ReHacked vol. 326: AI is Dehumanization Technology, Education is free, learning is expensive and more
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AI is Dehumanization Technology #ai #society
AI systems are an attack on workers, climate goals, our information environment, and civil liberties. Rather than enhancing our human qualities, these systems degrade our social relations, and undermine our capacity for empathy and care. The push to adopt AI is, at its core, a political project of dehumanization, and serious consideration should be given to the idea of rejecting the deployment of these systems entirely, especially within Canada's public sector.
At the end of February, Elon Musk - whose xAI data centre is being powered by nearly three dozen on-site gas turbines that are poisoning the air of nearby majority-Black neighborhoods in Memphis - went on the Joe Rogan podcast and declared that "the fundamental weakness of western civilization is empathy", describing "the empathy response" as a "bug" or "exploit" in our collective programming.
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The Death of the Middle-Class Musician | The Walrus #music #copyrights #longread
“Today, as long as you’re ready to work and roll up your sleeves, all the information you would ever want or need to build an independent career is all online. It’s all free. It’s a Wi-Fi connection,” says Chris Taylor, who founded Last Gang Records, the label that launched Metric, and who now manages Arkells, Lights, and others through his company Hall of Fame Artists. At the same time, Taylor acknowledges, “the increasing tidal wave of music that’s coming out every day—it’s unrelenting. Especially for developing artists, how do you make a mark?”
For many Canadian artists, the answer is simple: you don’t. While Spotify paid out a record $10 billion (US) in royalties in 2024, fewer than 1 percent of artists made more than $6,000 from the platform. In 2021, according to SOCAN, the average Canadian songwriter earned just $67 from streaming that year.
The big change affecting European travel #travel
The days of being charged additional fees for your hand luggage on flights could soon be a thing of the past – at least in the European Union. On 24 June, lawmakers voted in favour of a proposal allowing passengers to bring a small carry-on bag weighing up to 7kg (15.4lbs) on board their flight free of charge, even on budget airlines.
Under the new rule, which could take effect as early as July 2025, travellers would be allowed to bring one cabin bag measuring up to 100cm on board their flight, as well as an under-the-seat personal item with a maximum size of 40x30x15cm at no additional cost. The proposed law still requires approval from 55% of EU member states, but if adopted, the new rules would extend to all flights within the EU, as well as routes to and from the EU.
Time Is Three-Dimensional and Space Is Just a Side Effect, Scientist Says #nature
A fringe new theory suggests that time is the fundamental structure of the physical universe, and space is merely a byproduct.
According to Gunther Kletetschka, a geologist — not a physicist, you'll note, but more on that later — from the University of Alaska Fairbanks, time is three-dimensional and the dimensions of space are an emergent property of it, a press release from the university explains.
"These three time dimensions are the primary fabric of everything, like the canvas of a painting," Kletetschka said in the blurb. "Space still exists with its three dimensions, but it's more like the paint on the canvas rather than the canvas itself."
Three-dimensional time is a theory that has been proposed before, though generally in pretty inaccessible terms. Similarly to the explanation for three dimensions of space — length, width, and depth — 3D time theory claims that time can move forward in the linear progression we know, sideways between parallel possible timelines, and along each one of those as it unfolds.
Google Gemini is about to control your messages and calls, even if you say no | Laptop Mag #software #privacy
On July 7, Google’s Gemini assistant will be able to send a WhatsApp message, place a call, adjust your volume, or set a timer, even if you’ve told it not to track what you’re doing. And no, it’s not something you need to opt into, nor can you opt out of it; it’s the new norm.
That’s because Google is quietly rewriting the rules of how assistant AI works on your phone. If you thought turning off Gemini Apps Activity meant turning off Gemini’s reach into your personal life, think again. Gemini is going live in your apps whether you like it or not.
Education is free, learning is expensive | Seth's Blog #learning
Today, of course, all of the information is there, a click away. Billions of people have a smartphone with access to everything ever recorded and written, but also to a trillion dollar AI system that can offer informed guidance.
So why hesitate? Why do we get stuck or avoid even acknowledging that it’s possible?
Because learning is hard. It creates tension. It takes time. Most of all, it requires a commitment to becoming someone else, a bet we’re making that might not turn out the way we hope.
