Get the most recent info and news about Smovin on HackerNoon, where 10k+ technologists publish stories for 4M+ monthly readers.

Smovin

smovin

Hello. I'm an active smoker, unfortunately. It's an awful habit that I picked up during my university years. I've been smoking for about 6-7 years, with a year-long break after the first year and a half. In 2022, I made the switch to vaping with the intention of eventually quitting altogether, but it only ended up worsening my health. Vaping allowed me to smoke indoors, which made it more convenient and, in a way, trickier to control. Gradually, I found myself smoking more and more until I reached a point where I had simply had enough. Each puff brought me less pleasure, and the financial aspect of smoking also weighed heavily on my mind. So, I decided to quit. As a programmer, I thought it would be a good idea to track my smoke breaks digitally. I wanted a solution that would automate the process. All I needed was to log the date and time of each smoke break and set restrictions, such as not smoking for a certain period, say 2 hours. And you know what? I achieved all of this without needing applications, servers, or even resorting to pen and paper. I automated everything with Apple Shortcuts. React Native Here's a simple breakdown of the process: Set a variable with the current date and time. Prompt the user to input a number representing the duration until the next allowed smoke break. Start a timer. Search for a specific Notes file named "Smoke Breaks." If the "Smoke Breaks" note is not found, create one. Append the variable declared in the first step to the note. Here's what it look like in Shortcuts App after setting it up: That's it. It's as simple as that! And you know what? I managed to quit smoking for 3 days using this method. I was genuinely happy about that! It's amazing how a simple change in approach can lead to positive outcomes. Of course, there were some tricks involved, like replacing one habit with another. I found myself drinking more coffee and chewing on plastic straws as substitutes. These temporary habits helped ease the transition, but eventually, I gave up those habits too, embracing a healthier lifestyle overall. The main takeaway from my experience is this: if you're trying to establish a system or manage a habit, consider using tools that offer simplicity and speed over complexity and control. In my case, a simple notebook could solve a lot of problems. Writing down my progress and thoughts made it easier to stay on track and motivated. Remember, small changes can lead to big results. Stay happy. Don't smoke. It's bad for your health! Your well-being is worth the effort.

How I Gave up Smoking With Apple Shortcuts

Assessing Preference Manipulation in Amazon's Recommender System

The way to understand the way our mind works, the way society works, and that of the natural universe may be evolution. While pondering this I, as usual, came across a larger and more difficult question: What is purpose and where might it come from? Does purpose need a source? First, let me backtrack. We accept that evolution is the best description for the multitude of living species and their different attributes. Life itself seems to be a result of evolution, the change from non-living matter to cells that reproduce comes through the process of interaction – the blending of information, randomness (random mutation), and a best fit, or actually just fit to external surroundings. Actually, the concept of internal, inside the organism or your body, and the outside world may be far more blurred than we usually imagine. In what you call your body there are millions of bacteria many of which are necessary to your bodily functions. Although separate organisms they contribute to the whole of you, your organism. You are an amalgam. Your skin is porous letting in UV rays, chemicals (vitamin E crème for instance is designed to penetrate the skin) and sound and radiation waves pass through us as does electricity changing us in the process. This sideline just helps to illustrate that we like linear boxes although the universe is not boxed or linear. My idea sprouted wings while reading “Time Reborn” by physicist Lee Smolin. He posits that the rules of the universe, the physical laws of quantum and Newtonian physics, are a “best fit” group of rules like the DNA in an animal instructing it how to survive in its environment. They are not perfect but they are very close, and they seem to apply pretty much universally. There are infinite possibilities. But why is the speed of light a constant at 299,792,458 m/s?  Why these laws?  He proposes that these laws are the best fit for just this universe and they evolved with this universe in a coupling. These rules are still evolving. He sees black holes as the place where new laws are made and tested. Only those that fit the universe around them would survive. Recently I read an interview with acclaimed neurologist Gerald Edelman in NPQ and his description of the way our brain works and it is very similar to what I have previously written about on JeS in the article How to Create a Brain (Artificial Intelligence). Our brain finds the best fit or even any fit decisions or actions through a process of trial and error combined with randomness and imagination. Trial and error is essentially a very quick form of evolution. We test each new breed against current circumstances (often imagined) and those that don’t fit are “killed” off and those that do “survive” are tested in the real world and if successful stored for later use. But here I discovered the problem. We have a purpose. We are trying to achieve a goal. If we are trying to find the nearest Bunnings we can test different routes and modes of transport in our imagination first, and then test them in real life to fit the purposes of; Buying a hammer,
Speed of acquisition
Minimal cost. Our brain has purpose and so it creates new ideas and procedures – new information. It evolves making new connections between neurons. Societies and cultures do likewise; being an extension of the beings in them; they test ideas, adapt -making changes – then enforce rules when they have found the best fit. I have talked before about how rigid rules and hierarchies can actually stifle this evolutionary progression in societies. Cultures and societies can and do collapse – the death of a species – they can also spread memes like genes which hold the information for future use. But both animals and societies (groups of animals) have purpose.  In simple life forms the reproduction of the species is the purpose that drives everything. In simple cultures (groups) it is also the maintaining of the individuals to reproductive age to spread the species. But what is the purpose of the universe? What could the intrinsic purpose of a rock be?\ We, of course, have many purposes that are not directly related to the extension or maintenance of the entire species instead many relate solely to a good and happy life. Many people don’t breed but still have purpose. Humans just like many animals have dopamine receptors which give us pleasure from certain activities, and stress responses that cause us discomfort from bad experiences. Many of our evolutionary choice processes are driven by the desire to maximize pleasure and minimize pain. In a grander sense, we can invent purposes for ourselves. Be it making the world a better place or being the best footballer ever. Purpose seems to be a fluid thing, one that bends and maybe even forms from the environment and society in which we live. It may not need a linear root at all. Some people commit suicide and there is some speculation that whales may beach themselves as a form of suicide. That goes against the central purpose to progress the species. And, most importantly, many people never have children but still have purpose. Our need for a purpose to evolution is the way we try to interpret and understand the world. We want linear connections; we want a cause and effect. But there can be no ultimate cause, for nothing could cause it. Linear lines are endless. I am trying to get away from this way of thinking in this article about evolution being the way to comprehend the universe. However, there may be a way for our linear mind to understand such a concept. Perhaps the universe works in the same way as our brain. It does not need an intrinsic purpose from which all sub-purposes branch. Each micro-part, each atom, each string, and each energy field constantly adapts to the other fields and particles around it, and to the larger form, planets, stars, and gravity. An inter-loop of 4 (and possibly more) dimensional informational transfers; small to large, group and field to group, and field is all in constant flow. Constantly adapting to itself. It just is, and will, continue to be but in a constantly changing and interactive way. In the same way, we refer to the sun rising today as being a sunrise as we called yesterday’s, even though the temperature is different, the hue more magenta, and our mood less happy. The purpose (if required) is to form in the micro-interaction and randomness of evolution. Thus creating a larger organismic form, and then feeding back to itself.  We can box these things to absolutes that never existed. I would like to make one more comment about how physics may be able to help us grasp the non-linear. The theory of the Higgs Boson – which has been supported by experiments in the Large Hadron Collider –  that a Higgs Boson particle does imbalance the field of energy which causes energy to become matter. Imbalance; which we mean to be a purpose away from its desired state. This imbalance is pulling to a purpose, pulling to nothing, pulling to balance and inactivity, to chaos to infinity, which is the purpose of the universe. The matter comes from imbalance the in-between nothing and infinity, the imperfection of Plato’s forms as everything pulls toward perfect nothingness. So here we have the purpose of the universe and all comes from its inability to achieve it. As it is with us. This is just a prelude to something larger for there are too many vague areas for a thorough argument. Please think and write a comment if you want to help. This was first published a long time ago (2014) on my website JeSaurai.net which is over 20 years old now. The way to understand the way our mind works, the way society works, and that of the natural universe may be evolution. While pondering this I, as usual, came across a larger and more difficult question: What is purpose and where might it come from? Does purpose need a source? First, let me backtrack. We accept that evolution is the best description for the multitude of living species and their different attributes. Life itself seems to be a result of evolution, the change from non-living matter to cells that reproduce comes through the process of interaction – the blending of information, randomness (random mutation), and a best fit, or actually just fit to external surroundings. Actually, the concept of internal, inside the organism or your body, and the outside world may be far more blurred than we usually imagine. In what you call your body there are millions of bacteria many of which are necessary to your bodily functions. Although separate organisms they contribute to the whole of you, your organism. You are an amalgam. Your skin is porous letting in UV rays, chemicals (vitamin E crème for instance is designed to penetrate the skin) and sound and radiation waves pass through us as does electricity changing us in the process. This sideline just helps to illustrate that we like linear boxes although the universe is not boxed or linear. My idea sprouted wings while reading “Time Reborn” by physicist Lee Smolin. He posits that the rules of the universe, the physical laws of quantum and Newtonian physics, are a “best fit” group of rules like the DNA in an animal instructing it how to survive in its environment. They are not perfect but they are very close, and they seem to apply pretty much universally. There are infinite possibilities. But why is the speed of light a constant at 299,792,458 m/s?  Why these laws?  He proposes that these laws are the best fit for just this universe and they evolved with this universe in a coupling. These rules are still evolving. He sees black holes as the place where new laws are made and tested. Only those that fit the universe around them would survive. Recently I read an interview with acclaimed neurologist Gerald Edelman in NPQ and his description of the way our brain works and it is very similar to what I have previously written about on JeS in the article How to Create a Brain (Artificial Intelligence) . Our brain finds the best fit or even any fit decisions or actions through a process of trial and error combined with randomness and imagination. Trial and error is essentially a very quick form of evolution. We test each new breed against current circumstances (often imagined) and those that don’t fit are “killed” off and those that do “survive” are tested in the real world and if successful stored for later use. But here I discovered the problem. We have a purpose. We are trying to achieve a goal. If we are trying to find the nearest Bunnings we can test different routes and modes of transport in our imagination first, and then test them in real life to fit the purposes of; Gerald Edelman in NPQ Create a Brain (Artificial Intelligence) Buying a hammer, Speed of acquisition Minimal cost. Buying a hammer, Speed of acquisition Minimal cost. Our brain has purpose and so it creates new ideas and procedures – new information. It evolves making new connections between neurons. Societies and cultures do likewise; being an extension of the beings in them; they test ideas, adapt -making changes – then enforce rules when they have found the best fit. I have talked before about how rigid rules and hierarchies can actually stifle this evolutionary progression in societies. Cultures and societies can and do collapse – the death of a species – they can also spread memes like genes which hold the information for future use. can actually stifle But both animals and societies (groups of animals) have purpose.  In simple life forms the reproduction of the species is the purpose that drives everything. In simple cultures (groups) it is also the maintaining of the individuals to reproductive age to spread the species. But what is the purpose of the universe? What could the intrinsic purpose of a rock be?\ We, of course, have many purposes that are not directly related to the extension or maintenance of the entire species instead many relate solely to a good and happy life. Many people don’t breed but still have purpose. Humans just like many animals have dopamine receptors which give us pleasure from certain activities, and stress responses that cause us discomfort from bad experiences. Many of our evolutionary choice processes are driven by the desire to maximize pleasure and minimize pain. In a grander sense, we can invent purposes for ourselves. Be it making the world a better place or being the best footballer ever. Purpose seems to be a fluid thing, one that bends and maybe even forms from the environment and society in which we live. It may not need a linear root at all. Some people commit suicide and there is some speculation that whales may beach themselves as a form of suicide. That goes against the central purpose to progress the species. And, most importantly, many people never have children but still have purpose. Our need for a purpose to evolution is the way we try to interpret and understand the world. We want linear connections; we want a cause and effect. But there can be no ultimate cause, for nothing could cause it. Linear lines are endless. I am trying to get away from this way of thinking in this article about evolution being the way to comprehend the universe. However, there may be a way for our linear mind to understand such a concept. Perhaps the universe works in the same way as our brain. It does not need an intrinsic purpose from which all sub-purposes branch. Each micro-part, each atom, each string, and each energy field constantly adapts to the other fields and particles around it, and to the larger form, planets, stars, and gravity. An inter-loop of 4 (and possibly more) dimensional informational transfers; small to large, group and field to group, and field is all in constant flow. Constantly adapting to itself. It just is, and will, continue to be but in a constantly changing and interactive way. In the same way, we refer to the sun rising today as being a sunrise as we called yesterday’s, even though the temperature is different, the hue more magenta, and our mood less happy. The purpose (if required) is to form in the micro-interaction and randomness of evolution. Thus creating a larger organismic form, and then feeding back to itself.  We can box these things to absolutes that never existed. I would like to make one more comment about how physics may be able to help us grasp the non-linear. The theory of the Higgs Boson – which has been supported by experiments in the Large Hadron Collider –  that a Higgs Boson particle does imbalance the field of energy which causes energy to become matter. Imbalance; which we mean to be a purpose away from its desired state. This imbalance is pulling to a purpose, pulling to nothing, pulling to balance and inactivity, to chaos to infinity, which is the purpose of the universe. The matter comes from imbalance the in-between nothing and infinity, the imperfection of Plato’s forms as everything pulls toward perfect nothingness. So here we have the purpose of the universe and all comes from its inability to achieve it. As it is with us. This is just a prelude to something larger for there are too many vague areas for a thorough argument. Please think and write a comment if you want to help. This was first published a long time ago (2014) on my website JeSaurai.net which is over 20 years old now. This was first published a long time ago (2014) on my website JeSaurai.net which is over 20 years old now.

