This is at the moment’s version of The Download, our weekday e-newsletter that gives a each day dose of what’s occurring on the planet of expertise.
Introducing: The Mortality Issue
From the second you’re born, the one factor you will be fully sure of is that you’ll die. But what if getting older isn’t inevitable, in spite of everything? And if you happen to may gradual, and even flip again the clock, would you?
The newest problem of MIT Technology Review examines what dying means to us in 2022, digging into why some persons are nonetheless dedicating their lives to kicking towards it, whereas others are creating their very own coping mechanisms for grief. Here’s a choice of a few of the new tales within the version, assured to get you fascinated about what comes subsequent.
- My colleague Charlotte wrote a beautiful piece about making digital clones of her (residing) mother and father, for a glimpse into what it may very well be like to speak to the lifeless. Would you be ready to do the identical to your family members?
- If you’ve ever puzzled about what occurs to your physique whenever you donate it to science, surprise no extra.
- Just as a result of AI could make life-and-death choices, doesn’t essentially imply we should always permit it to.
- Why the impossible-seeming dream of reviving frozen human our bodies utilizing cryonics refuses to die.
- Should we imagine in—and even need—immortality?
- In an age when every little thing is being recorded, even information has a lifespan.
- Are electrical automobiles actually the answer to the local weather disaster they’re being touted as?
- Technology was one thing to get enthusiastic about. When did it change into one thing to dread?
Read the total journal, and if you happen to haven’t already, you possibly can subscribe to MIT Technology Review for as little as $80 a 12 months.
The greatest procuring app in America that you simply’ve by no means heard of
There’s a brand new Chinese e-commerce app that’s quietly however shortly rising. It’s referred to as Temu. And on October 17, it grew to become essentially the most downloaded procuring app within the United States, beating off competitors from Amazon, Walmart, and its Chinese competitor Shein.
If your quick response is What? I’ve by no means even heard of Temu!, you’re in good firm. The app stays obscure amongst most individuals, although it marks one other high-profile try by one more Chinese tech large to strive its luck within the American e-commerce market. So how did Temu rise to the highest of the iOS App Store’s procuring chart? Read the total story.
—Zeyi Yang
Zeyi’s story is from China Report, his new weekly e-newsletter filling you in on all the most recent happenings in China. Sign up to obtain it in your inbox each Tuesday.
The must-reads
I’ve combed the web to search out you at the moment’s most enjoyable/vital/scary/fascinating tales about expertise.
1 Conspiracy theorists have seized upon Russia’s “dirty bomb” claims
Despite there being no proof for its existence. (NYT $)
+ Russia’s presentation on the so-called soiled bomb contained 9/11 footage. (Motherboard)
+ The struggle in Ukraine is dragging us again to a bloodier age. (Economist $)
2 Celebrity deepfakes are promoting’s subsequent frontier
The firms behind them assume the assured consideration is definitely worth the potential authorized repercussions. (WSJ $)
+ Inside the unusual new world of being a deepfake actor. (MIT Technology Review)
3 Twitter’s most lively customers are turning their again on it
And its workers aren’t totally certain why. (Reuters)
+ Twitter has been ever madder than typical over the previous week. (Motherboard)
+ Elon Musk is optimistic he can shut his deal by Friday. (Reuters)
+ Why Twitter nonetheless has these horrible Trends. (MIT Technology Review)
4 US election officers are swamped with public information requests
It’s all thanks to at least one man in Florida. (Bloomberg $)
5 Climate activists are suing governments
They declare that authorities’ inaction to guard nature has harmed their constitutional rights. (Hakai Magazine)
+ Nature-based options may help to mitigate the local weather disaster’ results. (CNET)
+ Climate motion is gaining momentum. So are the disasters. (MIT Technology Review)
6 Tech’s unicorns have gotten rarer once more 
Investors aren’t giving up hope, although. (WP $)
+ Some enterprise capital funds are going after narwhals as an alternative. (Bloomberg $)
7 Sexually transmitted infections are rising within the US
Doctors are holding off prescribing a tablet particularly designed to fight them, although. (Vox)
8 The pandemic proved it was attainable to conduct good science shortly
Greater transparency round analysis may assist to hold it on. (Wired $)
+ Is a covid and flu “twindemic” on the horizon? (MIT Technology Review)
9 NASA’s main UFO investigation has begun 
Maybe the reality actually is on the market. (Motherboard)
+ Radiation-resistant micro organism may survive on Mars for thousands and thousands of years. (New Scientist $)
10 Singapore’s politicians are TikTok superstars
Their clips are met with nearly unprecedented positivity. (Rest of World)
Quote of the day
“It’s not good, it’s not fun.”
—Palmer Luckey, who based Oculus VR, isn’t a fan of Meta’s VR social app Horizon Worlds, Insider studies.
The massive story
This is how AI bias actually occurs—and why it’s so arduous to repair
February 2019
If we would like to have the ability to repair bias in AI, we have to perceive the mechanics of the way it arises within the first place.
We usually shorthand our clarification of AI bias by blaming it on biased coaching information, however the actuality is extra nuanced. Bias can creep in lengthy earlier than the information is collected in addition to at many different phases of the deep-learning course of—and will be extremely arduous to repair. Read the total story.
—Karen Hao
We can nonetheless have good issues
A spot for consolation, enjoyable and distraction in these bizarre occasions. (Got any concepts? Drop me a line or tweet ’em at me.)
+ Animals actually do do the funniest issues (thanks Charlotte!)
+ Men, would you dare to reveal in a backless swimsuit?
+ Well, this small picket ball rolling down a colossal xylophone in a Japanese forest has made every little thing higher.
+ I had no thought a magnified ant face could be such nightmare fodder.
+ Dare you go to this spooky Italian ghost city?