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I link to Joe a lot because hes tremendous and has a knack for hitting angles on stories most people never consider.

This edition of his newsletter got me thinking:

Because computers are so much better than people at chess now, theres a big, big problem with cheating. People playing online will often use a chess engine to defeat people and build up their ratings and, I guess, feel powerful. I dont actually get what the thrill is in cheating at chess, but its such an issue that Chess.com has instituted ultra-sophisticated methods of tracking down cheaters and then closing their accounts. . . .

Chess was once an artform, and the greatest players people with names like Tal and Fischer and Kasparov and Polgar could create beauty on the board. There were not exactly right and wrong moves; instead there were endless possibilities.

Now, yeah, there are right and wrong moves. The computers tell us so. Sure, the grandmasters still do create art, still bewilder and awe us mere mortals with their creativity and how many moves ahead they can see. But computers can see more moves ahead.

All of which leads to the controversy a match in St. Louis between Magnus Carlsen and a 19-year-old phenom named Hans Niemann. . . .

Niemann was born in San Francisco, and he left home at 16 to become a full-time chess streamer. He has sort of built a reputation as a chess outsider; a few weeks ago, he was the lowest-rated player at a tournament but on the second day he defeated Magnus Carlsen with the black pieces, a near impossibility.

Hans, the interviewer said as he walked out of the room, yesterday was a terrible day for you and today you start out with a masterpiece. How would you summarize this?

The chess speaks for itself, he said, and he walked off even as the interviewer tried to ask a follow-up question. (Is this something special to do this against Magnus, Hans? the interviewer asked Neimanns retreating back.) The interviewer then broke out laughing.

In the staid world of chess, this was basically like lighting a row of firecrackers in the middle of the Vatican.

After that Chess speaks for itself comment, Niemann did not win a single point in the tournament . . .

Read the whole thing and subscribe. You wont be sorry.

Was Neimann somehow cheating with the help of a computer? Thats not the point. What Posnanski is getting at is something weve talked about here before: How technology is running headlong into life sports and creating problems that go to the foundation of what it means to be human.

Posnanski then moves on to another data point: Devon Allens false start.

Devon Allen a wide receiver for the Philadelphia Eagles was disqualified from the 110-meter hurdles at the World Athletics Championships a few weeks ago for a false start.

Heres the problem: You cant see the false start. Nobody can see the false start. By sight, Allen most definitely does not leave before the gun. . . .

But heres the thing: World Athletics has determined that it is not possible for someone to push off the block within a tenth of a second of the gun without false starting. They have science that shows it is beyond human capabilities to react that fast. Of course there are those (Im among them) who would tell you thats nonsense, thats pseudoscience, theres no way that they can limit human capabilities like that. There is science that shows it is humanly impossible to hit a fastball. There was once science that showed human beings could not run a four-minute mile.

Besides, do you know what Devon Allens reaction time was? It was 0.99 seconds. One thousandth of a second too fast, according to World Athletics science. Theyre THAT sure that .01 seconds and EXACTLY .01 seconds is the limit of human possibilities that they will disqualify an athlete who has trained his whole life for this moment because he reacted one thousandth of a second faster than they think possible?

Were moving in this direction with many sports. Tennis with the new robot linesmen. (Linesbots?) Baseball with super-slow motion, 4k replays and cameras that definitively determine balls and strikes.

These are the baby steps into a new kind of human experience. And Im not sure I like it.

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It is difficult to write about friends you believe are headed to dark places. Damon Linker does so quite movingly about his old friend, Rod Dreher:

The tweet is telling us, as Rod does so often these days, that things are about to get very, very bad, and far worse than anyone (except Rod and his closest ideological confidantes) realizes. Specifically, the entire world is about to experience hyperinflation as a result of the severe energy crunch in Europe tied to sanctions against Russia for its invasion of Ukraine and Vladimir Putins efforts at retaliation against the European Union.

That does sound bad. But then why the chipper headlineCheer Up! The World Is Endingfor the post Rod is promoting with his tweet? Perhaps because the tweet and the post arent really about the literal end of the world. Theyre about what is supposedly a looming disaster for modern civilizationan economic catastrophe that would make the financial crisis of 2008 look like a minor tremor, followed by falling governments and other forms of severe civic turbulence. Thats what Rod foresees on the horizon and what has put him in a giddy mood.

Clicking on the link confirms this reading. The post begins by telling us that he just finished a great breakfast in Miami, that he has good news to share, but that first he will start with some bad news.

The bad news is that we are all in for very hard times, and soon. I have spoken to several people in a position to know these things, and the consensus is that global hyperinflation is on its way. The energy crisis in Europe is much worse than our media have been telling us.

