Four short links: 25 June 2019

Analog Deep Learning, Low-Trust Internet, Media Literacy, and Psych Experiments

1. The Next Generation of Deep Learning: Analog Computing (IEEE) -- Further progress in compute efficiency for deep learning training can be made by exploiting the more random and approximate nature of deep learning work flows. In the digital space that means to trade off numerical precision for accuracy at the benefit of compute efficiency. It also opens the possibility to revisit analog computing, which is intrinsically noisy, to execute the matrix operations for deep learning in constant time on arrays of nonvolatile memories. (Paywalled paper)
2. The Internet is Increasingly a Low-Trust Society (Wired) -- Zeynep Tufecki nails it. Social scientists distinguish high-trust societies (ones where you can expect most interactions to work) from low-trust societies (ones where you have to be on your guard at all times). People break rules in high-trust societies, of course, but laws, regulations, and norms help to keep most abuses in check; if you have to go to court, you expect a reasonable process. In low-trust societies, you never know. You expect to be cheated, often without recourse. You expect things not to be what they seem and for promises to be broken, and you don’t expect a reasonable and transparent process for recourse. It’s harder for markets to function and economies to develop in low-trust societies. It’s harder to find or extend credit, and it’s risky to pay in advance.
3. Be Internet Awesome -- Google's media literacy materials. Be Internet Awesome is like an instruction manual for making smart decisions online. Kids today need a guide to the internet and media just as they need instruction on other topics. We need help teaching them about credible sources, the power of words and images, and more importantly, how to be smart and savvy when seeing different media while browsing the web. All of these resources are not only available for classrooms, but also free and easily accessible for families as well. They’re in both English and in Spanish, along with eight other languages. (via Google Blog)
4. PsyToolkit -- create and run cognitive psychological experiments in your browser.

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