Consider for a moment how humans perceive and interact with the world. Imagine how difficult it would be to make out a speech not by listening to the audio but merely by reading the lips. This is a relatively daunting task for a human, let alone for a computer. There is a limited amount of information that can be encoded in the shape of one’s lips, far less than what is required to sufficiently convey the complexity of human language. Once the visual and auditory information is combined, however, one can quite confidently decipher the message. What was ambiguous by looking at the shape of one’

The demands for environmental, social, and governance (ESG) management are growing among lots of global corporations. In particular, they focus on the environmental impact in all processes from production to consumption as the concern about the environment increases. This trend is remarkable in the smartphone market, where major IT companies declared they would make their products eco-friendly by expanding the use of recycled parts. It has been over two years since more than half of the world population used smartphones, and many environmental organizations have expressed concerns about the en

As technology advances, so does the potential for innovation and a positive impact on various industries and daily life. Artificial intelligence (AI) is at the forefront of this trend, offering vast potential for transformation. However, as with any technology, there is a need to consider and address the ethical concerns that may arise from AI development and deployment. A major ethical concern associated with artificial intelligence is the potential risk of bias and discrimination within its algorithms. These systems learn from the data they are fed, and if that data contains biases, the AI m

Most Korean citizens over 18 and under 60 years old have a duty to join the National Pension Service (NPS). Those without an income and payment history are exempt from the national pension until they are 27 years old. However, when they become 27 years old, they are forced to join the NPS and must pay more than 9% of their income. When a citizen over 18 years old earns their first income, they must join the NPS even though they have student or military status. As some Millennials and Generation Z (MZ) started to pay their pension, the NPS is a hot potato among the students and a subject worth

The concept of privacy is often brought up in public discussions and its importance cannot be overstated. It is also a concept highly vague and abstract in nature, such that, if one is asked to elaborate on the reasons why it is important, they often fail to provide any profound explanation. Indeed, privacy is important because every individual is an agent of free will – this should be respected at all costs. This alone, however, seems to be a weak justification for the great levels of emphasis put on it. The principle of separation of powers is often associated with the political philosopher

In January 2023, heating bills soared so high that all media outlets mentioned the issue of heating bills. According to the Korea Gas Corporation (KOGAS), the price of residential natural gas increased from 15.5 KRW per 1 MJ of natural gas in January 2016 to 18.4 KRW in January 2023. Also, the price of industrial natural gas increased significantly from 14.1 KRW in January 2016 to 31.3 KRW in January 2023. Originally, industrial natural gas prices were cheaper than residential natural gas, but as industrial gas prices have risen since the second half of 2020, they have continued to be more exp

ChatGPT is a chatbot system developed by OpenAI and has been taking the world by storm lately as it can generate remarkably human-like responses to any topic of questions. ChatGPT is based on a large language model called Generative Pretrained Transformer also developed by OpenAI and is fine-tuned for human dialogue using reinforcement learning. The field of Artificial Intelligence is a relatively new-born field and has seen big success recently with the introduction of modern high-performance chips. Groundbreaking revolutions are common in this field as more than a hundred papers are publishe

Globally, the pandemic is slowly coming to an end with many countries having or are projected to lift rules and restrictions related to Covid-19. However, recent sights at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) 2023, held in Winchester, Nevada from Jan. 5 to Jan. 8, seemed to give an insight into how most tech companies worldwide were struggling to rebound after the losses experienced during the pandemic. The pandemic, although undoubtedly the most critical, was not the only problem they faced during their recent struggles. The Wall Street Journal released a video on Jan. 7th at CES 2023. Dalvin

On Dec. 9, 62% of the cargo truckers who belong to the Korea Cargo Workers Union (KCWU) voted to end their strike as it entered the third week with the government refusing to budge, emphasizing the action had caused tremendous damage to the Korean economy. The strike began on Nov. 24, demanding that the minimum freight rate system set to expire at the end of this year be extended and expanded to include other freight types. The minimum freight rate system, which guarantees basic wages for truckers, was introduced in 2020. The system was set to prevent truckers from being overworked and trucks

On Nov. 11, FTX, once the world’s third-largest cryptocurrency exchange, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, according to the tweet by FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried. Chapter 11 of the U.S Bankruptcy Act is a system that seeks rehabilitation of the firm by conducting restructuring procedures under the supervision of the bankruptcy conduct. According to Bloomberg L.P., a financial media, it was reported that about 130 other affiliated companies were part of the proceedings, and the debt amounts to approximately 50 billion USD, which is the largest ever cryptocurrency company’s bankruptcy fil

