SOCIETY AND TECHNOLOGY NEWS

How Society is Changing in the Second Machine Age

Technology is shaping society, as it has always done so, but at a rate never experienced before in the history of mankind. This department is tracking the impact technology has on the fabric of our societies and humanity in general.

Music and gaming, and film, also have an impact on our society and we look at both the technology driving them and their impact on us. We are seeing AI writing music, code for gaming, scripting stories, and a multitude of other domains that used to be exclusively human. How is AI driven art and entertainment changing our culture and ourselves?

Latest society and technology news
People affected by COVID-19 are being nicer to machines

People affected by COVID-19 are being nicer to machines

The pandemic has forced many to increasingly rely on machines. According to USC research, it’s also led people to like them a little more. People are not very nice to machines. The disdain goes beyond the slot machine that emptied your wallet, a dispenser that failed...

Are TikTok and WeChat a Threat to Privacy?

Are TikTok and WeChat a Threat to Privacy?

By Elizabeth Neil US President Donald Trump issued executive orders on August 6 banning United States transactions with Chinese technology companies Tencent and ByteDance, who own the multi-purpose app WeChat and the widely popular video sharing platform TikTok,...

How Secure is Your Password Today?

How Secure is Your Password Today?

A computer can guess more than 100,000,000,000 passwords per second. Still think yours is secure? Paul Haskell-Dowland, Edith Cowan University and Brianna O'Shea, Edith Cowan University Passwords have been used for thousands of years as a means of identifying...

Do Not Fear The Rise of the Machines

Do Not Fear The Rise of the Machines

The University of Queensland Contact magazine has done a story on our documentary Toward Singularity. Big thanks to Harriet Dempsey-Jones for the write up and Editor Michael Jones. [button...

Science fiction becomes fact to create live musical performance

Science fiction becomes fact to create live musical performance

Dr Alexis Kirke has for the first time shown that a human musician can communicate directly with a quantum computer via teleportation Teleportation is most commonly the stuff of science fiction and, for many, would conjure up the immortal phrase “Beam me up Scotty”....

Apple Brings Us One of the Great  Sci-Fi Epics

Apple Brings Us One of the Great Sci-Fi Epics

Just in case you are not one of the almost 11 million people to view the above trailer in the last 4 days (or missed it screaming at you on your Apple TV homepage)... here it is! Apple TV+ has been working on Foundation (based on the Foundation series of books by...

Is addiction to video games real?

Is addiction to video games real?

A recent six-year study, the longest study ever done on video game addiction, found that about 90% of gamers do not play in a way that is harmful or causes negative long-term consequences. A significant minority, though, can become truly addicted to video games and as a result can suffer mentally, socially and behaviorally.

Music By Machines

Music By Machines

FROM THE ARCHIVES Music By Machines AI and the business of making music     Udemy Course: Artificial Intelligence Music Creation & Remixing 2020

Economics and Investing Post COVID-19

Economics and Investing Post COVID-19

Mark Sackler 0:18 While most of us are focused on day to day survival during the current crisis, anyone who hopes to get past the pandemic will also need to be figuring out how to survive the extreme economic dislocation that is likely to last for months, years, or in...