The 215th Block: All these insufferable profile pieces
The 215th Block: All these insufferable profile pieces
Plus, freedom of speech and democratising data
This week…
Your reading time is about 7 minutes. Let’s start.
Still studying the outcome of the European Parliament election, I’ve curated a few articles profiling some of the intriguing winners. I know profile pieces are not everyone’s cup of tea. If that’s not your thing, sorry. Come back next week!
Anyway, here’s, a selection of top stories on my radar, a few personal recommendations, and the chart of the week.
ICYMI: The Previous Block was about the queenmakers of Europe. A true queen? Carola Rackete, the conservation scientist and Sea-Watch 3 captain who defied Italy by rescuing refugees in the Mediterranean in 2019, will be heading to the European Parliament with Die Linke (the Left). FWIW:
The Sahra Wagenknecht phenomenon of left-wing populism, i.e. conservative social values allied with socialist economic values: Germany’s new populists BSW challenge the far-right AfD by Ben Knight for DW.
He has cultivated his personality in the media, with television appearances, and has proven adroit on social media platforms: Jordan Bardella, the 28-year-old far-right French politician by Euronews with AP.
A rabble-rouser and Internet personality: Alvise Pérez, the anti-system Spaniard who has obtained three seats in the EU Parliament by Manuel Viejo for El País.
A 24-year-old with 2.6 million subscribers and no political experience garnered the third-largest number of votes with 19.4 per cent: Fidias Panayiotou, the YouTube prankster from Cyprus elected as MEP by Vicky Wong for BBC.
The case of Ilaria Salis, whose election win also gained her immunity from charges relating to an alleged attack on neo-Nazis: Italian activist freed from Budapest house arrest by Lorenzo Tondo for The Guardian.
CORRECTION NOTICE: None notified.LEARNING MACHINE
A new AI tool that accurately measures crowd sizes sheds light on protests roiling Brazil
Flávia Mihorance for Rest of World:
In late February, throngs of demonstrators flooded Paulista Avenue, the main thoroughfare in São Paulo, to show their support for former President Jair Bolsonaro.
It was the “largest political event ever held” on the famous avenue with over half a million people attending, Bolsonaro’s team declared later that day. The São Paulo state’s public security department—governed by Bolsonaro allies—went further, claiming 600,000 people had taken to the avenue.
But a group of researchers at the University of São Paulo estimated that the real number of attendees was 185,000, less than a third of the official estimates.
The team arrived at this figure through an innovative tool that uses drone imagery and artificial intelligence, which could be a game changer for mitigating inflated attendance numbers, analysts told Rest of World.
Accurate crowd-counting has long been an issue everywhere. Loosely linked:
Why Russia, China and Big Tech all use faux females to get clicks by David Klepper for AP/ABCNews.
Why Chinese women are looking to ChatGPT for love by Wanqing Zhang for BBC.
Chinese provinces bring in AI to stop cheating in gaokao university entrance exams by Kamun Lai for SCMP. (Archive link.)
Turkish student creates custom AI device for cheating university exam, gets arrested by Benj Edwards for Ars Technica.
A real photo took third place in an AI image contest by Kyle Barr for Gizmodo.
MO FREEDOM
Indonesian court jails comedian for joking about the name Muhammad
Ananda Teresia for Reuters:
Aulia Rakhman was found guilty of violating blasphemy laws after joking about the name of the Islamic prophet Muhammad during a performance in the Sumatran city of Lampung in December.
A video of his performance, widely shared on social media, showed him quipping that the holiness of the name was no longer valid given that so many people in prison were named Muhammad.
Many Indonesians are named Muhammad, after the prophet.
It’s a good joke, tbh. Loosely linked:
A cartoon cat has been vexing China’s censors—now he says they are on his tail by Tessa Wong for BBC.
China #MeToo journalist sentenced to five years in jail, supporters say by Helen Davidson for The Guardian.
Why a Nigerian woman faces jail time for reviewing tomato puree by Pelumi Salako for Al Jazeera.
Why are the US’s elite universities so afraid of this scholar’s paper? by Jonathan Guyer for The Guardian.
FBI asks scientists for trust in taking anti-Asian bias seriously by Neil Savage for Nature.
Canadian universities say foreign influence registry could harm research partnerships by Jim Bronskill for The Canadian Press/CBC.
Satire can spread online as misinformation. Here’s why we still shouldn’t label it by Robern Phiddian (Flinders University) for The Conversation.
