December Talks at the Somers Library

December Talks at the Somers Library Friday, December 7, 1:00 - 2:30 pm

TED talks are back!

Join host Eugene Ritchie in discussion after viewing two TED talk speakers each session who will speak on a specific topic. Each program consists of diverse speakers with short presentations of 9 to 23 minutes long. Each talk will be followed by light refreshment. The topics and speakers for December are: Technology: Dystopia or Utopia? Kashmir Hill and Surya Mattis - "What Your Smart Devices Know (and Share) About You" Once your smart devices can talk to you, who else are they talking to? Kashmir Hill and Surya Mattu wanted to find out, so they outfitted Hill's apartment with 18 different internet-connected devices and built a special router to track how often they contacted their servers to see what they were reporting back.

The results were surprising. Zeynep Tufecki - "We're Building a Dystopia Just to Make People Click on Ads" We're building an artificial intelligence-powered dystopia, one click at a time, says techno-sociologist Zeynep Tufekci. In an eye-opening talk, she details how the same algorithms companies like Facebook, Google and Ama-zon use to get you to click on ads are also used to organize your access to political and social information.

What we need to understand is how the powerful might use Al to control us and what we can do in response. Registration is required - please register on our online calendar at www.somerslibrary.org or call 914-232-5717.
Our programs are funded by the Friends of the Somers Library through your donations. Thanks for your support! The Somers Library — 914-232-5717 — www.somerslibrary.org