People are saying, at the right-wing conference, that the world is about to experience hyperinflation. Who are these people in a position to know? Are they economists? Are they sane economists? Economists with a track record of making accurate predictions? Are they government officials? From which countries and parties? Are they privy to information not publicly known or available? I dont know the answers to any of these questions because Rod tells us nothing about who is saying these things.

Instead, he links for support to a right-wing website, which points to a tweet thread by a Finnish economist who writes a column for The Epoch Times, a far-right international newspaper affiliated with the Falun Gong. This economists most recent column is titled Europe is Bound to Collapse. Two columns before that, he wrote Chinas Economy is Destined to Collapse. Two before that, it was Are We Headed for Another Great Crash (of 1929)? Im sensing a pattern.

(Shoot me if I ever start talking about people in a position to know as my appeal to authority.)

Anyway, Linker continues:

[Dreher] is ready and eager to defer to the supposed expertise of others, to place his trust in what they tell him, provided they attend the same right-wing conferences, write for trusted right-wing media outlets, and/or validate his deeply felt convictions. Thats not just confirmation bias. Its the active, headlong pursuit of confirmation at the cost of fatally sacrificing his own critical intellect. But he doesnt just defer to those who tell him what he wants to hear. He amplifies what theyre saying, adding assurances at regular intervals (and sometimes in italics or bold type) that this thing I am saying is true.

Rod has come to write like a prophet bringing the good news of impending apocalypse. Again, this isnt literal armageddon. Its merely armageddon for the modern liberal order, which, he insists, will very soon be obliterated in a tsunami of economic immiseration. Rods advice, following the tweet thread from the Chicken Little economist from Finland, is to stock cash, food, water, and (for those fortunate enough to possess the right kind of stove) wood.

Read the whole thing and subscribe. Damon is great.

Im a bit of a catastrophist myself, and guys like Rod are giving us a bad name.

There are times when its perfectly reasonable to go full prepper. Hurricane season, for example. Or the start of a global pandemic.

But heres the thing: We prep for transitory catastrophes. Crises that have endpoints.

Because there is no way to prep for the end of civilization. If the r/collapse stuff hits and governments start falling, having some canned beans, water, and a fistful of dollars buys you, what, a month? And after that, the fires of anarchy will sweep you up, too.

I dont want to make fun of Rod Dreher, but if the modern liberal order fails, hes not gonna make it. Because its not guys like this who survive the apocalypse:

Its guys like this:

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Damian keeps an eye on Canada for me. And he keeps his other eye on Europe, where he notes that the Overton window on right-wing nationalism keeps shifting. He points to the big gains and mainstream acceptance of Swedens right-wing party last week. And:

Meanwhile, in Italy, a bloc led by the post-fascist Brothers of Italy looks poised to take power . . .

Some argue that [Giorgia] Meloni (who is laser-focused on the major issues affecting Italians, like Peppa Pig episodes with same-sex parents, just in case you thought meltdowns over woke pop-culture was strictly an American thing) may become Prime Minister in no small part because fascism was never as socially unacceptable in postwar Italy as Nazism was in postwar Germany . . .

In France, obviously, we have Marine Le Pen losing, but getting too close for comfort. And then:

Germany has its own established far-right party, the Alternative fr Deutschland, but so far the cordon sanitaire around AfD has held up. Its never been part of a governing coalition at the federal nor the state level, and its support appears to have receded since the Syrian refugee crisis was at its peak. . . .

It hasnt disappeared completely, though, and it still mustered just over 10% support in the 2021 German federal election. At the state level, especially in the former East Germany, its finished second with over a quarter of the popular vote in some recent elections.

AfD hasnt died out like some predicted/hoped, and it seems to have a hard base of support that will win it seats in the Bundestag (Parliament) every time. In a country with proportional representation, where coalition governments are the norm, ten percent of the vote buys you a lot of bargaining power.

Germany is much more conscious of its dark past than other countries on the losing side in 1945, so AfD may never become as popular nor as accepted as its allies outside of Germany.

But they said the same thing about Sweden, not long ago. Just like they said Marine Le Pen and her Rassemblement National in France had peaked.

Im hoping this winter wont be as severe for a gas-starved Europe as some commentators say. But, if things only get one-quarter as bad as the most apocalyptic predictions, everything is on the table.

Read the whole thing and subscribe. Because that last bit should give you a chill. We have no idea what the political consequences of the Russian energy war will be on European politics.

But in general, the demagogues do well in times of economic crisis.

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Robots, NatCons, and the Zombie Apocalypse - The Bulwark

Air Quality Newsreporter Chloe Coules investigates growing concern around the effects that air pollution can have on our brains and wellbeing, from mental health to memory.

Researchers have known for decades that high levels of air pollution can have a negative impact on respiratory and cardiovascular health, accounting for around 28,000 to 36,000 early deaths a year in the UK according to Public Health England.

