Curated Commons // Edition 117
Welcome to the 117th edition of Curated Commons! I am so glad you have subscribed (if you haven't yet, what are you waiting for?). I hope you will find the content interesting and engaging, so please share it on your social networks. It's free and ad-free, and your followers will thank you for bringing it to their feeds. Also, never too old for social-media induced dopamine hits. Happy reading ($ indicates potential paywall).
Our future is bots arguing with bots, each augmented by other bots
Meet Britain’s most powerful female spies
A story out of the ordinary. Worth reading in full (Q is a woman) - Read here ($)
Slowly. And then suddenly.
ChatGPT is not just visually appealing - it also makes technology work for you in the small, everyday ways that save time and effort. A teacher explains why. - Read here ($)
What GPT can produce right now is better than the large majority of writing seen by your average teacher or professor. Over the past few days, I’ve given it a number of different prompts. And even if the bot’s results don’t exactly give you goosebumps, they do a more-than-adequate job of fulfilling a task.
Automation is driving income inequality, says new study
Interesting new study. Automation’s impact on jobs might still be up for debate, but it appears it has a more direct impact on income inequality. - Read here
Over the last four decades, the income gap between more- and less-educated workers has grown significantly; the study finds that automation accounts for more than half of that increase.
South Koreans age differently, till now
Something I learnt this week. Most South Koreans will now suddenly turn younger! - Read here
Hydrogen to the rescue?
Will hydrogen help us in coming years significantly in our transition to net zero? Bloomberg NEF thinks so - Read here ($)
On a related note, more interest in setting up green hydrogen plants globally. A $4 Bn plant in the US - Read here ($)
Is AI finally getting its day out?
Interest in AI has been blowing hot, blowing cold, for decades. Is it now mature enough that businesses, not just big tech companies, are fawning over it? Seems so. - Read here ($)
‘Perfect gentlemen/women’ online are likely con artists with stolen pictures
Have the right privacy settings on your pics and beware of oversharing, folks. There’s now people who will steal your pics and then use that pic in online profiles to con others. We will soon need image protection services, a la id protection services- Read here
Do we finally have a (sort-of) drug for Alzheimer’s?
Maybe. With some side effects, but something to look forward to - Read here($)
Watch what your kids watch on social media apps
India doesn’t have TikTok, but of late, it appears most viral TikTok challenges make it to Reels anyway. Apparently, there’s challenges that have gone ‘viral’ that are resulting in the deaths of children. Worrying story - Read here ($)
The commercial spyware industry is booming
With Israel (and increasingly Cyprus) as the epicenter, there’s now a booming industry for spyware. While laws in some countries can control them to an extent, lest we forget, if something is technically possible, there will always be individuals/organizations/Governments who couldn’t care two hoots about due procedure. - Read here ($)
More Interesting Reads:
A water bottle made from food waste and designed to biodegrade - Read here
The brilliance and weirdness of ChatGPT - Read here ($)
Silicon Valley is hot on nuclear energy- Read here
Is BNPL a better model than credit cards? Affirm’s CEO thinks so - Read here
And finally, a blast from the past
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