Taliban's curbs on women 'crime against humanity' — report

The Taliban's restrictions on the rights of Afghan women and girls should be investigated as possible crimes under international law, two NGOs said in a joint report.

Amnesty International and the International Commission of Jurists, NGOs based in London and Geneva respectively, jointly released a report on Friday urging an investigation into the Taliban's restrictions on the rights of Afghan women and girls.

Titled, "The Taliban's war on women: The crime against humanity of gender persecution in Afghanistan," it cited the ICC statute, which lists gender-based persecution as a crime against humanity.

The report shed light on the severe limitations imposed by the Islamic fundamentalist group on women and girls in the war-torn country, after they seized power in August 2021 as US and NATO troops were in the final weeks of their withdrawal from the country after two decades of war.
How has the Taliban rule affected women's rights?

Despite initial promises of a more moderate rule, the Taliban have turned increasingly authoritarian, with a profound impact on various aspects of women's lives.

Women's access to education and work has been limited, along with their ability to travel and access medical care.

The report also accused the Taliban of targeting women and girls who have taken part in peaceful protests by detaining, forcibly disappearing them and subjecting them to torture in custody.

Afghan girls have few options under Taliban  02:30

Amnesty also documented cases of women and girls being forcibly married to members of the Taliban, as well as attempts to force them into such marriages. The report said those who refused such marriages were "subjected to abduction, intimidation, threats and torture."

"Afghan women and girls are the victims of a crime against humanity of gender persecution. The gravity of the crime demands a far more robust international response than has been seen to date. There is only one outcome acceptable: this system of gender oppression and persecution must be dismantled," said Agnes Callamard, secretary-general of Amnesty International.
Call for action against Taliban

The organizations have called on the International Criminal Court (ICC) to include "the crime against humanity of gender persecution" in its ongoing investigation into the situation in Afghanistan.

They urged the international community to address the issue of "gender persecution and other potential violations of international law by the Taliban" during the upcoming session of the UN Human Rights Council.

"Holding the Taliban criminally accountable and tackling rampant impunity for the serious crimes documented in this report is a necessary step toward securing justice for survivors of their egregious practices. We simply cannot afford to fail the women and girls of Afghanistan," said Santiago A. Canton, secretary-general at the International Commission of Jurists.

UN condemns Taliban ban on working women 02:15

The Taliban authorities, who claim to have established an "Islamic system" following the departure of the US-led NATO forces, have not yet responded to the report. In the past, the Taliban dismissed similar reports as "biased and propagandistic."

In April, the UN Security Council unanimously passed a resolution calling on the Taliban to ensure the full, equal, meaningful, and safe participation of women and girls in Afghanistan.

The report by Amnesty International and the International Commission of Jurists adds further weight to the need for urgent action to address the dire situation faced by Afghan women and girls under Taliban rule.

tg/sri (dpa, AP, EPD)

CRIMINAL CAPITALI$M
Dieselgate: Volkswagen, Audi in $85 million Texas settlement

Roshni Majumdar
05/26/2023May 26, 2023

The Volkswagen Group, which holds a majority share in Audi, has agreed to the deal with the US state of Texas for violating state laws by manipulating emissions tests between 2006 and 2015.

https://p.dw.com/p/4RpWj

Volkswagen and Audi have agreed to an $85 million (€79 million) settlement in principle for violating Texas laws during the diesel emissions scandal, Attorney General Ken Paxton said Thursday.

German car giant Volkswagen owns several car brands, including Audi.

The settlement stems from the diesel emissions scandal that mired the company in lawsuits for nearly a decade since the news broke in 2015.

Device that manipulated emissions

The German carmaker fit vehicles it sold in the US and Europe with a device to manipulate emissions tests between 2006 and 2015.

Volkswagen has recalled some 11 million vehicles worldwide and paid billions in settlements for deception and violations of rules and regulations.

The automotive giant has settled US federal court actions to the tune of $20 billion previously, but that has not shielded the company from local and state government liability, as courts have previously ruled.

Attorney General Paxton said in a statement: "If a company thinks they will avoid accountability when they violate Texas laws, endanger Texans, and pollute our environment, they're dead wrong."

"Volkswagen and Audi are finding that out the hard way, and now they are paying the price," he added.

Edited by: John Silk

I OPPOSE THE DEATH PENALTY FOR MAN OR BEAR


Italy: Bear that killed runner spared death for now
11 hours ago11 hours ago

A court has suspended the culling order for a bear that fatally attacked a runner in the Italian Alps last month. Animal rights advocates want to see the animal sent to a refuge where it cannot harm people.

An administrative court in Italy's Alpine region on Friday delayed for at least a month the euthanization of a bear that killed a 26-year-old man running on a local track in early April.

