January 8-10 Safe Tech International News and Note (with events/calls/meetings)

22 New Papers. Truth About Smart Grid & Why It Is Not So Smart, Eric Windheim and Lighting,

Jan 10, 2025

New research links 5G rural uploads to higher radiation levels Key quote:

"We have to keep in mind that, in our study, the phone was about 30 cm [11.8 inches] away from the measuring device. A mobile phone user will hold the phone closer to the body and thus the exposure to RF-EMF could be up to 10 times higher."

— Adriana Fernandes Veludo, epidemiology researcher at the Swiss Tropical And Public Health Institute (courtesy Theodora)

FEATURED:

22 New Papers on Electromagnetic Fields and Biology or Health Joel M. Moskowitz haS been circulating abstracts of newly-published scientific papers on radio frequency and other non-ionizing electromagnetic fields (EMF) monthly since 2016. The complete collection of these papers contains more than 2,000 abstracts with links to the papers. Several hundred EMF scientists around the world receive these updates. To see abstracts for the most recent papers or to download volumes 1 to 3 of this collection go to: https://www.saferemr.com/2022/06/recent-research-on-wireless-radiation.html Recent Research on Wireless Radiation and Electromagnetic Fields

NEWS AND NOTES

AI: A former Enron banker on OpenAI: There are real parallels

AI: Gary Marcus from Marcus on AI AGI isn’t coming in 2025 — and GPT-5 may well not emerge this year, either. Much was quietly revealed yesterday

AI: AI data centers could rival California's vehicle pollution by 2030

AI FUTURISM: Rent Too High? Blame AI, New Report Finds It's costing tenants billions of dollars every year. Packaged as part of the popular property management software RealPage, the AI is nominally intended to give rent price recommendations to landlords. But as we've seen elsewhere, the catch-all term of "AI" can be used to obfuscate what's really going on under the hood. According to a new report by the White House Council of Economic Advisers (CEA) and covered by Popular Information, the AI tool, called "AI Revenue Management," is being used to facilitate collusion between these proprietors, allowing them to inflate rental prices by a total of more than $3.8 billion every year. AND US sues six of the biggest landlords over “algorithmic pricing schemes”

BIG TECH PARIS MARX NEW YEAR NEW DISCONNECT: For nearly two years, Disconnect has been providing readers with essential insight that’s hard to find anywhere else. In 2024, I wrote pieces on tech’s embrace of the extreme right as it coalesced around the Trump campaign, explored issues with data centers and generative’s climate impacts, and did a series of articles on the state of the internet, how we got here, and where we might go next. I dug into the TikTok ban, Mark Zuckerberg’s rebrand, Bill Gates’ deceptive climate narratives, and how none other than Kara Swisher has falsely positioned herself as a renegade truth teller. And that’s just the tip of the iceberg.

AUTOMOBILES: The Fisker Auto Saga: An Owner Community's Fight for Repair and Sustainability We talk with Brandon Jones & Clint Bagley of Fisker Owner's Association about that EV start-up's sudden bankruptcy and the grass roots efforts by owners to secure a right to fix their cars.

CHILDREN JOHN HAIDT TikTok Is Harming Children at an Industrial Scale Recently revealed text in legal briefs tells a damning story about the company, in its employees’ own words

CHILDREN JEAN TWENGE: The pandemic was bad for teen mental health. The smartphone and social media were worse.

CHILDREN EINAR NORWAY: Screen use and injuries: In 2024, the breakthrough came. What will happen in 2025? But if we look a little more closely at the reasons that have led to the restrictions that are now being put in place, we see that the purely biological harmful effects from wireless networks – that is, from the radiation itself – are behind here and there. For example, this was one of the main reasons behind the bill that was passed in France after many years. The social and educational aspects are easier to argue with: It is easier to understand, both for laypeople, bureaucrats and politicians. We all understand pedagogy and sociology a little. Harm to learning and play are understandable and legitimate arguments for the journalists, who themselves have no biomedical or technical background and work in the media who would rather not think that the wireless technology they are all investing in may have something harmful about it. By driving up the social and educational harmful effects, one simply avoids all the technically and biologically/medically difficult discussions about radiation and health. The physicists, who can boast that they have been researching radiation for generations, have nothing they should have said against pedagogical arguments. You also don't have to familiarize yourself with biology and medicine and physics to be able to argue against claims such as "It has been proven that radiation is harmless! The WHO claims that it is not!" or "The radiation from a Wi-Fi router is so weak in relation to the limit values!" It is enough to show that the interaction in the schoolyard suffers, or that the screens take too much time...But the harmful effects of radiation on health and the environment trump the social and educational aspects: If you increase the risk of, for example, brain cancer or sperm damage, it is more serious than if the mobile phone can be used for bullying, if TikTok interferes with maths class, or if tablets are bad at writing with than paper and pencil. Here's an attempt to summarize what should really take precedence in 2025 when it comes to what wireless displays are really all about

