Weeknotes 250 - the long nose of counterfactual history

Hi, y’all! 250! That is a milestone, I guess. At least it is a nice number.

For the rest, is it a week like other weeks, or better, other mid-summer weeks, quite quiet for news and happenings. But in the end, it turns out enough to capture and reflect upon.

Triggered thoughts

Ok, again a slow week on events. So let’s check on the pods and vids that I checked.

Near Future Laboratory published an audio recording of a 2010 SXSW panel released only after this long time. One of the panellists passed away in 2019: Sascha Pohflepp. The audio of his short introduction presentation with slides is on Youtube and is nice to watch: “We Might Be Living In The Wrong Experiment”; designing for futures means looking back to where points are that could have led to different futures as a choice made differently. Counterfactual history. He takes energy policies as an example. He describes three levels and scales: planetary - planet as a system; intermediate, like infrastructure level; and individual level. Illustrated with a great example of how to catch electricity from lightning. Watch the 7 minutes to see the examples of how.

In the tech podcasts, it was the week of LK-99. The thought train of Matt Webb is lovely as always. And in the Vergecast, it was nicely illustrated how chaos of Musk is creating chaos. In the ‘Land of the Giants’, the story is told how the original founders of Tesla created a company synonymous with Elon Musk.

A podcast I might check discussed social media after Twitter, the small, sturdy networks of affinity and interest. And then combine it with the input of Danah Boyd.

Events for this week

This Thursday in Rotterdam, a discussion on the new real (or fake) in photography, in the Dutch Photo Museum. https://www.nederlandsfotomuseum.nl/tentoonstelling/zomeravonden/

If you are interested in the commons for cities, there is a highly interactive conference this week in Amersfoort and online: Koppelting: https://koppelting.org/en/home

When in Barcelona, this might be an interesting exhibition on AI interpretations of iconic furniture.

For the Salon of 6 September, I created the event for the workshop; you can now RSVP for one of the 20 spots. And I have not announced it publicly, so take your chance! :-) https://www.meetup.com/thingscon-salon/events/295278451/

Notions from the news

As mentioned above, the promise of a superconductor material at room temperature creates some rumours. The material is LK-99 and the claims are from a pre-published paper, or better, a non-peer-reviewed paper, so it still needs to be determined, experts see red flags.

Next to superconductors, new battery technology based on mundane materials

MIT engineers create battery alternative using cement and carbon black

Scientists at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology have developed a low-cost energy storage system that could be integrated into roads and building foundations to facilitate the renewable energy transition.

DezeenAmy Frearson

Meta is in the generative AI news with a new audio crafting tool, with which you can play every instrument into compositions without having the capabilities yourself. Prompt engineering for sounds. A new synthesiser for creators or the ultimate muzak.

And the announcement of a persona-based ChatGPT rival makes a lot of sense as mentioned earlier; the collaborating self-learning AIs are potentially powerful.

AudioCraft: A simple one-stop shop for audio modeling

AudioCraft is a simple framework that generates high-quality, realistic audio and music from text-based user inputs after training on raw audio signals as opposed to MIDI or piano rolls.

Meta AI personas might be the most important ChatGPT rival yet, and you should be worried

Meta is working on ChatGPT-like generative AI bots for Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp - here’s why that’s both good and bad news.

BGRChris Smith

OpenAI whisper is longer around. What the impact can be, is explored here; a voice interface, as a duplex interaction.

OpenAI’s Whisper: Paving the Way for the Voice Interface Revolution | HackerNoon

Advanced speech recognition systems like Whisper will forever change how we relate to computers and AI models. See the future in action with these new apps.

Hackernoon logoVlad Gheorghe

The importance of custom instruction in prompt engineering.

6 helpful ways to use ChatGPT’s Custom Instructions

The most popular AI chatbot is now customizable. We explore some ways ChatGPT’s new Custom Instructions feature can benefit you.

ZDNETMaria Diaz

Other Gen AI co-pilots to leverage:

• Interior design with Spacely
• Video summaries as part of YouTube
• Google is extending the search body with video and better links through AI
• GPTBot is crawling the web for future improvements, but you can hide your website.

Boring AI is the future? Or is it a misbehaving creature, after all? Will it balance out with creative professions the right way? Take architecture.

In Praise of Boring AI

Automation has always been about killing tedious work. AI can do the same.

One Useful ThingEthan Mollick

A New Attack Impacts ChatGPT—and No One Knows How to Stop It

Researchers found a simple way to make ChatGPT, Bard, and other chatbots misbehave, proving that AI is hard to tame.

WIREDCondé Nast

‘It’s already way beyond what humans can do’: will AI wipe out architects?

It’s revolutionising building – but could AI kill off an entire profession? Perhaps not, finds our writer, as he enters a world where Corbusier-style marvels and 500-room hotels are just a click away

The GuardianOliver Wainwright

Instagram works on a label for AI-generated content. It feels a bit weird that especially Insta is doing this, as they started the synthetic photo movement of made it huge, at least.

Instagram is working on labels for AI-generated content

“Image generated by Meta AI.”

The Verge

No doubt that generative AI is the hottest investment category. Here is an investing framework by Mosaic. Is this AI rush useful?