The court said it wanted to know more about the details of the attack by the 17-year-old female brown bear and review more findings from the autopsy carried out on the man, according to the ANSA news agency.

The suspension of the culling order runs till June 27, but the bear, identified as Jj4, might well be spared until a hearing on December 14 to decide on a proposal by animal rights advocates to send her to a refuge.

The judges ordered the same suspension for another bear, MJ5. That animal, which is yet to be captured, is also facing a cull order after injuring a male dog walker in March.

Andrea Papi was killed on a mountain path in northern Italy's Trentino area

Provinzregierung Caldes/dpa/picture alliance

Wildlife controversy

The killing of jogger Andrea Papi on April 5 reignited a debate in Italy on an EU-funded program that led to the repopulation of the northern Trentino area with bears from 1999.

Local government data indicates that Trentino had around 100 wild bears in 2021, with numbers increasing by about 10% per year from 2015 onward.

The bear, whose involvement in the attack was established by DNA evidence, was captured on April 18 after a two-week hunt.

She had wounded two people in an attack two years previously, and the provincial governor, Maurizio Fugatti, has said the fatality could have been avoided if she had been euthanized after the first incident.

It is unclear if Jj4, also known as Gaia, might have attacked Papi because cubs were nearby. His family has said they do not want to see the bear killed.

Since the bear's capture, she has been held in a fenced-off game enclosure.

A German sanctuary in Lower Bavaria recently offered to take her in.

tj/nm (AP, Reuters, dpa)

Turkey rides nationalist wave in historic election

Issued on: 26/05/2023

Turkey's election coincides with its 100-year anniversary as a secular, post-Ottoman state 

Istanbul (AFP) – Suffering a massive economic crisis and surrounded by countries at war, Turkey is witnessing a resurgence of nationalism that has impacted the fate of its biggest election of modern times.

Leading his rival, Kemal Kilicdaroglu, by nearly five points after the first round, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan enters Sunday's runoff as the firm favourite.

The Islamic-rooted leader's chances have been bolstered by the endorsement of Sinan Ogan, an ultra-nationalist who came out of seemingly nowhere to win 5.2 percent of the vote on May 14.

Smaller right-wing parties also picked up nearly a quarter of the parallel parliamentary polls.

Historians and analysts are struck by the symbolism of a patriotic wave washing over Turkey on the 100-year anniversary of its foundation as a post-Ottoman republic.

The modern state's founder, Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, made "Turkishness" into a national idea and unifying force that bridged the cultural and religious divisions of the old empire.

Now, surrounded by wars stretching from Syria to Ukraine, and living through its worst cost-of-living crisis since the 1990s, Turks are embracing nationalism again.

"Nationalism is a comfort, we feel good there," said French historian Etienne Copeaux, a specialist in Turkish nationalism.

"It's like an air constantly blowing over Turkey," he added, rejecting any contradiction between this surge and the political Islam advocated by Erdogan since his days as Istanbul mayor in the 1990s.

"The allegedly secular Turkey is a myth," Copeaux said, pointing to a maxim adopted by the MHP, an ultra-nationalist party that has joined forces with Erdogan's Islamic-rooted AKP.

"One is not Turkish if one is not Muslim," the MHP affirm.
Stability over change

Chipping away at Turkey's secular foundations by allowing women to stay veiled in public and converting ancient churches into mosques, Erdogan has been careful to "never completely reject" Ataturk's legacy, Copeaux said.

Others, like Can Dundar, are more sceptical.

Living in self-imposed exile because of a highly controversial "terrorism" conviction in Turkey, the former Cumhuriyet newspaper editor laments voters' decision to pick stability over change.

"Instead of peace and freedom, they chose security," Dundar said.

Dundar noted that this tendency is not specific to Turkey in times of crisis.

But it has been especially pronounced in this vote, where the MHP outperformed expectations and the opposition alliance includes a nationalist party headed by former MHP members.

Menderes Cinar, a professor of political science at Baskent University in Ankara, said Turkey has been witnessing a "parallel breakthrough of nationalism and Islam since the 1990s".
Losing credibility

Kilicdaroglu, whose socially democratic CHP party was founded by Ataturk, has responded by ditching his embracing language in favour of fist-thumping speeches that strike ardently nationalist tones.

"We will not turn Turkey into a depot for migrants," he said in a visit to the quake-ravaged Syrian border city of Antakya, pledging to expel millions of migrants within two years.

Kilicdaroglu has also struck an alliance with Umit Ozdag, a fringe, far-right figure who has campaigned hard against migrants and wants to become the interior minister in the new government.

This has triggered the unease of the pro-Kurdish HDP party, which backed Kilicdaroglu in the first round but briefly considered boycotting the second round because of his rightward turn.

