April 10 Safe Tech International News and Notes
AI & Energy, Children & Addictive Design, Jonathan Haidt, HAVANA
Waldorf Today eclipse quote: Based on the work of Rudolf Steiner Kairos: Healing in a World of Need by Karine Munk Finser: “Many children and young people who suffer trauma are experiencing an eclipse of their essential selves. It lasts for much longer than minutes, as their bodily vessel is no longer able to work with the incarnating I forces. There is a disconnect which, if not addressed and helped, can prevent a normal unfolding of their lives in accordance with their pre-birth life intentions. These kinds of eclipses of the soul are dangerous. Not just for the individual but for all of us. When so many suffer a separation from the genius of their lives, we all suffer. The creativity and healing of many of our challenges here on earth depend on the health of one another.”
FEATURED ARTICLES RE: AI & ENERGY
AI: No, AI Won’t Outsmart Our Climate Calamity Quite the opposite. Artificial intelligence devours vast energy while clouding the human wisdom that might save us/ Andrew Nikiforuk Robot doublespeak: digital tech keeps promising energy savings while cannibalizing energy supplies Plenty of other powerful voices are working hard to make us feel optimistic about a new society transformed by artificial intelligence. By now, we really should know not to be taken in. For AI is but the latest manifestation of what the famed social critic Jacques Ellul called “the technological bluff.” As repeated by the media and our politicians, the bluff claims that only technology will solve our problems. Remember how the internet was going to improve democracies and social media was going to foster a spirit of kumbaya? The bluff pretends technology is a neutral force rather than one that concentrates power in fewer and fewer hands, replaces the natural with the artificial, turns every end into a means and has only one mandate: efficiency. []The bluff, of course, disparages the precautionary principle — the wisdom of slowing down and weighing risks when contemplating big changes in how we do things — as an irritating obstacle to progress. But that wasn’t the message of a recent report issued by Greenpeace and five other environmental non-profits. “The AI Threats to Climate Change” calls the technological bluff by noting that artificial intelligence, the product of computing machines, will consume more energy and water and thereby add more chaos to the unravelling climate crisis “The AI Threats to Climate Change”) four key points, However inadequate its conclusions, we at least can thank “The AI Threats to Climate Change” for highlighting what few proponents of AI want to admit. The carbon footprint of data centres, cables, satellite infrastructure and computing power required to drive AI is immense. https://thetyee.ca/Analysis/2024/04/01/No-AI-Outsmart-Climate-Calamity/
Report: Artificial Intelligence A Threat to Climate Change, Energy Usage and Disinformation Tech accountability and environmental groups sound the alarm on the potential harms of AI to the planet and information ecosystem https://foe.org/news/ai-threat-report/
The real cost of a “like” Guillaume Pitron takes on the digital delusion /Guillaume Pitron The French journalist Guillaume Pitron recently examined the full environmental cost of the digital economy in his extraordinary book The Dark Cloud (the French title, Digital Hell, is much more evocative). His exposé found that the digital world gobbles up 10 per cent of the world’s electricity and represents more than four per cent of global emissions. That’s more than the civil aviation industry. Within a year or two it will account for 20 per cent of global electrical production and nearly eight per cent of greenhouse gas emissions. []Four years after The Rare Metals War: The Dark Side of Clean Energy and Digital Technologies, the documentary maker – who began his career as a jurist – has published a new book titled Digital Hell. Journey to the End of a Like (in French). In it he maps out the environmental outfall of a daily habit which takes just a fraction of a second, but which guzzles up precious resources, such as water, which is used to cool down data centers when Danish researchers investigated the claims, they found that the high material and energy cost of these supposed technological helpers cancelled out any energy savings. They concluded that “Smart City Solutions generally has a negative influence on the environmental sustainability performance of an urban system.” https://www.philonomist.com/en/interview/real-cost