The Quest for Purpose: Evolutionary Perspectives on Mind and Universe

It happens every few months: an article or video describing a shocking new TikTok trend lands in one of your feeds, one you simply can not believe is real. From people biting into Tide detergent pods and trying to climb across stacked crates to eating corn on the cob attached to a power drill, these trends become a core part of the cultural discourse for a few days or weeks before the world turns and moves on to the next one. As TikTok is fundamentally an entertainment vehicle, it’s not surprising its users seek this sort of thing out, nor is it surprising the algorithm built to capture your attention rewards these content creators. What those who don’t use TikTok may find surprising is there is increasing visibility and popularity of edutainment communities, people who gather around content subjects designed to entertain and also educate. There is an untold number of these communities, including #BookTok, #FoodTok, #MoneyTok, and #BeautyTok. But there’s one that has really lifted off in the last year or two that no one saw coming: #PrisonTok. #PrisonTok is an Eye-Opener Like many niche communities on TikTok, #PrisonTok offers a window into a world many know only through the lens of mass media and news reports. #PrisonTok creators come from all angles, including legal professionals, those who work in prisons, the formerly incarcerated, and even, believe it or not, . those who are currently serving time and accessing the internet with a smartphone they’re not allowed to have One leading #PrisonTok influencer, Sabrena Morgan, has built an engaged audience with more than 51,000 followers as she shares her journey from addiction and self-destruction to her four years in federal prison and where she is now, re-entering society while trying to spark a broader conversation about the justice-related things people tend to shy away from. In a recent episode of the , Sabrena shares the emotional evolution she underwent while on pre-trial and away at prison and how that helped her not only develop good, healthy habits but also to live a life driven by intention and a desire to, in her words, “not waste time.” Nightmare Success podcast with Brent Cassity The honest, raw perspective of someone who re-invents their fundamental approach to life is not one that makes its way through to Hollywood, but its popularity on TikTok tells us that it is a mistake by the major studios and producers: people want these stories. Beyond Entertainment and Human Interest And while other #PrisonTok influencers take a sillier approach to their content, offering up things like prison recipes, it’s important to understand the real value of #PrisonTok extends beyond entertainment and human interest. In the words of , #PrisonTok and related communities have become an important step for those facing the prospect of incarceration: “Unfortunately, for many years, there has been a lack of information to those who are going to prison. That’s a very big problem that social media is beginning to address, and the availability of this information has already had a meaningful impact on thousands of people.” federal prison consultant Sam Mangel Mangel, who offers similar, , knows first-hand. After he was arrested for insurance fraud violations in 2016, Mangel engaged an attorney who specializes in white-collar criminal defense. Despite his purported expertise, Mangel’s lawyer failed to prepare him for several key pre-sentencing steps, which culminated in a sixty-month sentence, more than three times greater than the guideline recommendation for his crime. complementary, and informative content about prison on his YouTube channel Mangel turned his attention to what he could do to return to his family as quickly as possible, which was a tall order in the pre-#PrisonTok world. Mangel ultimately served less than two years of his sixty-month sentence, returned home, and now assists white-collar offenders (including CEOs, medical professionals, politicians, and foreign nationals) in preparing for incarceration as a federal prison consultant. If he were faced with the same circumstances in today’s information environment, it’s likely Mangel would have been better informed and would have known to speak with his attorney about the critical steps they missed. It’s possible he would have engaged the services of a consultant for personalized guidance. And armed with all of that, it’s likely he would have found himself with a far better outcome than a sixty-month sentence. The Power of Breaking Down Information Silos While many media outlets focus on security concerns that threaten to and groups that liken social media use to smoking cigarettes, communities like #PrisonTok offer what has long been the promise of social media and the internet broadly: breaking down data silos, improving access to critical information, and connecting people. That’s why it’s important to highlight communities like these, which clearly offer so much help to those in need. These are an important counter-point to the current discourse around TikTok and social media. ban TikTok in the United States

The Rise (and Real Value) of #PrisonTok

#PrisonTok-এর উত্থান (এবং আসল মূল্য)

Der Aufstieg (und der wahre Wert) von #PrisonTok

El auge (y el valor real) de #PrisonTok

L'essor (et la valeur réelle) de #PrisonTok

#PrisonTok का उदय (और वास्तविक मूल्य)

#PrisonTok の台頭（そして真の価値）

#PrisonTok의 상승(및 실제 가치)

A ascensão (e valor real) de #PrisonTok

Рост (и реальная ценность) #PrisonTok

#PrisonTok'un Yükselişi (ve Gerçek Değeri)

Sự trỗi dậy (và giá trị thực) của #PrisonTok

#PrisonTok 的兴起（及其真正价值）

Welcome to another edition of Hack marketing diaries by team HackerNoon! This time, we wanna share our learnings and observations on surveillance capitalism and why we didn't make it our business model. There’s a reason we hate those invasive Ads on Facebook. Who would like their personal and critical information to be used to see those creepily relevant Ads? According to - Meta was also involved in a major about its access to the medical data of patients. The company’s pixel tracking tool was collecting their sensitive information from hospitals including the details about their health, appointments, and medical prescriptions. Pure evil. What's even more annoying? Abrupt Ads stoping you from consuming the content. Classic example - Ads on YouTube. the Markup “Major tax filing services such as H&R Block, TaxAct, and TaxSlayer have been quietly transmitting sensitive financial information to Facebook when Americans file their taxes online.” controversy last year Here’s how HackerNoon saw these issues when we used to become not only a publishing company but also a software company: equity crowdfunding “We don't want to advertise the shoes you've considered buying around the web, we do want to surface sponsors that are relevant to the subject matters being read, such as blockchain sponsors on blockchain content. We believe sponsorship is not evil, if done right. What's evil is surveillance. Our sponsors will be by subject matter. Our promotions are like billboards - relevant to the content and not the individual reader. Our sponsorship placements are minimalistic & non-intrusive. No sidebars, no popups, no video ads. We care about reading quality and will never take that experience away from the reader.” Presenting you HackerNoon’s Targeted Ads by content relevancy - where you target the audience interested in content relevant to your company, without invading their privacy or shoving annoying pop-ups down their throats. Our targeted marketing options allow you to avoid the noise and reach the right audience. It’s a win-win for all. Talking about wins - here's an easter egg for your company - use the code 'HackerFriend' during the meeting and avail 10% off on Targeted Ads! Book a call with us to see the demo Here’s how our targeted Ads by content relevancy work: HackerNoon has curated to date 50,000+ technology tags These tags are grouped into the relevant like , , , , , , and more! parent categories AI Web3 Programming Startups Cybersecurity Finance Every story organically gets at least eight relevant tech tags and a parent category Sponsors buy with all the tags and stories. multimodal placements on relevant categories These Ad placements include Banners, Logos, Newsletter ADs, and Audio ADs - what we call truly AIO (Activities, Interests, and Opinions) Optimized for: Brand Recall and Clickability (Get 3x clicks for the same impressions compared to elsewhere) Get quality leads at unbeatable prices, with CPM ~ $7 and CPC ~ $5. Find pricing and details in the attached deck. to learn how AWS, Bosch, Brave, DataStax, Bright Data, Twilio, SonarSource, Algolia, Algorand, Postman, IONOS, and thousands of other tech companies partner with HackerNoon to target their audiences. Book a meeting with us Until next time!

How to Advertise to Your Target Audience without Creeping Them Out

কীভাবে আপনার টার্গেট শ্রোতাদের কাছে বিজ্ঞাপন দেওয়া যায় তাদের আউট না করে

So werben Sie bei Ihrer Zielgruppe, ohne sie zu verschrecken

Cómo anunciarse ante su público objetivo sin asustarlos

Comment faire de la publicité auprès de votre public cible sans l'effrayer

अपने लक्षित दर्शकों को बिना परेशान किए उनके लिए विज्ञापन कैसे करें

ターゲット層を怖がらせずに広告を出す方法

타겟 고객을 소외시키지 않고 광고하는 방법

Como anunciar para seu público-alvo sem assustá-lo

Как рекламировать свою целевую аудиторию, не отпугивая ее

Hedef Kitlenizi Korkutmadan Nasıl Reklam Verebilirsiniz?