Kilicdaroglu has managed to keep the HDP on board.

But its support left Kilicdaroglu only more exposed to charges of colluding with "terrorists" from Erdogan, who views the HDP as the political wing of banned Kurdish militants.

Cornered and trying to fight back, Kilicdaroglu's new nationalist stance is "logical", Cinar said.

"But it also risks making him lose all credibility," the analyst added.

Fate of Madrid's trees takes root in vote campaign

AFP
Fri, May 26, 2023 a

Trees play a role in countering the 'urban heat island effect' that causes cities to be several degrees warmer than rural areas

In Madrid, where summer temperatures are becoming increasingly unbearable due to climate change, the fate of the city's trees has become a hot-button topic ahead of Spain's local and regional elections.

On the eve of Sunday's vote, the right-wing Popular Party (PP), which governs both the capital and the Madrid region, has come under attack for its renovation of Puerta del Sol square without planting a single tree.

In a city whose emblem features a wild bear nuzzling a strawberry tree -- a statue of which graces the square -- critics say a major opportunity was missed to introduce vegetation to the sweeping plaza.


Faced with the backlash, city hall has paused controversial plans to fell more than 1,000 trees next to the Manzanares River to extend a metro line.

"All scientists say 'you must plant trees'... and add more greenery" to fight climate change, which is causing abnormal heat in Madrid, said Susana de la Higuera, spokeswoman for Pasillo Verde, the association behind the protests that have been key in halting the tree-felling plans.

"But Madrid's regional government is trying to destroy (the trees) here, and city hall is also involved," she told AFP.

Experts say climate change is causing earlier and more intense heatwaves in Madrid and the rest of Spain.

Trees play an important role in countering the "urban heat island effect" that causes cities to be several degrees warmer than nearby rural areas.

The issue is particularly sensitive in Madrid which lost nearly 20 percent of its mature trees over the past four years, mostly due to the historic snowfall which blanketed the Spanish capital in January 2021, municipal figures show.

Javier Padilla, spokesman for the leftist Mas Madrid, said city hall had "done nothing to replant the trees" after the storm, and also accused the region's hardline right-wing Isabel Diaz Ayuso of climate change denial.

She came under fire in November for saying measures to fight global warming were "a big scam" and claiming that the climate has been continuously changing "for as long as Earth has existed".

Meanwhile, mayor Jose Luis Martinez Almeida, hit back at his left-wing critics by accusing them of a mass culling of the city's trees when they were in city hall between 2015 and 2019.

If re-elected on Sunday, he has pledged to plant 500,000 trees.

tpe-mg/ds/hmw/giv

The Spanish island where they say it with a whistle

ENTR
Fri, 26 May 2023


On the Spanish island of La Gomera, in the Canary Islands, people can communicate by whistle. Dating back centuries, the ancient language of Silbo Gomero is still widely used on the island. The ENTR team met the whistlers keeping it alive.

The volcanic topography of La Gomera prompted its inhabitants to find a way of communicating across long distances. Before the advent of mobile phones, they found that a whistle, echoing through the island's mountains, could reach up to 4 kilometres away.

Once used to notify fellow islanders of important events, then to escape the Guardia Civil during Franco's dictatorship, Silbo is now one of the last 80 whistled languages in the world, helping scientists make ground-breaking discoveries about the human brain.

The ENTR team met Francisco Niebla, a young whistler whose passion for Silbo was passed down to by his grandfather, and Quico Correa, among the island's most experienced silbadores.

Google withdraws 'Slavery Simulator' game app after Brazil outcry

AFP
Fri, May 26, 2023, 

The game app 'Slavery Simulator' had been downloaded by hundreds of people

Google has withdrawn a gaming app that allowed players to buy, sell and torture black virtual "slaves" after a racism outcry in Brazil.

Dubbed "Slavery Simulator," the Portuguese-language game saw players trade in slaves and strategize to prevent the abolition of slavery in order to amass virtual riches.

The prosecutor's office said it had opened an investigation for "hate speech" related to the game downloaded by hundreds of people.

The app itself had come with a disclaimer condemning "all types of slavery" and insisting the game was "solely for entertainment purposes."

After withdrawing the app from its Playstore, Google said in a statement that "applications that promote violence or hated against groups of people or individuals because of their skin color or ethnic origin" would not be allowed on its platform.

The company invited users to report offensive content.

Brazil's ministry of racial equality said it had asked Google to put in place measures "to filter out content containing hate speech, intolerance and racism" and "to prevent it from spreading so easily, without moderation."

Racism is still a problem in Brazil, the last country in the Americas to abolish slavery, in 1888. More than 56 percent of the population is Afro-Brazilian.

