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A friend of mine worked at a company that made image detection software (mainly to flag images of nude people/genitalia for social media). Even with AI, there is a lot of human sweat put into training these models and classifying the data used to train them. And that was for adults. I can only imagine what it would be like to work on detection for child sexual abuse materials or other graphic abuse. I believe it when I hear that a lot of content moderators get PTSD. The sheer amount of content being generated on social media makes it nearly impossible to moderate. We may be forced with the choice of sacrificing privacy (like requiring verified identity tied to accounts to allow sharing of content) to stand a chance of dealing with this.
 
afransen said:
A friend of mine worked at a company that made image detection software (mainly to flag images of nude people/genitalia for social media). Even with AI, there is a lot of human sweat put into training these models and classifying the data used to train them. And that was for adults. I can only imagine what it would be like to work on detection for child sexual abuse materials or other graphic abuse. I believe it when I hear that a lot of content moderators get PTSD. The sheer amount of content being generated on social media makes it nearly impossible to moderate. We may be forced with the choice of sacrificing privacy (like requiring verified identity tied to accounts to allow sharing of content) to stand a chance of dealing with this.
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I am often grateful that being almost fifty years old I grew up before the need to always be connected, to always need to be instantly gratified, to always have a screen. This allows me, I think to drop all the screens and chill without any connectivity. If I was a content moderator I'd probably not have any connectivity outside of work.
 
afransen said:
A friend of mine worked at a company that made image detection software (mainly to flag images of nude people/genitalia for social media). Even with AI, there is a lot of human sweat put into training these models and classifying the data used to train them. And that was for adults. I can only imagine what it would be like to work on detection for child sexual abuse materials or other graphic abuse. I believe it when I hear that a lot of content moderators get PTSD. The sheer amount of content being generated on social media makes it nearly impossible to moderate. We may be forced with the choice of sacrificing privacy (like requiring verified identity tied to accounts to allow sharing of content) to stand a chance of dealing with this.
Click to expand...
Don't forget about manually removing animal cruelty videos on various video sharing websites. The mods would be exposed to videos of live kittens, puppies, and hamsters being microwaved.

There's also plenty of real-life gory videos that have been removed manually.
 
The government's new climate plan is out. Highlights from the Globe and Mail summary with their source links:

  • The carbon tax will rise by $15 per ton after 2022, to $170 in 2030. Carbon-pricing rebate payments will begin to be distributed to households quarterly, starting as early as 2022. The payments are currently paid out annually..
  • Narrow the scope of the Clean Fuel Standard to cover only liquid fossil fuels, a significant concession to industry. As originally conceived, the new measure would have covered liquid, gaseous and solid fuels.
  • A commitment to exploring carbon border adjustments by working with like-minded economies, including the European Union and the United States.
  • $1.5-billion for a low-carbon and zero-emissions fuels fund to increase the production and use of low-carbon fuels, including hydrogen, and a pledge to unveil Canada’s hydrogen strategy before the end of the year.
  • $964-million over four years for “smart renewable and grid modernization projects” and a commitment to advance clean-energy transfer between provinces.
  • $2-billion in financing for commercial and large-scale building retrofits (previously announced as part of the Canada Infrastructure Bank’s growth plan), as well as $2.6-billion for home-energy retrofits, announced in the government’s fiscal update.
  • $3-billion over 10 years to partner with provinces, NGOs, Indigenous communities, municipalities and private landowners to plant two billion trees.
  • Strengthen regulations for methane emissions from the oil and gas sector by establishing new targets and regulations for 2030 and 2035.
 
Johnny Au said:
Don't forget about manually removing animal cruelty videos on various video sharing websites. The mods would be exposed to videos of live kittens, puppies, and hamsters being microwaved.

There's also plenty of real-life gory videos that have been removed manually.
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This makes me pine for the early internet.


I even miss the BBS over my Commodore 128‘s modem of my youth. In the days before even Netscape there were no readily found vids of anything.
 
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$170/tonne is pretty bold policy, certainly more than I expected. I wonder if provinces that don't have federally imposed carbon taxes currently will fall in line or need to fall under the federal mandate as well.
 
afransen said:
$170/tonne is pretty bold policy, certainly more than I expected.
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Same here. I was expecting may be $100. I have real worries that might be far bolder than people expect. And possibly getting ahead of where EV technologies, charging infrastructure, and home retrofits will be at that point. I kinda think they should have gone with annual increases of $10/tonne till 2040.

afransen said:
I wonder if provinces that don't have federally imposed carbon taxes currently will fall in line or need to fall under the federal mandate as well.
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The condition for having a provincial plan was that they meet the federal carbon price level. But there's been some debates on this because the market prices have turned out lower for Quebec, participating in California's market.
 
kEiThZ said:
Same here. I was expecting may be $100. I have real worries that might be far bolder than people expect. And possibly getting ahead of where EV technologies, charging infrastructure, and home retrofits will be at that point. I kinda think they should have gone with annual increases of $10/tonne till 2040.
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An impact of .37c per L on gas (over 10 years) isn't that enormous.

Based on current prices, we would still be below historically high prices we've paid at the pump.

I remember prices north of $1.40/L not so many years ago.

That's essentially where we would be again, give or take market-prices on oil and inflation.

As 1.40 per L was back in 2012'ish..............

Inflation of 18 years at 2.5% per annum gives us a price not far off $2/L in 2030.

So unless the market-price spikes severely, these numbers afford some time for adjustment.

We need to add that most vehicles on the road today are already more efficient that those of 8 years ago.

And virtually no vehicle on the road won't be materially more efficient in 2030.

As such, people will need to fill-up less and the bill, as paid, won't rise as quickly as the per L price.
 
On the other hand, 37 cents a litre will leave gasoline prices where they were before the oil price crashed, and lower in real terms.
 
afransen said:
I kind of doubt they ever will, barring any geopolitical crises. Batteries and renewables are forming an effective cap on the price of oil.
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The future is renewables. People in high school are becoming more eco-friendly compared to 30 years ago.

For some stuff gas engines are preferable like snowblowers, or construction vehicles but otherwise natural gas, hydrogen and electric are taking over.

I don't see fossil fuels being the cash cow they were in the 20th century.
 
Trudeau government announces funding for 2B trees over the next decade, at a cost of 3.16B.

www.thestar.com

Ottawa announces $3.16 billion to plant two billion trees over the next decade

ST. JOHN'S, N.L. - The Canadian government says it will spend $3.16 billion to plant two billion trees over the next ten years.
www.thestar.com www.thestar.com

This is a fine announcement, I take no real issue with it...............BUT

I do feel the need to make a couple of observations about it.

1) Canada routinely plants about 600M trees per year (primarily reforestation).

So this is an increase of 200M per year or 30%. Still quite sizable, but not as big as it may seem at first.

2) At just over 3B, the budget is roughly $1.50 per tree, installed.

There is no scenario in which this means anything other than tiny plugs, planted by machine, or by people in the remote wilderness.

That means we're talking about 'trees' that are ~ 20cm tall or something like 7 inches.

No one will be walking under their shade for at least a decade, and likely longer.

***

For comparison purposes, wholesale potted trees for community plantings range in cost, but are typically ~$10 or more for 2-5ft specimens. Installation is extra!
 
^^ And if the planting is on Crown land that is later commercially harvested, one more bullet in a future round of US softwood lumber complaints.
 
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