ReHacked #29: from Mars projections to killer robots ethics and narcos smuggling submarine

Hello, everyone! Today on the table is variety of news from Solar model, Mars projections from Perseverance footage down to killer robots ethics and narcos smuggling submarine in Spain. Also two longreads on free speech and censorship.

Enjoy!

Sweden Solar System #space #science

The Sweden Solar System (SSS) is the world’s largest model of our planetary system. The Sun is represented by the Globe in Stockholm, the largest spherical building in the world, and the planets are lined up in direction north from here.

Distances and sizes are scaled according to 1:20 million, and the inner planets are all in the Stockholm area. The outer planets follow in the same direction with for instance Neptune in Söderhamn and the dwarf planet Pluto in Delsbo, 300 km from the Globe. A number of minor planets and comets also populate SSS, which now extends from the very south to the very north of Sweden. There is a host institution for each model. SSS is a pedagogical instrument and conveys a direct feeling of the enormous distances in space, and how small the planets are compared to the Sun. Art, mythology and science merge in this project, and SSS connects to different places and activities in Sweden.

Ultra-weak gravitational field detected #science #physics #nature

An experiment shows that Newton’s law of gravity holds even for two masses as small as about 90 milligrams. The findings take us a step nearer to measuring gravitational fields that are so weak that they could enter the quantum regime.

Game Theory | Open Yale Courses #learning

About the CourseThis course is an introduction to game theory and strategic thinking. Ideas such as dominance, backward induction, Nash equilibrium, evolutionary stability, commitment, credibility, asymmetric information, adverse selection, and signaling are discussed and applied to games played in class and to examples drawn from economics, politics, the movies, and elsewhere.

Your Thinking Rate Is Fixed #psychology

Here’s a secret that might sound obvious but can actually transform the way you work: you can’t force yourself to think faster. Our brains just don’t work that way. The rate at which you make mental discernments is fixed.Sure, you can develop your ability to do certain kinds of thinking faster over time. You can learn new methods for decision-making. You can develop your mental models. You can build your ability to focus. But if you’re trying to speed up your thinking so you can make an extra few decisions today, forget it.

UK to depart from GDPR #copyrights #privacy

The government has sent a first signal of its intention for UK data protection laws to part company with the EU’s General Data Protection Regulation. In a Financial Times article last week, culture secretary Oliver Dowden said he would use the appointment of a new information commissioner to focus not just on privacy but on the use of data for ‘economic and social goals’.

The internet didn’t kill counterculture—you just won’t find it on Instagram

You Can't Censor Away Extremism (or Any Other Problem) - Freddie deBoer

Two longreads on counterculture, censorship and the freedom of the speech.

#society #freedom #politics #longread

Exclusive: Myanmar's first satellite held by Japan on space station after coup #space #technology #politics

The $15 million satellite was built by Japan’s Hokkaido University in a joint project with Myanmar’s government-funded Myanmar Aerospace Engineering University (MAEU). It is the first of a set of two 50 kg microsatellites equipped with cameras designed to monitor agriculture and fisheries.Human rights activists and some officials in Japan worry that those cameras could be used for military purposes by the junta that seized power in Myanmar on Feb. 1.That has put the deployment on hold, as Hokkaido University holds discussions with the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), the two Hokkaido University officials said.

Web inventor Sir Tim Berners-Lee warns of widening digital divide #technology #internet #society

The creator of the web says coronavirus has highlighted the importance of internet connectivity as a basic right.Sir Tim Berners-Lee says too many young people do not have internet access and the digital divide has widened during the pandemic.He called on governments to invest to provide universal broadband by 2030."We can't afford not to do it," he wrote in his annual letter to mark the anniversary of the world wide web.

A Model of the Cosmos in the ancient Greek Antikythera Mechanism #nature #space #history #longread

The Antikythera Mechanism, an ancient Greek astronomical calculator, has challenged researchers since its discovery in 1901. Now split into 82 fragments, only a third of the original survives, including 30 corroded bronze gearwheels. Microfocus X-ray Computed Tomography (X-ray CT) in 2005 decoded the structure of the rear of the machine but the front remained largely unresolved. X-ray CT also revealed inscriptions describing the motions of the Sun, Moon and all five planets known in antiquity and how they were displayed at the front as an ancient Greek Cosmos. Inscriptions specifying complex planetary periods forced new thinking on the mechanization of this Cosmos, but no previous reconstruction has come close to matching the data. Our discoveries lead to a new model, satisfying and explaining the evidence. Solving this complex 3D puzzle reveals a creation of genius—combining cycles from Babylonian astronomy, mathematics from Plato’s Academy and ancient Greek astronomical theories.

Reprojecting the Perseverance landing footage onto satellite imagery - Matt's ramblings #space

Israel's autonomous 'robo-snipers' and suicide drones raise ethical dilemma #society #ethics #politics

Researchers from the Institute for Strategic, Political, Economic and Security Consultancy argue that development on automation is moving so fast its outpacing the laws that could even hope to regulate it.

To this end, they describe a slippery slope where the role of human beings in decision loops is quickly fading away, with the lack of a clearly defined line over what is acceptable and what is immoral.

Police in Malaga, Spain have reported that they have discovered a narco-submarine aboard a ship. The vessel was disguised to look like a cabin cruiser. The disguise included fake deck furniture and a canvas sun roof (known as a Bimini Top).

It is the fourth so-called narco submarine found in Europe in the last 15 years. So far, all have been associated with smuggling drugs into Spain. Logically other seaward European countries are also vulnerable however. These include Italy, France, Portugal, Ireland and the United Kingdom. What has been found is likely only the tip of the iceberg.

The narco submarine is believed to have been for smuggling drugs across the Straits of Gibraltar. This is a common route from Morocco to Spain, and often involves ‘go-fast’ power boats. But narco submarines are relatively unknown on this route and none have been found before.

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Dainius