Cách quảng cáo tới đối tượng mục tiêu của bạn mà không khiến họ sợ hãi

如何向目标受众投放广告而不让他们感到害怕

Comparing Tools for Fitting Mutational Signatures: The Results of Our Work

This paper is available on arxiv under CC 4.0 license. Authors: (1) Terence Blésin, Institute of Physics, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Lausanne (EPFL) & Center of Quantum Science and Engineering (EPFL); (2) Wil Kao, Institute of Physics, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Lausanne (EPFL) & Center of Quantum Science and Engineering (EPFL); (3) Anat Siddharth, Institute of Physics, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Lausanne (EPFL) & Center of Quantum Science and Engineering (EPFL); (4) Alaina Attanasio, OxideMEMS lab, Purdue University; (5) Hao Tian, OxideMEMS lab, Purdue University; (6) Sunil A. Bhave, OxideMEMS lab, Purdue University; (7) Tobias J. Kippenberg, Institute of Physics, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Lausanne (EPFL) & Center of Quantum Science and Engineering (EPFL). Table of Links Introduction Results A. Physics and design B. Device characterization C. Bidirectional microwave-optical transduction D. Pulsed transduction Discussion Acknowledgments Appendix A: Theory Appendix B: Fabrication process flow Appendix C: Optical characterization Appendix D: Characterization of acoustic resonances Appendix E: Characterization of bidirectional transduction Appendix F: Optimization of optical extraction efficiency ACKNOWLEDGMENTS The authors would like to thank Amirali Arabmoheghi, Nils Johan Engelsen and Junyin Zhang for experimental assistance and fruitful discussions. This work was supported by the Air Force Office of Scientific Research under award no. FA8655-20-1-7009, Swiss National Science Foundation under grant agreement no. 204927, and European Research Council (ERC) under the EU H2020 research and innovation programme, grant agreement no. 835329 (ExCOM-cCEO). This work was further supported by United States Air Force Research Laboratory Award no. FA8750-21-2-0500, as well as United States National Science Foundation’s International Collaboration Supplements in Quantum Information Science and Engineering Research for RAISE-TAQS Award no. 18-39164. A.S. acknowledges support from the European Space Technology Centre with ESA Contract No. 4000135357/21/NL/GLC/my. Samples were fabricated in the Center of MicroNanoTechnology (CMi) at EPFL and Birck Nanotechnology Center at Purdue University. AUTHOR CONTRIBUTIONS T.B. designed the device. R.N.W, A.A. and H.T. fabricated the device. T.B., A.S. and W.K. conducted the experiments. T.B. and W.K. wrote the paper with input from all authors. T.J.K. and S.A.B. supervised the project. [1] K.-L. Lee, B. Sedighi, R. S. Tucker, H. Chow, and P. Vetter, J. Opt. Commun. Netw. 4, A59 (2012). [2] Q. Cheng, M. Bahadori, M. Glick, S. Rumley, and K. Bergman, Optica 5, 1354 (2018). [3] J. I. Cirac, P. Zoller, H. J. Kimble, and H. Mabuchi, Phys. Rev. Lett. 78, 3221 (1997). [4] L.-M. Duan, M. D. Lukin, J. I. Cirac, and P. Zoller, Nature 414, 413 (2001). [5] D. Awschalom, K. K. Berggren, H. Bernien, S. Bhave, L. D. Carr, P. Davids, S. E. Economou, D. Englund, A. Faraon, M. Fejer, S. Guha, M. V. Gustafsson, E. Hu, L. Jiang, J. Kim, B. Korzh, P. Kumar, P. G. Kwiat, M. Lončar, M. D. Lukin, D. A. Miller, C. Monroe, S. W. Nam, P. Narang, J. S. Orcutt, M. G. Raymer, A. H. Safavi-Naeini, M. Spiropulu, K. Srinivasan, S. Sun, J. Vučković, E. Waks, R. Walsworth, A. M. Weiner, and Z. Zhang, PRX Quantum 2, 017002 (2021). [6] J. M. Chow, J. M. Gambetta, A. D. Córcoles, S. T. Merkel, J. A. Smolin, C. Rigetti, S. Poletto, G. A. Keefe, M. B. Rothwell, J. R. Rozen, M. B. Ketchen, and M. Steffen, Phys. Rev. Lett. 109, 060501 (2012). [7] F. Lecocq, F. Quinlan, K. Cicak, J. Aumentado, S. A. Diddams, and J. D. Teufel, Nature 591, 575 (2021). [8] A. Youssefi, I. Shomroni, Y. J. Joshi, N. R. Bernier, A. Lukashchuk, P. Uhrich, L. Qiu, and T. J. Kippenberg, Nat. Electron. 4, 326 (2021). [9] R. W. Andrews, R. W. Peterson, T. P. Purdy, K. Cicak, R. W. Simmonds, C. A. Regal, and K. W. Lehnert, Nat. Phys. 10, 321 (2014). [10] A. P. Higginbotham, P. S. Burns, M. D. Urmey, R. W. Peterson, N. S. Kampel, B. M. Brubaker, G. Smith, K. W. Lehnert, and C. A. Regal, Nat. Phys. 14, 1038 (2018). [11] M. M. Wolf, D. Pérez-García, and G. Giedke, Phys. Rev. Lett. 98, 130501 (2007). [12] R. D. Delaney, M. D. Urmey, S. Mittal, B. M. Brubaker, J. M. Kindem, P. S. Burns, C. A. Regal, and K. W. Lehnert, Nature 606, 489 (2022). [13] J. Bochmann, A. Vainsencher, D. D. Awschalom, and A. N. Cleland, Nat. Phys. 9, 712 (2013). [14] A. Vainsencher, K. J. Satzinger, G. A. Peairs, and A. N. Cleland, Appl. Phys. Lett. 109, 033107 (2016). [15] W. Jiang, R. N. Patel, F. M. Mayor, T. P. McKenna, P. Arrangoiz-Arriola, C. J. Sarabalis, J. D. Witmer, R. V. Laer, and A. H. Safavi-Naeini, Optica 6, 845 (2019). [16] M. Forsch, R. Stockill, A. Wallucks, I. Marinković, C. Gärtner, R. A. Norte, F. van Otten, A. Fiore, K. Srinivasan, and S. Gröblacher, Nat. Phys. 16, 69 (2020). [17] W. Jiang, C. J. Sarabalis, Y. D. Dahmani, R. N. Patel, F. M. Mayor, T. P. McKenna, R. Van Laer, and A. H. Safavi-Naeini, Nat. Commun. 11, 1166 (2020). [18] M. Mirhosseini, A. Sipahigil, M. Kalaee, and O. Painter, Nature 588, 599 (2020). [19] S. Hönl, Y. Popoff, D. Caimi, A. Beccari, T. J. Kippenberg, and P. Seidler, Nat. Commun. 13, 2065 (2022). [20] W. Jiang, F. M. Mayor, S. Malik, R. Van Laer, T. P. McKenna, R. N. Patel, J. D. Witmer, and A. H. SafaviNaeini, Nat. Phys. , 1 (2023). [21] M. J. Weaver, P. Duivestein, A. C. Bernasconi, S. Scharmer, M. Lemang, T. C. van Thiel, F. Hijazi, B. Hensen, S. Gröblacher, and R. Stockill, An integrated microwave-to-optics interface for scalable quantum computing (2022), arxiv:2210.15702 [physics, physics:quantph]. [22] S. Meesala, S. Wood, D. Lake, P. Chiappina, C. Zhong, A. D. Beyer, M. D. Shaw, L. Jiang, and O. Painter, Nonclassical microwave-optical photon pair generation with a chip-scale transducer (2023), arxiv:2303.17684 [quantph]. [23] M. Tsang, Phys. Rev. A 81, 063837 (2010). [24] M. Tsang, Phys. Rev. A 84, 043845 (2011). [25] C. Javerzac-Galy, K. Plekhanov, N. R. Bernier, L. D. Toth, A. K. Feofanov, and T. J. Kippenberg, Phys. Rev. A 94, 053815 (2016). [26] L. Fan, C.-L. Zou, R. Cheng, X. Guo, X. Han, Z. Gong, S. Wang, and H. X. Tang, Sci. Adv. 4, eaar4994 (2018). [27] J. Holzgrafe, N. Sinclair, D. Zhu, A. Shams-Ansari, M. Colangelo, Y. Hu, M. Zhang, K. K. Berggren, and M. Lončar, Optica 7, 1714 (2020). [28] T. P. McKenna, J. D. Witmer, R. N. Patel, W. Jiang, R. V. Laer, P. Arrangoiz-Arriola, E. A. Wollack, J. F. Herrmann, and A. H. Safavi-Naeini, Optica 7, 1737 (2020). [29] Y. Xu, A. A. Sayem, L. Fan, C.-L. Zou, S. Wang, R. Cheng, W. Fu, L. Yang, M. Xu, and H. X. Tang, Nat. Commun. 12, 4453 (2021). [30] M. Li, H. Liang, R. Luo, Y. He, J. Ling, and Q. Lin, Optica 6, 860 (2019). [31] I. Diniz and R. de Sousa, Phys. Rev. Lett. 125, 147702 (2020). [32] Y. Xu, W. Fu, Y. Zhou, M. Xu, M. Shen, A. A. Sayem, and H. X. Tang, Phys. Rev. Appl. 18, 064045 (2022). [33] D. Zhu, L. Shao, M. Yu, R. Cheng, B. Desiatov, C. J. Xin, Y. Hu, J. Holzgrafe, S. Ghosh, A. Shams-Ansari, E. Puma, N. Sinclair, N. Sinclair, C. Reimer, M. Zhang, and M. Lončar, Adv. Opt. Photonics 13, 242 (2021). [34] A. Rueda, F. Sedlmeir, M. C. Collodo, U. Vogl, B. Stiller, G. Schunk, D. V. Strekalov, C. Marquardt, J. M. Fink, O. Painter, G. Leuchs, and H. G. L. Schwefel, Optica 3, 597 (2016). [35] W. Hease, A. Rueda, R. Sahu, M. Wulf, G. Arnold, H. G. Schwefel, and J. M. Fink, PRX Quantum 1, 020315 (2020). [36] R. Sahu, W. Hease, A. Rueda, G. Arnold, L. Qiu, and J. M. Fink, Nat. Commun. 13, 1276 (2022) [37] L. Qiu, R. Sahu, W. Hease, G. Arnold, and J. M. Fink, Nat. Commun. 14, 3784 (2023) . [38] R. Sahu, L. Qiu, W. Hease, G. Arnold, Y. Minoguchi, P. Rabl, and J. M. Fink, Science 380, 718 (2023) . [39] T. Blésin, H. Tian, S. A. Bhave, and T. J. Kippenberg, Phys. Rev. A 104, 052601 (2021) . [40] H. Tian, J. Liu, B. Dong, J. C. Skehan, M. Zervas, T. J. Kippenberg, and S. A. Bhave, Nat. Commun. 11, 3073 (2020) . [41] H. Tian, J. Liu, A. Siddharth, R. N. Wang, T. Blésin, J. He, T. J. Kippenberg, and S. A. Bhave, Nat. Photon. 15, 828 (2021) . [42] M. H. P. Pfeiffer, J. Liu, A. S. Raja, T. Morais, B. Ghadiani, and T. J. Kippenberg, Optica 5, 884 (2018). [43] J. Liu, G. Huang, R. N. Wang, J. He, A. S. Raja, T. Liu, N. J. Engelsen, and T. J. Kippenberg, Nat. Commun. 12 , 2236 (2021) . [44] J. Liu, H. Tian, E. Lucas, A. S. Raja, G. Lihachev, R. N. Wang, J. He, T. Liu, M. H. Anderson, W. Weng, S. A. Bhave, and T. J. Kippenberg, Nature 583, 385 (2020) . [45] S. Krastanov, H. Raniwala, J. Holzgrafe, K. Jacobs, M. Lončar, M. J. Reagor, and D. R. Englund, Phys. Rev. Lett. 127, 040503 (2021) . [46] I. Shomroni, L. Qiu, D. Malz, A. Nunnenkamp, and T. J. Kippenberg, Nat. Commun. 10, 1 (2019). [47] A. D. Kashkanova, A. B. Shkarin, C. D. Brown, N. E. Flowers-Jacobs, L. Childress, S. W. Hoch, L. Hohmann, K. Ott, J. Reichel, and J. G. E. Harris, J. Opt. 19, 034001 (2017) . [48] S. Kim, K. Han, C. Wang, J. A. Jaramillo-Villegas, X. Xue, C. Bao, Y. Xuan, D. E. Leaird, A. M. Weiner, and M. Qi, Nat. Commun. 8, 372 (2017) . [49] M. Akiyama, T. Kamohara, K. Kano, A. Teshigahara, Y. Takeuchi, and N. Kawahara, Adv. Mater. 21, 593 (2009) . [50] M. Akiyama, K. Kano, and A. Teshigahara, Appl. Phys. Lett. 95, 162107 (2009) . [51] T. Yanagitani and M. Suzuki, Appl. Phys. Lett. 105 , 122907 (2014) . [52] J. Liu, A. S. Raja, M. Karpov, B. Ghadiani, M. H. P. Pfeiffer, B. Du, N. J. Engelsen, H. Guo, M. Zervas, and T. J. Kippenberg, Optica 5, 1347 (2018) . [53] A. Siddharth, A. Anastasio, G. Lihachev, J. Zhang, Z. Qiu, S. Kenning, R. N. Wang, S. A. Bhave, J. Riemensberger, and T. J. Kippenberg, Hertz-linewidth and frequency-agile photonic integrated extended-DBR lasers (2023), arxiv:2306.03184 [physics] . [54] T. Zhu, Y. Hu, P. Gatkine, S. Veilleux, J. BlandHawthorn, and M. Dagenais, IEEE Photonics J. 8, 1 (2016) . [55] Z. Yao, Y. Wan, Y. Zhang, X. Ma, and Z. Zheng, Opt. Commun. 475, 126301 (2020) . [56] B. Bhandari, C.-S. Im, K.-P. Lee, S.-M. Kim, M.-C. Oh, and S.-S. Lee, IEEE Photonics J. 12, 1 (2020) .