We Built the Technosphere. Now We Must Resist/ Andrew Nikiforuk It Our brave new world of plastic, wire and concrete promises liberation. Instead, its cult of efficiency controls and kills. Today technology and its material demands have colonized every biological zone on Earth and shape virtually all human life. By definition the technosphere represents an artificial (and parasitic) offshoot of the much-abused biosphere. It includes glass, concrete, asphalt and plastic, roaring furnaces and humming digital paraphernalia. It includes motors, missiles, the internet and all the energy humans wrangle to power them. AI has already penetrated just about every economic activity. Yet few people and even fewer leaders recognize where we’ve arrived. Technosphere residents, servants or inmates (you can pick the appropriate noun) remain largely blind to its size and intent. Many people spend more time living in the technosphere than they do in the real world. They can identify the virtual characters of video games but cannot name the trees or birds outside their windows. The average U.S. teenager spends nearly eight hours on screens, floating like internet astronauts steered by algorithms. Their French counterparts have owned, on average, five mobile phones by the age of 18. https://thetyee.ca/Analysis/2024/01/16/We-Built-Technosphere-Now-We-Must-Resist/
Technology as a geological phenomenon: implications for human well-being/ Peter Haff This machine-mediated universe as an interlinked system of communication, transportation and administrative technologies that mines, metabolizes and consumes fossil fuels and any other energy sources it can draw upon. With every tonne of fossil fuels the technosphere consumes, it extracts another six tonnes of material stuff including sand, metal, rock, wood and stone. “On land the technosphere,” writes Haff, “transports large quantities of solids further and faster than any natural process except sediment transport by rivers.” As such the technosphere possesses its own metabolism, continuously appropriating resources like some Napoleonic army. Its fresh water demands alone divert the equivalent of a Mediterranean Sea every year. https://pne.people.si.umich.edu/PDF/Haff%202013%20Technology%20as%20a%20Geological%20Phenomenon.pdf
Global human-made mass exceeds all living biomass Emily Elhacham1, Liad Ben-Uri1, Jonathan Grozovski1, Yinon M. Bar-On1 & Ron Milo1 Humanity has become a dominant force in shaping the face of Earth1–9 . An emerging question is how the overall material output of human activities compares to the overall natural biomass. Here we quantify the human-made mass, referred to as ‘anthropogenic mass’, and compare it to the overall living biomass on Earth, which currently equals approximately 1.1 teratonnes10,11. We fnd that Earth is exactly at the crossover point; in the year 2020 (± 6), the anthropogenic mass, which has recently doubled roughly every 20 years, will surpass all global living biomass. On average, for each person on the globe, anthropogenic mass equal to more than his or her bodyweight is produced every week. This quantifcation of the human enterprise gives a mass-based quantitative and symbolic characterization of the human-induced epoch of the Anthropocene. The planet’s animals collectively weigh approximately four gigatonnes, but plastics now total eight gigatonnes. Buildings and infrastructure including roads represent a larger mass than all of the world’s trees and shrubs. If megacities continue to expand and human societies consume more and more finite stuff, the mass of the technosphere, including its leviathan waste stream, will exceed three teratonnes by 2040. That is almost triple the dry biomass on Earth. “There’s now enough concrete on the planet to produce a 2mm thick, full-scale replica of Earth, and enough plastic to completely wrap that replica in cling film,” wrote natural scientists Gabrielle Hecht and Pamila Gupta six years ago. https://fisherp.mit.edu/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/s41586-020-3010-5.pdf
Energy transitions or additions? Why a transition from fossil fuels requires more than the growth ofrenewable energy Richard Yorka,⁎, Shannon Elizabeth Bellb https://content.csbs.utah.edu/~mli/Economics%207004/York%20and%20Bell-Energy%20Transition%20or%20Addition.pdf
MORE NEWS AND NOTES
BROADBAND INDUSTRY: POTS and PANS BLOG The Demand for Broadband Usage There is no question, just like with the bandwidth speeds, that broadband usage has been growing for both homes and businesses. For the last five years, business broadband usage grew by 311% (25.5% per year), and home broadband usage grew by 236% (18.8% per year). The table above predicts an overall 12-fold increase in broadband usage over 25 years. Don’t forget that these numbers only come from residential and business broadband usage. There are a lot more sources of broadband, which means that usage on networks will be higher than shown in the table above. Not included in that table are things like data generated from mobile devices, data generated by governments and universities, data generated by outdoor sensors and farming, data generated by self-driving cars and robots, data used to monitor and operate the electric grid and green energy production, and data used to monitor and operate broadband networks. There is good evidence that these other uses of broadband are growing faster than home and business use. https://potsandpansbyccg.com/2024/04/09/the-demand-for-broadband-usage/
