Department Of The Partridge Of The Week
It’s that time of the year again. As has become a tradition much maligned anticipated in our neighborhood, moiself is hosting a different Partridge, every week, in my front yard. [1]
Can you identify this week’s guest Partridge?
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Department Of My Favorite Week Of The Year
It used to be this week – the days after Christmas and before January 1. Much of the holiday pressure is gone (except if you are foolish brave enough to be hosting a NYE gathering), and you can just relax and enjoy, do some winter wonderland walking/hiking, hang out with friends and family…. And no one seems to take work so seriously [2] during this lame-duck-week of the year.
Or, you can be like moiself and battle a nasty head cold.
I’ve been dealing with a simple head cold for a week; no fever, negative COVID test – same symptoms but now, with fever. My California friends have told me that “everyone” there is getting sick with rhinoviruses and enteroviruses that hang on for some time (and there was an article in this morning’s LA Times about it). Seeing as how the illnesses are viral, there isn’t much you can do about them besides home care…which, I admit I’d *not* been doing, since I didn’t feel “that bad.”
I guess this is my body’s way of saying, “Look, just stay in bed for one whole day and watch game shows and old westerns on the GRIT channel.”
Moiself actually was able to nap yesterday afternoon, and by nap I mean hallucinate upstairs in bed with the TV on, attaining consciousness up every now and then to see that my temperature is 102.2 but at least I’m not in the courtroom of Judge Judy , whom is dressing down yet another idiot who speaks out of turn/offers hearsay as testimony and generally comes to court woefully unprepared.
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Department Of My Last (Blog) Complaint Of The Year
Sub-Department of when AI stands for AAII ayyiyiyiyi!!!!!
As in, Absolutely Abominably Incorrectly Identified.
“Time and again, facial recognition technology gets it wrong….
This technology still relies heavily on vast quantities of information that it is incapable of assessing for reliability. And, in many cases, that information is biased….
Georgetown University’s Center on Privacy & Technology noted that at least 26 states allow police officers to run or request to have facial recognition searches run against their driver’s license and ID databases….. given the disproportionate rate at which African Americans are subject to arrest, the center found that facial recognition systems that rely on mug shot databases are likely to include an equally disproportionate number of African Americans.
More disturbingly, facial recognition software is significantly less reliable for Black and Asian people, who, according to a study by the National Institute of Standards and Technology, were 10 to 100 times more likely to be misidentified than white people. The institute, along with other independent studies, found that the systems’ algorithms struggled to distinguish between facial structures and darker skin tones.
The use of such biased technology has had real-world consequences for innocent people throughout the country. To date, six people that we know of have reported being falsely accused of a crime following a facial recognition match — all six were Black.”
( ” When Artificial Intelligence Gets It Wrong:
Unregulated and untested AI technologies have put innocent people at risk of being wrongly convicted.” The Innocence Project, 9-19-23 )
“Rite Aid has been banned from using facial recognition technology for five years over allegations that its surveillance system was used incorrectly to identify potential shoplifters, especially Black, Latino, Asian or female shoppers….
The FTC said in a federal court complaint that technology used by Rite Aid for several years led to thousands of incorrect matches, including an incident where Rite Aid store employees stopped and searched an 11-year-old girl.
Rite Aid used facial recognition technology in hundreds of stores from October 2012 to July 2020 to identify shoppers ‘it had previously deemed likely to engage in shoplifting or other criminal behavior,’ the FTC said. The company didn’t tell customers that it was using the technology.”
( excerpts from “Rite Aid banned from using facial recognition for 5 years after false theft accusations,” Oregonlive 12-20-23 )
This is the fear: imagine being “incorrectly identified” – as in, being accused of theft, or any crime you didn’t do – and then having to prove your innocence against AI identifying technology. Most people have been brought up to assume,
“When where there’s smoke, there’s fire.”
The thing is, with our advances in technology (not all of which moiself considers to be advances, as in, indicative of progress for civilization) there in fact may be no fire. There isn’t even any smoke in the first place – it’s all CGI.
But if there is smoke and/or fire, I hope that Godzilla is somehow involved.
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Department Of BTW
In two days, the last day of 2023, the date will be 123123.
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Freethinkers’ Thought Of The Week [3]
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May you remember to take care of yourself when you’re sick;
May you enjoy the rest of 2023’s lame duck week;
May you look forward to a year free from AI mis-identifying;
…and may the hijinks ensue.
Thanks for stopping by. Au Vendredi!
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[1] Specifically, in our pear tree.
[2] Or even show up for it.
[3] “free-think-er n. A person who forms opinions about religion on the basis of reason, independently of tradition, authority, or established belief. Freethinkers include atheists, agnostics and rationalists. No one can be a freethinker who demands conformity to a bible, creed, or messiah. To the freethinker, revelation and faith are invalid, and orthodoxy is no guarantee of truth.” Definition courtesy of the Freedom From Religion Foundation, ffrf.org
