For Tech’s Sake

We have a whopper of an extended episode for you, with lots of talk on how technology – especially AI – intersects with the world of the arts.

If you’ve already listened to the episode in our main feed, featuring our interview with Beta Festival founder Aisling Murray, here’s where you can jump in for the fresh content:

— At about 8 minutes in, we unpack the use of AI for artistic admin and as a creative choice

— From about 14 minutes in, we get into the legal nitty gritty of fair use and copyright, and the long history of trying to define this going back to the works of Andy Warhol

— Jump to around 47 minutes in to hear more from Aisling on the public appetite for STEM and STEAM engagement in Ireland, and how this has compared with her experience internationally in this field

— And from around 53.30 you can hear about Aisling’s work with the Goethe-Institut on a quantum technology art residency

You can follow Beta Festival @betafest_irl on both Twitter and Instagram, and follow Aisling @murray_aisling on Twitter or @ashomurray on Instagram.

You can find us @fortechssakepod on your platform of choice or let us know what you think via [email protected].

Be sure to come back next week for an all-new episode.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this episode we look at tech’s impact across the arts, from designers and artists to writers and musicians. We also got the lowdown on Ireland’s new festival of art and technology, Beta Festival from its founder and curator, Aisling Murray.

You can follow Beta Festival @betafest_irl on both Twitter and Instagram, and follow Aisling @murray_aisling on Twitter or @ashomurray on Instagram.

— Libby Heaney, one of the artists showcasing at Beta, recently spoke to Silicon Republic about her work: https://www.siliconrepublic.com/machines/quantum-computing-visual-art-uk-libby-heaney

— Here’s what Paul McCartney said about his plans for using AI on some old John Lennon recordings: https://www.theguardian.com/music/2023/jun/23/paul-mccartney-says-theres-nothing-artificial-in-new-beatles-song-made-using-ai

— Here’s some background on virtual K-pop acts: https://edition.cnn.com/style/kpop-virtual-bands-ai-intl-hnk/index.html

— And a profile of musician Holly Herndon, who’s an advocate for artist-led use of creative AI https://www.wired.co.uk/article/holly-herndon-ai-deepfakes-music

— Here's the footage of Reeps One beatboxing with an AI counterpart at Inspirefest: https://www.siliconrepublic.com/machines/reeps-one-beatboxing-ai-inspirefest

We’ll release Aisling’s interview in its entirety in our bonus feed next week, and we’ll be back in a fortnight with an all-new episode.

And follow us @fortechssakepod on your platform of choice.

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In this extended interview with UCC’s Dr Conor Linehan, we talk more about how people respond to deepfakes, why some people don’t want the ability to recast every film at a whim, and why sometimes too much choice is a bad thing.

As well as the risks and potential harms deepfakes pose, we discussed some positive uses of deepfakes, such as in assistive tech or artistically, such as in this Kendrick Lamar video.

If you want to jump to the stuff that wasn’t covered in the main episode, jump to about 22 minutes in.

Conor was speaking to us on the back of research he conducted with Dr Gillian Murphy at University College Cork and Lero, the Irish software research centre. You can find out more about Conor and his work @conorlinehan on Twitter and you can read the Face/Off study here: https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0287503

You can find us @fortechssakepod on your platform of choice or let us know what you think via [email protected].

We hope you enjoy this discussion with Conor as much as we did, and be sure to come back next week for an all-new episode.

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Think you could tell a deepfake from real content? Think again. Dr Conor Linehan, a senior lecturer in applied psychology at UCC, joined us to explain how easily we can be fooled into believing what we see.

You can find out more about Conor and his work @conorlinehan on Twitter and you can read the Face/Off study here: https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0287503

— Check out the threat report on deepfakes from the NSA, FBI and CISA here: https://media.defense.gov/2023/Sep/12/2003298925/-1/-1/0/CSI-DEEPFAKE-THREATS.PDF

— And test your own ability to spot a fake with this fun quiz: https://www.nbcnews.com/specials/ai-generated-art-photo-quiz/index.html

— Read more about the ‘car crash experiment’ on eyewitness testimony here: https://www.simplypsychology.org/loftus-palmer.html

— And find out about how deepfakes can do good in this Silicon Republic article: https://www.siliconrepublic.com/innovation/deepfake-ai-healthcare-diseases-insilico-medicine-pharma

If you liked this episode, you might like to learn more about cybersecurity in this one: https://pod.fo/e/18b914

We’ll also be releasing Conor’s interview in its entirety in our bonus feed next week, then we’ll be back in a fortnight with an all-new episode.

And follow us @fortechssakepod on your platform of choice.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this extended interview with serial entrepreneur Bobby Healy, we find out more about his roll-out plans for drone delivery company Manna across Ireland. We also discussed some of the challenges of launching technologies like this, such as social acceptance and job displacement, and we found out more about the sustainability of drone services versus other alternatives. And, finally, we got Bobby’s very candid take on autonomous vehicles on the road and why he doesn’t see this as very viable.

If you’ve already listened to the main episode, you can skip everything from about 6.48 to 23.50 and just get the stuff you missed.

You can follow Bobby @realBobbyHealy on Twitter, and find out more about Manna at Manna.aero.

You might also like to read this report on the drone industry in Ireland from Silicon Republic: https://www.siliconrepublic.com/machines/drone-regulation-ireland-europe-manna-delivery-zenadrone-iaa-safety

And vote for us in the Irish Podcast Awards here: https://www.theirishpodcastawards.ie/voting

Find us @fortechssakepod on your platform of choice or let us know what you think via [email protected].

We hope you enjoy this discussion with Bobby Healy as much as we did, and be sure to come back next week for an all-new episode.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Did you know that an Irish company is one of the world leaders in developing drone delivery services? We spoke to Manna CEO and founder Bobby Healy about the challenges of getting a project like this off the ground, and why Ireland has become a popular global testbed for drone development.