Bidirectional Microwave-optical Transduction Based on Integration: Acknowledgments

Edward Bernays, often referred to as the Father of Public Relations, or, more truthfully, the Father of Propaganda, left an indelible mark on the world of advertising. Born in 1891 in Vienna, Austria, a nephew of Sigmund Freud, Bernays learned from his uncle and applied never-before-considered concepts in advertising, primarily appealing to the unconscious, rather than the rational mind. Having moved to the United States in his youth, Bernays became famous after being involved with WWI efforts. He rebranded the war as a moral and patriotic cause, shaped public opinion, and disseminated pro-war messages. Some of the best-known campaigns by Bernays His influence is all over the marketing and advertising of today. Most of the beliefs and behaviors we still see were created by Bernays. Below are some of the popular campaigns. Women smoking In the 1920s, women smoking was seen as scandalous and taboo. Lucky Strike (You probably know it from ) wanted to increase their profits and half of the non-smoking population seemed like a good fit. Mad Men Edward Bernays orchestrated a staged event where fashionable debutants smoked cigarettes during a parade, branding them as “torches of freedom,” promoting Lucky Strike cigarettes. The rest is history. Example: A few examples 👇 Emotional marketing Edward Bernays understood that selling products was about evoking emotions and desires, not just listing utility. This was a revolutionary idea at the time. Another example. Instead of promoting cars based on features, he marketed them as symbols of male sexuality, focusing on emotional appeal. Before Bernays, it was seen as boujee and unnecessary to keep upgrading your car. Bernays advised car companies, like General Motors, to introduce annual design changes to stimulate demand, a strategy known as planned obsolescence. Ford refused to do so and GM remains a leading car manufacturer to this day. Interesting fact: Shift to consumerism Corporate America feared overproduction after World War I and needed to transition society from a needs-based culture to a wants-based culture. Bernays was like hold my beer and helped companies manufacture desires of products Americans didn’t need, leading to increased profits for corporations. Consumption shifted from needs to wants. Breakfast habits Bernays influenced American breakfast habits by promoting the idea that a heavier breakfast was healthier through manipulated expert opinions. He went to his physician and asked if he would agree that we expend a lot of calories through the night and, therefore wake up in a calorie deficit in the morning (which is technically true). His doctor agreed and Bernays asked if he could ask other physicians (5k of them) if they thought it was true. I believe with the right incentives ($), they agreed too. As a result, he convinced people that a substantial breakfast was essential, ultimately popularizing the concept of “the most important meal of the day.” Fashion consumerism Bernays played a role in popularizing department stores and modern fashion consumerism by hosting fashion shows with celebrities and emphasizing clothing as a form of individuality and self-expression. He hired celebrities (something never done before!) to showcase clothing as a means of conveying one’s unique personality and characteristics + influencing regular people to try to dress like their favourite celebrities. This is still very much alive today. Bernays’ continued influence Edward Bernays’ legacy continues to be seen in various aspects of modern society, particularly in the fields of advertising, public relations, and consumer culture: : The emphasis on emotional appeal, storytelling, and creating a desire for products remains central in advertising campaigns. Companies use celebrities, influencers, and lifestyle branding to connect with consumers on a personal and emotional level. Advertising and Marketing Techniques : The practice of designing products to become outdated or worn out quickly, is still employed by industries like technology and fashion to drive sales. Consumerism and Planned Obsolescence : Bernays is credited with coining the term “public relations,” and his influence in this field endures. Public Relations : Bernays’ work highlighted the power of persuasion and manipulation in shaping public opinion. Today, this legacy is evident in the realm of political communication, social media campaigns, and the dissemination of information where individuals and organizations use psychological tactics to influence public perception. Manipulation of Public Opinion In summary, Edward Bernays’ legacy is still very much alive today, as his ideas and techniques continue to shape how products are marketed, public opinion is influenced, and consumer culture operates. I don’t know how to feel about this man. On the one hand, he single-handedly re-invented 3 fields and created an influence alive today and as a psychologist, I find it interesting. On the other hand, his contribution to overconsumption and division within society which is slowly killing our world is painfully obvious. What is it about Austrians in the XX century? Also published . here This is from my newsletter, if you like to receive it straight to your inbox every Tuesday, sign up . here

The Puppet Master: Meet the Father of Advertising

These Biotech Execs Made Perfectly Timed Trades in Health Care Stocks 

এই বায়োটেক এক্সিক্স স্বাস্থ্যসেবা স্টকগুলিতে নিখুঁতভাবে সময়োপযোগী ট্রেড করেছেন

Diese Biotech-Manager haben zum perfekten Zeitpunkt Geschäfte mit Gesundheitsaktien getätigt

Estos ejecutivos de biotecnología realizaron operaciones en el momento perfecto en acciones de atención médica

Ces dirigeants de la biotechnologie ont effectué des transactions parfaitement synchronisées sur les actions du secteur de la santé

इन बायोटेक अधिकारियों ने स्वास्थ्य देखभाल शेयरों में बिल्कुल सही समय पर व्यापार किया

これらのバイオテクノロジー幹部はヘルスケア株で完璧なタイミングで取引を行った

헬스케어 주식에서 완벽한 타이밍에 거래한 생명공학 경영진

Esses executivos de biotecnologia fizeram negociações perfeitamente cronometradas em ações de saúde

Эти руководители биотехнологий совершили идеально своевременные сделки по акциям здравоохранения

Bu Biyoteknoloji Yöneticileri Sağlık Hisse Senetlerinde Mükemmel Zamanlanmış Ticaret Yaptı

Những nhà điều hành công nghệ sinh học này đã thực hiện giao dịch theo thời gian hoàn hảo đối với cổ phiếu chăm sóc sức khỏe

