‘Hello, Cruel World!' Review: Raising for Resilience
Having read thousands of studies and interviewed hundreds of mental-health experts and educators, Ms. Moyer aims to guide parents as they help children cultivate healthy friendships, learn media and financial literacy, develop resilience and more. Her advice boils down to three broad directives: 'Prepare more than you protect,' 'listen more than you lecture' and 'comfort more than you chide.'
Much of the content is illuminating. Ms. Moyer describes research which suggests that listening to children without judgment can help prevent them from adopting extreme views later in life. Some of the material, such as psychologist Carol Dweck's framework for nurturing a 'growth mindset' rather than a 'fixed mindset,' has been widely reported in other venues. In some cases, the guidance, such as not signaling to your children that you care about achievement above all else, is common sense.
The author is most helpful on the difficult question of how to manage children's use of digital technology. There's ample evidence of tech's detrimental effects on children's well-being, but Ms. Moyer seeks to calm parents' fears, urging them 'to recognize that the impacts of technology are not predetermined, all negative, and inevitable.' She emphasizes that the internet-connected world has its benefits for young people, citing the importance of online communities to young people who've been bullied and the abundance of internet resources that teach skills such as cooking. She also offers practical advice, including a psychologist's recommendation to allow children access to only as much technology as they need to maintain their friendships.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
an hour ago
- Yahoo
‘Artificial stupidity' made AI trading bots spontaneously form cartels when left unsupervised, Wharton study reveals
A study from University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School and the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology found that when placed in simulated markets, AI trading bots did not compete with one another, but rather began colluding in price-fixing behaviors. According to the study authors, research on how AI behaves in market environments can help regulators understand gaps in existing rules and statutes. Artificial intelligence is just smart—and stupid—enough to pervasively form price-fixing cartels in financial market conditions if left to their own devices. A working paper posted this month on the National Bureau of Economic Research website from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania and Hong Kong University of Science and Technology found when AI-powered trading agents were released into simulated markets, the bots colluded with one another, engaging in price fixing to make a collective profit. In the study, researchers let bots loose in market models, essentially a computer program designed to simulate real market conditions and train AI to interpret market-pricing data, with virtual market makers setting prices based on different variables in the model. These markets can have various levels of 'noise,' referring to the amount of conflicting information and price fluctuation in the various market contexts. While some bots were trained to behave like retail investors and others like hedge funds, in many cases, the machines engaged in 'pervasive' price-fixing behaviors by collectively refusing to trade aggressively—without being explicitly told to do so. In one algorithmic model looking at price-trigger strategy, AI agents traded conservatively on signals until a large enough market swing triggered them to trade very aggressively. The bots, trained through reinforcement learning, were sophisticated enough to implicitly understand that widespread aggressive trading could create more market volatility. In another model, AI bots had over-pruned biases and were trained to internalize that if any risky trade led to a negative outcome, they should not pursue that strategy again. The bots traded conservatively in a 'dogmatic' manner, even when more aggressive trades were seen as more profitable, collectively acting in a way the study called 'artificial stupidity.' 'In both mechanisms, they basically converge to this pattern where they are not acting aggressively, and in the long run, it's good for them,' study co-author and Wharton finance professor Itay Goldstein told Fortune. Financial regulators have long worked to address anti-competitive practices like collusion and price fixing in markets. But in retail, AI has taken the spotlight, particularly as legislators call on companies to address algorithmic pricing. For example, Sen. Ruben Gallego (D-Ariz.) called Delta's practice of using AI to set individual airfare prices 'predatory pricing,' though the airline previously told Fortune its fares are 'publicly filed and based solely on trip-related factors.' 'For the [Securities and Exchange Commission] and those regulators in financial markets, their primary goal is to not only preserve this kind of stability, but also ensure competitiveness of the market and market efficiency,' Winston Wei Dou, Wharton professor of finance and one of the study's authors, told Fortune. With that in mind, Dou and two colleagues set out to identify how AI would behave in a financial market by putting trading agent bots into various simulated markets based on high or low levels of 'noise.' The bots ultimately earned 'supra-competitive profits' by collectively and spontaneously deciding to avoid aggressive trading behaviors. 'They just believed sub-optimal trading behavior as optimal,' Dou said. 'But it turns out, if all the machines in the environment are trading in a 'sub-optimal' way, actually everyone can make profits because they don't want to take advantage of each other.' Simply put, the bots didn't question their conservative trading behaviors because they were all making money and therefore stopped engaging in competitive behaviors with one another, forming de-facto cartels. Fears of AI in financial services With the ability to increase consumer inclusion in financial markets and save investors time and money on advisory services, AI tools for financial services, like trading agent bots, have become increasingly appealing. Nearly one third of U.S. investors said they felt comfortable accepting financial planning advice from a generative AI-powered tool, according to a 2023 survey from financial planning nonprofit CFP Board. A report last week from cryptocurrency exchange MEXC found that among 78,000 Gen Z users, 67% of those traders activated at least one AI-powered trading bot in the previous fiscal quarter. But for all their benefits, AI trading agents aren't without risks, according to Michael Clements, director of financial markets and community at the Government Accountability Office (GAO). Beyond cybersecurity concerns and potentially biased decision-making, these trading bots can have a real impact on markets. 