You can follow Bobby @realBobbyHealy on Twitter, and find out more about Manna at Manna.aero.

— You might also like to read this report on the drone industry in Ireland from Silicon Republic: https://www.siliconrepublic.com/machines/drone-regulation-ireland-europe-manna-delivery-zenadrone-iaa-safety

— Check out the guidance from the Irish Aviation Authority on drones here: https://www.iaa.ie/general-aviation/drones

— And vote for us in the Irish Podcast Awards here: https://www.theirishpodcastawards.ie/voting

We’ll release Bobby’s interview in its entirety in our bonus feed next week, and we’ll be back in a fortnight with an all-new episode.

And follow us @fortechssakepod on your platform of choice.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This bonus episode of For Tech’s Sake features our full, uncut interview with Dr Colman Noctor, child and adolescent psychotherapist, about kids and technology. It was a wide-ranging conversation that also touched on our own use of technology and the subject of regulation.

If you want to jump to the parts that weren’t already covered in the main episode, head to about 18.55, and then 31.17.

You can follow Colman on Twitter @colnoc77 and read more about him and his work at ColmanNoctor.com.

You can also find lots of advice, and the latest stats on children and tech in Ireland, at CyberSafeKids.ie.

And you can read more about Ireland’s Online Safety Commissioner here: https://www.siliconrepublic.com/business/niamh-hodnett-online-safety-commissioner-ireland

You can find us @fortechssakepod on your platform of choice or let us know what you think via [email protected].

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Our online spaces are being taken over – by kids! Many children as young as eight have their own devices and social media accounts, and while efforts are made to make kid-safe spaces online, that's simply not going to have the pull of the major platforms.

It's a challenging world to navigate for kids, parents, and all other adults alike, so we got some help from psychotherapist Dr Colman Noctor on the matter.

You can follow Colman on Twitter @colnoc77 and read more about him and his work at ColmanNoctor.com.

You can also find lots of advice, and the latest stats on children and tech in Ireland, at CyberSafeKids.ie.

— Here's some more info on Finland's digital media literacy curriculum: https://www.nytimes.com/2023/01/10/world/europe/finland-misinformation-classes.html

— Here's what the US surgeon general had to say about kids on social media: https://www.npr.org/2023/05/23/1177626373/u-s-surgeon-general-vivek-murthy-warns-about-the-dangers-of-social-media-to-kids

— You can read about Dr Pablo Gracia's research project on Silicon Republic: https://www.siliconrepublic.com/innovation/trinity-eu-erc-grant-teenage-digital-use-social-inequality

— And if you're looking at your own phone habits and feel it would be better to make some changes, a good place to start is the book How to Break Up with Your Phone by Catherine Price

If you want to hear more from Colman, we'll release a bonus episode next week featuring his extended interview.

Be sure to rate and review if you enjoyed this week's episode, and follow us @fortechssakepod on your platform of choice for updates.

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In our latest episode we spoke to Dr David McKeown, one of the originators of Dublin Maker, a fantastic and free annual event that brings together makers of all kinds for a bit of show and tell.

This year’s event takes place Saturday September 2nd in Richmond Barracks, Inchicore, and in this extended interview with David you’ll learn a little more about the passion that drives scientists and engineers like David to stage an event like this year in, year out (from 9 minutes in).

We also talk more about David’s day job as a rocket scientist and engineering manager of EIRSAT-1, a student-led project to launch and build Ireland’s first satellite, and Ireland’s growing space-tech industry (from about 23 minutes).

And David elaborated on why the space industry is valuable, and told us what he thinks of the billionaire space race from about 33:30.

You can find out more about Dublin Maker at DublinMaker.ie and follow David at @dj_mckeown on Twitter to keep up with his work. Updates on the EIRSAT-1 project can be found at Eirsat1.ie and @EIRSAT1 on Twitter.

You can find us @fortechssakepod on your platform of choice or let us know what you think via [email protected].

We hope you enjoy this discussion with Dr David McKeown as much as we did, and be sure to come back next week for an all-new episode.

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Dublin Maker is coming soon so we spoke to one of its founders, Dr David McKeown, to find out all about this year’s festival and discuss the importance of events like this in encouraging people to engage with science.

This year’s Dublin Maker will be hosted in Richmond Barracks on Saturday, 2 September. It’s completely free and welcoming to the creative and the curious.

You can find out more about it at DublinMaker.ie and follow David at @dj_mckeown on Twitter to keep up with his work. And keep an eye out for The Big Life Fix returning to your screens on RTÉ.

Some other things from this episode you might like to check out:

— Jenny’s interview with Dr Elisabeth Bik https://www.siliconrepublic.com/innovation/research-papers-misinformation-elisabeth-bik

— Collie Ennis’s Critter Shed podcast https://play.acast.com/s/the-critter-shed

— The results of Science Foundation Ireland’s Creating Our Future ‘national brainstorm’ https://www.siliconrepublic.com/innovation/creating-our-future-results-science-research-in-ireland

— A piece on making that David wrote for Silicon Republic https://www.siliconrepublic.com/machines/david-mckeown-maker-movement-ireland

— The Tog hackerspace in Dublin https://www.tog.ie/

— The EIRSAT-1 project https://www.eirsat1.ie/

— Bright Club http://brightclub.ie/

— And Jenny’s interview with Dr Catherine Richards Golini on debunking scientific misinformation https://www.siliconrepublic.com/innovation/science-communication-catherine-richards-golini-karger-publishers

We’ll release David’s interview in its entirety in our bonus feed next week, and we’ll be back in a fortnight with an all-new episode.

And follow us @fortechssakepod on your platform of choice.

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