CHILDREN: Melanie Hempe from the Be ScreenStrong Substack Screen Myths to Ditch in the New Year The 4 myths that fuel most screen conflicts. Myth 3: Screen time isn’t that bad. My child will be okay.

CONSUMER PRODUCTS: CES 2025: The weirdest tech products and claims from this year’s even A robotic cat that cools down your coffee for you, An electronic spoon that elevates the flavor of your food AND IEEE CES 2025 Preview: Needleless Injections, E-Skis, and More Six intriguing gadgets I hope to see at this year's event

ENVIRONMENT: Earth beyond six of nine planetary boundaries. Richardson et al. NAS. Sept 13, 2023. https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/sciadv.adh2458 COURTESY CR

FIRES: Brian Merchant bloodinthemachine The fires are everywhere On living in an LA in flames, our degraded information ecosystem, and trying to put out fires now and in the future [] if anything, there’s more work to be done now than there was six years ago. Fighting the climate crisis now means taking back the information ecosystem. Opposing the tech oligarchy taking root in Washington. Putting out all the fires whose spread only serves the interests of the men who own the infrastructure that undergirds our lives, and who consider themselves safe from their flames.

FIRE: MASS GOV 4-Alarm Onset Fire Most Likely Started with Lithium-Ion Batteries Store Surveillance Video Shows Rapid Growth, Toxic Smoke

GAO: GAO mulls cost evaluation of nationwide telecom hardware replacement One major vulnerability exploited by China’s Salt Typhoon hacking unit is a Cisco hardware flaw that can’t be patched and requires physical replacement, according to a person with knowledge of the intrusions. The nation’s top oversight office is considering penning a study to assess the cost of administering a far-reaching operation to rip out and replace swaths of at-risk or compromised telecommunications equipment owned by small communications providers around the country, according to a senior U.S. official.

5G; New research links 5G rural uploads to higher radiation levels People uploading videos in rural areas with 5G face almost twice the radiation exposure compared to city users, with phones working harder to send signals in low-coverage zones. New research links 5G rural uploads to higher radiation levels - EHN COURTESY TS

5G: Verizon Business to upgrade 4G/5G at 35 Air Force bases in the US

HEALTH: How Doomscrolling Plunders Your Health Our news and social media feeds are flooded with alarming stories that ignite our anger and feed our anxiety—yet why can’t we put down the phone? Each day, the average person spends about 108 minutes scrolling on social media. In that time, one’s thumb travels approximately 38,880 centimeters, roughly the height of the Empire State Building. In our digital age, many of us succumb to the modern malaise of “doomscrolling.” A term that emerged during the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic, doomscrolling describes the compulsive activity of consuming negative news online. This behavior leaves us fearful more than informed and comes as a detriment to our health. An analysis published in 2023 in Nature Human Behaviour demonstrated that headlines with negative words were directly correlated to increased consumption rates. The researchers determined that each additional negative word increased the click-through rate by 2.3 percent.

HEALTH: ‘Grave Concern’: Chronic Diseases Are Killing Kids — and Exposure to Chemicals Is Driving the Epidemic A paper published today in the New England Journal of Medicine concludes that chronic diseases are the main cause of illness and death for children in the U.S. and Europe Kids disproportionately affected by chemical exposure The paper cited: A 35% increase in the incidence of childhood cancer in the U.S., The quadrupling of pediatric obesity and a significant increase in Type 2 diabetes among children and teenagers., The tripling of pediatric asthma cases in the U.S., The doubling of male reproductive birth defects across Western countries, including a 59.3% reduction in sperm count. The study notes that 1 in 36 children in the U.S. are diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder today, up from 1 in 150 in the year 2000, while 1 in 6 U.S. children have a neurodevelopmental disorder. In the EU, 0.2% of children were diagnosed with autism in the 1990s — but that figure has increased to 1.4% today.

