Wired

I don’t usually post media on this blog, which is supposed to be strictly about my life and not reposts, but hey – I really enjoyed reading my WIRED magazine!

First – a very interesting short article about how automation will replace more jobs that have traditionally been thought of as “men’s work” and less jobs that have traditionally been thought of as “women’s work”. This has potential to impact the large pay gap between what’s been considered “men’s work” vs “women’s work”. And it could also significantly impact men’s future job prospects – unless they rethink their definitions of gender-appropriate work. It’s called “Bots at Work” by Laurie Penny. I’m failing to find a link to the article, maybe because the hard-copy magazine has just come out. Or maybe because I’m not actually technically qualified to read WIRED magazine.

Secondly – an excellent super-short article about how a social psychologist named Jennifer Eberhardt is studying the difference in language used by police who are approaching African American males vs. white males. She’s doing this by applying speech-recognition and transcript-analysis software to body-camera footage from Oakland police stops. This one is called “Cop Talk” by Lauren Murrow. And – I can’t find the link. So yep, I do not have the technical cred to even be reading this magazine, much less trying to quote it.

Thirdly – really long and fascinating article by a guy who created a chatbox using his dad’s words, stories, and personality. Apparently talking with the chatbox is quite a lot like actually chatting with his dad. His dad passed away while he was creating the bot, so now all they have is their memories – and this bot. The article brings up a lot of interesting questions about who we are, and what our possible future relationships with AI could look like.

The vast majority of my interactions with my close family members, such as Laura and Darren, is by text, email, and phone. It seems like we are genuinely interacting, and this seems like a real and personal connection, even though we aren’t actually in the same room together. If I had a chatbox that fairly accurately mimicked a family member whom I missed, would I talk to it? You bet. Is that scary? Yes. Very.

This article is called A.I.: Artificial Immortality by James Vlahos.

And whoo-hoo, I found the link to this one! https://www.wired.com/story/a-sons-race-to-give-his-dying-father-artificial-immortality/