However, the effects of air pollution on the mind are less well understood, and researchers have only recently started to discover the vast range of impacts that air pollution can have on the brain.

Air pollution is not something we immediately think of when asked about the factors that increase a persons risk of having problems with their mental health. However, there is a growing body of evidence that suggests that air pollution does make people more likely to experience mental health difficulties, says Dr David Crepaz-Keay, head of applied learning at the Mental Health Foundation.

We also know that physical and mental health are very closely connected, so it is likely that something known to harm peoples bodies air pollution also harms their minds,

A recent study published in the journalJAMA Open Network,found that exposure to air pollution in childhood and adolescence is linked to an increased risk of mental illness in adult life.

The study monitored adolescents across several decades, measuring their exposure to nitrogen oxides (NOx) and fine particulate matter (PM2.5) in the home between the ages of 10-18 years, and then assessed their mental health once they reached 18.

Although air pollution was found to be a weaker risk factor than other more obvious risks to mental health on an individual level, such as family history, they concluded that air pollution exposure is widespread across the world and is therefore likely to be a significant contributor to the global mental health crisis.

The mechanisms through which air pollution harms mental health are similar to the ways in which it harms physical health, according to Matthew Johnson, professor of atmospheric chemistry at the University of Copenhagen and co- founder and chief science officer at Air Labs.

He explains that air pollution leads to inflammation of the central nervous system, in the same way that it causes inflammation of the lungs, which impacts upon peoples mental functioning, and it also degrades the health of the nervous system due to its toxicity, which can lead to the development of mental health issues.

According to Matthew Johnson, how this manifests can vary due to a range of factors, for example men are more likely to have depression as the result of air pollution, while women are more likely to develop anxiety. Worryingly, he has noticed that the impacts of the pandemic on our mental health and the amount of time we spend inside may be worsening this issue.

Theres a whole range of effects from poor air quality things that range from simple irritation or a headache, all the way up to major depression and suicide there really is a lot of evidence all along that spectrum, and I think people have noticed it more since they have been spending time indoors, and the stress of the pandemic itself has been compounding these things so theres kind of an intersection of mental health issues right now, he says.

Air pollution and memory

As well as impacting upon our mental health, air pollution can have a dangerous impact on our memory, in some cases even leading to the onset of Alzheimers disease.

Dementia and Alzheimers disease is the leading cause of death in the UK, accounting for 12.4% of all deaths registered in 2019. This problem is predicted to get much worse, with the World Health Organisation estimating that the global number of deaths from the condition will increase by over 40% between 2015 and 2030.

A recent study, published by the American Academy of Neurology, found older women living in areas with high levels of air pollution may be more likely to develop dementia.

The researchers examined hundreds of women who did not have dementia at the start of the study and found that for each 3 mg/m3 increase in PM2.5 exposure, there was a greater extent of brain shrinkage over five years, which was equivalent to a 24% increase in risk of Alzheimers disease, even after adjusting for a range of risk factors. Worryingly, the study found that air pollution still caused shrinkage of the brain in women exposed to levels lower than those considered safe by the US Environmental Protection Agency.

In addition, researchers at the Karolinska Institutet in Sweden have found that long-term exposure to PM2.5 and nitrogen dioxide (NO2) is associated with a higher risk of dementia, with heart disease and heart failure found to enhance the link between air pollution and dementia.

Although the researchers could not draw conclusions on why this occurs, they hypothesised that ultrafine particles may reach the brain via circulation and induce systemic inflammation, damaging the blood-brain barrier.

A global study published in the Journal of Alzheimers also found that people are more likely to develop dementia if they are exposed to PM2.5 and NOx over a long period of time. The research suggested that this may occur by increasing levels of inflammation in the human body, or by increasing the risk of having a stroke, as people are fifty times more likely to develop dementia in the year after a major stroke.

A study published in BMJ Open found that living in one of the areas of London with the highest levels of NO2 pollution was associated with a 40% higher risk of dementia than living in one of the least polluted parts of the city.

Air pollution and cognition

The inflammation that air pollution can cause in the body not only increases the risk of mental health issues and memory loss, but it also can hamper our cognition and decision making.

A study by researchers at the IZA Institute of Labor Economics measured the indoor air quality at chess tournaments in Germany and used a chess engine to evaluate how optimal each players moves were. They found that higher levels of air pollution impacted upon the players strategic decision making, especially under time pressure and stress.

According to one of the researchers, Steffen Knn, this effect on cognition is triggered by air pollution levels that you would see in any urban area or city in Europe and occurs within a few hours of exposure.

You go to work, going through rush hour with your bike, you inhale all the pollutants, your cognition will be impaired in the next few hours. This is the conclusion from our study, he tellsAir Quality News.The researchers found that different types of pollution have different levels of impact on cognition, with CO2 only significantly affecting decision making when the players were under time stress, while PM10 had a much greater effect regardless of time pressure.

