That is at present’s version of The Obtain, our weekday publication that gives a each day dose of what’s occurring on the planet of know-how.

Introducing: The Mortality Subject

From the second you’re born, the one factor you will be utterly sure of is that you’ll die. However what if growing older isn’t inevitable, in spite of everything? And if you happen to may gradual, and even flip again the clock, would you?

The newest difficulty of MIT Expertise Assessment examines what demise means to us in 2022, digging into why some persons are nonetheless dedicating their lives to kicking towards it, whereas others are creating their very own coping mechanisms for grief. Right here’s a number of a few of the new tales within the version, assured to get you desirous about what comes subsequent.

• My colleague Charlotte wrote a stunning piece about making digital clones of her (residing) dad and mom, for a glimpse into what it could possibly be like to speak to the lifeless. Would you be ready to do the identical to your family members? 
• In the event you’ve ever puzzled about what occurs to your physique once you donate it to science, surprise no extra.
• Simply because AI could make life-and-death selections, doesn’t essentially imply we should always enable it to.
• Why the impossible-seeming dream of reviving frozen human our bodies utilizing cryonics refuses to die.
• Ought to we imagine in—and even need—immortality?
• In an age when every part is being recorded, even information has a lifespan.
• Are electrical automobiles actually the answer to the local weather disaster they’re being touted as?
• Expertise was once one thing to get enthusiastic about. When did it turn into one thing to dread?

Learn the complete journal, and if you happen to haven’t already, you possibly can subscribe to MIT Expertise Assessment for as little as $80 a 12 months.

The largest buying app in America that you just’ve by no means heard of

There’s a brand new Chinese language e-commerce app that’s quietly however rapidly rising. It’s referred to as Temu. And on October 17, it grew to become essentially the most downloaded buying app in the USA, beating off competitors from Amazon, Walmart, and its Chinese language competitor Shein.

In case your rapid response is What? I’ve by no means even heard of Temu!, you’re in good firm. The app stays obscure amongst most individuals, although it marks one other high-profile try by one more Chinese language tech large to strive its luck within the American e-commerce market. So how did Temu rise to the highest of the iOS App Retailer’s buying chart? Learn the complete story.

—Zeyi Yang

Zeyi’s story is from China Report, his new weekly publication filling you in on all the most recent happenings in China. Enroll to obtain it in your inbox each Tuesday.

The must-reads

I’ve combed the web to search out you at present’s most enjoyable/essential/scary/fascinating tales about know-how.

1 Conspiracy theorists have seized upon Russia’s “soiled bomb” claims
Regardless of there being no proof for its existence. (NYT $)
+ Russia’s presentation on the so-called soiled bomb contained 9/11 footage. (Motherboard)
+ The struggle in Ukraine is dragging us again to a bloodier age. (Economist $)

2 Movie star deepfakes are promoting’s subsequent frontier
The businesses behind them suppose the assured consideration is well worth the potential authorized repercussions. (WSJ $)
+ Contained in the unusual new world of being a deepfake actor. (MIT Expertise Assessment)

3 Twitter’s most lively customers are turning their again on it
And its workers aren’t completely positive why. (Reuters)
+ Twitter has been ever madder than regular over the previous week. (Motherboard)
+ Elon Musk is optimistic he can shut his deal by Friday. (Reuters)
+ Why Twitter nonetheless has these horrible Traits. (MIT Expertise Assessment)

4 US election officers are swamped with public information requests 
It’s all thanks to at least one man in Florida. (Bloomberg $)

5 Local weather activists are suing governments
They declare that authorities’ inaction to guard nature has harmed their constitutional rights. (Hakai Journal)
+ Nature-based options can assist to mitigate the local weather disaster’ results. (CNET)
+ Local weather motion is gaining momentum. So are the disasters. (MIT Expertise Assessment)

6 Tech’s unicorns have gotten rarer once more
Buyers aren’t giving up hope, although. (WP $)
+ Some enterprise capital funds are going after narwhals as an alternative. (Bloomberg $)

7 Sexually transmitted infections are rising within the US
Medical doctors are holding off prescribing a tablet particularly designed to fight them, although. (Vox)

8 The pandemic proved it was attainable to conduct good science rapidly
Larger transparency round analysis may assist to hold it on. (Wired $)
+ Is a covid and flu “twindemic” on the horizon? (MIT Expertise Assessment)

9 NASA’s main UFO investigation has begun
Perhaps the reality actually is on the market. (Motherboard)
+ Radiation-resistant micro organism may survive on Mars for tens of millions of years. (New Scientist $)

10 Singapore’s politicians are TikTok superstars
Their clips are met with nearly unprecedented positivity. (Remainder of World)

Quote of the day

“It’s not good, it’s not enjoyable.”

—Palmer Luckey, who based Oculus VR, will not be a fan of Meta’s VR social app Horizon Worlds, Insider studies.

The large story

That is how AI bias actually occurs—and why it’s so onerous to repair

February 2019

If we wish to have the ability to repair bias in AI, we have to perceive the mechanics of the way it arises within the first place.

We regularly shorthand our rationalization of AI bias by blaming it on biased coaching knowledge, however the actuality is extra nuanced. Bias can creep in lengthy earlier than the info is collected in addition to at many different phases of the deep-learning course of—and will be extremely onerous to repair. Learn the complete story.

—Karen Hao

We are able to nonetheless have good issues

A spot for consolation, enjoyable and distraction in these bizarre occasions. (Acquired any concepts? Drop me a line or tweet ’em at me.)

+ Animals actually do do the funniest issues (thanks Charlotte!)
+ Males, would you dare to reveal in a backless swimsuit?
+ Nicely, this small wood ball rolling down a colossal xylophone in a Japanese forest has made every part higher.
+ I had no thought a magnified ant face could be such nightmare fodder.
+ Dare you go to this spooky Italian ghost city?