AND Scientists push for a global overhaul of chemical safety to protect kids' health Children’s health is under siege from synthetic chemicals linked to diseases, and scientists are calling for sweeping regulatory changes to safeguard future generations. Carey Gillam reports for The New Lede and The Guardian. In short:

A New England Journal of Medicine paper links rising childhood illnesses, including cancers and neurodevelopmental disorders, to toxic chemical exposure, urging stricter global regulations.
Researchers advocate for pre-market chemical testing, post-market surveillance and a global treaty to regulate harmful substances, citing the failure of current laws like the U.S. Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA).
Production of synthetic chemicals, driven by fossil fuels, is expanding rapidly, with serious health and economic consequences for children and society at large.

Key quote: “The evidence is so overwhelming and the effects of manufactured chemicals are so disruptive for children, that inaction is no longer an option.”
— Daniele Mandrioli, paper co-author and director of the Cesare Maltoni Cancer Research Center

HEALTH: Generation X Is in the Bullseye for Lead Exposure, Harms to Mental Health

HEALTH: Blocking Cortisol Extends Lifespan by Improving Mitochondrial Function

INSPIRATION: Charles Eisenstein Intelligence in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction

Let’s start with the obvious. When human beings outsource any physical or cognitive function to other people or to machines, that function may atrophy within themselves. []Artificial intelligence is the culmination of the revolution in information technology that began in the 15^th century with the printing press, followed in succeeding centuries by lithography, photography, phonography, and film, each of which extended the mass production of information to a new realm. A review of the cognitive and social effects of those previous technologies will help to illuminate what is crashing upon us in the age of artificial intelligence. [] Just as water, gas, and electricity are brought into our houses from far off to satisfy our needs in response to a minimal effort, so we shall be supplied with visual or auditory images, which will appear and disappear at a simple movement of the hand, hardly more than a sign.
— Paul Valery, 1928 Deskilling the mind When machines do the work of imagining for us, and the work of understanding a text, posing an argument, or writing a business plan, we risk succumbing to a passive conditioned helplessness disconnected from our creative authorship. We are left defenseless against the authoritarian agendas that AI and total information awareness make possible. Indeed, we may come to welcome them.
I can no longer think what I want to think. My thoughts have been replaced by moving images.
— Georges Duhamal (1930), commenting on the cinema

[] The parallel between how my brain works when it is on autopilot and how generative AI works is uncanny. []The point is not that we should never use metrics, symbols, or categories., but that we must connect them repeatedly to the reality they represent, or we will be lost. One can only imagine the dystopic future that could result when AI autonomously operates systems of production and governance, guided by success metrics that may have lost their relation to human or ecological well-being.

The point is not that we should never use metrics, symbols, or categories., but that we must connect them repeatedly to the reality they represent, or we will be lost.

One can only imagine the dystopic future that could result when AI autonomously operates systems of production and governance, guided by success metrics that may have lost their relation to human or ecological well-being.

INTERNET ROT: ENSHITTIFICATION 101 Facebook is full of AI slop. X is full of “free thinkers” peddling conspiracies. Google’s search results are telling us to eat rocks. More and more, it feels like the internet has gone bad. There’s an increasingly popular theory about why: “enshittification.” The term, coined in 2022 by the author, journalist and activist Cory Doctorow, refers broadly to the deterioration of services (especially online) as a result of giant companies extracting maximum profits from their customers. In a 2023 essay for Wired, Doctorow laid out the basic arc of enshittification, or the process by which platforms die: “First, they are good to their users; then they abuse their users to make things better for their business customers; finally, they abuse those business customers to claw back all the value for themselves. Then, they die.” In other words: Products are good when they first hit the market, because companies need to lock in as many consumers as they can to achieve the huge scale they desire. Once everyone’s using the product, the company refocuses on creating value for business partners, padding its profit margins and letting the product corrode. Eventually, the company maxes out what it can extract from its business partners, too, and the whole thing fades into obsolescence. - CNN Business Nightcap

LIGHTING: Blue Light blocking Sweet Dreams bulb creates massive Dirty Electricity exposure

