Show Notes
Prediction markets like Polymarket and Kalshi are rocketing in popularity and raking it in as users bet on everything from the day’s weather to major political manoeuvres. In this episode, Kelly and Elaine discuss what’s sus about these platforms and how they are mired in manipulation.
*** Good things we recommend *** >> Research from CCPC and MABS on financial literacy >> An Post’s Letter to your Future Self >> Kelly’s favourite stamps, featuring Brian Friel and Eileen Gray >> An Post’s digital stamps >> GCN magazine stockists
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More from For Tech’s Sake
Elaine went to a week of AI summits and events and found the best conversations were happening outside of the sanitised headline event in Dublin, which felt like a day-long ad with little space given to critical thinking on the topics and issues which abound in the AI sector. She reflects on the whole experience with Kelly, marvelling at a mixed-up Irish music medley and a round stage for static speakers, among what felt like doublespeak and gaslighting.
The modern-day panopticon is not a circular prison with a central guard tower, it’s a network of connected devices capturing and tracking our every waking minute and collecting copious amounts of data to share with the highest bidders – or the most fascistic authorities. In this episode, Kelly and Elaine weigh up the psychological effects of a culture where you can never dance like no one is watching.
Are data centres central to the Irish economy? Or is that just some inflated bluster from the government on behalf of Big Tech? A recent report from Maynooth University has debunked some of the government’s claims around the benefits we reap from being Europe’s data centre dumping ground, so we asked two of its co-authors, Patrick Bresnihan and Patrick Brodie, to talk to us about Ireland’s data centre dependency, and the motivating factors behind it.
This week, Kelly and Elaine are talking about the emergence of the ‘AI shelf’, where products are marketed specifically at large language models (LLMs) so that they are recommended by chatbots and even purchased by automated ‘agents’. And their question is: Can you trust automated purchase decisions in a broken content ecosystem?
This week we dust off our corkboard and thread to connect the dots between problematic Silicon Valley ideologies and the doomsday AI talking points that have been gripping the world of late. Yes, this explanation of a cult-like culture that has infiltrated the highest echelons of business and government is going to sound like a conspiracy theory, but bear with us as we unpack the history of ‘superintelligence’ fantasies (and nightmares) in this bumper episode, revealing how every scary story about AI lately stems from known issues and very human failings.