#publicinterest — Public Fediverse posts

Meat - Hot cattle and the codes of conduct that govern slaughter

Overheating cattle
* "Building more shade structures could protect cattle from much of the extra heat." >>
https://theconversation.com/overheating-cattle-more-and-more-dangerous-heat-is-coming-for-northern-australias-herds-295978

"Farmed animal welfare regulation in Australia is deeply inadequate."
"Footage of animal slaughter might turn customers away..."
* " The slaughterhouse called control of the footage “the prize” and the courts largely framed publication’s harm in commercial terms: footage of animal slaughter might turn customers away. That framing is revealing. If truthful information harms a business only because people choose differently once informed, that is not harm, but democracy working."

" Industry bodies dominate the creation of codes of conduct that govern slaughter. Export abattoirs are overseen by the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry, which is also responsible for the industry’s productivity — a potential conflict of interest the Productivity Commission flagged in 2016 when it recommended an independent animal welfare body” >>
“Who controls trespass footage? Here's what the High Court's answer means for animals – and press freedom”
https://theconversation.com/who-controls-trespass-footage-heres-what-the-high-courts-answer-means-for-animals-and-press-freedom-296149
#meat #AnimalCruelty #ExtremeHeat #FossilFuels #coal #livestock #cattle #AnimalWelfare #IntroducedAnimals #shade #NSW #BBQ #food #ethics #slaughterhouse #sousveillance #transparency #harm #PublicInterest #MeatIndustry #DAFF #regulation

The major sustainability issues of large language model (LLM) based AI datacentres are energy consumption (and the resulting carbon emissions), water depletion, electronic waste, resource mining, and land use. These are well known by now. Irrespective of such major issues, LLM based AI is here to stay and not going away to, instead, evolve further.

The most important reason is both the ruling political parties, opposition political parties and their respective supporters love this LLM driven AI. With respect to posts in social media, both sides get volume, speed and a way to deny authorship as and when needed. It also writes in any tone which aims to flatter the reader. Voters hear their own feelings that have been marinated and polished. The old guardrails were built for a slower world. Fact-checkers need time. Journalists need time for answers. Meanwhile, the algorithm rewards whatever arrives first and angers most. Rage, repetition and confusion blinds evidence and clarity. Algorithm-driven commercial and immensely popular social media sites provide a great platform to achieve these objectives.

I am not sure whether AI is the villain. It is a mirror. It does exactly what it is asked. The problem may be with the people giving the orders. Politicians and their followers know that fog is useful to drive their agenda. AI simply makes the fog denser, faster and cheaper to produce.

What changes things is not better technology. It is better demands. Ask for numbers instead of visions. Ask who wrote this. Ask what would prove it false. The machine will answer. Someone just has to ask. AI is already capable of producing the information we want. The capability and access is not the bottleneck. The bottleneck is us. The ecosystem exist, but nobody uses them unless a citizen, a journalist, or a voter decides to press for specifics.

Governments and oppositions get away with fog because nobody demands clarity. There is also a small irony built in. "Someone just has to ask" sounds easy. It is not easy. Asking is the hardest part and it may come with a price to be paid.

Reference: https://www.thehindu.com/opinion/op-ed/how-ai-is-perfecting-the-art-of-government-obfuscation/article71671291.ece

#Politics #Misinformation #AI #FactCheck #InformationPollution #PublicInterest #AIEthics #Government