I was hired to perform a standard residential Building Biology EMF assessment. Blue light blocking, sweet dreams, LED light bulbs were quickly determined to be the major source of dirty electricity (DE) on circuit wiring: 20 of them were installed around the house. Each of these bulbs costs $21.95. This bulb is stated to be "Low EMF": DE is one of the four emfs. This bulb actually has very high EMF of the DE type. DE is created by the noisy switch mode power supply in the bulb which puts kHz frequency emissions onto all of the circuit wiring which then radiates into the living space. For comparison I also tested a 40 watt GE incandescent bulb ($2.5) and an 8 watt soft white LED bulb from Dollar Tree Store ($1): these two bulbs created NO DE or radiated Radio Frequency radiation. Information on the health damage caused by DE can be found on these links. https://www.stetzerelectric.com/research/ http://www.sammilham.com https://magdahavas.com/havas-video-presentations/gs-units-explained/ https://magdahavas.com/electrosmog-exposure/multiple-sclerosis-and-dirty-electricity/ IMPORTANT TAKEAWAY: hire an experienced and properly equipped professional to assess you home before you spend money on so-called EMF solutions that may actually increase your EMF exposure and possibly create adverse health effects. For information on detecting, measuring and reducing dirty electricity, electric fields, RF radiation, Magnetic fields and exposure to other EMFs contact: Eric Windheim, the founder of Windheim EMF Solutions is a certified Building Biology Ecology Consultant (BBEC) and Electromagnetic Radiation Specialist (EMRS). Eric provides assessments that will detect, measure and reduce sources of EMF radiation in your home, office, or business in the Sacramento and surrounding areas. Schedule an EMF Assessment with Windheim EMF Solutions Today – We Deliver Results! Less EMF, Better Health, Live Longer. To Learn More Visit Our Website: http://www.windheimemfsolutions.com

MEDIA AXIOS: Three massive, concurrent tectonic shifts are reordering in dramatic ways how America and the world will get, and consume, information in the years ahead, Jim VandeHei and Mike Allen write in a "Behind the Curtain" column: Trust in traditional media is vanishing. Where people are getting information has shattered into dozens of ecosystems. The world's most powerful social platforms — X, Facebook, Instagram — no longer police speech or information. Why it matters: In this new information world order, the people with the largest platforms and followings hold more power than ever in shaping reality. That's a seismic shift in how realities are formed in real time. Meta's decision to dial back fact-checking, announced yesterday, captures the sea change.

MINING: BUSINESS AND HUMAN RIGHTS CONTROVERSIAL MINING LEGISLATION: El Salvador's Congress has overturned a ban on metals mining, despite warnings from experts of ecological damage and public health risks. The new legislation grants the government exclusive control over mining activities: however, specialists warn that the move could lead to lawsuits from mining corporations over lost concessions. Meanwhile, New Zealand's government has passed a Fast-Track Approvals law enabling some mining and infrastructure projects to bypass standard environmental protections, sparking protests as critics warn that the decision undermines public input and environmental safeguards. Concerns over potential conflicts of interest have been raised, with reports of around NZD500,000 (approx. USD280,000) in donations to the National and New Zealand First parties from companies or shareholders linked to the projects.

SMART METERS: BIG BROTHER: Smart Meters enable air conditioners to REMOTELY shut off – MGUY Australia Households with smart meters had their air conditioning units shut down or throttled to protect the struggling electricity grid – a taste of things to come… VIDEO LINK

SMART METERS: The Truth About the Smart Grid and Why It Is Not So Smart Smart Meter Hoax Let’s go back to that device mentioned above, the Smart Meter. Smart meter vendors promised, “real time” data collection and reporting, remote usage reporting for billing, the ability to remotely turn off and turn back on meters for the purpose of load shedding. Hmm, well, the truth is this, they have failed to meet expectations. This was painfully clear during the 2021 Texas winter storm, named Uri. To address the need for the grid operator to shed load due to a demand incident, the signal strength of a smart meter was too weak to be turned back on if a meter was shut down remotely. As a result, entire grids were shut down and there was property damage ($195B) as well as a loss of life. Did deployment of Smart Meters directly cause this damage and these deaths? No, but had it worked as intended, it is reasonable to state that many of the deaths and much of the damage, not caused by ice and broken power lines but due to forced load shedding, would have been mitigated. Yet, the Smart Meter is the tool grid operators and utilities had in order to effect load shedding, and that tool did not work. Smart Meter data collection is not real time. Data collected by a smart meter only reflects load. A utility can reasonably interpret load draw and suggest what an HVAC system or perhaps a refrigerator would do. The real time aspect isn’t that either, with data collection downloads by 15 minutes to an hour. Yet, we are expected to deal with information which does not directly calculate how much power an aging air conditioning compressor is using compared to a newer version.As a consumer, one of the fees on your bill goes to pay for the metering system being used to tabulate your bill but with that payment, there is also a license fee paid to the vendor who sold the smart meter to the electric utility. The utilities are behind the proverbial 8 Ball on this. Federal and state regulators are requiring utilities to deploy smart meters to satisfy the concept of a “Smart Grid Infrastructure” with a piece of technology which does not perform as promised, cannot collect data “real time,” and costs utilities and consumers more to use.

