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hypeeconomy · 24 days
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Mechanising the fields: The role of robotics in propelling development in agriculture
An extensive study of the sequence of incidents that happened in the recent past which had AI as the subject under scrutiny signalled one thing in unison, and that is that AI is essentially bad. Not because it was programmed to be a villain, but because humans manoeuvred it in such a way that it has involved itself more with mis-deeds than good. However, its character arc is not linear because the 2023 edition of the ‘AI for Good’ Global Summit that took place this July proved that AI is a domain with many faces, especially when it comes down to the use of AI in the field of agriculture. 
This global summit provided a platform for over 30 cutting-edge robots to exhibit their range of skills which served as a testament for the potential of autonomous robots to spearhead progress towards the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goal. Amidst the participants were robots that could be used in agriculture who displayed the importance of using high-technology in the field of agriculture. What it also showcased is how agriculture serves as a breeding ground for new technological developments and also as a key area of application of technologies that were developed somewhere else.
Robots and agriculture, a collaboration that we didn’t know we needed
The utilisation of AI in the agriculture market is expected to grow from US$ 1.7 billion in 2023 to US$4.7 billion by 2028. Despite this initiative being in its embryonic stage, these numbers do not come as a surprise especially because in a world where the demand for food is steadily increasing, agriculture is turning to innovative solutions, primarily robots, to optimise farming operations. The advanced machines that come into play are becoming the new workforce in agriculture and they have the ability to perform different tasks such as planting, irrigation, pest control, and soil analysis. Automating the field of agriculture can reap benefits such as higher productivity, lower labour expenses, and reduced reliance on harmful chemicals. 
Farmers far and wide have already begun to embrace technology, including drones and remote-controlled grass and scrub cutting machines to improve productivity and minimise downtime and monitor their livestock with efficiency. For instance, in hilly regions, these robotic machines are particularly valuable as they can access and cultivate land that was previously unusable. Additionally, electric farm and factory robots with interchangeable tools are being developed, allowing for precise soil management minus the negative impacts of heavy tractors compacting wet soil. Soft robotic grasping technologies and sensors are helping out in the production of delicate crops giving farmers and consumers both something to look forward to. Moreover, soft robotics employs gentle methods like rubber cups or small bean bags to delicately grasp and harvest high-value produce like peaches and raspberries from plants without causing any  form of damage. Thus, preserving the quality of such delicate crops. 
Robots that are used in agri-tech are as cool as ones you see in ‘The Transformers’
Optimus Prime may be a master in hand-to-hand combat and a prodigy in parkour, but RoboBees (which can take-off vertically, hover and steer) could very well outdo it in terms of efficiency. Sarah Murray writing for The Financial Times about ‘Farm Robots Poised For Growth as Labour Costs Rise’ explains how RoboBees; developed by researchers at Harvard’s Wyss Institute, one of the most recent initiatives and is still in its nascent state, has the potential of eventually performing tasks such as crop pollination and environmental monitoring.
Currently, RoboBees are confined to laboratory settings, and their widespread commercial use in agriculture is still a distant prospect. These laboratory settings are spaces such as polytunnels and glasshouses where there is an absence of rain and mud. However, the ongoing progress in technology, coupled with challenges related to labour shortages, is making robots increasingly economically feasible for farm applications. This suggests that as technology continues to advance and labour availability remains a concern, the adoption of robots in agriculture may become a more realistic and practical solution in the near future. Furthermore, the fact that most of these robots are tailor-made and are often streamlined to function on a more plant-by-plant approach makes them even more attractive. For instance, ‘FarmWise’, a company based in California, has created a weeding robot that prioritises computer vision and artificial intelligence. This innovative robot can differentiate between weeds and crops, resulting in reduced labour expenses for farmers and allowing them to reduce their herbicide usage. 
Another innovation that was exhibited at the ‘AI for Good’ Global Summit is ‘Digital Farm Hand’: a robotic platform specifically designed for smallholder farms, created by University of Sydney’s Australian Centre for Field Robotics (ACFR). This robot is programmed in a way that it could detect and identify objects within its environment, including plants and weeds. Owing to a capability of that scale, it can perform various tasks such as field mapping and gathering data on crop health and yield. But the feature which triumphs amidst all the ones it possesses is its capacity to transform the farming industry. By automating the process of recognising and removing weeds, this robot has the potential to decrease the dependence on harmful chemicals by farmers. This leads to cost savings and contributes to a safer and healthier environment for all parties who are shareholders in agriculture. 