BROADBAND INDUSTRY: POTS and PANS BLOG The Future of the Last Mile There is no possibility for wireless technology to keep up with the increased demand that will be expected in 25 years. The only way to increase wireless speeds and capacity would be to greatly increase the size of wireless channels – which the FCC is unlikely to do - or use much higher frequencies. We’ve already learned that millimeter-wave and higher frequencies can deliver much faster speed, but don’t play well in an outdoor environment in an end-to-end wireless network. This doesn’t mean that wireless ISPs won’t be delivering broadband for decades to come – but over time, wireless last-mile technologies will fall behind fiber in the same way that DSL slowly fell behind cable modems. Unless satellite technology finds a way to get a lot faster, it won't be a technology of choice except for folks in remote areas. Mobile data is always going to be vital, but there will be major pressure on wireless companies to finally deliver on the promises of 5G to keep up with future demand for speed and bandwidth. https://potsandpansbyccg.com/2024/04/10/the-future-of-the-last-mile/
CELLPHONES CHD: ‘Low Credibility’ Study Claims No Link Between Cellphone Use and Brain Tumors The COSMOS study concluded that heavy cellphone use was not associated with an increased risk of developing brain tumors. Some scientists criticized the study’s methodology and suggested that funding by the telecommunications industry may have led to bias.[] Dr. Lennart Hardell, a leading scientist on cancer risks from radiation, told The Defender the study “lacked scientific integrity.”[] Mona Nilsson, co-founder and director of the Swedish Radiation Protection Foundation, said there is reason to suspect that industry influenced the COSMOS study. In an article critiquing the study, Nilsson said telecommunication companies were the ones who initiated the study and provided some of the study’s initial funding. “They have an interest in showing that mobile phones do not have negative health effects.” Additionally, the researchers who conducted the study “have a long history of dismissing evidence of health risks,” she said. In her opinion, their results have “low credibility.” https://childrenshealthdefense.org/defender/cellphone-brain-tumors-cosmos-study-industry-funding/
CELLPHONES: Can You Raise a Teen Today Without a Smartphone? Yes, you can. We did and this is what we learned.
CELLPHONES: Healthy Tech at Home Project: https://healthytechhome.org/cell-phone-and-wireless-fine-print-radiation-warnings/
CELLPHONES: UK ministers considering banning sale of smartphones to under-16s Polls show significant support for curb to protect children but some Tories uneasy with idea of government ‘microparenting’ https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2024/apr/10/uk-ministers-considering-banning-sale-of-smartphones-to-under-16s
CELLPHONES HEALTH Cindy Sage Testicular Cancer in Teenage Boys: Is Cell Phone Radiation a Risk Factor for Young Boys Who Wear their Cell Phone on a Belt or in a Front Pocket? Overall, the evidence from various laboratories studying male fertility and reproduction effects over the last ten years is important enough raise questions about possible public health consequences (including cancer) of chronic, long-term exposure to mobile phone use, when carried on the body close to the reproductive organs https://stopsmartmetersbc.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/Comment-to-PLOS-One-by-Cindy-Sage-re-Testicular-Cancer-in-Teenage-Boys-Is-Cell-Phone-Radiation-a-Risk-Factor-for-Young-Boys-Who-Wear-their-Cell-Phone-on-a-Belt-or-in-a-Front-Pocket.pd
CHILDREN: Delaney from Screenagers Social Media: Bold Ideas For Helping Our Teens The current surge in conversation and scrutiny concerning the impact of screen time on youth mental wellbeing, catalyzed by social psychologist Jonathan Haidt's media tour for his new book, "Anxious Generation," is truly fantastic. This increased dialogue is crucial for understanding screen time risks and determining the best ways to support our children's mental health. Let’s not let this attention for the need for solutions die down! In today’s blog, I weigh in on four key points Haidt makes to keep the momentum in full swing. A Groundswell of People Saying Things Must Change, Ban Phones From Schools, Delaying Social Media For Our Youth Moving Forward is Essential,E ncouraging Our Youth To Be More Independent https://www.screenagersmovie.com/blog/social-media-bold-ideas
CHILDREN: Yes, Social Media Really Is a Cause of the Epidemic of Teenage Mental Illness Two major problems with a review in Nature by Jon Haidt Odgers recently stated the skeptics' case in an essay in Nature titled The Great Rewiring: Is Social Media Really Behind an Epidemic of Teenage Mental Illness? The essay offered a critique of my recent book, The Anxious Generation. Odgers’ primary criticism is that I have mistaken correlation for causation and that “there is no evidence that using these platforms is rewiring children’s brains or driving an epidemic of mental illness.” She also warns that my ringing of a false alarm “might distract us from effectively responding to the real causes of the current mental-health crisis in young people,” which, she suggests, are social ills such as racism, economic hardship, and the lingering impact of the 2008 Global Financial Crisis and its disparate impact on children in low SES families. In this response essay, I’ll present the two main problems I see with the skeptics' approach, as exemplified in Odgers’ review: Odgers is wrong to say that I have no evidence of causation; Odgers’ alternative explanation does not fit the available facts.
