The Algorithm Age

Entire generations of young girls grew up with fairy paintings or embroidery on their walls. The picturesque, idyllic world of fantasy art was enrapturing as a child: the idea of living (and flying) free in a world of magic and beauty, surrounded by nature. The Sims 4 Enchanted by Nature feels inspired by this sense of whimsy, with artful design work and the arrival of Fairy Sims making this Expansion Pack a blissful experience. Entering the new town of Innisgreen, you can adventure through a world that feels entirely new, and packed with possibilities. In one part of the land, the Fairy realm resides, comprising the home of the Fairy Council, a magical lake with deep emotions, a tree housing the spirit of the Green Man, and all sorts of other secrets to uncover. Venturing further, you’ll find a dazzling and glitter-filled Fairy bar, and homes that alternately resemble Hobbit holes or eleven palaces. There’s touches of The Lord of the Rings here, as well as more t...

Every night, around 25,000 cups are used in Lisbon's entertainment areas. Although many cups are sold as "reusable", until now there was no system in place to ensure the effective collection, cleaning and recirculation of these containers. Through a new citywide reusable cup system, supported by a local deposit and return model, Lisbon has become the first European capital to implement an initiative that aims to combat plastic waste, reduce emissions and introduce a smart reuse model in the city's restaurant sector and bustling nightlife. The first return points operated by TOMRA have been in operation in two of the city's historic kiosks since 27 June. One in Praça de São Paulo and the other in Praça do Príncipe Real. Consumers receive their drinks in reusable cups upon payment of a deposit. This is fully refunded upon return, simply by touching their card or mobile phone to the collection point. Full implementation of the reusable cup system is...

I live 3 miles from xAI’s South Memphis data center, where Elon Musk’s artificial intelligence company has been operating dozens of methane gas turbines without critical — and we believe legally required — environmental permits. My neighbors and I are forced to breathe the pollution this company pumps into our air every day. We smell it. We inhale it. This isn’t just an environmental issue — it’s a public health emergency. Memphis and Shelby County had a pollution crisis long before Musk and xAI powered up Colossus, a massive supercomputer. The American Lung Association gave us an “F” for air quality for four of the last five years, and we got a D the one year we didn’t get an F. We haven’t met federal ozone standards since 2021. We are known as an “asthma capital” in the U.S., and recent statistics found that we had the most asthma-related ER visits in Tennessee . Now, in response to this growing threat to the air we breathe, we’re fighting back. Last week, the ...

Whether it’s answering work emails or drafting wedding vows, generative artificial intelligence tools have become a trusty copilot in many people’s lives. But a growing body of research shows that for every problem AI solves, hidden environmental costs are racking up. Each word in an AI prompt is broken down into clusters of numbers called “token IDs” and sent to massive data centers — some larger than football fields — powered by coal or natural gas plants. There, stacks of large computers generate responses through dozens of rapid calculations. The whole process can take up to 10 times more energy to complete than a regular Google search, according to a frequently cited estimation by the Electric Power Research Institute. So, for each prompt you give AI, what’s the damage? To find out, researchers in Germany tested 14 large language model (LLM) AI systems by asking them both free-response and multiple-choice questions. Complex questions produced up to six times more c...