But do these robots live up to their brand image?
The potential that robots have cannot be denied. However it is worth highlighting that whether or not this potential will be discovered is up to the economic and political choices that the agricultural industry makes. For instance, a concern that is associated with the widespread adoption of agricultural robots is, when the costs of applying pesticides are diminished due to automation, it might lead to increased pesticide usage rather than a reduction, which could have adverse environmental and health implications. In addition, the use of more potent and hazardous pesticides might become more prevalent without human oversight. If heavier robots replace human workers, this could exacerbate existing issues related to soil compaction caused by the use of heavy machinery in farming, potentially harming the quality of the soil. The concerns don’t end there. The standardisation of food items to accommodate robotic automation may create a consumer expectation for perfectly uniform produce. This expectation could result in increased food wastage as fewer items meet these stringent criteria for sale, even if they are perfectly safe and nutritious to consume.
Apart from that, a major issue that has many small farm owners worried is that most efficient and high quality robots that are manufactured are available at extremely high costs. This will automatically gate keep them from gaining access to machinery that can actually make a change. This scenario can change if smaller, more advanced and affordable mobile robots become available for smaller farms. However, currently, most manufacturers of farm equipment are mainly focused on automating their large and more expensive products. This means that larger agricultural producers are the ones who will have a competitive advantage, as they can harness the cost savings and productivity benefits of robots. It is vital that the decisions that are made with regards to integrating robotics into agriculture are done wisely and done in a way that has everyone’s best interest at heart. The minute that it is politicised, it will stray away from the path that leads to achieving the goal of using robotics for SDGs. It will eventually become an antithesis to what experts recognise as measures used to ensure food security and combat climate change. 
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shigure · 7 months
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it's so beethover / we're so bach
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registrationkraft · 4 months
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Step-by-Step Guide: How to Register a Magazine in India
"Explore our comprehensive guide on registering a magazine in India. Learn the step-by-step process, documentation requirements, and legal considerations for a smooth and hassle-free registration. Start your magazine venture confidently with RegistrationKraft."
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thebusinesstycoons · 2 years
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igotopinions · 2 years
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Oliver talks with the authors behind all six original Sword & Sorcery short stories featured in New Edge Sword & Sorcery magazine in a round-robin of mini-interviews! Did....did we mention he's the editor of a brand new magazine, who's first issue just came out? Get the magazine... FREE ePub/PDF on Payhip Softcover ($4usd) & Hardcover ($12usd) on Amazon.com (but also available through most other domains) Super-low intensity mailing list to find out when there are new issues or crowdfunding for new issues.
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www.soimwritinganovel.com PATREON: www.patreon.com/soimwritinganovel
BUY OLIVER’S BOOKS: https://www.oliverbrackenbury.com/store SO I’M WRITING A NOVEL… TWITTER: https://twitter.com/so_writing OLIVER’S TWITTER: https://twitter.com/obrackenbury Oliver’s Link Tree (For everything else): https://linktr.ee/obrackenbury
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weirdlookindog · 5 months
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Norman Saunders, 1933
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timbarrus · 2 years
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Maybe Dodge is all you know. If you keep moving, they can’t put their claws into you so deeply you cannot extract them. I have nothing to say about book publishing. I wish they would buy stuff from me outright. Then, they would have me out of their hair, and I could go fuck myself.
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reasonsforhope · 4 months
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Interior Department Announces New Guidance to Honor and Elevate Hawaiian Language
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"In commemoration of Mahina ʻŌlelo Hawaiʻi, or Hawaiian Language Month, and in recognition of its unique relationship with the Native Hawaiian Community, the Department of the Interior today announced new guidance on the use of the Hawaiian language.  
A comprehensive new Departmental Manual chapter underscores the Department’s commitment to further integrating Indigenous Knowledge and cultural practices into conservation stewardship.  
“Prioritizing the preservation of the Hawaiian language and culture and elevating Indigenous Knowledge is central to the Biden-Harris administration's work to meet the unique needs of the Native Hawaiian Community,” said Secretary Deb Haaland. “As we deploy historic resources to Hawaiʻi from President Biden’s Investing in America agenda, the Interior Department is committed to ensuring our internal policies and communications use accurate language and data."  
