|
|
|
|
In research on Amazon, Mariana Mazzucato, Tim O'Reilly, Ilan Strauss and Rufus Rock found that users still tend to click on the product results that appear at the top of the page, even when they are no longer the best results but instead paid advertising placements.
Why is that a problem? Well, users have come to expect tech giants’ algorithms to work in certain ways, and not necessarily to simply direct them towards information that's enabling firms to make immense profits. This, they argue here, is a stark example of a company pivoting away from its original mission (“to be the most customer-centric company on Earth”) towards a more extractive business model. And, they add, Amazon is far from alone.
|
|
Stephen Khan
Global Executive Editor, London
|
|
|
|
-
Tim O'Reilly, UCL; Ilan Strauss, UCL; Mariana Mazzucato, UCL; Rufus Rock, UCL
Unlike the risks from AI’s capabilities, the economic risks from new technologies are knowable and can be mitigated
|
|
|
|
Analogue music enthusiasts configure a modular synthesizer at the Revision festival in Saarbrücken, Germany, March 2016.
DPA Picture Alliance/Alamy Stock Photo
Michael Beverland, University of Sussex; Giana M. Eckhardt, King's College London
We have spent a decade researching what’s behind the extraordinary revival of vinyl records, film cameras and other ‘old school’ technology
|
The fresco showing Helen of Troy and Paris.
Pompeii Archaeological Park
Emily Hauser, University of Exeter
The paintings show the trio of women from Greek myth in a way that makes us see the Trojan War myth anew.
|
Nigerian model Favour Lucky wears wax print fabric in her designer look.
Per-Anders Pettersson/Getty Images
Adwoa Owusuaa Bobie, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST)
West African designers produce only the clothes that are needed, preventing waste and allowing space for creativity.
|
|
|
-
Stefan Wolff, University of Birmingham; Tetyana Malyarenko, National University Odesa Law Academy
Russia is making steady territorial gains in advance of a possible spring offensive. Without western aid Ukraine has few air defences left.
-
Kristian Coates Ulrichsen, Rice University
The small Gulf state has hosted high-level Western and Iranian delegations, passing messages between them.
-
Lynn Greenky, Syracuse University
A rhetoric scholar says Columbia University President Nemat Shafik fared much better than her predecessors at a hearing about how her school was handling antisemitism on campus.
-
Gemma Ware, The Conversation; Thabo Leshilo, The Conversation
The second episode of What happened to Nelson Mandela’s South Africa?, a three-part podcast series on The Conversation Weekly. Featuring interviews with Mashupye Maserumule and Michael Sachs.
-
Britta Schaffelke, Australian Institute of Marine Science; David Wachenfeld, Australian Institute of Marine Science; Selina Stead, Newcastle University
The first global bleaching event was in 1998 and the fourth is now under way. Until we curb the emissions driving global warming, the pressure on coral reefs will continue to increase.
-
Mathew Stewart, Griffith University; Huw Groucutt, University of Malta; Michael Petraglia, Griffith University
New research reveals signs of ancient human habitation in a vast cave beneath the Arabian desert. It may have been used as a waystation by Stone Age herders travelling from one oasis to another.
|
|
| |
| |
| |
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
