Curating the Internet: Science and technology digest for January 24, 2020

Psychologists are better at experimentally reducing empathy than boosting it; Verizon launches privacy-focused Internet search engine, but journalists are skeptical; Major volcanic eruption possible from the Phillippines' Taal volcano; Using smart LEDs to provide protection from unwanted photography; and a "rubber egg" experiment as a home-schooling activity

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First posted on my Steem blog: SteemIt, SteemPeak^*, StemGeeks.

1. Can We Boost Empathy Through Perspective-Taking? - This article describes a meta-analysis by Michael Mccullough and colleagues covering 50+ years and 85 psychological research papers. Starting in 1969, psychologists have conducted research comparing groups who were given different instructions when considering the plight of a person in hardship. The four possible instructions were: (i) Try to imagine how another person feels; (ii) Imagine how you would feel if it were you; (iii) Remain objective; and (iv) No instruction at all (control group). In this study, the researchers looked at all 177 pair-wise comparisons from the existing literature. Traditionally, it has been believed that imagining another's perspective would boost empathy, but these researchers arrived at a surprising conclusion. It is true that empathy is higher when people imagine the perspective of others than when they're instructed to remain objective, but it turns out that the difference seems to arise because seeking to remain objective lowers empathy, not because perspective-taking raises it. Apparently, humans in general are already empathetic in our natural state, and because of that it's difficult to experimentally increase empathy above that baseline, but it is possible to reduce empathy by instructing people to remain objective.


2. Ooh, watch out Google. You've got competition. Verizon has a new 'privacy-focused' search engine - Verizon has launched a new search engine, OneSearch, that it says will focus on privacy. The search features an "advanced mode" where the search terms and search URL are encrypted, and the company claims that the site won't store search histories, share searches with advertisers, or do ad profiling at the individual level. The article notes that the move follows on the heels of a number of questionable digital pursuits, including the acquisitions of AOL and Yahoo, the launches and failures of the go90 video platform and the Sugarstring tech news site, and finally a series of initiatives that involved harvesting and selling data. Two points that occur to me are that (i) On a product like this, revenue may be a secondary goal. Instead, it may be primarily intended as a competitive wedge to reduce revenues for other players; and (ii) If I recall correctly, Verizon is resisting privacy advocates' efforts towards implementing DNS encryption, so it's a little surprising that they are encrypting search URLs. I suppose its possible that this is intended as a compromise to reduce the pressure for DNS encryption.


3. Scientists fear major volcanic eruption in the Philippines - The Phillippines' Taal volcano, on an island that's 60km (37 miles) south of Manilla, began emitting smoke and ash on January 12. The rate of issuance has slowed in recent days, but scientists who are observing say that the threat of a large-scale eruption still remains. The current risk level is now at "level 4", which is the 2nd highest level in the country's alert system. The volcano has erupted about 30 times since the sixteenth century, with four major eruptions and the most severe occurring in 1754. Based on a reconstruction of the 1754 eruption, scientists believe that ash reached as far as Manilla. Observing researchers expect that the current eruption will last for a period of months, and people should not let their guard down in response to the current lull. -h/t RealClear Science


4. Automating Visual Privacy Protection Using a Smart LED - As cameras on smart devices invade locations with more and more privacy concerns like homes, locker rooms and changing areas as well as locations where photography is prohibited like museums, concert halls, court rooms, and research labs, people have little recourse against unwanted photography. Instead, we depend on cooperation by a potential photographer. This Smart LED light bulb changes that. The LiShield light bulb blankets the room with light that flickers with a wave-form that is intentionally engineered to be invisible to human eyes while interfering with photography. In addition to preventing unwanted photography, the technology can also be harnessed to permit photography by authorized users and to place watermarks on photographs. One limitation is that strong ambient light (like sunlight) can interfere with Lishield's ability to corrupt a photograph, but even in that situation, the watermark capability still provides a way to identify illegally captured photographs and prevent them from being shared. Although not perfect, the bulb also provides protections against the ability for an attacker to take multiple photographs and construct a single viable image by combining them. I wonder if countermeasures that make use of flash photography in the invisible light range are on the horizon.
   
   Here is a video presentation describing and demonstrating the technology:
   


5. STEEM The Rubber Egg Experiment - This post by @crosheille describes the steps for a 3 day home-schooling experiment where students can observe what an egg looks like without its shell. The experiment involves submerging an egg in vinegar, which dissolves away the shell and leaves the egg behind, enclosed by its internal membrane. Click through for detailed in structions and photos of the experiment in progress and after completion. (A 10% beneficiary setting has been assigned to this post for @crosheille.)

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