If you know someone who takes their modern computer for granted, show them a vintage computer advertisement. The specifications featured in these old ads (along with their hefty price tags) seem minuscule to us right now, but they were the cutting edge of technology almost three decades ago. One ad published in the 1980s boasts a 10-megabyte hard disk for the jaw-dropping price of 3,495 USD, while another showcases a computer with 11 megabytes and 64 kilobytes of RAM for under 10,000 USD. Read full article here
Societal Issues
AI Predicts Crime A Week In Advance With 90 Per Cent Accuracy
An artificial intelligence model built by Ishanu Chattopadhyay and his colleagues analysed crime data in Chicago from 2014 to 2016 and managed to predict future levels of crime down to the nearest 300 metres, a week before they actually happened. While extremely useful, this artificial intelligence has been shown to expose racial prejudice in law enforcement. Hopefully, as the study’s data and methodology have been made available for others to evaluate, these prejudices can be avoided in the next iteration. Read full article here
Merv
August 15, 2022
