Tag

Smart Technology
30
Apr

Smart tech’s carbon footprint

April 30, 2020
Source: https://theecologist.org/2020/apr/30/smart-techs-carbon-footprint Matthew Barton  30th April 2020 With data centres set to have a bigger carbon footprint than the whole aviation industry, smart technology’s benefits need urgent re-examination. The embedded energy costs of communications technologies and voracious digital consumption are actually exacerbating global heating rather than helping prevent it, the recent Shift Project report, Lean ICT, Toward Digital Sobriety, suggests. ...
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31
Jan

Rollout of smart motorways put on hold amid safety concerns

January 31, 2020
Investigation finds 38 people killed on smart motorways in the past five years. Source: https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2020/jan/30/rollout-of-smart-motorways-put-on-hold-amid-safety-concerns?fbclid=IwAR3T8VljMQ8JJOFvGQj8zCkApBXKgk0AX_6FJxtUWkEeUOz08cxHk5DsbBc Smart motorways are part of a plan by Highways England to reduce congestion. The routes feature technology designed to monitor traffic levels, change speed limits and close lanes to allow emergency vehicles through. Our comment: “smart” is not always better.
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17
Nov

The Age of Surveillance Capitalism: The Fight for a Human Future at the New Frontier of Power

November 17, 2019
The challenges to humanity posed by the digital future, the first detailed examination of the unprecedented form of power called “surveillance capitalism,” and the quest by powerful corporations to predict and control our behavior. In this masterwork of original thinking and research, Shoshana Zuboff provides startling insights into the phenomenon that she has named surveillance...
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09
Oct

The biggest lie tech people tell themselves — and the rest of us

October 9, 2019
Source: https://www.vox.com/the-highlight/2019/10/1/20887003/tech-technology-evolution-natural-inevitable-ethics Imagine you’re taking an online business class — the kind where you watch video lectures and then answer questions at the end. But this isn’t a normal class, and you’re not just watching the lectures: They’re watching you back. Every time the facial recognition system decides that you look bored, distracted, or tuned...
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