Science fiction without the fiction — #78

This week, I started reading Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin. It won so many awards last year that listing them all almost feels pointless.

The book takes place in Boston’s gaming world and explores a male-female relationship that is not romantic. Why is this written not about more? It is a perfect book, and I fail to remember another fictional exploration of this topic.

One of the main characters is a young female game developer studying at MIT when the book begins. Never have I ever – 10 % into the book – related so much to a character. And as one of the few girls interested in computer programming growing up - I can relate to how confusing it can be to navigate having predominantly male friends. Especially in high school, when friends started to have romantic relationships.

You certainly do not need a gaming background to appreciate the book. It is just the setting for a captivating story about humans being human.

Anna

China is using AI-generated news anchors to spread propaganda in English

DISINFORMATION / CHINA

A research report from social media intelligence platform Graphika shows that pro-Chinese actors use AI-generated videos of fictitious people — so-called Deep Fakes — at scale in their online influence operations. While deep fake technologies have been around for a while, this is the first time a state-aligned operation has knowingly promoted video footage of AI-generated fictitious people.

Advancing their disinformation content production, China has been using the British AI-based video generation tool Syntheisa to create deep fake videos distributed through a fictive news media called Wolf News. Previously, making similar videos meant hiring actors — today, it is as easy as pasting text into a form.

This type of content is called “Spamofluage” when you try to hide disinformation or propaganda by making it look legitimate. Still, the AI tool is not good enough for the fake humans to qualify as accurate, but in a year or two, we won’t be able to tell what’s what.

In this attempt, the identified Spamouflage videos received less than 300 views, highlighting the challenge of producing compelling political content that generates authentic online engagement. However, if creating the content is as easy as pressing a button, the propagandists can shift their time to A/B-testing the narratives, likely making them more effective.

38% of Americans are ready to test embryos for future college chances

ETHICS / TECHNOLOGY

For some people, college prep might start as early as in an IVF test tube. About 40% of Americans told pollsters they would be “more likely than not” to test and pick IVF embryos for intellectual aptitude, even though both ethicists and gene scientists think it’s a bad idea and strongly advise against it.

28% of Americans said they would probably use gene editing of embryos if it increased the chance their child could attend a top-100 university. In addition, 38% said they would use genetic testing of embryos to select the strongest ones. As a comparison, 68% of Americans said they would use an SAT prep course to boost their children’s college chances.

The survey results published in Science about public views on polygenic screening of embryos help us understand the moral acceptability and willingness to use new technologies in this area. However, the researchers behind the survey say this surprisingly strong support for embryo tests means that the United States urgently needs to set policies related to these technologies.

To put the results in context, the percentage of people who would test embryos for potential smarts is similar to the proportion of Americans who say they would consider an electric vehicle as their next car purchase.

There are several issues with embryo tests, and this newsletter would turn into a dissertation if I were to list them all. But one simple one is that this type of technology could “amplify” existing inequalities in society — for example, if only people in certain socioeconomic groups can access them and use them to have healthier, taller, or more intelligent offspring. 

Also, some companies in the United States are already marketing embryo prediction tests. However, they currently only offer scores related to the chance that a child will develop any common diseases, such as schizophrenia or diabetes, later in life. Still, another aspect of polygenic screening that makes it questionable is that it is hard to prove it works. It could take decades before it is possible to judge whether a genetic test accurately predicted a newborn’s health risks—perfectly high-tech snake oil.

Twitter is making up to $19 million a year from running ads next to content by holocaust deniers

ETHICS / TECHNOLOGY

Twitter’s decision to bring back previously banned accounts seems to generate significant financial income — at least short term.

First, The Center for Countering Digital Hate has been analysing the financial impact of previously blocked accounts that Twitter has reinstated since Elon Musk became CEO. Looking at impression data from ten specific accounts renowned for publishing hateful content and dangerous conspiracies, the organisation estimates that the ads – promoting brands like Amazon, Apple TV and NFL – will generate up to $19 million a year in advertising revenue for Twitter.

Then, the Twitter nonprofit watchdog group Media Matters for America revealed how Twitter is showing ads for companies like The Wall Street Journal, Nokia, and MailChimp next to five accounts belonging to neo-Nazis, antisemites, and Holocaust deniers with a following between a couple thousand to tens of thousand.

Also, these accounts were all subscribed to Twitter Blue, the new subscription service that has been a main priority for Elon Musk. Earlier this month, Musk tweeted that Blue subscribers would get a cut of the revenue for ads placed beneath their tweets. Consequently, these accounts would profit from their shared content, incentivising them further.

After Musk took over Twitter, a key concern among advertisers was that the platform’s new approach to “free speech” would make the platform inhospitable to brands. Many ad agencies even recommended clients pause their Twitter spending because of the high reputational risk. However, not all brands got that memo.

Double-check the headlines

Just making sure you didn’t miss any major world events this week.

• More than 25,000 people were killed and tens of thousands injured after a magnitude 7.8 earthquake struck Turkey and Syria

• Russia has begun a new major offensive in Luhansk in eastern Ukraine

• The United States shot down an unidentified object 10 miles off the frozen coast of Alaska

• At least 26 dead, and 2,000 have been injured as wildfires continue to rage out of control across Chile

• Adidas says dropping Kanye West could cost it more than $1.3 billion

• Microsoft unveiled its new Bing search engine with ChatGPT powers

• Google’s AI chatbot Bard made a factual error in its first demo

• NASA’s Curiosity rover finds “clearest evidence yet” of an ancient lake on Mars

• Florida governor DeSantis wins new power over Disney World, giving him the right to name members of the board supervising theme park

• Hermes won the United States trademark trial over ‘MetaBirkin’ NFTs

One long

The New York Times

I Love You, but I Don’t Want to Sleep With You

It is surprisingly (at least to me) common to sleep in separate bedrooms. Snoring and conflicting schedules are the top reasons. Sex therapists and marriage counsellors have their doubts about the arrangement. On the other hand, sleeping next to another human has long-term health benefits.

Also: You’ll find some interesting perspectives among the 1200+ comments to this article.

Five short

1. Read

This week, earthquakes and oil company profits made me realise how prepared I’ve become for the global challenges ahead by reading The End of the World Is Just the Beginning by Peter Zeihan. It is DARK, so I’m making this recommendation with hesitation. Still, if you are anything like me, you might prefer to know what’s ahead. Also, it made me understand that even if the future is dark, there is always light.

However, I also recommend having a therapist. It has prepared me for the future better than any book ever could.

2. Listen

Continuing on the topic of close relationships, this time about how the lack of relationships impacts our political views ... The episode The Politics Of Loneliness of the FiveThirtyEight Politics podcast is worth a listen.

3. Remember

Valentine’s Day is on Tuesday. It's as if Tuesdays in February weren’t bad enough already. 

But remember that according to this study (with questionable scientific integrity), people who regularly post relationship content on social media are less happy in their relationships than those who don’t.

“When asked how they would rank their relationship, on average, just 10% of those who posted couples content would rank their relationship as ‘very happy’, in contrast to nearly half (46%) of those who never share their content online.”

So, if you’re having a romantic date night, skip sharing it on social media. Your single friends will thank you, and you will fall into the 46% of “very happy” couples instead of the 10%.

4. Change

I need new shoes and came across the Subreddit Buy It For Life. You can search for almost any item you need to buy and get recommendations on the brand or model that will last you the longest. Often, the items are well-designed and beautiful, too, just as a bonus.

5. Learn

Gina Cherelus have compiled a guide to modern dating phrases you should know.

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