Department bureaus and offices that engage in communication with the Native Hawaiian Community or produce documentation addressing places, resources, actions or interests in Hawaiʻi will use the new guidance on ‘ōlelo Hawaiʻi (Hawaiian language) for various identifications and references, including flora and fauna, cultural sites, geographic place names, and government units within the state.  The guidance recognizes the evolving nature of ‘ōlelo Hawaiʻi and acknowledges the absence of a single authoritative source. While the Hawaiian Dictionary (Pukui & Elbert 2003) is designated as the baseline standard for non-geographic words and place names, Department bureaus and offices are encouraged to consult other standard works, as well as the Board on Geographic Names database.  
Developed collaboratively and informed by ʻōlelo Hawaiʻi practitioners, instructors and advocates, the new guidance emerged from virtual consultation sessions and public comment in 2023 with the Native Hawaiian Community. 
The new guidance aligns with the Biden-Harris administration’s commitment to strengthening relationships with the Native Hawaiian Community through efforts such as the Kapapahuliau Climate Resilience Program and Hawaiian Forest Bird Keystone Initiative. During her trip to Hawaiʻi in June, Secretary Haaland emphasized recognizing and including Indigenous Knowledge, promoting co-stewardship, protecting sacred sites, and recommitting to meaningful and robust consultation with the Native Hawaiian Community."
-via US Department of the Interior press release, February 1, 2024
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Note: I'm an editor so I have no idea whether this comes off like as big a deal as it potentially is. But it is potentially going to establish and massively accelerate the adoption of correctly written Native Hawaiian language, as determined by Native Hawaiians.
Basically US government communications, documentations, and "style guides" (sets of rules to follow about how to write/format/publish something, etc.) can be incredibly influential, especially for topics where there isn't much other official guidance. This rule means that all government documents that mention Hawai'i, places in Hawai'i, Hawaiian plants and animals, etc. will have to be written the way Native Hawaiians say it should be written, and the correct way of writing Hawaiian conveys a lot more information about how the words are pronounced, too, which could spread correct pronunciations more widely.
It also means that, as far as the US government is concerned, this is The Correct Way to Write the Hawaiian Language. Which, as an editor who just read the guidance document, is super important. That's because you need the 'okina (' in words) and kahakō in order to tell apart sizeable sets of different words, because Hawaiian uses so many fewer consonants, they need more of other types of different sounds.
And the US government official policy on how to write Hawaiian is exactly what editors, publishers, newspapers, and magazines are going to look at, sooner or later, because it's what style guides are looking at. Style guides are the official various sets of rules that books/publications follow; they're also incredibly detailed - the one used for almost all book publishing, for example, the Chicago Manual of Style (CMoS), is over a thousand pages long.
One of the things that CMoS does is tell you the basic rules of and what specialist further sources they think you should use for writing different languages. They have a whole chapter dedicated to this. It's not that impressive on non-European languages yet, but we're due for a new edition (the 18th) of CMoS in the next oh two to four years, probably? Actually numbering wise they'd be due for one this year, except presumably they would've announced it by now if that was the case.
I'm expecting one of the biggest revisions to the 18th edition to add much more comprehensive guidance on non-Western languages. Considering how far we've come since 2017, when the last one was released, I'll be judging the shit out of them if they do otherwise. (And CMoS actually keep with the times decently enough.)
Which means, as long as there's at least a year or two for these new rules/spellings/orthographies to establish themselves before the next edition comes out, it's likely that just about every (legit) publisher will start using the new rules/spellings/orthographies.
And of course, it would expand much further from there.
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2600’s amazing Hackers on Planet Earth con may go down under enshittification
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Catch me in Miami! I'll be at Books and Books in Coral Gables on Jan 22 at 8PM.