"Brazil is one of the countries with the most consumers on Google’s platforms, and there one finds this app that recalls the era of slavery, with bonuses for those who torture the most," said Renata Souza, a leftist regional lawmaker in Rio de Janeiro.

"This is not only racism, but also fascism," she told AFP. "Here in Brazil, we have a neo-fascist movement that is not afraid to show itself... because of the lack of regulation on social networks."

Google has spoken out against a bill seeking to stem online disinformation in Brazil, saying it "seriously threatens free speech."

Supporters call the bill a badly-needed defense against disinformation and online extremism, but detractors say it amounts to censorship.

A Supreme Court judge ordered an investigation of Google and Telegram over what he called their "abusive campaign" against the bill.

Racism has been on the minds of Brazilians since "monkey" insults were hurled Sunday against their own Vinicius Junior, playing for Real Madrid in Spain.

The lights on the Christ the Redeemer statue in Rio de Janeiro were turned off for an hour in solidarity with the player.

lg/lab/lpt/mlr/md

OpenAI boss downplays fears ChatGPT maker could leave Europe over AI rules

KELVIN CHAN, 

AP Business Writer
May 26, 2023

2of8'OpenAI's CEO Sam Altman, the founder of ChatGPT and creator of OpenAI gestures while speaking at University College London, as part of his world tour of speaking engagements in London, Wednesday, May 24, 2023.

Alastair Grant/APShow More

LONDON (AP) — OpenAI CEO Sam Altman on Friday downplayed worries that the ChatGPT maker could exit the European Union if it can't comply with the bloc's strict new artificial intelligence rules, coming after a top official rebuked him for comments raising such a possibility.

Altman is traveling through Europe as part of a world tour to meet with officials and promote his AI company, which has unleashed a frenzy around the globe.

At a stop this week in London, he said OpenAI might leave if the artificial intelligence rules that the EU is drawing up are too tough. That triggered a pointed reply on social media from European Commissioner Thierry Breton, accusing the company of blackmail.

Breton, who's in charge of digital policy, linked to a Financial Times article quoting Altman saying that OpenAI “will try to comply, but if we can’t comply we will cease operating.”

Altman sought to calm the waters a day later, tweeting: “very productive week of conversations in europe about how to best regulate AI! we are excited to continue to operate here and of course have no plans to leave.”

The European Union is at the forefront of global efforts to draw up guardrails for artificial intelligence, with its AI Act in the final stages after years of work. The rapid rise of general purpose AI chatbots like ChatGPT caught EU officials off guard, and they scrambled to add provisions covering so-called generative AI systems, which can produce convincingly human-like conversational answers, essays, images and more in response to questions from users.

“There is no point in attempting blackmail — claiming that by crafting a clear framework, Europe is holding up the rollout of generative #AI,” Breton said in his tweet. He added that the EU aims to “assist companies in their preparation” for the AI Act.

Altman tweeted that his European tour includes Warsaw, Poland; Munich, Germany; Paris; Madrid; Lisbon, Portugal; and London. Brussels, headquarters of the EU, has not been mentioned.

He has met with world leaders including British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, French President Emmanuel Macron, Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz.

Google CEO Sundar Pichai also has been crisscrossing Europe this week to discuss AI with officials like Scholz, European commissioners including Breton, Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson, and two EU lawmakers who spearheaded the Parliament's work on the AI rules.

“Good to discuss the need for responsible regulation and transatlantic convergence on AI,” Pichai tweeted.

Google has released its own conversational chatbot, Bard, to compete with ChatGPT.

Other tech company bosses have been wading into the debate this week over whether and how to regulate artificial intelligence, including Microsoft President Brad Smith, who unveiled a blueprint for public governance of AI on Thursday.

Microsoft has invested billions in OpenAI and integrated ChatGPT-like technology into its products, including a chatbot for its Bing search engine.

Altman told congressional lawmakers this month that AI should be regulated by a U.S. or global agency because increasingly powerful systems will need government intervention to reduce their risks.

Altman was mobbed by students when he appeared in a “fireside chat” at University College London on Wednesday. He told the audience that the “right answer” to regulating AI is “probably something between the traditional European, U.K. approach and the traditional U.S. approach.”

“I think you really don’t want to overregulate this before you know what shape the technology is going to be," Altman said.

There's still potential to come up with “some sort of global set of norms and enforcement," he said, adding that AI regulation has been a “recurring topic” on his world tour, which has also included stops in Toronto, Rio de Janeiro and Lagos, Nigeria.

OpenAI CEO rolls back threat to quit Europe over regulation


Sam Altman sparked criticism after accusing the European Union of "overregulating" artificial intelligence platforms. Having warned that ChatGPT may pull out of Europe, Altman now says his firm has "no plans to leave."