这些生物技术高管在医疗保健股上进行了完美的时机交易

This interview series celebrates the remarkable achievements of the Hackernoon . Startups of the Year winners Meet , a content management system (CMS) for academic journals that put up impressive numbers in 2023. We sat down with Neliti CEO Anton Lucanus, whose transition from research scientist to tech entrepreneur has enabled millions across Southeast Asia to access the region's rich trove of academic content. Neliti https://hackernoon.com/startups/asia/asia-singapore-singapore?embedable=true What does it mean for you to win this title? Amidst the buzz around Web 3.0 and AI, it's nice to see our Web 2.0 SaaS product among the winners. We’re not fancy, but we address a very real problem: making academic research more easily accessible in developing countries. It’s affirming to know that this problem and our solution to it are receiving recognition. The entire team at Neliti is deeply committed to this mission, and the Hackernoon Startups of the Year title provides us with a healthy dose of rocket fuel! Tell us how your startup is changing the world. Academic publishing is the editing and publication of academic journals, which are publications containing all the scientific papers in a certain field. It is the main method for communicating the results of recent research. Humanity relies on this method of communication to solve the world’s biggest scientific challenges, such as human disease, climate change, and poverty. A significant obstacle within the academic publishing system is the limited access to vital scientific papers for researchers in developing countries, hindering their ability to contribute solutions to the world’s most critical scientific challenges. Neliti bridges this gap by enabling academic content providers, such as academic publishers, to make their research openly and readily available. The impact of our solution is evident in the millions of emerging researchers who rely on Neliti monthly to access the essential data they need for their work. What sets you apart from the competition? Our holistic understanding of the unique challenges and needs within the academic publishing sector, particularly in the developing world. Academic articles, the vessels of important scientific discoveries, are disseminated via three primary channels: academic journals, academic conferences, and institutional repositories. The latter serve as open-access digital libraries hosting a diverse range of academic content, from scholarly articles and books to scientific datasets. There are two main types of existing solutions in our industry: free open source solutions (such as OJS for journals or ePrints for repositories) and paid solutions (such as Silverchair for journals or Pure for repositories). The challenge with the free open source options is their complexity and lack of user-friendliness, requiring substantial technical know-how to deploy and maintain. This poses a significant barrier for their primary users—academics and librarians—who are experts in their fields but not in web development, often leading to subpar and bug-prone websites. On the flip side, the premium solutions, while robust, are prohibitively expensive for all except the most affluent institutions in developed nations. Neliti aims to disrupt this space by offering a solution that is as user-friendly as it is powerful, all while being free of charge. Our vision is to enable even the smallest universities in developing countries to create academic journals and institutional repositories that surpass the aesthetics and functionality of those developed by wealthy institutions with extensive budgets. This ambition is at the heart of our UI/UX team's efforts. Beyond aesthetics, we are committed to alleviating the technical burdens our users face. By managing the entire tech stack, including web hosting and content indexing, we allow our users to concentrate on what they’re good at: publishing impactful research. What do you love about your team, and why are you the ones to solve this problem? I hold immense admiration for every member of our team. One thing I love is our celebration of each individual's uniqueness—their personalities, skills, and respective contributions to our overarching mission. Another thing, and probably what I treasure most, is the depth of our relationships. I see each team member as a friend first, which naturally enriches our work. As a remote team, our annual in-person meetups are particularly special. These occasions allow us to share our passion for the Neliti mission, creating a buzz of shared purpose and enthusiasm. This, coupled with our unique team dynamics, positions us ideally to address the complexities of open access in the academic world, especially within developing regions. At the moment, how do you measure success? What are your core metrics? Neliti’s success is quantitatively gauged by a set of core metrics that reflect our widespread adoption and impact: number of institutions publishing content using our platform (currently 1,200+), number of articles published (400,000+) number of researchers accessing that content each month (2 million+). What goals are you looking forward to accomplishing in 2024? Currently, Neliti is mostly popular in Indonesia. But over the last few years, we’ve seen sporadic usership from dozens of other developing countries. In 2024, we hope to go deep into at least one of those markets. We’ll keep it a surprise as to which one 😉 If you weren’t building your startup, what would you be doing? Writing a book about the history of the academic publishing system, how it evolved to where it is today, and how we can improve the industry. The book would shed light on how the industry can be reformed and improved for the betterment of scientific discovery and human advancement more generally. I find the academic publishing industry fascinating. In 1655, the academic journal emerged. At the time, it was a revolutionary development in scientific communication. It provided a transparent and open exchange of evidence-based findings, while also indicating clear provenance of scientific discoveries. The current system hasn’t change too much since 1655, relatively speaking. In the current status quo, a team of researchers spends months (even years) getting funding and performing rigorous research, all of which culminates in a paper that is submitted to an academic publisher. The paper is then evaluated by peer reviewers, who are other researchers in the field. This is the main quality-assurance mechanism in scientific research. If accepted by the publisher, the paper is published. Libraries then pay up to millions of dollars annually for journal subscriptions to the publisher to access the research. Academic publishing is an odd system — the authors are not paid for their writing, nor are the peer reviewers (they’re just more unpaid academics), and in some fields even the journal editors are unpaid. The authors sign away their intellectual property rights to publishers for free, and sometimes they must even pay the publishers. And yet scientific publications are some of the most expensive pieces of literature you can buy. It is such an odd system that those who fund and perform research must actually pay to read the research they create, while taxpayers must pay to access publicly funded research. This scenario underscores why many within the academic community view the system as “broken”. Yet, there's a general lack of understanding regarding how the industry reached its current state and, more importantly, what measures can be taken to rectify it. My book would delve into these issues, offering a comprehensive exploration of the academic publishing landscape and proposing pathways for its improvement. Which trend(s) are you most excited about in 2024? Share your reasons. OK, let’s take a break from academic publishing for a minute! I’m most excited about scientific advancement in the ageing and longevity space. There have been major breakthroughs in understanding human ageing over the last decade, and 2024 is a big year for the field. I’m excited for this, because there is a growing consensus among scientists that ageing is a “disease” that can be solved. 2023 had been another crazy year, especially in tech, with layoffs and the Generative AI takeover! Which trend are you most concerned about? Be as brief or as detailed as you like. AI. We didn’t know smoking was dangerous until it was. We didn’t know asbestos was dangerous until it was. We didn’t know nuclear power was dangerous until it was. AI is like that, on steroids, and irreversible. Political intervention needed. Even more so than the great Partial Nuclear Test Ban Treaty of 1963. We can learn from history, but the economic and national security benefits of AI currently pose too much of a benefit to any country considering its regulation. This is at the core of its threat. History has repeatedly shown us that the allure of such benefits can make it difficult to regulate powerful technologies like AI. Such a tension between benefits and risks is not new. Unfortunately, it often takes a disaster to catalyze the implementation of necessary regulations. I hope we can learn from our past to proactively manage the risks of AI, rather than waiting for adverse outcomes to force our hand. We would love your feedback on HackerNoon as a tech publication! How has your experience been with us? Hackernoon is awesome. It’s a jungle of varied perspectives on all tech trends, which makes for some very unfiltered reading. I find it important to read opinions I disagree with, because the truth often lies somewhere in the middle. Any words of wisdom you’d like to share with us? Every groundbreaking discovery was discovered by a human like yourself. Every groundbreaking innovation was ideated by a human like yourself. The human brain is phenomenal, what will you do with yours? Startups of The Year is HackerNoon’s Flagship community-driven event celebrating startups that survived and thrived in 2023. 30,000 startups across 4200+ cities and six continents participated this year to be crowned the best startup in their city. The 2023 Startups Of The Year is sponsored by: . . The winners will get a free .Tech Domain, a HackerNoon NFT, and a Tech Company News Page. TECH Domains

Meet Neliti, Winner of the Startups of the Year in Singapore

Markus Lanieux Fled a Traffic Stop - He's Now Doing Life in Prison

Markus Lanieux একটি ট্রাফিক স্টপ পালিয়ে গেছে - তিনি এখন কারাগারে জীবন করছেন

Markus Lanieux floh vor einer Verkehrskontrolle – jetzt sitzt er im Gefängnis

Markus Lanieux escapó de una parada de tráfico y ahora cumple cadena perpetua

Markus Lanieux a fui un contrôle routier – il purge désormais une peine de prison à vie

मार्कस लैनियक्स ट्रैफिक स्टॉप से भाग गया - वह अब जेल में जीवन बिता रहा है

マルクス・ラニュー、交通停止から逃走 - 現在は刑務所で暮らしている

Markus Lanieux는 교통 정체를 피해 도망쳤으며 현재 감옥에서 생활하고 있습니다.

Markus Lanieux fugiu de uma parada de trânsito - agora ele está cumprindo prisão perpétua

Маркус Ланье сбежал с остановки и теперь ведет жизнь в тюрьме

Markus Lanieux Trafik Durdurmasından Kaçtı - Şimdi Müebbet Hapis Cezasında

Markus Lanieux Chạy trốn khỏi điểm dừng giao thông - Anh ta hiện đang sống trong tù

马库斯·拉尼厄克斯 (Markus Lanieux) 逃离了交通堵塞 - 他现在在监狱里过着生活

Craig Wright And The Bitcoin Supercomputer Fraud

Introduction In today’s data-driven world, where corporations gather and leverage vast quantities of personal information, the importance of customer cannot be overstated. Preserving the confidentiality of clients is not solely a legal requirement but also a fundamental ethical obligation. A method of sharing data that describes patterns in a dataset while hiding personally identifiable information is called differential privacy. For example, a variety of organizations may release statistical or demographic information, but due to differential privacy, it is hard to determine the precise contribution of any given person. The concept is that regardless of whether a certain piece of data was included in the dataset or not, a researcher would still get the same query answer. If a data scientist is unable to identify a specific person using the data, then the system has differential privacy. In this article, we will learn more about differential privacy and how to safeguard customer privacy by integrating Differential Privacy with . privacy Versatile Data Kit (VDK) Understanding the Need for Differential Privacy In the modern digital world, we need more data than ever to help make and validate business decisions. Without data, no business will thrive in the digital landscape; using data, we can train machine learning models, predict user choices, and even serve advertisements. Users are not feeling safe due to access given to businesses of their private data. To gather huge amounts of data from users, we need to provide better privacy guarantees and meet law enforcement standards (e.g., HIPAA, GDPR) to assure users that their data will be safeguarded. When people try to hide or disguise personally identifiable information (PII), they may unintentionally leave behind other identifying elements in the data. These additional elements are known as quasi-identifiers. So, merely obfuscating PII may not be sufficient to protect privacy if these quasi-identifiers (see image below) can still be used to identify individuals. To solve this problem arrives as the better solution. It is a mathematical framework that offers robust assurances regarding the privacy of an individual’s data, even when integrated into extensive datasets or merged with other data sources. This technique involves introducing random noise to the data before analysis or sharing, significantly increasing the complexity for potential attackers to pinpoint the specific data of an individual. The noise is strategically incorporated to maintain statistical accuracy, ensuring that the outcomes of the analysis remain meaningful and valuable despite the introduced noise. Differential Privacy There are three main actors in differential privacy: the curator, owner, and analyst of the data. As you can see in the image below, global differential privacy is where we can trust the curator but not the analyst, whereas in local differential privacy, we don’t trust anyone. Techniques to Implement Differential Privacy It is used when the datatype we are trying to obfuscate is Boolean. When a query about a Boolean attribute (such as whether an individual has a given characteristic) is made using this approach, the result is randomized to introduce uncertainty. Random Response: Check or see the example below: here class DifferentialPrivateRandomResponse:

    def __init__(self, random_response_frequency: int):
        self._random_response_frequency = random_response_frequency

    def privatize(self, value: bool):
        # first coin flip
        if np.random.randint(0, self._random_response_frequency) == 0:
            # answer truthfully
            return value
        else:
            # answer randomly (second coin flip)
            return np.random.randint(0, 2) == 0 It is used to add noise when we are trying to add privacy in Enum-type data types. Unary encoding is a way of representing categorical data in a vector. Unary Encoding: Check or see the example below: here def _perturb(self, encoded_response: List[int]) -> List[int]:
        return [self._perturb_bit(b) for b in encoded_response]

    def _perturb_bit(self, bit: int) -> int:
        sample = np.random.random()
        if bit == 1:
            if sample <= self._p:
                return 1
            else:
                return 0
        elif bit == 0:
            if sample <= self._q:
                return 1
            else:
                return 0 Implementing Differential Privacy Using VDK With the increasing complexity of data management, the open-source Versatile Data Kit (VDK) empowers organizations to handle and secure sensitive data. Leveraging VDK’s capabilities, we can address the challenges of implementing Differential Privacy. Learn more about the Versatile Data Kit ! We will dig deeper into each and every step required to implement Differential Privacy in detail. We will work with a patient dataset commonly used by researchers as an example to understand the implementation of Differential Privacy using VDK. VDK provides a clean interface for ingestion. here Data Ingestion: Enabling Differential Privacy: VDK is modular and highly extensible, it has the concept of plugins that can be installed like any other python packages. Once they are installed, we can plug them into a VDK job by quickly changing config. To enable differential privacy, we need to intercept data at pre ingestion step so we can add noise before we sync it. VDK plugins can intercept data at many different points in the data streaming lifecycle. Let’s see an example of how we can configure and add random response noise to Boolean data type. Consider a study being conducted by some researchers to determine the influence of smoking on cancer. They must study data from various patients while also protecting the patients’ privacy through the use of differentiated privacy and VDK. Check code . To install and configure our new plugin Random Response, we need to run the following: Random Response Plugin: here pip install vdk-local-differential-privacy After installing the Random Response plugin, we need to update the config file: # update config
[vdk]

ingest_method_default=SQLITE

#add preprocessing step
ingest_payload_preprocess_sequence=random_response_differential_privacy