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It's been 40 years since Emmanuel Goldstein launched the seminal, essential, world-changing 2600: The Hacker Quarterly. 2600 wasn't the first phreak/hacker zine, but it was the most important, spawning a global subculture dedicated to the noble pursuit of technological self-determination:
https://www.2600.com/
2600 has published hundreds of issues in which digital spelunkers report eagerly on the things they've discovered by peering intently at the things no one was supposed to even glance at (I'm proud to be one of those writers!). They've fought legal battles, including one that almost went to the Supreme Court:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DeCSS
They created a global network of meetups where some of technology's most durable friendships and important collaborations were born. These continue to this day:
https://www.2600.com/meetings
And they've hosted a weekly radio show on NYC's WBAI, Off the Hook:
https://wbai.org/program.php?program=76
When WBAI management lost their minds and locked the station's most beloved hosts out of the studio, Off the Hook (naturally) led the rebellion, taking back the station for its audience, rescuing it from a managerial coup:
https://twitter.com/2600/status/1181423565389942786
But best of all, 2600 gave us HOPE – both in the metaphorical sense of "hope for a better technological tomorrow" and in the literal sense, with its biannual Hackers On Planet Earth con:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hackers_on_Planet_Earth
For decades HOPE had an incredible venue, the Hotel Pennsylvania (memorialized in the phreak anthem "PEnnsylvania 6-5000"), a crumbling pile in midtown Manhattan that was biannually transformed into a rollicking, multi-day festival of forbidden technology, improbable feats, and incredible presentations. I was privileged to keynote HOPE in 2016:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f1D7APjmVbk
But after the 2018 HOPE, the Hotel Pennsylvania was demolished to make way for the Penn15 (no, really) skyscraper, a vaporware mega-tower planned as a holding pen for luxury shopping and empty million-dollar condos sold to offshore war-criminals as safe-deposit boxes in the sky. The developer, Vornado (no, really) hasn't actually done all that – after demo'ing the Hotel Pennsylvania, they noped out, leave a large, unusable scar across midtown.
But HOPE wasn't lost. In 2022, the ever-resilient 2600 crew relocated to Queens, hosted by St John's University – a venue that was less glamorous that the Hotel Pennsylvania, but the event was still fantastic. Attendance fell from 2,000 to 1,000, but that was something they could work with, and reviews from attendees were stellar.
Good thing, too. 2600 is, first and foremost, a magazine publisher, and these have been hard years for magazines. First there was the mass die-off of indie bookstores and newsracks (I used to sell 2600 when I was a bookseller, and in the years after, I always took the presence of 2600 on a store's newsrack as an unimpeachable mark of quality).
Thankfully for 2600, their audience is (unsurprisingly) a tech-savvy one, so they were able to substitute digital subscriptions for physical ones:
https://www.2600.com/Magazine/DigitalEditions
Of course, many of those subscriptions came through Amazon's Kindle, because nerds were early Amazon adopters, and because the Kindle magazine publishing platform offered DRM-free distribution to subscribers along with a fair payout to publishers.
But then Amazon enshittified its magazine system. Having locked publishers to its platform, it rugged them and killed the monthly subscription fees that allowed publishers to plan for a steady output. Publishers were given a choice: leave Amazon (and all the readers locked inside its walled garden) or put your magazine into the Kindle Unlimited system:
https://www.amazon.com/kindle-dbs/arp/B0BWPTCP4K?deviceType=A1FG5NAKX0MRJL
Kindle Unlimited is an all-you-can-eat program for Kindle, which pays publishers and writers based on a system that is both opaque and easily gamed, with the lion's share of the money going to "publishers" who focus on figuring out how to cheat the algorithm. Revenues for 2600 – and all the other magazines that Amazon had sucked in and sucked dry – fell off a cliff.
Which brings me to the present moment. After 40 years, 2600 is still at it, having survived the bookstorepocalypse, the lunacy of public radio management, the literal demolition of their physical home by an evil real-estate developer, and Amazon's crooked accounting.
This is 2600, circa 2024, and 2024 a HOPE year:
https://www.hope.net/
Once again, HOPE has been scheduled for its new digs in Queens, July 12-14. Last week, HOPE sent out an email blast to their subscribers telling them the news. They expected to sell 500 tickets in the first 24 hours. They didn't even come close:
https://www.2600.com/content/hope-ticket-sales-update
It turns out that Google and the other major mail providers don't like emails with the word "hacker" in them. The cartel that decides which email gets delivered, and which messages go to spam, or get blocked altogether, mass-blocked the HOPE 2024 announcement. Email may be the last federated, open platform we have, but mass concentration has created a system where it's nearly impossible to get your email delivered unless you're willing to play by Gmail's rules:
https://pluralistic.net/2021/10/10/dead-letters/
For Emmanuel Goldstein, founder of 2600 and tireless toiler for this community, the deafening silence following from that initial email volley was terrifying: "like some kind of a "Twilight Zone" episode where everyone has disappeared."