References: Social Media and Mental Health: A Collaborative Review https://docs.google.com/document/d/1w-HOfseF2wF9YIpXwUUtP65-olnkPyWcgF5BiAtBEy0/edit 344 pages
CHILDREN ADDICTIVE DESIGN: The Legislative and Litigation Synergy Driving Florida’s Social Media Crackdown (reported by AEI) When Florida Governor Ron DeSantis signed a bill last month banning anyone “younger than 14 years of age” from holding accounts with certain social media platforms, it garnered coverage in the Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, and USA Today. The New York Times deemed the law “one of the more restrictive measures that a state has enacted so far in an escalating nationwide push to insulate young people from potential mental health and safety risks on social media platforms.” Known as House Bill 3, it also requires 14 and 15-year-olds to obtain parental or guardian consent to hold an account. As I previously described, an earlier version––House Bill 1––that DeSantis vetoed was even broader, banning any Floridian under age 16 from holding a social media account. One facet of House Bill 3 meriting greater attention is that it defines regulated platforms partly by whether they incorporate any one of five “addictive features.” These allegedly addictive design elements include: (1) infinite scrolling, such as platforms continuously loading content or featuring seamless content without page breaks; (2) push notifications and alerts sent by platforms “about specific activities or events related to the user’s account”; (3) displays of “personal interactive metrics” such as the number of times a user’s post is liked or shared; (4) auto-play video that starts without having to click it; and (5) “Live-streaming or a function that allows a user or advertiser to broadcast live video content in real-time.” This is significant because using these supposedly “addictive features” Florida, as I described earlier, is far from alone in suing social media companies over allegedly addictive design features that supposedly promote compulsive usage harming minors. I explained in early November that such lawsuits typically target platforms’ alleged design defects (their purported addictiveness mechanisms), using negligence claims, products liability theories, and states’ consumer protection statutes“to thwart First Amendment defenses and block the federal statute—Section 230—that generally shields platforms from liability for hosting and removing others’ content.” Whether these end-run efforts ultimately succeed remains to be seen.For now, we’re witnessing a Red-state legislative body follow the strategic lead of its attorney general in an escalating battle pitting free-speech and privacy interests against ostensible harm to minors. https://www.aei.org/technology-and-innovation/addictive-design-the-legislative-and-litigation-synergy-driving-floridas-social-media-crackdown/
AI: How Tech Giants Cut Corners to Harvest Data for A.I. OpenAI, Google and Meta ignored corporate policies, altered their own rules and discussed skirting copyright law as they sought online information to train their newest artificial intelligence systems. https://www.nytimes.com/2024/04/06/technology/tech-giants-harvest-data-artificial-intelligence.html
DISABILITIES: Justice Department to Publish Final Rule to Strengthen Web and Mobile App Access for People with Disabilities Attorney General Merrick Garland signed a final rule under Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) to ensure the accessibility of web content and mobile applications (apps) for people with disabilities. This final rule clarifies the obligations of state and local governments to make their websites and mobile applications accessible. Every day, people across the country use the web and mobile apps to access public programs and services, including emergency information, courts, healthcare providers, schools, voting information, parking, permit applications, tax payments, and transit updates. If these technologies are not accessible, it can be difficult or impossible for people with disabilities to access critical services. Consequently, individuals with disabilities may be excluded from accessing public services that other people routinely use. The final rule mandates technical standards for state and local governments to help ensure the accessibility of their programs and services provided through the web and mobile apps. By providing clarity on how to make sure these platforms are accessible for people with disabilities, this final rule advances the ADA’s promise of a more inclusive society. https://www.benton.org/headlines/justice-department-publish-final-rule-strengthen-web-and-mobile-app-access-people