#set property specific to this plugin
differential_privacy_randomized_response_fields='{"patient_details": ["is_smoker"]}' ) Follow the above code and see how we can add a preprocessing step in the config file. In the next step, we set properties specific to this plugin, and the fields we want to randomize or add noise to are located in the “ ” table, and the name of column “ ”. patient_details is_smoke from vdk.api.job_input import IJobInput

def run(job_input: IJobInput):

#60 people who are not smokers
    for _ in range(60):
        obj = dict(str_key="str", is_smoker=False)

#setup the configuration
        job_input.send_object_for_ingestion(
            payload=obj, destination_table="patient_details", method="memory"
        ) As you can see in the script above, we took 60 patients who are not smokers and saved all their information to the database. It generates a dictionary and sends it for ingestion into a data table named “patient_details” using the “memory” method. Since everyone is not a smoker(is_smoker=False) in the dataset, there is always the same amount of noise in the dataset. As you can see in the histogram of noisy and randomized data, there are ~45 non-smokers and ~15 smokers. We are using a random response plugin, so the genuine value can be reported with a specific probability, whereas the false value can be reported with the complementary probability. VDK helps to create noisy data. We can move from noisy data to actual distribution before the noise is added to the data. Moving from noisy data to understandable data involves managing and filtering out the noise. Understandable data: To achieve this, a few points need to be considered: Approximately half of the data consists of pure noise. - About one-fourth of the data is composed of “yes” responses generated from random noise. To determine the number of real “yes” responses in the data, you subtract the noise-generated “yes” responses from the total number of “yes” responses. Mathematically, this is expressed as: real yeses = total number of yeses — (1/4 x dataset size) Since half of the data was discarded due to noise, it’s necessary to adjust for this loss when estimating the actual count of real “yes” responses. Doubling the number of real “yes” responses compensates for the elimination of half the data: Actual Count of Real Yeses = 2×Real Yeses This process helps in obtaining a more accurate representation of the true positive responses within the dataset, accounting for the presence of noise and ensuring a better understanding of the underlying information. By doing these steps we can get real distribution. Check right histogram in image below, we achieved the number 60 and has very less or no margin of error likely to happen. This can help the researcher to complete studies easily on the impact of smoking on cancer. This also helps to preserve individual user privacy because only half of the responses in the database are honest responses not generated by noise. Know more . Unary Encoding Plugin: here A similar method will be used as a random response in implementing differential privacy using the Unary Encoding VDK Plugin. To install and configure our new plugin, Unary Encoding, we need to run the following: pip install vdk-local-differential-privacy After installing the Unary Encoding plugin, we need to update the config file: # update config
[vdk]

ingest_method_default=SQLITE

#add preprocessing step
ingest_payload_preprocess_sequence=unary_encoding_differential_privacy

#set property specific to this plugin
differential_privacy_unary_encoding_fields='{"patient": {"blood": ["A","B","AB","O"]}}' Follow the above code and see how we can add a preprocessing step in the config file. In the next step, we set properties specific to this plugin “ ,” and in the next step, we want to add unary encoding on the “patient” table in column “blood” with blood groups as Enum values. unary_encoding_differential_privacy from vdk.api.job_input import IJobInput


def run(job_input: IJobInput):
    for _ in range(50):
        obj = dict(str_key="str", blood_type="B")

        job_input.send_object_for_ingestion(
            payload=obj, destination_table="patient", method="memory"
        ) In the above script, you can see that we have 50 patients with blood type “B” and save it to the database. Implementing unary encoding using the Versatile Data Kit plugin to implement differential privacy is somewhat similar to the random response plugin method. Basically, random response introduces randomness to protect privacy in statistical data, while unary encoding is a binary representation method commonly used for categorical data. Conclusion In concluding this article for safeguarding consumer privacy with Differential Privacy and the Versatile Data Kit (VDK), we emphasize the critical importance of ethical data practices. Balancing privacy and creativity needs collaborative efforts, and the combination of these tools provides a strong framework for responsible data management. As organizations negotiate this changing world, they must embrace openness, adapt to legislation, and prioritize privacy. The integration of Differential Privacy and VDK not only protects client privacy but also lays the groundwork for a trustworthy and responsible digital future. VDK is also working on providing support for differential privacy in SQL queries and global differential privacy. This article is co-authored by and , combining their expertise to provide a well-rounded perspective on the topic. Astrodevil Paul Murphy Additional Resources 💡Check Versatile Data Kit GitHub Repo 💡Check YouTube Video Tutorial 💡Check the of VDK to learn more Getting Started guide 💡Check VDK plugin files Also published . here

Preserving Customer Privacy: Integrating Differential Privacy with Versatile Data Kit (VDK)

LIQUID FUELS AND THEIR COMBUSTION

In a worrying trend that doesn’t seem to be coming to an end anytime soon, another major tech company is looking to lay off a reasonable chunk of its workforce to manage operational costs. For the third time this year, the shoe fits Spotify. Yikes! After two rounds of layoffs earlier in the year, the music-streaming giant looks to let go of 1500 additional employees from the 8,800 people on its roster. i.e. about 17% of its current workforce. This comes on the back of a 600-person-strong downsizing in January and another round of layoffs that saw 200 members of staff exit the company in June. In a note to employees, later , CEO Daniel Ek cited rising capital costs as one reason for the reduction in headcount. published on the audio company’s blog “In 2020 and 2021, we took advantage of the opportunity presented by lower-cost capital and invested significantly in team expansion, content enhancement, marketing, and new verticals. These investments generally worked, contributing to Spotify’s increased output and the platform’s robust growth this past year. However, we now find ourselves in a very different environment. And despite our efforts to reduce costs this past year, our cost structure for where we need to be is still too big.” For anyone who took a look at the company’s and considers a 17% downsize excessive, the Spotify CEO agrees with you. At least up to a point. In reference to the drastic nature of the company’s latest round of layoffs, Daniel Ek writes in his note to employees - “We debated making smaller reductions throughout 2024 and 2025. Yet, considering the gap between our financial goal state and our current operational costs, I decided that a substantial action to rightsize our costs was the best option to accomplish our objectives.” q3 earnings report For context:  Spotify recorded upward trends in monthly users (26%), subscribers (16% Y/Y), and total revenue (11% Y/Y). Not to mention a gross margin that finished above guidance at 26.4%. To ease the way for the swathe of talent getting terminated by the company, Spotify will incur between 130 and 145 million Euros in charges, including five months' worth of severance payment, as reported by . Reuters The layoff trend continues to ravage industries globally, across a slew of Big Tech companies due to an increasingly volatile economy and changing consumer patterns. Unfortunately, the markets are a ruthless thing and appear to be rewarding this trend, as Spotify’s U.S listed shares climbed by 11 points, after the CEO’s note went out, to trade near its 2-year peak at close of day. as 225,000 employees have seen the axe Source Spotify holds a modest rank of #269 on this week’s HackerNoon Tech Company Rankings. Netflix Secures Classic GTA Trilogy to Boost Its Gaming Efforts By now it’s no news that Netflix, the predominantly video-streaming platform, has been dipping its feet into the video game industry. Following the release of its interactive film, Bandersnatch, in 2020, and subsequent interactive storytelling projects, the company has pushed further into the gaming market. , the streaming giant launched mobile gaming functionality to its subscribers worldwide. The initial push made five games available on mobile, including an offshoot of the platform's super-star title, Stranger Things. In November 2021 , Netflix went a step further by rolling out its cloud-streamed games. Effectively extending of devices on which games were playable to include Smart TVs. Fast forward to August 2023 In the on the week of the announcement, we asked members of the community if they were interested in trying games on Netflix. The divided results saw 14% minority vote Yes. However, 24% of the respondents expressed uncertainty, waiting to see what kinds of games the platform would acquire. HackerNoon Technology Poll If you were a part of that minority or perhaps share their sentiments, then Netflix’s latest video game title acquisition might be just the thing to push the needle for you. Last week, the , in a post shared by VP of Games Mike Verdu, that Rockstar’s golden goose is coming to the streaming platform. company announced Grand Theft Auto: The Trilogy— is coming to Netflix on December 14 for Netflix members on the App Store, Google Play, and in the Netflix mobile app. The Definitive Edition I don’t know about you, but I do love me some GTA. Acquiring a gaming title with a following of this size might just be the spark that Netflix games need to get to the next level. Especially when you consider the positive uproar that Rockstar’s trailer for its heavily anticipated unleashed in gaming communities across social media. Grand Theft Auto VI It’s still too early to tell whether this acquisition is Netflix’s smoking gun, considering that the game titles are still available to play on more gaming-focused consoles. Nonetheless, it’s an exciting time for the gaming community. Netflix sits pretty at #6 on this week’s HackerNoon Tech Company Rankings. 👋 You’re reading of HackerNoon's Tech Company News Brief, a weekly collection of tech goodness that combines HackerNoon's proprietary data with internet trends to determine which companies are rising and falling in the public consciousness. went live yesterday. Prefer reading the whole thing a day early AND in one go? No problemo! Just subscribe to receive the newsletter in your inbox every Tuesday. part 2 Part 1 here complete In Other News… Nvidia CEO will look to Japan first for AI Processors - via The Japan Times Crypto stocks enjoy uptick as Bitcoin crosses $40K mark - via Reuters OpenAI’s GPT store stalls till 2024 following leadership debacle - via Tech Crunch Intel wins appeal to overcome $2.18 billion VLSI patent verdict - via Reuters Instagram and Facebook cross-messaging is coming to an end - via The Verge This brings us to the end of this week’s Tech Company News Brief. Don’t forget to share this newsletter with your family, friends, and everyone in between! See you next week! - , World News & SciFi Editor at HackerNoon Asher Umerie The Tech Company Brief is a weekly newsletter written by HackerNoon editors to help you dissect the last week in tech news! Subscribe here for the full scoop delivered straight to your inbox: https://hackernoon.com/tech-company-brief

1500 Employees Wrap Up Their Time with Spotify in Its Third Round of Layoffs this Year

1500 কর্মচারী এই বছর ছাঁটাইয়ের তৃতীয় রাউন্ডে Spotify-এর সাথে তাদের সময় শেষ করেছে

1500 Mitarbeiter verbringen in der dritten Entlassungsrunde dieses Jahr ihre Zeit bei Spotify

1500 empleados concluyen su tiempo con Spotify en su tercera ronda de despidos este año

1 500 employés terminent leur travail chez Spotify lors de sa troisième série de licenciements cette année

इस साल छंटनी के तीसरे दौर में 1500 कर्मचारियों ने Spotify के साथ अपना समय समाप्त किया

1500人の従業員、今年3回目のレイオフでSpotifyでの仕事を終える

올해 3차 해고로 1,500명의 직원이 Spotify와 함께 시간을 마무리합니다.

