My week of Monday 18 to Sunday 24 March 2024 was far less productive than I’d hoped, but I did catch up with some friends and discovered some interesting Asian snack foods. I’ll have more to say about that in due course. There was also wine.
Articles
- The Weekly Cybers #10, posted a day late on Saturday. ACCC looks into search engines and AI, cops have trouble complying with surveillance laws, and the eSafety Commissioner continues her Whac-A-Mole game.
You can read my previous writing at Authory, where you can also subscribe to an email compilation of any new stories each Sunday morning.
That will include a link to The Weekly Cybers if you don’t mind clicking through — although I learned this week that it hasn’t been working properly. I should have it fixed by next Sunday.
Media Appearances
- My photo of chicken laksa was used by Travel Book to illustrate an article in Japanese about where to get laksa in Singapore, even though my laksa was very definitely photographed in the Sydney CBD.
Podcasts, Photos, Videos, Corporate Largesse
None of these. You can subscribe to my YouTube channel to be notified when new videos appear and when livestreams are scheduled.
Recommendations
The big Elon Musk news this week was obviously his TV interview with Don Lemon and the subsequent sookage, but there was quite a lot more.
- Well, we knew this was going to happen, and here it is. Don Lemon’s full interview with Elon Musk. It goes for just over an hour.
- Don Lemon Says Elon Musk Is the Most Delicate Snowflake He’s Ever Interviewed, which I’m sure comes as an enormous surprise. “I’ve interviewed many world leaders, presidents to convicts, and no one has been more sensitive or touchy than Elon Musk.”
- Also from Futurism, Elon Musk Says Ketamine Is His Special Medicine. “From an investor standpoint, if there is something I’m taking, we should keep taking it.”
- Elon Musk says ketamine can get you out of a ‘negative frame of mind’. What does the research say?.
- Elon Musk replies to post by far-right Austrian linked to Christchurch terrorist after X account restored.
- Elon Musk’s Neuralink shows brain-chip patient playing online chess, according a Reuters report at the Guardian. “Noland Arbaugh, the 29-year-old patient who was paralyzed below the shoulders after a diving accident, was playing chess on his laptop and moving the cursor using the Neuralink device.”
- Elon Musk claims Neuralink’s brain-computer chip can cure blindness. Yeah yeah, but here’s how Australian scientists were developing their bionic eye nearly a decade ago. And in 2022, “A world-first bionic eye that restores partial vision to the blind has been given ‘breakthrough’ designation” by the US Food and Drug Administration.
- Elon Musk just made his ChatGPT rival Grok open-source.
In other news, just a few links this week:
- Complete Guide to the Criminal and Civil Cases Against Donald Trump.
- Gas Trapped in Antarctic Ice Recorded the Mass Death of 56 Million People.
- “Echidnas caught eating the eggs of Queensland’s bum-breathing turtles, potentially endangering the reptile’s future.”
The Week Ahead
I’m currently housesitting in Sydney, and will be here through to 2 April . I will be attempting to avoid distractions and get some client work done. Stop laughing.
On Wednesday I’ll try to catch AI Confidential from Info Sphere Education. “Join your hosts, Kate Carruthers and Kobi Leins, for an online session where we delve into the world of artificial intelligence (AI) and its impact across industries.”
On Thursday I’m doing ABC Radio’s RN Drive “Big Tech” spot. It’s at 1650 AEDT and then around Australia at 1650 your local time through the magic of digital delay. I’m also producing The Weekly Cybers on Thursday, because…
Friday is Good Friday, kicking off the Easter long weekend. At this stage my only plans are for some sort of social event on Saturday.
I’ll also start locking in some podcasts guests for the autumn season, which will kick off in April.
Further Ahead
- Meanjin Autumn 2024 launch, Gleebooks, Glebe NSW, 24 April 2024 (TBC).
- Aaron Chen’s Funny Garden, Sydney, 27 April 2024. I am thrilled for Aaron because he’s now doing six performances at the State Theatre. As a prelude, you might like to watch his show from last year, If Weren’t Filmed, Nobody Would Believe. As he says, “Lucky were filmed”.
- He Huang Tiger Daughter versus the World, Chatswood NSW, 5 May 2024.
- Nina Oyama is Coming, Marrickville NSW, 12 May 2024.
- The Sydney Dialogue, Australian Strategic Policy Institute, Sydney and online, 2–3 September 2024 (TBC).
[Photo: The clock tower of Sydney Central station, photographed on 21 March 2024.]