EVENT National Academies re Mobility and Disabilities: Rescheduled TRB Webinar: When Our Technology Solutions Do Not Work for Everyone Postponed (Editor note: the registration page states that the event has been rescheduled. Hopefully EHS issues can be brought to the attention of this working group – car rentals, air plane travel, cell towers on highways, wireless hearing aids etc. in a very formal way. We are the ones writing the true history). https://www.nationalacademies.org/topics/transportation-and-infrastructure When technology solutions are not accessible to people with disabilities, the solutions are exclusionary. Public and private industries must work with people with disabilities when planning, designing, and implementing smart mobility solutions to make the products and services as accessible as possible. TRB will host a webinar on Thursday, April 11, 2024 from 2:00 PM to 3:30 PM Eastern ( has been postponed) that will present lived experiences highlighting accessibility issues with modern transportation technology, along with examples of how policies can address these issues. Presenters will explore the barriers and opportunities created by transportation technologies and their effect on various communities. This webinar is sponsored by TRB’s Standing Technical Committees on Information Systems and Technology and Accessible Transportation and Mobility. Sign into MyTRB.org to view registration information. Contact trbwebinar@nas.edu https://www.nationalacademies.org/event/871_04-2024_trb-webinar-when-our-technology-solutions-do-not-work-for-everyone
EMF: The EMF of the Eclipse How does the Eclipse affect EMF? | NASA | CERN
EVs SWEDEN, AUSTRALIA: Electric Car Fires: What You Should Know EV fires are scary. Should you be worried about them? The MSB's 2023 report found that electric car fires, out of about 611,000 electric vehicles, have averaged about 20 per year in the last three years. On the other hand, cars powered by fuel — totaling about 4.4 million — had about 3,400 fires during that same time. The agency concedes that some of the fires in internal combustion engine vehicles were due to arson, but the figures still come out in favor of EVs. []Not only is a lithium fire hard to extinguish in the first place, they are extremely prone to reigniting out of nowhere, sometimes days after the initial fire. Add in that the smoke from an EV fire is especially toxic, and you're better off just getting to a safe distance and letting the professionals handle it. [ ] If you're the type of motorist who insists on carrying a fire extinguisher with you in your car, you might be wondering what kind you need to buy for an EV. Unfortunately, there simply isn't one. https://www.edmunds.com/electric-car/articles/electric-car-fires.html
CELLPHONES: Your iPhone Is Tracking You, Even If You Ask It To Stop: Hidden Privacy Dangers Found Lurking In Apple’s Default Apps https://www.activistpost.com/2024/04/your-iphone-is-tracking-you-even-if-you-ask-it-to-stop-hidden-privacy-dangers-found-lurking-in-apples-default-apps.html
5G BUILDING BIOLOGY: What Exactly is 5G? -- Part Two 5G Cell Service In part one we discussed the malignant spread of Wi-Fi and what 5G means in that context. The second type of 5G we need to talk about is 5G Cell Service – digital voice and data services delivered over the cellular network. Our goal, as before, is to relieve some of the trauma from the 5G specter by replacing 5G fear with knowledge and a plan for reducing personal exposure.
