BS: Improve the News.org.

Subject: BS: Improve the News.org.
From: Donuel
Date: 02 Jan 25 - 02:52 PM

Perhaps you have seen me report the same story from a Democratic POV and a Republican source but no matter, Max from MIT has simplified this process with a basic slider so you can hear the news from a spectrum of your own choice!
https://info.improvethenews.org/gpodcast/

People will not have to be shoved around by an app from Facebook or Google or put up with ads.

Subject: RE: BS: Improve the News.org.
From: Donuel
Date: 03 Jan 25 - 10:39 AM

Max Tegmark is a physicist and mathematician who is the first to use machine learning AI to help people ascertain truth even though they may think they already have their favorite sites or organizations that do it for them.
This is virtually a beta version so Max is happy to take opinions, improvements, and suggestions.

Subject: RE: BS: Improve the News.org.
From: Bill D
Date: 03 Jan 25 - 03:15 PM

*sigh* It's all podcasts. I much prefer to read the news. Old brain + hearing aids means I don't follow rapid speech well.
Some sites also provide transcripts, and I can follow those.

Subject: RE: BS: Improve the News.org.
From: The Sandman
Date: 04 Jan 25 - 04:53 AM

i prefer listen to different sources of news/ propaganda, do you americans ever listen to chinese or russian neWs?propaganda

Subject: RE: BS: Improve the News.org.
From: Donuel
Date: 04 Jan 25 - 10:37 AM

Usually AI is used to enhance a lie.
My brain prefers listening. Old reading habits regarding dyslexia can still arise. I heard the Russian hack of C Span.

Has anyone ever listened to the old Soviet rapid pulsed short wave radio broadcasts. Supposedly it was an attempt of psychic war.

I like the NYT, Vox, The Atlantic etc. but there are times when their honesty is still biased.

Subject: RE: BS: Improve the News.org.
From: Bill D
Date: 04 Jan 25 - 03:06 PM

Well, dyslexia can make choices easier. I *read* a number of sources here..
https://refdesk.com/ some of them have videos.

Subject: RE: BS: Improve the News.org.
From: MaJoC the Filk
Date: 05 Jan 25 - 10:11 AM

The last I heard, that Russian transmitter (called "the woodpecker" by amateur radio people who got fed up with it) was identified as the transmitter part of an over-the-horizon radar system. There's an episode of (I *think*) Abandoned Engineering on it.

Subject: RE: BS: Improve the News.org.
From: Donuel
Date: 08 Jan 25 - 07:07 AM

Woodpecker !

It is said that 2/3 of people get their news from big social media, which is an app-controlled rage bubble, so any attempt at alternatives is important.

With the lack of any *men* who respect American values controlling X and Meta, there are fewer expensive actual news organizations. Zuckerberg looks like a boy who once threatened by a bully has rolled over and begged for mercy.
The news is now all geared toward the oligarchy. We had 500 billionaires 15 years ago; we now have 2,500.

Subject: RE: BS: Improve the News.org.
From: Backwoodsman
Date: 08 Jan 25 - 01:52 PM

As a matter of habit, I read The Independent and its tabloid offshoot, The i Newspaper. I regard those two as the least-biased of our UK newspapers. I read articles from other sources, but I try to find out what their publishers' political allegiances are before I put any faith in them.

When I see political posts on S-M, again I try to fact-check them as far as possible.

Subject: RE: BS: Improve the News.org.
From: Mr Red
Date: 12 Jan 25 - 05:36 AM

AI - the sort that people normally refer to is an LLM (Large Language Model)

Simply described - it is heuristic. It looks at the web and comes up with the statistically most common answer. Maybe that includes some sort of digital due diligence but don't bet on it.

So the problem is that anything that is found by it and then informs what the next person puts on the web - creates positive feedback. And we have all "enjoyed" the audible version of "feedback". Which would have been "positive" though not in the aesthetic sense.

Subject: RE: BS: Improve the News.org.
From: Doug Chadwick
Date: 12 Jan 25 - 07:14 AM

Simply described - it is heuristic.

Not that simple. I had to look up 'heuristic' to find out what it means.

DC

Subject: RE: BS: Improve the News.org.
From: MaJoC the Filk
Date: 12 Jan 25 - 09:48 AM

An LLM is a glorified Guess The Next Word machine, hence what are quaintly called "hallucinations" in that trade. Of that class of GPT, only one (GPT-4o, I *think*) has an explicit attempt at a "show your workings" mechanism; this may not last long, as it's proved even more processor-intensive to run, and those running the bit barns are getting annoyed.

I've vented at length elsewhere about LLMs, so I'll leave it there. Search for the expression "artificial incompetence".

Subject: RE: BS: Improve the News.org.
From: Donuel
Date: 15 Jan 25 - 05:00 PM

Meanwhile using this simple left or right slider to get an understanding of what and how news is skewed is an education many people could benefit from.