Short Wave - Are You Overestimating The Algorithm?

Humans hallucinate. Algorithms lie.

At least, that's one difference that Joy Buolamwini and Kyle Chayka want to make clear. When ChatGPT tells you that a book exists when it doesn't – or professes its undying love – that's often called a "hallucination." Buolamwini, a computer scientist, prefers to call it "spicy autocomplete." But not all algorithmic errors are as innocuous. So today's show, we get into: How do algorithms work? What are their impacts? And how can we speak up about changing them?

This is a shortened version of Joy and Kyle's live interview, moderated by Regina G. Barber, at this year's Library of Congress National Book Festival.

If you liked this episode, check out our other episodes on facial recognition in Gaza, why AI is not a silver bullet and tech companies limiting police use of facial recognition.

Interested in hearing more technology stories? Email us at shortwave@npr.org — we'd love to consider your idea for a future episode!

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The Daily Signal - Why You’re Wrong to Think Civil War Can’t Happen Here

Demographer, historian, and author Neil Howe hasn't just coined the term “Millennial,” he's also predicted the future to an eerie degree—and he thinks America's in for very rough seas ahead. He says a civil war in the U.S. is far more plausible than most people think, and he dismisses the reasons Americans often discount that possibility.

Howe sits down with The Daily Signal's managing editor, Tyler O'Neil, to talk about his generational theory, his books, and why he thinks a civil war in the U.S. is indeed possible, if not likely.

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NPR's Book of the Day - ‘The Instrumentalist’ is a story about music, imagination and Anna Maria della Pietà

Harriet Constable learned a lot about the real life of Anna Maria della Pietà — that she grew up in an orphanage, that she was a star violinist and a favored student of Antonio Vivaldi. But in her new novel, The Instrumentalist, Constable also merges fact with fiction to tell the story of Anna Maria's synesthesia and musical talents. In today's episode, she speaks with NPR's Scott Simon about Anna Maria's life, the challenges and excitement of the classical music world at the time, and what we make of Vivaldi today.

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The Stack Overflow Podcast - At scale, anything that could fail definitely will

Pradeep talks about building at global scale and preparing for inevitable system failures. He talks about extra layers of security, including viewing your own VMs as untrustworthy. And he lays out where he thinks the world of cloud computing is headed as GenAI becomes a bigger piece of many company’s tech stack. 

You can find Pradeep on LinkedIn. He also writes a blog and hosts a podcast over at Oracle First Principles

Congrats to Stack Overflow user shantanu, who earned a Great Question badge for asking: 

Which shell I am using in mac?

 Over 100,000 people have benefited from your curiosity.

Read Me a Poem - “How Do I Love Thee” by Elizabeth Barrett Browning

Amanda Holmes reads Elizabeth Barrett Browning’s “How Do I Love Thee.” Have a suggestion for a poem by a (dead) writer? Email us: podcast@theamericanscholar.org. If we select your entry, you’ll win a copy of a poetry collection edited by David Lehman.

 

This episode was produced by Stephanie Bastek and features the song “Canvasback” by Chad Crouch.



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1A - The Past, Present, And Future Of Our Favorite Bookstores

You're listening to a public radio show. There's a good chance you're into books and the stores that sell them.

And what's not to love? There might be few greater joys in life than a warm drink, a kind clerk with good recs, and the scent of freshly printed pages wafting through the air.

But in the age of the internet (and especially of Amazon) the future of the world's independent book sellers looks murky. But not hopeless.

We discuss what the future holds for these brick and mortar institutions.

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Consider This from NPR - Measles cases are up and childhood vaccinations are down

For about three weeks in 2000, there were zero measles cases in the United States. It was declared eradicated.

Fast forward to 2024, and measles cases are surging, especially in Oregon where the state is facing the worst outbreak since the early 1990s.

This is happening as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports that the vaccination rate among kindergartners is dropping, and more and more parents are seeking exemptions to school vaccine requirements.

People are vaccinating their children at lower and lower rates. What does that mean for kids as they head back to school, and for infectious and deadly diseases like measles?

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Consider This from NPR - Measles cases are up and childhood vaccinations are down

For about three weeks in 2000, there were zero measles cases in the United States. It was declared eradicated.

Fast forward to 2024, and measles cases are surging, especially in Oregon where the state is facing the worst outbreak since the early 1990s.

This is happening as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports that the vaccination rate among kindergartners is dropping, and more and more parents are seeking exemptions to school vaccine requirements.

People are vaccinating their children at lower and lower rates. What does that mean for kids as they head back to school, and for infectious and deadly diseases like measles?

For sponsor-free episodes of Consider This, sign up for Consider This+ via Apple Podcasts or at plus.npr.org.

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Consider This from NPR - Measles cases are up and childhood vaccinations are down

For about three weeks in 2000, there were zero measles cases in the United States. It was declared eradicated.

Fast forward to 2024, and measles cases are surging, especially in Oregon where the state is facing the worst outbreak since the early 1990s.

This is happening as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports that the vaccination rate among kindergartners is dropping, and more and more parents are seeking exemptions to school vaccine requirements.

People are vaccinating their children at lower and lower rates. What does that mean for kids as they head back to school, and for infectious and deadly diseases like measles?

For sponsor-free episodes of Consider This, sign up for Consider This+ via Apple Podcasts or at plus.npr.org.

Email us at considerthis@npr.org.

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