SPACE: Italy’s plan to buy Starlink data deals a serious blow to European space network "We are strong if we remain united and defend our infrastructure."

SPACE FUTURISM: NASA's Jet Propulsion Lab Evacuated as Los Angeles Burns It's a rapidly changing situation.

SURVEILLANCE: Brain monitoring may be the future of work – how it’s used could improve employee performance or worsen discrimination

Neuroergonomics is the study of human behavior while carrying out real-world activities, including in the workplace. It involves recording a person’s brain activity in different situations or while completing certain tasks to optimize cognitive performance. For example, neuroergonomics could monitor employees as they learn new material to determine when they have mastered it. It could also help monitor fatigue in employees in roles that require optimum vigilance and determine when they need to be relieved. Until now, research in neuroergonomics could only be conducted in highly controlled clinical laboratory environments using invasive procedures. But engineering advances now make this work possible in real-world settings with noninvasive, wearable devices. The market for this neurotechnology – defined as any technology that interfaces with the nervous system – is predicted to grow to US$21 billion by 2026 and is poised to shape the daily life of workers for many industries in the years ahead. But this advance doesn’t come without risk.

EVENTS

1/10, The National Call registration link, Friday January 10, 2025, 1-3pm ET Here is the registration link for Friday's National Call for Safe Technology: https://us06web.zoom.us/meeting/register/eMeBMR9KTcOoTJ84VLOkHQ After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the meeting.

1/ 11, MA4SAFETECHNOLOGY 10 a.m. - 3 p.m. ET: Live radio, Frankie Boyer Show (in person)

1/15 MA4SAFETECHNOLOGY MONTHLY CALL: Monthly Update Meeting
Wednesday, January 15, 12 Noon ET Citizens and public servants are moving the needle toward safe technology in our communities. Join us to share your inroads and/or be inspired by others! Hear updates on science, legislation, legal actions, local progress, media coverage, events, tech tips and more!You needn’t be from MA to attend, all are welcome. (EVERY THIRD WED OF MONTH) Meeting Registration - Zoom

1/30 MA4SAFETECHNOLOGY 6 - 8 p.m. ET: Safer Tech Possibilities at School webinar! with Louisiana child safety advocate Shari Champagne. Meeting Registration - Zoom

also 1/14 (ZOOM): The environmental impact of data centers

West Montgomery County Citizens Association January 2025 Newsletter JOIN US FOR A VIRTUAL MEETING! Tuesday, January 14th at 7:15 p.m. via ZOOM: Https://us02web.zoom.us/j/83729725063?pwd=n9skd9j65x3wxy3hn5KzWseGN6K8ZS.1 or call in: 301-715-8592 (Meeting ID = 837 2972 5063, Passcode: 396732) A recording of this meeting and longer versions of the newsletters will be available on our website: www.WMCCA.org SPEAKER: Julie Bolthouse, Director of Land Use, Piedmont Environmental Council (PEC) The PEC was founded in 1972 and includes 9 counties of the Virginia Piedmont. Their mission is to restore land and waters to these regions (Albemarle, Clarke, Culpeper, Fauquier, Greene, Loudoun, Madison, Orange, and Rappahannock counties, and the City of Charlottesville). Ms. Bolthouse has been studying the impacts of data centers as they proliferate in our adjacent Virginia jurisdictions. Loudoun County has been the site of numerous such facilities and the environmental impacts are alarming. The push to place them in Maryland counties is growing and WMCCA has asked Ms. Bolthouse to brief us on her findings. The PEC office is headquartered in Warrenton , Va. so this will be a ZOOM meeting. As always, the public is welcome to attend!