Forcing "False Memories" on Prisoners with AI?, UN Ignores Afghanistan's Crimes Against Women, This Fugitive, Chased for a Decade, is Free (The Five for 06/25/24)
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Let’s dive into the news.
[one]
After a decade on the run from the U.S., the man who exposed prisoner abuse in Iraq, along with several other less-than-legal activities of the American government, will no longer be pursued across the globe.
The United States’ pursuit of Julian Assange for leaking state secrets has played out for more than a decade in courtrooms and government offices across the world, from Washington, DC, to London to Stockholm and Quito, Ecuador.
But on Wednesday it came to a sudden, somewhat uneasy end, when the Wikileaks founder pleaded guilty in a US federal court to a single felony charge related to his alleged role in orchestrating one of the largest-ever breaches of US classified military and diplomatic documents. The plea deal allows Assange to avoid prison in the US and return to his native Australia.
Discussions between Assange’s legal team and US prosecutors ebbed and flowed across three US presidencies during his yearslong battle to avoid extradition to the US where he faced a trial on 18 felony counts.
Australian diplomats brought up the plight of Assange every chance they got during the past three years of the Biden administration, a stark contrast to their behavior during the Trump years, when they largely avoided the matter due to concerns it could harm the broader bilateral relationship between the two countries, according to multiple sources familiar with the matter.
The fact that Assange is no longer being pursued by U.S. forces is probably due to 2024 being an election year. But it’s unclear what voter block will look favorably on this move, as freeing Assange was a pet project of the Libertarian/small government right, a group Biden has essentially a 0% chance with.
[two]
Well, this is terrifying. AI could replace prison time.
A scientist has unveiled a concept for a prison of the future that he has claimed would fast-track a criminal's release to minutes, instead of years or decades.
Called Cognify, the design would implant synthetic memories of a person's crime into their brain, but showing their victim's perspective.
The system could feature a VR-like device that displays AI-generated footage of the offence, coupled with a brain implant that induces emotional states like remorse or regret - feelings some individuals may not produce on their own.
The concept, developed by Hashem Al-Ghaili, would ensure the long-term effects of the therapy session by making the memories permanent.
There are more than 1.7 million people currently incarcerated in the US.
While officials have long said prison deters offenders from future crimes, more than 100 studies in 2021 found that it does not prevent people from reoffending.
With this in mind, Al-Ghaili is looking towards the future with a prison he claims will help criminals learn from their past.
'Cognify could someday create and implant artificial memories directly into the prisoner’s brain,' a narrative video stated.
'These complex, vivid and life-like memories are created in real-time using AI-generated content.
While the rehabilitation would last for several minutes, it would seem like years to the criminal.
I’m not sure if I should comment on this, or just queue the Jurassic Park meme:
The truth is…we have no idea what kind of effects this would have on prisoners. Unless there are underground experiments out there, no one has been implanted with fake memories, so far.
Could it scramble their minds? Could it have the reverse effect, and turn relatively minor offenders into bloodthirsty murderers? We have no idea…and, more than ANY other modern technology being developed, this robs people of their very humanity…the ability to know who they are, and where they’ve been.
Once you’ve been force fed false memories…how do you trust the real ones, that make up you?
[three]
If you woke up this morning wandering “huh, is the United Nations still a completely garbage organization happy to stomp on the heads of the downtrodden?” I’ve got your answer right here.
The UN has banned women from attending a meeting on Human Rights in Afganistan.
From Human Rights Watch:
The Doha 3 meeting, scheduled for June 30 to July 1, however, is a new low for the UN since the Taliban takeover in August 2021. The UN, pulling out all the stops to get the Taliban to attend, has crafted an agenda excluding human rights and a guestlist excluding Afghan women from the main meetings. In other words, those most impacted by Taliban abuses are being sidelined and excluded from talking about their fate by the UN. It also contravenes UN Security Council Resolution 1325 on women, peace and security, which seeks to ensure women’s full participation in key international discussions.
For weeks, a growing number of Afghan women activists in the country and the diaspora have called on states to boycott Doha 3, knowing that the Taliban would not meet with Afghan women.
After the Taliban’s takeover of the country, girls have been banned from education past elementary school. Women are not allowed to travel more than 45 miles. Women and girls make up 3 out of every 4 suicides in a nation overtaken by a rabble of terrorists that quite literally gang rape goats. Apologies for including that last bit, but it’s important to know exactly who is running this country, which was a functioning democracy just two years ago.
But somehow, President Biden thought it would be a great idea to hand the country back over to the people who carried out 9/11, on the anniversary of 9/11…despite the fact that staying there cost us very little in blood and treasure. We were losing less soldiers in Afghanistan than we do to soldiers dying of drunk driving in Germany.
[four]
I’m not a “Trump guy.” I’m here to call balls and strikes when it comes to news. And this just feels like the Coastal Elite pitching a fit.
Sixteen of the world's most notable economists — all Nobel Prize winners — are warning that former President Donald Trump could stoke inflation if he wins the presidency in November and moves forward with his economic plans.
"Many Americans are concerned about inflation, which has come down remarkably fast. There is rightly a worry that Donald Trump will reignite this inflation, with his fiscally irresponsible budgets," according to a letter signed by the economists, who include Joseph Stiglitz, a Columbia University professor who won the Nobel prize for economics in 2001; and Yale professor Robert Shiller, who won the Nobel prize for economics in 2013.
The warning comes as the U.S. continues to battle sticky inflation, with the Federal Reserve maintaining the highest interest rates in more than two decades with the goal of cooling the economy and driving inflation down to a 2% annual rate. Even though inflation has cooled from a recent peak of 9.1% in June 2022, inflation-weary Americans are glum about the economy, with 6 in 10 rating it as either bad, fairly bad or very bad, according to the latest CBS News poll. d
Rather than even bother to offer a written response…here’s a graph published by The Economist.
[five]
And finally…that’s one way to keep your tax bill low.
Kenyan President William Ruto said Wednesday he won’t sign into law a finance bill proposing new taxes, a day after protesters stormed parliament and several people were shot dead. It was the biggest assault on Kenya’s government in decades.
The government wanted to raise funds to pay off debt, but Kenyans said the bill caused more economic pain as millions struggle to get by. The chaos on Tuesday led the government to deploy the military, and Ruto called protesters’ actions “treasonous.”
The president now says the bill caused “widespread dissatisfaction” and he has listened and “conceded.” It’s a major setback for Ruto, who came to power vowing to help Kenyans cope with rising costs but has seen much of the country, led by youth, unite in opposition to his latest attempt at reforms.
How very…Boston Tea Party.
Until the next one,
-sth