OpenAI — the company behind the popular artificial intelligence (AI) platform ChatGPT — has no plans to leave Europe, CEO Sam Altman said on Friday, reversing a threat made earlier this week.

"We are excited to continue to operate here and of course have no plans to leave," Altman said in a tweet.



The remark is a U-turn from comments made to journalists on Wednesday where he accused the European Union's proposed AI Act of potentially "overregulating" platforms like his.

"The current draft of the EU AI Act would be overregulating, but we have heard it's going to get pulled back," Altman told Reuters. "They are still talking about it."

Altman was cited by the Financial Times as saying that the draft EU rules were causing him "a lot of concern" but that OpenAI would indeed try to comply with them. "But if we can't comply with them, we will cease operations [in Europe]."

During an event at the Technical University of Munich (TUM) on Wednesday, Altman said that he thinks typically, regulators should take a wait-and-see approach, but noted how AI regulation is an area "where we should be proactive."

Brussels says AI rules 'cannot be bargained'

Altman's initial threat was met with a strong response from Brussels, with European Internal Market Commissioner Thierry Breton insisting that Europe's AI rules are not up for negotiation.

Breton said there was no point making speculative threats and claiming Europe was holding up the rollout of generative AI, referring to the type of AI that can create text, images and other content.

"Let's be clear, our rules are put in place for the security and well-being of our citizens and this cannot be bargained," Breton told Reuters.

"Europe has been ahead of the curve designing a solid and balanced regulatory framework for AI which tackles risks related to fundamental rights or safety, but also enables innovation for Europe to become a frontrunner in trustworthy AI," he said.

Microsoft's President Brad Smith said during an event in the United States on Thursday that he was optimistic "reason will prevail" and that the final AI Act would be an acceptable compromise.

What is ChatGPT and why is it so controversial?

ChatGPT is an AI platform that is able to write emails, essays and software code with minimal human guidance. It can also give detailed answers on a wide range of topics.

Microsoft has invested nearly $10 billion in Open AI, the laboratory behind ChatGPT, while Google and Chinese tech giant Alibaba have rushed out their own versions.

The arrival of such chatbots has surprised many policymakers and business leaders, who hadn't expected AI technology to advance so quickly.

Concerns are now rising that AI may grow too powerful, cause hundreds of millions of job losses and be used for nefarious purposes.

Critics say it will decimate entire industries, lead to a flood of misinformation and copyright infringements, and entrench race, gender and political biases.

AI's supporters claim that the technology will improve lives by doing menial tasks better and revolutionize human interaction with machines.

When will the European AI Act be passed?

The EU is in the final stages of approval of its regulations to cover generative AI tools, such as OpenAI's Chat GPT.

After being sent back to the drawing board by the arrival of ChatGPT, EU lawmakers reached common ground on the draft of the act earlier this month.

EU lawmakers and EU national governments are expected to thrash out the details of the rules in the coming months before they become legislation that may become the global standard for the technology.

The final law isn't expected to take effect until 2025.

mm/sri (dpa, Reuters)

Elon Musk’s Neuralink cleared for human test of brain implants

Elon Musk’s start-up Neuralink on Thursday said it has approval from US regulators to test its brain implants in people.

Staff writers and AFP
3 min read
May 27, 2023

Elon Musk’s start-up Neuralink on Thursday said it has approval from US regulators to test its brain implants in people.

Neuralink said clearance from the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for its first in-human clinical study was “an important first step” for its technology, which is intended to let brains interface directly with computers.

“We are excited to share that we have received the FDA’s approval to launch our first-in-human clinical study,” Neuralink said in a post on Musk-run Twitter.

Recruitment for a clinical trial is not yet open, according to Neuralink. The aim of Neuralink implants is to enable human brains to communicate directly with computers, Mr Musk said during a presentation by the start-up in December.

“We’ve been working hard to be ready for our first human (implant), and obviously we want to be extremely careful and certain that it will work well before putting a device in a human,” he said at the time.

Neuralink prototypes, which are the size of a coin, have been implanted in the skulls of monkeys, demonstrations by the start-up showed.

In February 2022, the company was sideswiped by a legal battle over its alleged mistreatment of test subjects.

The Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine (PCRM) has come after the company for causing “extreme suffering” for its test subjects. A statement put to the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) claimed monkeys “had their brains mutilated in shoddy experiments and were left to suffer and die”.

Elon Musk’s start-up Neuralink on Thursday said it has approval from US regulators to test its brain implants in people. Picture: YouTube

At a presentation, Neuralink showed several monkeys “playing” basic video games or moving a cursor on a screen through their Neuralink implant.

