Hacker News with Generative AI: Social Impact

GPT Destroyed College Camaraderie (medium.com)
I was chatting with a friend the other day, and we landed on something that’s been bothering me for a while, something that has been a noticeable shift in the very fabric of being a student. We were talking about how tools like ChatGPT, as undeniably invaluable as they are, have sort of… replaced the need for each other in academic settings. And with it, maybe something more.
Generative AI, Education, Social Impact
6 points by amforever 1 day ago | 0 comments
The Other Covid Reckoning (astralcodexten.com)
Five years later, we can’t stop talking about COVID.
COVID-19, Public Health, Social Impact, Pandemic
6 points by feross 2 days ago | 0 comments
"Not a Representation of Me": Accent Bias and Digital Exclusion in AI Voices (arxiv.org)
Recent advances in artificial intelligence (AI) speech generation and voice cloning technologies have produced naturalistic speech and accurate voice replication, yet their influence on sociotechnical systems across diverse accents and linguistic traits is not fully understood.
Artificial Intelligence, Speech Recognition, Social Impact, Bias, Digital Inclusion
3 points by gnabgib 17 days ago | 0 comments
The Miscalculations of Covid School Closures (newyorker.com)
Millions of American children were denied regular in-person instruction for more than a year after the virus emerged. What did we get right—and wrong?
Education, COVID-19, Public Policy, Social Impact
13 points by pseudolus 21 days ago | 19 comments
From Code to Cash: Stack Overflow Co-Founder's Unorthodox Path to Philanthropy (forbes.com)
Jeff Atwood, known for co-founding Stack Overflow, has recently taken a bold step in philanthropy by committing to give away half his wealth within five years. In this conversation, we discuss his motivations, his call to other business leaders to utilize their resources toward solving pressing societal problems and his unique approach to community-centered giving.
Philanthropy, Business, Technology, Community, Social Impact
27 points by axiologist 26 days ago | 2 comments
Time to quit your pointless job, become morally ambitious and change the world (theguardian.com)
Of all the things wasted in our throwaway times, the greatest is wasted talent.
Career Advice, Morality, Social Impact
89 points by akbarnama 26 days ago | 105 comments
Deepfake porn is destroying real lives in South Korea (cnn.com)
Deepfakes, Pornography, South Korea, Social Impact, Ethics
12 points by thegeomaster 27 days ago | 1 comments
Fantasy Betting Apps are ruining rural India. It is heartbreaking. (reddit.com)
Fantasy Betting Apps are ruining rural India. It is heartbreaking.
Gambling, India, Social Impact, Mobile Apps
22 points by rustoo 27 days ago | 4 comments
A tuition-free school created by Zuckerberg and Chan will shutter next year (cnn.com)
Education, Technology, Social Impact, Facebook
58 points by jszymborski 27 days ago | 32 comments
The Zuckerbergs Founded Two Bay Area Schools. Now They're Closing (nytimes.com)
Mark Zuckerberg and his wife, Dr. Priscilla Chan, opened the schools to help communities of color. Some families wonder if the shutting of the schools is related to his D.E.I. retrenchment.
Education, Philanthropy, Social Impact, Silicon Valley, Facebook
10 points by reaperducer 28 days ago | 1 comments
The Population Bomb (1968) (wikipedia.org)
The Population Bomb is a 1968 book co-authored by former Stanford University professor Paul R. Ehrlich and former Stanford senior researcher in conservation biology Anne H. Ehrlich.[1][2] From the opening page, it predicted worldwide famines due to overpopulation, as well as other major societal upheavals, and advocated immediate action to limit population growth.
Overpopulation, Environmentalism, Social Impact, Books, History
12 points by simonebrunozzi 31 days ago | 0 comments
Ask HN: Anyone else disillusioned by the industry's hard-right turn? (ycombinator.com)
When I started in the industry, it felt like an optimistic, positive movement - new technologies were created to make people's lives better, the industry pushed for a more inclusive world.
Tech Industry, Politics, Social Impact
55 points by cruzcampo 35 days ago | 31 comments
South Korea's 'heartbreaking' wildfires expose superaged society (japantimes.co.jp)
Walking with a cane, 84-year-old apple farmer Kim Mi-ja surveys the wreckage of her village, which was reduced to rubble and covered in ash by South Korea's worst wildfires.
South Korea, Wildfires, Aging Population, Disaster Relief, Social Impact
33 points by PaulHoule 40 days ago | 10 comments
Power to the people: How LLMs flip the script on technology diffusion (twitter.com)
Something went wrong, but don’t fret — let’s give it another shot.
Technology, Artificial Intelligence, Social Impact
7 points by mfiguiere 46 days ago | 0 comments
Employee disrupts Microsoft 50th anniversary to protest AI targeting in Gaza (twitter.com)
Something went wrong, but don’t fret — let’s give it another shot.
