Published 17 February 2025

e501 with Michael R and Andy – all about outsourcing intelligence to #AI, protecting your #data after #death, #AR #glasses, #Diablo & #Civ game ports, #backdoors and more!

So many articles these days have a headline such as “what happens to your body when you ”.  Michael R and Andy start off the episode exploring what happens when you outsource some, or too much, of your cognitive energy to an AI.  

Then, the team turns to a discussion on a hardware + software solution for protecting your data when you shuffle off the mortal coil and join the choir invisible.  Check out the In Case of Death Case, replete with the pulse detecting In Case of Death Smart Ring and associated software.  Next, some speculation on what the team in Cupertino is doing with glasses-based AR.  Then, a story from the UK on the mandate to provide a backdoor for end-to-end encrypted data for Apple and other companies.  

On a lighter note, Michael and Andy discuss how to run Diablo 1 on a variety of hardware and software.  And speaking of ports, Civilization VII will be made available on Meta’s Quest later this spring.

The team then wraps things up with The Wheel of Time.  

What steps have you taken to protect your data?  Have your bots 🤖 drop our bots 🤖 a line at @[email protected] (our home for now) and let us know! 

These show notes were lovingly hand crafted by a real human, and not by a bot.  All rights reserved.  That’s our story and we’re sticking to it.

A new paper from researchers at Microsoft and Carnegie Mellon University finds that as humans increasingly rely on generative AI in their work, they use less critical thinking, which can “result in the deterioration of cognitive faculties that ought to be preserved.”

https://www.404media.co/microsoft-study-finds-ai-makes-human-cognition-atrophied-and-unprepared-3/

404 Media article: Microsoft Study Finds AI Makes Human Cognition “Atrophied and Unprepared”

New Scientist article: Using AI tools like ChatGPT can reduce critical thinking skills

Boy Genius Report article: We just started using AI like ChatGPT, and it may already be making us dumber

Microsoft Research article: The Impact of Generative AI on Critical Thinking: Self-Reported Reductions in Cognitive Effort and Confidence Effects From a Survey of Knowledge Workers

Macworld article: Any case can protect your iPad. This one protects you when you die

Zugu’s The In Case of Death Case

Games at Work e218: Virtually Married

9 to 5 Mac article: Report: Apple’s plan for standalone AR glasses ‘remains intact’

Six Colors article: UK Orders Apple to Implement Secret Global Backdoor for End-to-End Encryption

Games at Work e416: Lawsuits and Swimsuits

PC Gamer article: The best way to play Diablo 1 on pretty much anything just got an update for a 20-year-old Apple OS that runs on a dead chipset, one lunatic somewhere presumably rejoices

Diasurgical’s Github for DevilutiuonX

The Verge article: Civilization VII is getting a Quest VR port this spring

Ars Technica article: Wheel of Time S3 trailer tees us up for Last Battle

Web 11.0 mashup junkie, and co-founder / co-host of the GamesAtWork.biz podcast. My views are my own.

Michael Martine