Denmark to tackle deepfakes by giving people copyright to their own features | Deepfake | The Guardian #copyrights
The changes to Danish copyright law will, once approved, theoretically give people in Denmark the right to demand that online platforms remove such content if it is shared without consent.
It will also cover “realistic, digitally generated imitations” of an artist’s performance without consent. Violation of the proposed rules could result in compensation for those affected.
The government said the new rules would not affect parodies and satire, which would still be permitted.
Transmitting data via ultrasound without any special equipment #technology
If you think of a thing that comes to mind when you hear “ultrasound”, it might be the thing that a doctor uses to look at what’s going on inside of you (most prominently, to check how a baby that is growing inside of you is doing). So you might be forgiven if you think of it as something that requires special devices with fun names like transducer or whatever. Not so! While our technical devices are, of course, designed to operate broadly in the same range as our ears, they generally can go a little bit beyond that. Yes, even your shitty laptop speakers and microphone are, technically, ultrasound-capable devices! And while they do usually pretty heavily start to cut frequencies once you get to about 18000 Hz or thereabouts for technical reasons, you can probably still get a signal through, and it’ll be almost or completely inaudible to most people
What Problems to Solve - By Richard Feynman #science
No problem is too small or too trivial if we can really do something about it.
You say you are a nameless man. You are not to your wife and to your child. You
will not long remain so to your immediate colleagues if you can answer their
simple questions when they come into your office. You are not nameless to me.
Do not remain nameless to yourself – it is too sad a way to be. now your place
in the world and evaluate yourself fairly, not in terms of your naïve ideals of
your own youth, nor in terms of what you erroneously imagine your teacher’s
ideals are.
Fairphone 6 is switching to a new design that's even more sustainable | Android Central #hardware
Fairphone is expected to launch its sixth sustainable phone next week. And ahead of the release, we now have the alleged device in renders showcasing its design and prominent features.
- Leaked renders reveal a modular design for the Fairphone 6, allowing for easy replacement of components.
- The Fairphone 6 is expected to feature a new design with flat edges and a distinct neon-themed power button, available in black, white, and green color options.
- The Fairphone 6 is rumored to launch on June 25th starting at €549, and could include a 6.31-inch pOLED 120Hz display, Snapdragon 7s Gen 3, and a 4415mAh battery.
A federal judge sides with Anthropic in lawsuit over training AI on books without authors' permission | TechCrunch #copyrights #ai
Federal judge William Alsup ruled that it was legal for Anthropic to train its AI models on published books without the authors’ permission. This marks the first time that the courts have given credence to AI companies’ claim that fair use doctrine can absolve AI companies from fault when they use copyrighted materials to train large language models (LLMs).
This decision comes as a blow to authors, artists, and publishers who have brought dozens of lawsuits against companies like OpenAI, Meta, Midjourney, Google, and more. While the ruling is not a guarantee that other judges will follow Judge Alsup’s lead, it lays the foundation for courts to side with tech companies over creatives.
The NO FAKES Act Has Changed – and It’s So Much Worse | EFF #copyrights #ai
The Nurture Originals, Foster Art and Keep Entertainment Safe (NO FAKES) Act aims to address understandable concerns about generative AI-created “replicas” by creating a broad new intellectual property right. That approach was the first mistake: rather than giving people targeted tools to protect against harmful misrepresentations—balanced against the need to protect legitimate speech such as parodies and satires—the original NO FAKES just federalized an image-licensing system.
The Ecodesign Regulation lays out minimum requirements for mobile phones, cordless phones and tablets to be sold on the EU market to ensure
- greater resistance to drops, scratches, dust and water
- use of more durable batteries, capable of at least 800 charge cycles while retaining at least 80% of their initial capacity
- clear rules on disassembly and repair, requiring manufacturers to supply key spare parts within 5-10 working days, and for at least 7 years after the product model is no longer sold in the EU
- longer availability of operating system updates, at least 5 years from the date the last unit model is sold
- fair access for professional repairers to the software or firmware needed for repairs
Report on the Iberian BlackOut #energy #security
Non-confidential version of the report of the committee for the analysis of the circumstances surrounding the electricity crisis of the April 28, 2025
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