Microsoft, AI, Protests, Gaza, Social Impact
10 points by mackyspace 48 days ago | 1 comments
Trump and Musk have ushered in the era of cataclysm capitalism (theguardian.com)
Everything is moving too fast. The Trump-Musk administration is tearing through US government, universities and health organisations, firing tens of thousands of employees, eliminating billons in funding. The scope and speed of the attack is dizzying. It is almost impossible to keep up with the ongoing destruction, let alone to organise the resistance. None of this is accidental.
Politics, Economy, Social Impact
16 points by rbanffy 51 days ago | 9 comments
Ask HN: What $1 can spend to make someone's life easier within a month? (ycombinator.com)
I am running a social initiative name #111challenge to find practical ways to help people with limited budgets.
Social Impact, Community, Low-Cost Solutions, Personal Finance, Practical Tips
6 points by ted_tungha 56 days ago | 12 comments
Zoom bias: The social costs of having a 'tinny' sound during video conferences (phys.org)
Most job candidates know to dress nicely for Zoom interviews and to arrange a professional-looking background for the camera. But a new Yale study suggests they also ought to test the quality of their microphones.
Zoom, Video Conferencing, Social Impact, Technology, Communication
141 points by bookofjoe 57 days ago | 159 comments
Ex-NFL star trades the gridiron to grow food for those in need (csmonitor.com)
President Donald Trump has steered the United States firmly back into the realm of power politics. And power politics is all about leverage. Three of our stories today offer varied views of leverage – from the Democrats’ lack of it (see the briefs), to Saudi Arabia’s ability to be a major player in the global game, to the complex calculations of tariffs. Together, they’re a portrait of how the world is shifting.
Sports, Social Impact, Food Security
8 points by Tomte 69 days ago | 1 comments
The shrouded sinister history of the bulldozer (noemamag.com)
From India to the Amazon to Israel, bulldozers have left a path of destruction that offers a cautionary tale for how technology without safeguards can be misused.
History, Technology, Environmentalism, Social Impact
78 points by g8oz 74 days ago | 64 comments
What are smartphones stealing from us? When mine was taken away, I found out (theguardian.com)
A few Thursdays ago was a wrap. For my brief acting career, that is. One of the benefits of having a writer’s schedule in a city like Paris is the ability to say yes to the flurry of random opportunities that pop up.
Technology, Personal Experience, Social Impact
5 points by pseudolus 74 days ago | 0 comments
Doge Is Replacing Fired Workers with a Chatbot (gizmodo.com)
Elon Musk and his Department of Government Efficiency are attempting to enact what some experts have called the “largest job cut in American history“—but don’t worry, these geniuses have a solution to pick up the significant amount of slack caused by letting go of tens of thousands of domain experts and civil servants all at once: a chatbot.
AI, Automation, Labor, Government, Social Impact
51 points by rbanffy 75 days ago | 44 comments
A son spent a year trying to save his father from conspiracy theories (npr.org)
About a year ago, my dad bet me $10,000 that he could foretell the future.
Family Relationships, Conspiracy Theories, Social Impact
82 points by js2 85 days ago | 94 comments
The Transformative Effect of MacKenzie Scott's Big Gifts (cep.org)
Since 2019, MacKenzie Scott has given more than $19 billion in unrestricted support to more than 2,000 organizations, stating that her aim “has been to support the needs of underrepresented people from groups of all kinds.”
Philanthropy, Nonprofits, Social Impact, Giving
8 points by tuanx5 93 days ago | 1 comments
Elon Musk's Toxicity Could Spell Disaster for Tesla (wired.com)
Staggering sales drops, swastika-daubed EVs, companies culling fleet models, and fan-forum owners selling their cars—Elon Musk's alt-right antics are seriously impacting his electric car business.
Elon Musk, Tesla, Business, Controversy, Social Impact
40 points by lemonberry 97 days ago | 21 comments
One Child's Outsized Influence on the Debate over Plastic Straws (2018) (npr.org)
People are talking a lot about plastic straws these days — how international corporations like Starbucks and Marriott International are banning them, and the deleterious impact they have on the environment.
Environmentalism, Plastic Pollution, Social Impact
8 points by Jimmc414 104 days ago | 4 comments
Legal Weed Didn't Deliver on Its Promises (theatlantic.com)
Advocates touted a host of benefits and no real costs. That’s proven to be a fantasy.
Legalization, Marijuana, Social Impact, Policy
6 points by fortran77 112 days ago | 5 comments
Billionaires and tech VCs have now set their sights back on Wikipedia (hachyderm.io)
Billionaires, Venture Capital, Wikipedia, Technology, Social Impact
17 points by pabs3 119 days ago | 5 comments
Study shows how households can cut energy costs (news.mit.edu)
An experiment in Amsterdam suggests providing better information to people can help move them out of “energy poverty.”
Energy Efficiency, Sustainability, Social Impact, Research
4 points by gnabgib 130 days ago | 1 comments
The Online Sports Gambling Experiment Has Failed (lesswrong.com)
It brings me no pleasure to conclude that this was not the case. The results are in. Legalized mobile gambling on sports, let alone casino games, has proven to be a huge mistake. The societal impacts are far worse than I expected.
Sports Gambling, Social Impact, Experimentation, Analysis
8 points by tim_sw 139 days ago | 1 comments