LA LANGUE
Too late to learn another colonial language, say Indigenous students opposing Quebec’s Bill 96
Verity Stevenson for CBC:
“While it’s really nice the French people are trying to keep their language alive, it really affects my people,” said Zye Rashontiiostha Mayo, 19.
“A lot of us don’t know our own language. Almost all of us know English. If we have to pick between another language we want to learn, we’re never going to pick French.”
So true. Loosely linked:
Spivak, politics of pronunciation, and the search for a just democracy by Ilan Kapoor for Al Jazeera.
Why we’re so bad at spotting lies – most of us only perform slightly better than chance by Geoff Beattie (Edge Hill University) for The Conversation.
“There are many things to take from this story—about beginner’s mind, the diversity of human experience, and the interoperability of language”: Should this be a map or 500 maps? Elan Ullendorff for Escape The Algorithm.
Tenemos un acento, hablamos un dialecto por Enrique Balmaseda Maestu (Universidad de La Rioja) en The Conversation.
Accent étranger et célébrité : des stéréotypes et du sexisme par Grégory Miras (Université de Lorraine) dans The Conversation.
What I read, listen, and watch…
I’m reading Coming Home (2024) by Brittney Griner with Michelle Burford. I don’t follow the WNBA so I didn’t know who Griner was until her detainment in Russia. Even then, I didn’t follow her case closely at all. I read an excerpt of the book when it was published in Time and thought to give it a shot. I’m not a fan of memoirs, but this one is an exception.
I’m listening to an episode of TANGOTI about pioneer chip designer Lynn Conway, who died earlier this month at 86. I shared Conway’s article in #149, where she wrote about how tech contributions by women and people of colour often disappear from later history; their work is usually attributed to someone else. Conway’s perspective is personal, as she transitioned much later in life, and had to restart her career as a computer scientist from scratch after being fired from IBM for transitioning. In the early years of the Internet, she hosted one of the most comprehensive resource websites for trans people to provide generations of trans people with information and a lifeline.
I’m watching CNA’s Becoming Human 4 on the applications of generative AI across industries and around the world. Weaving stories from South Korea to the UAE, Chua Enlai et al. did a great job in this latest instalment. Part 2 is here.
Other curious links, including en español et français:
Elon Musk’s boundary-blurring relationships with women at SpaceX by Joe Palazzolo and Khadeeja Safdar for WSJ. (Archive link.)
What X’s move to hide likes means for accountability by Jordan Pearson for CBC.
“Lauren Windsor calls herself a journalist. But she didn’t act like one when she deceived Alito to get him to talk”: Was it unethical to secretly record Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito? by Tom Jones for Poynter.
Trolls are citing an ‘Oxford study’ to demean Asian women in interracial relationships. But it doesn’t actually exist by Steffi Cao for The Guardian.
Saffron in the Rainbow Nation: Hindu nationalism’s presence in South Africa by Nikhil Mandalaparthy for Religion Unplugged.
What should Econ 101 courses teach students today? by Sam Haselby for Aeon.
De la honra al ‘body count’: el lenguaje cambia pero siempre señala a las mujeres que tienen tanto sexo como quieren por Ana Requena Aguila en, elDiario.es.
No responda “sí” por teléfono: los robos de datos recientes avivan las campañas de fraude masivo por Raúl Limón en El País.
Quien siembra políticas de extrema derecha…recoge extrema derecha por Miguel Urbán en Público.
Quand la gauche intellectuelle réécrit dans l’urgence son appel à l’union par Pascal Riché et Maël Thierry dans Le Nouvel Obs.
L'énigme “Giorgia contre Meloni” à propos de l’UE par David Carretta et Christian Spillmann dans La Matinale Européenne.
Guillaume Meurice considère son licenciement de Radio France comme une « victoire idéologique » de « l’extrême droite » par Le Monde avec AFP.
Chart of the week
Earlier this month, Ipsos released its AI Monitor 2024. Some 67 per cent of 23,685 respondents across 32 countries said they have a good understanding of AI, while 52 per cent said they know what products and services use AI. Really? The self-claimed knowledge is highest in Asia, with China (81 per cent), Indonesia (80 per cent) and Thailand (69 per cent) topping the list. Most Anglophone respondents are nervous about products and services using AI, the Global Majority more excited, while Europeans are generally mixed.
