Technology
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Could machines help us be more ethical?
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Even as a professional ethicist, I’ll admit it’s not easy to live an ethical life. Heck, it’s a slog at times. Choosing to living well means thinking critically about choices that most people make automatically. Sometimes it means committing to courses of action we don’t enjoy, drawing solace from the knowledge that the greater good…
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Teaching machines right from wrong
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The trouble with computers: you get exactly what you ask for. Ask a robot waiter to serve table eight’s food immediately and it might just throw it. An AI that’s trying to earn you money might decide the best way is to sell your house. It’s not enough to tell machines what to do; you…
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Should we be polite to chatbots?
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Suddenly they’re everywhere, destroying the idea of homework as we know it and worrying writers across the globe. Few technologies have captured public imagination quite like the modern chatbot: it took ChatGPT just two months to reach 100 million users, a feat that took Instagram two years. Understandably, tech firms now are racing to launch…
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Artificial intelligence: who owns the future?
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How did you go bankrupt?Two ways. Gradually, then suddenly. Hemingway, The Sun Also Rises The late Gordon Moore famously observed that computing power doubles every two years. For a long time you’d be forgiven for barely noticing. Our devices got faster and smaller, sure, but ultimately they were still computers doing computer things, just more…
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Ethical Alternatives to Adobe: 2023 Update
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Adobe Alternatives Guide – 2023 Update: Many Adobe alternatives have improved significantly since this article was first published back in 2021. Let’s take a look at the current state of affairs. Now best known for multimedia and creativity software products, American multinational computer software company Adobe has been around in some shape or form for…
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Gmail Alternatives Guide: How (and Why) to Avoid Gmail – 2023 Update
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2023 Update: Gmail remains one of the most popular email platforms worldwide. However, as a free service, the user pays with their personal data. This may have been acceptable a few years ago, but various alternatives now take privacy seriously. Gmail is a free, advertising-supported email service released on April 1, 2004. With over 1.8…
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Facebook Alternatives Guide: 2023 Update
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February 2023: When I originally wrote this guide, years ago, Facebook was a true behemoth. It’s still a massive tech company by most metrics, but a rebrand to push an unwanted Metaverse has definitely hurt the organization. The number of active daily users in the US and Canada has fallen in the past two years,…
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Ethical Google Alternatives: 2023 Update
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“Google it.” Even my technophobe grandma understands what that means, and almost everyone with any experience of the internet has used the company’s services in some shape or form. Once a humble search engine, Google has morphed into one of the biggest companies in the world. “Don’t be evil” used to be part of its…
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Twitter Alternatives Guide: How (and Why) to Avoid Twitter (2023 Update)
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January 2023: When I first wrote this article, back in 2019, the landscape for Twitter was far different. Given a number of interesting developments in recent years, we’ve taken the time to revisit and update information accordingly. Many people agree that, no matter how carefully you curate your experience, Twitter can be unhealthy for users.…
