This is today’s version of The Download., A weekly newsletter that tells you every day what’s happening in the world of technology.
How your refrigerator ruined your fresh food
Three-quarters of the average American diet passes through the refrigerated chain of warehouses, shipping containers, trucks, display cases and home refrigerators that keep meat, milk and more cold as they travel from farm to fork.
As consumers, we place a lot of trust in the words ‘fresh’ and ‘natural’, but artificial refrigeration has created a blind spot. We’ve become so adept at preserving (and storing) food that we know more about how to extend the life of apples than humans do, and most of us never think about that special process.
We’ve been using refrigeration to solve problems, but we haven’t properly accounted for the environmental, nutritional and even socio-cultural costs, argues author Nicola Twilley in her new book. Frostbite: How refrigeration changed our food, the planet, and ourselves. And all that convenience comes at the expense of variety and taste. Read the full story.
—Allison Arief
This story appears in the next issue of MIT Technology Review, out tomorrow, exploring the strange and wonderful world of food. If you haven’t done so already, subscribe Get a copy when you arrive.
Would you trust AI to mediate arguments?
—Melissa Haikila
I’ve been heartbroken recently. A close friend recently lost touch with me. I don’t really understand why, and my attempts to resolve the situation have backfired. Situations like this are hurtful and confusing. So it’s no surprise that people are increasingly turning to AI chatbots to solve their problems. There is also good news. AI can actually help.
Researchers at Google DeepMind recently trained a large-scale language model system to help people reach consensus on social or political issues. The AI model is trained to identify and suggest areas where people’s thoughts overlap. With the help of this AI mediator, a small group of study participants became less divided in their positions on various issues.
One of the best uses for AI chatbots is brainstorming, but according to this latest research, they can also help you see things from someone else’s perspective. So why not use AI to solve problems together with your friends? Read the full story.
This story is excerpted from The Algorithm, a weekly newsletter on all things AI. accession You’ll receive it in your inbox every Monday.
What questions do you want to know about climate technology?
Do you have a question you’ve always wanted to know about climate technology? Well, we have the answer. MIT Technology Review’s Climate team is hosting an Ask Me Anything (AMA) on Reddit today at 1 PM ET. Take your questions now!
A must read book
I scoured the Internet to find the most interesting/important/scary and fascinating stories about technology today.
1 Rupert Murdoch’s media outlet sues AI search engine Perplexity
They accuse their content of being a “free ride.” (register)
+ They claim that reporting hallucinatory news and then attributing it to real newspaper content is illegal. (wired $)
+ Conveniently, Murdoch’s News Corp signed a major deal with OpenAI earlier this year. (CNN)
2 Kamala Harris is facing a barrage of online attacks.
As the US presidential election approaches, she has become the target of a new wave of abuse and false claims. (WP$)
+ Women’s health startups are nervous about Trump’s potential re-election. (Insider $)
3 ByteDance accused interns of sabotaging AI models
It’s about planting malicious code that interferes with the learning task. (Ars Technica)
+ Rumors about layoffs were circulating on Chinese social media. (Guardian)
4 The U.S. Department of Defense seeks to recruit the best technical talent.
But can we convince Silicon Valley to turn into the Pentagon? (WSJ$)
+ Defense contractors are obsessed with laser weapons that destroy drones. (FT$)
5 The Rise and Fall of Kentucky Bitcoin Mining
The project was supposed to bring prosperity, but it never even got off the ground. (wired $)
+ How Bitcoin mining devastated a New York town. (MIT Technology Review)
The six states of Arkansas may have huge reserves of lithium.
Now it’s just a countdown until exploratory mining begins. (NYT $)
+ Hungarian residents are opposing government plans for a battery factory. (rest of countries)
7 India is eager to join the EV revolution.
The problem is that there aren’t enough vehicles. (rest of countries)
+ Chinese-made electric vehicles are flooding into the EU. (Bloomberg $)
+ Some countries are ending support for EVs. Isn’t it too early? (MIT Technology Review)
8 Estonian government is reviewing defunct nuclear reactor
Investigate its potential as a nuclear waste storage site. (IEEE spectrum)
+ Why Microsoft signed a deal to help restart Three Mile Island (MIT Technology Review)
9 Don’t clean out your phone’s photo library
Taking pictures of everyday scenes is actually quite special. (New Yorker $)
+ It’s a race to save our online lives from the digital dark age. (MIT Technology Review)
10 All Hail Cartoons Sans
Heavily derived fonts have the last laugh. (Atlantic $)
quote of the day
“Perplexity proudly says that users can ‘skip links.’ Clearly, Perplexity wants you to skip verification.”
—Robert Thomson, CEO of publisher News Corp, accused AI search engine Perplexity of avoiding costs of journalism in a new lawsuit, Variety reports.
big story
How Culture Encourages Cheating on the Internet – and How the New “Upcode” Can Protect Us
August 2023
From boring apes and cool bears to Shiba Inu coins, self-replicating viruses, and whales, the internet is full of scams, hacks, and scams.
Even as new technologies come and go, little changes to the fact that online illegal operations exist because some people are willing to act illegally and others fall for the stories they tell.
Ultimately, online crime is a human story. Three new books explain why it happens, why it works, and how we can protect ourselves from falling for such schemes, no matter how compelling they may be. Read the full story.
—Rebecca Ackerman
We can still have good things
A space for comfort, enjoyment, and concentration that will brighten your day. (Any ideas? call me or tweet me.)
+ Stop it. You’re cleaning your glasses wrong! Here’s how to do it correctly and without stains.
+ 1920s vampires! Tom Holland! Christopher Nolan! We are in.
+ We all get distracted sometimes, but overcoming them is all about maintaining momentum.
+ Andrew Garfield has great taste in movies.