The technology has also been tested in pigs.

With the help of a surgical robot, a piece of the skull is replaced with a Neuralink disk, and its wispy wires are strategically inserted into the brain, an early demonstration showed.

The disk registers nerve activity, relaying the information via common Bluetooth wireless signal to a device such as a smartphone, according to Mr Musk.

“It actually fits quite nicely in your skull,” Mr Musk said during a prior presentation.

“It could be under your hair and you wouldn’t know.”

Mr Musk said the company would try to use the implants to restore vision and mobility in humans who had lost such abilities.

This video grab made from the online Neuralink livestream shows Elon Musk standing next to the surgical robot during his Neuralink presentation.

“We would initially enable someone who has almost no ability to operate their muscles … and enable them to operate their phone faster than someone who has working hands,” he said.

“As miraculous as it may sound, we are confident that it is possible to restore full body functionality to someone who has a severed spinal cord,” he said.

Beyond the potential to treat neurological diseases, Mr Musk’s ultimate goal is to ensure that humans are not intellectually overwhelmed by artificial intelligence (AI), he said.

Other companies working on similar systems include Synchron, which announced in July that it had implanted the first human brain-machine interface in the United States.

The aim of Neuralink implants is to enable human brains to communicate directly with computers, Musk said during a presentation by the start-up in December.


Members of the Neuralink team have shared a “wish list” that ranged from technology returning mobility to the paralysed and sight to the blind, to enabling telepathy and the uploading of memories for later reference — or perhaps to be downloaded into replacement bodies.

Meanwhile, Mr Musk recently established a business devoted to developing sophisticated AI. The boss of Tesla has also predicted that autonomous driving technology at the electric car maker is heading for a breakthrough.

Mr Musk has contended that synching minds with machines is vital if people are going to avoid being so outpaced by AI that, under the best of circumstances, humans would be akin to “house cats.” Experts and academics remain cautious about his vision of symbiotically merging minds with super-powered computing.

Key facts about Neuralink, Musk's cyborg gamble

Alex PIGMAN (SIC)
Fri, May 26, 2023

Elon Musk standing next to a surgical robot during a Neuralink presentation in 2020

Neuralink, Elon Musk's brain-implant company, has won US approval to test on humans. Here is what to know about the multi-billionaire's dream project to enable the human brain to communicate directly with computers.

- Cyborg future? -

Neuralink is a neurotechnology company co-founded by Musk along with a team of scientists and engineers in 2016 to build direct communication channels between the brain and computers.

The aim is to supercharge human capabilities, treat neurological disorders like ALS or Parkinson's, and ultimately achieve a symbiotic relationship between humans and artificial intelligence.

Neuralink's technology would mainly work through an implant called the "Link" -- a device about the size of five stacked coins that would be placed inside the human brain through invasive surgery.

The hardware would harbor electrodes capable of both recording neural activity and stimulating specific regions of the brain.

Researchers hope the implant's powers will also treat paralysis, spinal cord injuries and brain disorders.

It could also potentially blur the line between human consciousness and computing, an idea that has long excited technologists, while feeding nightmares of a dystopian future taken over by cyborgs.

Last year, 78 percent of US adults surveyed by Pew Research said they probably or definitely would not want a computer chip implanted in their brain to process information faster.

- Many competitors -

According to data company Pitchbook, California-based Neuralink has more than 400 employees and has raised at least $363 million.

Though he wins most of the headlines, Musk is hardly alone in trying to make advances in the field, which is officially known as brain-machine or brain-computer interface research.

Hit with delays, the tycoon had reportedly reached out to join forces with implant developer Synchron about a potential investment. Its implant version does not require cutting into the skull to install it, unlike Neuralink's Link.

The Australia-based Synchron implanted its first device in a US patient in July 2022.

Another implant project, but designed for research purposes, is from company Blackrock Neurotech and has also received FDA approval for human testing.

A Neuralink co-founder has also split from Musk and raised venture capital for his own project at a startup called Science.

Other companies seeking to make a play in the sector include BrainCo, Kernel and CTRL-Labs, now a part of Meta's virtual reality division.

- Animal testing -

The FDA approval for human testing comes at a great relief for Neuralink which until now had been testing its implants in monkeys and other animals.

Reuters reported in December that the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) had opened an investigation into potential violations of the Animal Welfare Act at Neuralink.

The report estimated that Neuralink killed about 1,500 animals, including more than 280 sheep, pigs and monkeys for research since 2018.

The USDA refused to confirm or deny the report to AFP at the time.

