Ukraine using AI to train war robots

I saw this headline and immediately said to myself, We are now officially living in the future.

AI has been deployed by both sides on the battlefield during Russia’s invasion of Ukraine to identify targets, scanning images far quicker than a human can….

Kateryna Bondar, a fellow at Wadhwani AI centre at the Centre for Strategic and International Studies, said the size of the data set and the image quality were important, as AI models learned to recognise targets based on shapes and colours.

Bondar said that the dataset was valuable in the context of training to fight Russia. However, she said U.S. officials and drone makers prefer a dataset that trains AI systems to operate in the Pacific against a potential Chinese adversary.

Full article: https://www.reuters.com/technology/ukraine-collects-vast-war-data-trove-train-ai-models-2024-12-20/, about 625 words, or https://gizmodo.com/ukraine-is-using-millions-of-hours-of-drone-footage-to-train-ai-for-warfare-2000541633.

32 of the smartest animals in the world

Well, six of these species are apes / monkeys / humans… but some of the others may not be what you expect. Dolphins, of course, and elephants, octopuses, cats and dogs… but pigeons? Squirrels? Monitor lizards?

In 2020, researchers tested the memories of two species of monitor lizard and found they could learn to solve puzzles and remember the solutions 20 months later.

https://www.livescience.com/animals/32-of-the-smartest-animals-in-the-world. About 5,000 words, easy reading.

Oops! Almost forgot: 86 Stories of Progress from 2024: https://fixthenews.com/86-stories-progress-2024/. Global health, conservation, living standards, energy, human rights, and science and technology. Long but encouraging!

1933 and the definition of fascism

I’m not going to comment on this article, except to say I wish it had been published six months ago (actually posted October 25, 2024):

I want to be clear what we’re doing here. I am not asking if the Republican Party is fascist (I think, broadly speaking, it isn’t) and certainly not if you are fascist (I certainly hope not). But I want to employ the concept of fascism as an ideology with more precision than its normal use (‘thing I don’t like’) and in that context ask if Donald Trump fits the definition of a fascist based on his own statements and if so, what does that mean. And I want to do it in a long-form context where we can get beyond slogans or tweet-length arguments and into some detail.

https://acoup.blog/2024/10/25/new-acquisitions-1933-and-the-definition-of-fascism/. A long read, 7,500 words, but easy reading… or in some ways, very difficult reading.

And good news from Fix the News:

Christian institutions divest from fossil fuels
Religious institutions with $3 trillion in assets have led the way in divesting from fossil fuels. At COP29, an international coalition of Christian organisations announced that 27 religious groups, including dioceses, have divested from fossil fuel investments. This decision is rooted in Pope Francis’ encyclical Laudato Si’, which calls for environmental stewardship. Amen to that? La Croix