Generative AI applications: an investing framework

We’re witnessing an explosion of new generative AI applications. How do we navigate this emerging landscape?

Chandar Lal

Apps Are Rushing to Add AI. Is Any of It Useful?

The artificial intelligence gold rush has thrust services like ChatGPT into every aspect of our digital lives. That still won’t solve your email problems.

WIREDCondé Nast

Any news on Worldcoin? Some backlash and potential competitors already. Also, mixing crypto and generative AI, might be a poisoned mix for the carbon footprint…

Turns out there’s another problem with AI – its environmental toll

AI uses huge amounts of electricity and water to work, and the problem is only going to get worse – what can be done? Plus, the wider TechScape

The GuardianChris Stokel-Walker

Be aware for updated terms that give rights to feed the AI tooling from your data. What makes it differ from other uses of data of improving the software? The potential impact.

Zoom can now train its A.I. using some customer data, according to updated terms

Zoom’s update comes amid growing public debate on the extent to which AI services should be trained on individuals’ data.

CNBCHayden Field

A robot round-up. How about the delivery robot's promise? The robot mowers do deliver. What is Hyundai planning with that robot dog technology they bought?

New Boston Dynamics and Kia robot to debut in 2024

Kia partners with Boston Dynamics to launch a new robot in 2024, although no specific details about the robot have been revealed yet.

Tech Wire AsiaMuhammad Zulhusni

And more fundamental robotic development; delicate grippers with super power.

Robotic Grippers Offer Unprecedented Combo of Strength and Delicacy

Device is flexible enough to handle soft and fragile objects as well as heavier ones.

NC State NewsMick Kulikowski

And these autonomous taxis? Will these fly? An interesting decision is about to be made in California. However, this heading feels like clickbait.

California vote on self-driving taxis could alter the future of AI

Tech startups Waymo and Cruise are locked in a fight with San Francisco city officials over their plans to expand their robotaxi fleets.

NBC NewsDavid Ingram

Some Apple news. Will they be able to surprise after all with applications of Generative AI, will they leverage the Pixar heritage in their new synthetic world, or is their vision just a product walk-through tool?

Tim Cook confirms that Apple has been working on generative AI for years

Apple spent $22.61 billion on research and development through 2023, and CEO Tim Cook confirmed beyond a shadow of a doubt that part of that expenditure is because the company is working on generative AI.

AppleInsiderWesley Hilliard

Ultimo human-machine integrations with organoid intelligence.

Australian military is funding a computer chip merged with human brain cells

The Australian military is funding research into “organoid intelligence” that involves stimulating lab-grown mini-brains with electrodes.

Freethink MediaKristin Houser

The long nose of innovation is a theory that the future of now is invented 20 years ago. An example is bio-concrete. So better check out the science fiction of the past.

Video: The rise of bio-concrete

Concrete is the most important building material on Earth, but its production causes a MASSIVE amount of global carbon emissions.

Phys.orgScience X

The Art of Science Fiction & Science Fact

Future past imaginaries that somehow came to be.

Design Fiction DailyDré Labre

Pragmatic strategic planning and selling it through compelling storytelling often uses the 2x2 matrix. My first encounter was probably too the BCG matrix, a marketing course at university.

The 2x2 Edition

On consulting, presentations, and the enduring power of the four-box

Why is this interesting?Noah Brier

"Every object, if it can be recognised or has a name or a definition, is a political work. Because of our judgment about values, even daring to name anything is a political act.”

I love the work of Ai Weiwei, and this framing resonates with me too. I have to think about this book I read some years ago: Phase Media; Space, Time, and the Politics of Smart Objects.

Every recognisable object is a “political work” says Ai Weiwei

Multidisciplinary Chinese artist Ai Weiwei tells Dezeen why he thinks all objects have political significance in this exclusive interview.

DezeenJane Englefield

The monthly check if you missed anything in the news via the O’Reilly Radar. I think I am quite ok.

Radar Trends to Watch: August 2023

Developments in Programming, Web, Security, and More

O’Reilly MediaMike Loukides

And to relax or contemplate, choose one of these videos on making (Japanese) pencils.

See How Pencils Are Made in a Japanese Factory

I have said previously that “even on my busiest day, I will drop everything to watch a video of pencils being made”.

kottke.orgJason Kottke

Paper for the week

Cities all over the world are rethinking their mobility policies in light of environmental and quality of life objectives. As space is one of cities’ scarcest resources, mobility’s spatial footprint is increasingly scrutinized as externality to mitigate.

Integrating logistics into urban planning: best practices from Paris and Rotterdam

Logistics still being a largely neglected policy subject in many cities, knowledge on how to approach this (re)integration is hardly available. Therefore, we compare two pioneering cities: Rotterdam and Paris. Both cities have an established track record in advancing urban logistics policies and are spearheading the practice of planning for logistics.

Bram Kin, Heleen Buldeo Rai, Laetitia Dablanc & Hans Quak (2023) Integrating logistics into urban planning: best practices from Paris and Rotterdam, European Planning Studies, DOI: 10.1080/09654313.2023.2242400

See y’all next week!