'A lot of AI models are trained on the same data,' Clements told Fortune. 'If there is consolidation within AI so there's only a few major providers of these platforms, you could get herding behavior—that large numbers of individuals and entities are buying at the same time or selling at the same time, which can cause some price dislocations.' Jonathan Hall, an external official on the Bank of England's Financial Policy Committee, warned last year of AI bots encouraging this 'herd-like behavior' that could weaken the resilience of markets. He advocated for a 'kill switch' for the technology, as well as increased human oversight. Exposing regulatory gaps Clements explained many financial regulators have so far been able to apply well-established rules and statutes to AI, saying for example, 'Whether a lending decision is made with AI or with a paper and pencil, rules still apply equally.' Some agencies, such as the SEC, are even opting to fight fire with fire, developing AI tools to detect anomalous trading behaviors. 'On the one hand, you might have an environment where AI is causing anomalous trading,' Clements said. 'On the other hand, you would have the regulators in a little better position to be able to detect it as well.' According to Dou and Goldstein, regulators have expressed interest in their research, which the authors said has helped expose gaps in current regulation around AI in financial services. When regulators have previously looked for instances of collusion, they've looked for evidence of communication between individuals, with the belief that humans can't really sustain price-fixing behaviors unless they're corresponding with one another. But in Dou and Goldstein's study, the bots had no explicit forms of communication. 'With the machines, when you have reinforcement learning algorithms, it really doesn't apply, because they're clearly not communicating or coordinating,' Goldstein said. 'We coded them and programmed them, and we know exactly what's going into the code, and there is nothing there that is talking explicitly about collusion. Yet they learn over time that this is the way to move forward.' The differences in how human and bot traders communicate behind the scenes is one of the 'most fundamental issues' where regulators can learn to adapt to rapidly developing AI technologies, Goldstein argued. 'If you use it to think about collusion as emerging as a result of communication and coordination,' he said, 'this is clearly not the way to think about it when you're dealing with algorithms.' This story was originally featured on Error while retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error while retrieving data Error while retrieving data Error while retrieving data Error while retrieving data
CBS News
2 hours ago
- CBS News
Salt's "chilling" effect
Salt! It is sugar's savory cousin and is mostly thought of as an ingredient in food. It is much more than that, though. Salt is essential to your body's functions. It melts snow and ice in the winter, and you can use it to help cream freeze to make a delicacy sent from the cream! At least that's the way we are going to make ice cream today. You might be thinking to yourself, "salt melts liquids, so why would you need that for ice cream?" Adding salt to water technically does not melt it. It just lowers the freezing temperature of water, which does melt it until you hit that lower temperature. While it lowers the freezing temperature, it actually gets colder too! You heard that right. Adding salt to water makes the water colder, as you can see! That probably seems backwards. Dissolving salt in water requires energy, so that energy is absorbed from the water, causing the temperature to drop. The same goes for salt on ice! The salt dissolves on the ice, dropping the freezing temperature of the ice, but making it colder at the same time. Purdue University says this is an endothermic reaction, or a chemical reaction that occurs with the absorption of heat. We are going to use this knowledge to make our version of one of science's greatest cream! My ice cream maker is a little different. On one side of this ball, you put your ingredients in a compartment. The other side of the ball gets filled up with ice and rock salt, kosher salt, or ice cream salt. That is where our reaction will happen, causing the temperature to drop. To turn this into ice cream, we have to shake and roll, and play with this ball for 25 minutes! The action makes sure the salt is dissolving on the ice, lowering the temperature. It also churns the cream, making sure that large ice crystals don't form. This also allows air inside the freezing cream, helping it to be creamy, rather than rock-hard. It is a lot of work, but the science and ice cream are worth it. Using salt and ice's endothermic reaction was how they made ice cream in the olden days. This ball is just a new take on the classic way to make ice cream.
Yahoo
2 hours ago
- Yahoo
BofA Securities Affirms ‘Buy' Rating on Taysha Gene Therapies (TSHA) on TSHA-102 Prospects
Taysha Gene Therapies, Inc. (NASDAQ:TSHA) is . On July 11, BofA Securities initiated coverage of the stock with a 'Buy' rating and an $8 price target. The positive stance comes as the research firm remains buoyed by the company's Taysha gene therapy TSHA-102 under development for Rett Syndrome. Copyright: dolgachov / 123RF Stock Photo The research firm believes TSHA-102 has the potential to become the first approved disease-modifying treatment for the severe neurodevelopmental disease. Clinical trials have already demonstrated that the therapy has the potential to help patients regain or achieve developmental milestones. Taysha Gene Therapies has already reached an alignment with the US Food and Drug Administration on a pivotal trial design for TSHA-102. The company plans to initiate a trial in the third quarter of 2023. BofA Securities views the candidate treatment as a commercially attractive opportunity. Taysha Gene Therapies, Inc. (NASDAQ: TSHA) is a clinical-stage biotech company focused on developing and bringing to market gene therapies for serious monogenic disorders affecting the central nervous system. It seeks to address unmet medical needs by developing transformative medicines for these diseases. Its approach centers on using adeno-associated virus (AAV)-based gene therapies. While we acknowledge the potential of TSHA as an investment, we believe certain AI stocks offer greater upside potential and carry less downside risk. If you're looking for an extremely undervalued AI stock that also stands to benefit significantly from Trump-era tariffs and the onshoring trend, see our free report on the best short-term AI stock. READ NEXT: and 11 Defensive Stocks Billionaires are Buying amid US Trade Tariff Uncertainty. Disclosure: None. This article is originally published at Insider Monkey. Sign in to access your portfolio
