We’re baaaaaaaaaaack! We talk about the perils of automated debt collection and how job ad algorithms may be good at getting clicks but can also excel at teaching themselves to perpetuate systemic inequity. Also, Vana is well caffeinated, Teresa is sick, and Simmy would like to welcome you to her Arrow TED talk.

Content note:

We mention some distressing news stories. This guide provides some suggestions for how to cope with traumatic news events.

If you’re viewing this in an app, see full show notes here.

In the news

Dr. Jean-Jacques Muyembe, Congolese discoverer of Ebola, is finally getting credit for his discovery, made in 1976.

The price of an antibiotic that stops latent Tuberculosis from becoming active has been reduced by 66%. 

New Zealand passed a Carbon bill that commits the government and (future government) to limit warming to 1.5C.

Germany’s health minister has submitted a bill to ban so-called conversion “therapy”.

Italian footballer Mario Balotelli has again experienced racist chants from some Italian football fans. 

During drug searches, Police officers in the Australian state of NSW have been strip searching girls as young as 12. 

People in Bolivia have been protesting for several weeks after a disputed election saw Evo Morales returned as president in late October. 

Virginia’s state legislature is now Democrat and will likely pass the Equal Rights Amendment to the Constitution.

Protesters in Hong Kong have been demanding broad democratic reform since April. There has been a steady escalation of violence, triads have attacked protestors, and both protestors and police officers have been doxxed. Concerningly, a large proportion of people recently arrested for protesting have been under the age of 18.

 

Making Sense of Systems: Don’t automate me!

Algorithms can be accurate on some tasks such as diagnosing certain cancers from medical images. 

Centrelink robodebt refers to an aut...