science

( Tomdispatch.com ) – The divestment campaigns launched last spring by students protesting Israel’s mass slaughter in Gaza brought the issue of the militarization of American higher education back into the spotlight. Of course, financial ties between the Pentagon and American universities are nothing new. As Stuart Leslie has pointed out in his seminal book […]

Animals

We Humans are embedded in a Web of Intelligent Life, not the Pinnacle of a Hierarchy

H. Patricia Hynes

Greenfield, Mass. (Special to Informed Comment; Feature) – From the largest to the smallest and the oldest to the youngest creatures on Earth–Antarctic blue whales and coastal redwood trees, minute bacteria and human beings–we are all enmeshed in layers of relationships. We need each other, though some more than others. Plants evolved hundreds of millions […]

Artificial Intelligence

Massive IT Outage spotlights major Vulnerabilities in the global information Ecosystem

The Conversation

By Richard Forno, University of Maryland, Baltimore County | – (The Conversation) – The global information technology outage on July 19, 2024, that paralyzed organizations ranging from airlines to hospitals and even the delivery of uniforms for the Olympic Games represents a growing concern for cybersecurity professionals, businesses and governments. The outage is emblematic of […]

Artificial Intelligence

A.I. may kill us All, but not the Way you Think

John Feffer

( Foreign Policy in Focus ) – The conventional Artificial Intelligence doomsday scenario runs like this. A robot acquires sentience and decides for some reason that it wants to rule the world. It hacks into computer systems to shut down everything from banking and hospitals to nuclear power. Or it takes over a factory to […]

Artificial Intelligence

Israel’s AI-Powered Genocide

Middle East Monitor

by Sarmad Ishfaq We are witnessing the genocide of the Palestinians based on algorithms and machine learning; a system of apartheid in the Israeli-occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip reinforced by artificial intelligence; and surveillance and facial recognition systems of such prowess that Orwell’s 1984 regime would be green with envy. Today’s Israeli-occupied Palestine manifests […]

Arab World

Why are Algorithms called Algorithms? A brief History of the Persian Polymath you’ve likely never Heard of

The Conversation

By Debbie Passey, The University of Melbourne | – (The Conversation) – Algorithms have become integral to our lives. From social media apps to Netflix, algorithms learn your preferences and prioritise the content you are shown. Google Maps and artificial intelligence are nothing without algorithms. So, we’ve all heard of them, but where does the […]

Israel/ Palestine

Birding in Gaza amid a Nightmare of War

Rebecca Gordon

( Tomdispatch.com ) – He’s a funny little chap: a sharp dresser with a sleek grey jacket, a white waistcoat, red shorts, and a small grey crest for a hat. With his shiny black eyes and stubby black beak, he’s quite the looker. Like the chihuahua of the bird world, the tufted titmouse has no […]

Artificial Intelligence

Gaza War: Artificial Intelligence is radically changing Targeting Speeds and Scale of Civilian Harm

The Conversation

By Lauren Gould, Utrecht University; Linde Arentze, NIOD Institute for War, Holocaust and Genocide Studies; and Marijn Hoijtink, University of Antwerp | – (The Conversation) – As Israel’s air campaign in Gaza enters its sixth month after Hamas’s terrorist attacks on October 7, it has been described by experts as one of the most relentless […]

Artificial Intelligence

A Brief History of Kill Lists, From Langley to Lavender

Medea Benjamin and Nicholas J.S. Davies

( Code Pink ) – The Israeli online magazine +972 has published a detailed report on Israel’s use of an artificial intelligence (AI) system called “Lavender” to target thousands of Palestinian men in its bombing campaign in Gaza. When Israel attacked Gaza after October 7, the Lavender system had a database of 37,000 Palestinian men […]