1.500 funcionários encerram seu tempo com o Spotify em sua terceira rodada de demissões este ano

1500 сотрудников завершили свое время со Spotify в третьем раунде увольнений в этом году

Bu Yıl Üçüncü Turda 1500 Çalışan Spotify'daki Zamanlarını Tamamladı

1500 nhân viên kết thúc thời gian của họ với Spotify trong đợt sa thải thứ ba trong năm nay

Spotify 今年第三轮裁员 1500 名员工结束工作

Exercises are intended to be used

A world without hierarchy is the ideal of traditional anarchism, a political philosophy against authorities that maintain unnecessary coercion over people. It often proposes a society without money as well, and that’s likely where it differs more from the Crypto-anarchism idea first proposed by the computer engineer and libertarian activist Timothy C. May in 1988. Here’s a clue: it includes cryptocurrencies. But the “crypto” part isn’t only for cryptocurrencies. Indeed, as you may have noticed already, Crypto-anarchism is a much older concept than cryptocurrencies themselves. The name comes from cryptography, a set of mathematical techniques and technologies designed to protect data confidentiality, integrity, and authenticity. That’s the main goal of crypto-anarchism: to protect private information against higher authorities, using cryptography for that. May visualized a future in which anonymity and financial freedom would come first for everyone. As it reads in his “ :” Crypto-Anarchism Manifesto “Computer technology is on the verge of providing the ability for individuals and groups to communicate and interact with each other in a totally anonymous manner. Two persons may exchange messages, conduct business, and negotiate electronic contracts without ever knowing the True Name, or legal identity, of the other. Interactions over networks will be untraceable (...) These developments will alter completely the nature of government regulation, the ability to tax and control economic interactions, the ability to keep information secret, and will even alter the nature of trust and reputation.” That’s just the starting point, though. This ideal would birth numerous interesting characters and technologies over the years —including cryptocurrencies. Freedom, Privacy, and Decentralization It’s easy to see why someone would deliver this political proposal. Mass surveillance is a global issue these days, as it’s been especially remarked after Edward Snowden exposed the global surveillance activities conducted by the US National Security Agency (NSA) in 2013. So much power and knowledge could easily lead to civil rights abuses, as it already happened (and it’s happening right now) in numerous jurisdictions. China, for instance, is quite famous for its censorship, surveillance, and news manipulation. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oo_FM3mjBCY&embedable=true By using these tools, it wouldn’t matter where you are, because your online data would be safe, and you would still be able to transact with others using decentralized money (not issued by a government or central authority). Cryptography is the answer proposed by May to keep our privacy rights and freedom. Of course, decentralized money would appear later, with the first proposals (pre-Bitcoin) issued by remarkable cryptographers like Adam Back, David Chaum, Wei Dai, and Nick Szabo. Names like these would be inscribed in a new movement based on Crypto-Anarchism, started by May along with John Gilmore, Judith Milhon, and Eric Hughes. It all started like a shared mailing list by sort-of libertarian cryptographers in the early 90’s, but quickly evolved into an activism movement to defend privacy: . the Cypherpunks As we can see now in the Cypherpunk Manifesto (1993) by Hughes, they consider that the most efficient way to protect privacy is through crypto technologies. “Privacy is necessary for an open society in the electronic age (…) We cannot expect governments, corporations, or other large, faceless organizations to grant us privacy (…) We must defend our own privacy if we expect to have any (…) Cypherpunks write code. We know that someone has to write software to defend privacy, and (…) we're going to write it.” Cryptographic Tools Crypto-anarchists and cypherpunks cryptographers have delivered a series of useful and generally free-to-use software tools to protect our privacy and freedom worldwide. Bitcoin, of course, is on the list —but it’s not even the first one, nor the only one. To mention some important ones, Pretty Good Privacy (PGP), developed by Phil Zimmermann in 1991, is an encryption program that provides cryptographic privacy and authentication for data communication. It is widely used for securing email communications and files. Tor browser, even if originally developed by the US Navy, was quickly adopted and nurtured by cypherpunks. Signal, a popular encrypted messaging app, was developed by the cypherpunk Moxie Marlinspike. WikiLeaks, famous for publishing classified, censored, or otherwise restricted information and promoting transparency and government accountability, was founded by another cypherpunk: Julian Assange. The privacy-focused BitTorrent, which revolutionized P2P file sharing, was created by Bram Cohen, who was a participant in the original cypherpunk mailing list. Even Zooko Wilcox, the founder of Zcash (a privacy-focused cryptocurrency) is a supporter of this ideology. Without a doubt, more crypto tools are coming from more developers worldwide, considering that the data privacy software market to grow from $2.76 billion in 2023 to $30.31 billion by 2030. And that’s only outside the open-source world. is projected Some Concerns It's important to recognize that no system, whether centralized or decentralized, is immune to criminal activities. Crypto-anarchism is no different, and May admitted it in his Manifesto as well. It’s a bit worrisome, even, because he just states that crypto tools will change our society and preserve our privacy, but they’ll also bring crimes to the table. “The State will of course try to slow or halt the spread of this technology, citing national security concerns, use of the technology by drug dealers and tax evaders, and fears of societal disintegration. Many of these concerns will be valid; crypto anarchy will allow national secrets to be traded freely and will allow illicit and stolen materials to be traded. An anonymous computerized market will even make possible abhorrent markets for assassinations and extortion. Various criminal and foreign elements will be active users of CryptoNet. But this will not halt the spread of crypto anarchy.” No obvious solution is offered there to this potential issue, but we could check the traditional anarchism approach to crimes —or how they prefer to address it: society's harm. , that distinction is important: victimless actions like smoking weed, stealing food from the wealthy, or sharing state secrets, considered crimes by governments, wouldn’t be punished in an anarchist community. For anarchists Only serious harm like murder, rape, or violence would require attention by some security volunteers. In this specific case, we can wonder how crypto-anarchism (and cryptocurrencies) would address harmful risks like terrorism financing, money laundering, or all kinds of illegal markets in the Darknet. For now, the answer is clear: we still need to work with centralized authorities and share some of our information if we want a safer world. However, this could change in the future, with new decentralized ways of compliance. Decentralized Compliance Technologies like Self-Sovereign Identity (SSI) systems provide individuals control over personal information, allowing selective disclosure for compliance, verification, or reputation. Decentralized compliance solutions are emerging in response to the challenges of regulating decentralized financial systems. Ledger forensics tools, such as those offered by companies like Chainalysis, facilitate the analysis of transactions to address compliance concerns. In that way, the public and pseudonymous nature of most cryptocurrency chains would be an advantage to trace misbehavior among participants without fully compromising privacy. In addition, utilizing and decentralized governance mechanisms can provide tools for creating self-executing agreements and transparent decision-making processes. This can help ensure that decentralized systems are used responsibly and ethically. smart contracts The terms are discussed by all parties prior to signing, and the outcome can be enforced by the code itself. Besides, on-chain governance processes contribute to self-regulation, allowing token holders to participate in decision-making. These solutions aim to balance the principles of decentralization with the necessity of compliance in an evolving regulatory landscape, providing a foundation for responsible and transparent decentralized financial ecosystems. Obyte as a Tool for Privacy and Freedom As a ledger without middlemen, is aiming to be an incarnation of crypto-anarchist and cypherpunk ideals of freedom, privacy, and decentralization. Obyte First of all, the whole ecosystem is based on a Directed Acyclic Graph (DAG) structure that eliminates the central figures of miners and validators and replaces them with much less powerful (OP). Order Providers . Once a transaction is made, it’ll stay forever on the DAG, without middlemen’s approval. No one needs “permission” to transact in the Obyte DAG, and their transactions can’t be impeded, censored, or stolen Besides, Obyte offers the best of both worlds: a transparent ledger where to transact with public tokens, and the option to use privacy coins to preserve full confidentiality. like Blackbytes These privacy tokens can be traded P2P only, and only the involved users will keep the transaction data on their own devices. If someone tries to find a trace of them in the public ledger, they’ll find nothing. is also available in the Obyte ecosystem in the form of attestations. They’re an internal feature on the wallet, where After verification, they won’t need to share personal data with third parties, but just the attestation itself. Self-sovereign ID anyone can quickly verify their real name, email, GitHub account, or investor status. By offering full decentralization, user control, privacy features, smart contracts, resistance to censorship, and global accessibility, could be a powerful tool to preserve your freedom and online rights. Obyte Featured Vector Image by Freepik

Exploring Crypto-Anarchism: From Privacy to Cryptocurrencies and Beyond

ক্রিপ্টো-নৈরাজ্যবাদ অন্বেষণ: গোপনীয়তা থেকে ক্রিপ্টোকারেন্সি এবং তার বাইরে

Erforschung des Krypto-Anarchismus: Von der Privatsphäre zu Kryptowährungen und darüber hinaus

Explorando el criptoanarquismo: de la privacidad a las criptomonedas y más allá

Explorer le crypto-anarchisme : de la confidentialité aux crypto-monnaies et au-delà

क्रिप्टो-अराजकतावाद की खोज: गोपनीयता से क्रिप्टोकरेंसी और उससे आगे तक

暗号アナーキズムの探求: プライバシーから暗号通貨、そしてその先まで

암호화폐 무정부주의 탐구: 개인정보 보호에서 암호화폐 및 그 이상까지

Explorando o cripto-anarquismo: da privacidade às criptomoedas e muito mais

Изучение криптоанархизма: от конфиденциальности к криптовалютам и не только

Kripto-Anarşizmi Keşfetmek: Gizlilikten Kripto Para Birimlerine ve Ötesine

Khám phá chủ nghĩa vô chính phủ tiền điện tử: Từ quyền riêng tư đến tiền điện tử và hơn thế nữa