5G INDUSTRY; New Growth in the 5G Millimeter Wave Market Mobile Experts released a new report today, highlighting the use cases and product types that are starting to spark new growth in the 5G millimeter-wave telecom market. The past four years have been a difficult time in millimeter-wave technology, but Mobile Experts has been able to identify the bottom-up growth associated with fixed wireless access (FWA), high-density venues (stadiums and airports), private 5G, and transportation applications (metro lines and trains). https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/new-growth-in-the-5g-millimeter-wave-market-302110383.html Report: https://mobile-experts.net/reports/p/mmwave24
HAVANA SYNDROME The Director of National Intelligence: Complementary Efforts on Anomalous Health Incidents The U.S. Government is continuing its efforts to get to the bottom of Anomalous Health Incidents (AHIs) and to care for those affected. We will continue to release information to our workforce and the public as our initiatives begin to bear fruit on key outstanding questions. This update provides information about the Intelligence Community Experts Panel on Anomalous Health Incidents, a group jointly convened by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence and Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) to help elucidate potential causal mechanisms of AHIs affecting U.S. Government personnel 1 page overview: 3. Pulsed electromagnetic energy, particularly in the radiofrequency range, plausibly explains the core characteristics of reported AHIs, although information gaps exist. https://www.dni.gov/files/ODNI/documents/assessments/2022_02_01_AHIs_Infographic.pdf COMPLEMENTARY EFFORTS ON ANOMALOUS HEALTH INCIDENTS 4 page declassified report (redacted) https://www.dni.gov/files/ODNI/documents/assessments/2022_02_01_AHI_Executive_Summary_FINAL_Redacted.pdf
HEALTH Autism and Radiation CHD TV with Martha Herbert and Jodi Nelson (Lyme) https://live.childrenshealthdefense.org/chd-tv/shows/good-morning-chd/autism-and-radiation/
HEALTH: Are We Living In an Open Air Microwave Oven? Dr. Martin Pall: Cell phone companies hiding the truth about harmful 5G Canadian radio show host Jim Goddardinterviewed Dr. Martin Pall who speaks about many things from natural EMFs to 5G supporting AI. 49 min https://www.howestreet.com/2024/04/are-we-living-in-an-open-air-microwave-oven-martin-pall/
HEALTH: The increasing toll of adolescent cancer incidence in the US Jessica Burkhamer. David Kriebel1, and Richard Clapp https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0172986
HEALTH REGULATION, EINAR FLYDAL – TRANSLATED FROM NORWEGIAN: Should radiation protection be based on how hot rats can get before they stop eating? A crystal clear statement from some of those involved Here is a crystal clear, but rather "technical" and dry account written by the men who helped shape the guidelines, including the American medic Marvin Ziskin (1939-2022) (pictured). The report shows how systematically and orderly the development of guidelines and limit values takes place – but also how meaninglessly outdated the premises are that are applied. [ ]We know from the overwhelming majority of the last 35 years of research reports that such a starting point for guidelines and threshold values does not capture essential harm. This mindset is simply not suited to setting boundaries that capture everything that should be stopped. Because who wants DNA breaks, tinnitus, headaches or joint pain – that we know are triggered without such heating? COMAR, IEEE and ICNIRP, on the other hand, believe that the guidelines should remain as they are. https://einarflydal.com/2024/04/09/bor-stralevernet-baseres-pa-hvor-varme-rotter-kan-bli-for-de-slutter-a-spise-en-krystallklar-redegjorelse-fra-noen-av-de-involverte/ In reference to: Original title: Marvin C. Ziskin, COMAR Technical Information Statement the IEEE exposure limits for radiofrequency and microwave energy, COMAR Reports, IEEE ENGINEERING IN MEDICINE AND BIOLOGY MAGAZINE MARCH/APRIL 2005, pp. 114 – 121, https://www.researchgate.net/publication/3246038_Comar_reports_-_comar_technical_information_statement_the_IEEE_exposure_limits_for_radiofrequency_and_microwave_energy