On Oct. 29, a large-scale crush accident occurred in Itaewon-dong, Yongsan-gu, Seoul, Korea. At that time, a mass of people gathered in Itaewon just prior to Halloween, and many casualties occurred as crowds were pushed into a narrow alleyway in front of the Hamilton Hotel. At the time of the disaster, people in Itaewon were ready to enjoy the first Halloween without social distancing in three years after the spread of COVID-19, and the alley where the accident occurred was a very narrow area with pedestrian streets about 4m wide. However, there was no on-site crowd control and traffic managem

On Aug. 30, an antivirus software, Alyac, caused confusion among the users as it diagnosed normal files as ransomware and warned the users to restart the computer. As a result, some of the 16 million users' PCs were severely damaged or blacked out. What is this ransomware that such a widely used antivirus software had to urgently warn users? Ransomware is currently the biggest troublemaker in the IT industry. A combination of 'ransom' and 'software,' ransomware refers to malware that demands money via file encryption. In other words, the malware makes data or files inaccess

On Oct. 26, the Ministry of Justice announced a holistic plan for prevention of juvenile crime, with the pivotal proposal of lowering the upper bound of the age of law breaching minors from 14 to 13. While the proposal still must go through the National Assembly to become law, it has already stirred up much attention. Under current law, criminal activity by underage youth is classified into three large categories. The youngest are 'law violating children', which are children of age 9 or less. They are regarded as being far too young to be bound by any official legal regulations and are

On Aug. 18, Yoon Sang-Hyun, a member of the National Assembly, along with 11 fellow legislators of the People Power Party stirred up controversy by proposing a bill to criminalize the act of recording phone calls without the explicit consent of both parties. Current law states in Paragraph 1 of Article 3 of the Protection of Communications Secrets Act that “No person shall censor any mail, wiretap any telecommunications, provide communication confirmation data, or record or listen to any conversation between others that is not made public, except as provided for in this Act, the Criminal Proce

On Aug. 21, labor groups and migrant workers currently residing in Korea protested for the right to freely move their workplace, along with better working rights for foreign workers. Their main reasons for the protest were that they have been discriminated against for a lengthy period of time, and that the freedom that exists for native workers does not apply to them. Discrimination against migrant workers also appears in the current law. According to the current Foreign Employment Act, in the case of hiring foreign workers, the workers are not able to change their place of employent without p

During the COVID-19 pandemic, governments around the world increased the money supply by subsidizing households and companies to prevent an economic slowdown. However, now we have a new economic crisis, inflation. The United States, which dominates the global economy, is no exception. To overcome the immediate crisis, Joe Biden, the president of the U.S., signed the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) on Aug. 16, 2022. The IRA aims to curb inflation by investing in domestic energy production while reducing deficits, lowering prescription drug prices, and promoting clean energy. The law will raise 73

During the Cold War, the United States and the Soviet Union engaged in a fierce competition to achieve space supremacy. In this competition, the so-called the space race, the two countries strove to develop artificial satellites, send mammals or humans to the Moon, and launch probes into space. The Soviet Union led the early competition with the Luna program in which they launched uncrewed orbiters and landers into space and the Moon— particularly, Luna 3 took the first photographs of the backside of the Moon in 1959, and Luna 9 successfully landed on the Moon for the first time in history in

This summer, Korea experienced setbacks due to heavy rain. On Aug. 8, Dongjak-gu, Seoul, a daily precipitation of 381.5mm was recorded . This is the highest record in 115 years since Seoul began its first modern weather observation system in 1907. This record-breaking rainfall caused many casualties, including a death in isolation under a semi-basement apartment and a disappearance in a manhole. According to the Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasures Headquarters, as of Aug. 15, 14 people died, 6 went missing, and 2,280 became homeless. Yet, this was not the only damage caused by extreme

The Russo-Ukrainian war has wreaked havoc on many aspects of our lives, from oil prices to international flight paths, no rock has been left unturned in an age of deglobalization. The food market has been no exception. Ukraine, with its vast wheat plains and large agricultural industry, had acted as the breadbasket of the world with over 400 million people consuming Ukrainian crops. Before the war, they had supplied 12% of globally traded calories along with Russia. War has since cut this major supply chain short, driving wheat prices up 53% since January as of May 19.Conflict has historically

In the book, The Age of Access, published in 2000, American social theorist Jeremy Rifkin argued that the main feature of economic life in the future would be access to services and experiences, not ownership of objects. At that time, his argument was a topic that was almost impossible in the traditional real economy of purchasing goods and owning goods. In 2022 we know that this has come true. It is a new form of the economy called the subscription economy.The Subscription Economy is a phrase coined by the CEO of Zuora, Tien Tzuo, to describe this new era of companies and business models. Thi