Arch rival Synchron reportedly killed only about 80 sheep as part of its research, according to documents seen by Reuters.

arp/bgs

Neuralink: Making Mind Control Possible

Ashley

·

2020

Artificial intelligence continues to advance our society, but many of us fear the idea of A.I. taking over humanity. This is the reason why many individuals have disapproved of Elon Musk’s newest innovation Neuralink; a brain-computer interface, that is implementable in the human brain.

The thought of computers in our brain may seem alarming at first, due to the fact that we think of the worst possible outcomes. In reality, a device like Neuralink could change the lives of many individuals who have to deal with terrible illnesses that cause pain to their lives daily.

Currently, humans have five senses, although the implementation of the Link could give us a sixth; which would be a mind control sense and would improve the quality of life for everyone, by allowing us to interact with computers.

The Link Prototype

“It’s kind of like Fitbit in your skull with tiny wires.”

-Elon musk

Understanding How The Brain Communicates

In order to understand how the Link works, you must understand that your brain sends information to different parts of your body using neurons. Within your brain, these neurons will connect together using a neural network and communicate using chemical signals called neurotransmitters. The reaction between different neurons will create an electric field, and these reactions can be recorded by placing neurotransmitters nearby. The electrodes will then translate these signals into an algorithm, a computer can interpret. Once the Link is installed into someone’s brain, the device will be able to send and receive neurons in your brain.

The wires compare to the thickness of a penny.

Getting The Link Inside Our Head

Drilling a hole into your skull and carefully inserting wires into your brain, is a little beyond human capabilities, and due to the complexities of this procedure, Elon Musk plans to have the Link inserted by a robot.

The robot that will carry out the procedure, will insert the Link into your brain using a microscope and needles that are so small you cannot easily spot them with the human eye (24 microns to be exact).

Additionally, the robot would insert around 10,000 electrodes, without touching any veins or arteries, bypassing any kind of blood vessel, making the procedure very safe. Fortunately, the operation only requires a 2mm incision, that would be dilated to 8mm and afterwards, the exposed part of the brain would be covered by the chipset module.

In the early stages of this procedure, Elon Musk estimates that the implementation could take up to one hour without general anesthesia, and eventually cost the same price of a LASEK eye surgery.

Neuralink’s robot surgeon placing electrodes into the brain.

“You can go to hospital in the morning and leave by afternoon. And it can be done without general anesthesia.” -Elon Musk

So what will The Link do?

Although this device is in the early stages of testing, the first stages of the Link aim to target neural deficiencies including paralysis, mental illness, epilepsy, memory loss and hearing. In the future, Elon Musk plans to extend the device’s capabilities to download skills into your brain (for example, a new language), stream music in your head, communicate with external computers and even make telepathy less farfetched.

The Link has only received the FDA breakthrough device designation and still faces certain restrictions. Nevertheless, I can see many applications of this device changing many individuals' lives.

When my grandfather was alive, as he grew older his hearing gradually deteriorated. Unfortunately, when he needed his hearing the most, he could not hear anyone, which made his life quite difficult. Due to the pain in his hands and arms, his deafness, and the language barrier, it was impossible for him to learn sign language. When my grandfather became really sick, my mother and grandmother were the only individuals who could successfully communicate with him, and this made his last stages of life painful and heartbreaking.

With a device like the Link, people who are deaf can have a chance of hearing, improving the overall quality of their life, and preventing any feelings of isolation.

But pigs are first!

Gertrude successfully using the Neuralink device

Remarkably enough, the early stages of the Link work in pigs. The video above shows Neuralink’s pig, Gertrude eating off a stool and sniffing straw. Every time she carries out an action, the Link tracks the electrical signals firing in her brain.

The Link Giving Us Endless Possibilities

Neuralink is an ambitious project but is one that could improve the lives of all individuals.

Despite the amazing technological advances made over the past few years, healthcare remains to be an important issue and still has a long way to go. With the drastic improvements that Neuralink plans to implement within their devices, the quality of life will improve for humanity, and we will be able to experience things that could not be done without A.I., giving humans more power.

We should not fear technology, since technology is our future. Instead, we should use technology as an advantage, and a company like Neuralink is developing products that will do this and ultimately reshape the human race.

Key Takeaways 🔑

• The Link is an invasive brain-computer interface that is being developed by Neuralink
• Electrodes can measure brain activity, and will then translate these signals into an algorithm, a computer can interpret. Once the Link is installed into someone’s brain, the device will be able to send and receive neurons in your brain
• A super-precise robot would insert the 10,000 Neuralink electrodes into your skull by making a 2mm incision in your head
• The link will have many possible capabilities including treating neural deficiencies, streaming music in your head, communicating with external computers and even telepathy
• Currently, the link works in pigs

Contact me for any inquiries 🚀

Hi, I’m Ashley, a 19-year-old coding nerd and A.I. enthusiast!

