NEW WORLD

"If you don't like something, change it. If you can't change it, change your attitude." 

- Maya Angelou

Uploaded to YouTube by Universal Progressive on 5 September 2016

Maebashi, other cities tap My Number system to offer maternal, child health info

1 DECEMBER 2016       JAPAN TIMES       

(Jiji) -- Several municipalities have launched a service that offers easy online access to information on maternal and child health through the cards of a 12-digit identification system, dubbed My Number.

The Maebashi Municipal Government in Gunma Prefecture launched the service in March ahead of other municipalities, enabling mothers to read the digitized health records of their children and other information written in boshi techo, a mother and child health handbook, through their computers or smartphones.

To apply to use the service, a mother simply needs to visit a dedicated website and identify herself using the electronic certificate contained in an integrated circuit chip embedded on the back of her My Number card. Read More

Quest for artificial intelligence highlights lack of critical thinking skills in humans

1 DECEMBER 2016       JAPAN TIMES       SHUSUKE MURAI

Thanks to the relentless work of dedicated engineers, artificial intelligence, or AI, becomes smarter by the day.

But while computers become better at replicating human tasks, reading comprehension, an area where machines have yet to catch up, is declining among young people, suggesting a chilling future in which AI may put people out of work.

That is why Noriko Arai, a mathematician at the National Institute of Informatics, decided in November to change the direction of her project from teaching an AI to pass the entrance exam for Japan’s most prestigious school — the University of Tokyo, better known as Todai — to focusing on improving the reading comprehension of future generations using AI technology.

“AI engineers have always said that humans don’t have to worry because only menial jobs will be taken over by machines. But what about the people who do such jobs?” Arai, the project’s director, said in a recent interview. “Does AI create new jobs? Sure. But the real question is, how many of those who may lose their jobs to AI will be able to land a new one that requires high creativity?” Read More

 Rintarou Okabe's 'Steins;Gate' (White Fox) Hiroshi Hamasaki

Takuya Satō Mika Nomura Yoshinao Doi Jukki Hanada