HEALTH Opinion article: Digital Dementia "Are we willing to sacrifice our cognitive abilities and deteriorating mental health for the tremendous benefits of this remarkable revolution? The answer is a resounding yes. We are never going to put that genie back in the bottle.... Mental health and human capacity for learning and adopting has decreased over the last 20 years. As a result, kids are no longer curious, carefree, and happy. They are not learning their lessons, isolating themselves, becoming obese, committing suicide, frustrated, and growing up stressed out." https://www.upsonbeacon.com/opinion/columnists/digital-dementia/article_6e630d90-f136-11ee-accd-ebdbe31f9099.html
HEALTH NATHAN CRANE PODCAST: The Science and Dangers of EMF and How to Protect Yourself Explore the science behind electromagnetic fields and their potential dangers to our health. Unveil the truth about EMFs, from the convenience of wireless technology to its unseen hazards. Joined by Dr. William Pawluk, a leading authority in pulsed electromagnetic therapy, we delve into how EMFs, particularly from devices like cell phones and Wi-Fi routers, may impact our health on a cellular level. Youtube video here. 1 hour 47 minutes (DISCLAIMER I have not listened and do not know if they are promoting product sales)
HUMAN RIGHTS/WORKERS RIGHTS: S. Korea: Govt. agency rules unsafe work environment at Samsung Electronics caused congenital diseases; company did not respond The Korea Workers' Compensation and Welfare Service case recognised the “risks of unsafe work environments on a fetus after employees who worked at Samsung Electronics during their pregnancy claimed their children's congenital diseases should be covered by workplace accident compensation”. The committee concluded that “the cases of three women who worked as operators at the chipmaker should be acknowledged as industrial accidents”. Business & Human Rights Resource Centre requested a response from Samsung Electronics; it did not respond. https://www.business-humanrights.org/en/latest-news/s-korea-govt-agency-rules-unsafe-work-environment-at-samsung-electronics-caused-congenital-diseases-incl-company/
INSPIRATION/ACTIVISM/OT: Jane Goodall’s Inspiring Message for Future Generations As the iconic scientist and activist celebrates her 90th birthday, her message for younger generations is one of hope — and not fearing the next adventure https://www.truthdig.com/articles/jane-goodalls-inspiring-message-for-future-generations/ see also her work with Local Futures and World Localization Day: https://mailchi.mp/3f6dddfc4d02/dr-gabor-mat-on-mental-health-and-localization-10289302?e=965dd3d81b
INSPIRATION/ACTIVIST /OT: Poisoned Ground: The Tragedy at Love Canal Documentary Film tells the dramatic and inspiring story of the ordinary women who fought against overwhelming odds for the health and safety of their families. In the late 1970s, residents of Love Canal, a working-class neighborhood in Niagara Falls, New York, discovered that their homes, schools and playgrounds were built on top of a former chemical waste dump, which was now leaking toxic substances and wreaking havoc on their health. Through interviews with many of the extraordinary housewives turned activists, the film shows how they effectively challenged those in power, forced America to reckon with the human cost of unregulated industry, and created a grassroots movement that galvanized the landmark Superfund Bill. Friday April 12, ,Join PBS's American Experience for a preview of POISONED GROUND: THE TRAGEDY AT LOVE CANAL, a new documentary film premiering Mon., April 22 at 9/8c on PBS stations nationwide. Preview and Discussion 7 pm Register today: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/poisoned-ground-the-tragedy-at-love-canal-film-preview-discussion-tickets-873479770507?aff=PAN
PRIVACY: How to stop your devices from listening to you Don't want your phones and speakers listening? Here's what to do. https://www.popsci.com/diy/how-to-stop-your-devices-from-listening/
SECURITY: Understanding the security of open-source machine learning models Greg Ellis, GM of Application Security at Digital.ai, delves into the evolving landscape of machine learning security. In February, researchers at JFrog Security Research found 100 vulnerable machine learning models uploaded on Hugging Face, the AI platform for sharing and collaborating on ML models. These models contained malicious code that could run harmful actions on users' machines. The malicious models took advantage of the "pickle" format, often used by machine learning researchers to share their trained models. Attackers had inserted malicious code in pickle files, which would then run on the user’s machine when they loaded the model. This would give the attackers backdoor access to the user’s device and possibly enable them to gain full control of the machine.
