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Is this media revolution hype or happening?
"I'm with the Twitter party. What about you?"

Written by Jared Wolf November 26, 2020November 29, 2020

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The scoop: Just like coronavirus, digital media has reached its third wave. Millions of mostly conservative users are flocking to alternative media outlets like Parler and Rumble. Is it a trend or something more?

Some talking points for turkey dinner:

Access to the internet, specifically social media, is closer to public utility than privilege.
Tech media giants have evolved from startups to multinational corporations. They have matured well beyond the Silicon Valley VC golden child status-hood.
Decentralized, federated social networks seem like the natural next phase for post-modern media. Will it be this year, this decade, or never?

What's next? We'll have to wait and see if major platforms like Twitter and Facebook actually see a decline in users. Right now, they seem too big to fail. Parler was the most downloaded app for most of this month. Time will tell if that's more than just a passing trend.

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Why new AI will never replace humans in music
Emerging tech will certainly put some musicians out of business (if it hasn’t already). But humans in the arts are here to stay.

Written by Jared Wolf September 6, 2020September 8, 2020

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The scoop Tech companies can use AI to compose new songs using existing datasets of music. This poses a serious threat to musicians and artists. Let's talk about it.

About the tech

AIVA Technologies, based in Luxembourg, created an AI that composes music for movies, commercials, games and TV shows.
OpenAI’s Jukebox allows users to generate genre-specific music. You can look up an artist and select a genre. Theoretically, it would fuse that artist with a Mississippi the selected genre.
Holograms tours are becoming increasingly popular. Eventually, using AI composition tools and hologram tech, deceased artists will be able to tour new music... and it will be hard to tell the difference from a standard pop concert.
VOCALOID is a voice synthesizing software that allows users to create 'virtual pop stars'. They are already widely popular in Asia.
Other voice synthesizing tools allow users to imitate famous voices and spit out whatever output you'd like. Copyright law hasn't caught up to this deepfake dystopian reality, so feel free to go make Jay-Z say whatever you want.

Humans > robots ... for now At least for the foreseeable future, AI is incapable of creating music without mimicking an existing data set that originated from human innovation. Similar to the way AIVA pitched their product, Artificial Intelligence can be used to help the artist speed-up and maximize the composition process. It should be treated as a tool, not a replacement.

Zoom out There will always be a place for bipedal fleshbags in the arts. With or without AI in music. Why? Because the consumers of creation are also fleshbags, and we want to be wowed and wooed by the hairy, smelly creatures that feel and squeal just like we do.

What does this have to do with sustainability? Supporting a pro-human future (in the face of tech) is a critical component of a sustainable future. We need to develop new technologies in a way that prioritizes happiness and harmony over production and profit.

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Magic Neuralink can save the world… or destroy it
Transfusing our brains with computers sounds as scary as it is interesting. Let's break down what a transhuman future may look like.

Written by Jared Wolf August 25, 2020August 26, 2020

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What's happening Neuralink, a neural tech company owned by Elon Musk, is hosting a public event this Friday, August 28th. The event will feature a live demo of the innovative new technology.

What is Neuralink? The four by four millimeter chip sits in a sealed cylinder where it is inserted in the back of your head. Made up of 1,024 electrodes, the N1 works with your brain's neurons to solve neurological mysteries.

Musk believes the micro-chip will be able to solve any neurological disorder from Parkinson's to Alzheimer's.

Why it matters The technological prospects of solving neurological mysteries is fascinating and worthy of covering.

This emerging new era in the human timeline will make or break the human future, and quite possibly the natural world.

Some talking points

Philosophical questions: Humans are flawed. That makes us human. If Neuralink makes our brains perfect, free of mistakes and failures, what does that world look like?
Hacking: Technology is advancing faster than laws and regulations. Legal and compliance frameworks just can’t keep up. How can we safely stop hackers from entering our brains?
Global inequality: When Neuralink inevitably matures into a product for convenience rather than desperation, rich kids who can afford neural chips will advance even faster beyond less-privileged peers.

Bottom line When do we take it 'too far'? Will we ever?

Let's learn the lessons of our past, and put reasonable pressure on innovative new technologies before they get too big to fail. That way we can ensure that the innovation is serving the best interest and will of the people, rather than exacerbating our greatest problems.

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Is 5G bad for the environment? Five Fast Facts
Breaking through the 5G bias (on both sides).

Written by Jared Wolf May 1, 2020March 30, 2021

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The short answer: 5G is bad for the environment. Or at least it's not good for it.The rollout of the 5G cellular network requires A LOT of energy and infrastructure. In the United States, much of that energy comes from natural gas and fossil fuels. Higher (and more frequent) demand for energy = more gas & oil = tougher environmental challenges.

What we know: 5G emits high-frequency (millimeter waves) between 30Ghz and 300Ghz. That requires antennas to be in close proximity. Due to the lack of far-reaching signals, 5G will not replace 4G LTE completely. 5G, for now at least, will serve as a complementary tool to its predecessor. This means more radiation in the air and atmosphere.

Big picture: 5G requires exponentially more towers and more energy than 4G in order to function properly. This means more radiation, that we don’t understand the long-term consequences of, and more gas and oil consumption, which we do understand the consequences of.

Why it matters: Determining whether 5g is bad for the environment boils down to four words: personal health + environmental impact. Research varies widely on the subject from A-Okay to Doomsday.

Some experts point out how 5G EMF radiation is non-iodizing, meaning it does not carry enough energy to iodize atoms or molecules. However, the International Agency for Research on Cancer recently stated there is still a potential risk to humans for this kind of exposure.

While it is uncertain how severely 5G radiation impacts health, we know it has an effect. Just look up the About>Legal>RF Exposure disclaimer on your iPhone. Plus, we know many natural resources are needed to power this close-proximity network. We should be hesitant to make our homes, businesses and cities ‘smart’ at the cost of environmentally-invasive infrastructure.

If you are concerned about 5G exposure, consider the following steps:

Protect yourself by limiting exposure to 5G-enabled devices when possible.
Sign a petition to delay the deployment of the 5G wireless network until institutions understand and enact regulations in accordance with the potential health hazards and environmental impact (link at the bottom of the article)

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Small is Beautiful … Tech Is Bigger Than Ever

Written by Jared Wolf April 14, 2020August 7, 2020

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Big picture EF Schumacher warned us that Small is Beautiful. We ignored his message. Schumacher was a German-British Statistician and Economist who believed in a human-scale, decentralized approach to technological development.

In his book, Schumacher discusses the principles of Buddhist economics and addresses how modern economic thinking causes much of the emotional distress we experience in our 21st-century lives. Yes, the book published in 1973, but it is more relevant today than it was in its time.

Why it matters Our wealth has increased across the board, but we are no happier as a species. Positive human relationships, shared emotion, fulfilling purpose — these are the tenants of a progressive society.

Drones, phones, face ID, and VR are band-aid solutions for a dispirited population. Schumacher was a visionary. He saw the society's downward path and tried putting it to a halt.

Bottom line Let’s learn the lessons of our past and present through Small is Beautiful. We can start building cities with that appreciation for nature in mind. Not for some Romantic hippie-induced utopia, but for the sake of the rational economic mind.

Dig deeper → 7 min