has a person on full-time water duty,” says Bharat a small farmer with five-and-a-half acres. In his family, he is the one. “I fetch the water that comes sporadically from the borewell on our own fields. But it’s a little over three kilometres away from home.” So Bharat hooks four ghadas (plastic pots) to his Hero Honda and makes three trips a day to his fields to return with around 60 litres of water each time. “I go there just for the little water the bore gives,” he says. “The crop itself is dying.” There are some 25 motorcycles in this village roving about on this task at any time. >>
Politicians in India seem to be more interested in filling up their coffers than serving the people. Such a pitiable state of affairs.
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