I hope you enjoyed reading my article, and if you did, feel free to check out some of my other pieces on Medium :)

Articles you will like if you read this one:

💫 A Crash Course On Brain-Computer Interfaces

💫Neuralink: Making Mind Control Possible

💫NeuroPace- The Device That Stops Seizures Before They Happen

💫 Detecting Pneumonia Using CNNs In TensorFlow

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Fungi and plants clean up California pollution

by Romain FONSEGRIVES

Bioremediation uses plants and fungi to vacuum up pollutants from soil.

In an industrial wasteland in Los Angeles, Kreigh Hampel is uprooting California buckwheat with a pitchfork to find out how much lead it has absorbed.

The plant's delicate white and pink flowers belie an astonishing cleaning power, which scientists think could be harnessed to get rid of dangerous pollutants—and even recycle them.

"That's the miracle of life," enthuses 68-year-old Hampel, who is volunteering on the project.

"Plants really can do this work and they know how to do it, they've done it so many times over millions of years," he says.

The experiment is part of a project run by University of California Riverside which has scattered carefully selected plants and fungi on this former industrial site in the hope of getting rid of the heavy metals and petrochemicals that have contaminated the area for decades.

Danielle Stevenson, who is leading the study, says such bioremediation techniques can be much more cost-effective than traditional techniques.

"The conventional method of cleaning up sites is just to dig up all the contaminated soil and to dump it somewhere else," she told AFP.

"That approach doesn't actually solve the problem, right? It just moves it somewhere else." And, she says, it costs a lot of money.

Stevenson's project, which is being carried out on three sites in and around Los Angeles, has a price tag of around $200,000 and so far is showing very promising results.

California buckwheat is particularly good at absorbing heavy metals like lead.

Solar-powered vacuum cleaners

"In three months, we had a 50 percent reduction of the petrochemicals and then in six months, we were getting pretty close (to that level) with some of the metals," she said.

Stevenson, a mycologist by training, has chosen her anti-pollution weapons with care.

Oyster mushrooms have been incorporated into the soil because of their natural role in decomposition: Their underground part, called the mycelium, is sucking up diesel.

"Those same fungi that in nature would eat a dead tree will also recognize diesel oil, for example, as a food source.

"The reason is, it's basically the same thing. A lot of our fossil fuels are just dead stuff that got compressed over long periods of time."

Several California native plants, including the telegraph weed and the California bush sunflower, are particularly good at absorbing heavy metals.

Researcher Danielle Stevenson says she thinks of the plants a little like solar-powered vacuum cleaners.

Stevenson thinks of the plants essentially as "solar powered vacuum cleaners: They basically suck up the metals, like lead, into their bodies.

"When we pull out the plants, we've removed the lead from the soil."

The lead and other metals can then be recovered from those plants—and even reused.

Throughout the United States and the industrialized world, commercial sites that outlive their useful life to the companies that pollute them are often just abandoned, says Stevenson.

The responsibility to put them right falls on poorly funded or ill-equipped local authorities, who struggle to find the money or the expertise.

Historically the problem is worse in working class or ethnic minority neighborhoods, where politicians feel more able to ignore complaints.

In the United States, where the Environmental Protection Agency lists nearly 1,900 problem sites, only a small number of clean-up projects are carried out each year, Stevenson says.

She hopes that a cheaper method will enable more sites to be cleaned up.

Danielle Stevenson's bioremediation project is being carried out on three sites in and around Los Angeles.


'The Last of Us'

Advocates say bioremediation's uses are not limited to fixing former industrial sites. The process can also be used to help clean up the toxic ash left by some wildfires—an annual problem in fire-prone California.

So why is this technique still so underdeveloped?

"Bioremediation is still considered risky," explains Bill Mohn, professor of microbiology at the University of British Columbia in Canada.

Unlike soil excavation, "it's hard to guarantee that you will systematically reach the level of pollutants that are required.

"Whereas, we know that if you dig up the soil and send it to somebody who will take it if you pay them, then you've solved your problem."

Stevenson, meanwhile, points to unhealthy prejudices about mushrooms—think of the terrifying fungi that infect the zombies of the HBO smash series "The Last of Us."

Scientists are carefully measuring how much the plants have grown and what they have absorbed.

"I get asked all the time: 'If you introduce a fungus to clean up a site, is it going to take over, eat our house and take over the world?'" she says.

It won't, she is quick to add.

But that is why it is important to be conducting this kind of experiment in a real-world setting, not just in a laboratory.

"I think once we get more field tests of these methods, people will feel more confident choosing some of these approaches," she says.

© 2023 AFP

What a difference a dayflower makes: Plant removes toxic copper ions from contaminated soil