The dark side of technology

Data Centers Can (are) Ruining People’s Lives

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As construction began, Newsom says he spoke with Amazon and Clark Construction representatives, who knocked on his door and, as they put up the fencing around the construction site, told him that if he ever had issues to come to them as they’d “make it right.”

“Then I started having problems, lots of problems,” he says. Innumerable dump trucks came down the road and sent dust through the air day after day. Flashing blue lights from security cameras poured into his bedroom all night. The roads became covered in mud. And eventually, that mud made its way into Newsom’s well, he claims.

“A lot of people in this county have what’s called a bored well, which is a shallow surface water well. So when they’re moving this amount of dirt and earth, digging and vibrations—all those microvibrations over time will work that sediment into the water stream, into that well, and flow straight into my water,” he explains.

He adds that a hydrologist he brought in agreed that the work was disturbing the water table. But when he tried to get in touch with the Amazon superintendent who promised to help address issues, he was met with silence.

A Virginia Homeowner Is Suing Amazon Over a Data Center Being Built by His Home—That He Says Is Already Making Life Unbearable https://www.realtor.com/news/trends/virginia-homeowner-suing-amazon-over-data-center-unbearable/

YIKES. And now a word or two from the great 20th century philosopher Willie:

Amen.

Cryptocurrencies – Extra Credit Reading Assignment (Updated 12.01.22)

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Cryptocurrencies are a social movement based on the belief that markings in a ledger on the internet have intrinsic value. The organizers of these ledgers call these markings Bitcoin, or Dogecoin, or offer other names based on the specific ledger. That’s really all a cryptocurrency is. There’s no magic. It’s not money, though it has money-like properties. It’s not anything except a set of markings. Sure, the technology behind the ledgers and how to create more of these markings is kind of neat. But crypto is a movement based on energetic storytellers who spin fables about the utopian future to come. In a lot of ways, cryptocurrencies are like Florida land that no one ever intends to use. It has value in the moment it is traded, but only because there’s a collective belief that it has some intrinsic worth.

Matt Stoller BIG newsletter 12.07.21 — https://mattstoller.substack.com/

FTX seems to be a textbook example of how many investors are easily hoodwinked by media narratives about the latest investment genius who has magically discovered some new way of delivering unprecedented returns. 

How Easy Money Fueled the FTX Crypto Collapse – https://mises.org/wire/how-easy-money-fueled-ftx-crypto-collapse

Good book. It should be required reading for everyone before they invest a single penny.

Update 12.01.22

One more extra credit reading assignment. FTX’s Collapse Was a Crime, Not an Accident

Got Kids? READ THIS

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Beyond just online platforms, the new survey finds that the vast majority of teens have access to digital devices, such as smartphones (95%), desktop or laptop computers (90%) and gaming consoles (80%). And the study shows there has been an uptick in daily teen internet users, from 92% in 2014-15 to 97% today. In addition, the share of teens who say they are online almost constantly has roughly doubled since 2014-15 (46% now and 24% then).These are some of the findings from an online survey of 1,316 teens conducted by the Pew Research Center from April 14 to May 4, 2022

Teens, Social Media and Technology 2022 — https://www.pewresearch.org/internet/2022/08/10/teens-social-media-and-technology-2022/

Remember my earlier post I Thought I Told You To Put That Phone Down! This earlier post has additional links to other posts on the topic of social media addiction.

Technology addictions, also commonly known as digital addictions or internet addictions, are often overlooked due to the acceptance that society has placed on using digital devices. Technology addictions often go unnoticed by loved ones because the addicted individual may appear as though they are tending to something important such as work-related tasks on their digital device, when in reality hiding behind the screen is something extraneous. When a technological problem does develop and is noticed it is often not viewed as being an imminent risk akin to an addiction to alcohol or drugs because not only is it more acceptable, but it is also not viewed as being acute or deadly. Despite these beliefs, pathological technology use can indeed be pervasive and detrimental to one’s health and well being. In a growing digital age there is a rapid expansion of digital use and subsequent potential for problematic pathological technology use to ensue.

https://www.familyaddictionspecialist.com/blog/the-6-most-common-types-of-technology-addiction

The link provided above is neither an endorsement or evidence of a previous or existing patient-therapist relationship.

Although I will admit to a quasi-addiction to You Tube for new music.

Alexa – Lock All The Doors, Delete Everything

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https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2022/03/attackers-can-force-amazon-echos-to-hack-themselves-with-self-issued-commands/
Echo go to Amazon buy everything.

Some days I’m very happy being old fashioned. I still need a key to open my front door. I have to open my refrigerator to see what’s inside. And Good God I have to manually select the music I want to listen too.

Some days I’m very happy being old fashioned. Today is one of those days.

Cryptocurrencies 101

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Cryptocurrencies are a social movement based on the belief that markings in a ledger on the internet have intrinsic value. The organizers of these ledgers call these markings Bitcoin, or Dogecoin, or offer other names based on the specific ledger. That’s really all a cryptocurrency is. There’s no magic. It’s not money, though it has money-like properties. It’s not anything except a set of markings. Sure, the technology behind the ledgers and how to create more of these markings is kind of neat. But crypto is a movement based on energetic storytellers who spin fables about the utopian future to come. In a lot of ways, cryptocurrencies are like Florida land that no one ever intends to use. It has value in the moment it is traded, but only because there’s a collective belief that it has some intrinsic worth.

Matt Stoller BIG newsletter 12.07.21 — https://mattstoller.substack.com/

TBH I never really understood crypto until I read Stoller’s descriptive paragraph.

Now I understand this is something I will never “invest” my money in. Not that I ever intended to do that before today.

Kids Ignored When Caregivers Are Hung Up With Phones

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Using a mobile device during meals in fast-food restaurants made caregivers less attentive to the small children they were with, researchers reported.

During a non-participation, observational study, caregivers who were absorbed with typing and swiping on mobile devices during meals at fast-food restaurants spent less time paying attention to the child or children (ages 0 to 10) in their care and often reacted harshly to misbehavior or bids for attention, according to Jenny S. Radesky, MD, of Boston Medical Center, and colleagues.

 

In the case of one absorbed caregiver, the child’s bid for attention was met with a kick under the table. With another, the child was trying to pull the caregiver’s face away from the screen, and the caregiver physically pushed the child’s hands away from her face.

via Kids Ignored When Caregivers Are Hung Up With Phones.

“You can observe a lot just by watching.”

OK, put the phone down and keep your hands where I can see them.  Now turn the damn thing off and pay some attention to your kids.

Or you can just kick them.