探索加密无政府主义：从隐私到加密货币及其他

Scientific American Supplement, No. 711, August 17, 1889, by Various, is part of the HackerNoon Books Series. You can jump to any chapter in this book . ON THE HEALTH VALUE TO MAN OF THE SO-CALLED DIVINELY BENEFICENT GIFT, TOBACCO. here ON THE HEALTH VALUE TO MAN OF THE SO-CALLED DIVINELY BENEFICENT GIFT, TOBACCO. By J.M.W. Kitchen, M.D., New York. With perhaps the exception of heredity, the question of stimulants and narcotics in their relation to the physical welfare of the race is second to none in importance. With trifling exceptions, the whole world is addicted to their use. The universality of such use has led many to consider them a necessity to man, and that they are God's gifts to him, and, if rightly used, are of physical benefit. It may not be a perversion of judgment to consider that their widespread popular use is greatly due to the efforts of the race to gain anæsthesia for, and distraction from, those pains and punishments that are the inevitable sequence of departure from hygienic and social law on the part of the individual, his ancestry, and society in general. The taste for these things is acquired, not natural, though the acquisition may be through hereditary influence. An idea is held by a majority of even fairly intelligent individuals that there is a justifiable, harmless, and even beneficial use of these substances by the general public, though acknowledging that beyond a certain indefinite line this use becomes an abuse. I believe that there may occasionally be cases in which the physical benefits derived from their use outweigh the injury they inflict, but I think this use is very much less than is generally supposed, and if we can judge from the preponderance of evil effected by such use, these substances ought to be considered as the materialized curses of God rather than as beneficent gifts. The prevalent idea as to the beneficent nature of these substances I consider to be a delusion that can only be explained upon the hypothesis that there is a widespread lack of appreciation of the fact that, though they may have an immediate pleasant and agreeable effect upon the body, their injurious effects are cumulative, and are usually ultimate, and so distant as to be difficult of direct connection with their cause to ordinary observation. The more moderate the use of these substances, the more remotely is the effect removed from the cause and more difficult of detection. That the ordinary habitual, so-called moderate use of stimulants and narcotics, such as tea, coffee, tobacco, and alcohol, is, in the vast majority of cases, really an abuse, is a proposition that I think should be admitted by all who have given the subject an unbiased study. The idea that the user of tobacco and other injurious substances will be cognizant of the injury inflicted by habitual use in moderate or even excessive amounts is an undoubted fallacy. The daily, weekly, or monthly injurious effect may be entirely unobservable to even trained physicians, and yet the ultimate cumulative effect may be fatal. I can instance numerous cases of physicians directly fatally injured by the use of alcohol, who have never had the slightest cognizance of the fact; and I can also instance cases of grave disease from the use of tobacco where the patients never have believed that tobacco has been the cause of their troubles, even after a unanimous opinion to that effect has been expressed by a number of competent medical advisers. The habitual consumption of opium, in doses of any amount, is generally admitted by most people to be physically injurious outside of its strict medicinal application. Moderate indulgence in alcohol as a beverage is beginning to acquire a very widespread evil reputation. But how about tobacco? Tea and coffee we can confidently leave to the consideration of a somewhat remote posterity of a considerably advanced intelligence and elevated hygienic ideals. The relation of tobacco to the physical welfare of man can only be fairly estimated by viewing the subject in its broadest aspect; by considering its effects upon the race as a whole rather than in individual cases; by taking into consideration economical and other social conditions that at first sight might be considered as having little relevancy to the medical side of the subject. But there can be no just consideration of the matter otherwise. The direct deleterious effects of the immoderate use of tobacco are readily observable; but the great bulk of the evil physical effects due to the moderate use of this plant are of an intermediate nature and not directly noticeable; nevertheless, they are real, and worthy of medical attention. The plainly marked results following the use of tobacco in relatively large amounts seem to be due to quick and extreme interference with nutrition, and a diminution of function of all kinds, which may be represented by anything from a slight decrease of appetite and digestive ability up to a complete loss of function of almost any important organ. Tobacco has stimulating as well narcotic properties, but as ordinarily used its stimulating effect appears to be slight as compared with its narcotic influence. In this respect it differs from alcohol, the use of which, owing to the usual method of introduction in large amounts through the stomach, produces directly, by stimulation, readily noticeable structural changes. But with tobacco the direct evil results are mostly of a functional character, and are more generally diffused, owing to the usual slow manner of introduction into the body. These two properties have an effect upon the body in moderate use as well as in immoderate use, the effect being simply in proportion to the quantity used, though the effects of moderate use may not be measurable by ordinary means. It is easy to see the effects of large amounts of tobacco in the stunted growth of adolescents; in functional cardiac disorders; in intellectual sluggishness, loss of memory, and color blindness; in loss of appetite, and other neuroses of motion, and marked blunting of various functions of sensation, and in degeneracy of descendants; but that lesser evils are produced must be proved mostly by inference, circumstantial collateral evidence, and analogy. The greater evils that are the outcome of a moderate use of tobacco are probably due to prolonged slight interference with nutrition, and consequent general decrease of vitality, which renders the individual more susceptible through indirect influence to the invasion of disease, and which lessens the capacity for productive effort. It is of course difficult, and perhaps even impossible, to accurately estimate the value of tobacco to the race; but let us glance at the pros and cons, and then each one can roughly estimate for himself. Tobacco may be used medicinally, but it is a dangerous and uncertain remedy, and it probably has not one medicinal use that cannot be more suitably met by other remedies. One can readily imagine easier digestion as the result of the sedative influence of the after-dinner cigar upon a disquieted nervous system, especially if the coincident irritation of alcohol and coffee have need of correction; but it can also be imagined that in most of such cases the remedy has been the cause of and will further increase the disordered condition, and that nutrition of deficiently nourished nerve tissue is rationally indicated rather than partial narcotization. There then remains, so far as I can see, the solace of moderate anæsthesia and, occasionally, of occupation for idlers, as the only items that can be placed to the credit of tobacco. There certainly are individual cases where such usage may be more provocative of physical benefit than evil, but, before judging for the race as a whole, compute the other side of the question. Tobacco injures the general health of the public through the economic loss caused by its consumption. The people of our country spend annually over seven hundred millions of dollars for tobacco—twenty per cent. more than is spent for bread. This sum represents only a minor part of the cost of the tobacco habit to the country. The crop is immensely exhaustive to the soil. Its culture has blighted whole sections of fertile territory. In the time consumed by the producer and the trader in its production, manufacture, and sale, and by the consumer in its use, and by the general interference with vital activity and consequent decreased productive capacity, there is represented an almost unimaginable sum of money. Certainly the people at large are not so well fed both as to quantity and quality, or so thoroughly clothed, or so hygienically housed that they can afford this gigantic economic waste. There can be little doubt that if the people had sufficient intelligence and moral strength to taboo tobacco, this comparatively senseless outgo would be largely devoted to supplying these and other necessities of an exalted health status. Tobacco injures health through its moral effects. The tobacco habit is certainly a dirty and frequently a disgusting habit, and encourages other dirty practices. Its use tends to make men cowardly, irritable in temper, and low in spirits. It blunts ideas of purity and courtesy, leading to invasion of the rights of others. It is presumed that few medical men would visit a delicate, sensitive patient after saturation with the "fragrant" effluvia of onions, but thousands whose systems are saturated with nicotine and who reek with nauseating odor do not hesitate to inflict their presence on sick or well. The time will come when the tobacco user will not be allowed to poison the atmosphere that is the common property of the public—will not be allowed to force the inhalation of nicotine upon the general public, to say nothing of being allowed to poison the infants and women in his own family. What would be said of a man who introduced poison in any degree into the food or drink of his child? Is the poisoning of the household atmosphere by the ignorant, thoughtless, or selfish smoker morally more defensible? Tobacco injures health through hereditary influence. The tobacco user begets, more certainly than the non-user, puny children with disordered nervous conditions. Luckily for our race, the women, who have the most important prenatal influence in guarding its physical well-being, are practically non-users of the plant. The general health status of the race is improving, not because the use of tobacco or the indulgence in other questionable practices is harmless, but because, among other things, of the great advance in general intelligence and knowledge of hygienic law. A person, or the public in general, may practice an injurious habit, and yet more than counteract its influence by opposing beneficial practices. Horace Greeley said, "Show me a drunkard who does not use tobacco, and I will show you a white blackbird." In this country, where dietetic drinking habits are not common in the family, the weakening of moral fiber by indulgence in tobacco is usually the introduction into the round of vicious indulgences, and thus directly or indirectly affects health. Smoking induces dryness of the mucous membrane of the mouth and consequent thirst. The partially paralyzed nerve terminals want something more stimulating than water to afford relief. Furthermore, blunted appetite induces deficient nutrition, and consequently there is a call for some "pick-me-up;" hence we find that the use of tobacco tends to the habitual use of alcoholic beverages, and there are very few habitual users of alcohol who escape without structural injuries to the body as well as perversion of its functions. Decrease of vital activity in all the tissues of the body marks the use of tobacco. The tendency is toward functional paralysis, though occasional signs of stimulative irritation are to be noticed, especially in the respiratory passages. The interference with intellectual activity is marked. It is said that during a period of fifty years no tobacco user stood at the head of his class in Harvard. The accumulated testimony of investigating observers is conclusive that, other things being equal, users of tobacco, in schools of all grades, never do so well in their studies as non-users. One head of a public school said he could always tell when a boy commenced to use tobacco by the record of his recitations. Professor Oliver, of the Annapolis Academy, said he could indicate the boy who used tobacco by his absolute inability to draw a clean, straight line. The deleterious effects of tobacco have become so clearly apparent that we find its sale to minors is prohibited in France, Germany, and various sections of this country. It is somewhat a question if, at the present time, the race is not doing itself more injury by its use of tobacco than it is with alcohol, because of its more universal use, particularly by youth, and because of the respectability of the habit, which comes of its use by a certain intelligent part of the race, including teachers of morals and physics, and even temperance reformers. There is a widespread sentiment in existence that it is not a respectable thing to be even partly paralyzed by alcohol, but how few there are who consider narcosis as in any way connected with the use of tobacco. Its effect is more diffused and masked, and is not so acutely serious in individual cases, but through its interference with vital activity, tobacco is probably more generally injurious to the race than alcohol. The editorial fiat of "too long" prevents a full exposition of the subject, but, in closing, let me say I hear millions of tobacco users ask, "Why, then, was this plant given to man, if its general effects are so decidedly evil?" The question presupposes design in creation. Without subscribing to this theory, or pretending to have solved the mystery of the presence of evil in the world, the answer may be suggested that the overcoming of many seductive evils becomes to man a means of his progressive higher development. Of one thing I am convinced, that the physical development and welfare of man is interfered with in strict sequence to his consumption of substances that are unnecessary for his nutrition—stimulants and narcotics inclusive.— Medical Record. About HackerNoon Book Series: We bring you the most important technical, scientific, and insightful public domain books. This book is part of the public domain. Various (2004). Scientific American Supplement, No. 711, August 17, 1889. Urbana, Illinois: Project Gutenberg. Retrieved https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/16972/pg16972-images.html This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at , located at . www.gutenberg.org https://www.gutenberg.org/policy/license.html

ON THE HEALTH VALUE TO MAN OF THE SO-CALLED DIVINELY BENEFICENT GIFT, TOBACCO

Stories, News & Mentions about SMOVIN

Smovin’s Stories on HackerNoon