The enshittification that keeps 2600's emails from being delivered to the people who asked to receive them is even worse on social media. Social media companies routinely defraud their users by letting them subscribe to feeds, then turning around to the people and organizations that run those feeds and saying, "You've got x thousand subscribers on this platform, but we won't put your posts in their feeds unless you pay us to 'boost' your content":
https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2023/04/platforms-decay-lets-put-users-first
Enshittification has been coming at 2600 for decades. Like other forms of oddball media dedicated to challenging corporate power and government oppression, 2600 has always been a ten-years-ahead preview of the way the noose was gonna tighten on all of us. And now, they're on the ropes. HOPE can't sell tickets unless people know about HOPE, and neither email providers nor social media platforms have any interest in making that happen.
A handful of giant corporations now get to decide what we read, who we hear from, and whether and how we can get together in person to make friends, forge community, rabble-rouse and change the world. The idea that "it's not censorship unless the government does it" has always been wrong (not all censorship violates the First Amendment, and censorship can be real without being unconstitutional):
https://pluralistic.net/2022/12/04/yes-its-censorship/
What can you do about it? Well, for one thing, you can sign up for HOPE. It's gonna be great. They've got sub-$100 hotel rooms! In New York City!
https://store.2600.com/products/tickets-to-hope-xv
If you can't make it to HOPE, you can sign up for a virtual membership:
https://store.2600.com/products/tickets-to-hope-xv-virtual-attendee
You can submit a talk to HOPE:
https://www.hope.net/cfp.html
You can subscribe to 2600, in print or electronically (I signed up for the lifetime print subscription and it was a bargain – I devour every issue the day it arrives):
https://store.2600.com/collections/subscriptions-renewals
2600 is living a decade in the future of every other community you care about, weird hobby you enjoy, con you live for, and publication you read from cover to cover. If we can all pull together to save it, it'll be a beacon of hope (and HOPE).
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I'm Kickstarting the audiobook for The Bezzle, the sequel to Red Team Blues, narrated by @wilwheaton! You can pre-order the audiobook and ebook, DRM free, as well as the hardcover, signed or unsigned. There's also bundles with Red Team Blues in ebook, audio or paperback.
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If you'd like an essay-formatted version of this post to read or share, here's a link to it on pluralistic.net, my surveillance-free, ad-free, tracker-free blog:
https://pluralistic.net/2024/01/19/hope-less/#hack-the-planet
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kyotocryptids · 6 months
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Rejection sensitivity is real TT_TT
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cryptixotic · 11 days
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𓆝 𓆟 𝐓𝐚𝐥𝐞𝐬 𝐟𝐫𝐨𝐦 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐄𝐚𝐬𝐭 𝐁𝐥𝐮𝐞 𓆝 𓆟
• Prints •
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head-vampire · 6 months
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Movie Monster Kits (1974) Ad
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every time i watch anything with him in it (admittingly, predominantly from the Dropout app), i am reminded that Lou Wilson is the most handsome man to have ever lived. like, objectively. he just is. i will hear no arguments for any other person to be ranked higher. Lou Wilson: whose face single-handedly shows humanity can go no higher in beauty. he is THE most attractive man in the world. argue with the wall lmao
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morganbritton132 · 9 months
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After David tells him that his ex has arrived for Career Day and it’s not even the Wheeler that he asked for, Steve marches over to Mike like, “What are you doing here?”
Wow, David thinks to himself. He’s been told that Steve has some problems with his memory - apparently he compensated for it with a truly insane online calendar - but he didn’t expect him to forget about a whole human being. Just, wow.
Steve loudly tells Mike that he’s never had a real job and Mike scoffs at him and tells him that he wrote for a comic book website for three years. Journalism is just writing with a fancy degree. Will and Mike created a comic book together so, “I’m published.”
“Robin is published,” Steve stresses (Steve’s best friend, David knows that one). “If that was the only qualification I wanted than I would’ve asked Robin to come.”
They start squabbling again in whispered voices so David turns to Dustin and tries to alleviate some of the awkwardness with, “Steve, uh, really has a type, huh?”
Dustin squints at him, “Did you just meet him? Today?”
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seabrrd · 2 years
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IT IS FINISHED. anchiornis huxleyi dinosaur of all time
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thefugitivesaint · 1 year
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Esteban Maroto, ''1984'', #43, 1982 Source
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