SPACE: NASA knows what knocked Voyager 1 offline, but it will take a while to fix "Engineers are optimistic they can find a way for the FDS to operate normally." Engineers have determined why NASA's Voyager 1 probe has been transmitting gibberish for nearly five months, raising hopes of recovering humanity's most distant spacecraft. Confirming their hypothesis, engineers at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in California confirmed a small portion of corrupted memory caused the problem. https://arstechnica.com/space/2024/04/the-diagnosis-is-in-bad-memory-knocked-nasas-aging-voyager-1-offline/
SPACE: What do scientists hope to learn from total solar eclipse in US? About 40 citizen science projects are planned around the eclipse, from using a phone app to register the temperature and cloud cover to recording ambient noise during the event. "We encourage you to help NASA observe the sights and sounds around you," Nelson said. https://phys.org/news/2024-04-scientists-total-solar-eclipse.html
SPACE: Nukes in space: A bad idea in the 1960s, an even worse one now Unlike nuclear explosions on Earth, where the energy released super-heats the atmosphere into a fireball, nuclear explosions in space release their energy as high-energy charged particles, X-rays, intense flows of neutrons and electromagnetic pulse (Emp). Emp occurs when gamma rays from the nuclear explosion strips electrons from gases in the upper atmosphere. This blinds radar, knocks out communications and destructively overloads power networks. Emp was first observed during the Starfish Prime nuclear test. The test weapon was launched by a Thor missile from the Johnston Island in the north Pacific on July 8 1962. https://phys.org/news/2024-04-nukes-space-bad-idea-1960s.html
SURVEILLANCE: Your smart TV is snooping on you. Here's how to limit the personal data it gathers You can't stop your smart TV from snooping on you entirely, but you can opt out of some of it. https://www.zdnet.com/home-and-office/home-entertainment/your-smart-tv-is-snooping-on-you-heres-how-to-limit-the-personal-data-it-gathers/
WARFARE: Department of Defense outlines spectrum moonshot endeavor during eclipse They’re calling it a moonshot—akin to sending men to the moon in the 1960s. It’s all about developing a dynamic spectrum sharing (DSS) framework to share spectrum between the Department of Defense (DoD) and commercial wireless users. Establishing a secure, nationwide DSS system that operates at light speed will be challenging and require some super brainy people, but DoD Chief Information Officer John Sherman said he’s motivated by it all. The moonshot will be focused initially on the 3.1-3.45 GHz band, led by the DoD and National Information and Telecommunications Administration (NTIA) with participation from academia and industry. It follows on the Biden Administration’s National Spectrum Strategy and implementation plan for it, as well as the Emerging Mid-Band Radar Spectrum Sharing, or EMBRSS effort, and the Partnering on Advanced and Holistic Spectrum Solution, or PATHSS. One of the objectives of the government’s DSS effort is the development of a next-generation spectrum sharing prototype. They’re also talking about leveraging open Radio Access Network (RAN) and more specifically, the Radio Intelligent Controller (RIC) to ensure that sharing is quickly and efficiently implemented in commercial networks and that existing infrastructure is part of the process. https://www.benton.org/headlines/department-defense-outlines-spectrum-moonshot-endeavor-during-eclipse
WIRELESS/FCC; T-Mobile's 5G is interfering with our FWA service, Bloosurf alleges Bloosurf, which offers fixed wireless services in Maryland and elsewhere, claims T-Mobile's 5G service is interfering with its network. And it's reiterating calls to the FCC to step in and do something. "Bloosurf's network provides a critical lifeline to local communities, including by offering voice/911 service to many of its customers and by providing broadband access where it is not otherwise available," according to Bloosurf's new filing with the FCC. "However, due to co-channel interference caused by T-Mobile, Bloosurf customers have experienced CPE [customer premises equipment] disconnections and degraded broadband speeds. If customer CPE experiences a disconnection during an emergency, T-Mobile's harmful interference could put lives in jeopardy." The company said it worked with T-Mobile to conduct interference testing to determine whether T-Mobile's network was causing the interference. But, according to Bloosurf, T-Mobile pulled a fast one during the tests. "T-Mobile never revealed, either to the commission or Bloosurf, that it was transmitting on its 5G network from the sites near Bloosurf's network," according to Bloosurf’s filing. "Rather, T-Mobile switched off its 4G transmissions but continued to operate its 5G network during the test. The interference to Bloosurf's network continued unabated, misleading engineers to believe that the harmful interference to Bloosurf was not from T-Mobile's operations." Bloosurf filed a complaint with the FCC over the issue. However, the agency dismissed the complaint on procedural grounds, a move the company called "inapt." Now, Bloosurf has again filed a complaint on the topic in the hopes that the FCC will reconsider the issue. https://www.lightreading.com/5g/t-mobile-s-5g-is-interfering-with-our-fwa-service-bloosurf-alleges
EVENTS
Summit https://emfhazards.com/ starts April 11th
Thursday, April 11 BBILAN Evolutionary Conversation — Tracking and Measuring Happiness, Integral Resilience, and Other Quality of Life Values Tuesday April 16, 2024 12:00-1:15 pm Pacific https://mailchi.mp/bbilan.org/march-4-evolutionary-conversation-discovering-your-inner-power-part-ii-14105093?e=36ad4a321f