Paths toward next influenza pandemic
Global attention has recently focused on pandemic SARS-CoV-2, but influenza A viruses (IAVs)—the major cause of influenza pandemics over the past 500 years—have kept evolving.
Erit Topol has observed: “There are too many paths towards an influenza pandemic in the future—getting a universal flu vaccine across the goal line, which has promising potential now, is an important defense”
This is an area where public investment in drug research may make sense, Such a vaccine is really critical infrastructure for the entire population—just like investment in clean water.
Democracy
Poland
A thread on the secularization of Poland, especially young voters.
A Golden Age?
Professor Hélène Landemore (HL) interviewed by Azeem Azhar (AA) on the potential for technology to usher in a golden age. A few highlights below…
AA: Over the last 20 years technology has generated a small number of winners and lots of losers
AA: The friendly face of ChatGPT and others threatening to flood our media and social media environment with fake materials
AA: Quite bad news.
Decisions by politicians are not working
Can a Citizens Assembly be part of the solution?
HL: It’s quite ambitious and I dare say it sounds crazy to some.
HL: Actually, it works.
HL: Some famous examples the Citizens Assemblies in Ireland in 2012 and 2016
These were about marriage/divorce and abortion. They lead to deep changes in Irish laws and practice.
More on France, climate justice, end of life care.
AA: Democracies are facing a tsunami of threats.
AA: How do we govern Artificial Intelligence?
HL: We have the technology to involve an Afghan sheppard, a Brazilian seamstress, a Chinese software developer to talk about issues that involve all of u
AA: It surprised me when you said we could actually use these technologies to ensure global participation
Taylor Swift on Mary J. Blige:
“She’s the greatest singer who ever lived”
Latent: “In statistics, latent variables are variables that can only be inferred indirectly through a mathematical model from other observable variables that can be directly observed or measured.”
Many of the challenges in neural networks arise from massive information that is ‘latent’. This problem appears to be new, but it is old. A full understanding of Tayor Swift requires understanding Swift’s influences. Swift makes the hidden explicit in this video. I know for a fact that some very fine Swifties don’t realize her debt to Black music.
How is this related to Democracy?
Prof G Show
Scott Galloway is a clinical professor of marketing at the New York University Stern School of Business, public speaker, author, podcast host, and entrepreneur. Wikipedia.
In this video Scott
Explains AI
Explains how he and his crew build a chatbot based on thousands of pages his writings over the years.
Proves that apart from his credentials, he does know something about marketing.
I tried Prof G Bot on "gluten free food in Cuba" and the answer could have been that weat is expensive in Cuba and the food commonly available (rice, meat, vegetaes, fruit) are naturally gluten free and safe for persons who soffer eating gluten.
Instead the answer I got was something that sounds like an anti-comunist digression totaly unusefull.
AI will be useful when it will answer with fact and not with opinions.