10/01/2017
4 January 2017 (openDemocracy)* – Artificial Intelligence is growing at rapid pace, and so are significant ethical and human rights dilemmas.
**Shadow Dexterous Robot Hand holding a lightbulb | Richard Greenhill and Hugo Elias (myself) of the Shadow Robot Company
“You are worse than a fool; you have no care for your species. For thousands of years men dreamed of pacts with demons. Only now are such things possible.”
When William Gibson wrote those words in his groundbreaking 1984, novel Neuromancer, artificial intelligence remained almost entirely within the realm of science fiction.
Today, however, the convergence of complex algorithms, big data, and exponential increases in computational power has resulted in a world where AI raises significant ethical and human rights dilemmas, involving rights ranging from the right to privacy to due process.
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10/01/2017
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By Kelly Mitchell*
9 January, 2017 (Greenpeace)* – On the surface, this looks like a power grab. In reality, it’s a last ditch attempt at relevancy.
In December, President-elect of the United States Donald Trump officially nominated Exxon Chairman and CEO Rex Tillerson for Secretary of State. In response, everyone from preschool teachers to oil industry shill (and Senator, I guess) Marco Rubio is voicing their concerns.
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10/01/2017
By Johan Galtung*
La Nucia, Spain, 9 January 2017 – TRANSCEND Media Service – The Centro Social invited all lonely men above 65 and women above 60 living in Comunidad Valenciana to a free stay at a hotel through Christmas, 23-27 December 2016. May many copy that one!
Johan Galtung
Waterberg, Namibia: “Germany Grapples with Its African Genocide” (NYT, Norimitsu Onishi, 29 Dec 2016).
A cemetery for German soldiers who under Lothar von Trotha 1904-05 killed 80,000 Herero and 10,000 Nama cattle herders, resisting German colonization.
TRANSCEND was deeply involved around the centenary. Germany had a myth: genocide only under Hitler. France and England wanted no German apology as they had done worse.
Lawyers feared compensation claims.
The result was to appeal to shared Christianity, admitting nothing. Waiting down the line: admission of guilt, wishing it undone, decolonization.
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10/01/2017
UNITED NATIONS, Jan 10 2017 (IPS) – UN member states hope to reach agreement on a diverse range of global issues in 2017, from managing the world’s oceans to banning killer robots to stopping tuberculosis, one of the world’s deadliest diseases.
200 million people worldwide rely on fishing and related industries for their livelihoods. Credit: Christopher Pala/IPS.
In recent years the UN has tackled big issues including ebola, the global migration crisis, financing for development and climate change, with varying degrees of success.
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10/01/2017
By an IPS Correspondent
LISBON, Jan 10 2017 (IPS) – Hardly a leader could reap so much respect, even from most relentless political rivals, both throughout his life and after his death on Jan 7 at the age of 92, like Portuguese Mário Soares.
Characterised as “an indefatigable political animal,” by the New York Times, United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres hailed the commitment to freedom and democracy that made Soares “one of those rare political leaders of true European and global stature.”
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10/01/2017
As the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) prepares to mark the 70th anniversary of its work for the world’s most vulnerable children, the agency on 9 December 2016 issued a stark warning that despite significant progress, too many children are still being left behind, with nearly 535 million of them living in harsh conditions, lacking access to decent health, education and protection services.
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In Jérémie, Haiti, children play at the Église Chrétienne Nan Lindy. Hundreds of people have sought temporary shelter at the church after countless homes were destroyed by Hurricane Matthew. Photo: UNICEF/UN035877/LeMoyne
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10/01/2017
Despite attempts to increase food aid in Afghanistan, children bear the brunt of the country’s nutritional crisis, the United Nations humanitarian arm on 9 January 2017 reported, warning that the ongoing fighting has also led to record number of children at risk of abuse and exploitation.
Bamiyan, Afghanistan: children make a long journey to continue their education. Photo: UNICEF/Abdul Aziz Froutan
According to the recently-issued Humanitarian Needs Overview, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) found that 9.3 million people are in need of aid.
The UN noted that the number is an increase of 13 per cent over the past year, fuelled largely by a continued deepening and geographic spread of the conflict.
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HUMAN WRONGS WATCH 