What can be done?

Emerging research shows a clear link between air pollution and negative impacts on the brain, ranging from issues with mental health and memory to hampered cognition. However, the good news is that the research consensus suggests that limiting air pollution exposure can prevent or limit the effects that air pollution has on the mind.

Matthew Johnson advises that people be aware of their surroundings and take action to prevent exposure to air pollution if they are concerned about its impacts on their mental wellbeing.

He suggests that people identify specific sources of pollution that they encounter on a daily basis, such as poor ventilation when cooking, second-hand smoke, or rush hour congestion, and take measures to reduce the impact of the sources of air pollution, which could be as simple as opening windows or investing in personal air filters for the car or home.

However, the burden of mitigating the effects of air pollution cannot rest solely on the individual, and the only way to halt the rising impact of air pollution on the mind is to create lasting global change to tackle pollution at its source.

This article first appeared in the Air Quality News magazine, which is available to view here.

Read the original post:
Hidden harms: the impacts of air pollution on the mind - AirQualityNews

Congratulations to all those who made the short-list, in what were crowded fields, and particularly well done to the winning individuals, organisations and companies.

You can see the full list of awards below.

Special thanks, too, to all the sponsors this year, without whose loyal support the industry event could not take place!

University Research Group of the Year ONLINE VOTE

Oxford University (lead), developing ventilators that can be manufactured in SME workshops

Test Product of the Year

Pico Technology, PicoScope 6000E series oscilloscopes

Distributor of the Year, Sponsored by OEMSecrets

RS Components

Manufacturer of the Year, Sponsored by Publitek

FILTRONIC PLC

Start-up Electronics Business of the Year

Circuit Mind, artificial intelligence for electronics design

Automotive Electronics Award

Imagination Technologies, IMG Series4 NNA architecture

Award for Excellence in Product Design (High-Reliability Systems), Sponsored by Melexis

Paragraf, for the deposition of graphene on a Hall-effect sensor

Award for Excellence in Product Design (Medical), Sponsored by Vox-Power

OmniVision Technologies, OMV6948 CameraCubeChip

Consumer Electronics Product of the Year ONLINE VOTE

DecodeChess, translating AI chess engine outputs

Best Campaign of the Year

DesignSpark (RS Components), RadioGlobe

Design Tools and Development Software Award, Sponsored by Swindon Silicon

Siemens Digital Industries Software, Tessent LBIST-OST technology

Passive & Electromechanical Product of the Year

Zytronic, Zybrid Hover contactless touchscreen

Power System Product of the Year

Power Integrations, InnoMux with InnoSwitch 3-MX PowiGaN

&

Powerbox International, OFI600A12 power supply for immersed applications

Internet-of-Things Product of the Year Award, Sponsored by Micron

Maxim Integrated, MAX78000 microcontroller

Semiconductor Product of the Year (Analogue), Sponsored by Mouser

Efficient Power Conversion (EPC), ePower Stage EPC2152 IC

Semiconductor Product of the Year (Digital)

MediaTek, Dimensity 1000 chipsets

Design Team of the Year, Sponsored by BWW

Nanusens Limited

Educational Support Award, Sponsored by UKESF

RS Components, for RS Education Making Amazing Happen

Rising Star of the Year

Matthew Evans, Future Facilities

&

Kate Self, BT

Enterprise of the Year

RS Components

&

FILTRONIC PLC

Once again, congratulations to all. And, just to note, our prize draw was won by Jessica Knight from Harwin. Congratulations Jessica!

So thats it, for 2020. We hope to look forward to seeing you in December for the Elektra Awards 2021.

Read the rest here:
Elektra Awards 2020 - The Winners revealed - Electronics Weekly

This is a strong open source chess engine which is offered for free, and is available for both desktop and mobile platforms.

Stockfish has consistently ranked number one or near the top of most chess engine rating lists, and is one of the strongest open-source engines worldwide. It uses up to 512 CPU cores in multiprocessor systems, with a maximal transposition table size of 1 terabyte.

Features include an alpha-beta search, bitboards, great search depth because of more aggressive pruning and late move reductions, and support for Chess960, plus much more.

The program comes from the Glaurung, an open-source chess engine released first in 2004, and four years later, Costalba took over and renamed it Stockfish because it was produced in Norway and cooked in Italy Costalba is Italian, and Romstad (creator of Glaurung) is Norwegian.

Stockfish is powerful and much stronger than the best human chess grandmasters. Unlike most chess engines, it is open source (GPL License), so you can read the code, modify it, contribute back and use it in your own projects.

You can also run it anywhere, including Windows operating system and on your smart devices, so you can get world-class chess analysis wherever you are.

Get Stockfish chess software

Follow this link:
5 best software to analyze chess games in 2019 - WindowsReport.com