The Download: dead robot friends and the “censorship-industrial complex”

The Download：死去的机器人朋友与“审查-工业复合体”

This is today’s edition of The Download, our weekday newsletter that provides a daily dose of what’s going on in the world of technology. 这是今天《The Download》的内容，这是我们的工作日通讯，为您提供每日科技界动态。

What happens when a kid’s robot best friend dies? When Xander first met Moxie, she taught him how to calm down when he was anxious or mad. Six years later, she mostly watches him play Minecraft and talks to him about his stuffed animals. Moxie is a robot—a 15-inch-tall device that looks a bit like a blue, legless astronaut. It belongs to a subset of robots designed to assist neurodivergent children by providing connection and helping kids practice social skills usually learned from therapists. Xander still uses Moxie when he feels like he needs someone to talk to, but the device has had a troubled life. The robot’s maker went out of business, its servers were shut down, and parents rushed to convert their Moxies before the servers went offline. Read our story about how it exposes the promise and pitfalls of AI companion toys for children. —Sara Harrison 当一个孩子的机器人挚友“死去”时会发生什么？当 Xander 第一次见到 Moxie 时，她教会了他在焦虑或愤怒时如何冷静下来。六年过去了，她现在大多只是看着他玩《我的世界》，并和他聊聊他的毛绒玩具。Moxie 是一个机器人——一个 15 英寸高、看起来有点像蓝色无腿宇航员的设备。它属于一类专门为神经多样性儿童设计的机器人，旨在通过提供陪伴并帮助孩子练习通常从治疗师那里学到的社交技能来辅助他们。Xander 在需要倾诉时仍会使用 Moxie，但这个设备经历了一段坎坷的生命周期。该机器人的制造商倒闭了，服务器被关闭，家长们争先恐后地在服务器下线前对他们的 Moxie 进行改造。阅读我们的报道，了解它如何揭示了 AI 儿童陪伴玩具的希望与陷阱。——Sara Harrison

This article is from the next issue of our print magazine, which is all about kids. Subscribe now to read it when it lands. 本文摘自我们下一期的印刷版杂志，该期主题为“儿童”。立即订阅，即可在杂志出版时阅读。

Inside the “censorship-industrial complex” idea shaping US policy

深入了解正在塑造美国政策的“审查-工业复合体”概念

The idea of a “censorship-industrial complex” has moved from the fringes of right-wing online discourse into US policy. The basic theory is that, under the guise of combating disinformation, government agencies, academics, civil society groups, and Big Tech platforms have worked together to suppress conservative and populist speech online. It has now made its way into the Trump administration. Over the past nine months, MIT Technology Review investigated its rise. In a recent Roundtables session, senior reporter Eileen Guo and executive editor Amy Nordrum revealed what they discovered, where the theory is going, and what it could mean for the future of democracy and the internet. Subscribers and MIT alumni can now watch the full event here. “审查-工业复合体”这一概念已从右翼网络讨论的边缘进入了美国政策的核心。其基本理论是：在打击虚假信息的幌子下，政府机构、学术界、民间社会团体和大型科技平台相互勾结，共同压制网上的保守派和民粹主义言论。如今，这一观点已进入特朗普政府的视野。在过去的九个月里，《麻省理工科技评论》调查了这一概念的兴起。在最近的一次圆桌会议上，资深记者 Eileen Guo 和执行编辑 Amy Nordrum 揭示了他们的发现、该理论的走向，以及它对民主和互联网未来的意义。订阅用户和麻省理工学院校友现在可以在此观看完整活动。

The must-reads

必读内容

I’ve combed the internet to find you today’s most fun/important/scary/fascinating stories about technology. 我已为您搜罗了互联网上今天最有趣、最重要、最令人恐惧或最引人入胜的科技新闻。

The US plans to force partners to pick sides in the AI race A draft letter warns allies against joining China’s rival AI initiative. 美国计划强迫合作伙伴在 AI 竞赛中选边站 一份草拟信函警告盟友不要加入中国竞争性的 AI 倡议。
Memory chipmaker CXMT is now China’s most valuable company Its rise reflects Beijing’s push for strategic hardware. 存储芯片制造商长鑫存储（CXMT）现已成为中国最有价值的公司 它的崛起反映了北京对战略硬件的推动。
Astronomers have found evidence for a “black hole star” It’s 100,000 times bigger than the Sun. 天文学家发现了“黑洞恒星”的证据 它比太阳大 10 万倍。
Meta has patented facial recognition for AI glasses to identify people And make highlight reels of dinner parties, apparently. Meta 已为 AI 眼镜的人脸识别技术申请专利，用于识别身份 显然，还可以用来制作晚宴的精彩片段集锦。
Puerto Rico is rationing water. It could’ve harvested rainwater instead Up to 30 billion gallons could be collected annually. 波多黎各正在实行用水配给。本可以通过收集雨水来解决 每年本可收集多达 300 亿加仑的水。
The backlash against Flock could become a broader tech rebellion People are sick of tech billionaires trying to control their lives. 针对 Flock 的抵制可能演变成更广泛的科技反叛 人们厌倦了科技亿万富翁试图控制他们的生活。
Amazon is trying to crush class-action suits before they get started A terms update requires all disputes to be resolved via arbitration. 亚马逊试图在集体诉讼开始前将其扼杀 条款更新要求所有争议必须通过仲裁解决。
Aging may be a programmed process, not just wear and tear Scientists found distinct stages of aging across mouse cells. 衰老可能是一个程序化过程，而不仅仅是磨损 科学家在小鼠细胞中发现了明显的衰老阶段。
The latest online shopping trend involves buying nothing “Dopamine sites” recreate shopping rituals without the buying. 最新的网购趋势是“什么都不买” “多巴胺网站”在不产生购买行为的情况下重现了购物仪式感。
Ice cream is becoming a surprisingly high-tech business AI, robotics, and unusual flavors are changing how it’s made. 冰淇淋正成为一个令人惊讶的高科技行业 人工智能、机器人技术和独特的口味正在改变它的制作方式。

Quote of the day

今日金句

“The thing that will work is actually curing cancer.” —Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei proposes a way to win over AI skeptics in a rare post on X. “真正有效的方法其实是治愈癌症。”——Anthropic 首席执行官 Dario Amodei 在 X 上的一篇罕见帖文中，提出了赢得 AI 怀疑论者支持的方法。

One More Thing

额外关注

The quest to find out how our bodies react to extreme temperatures 探索人体如何应对极端温度

Climate change is forcing us to reckon with the knotty science of how our bodies interact with the environment. As extreme temperatures become more common, scientists are trying to understand what happens when heat and cold push our bodies toward their limits. But the science of keeping warm or cool is surprisingly full of blind spots. Researchers are finding that long-held assumptions about how our bodies respond to extreme temperatures may be more complicated than we thought. Find out what they’re learning about the limits of the human body. —Max G. Levy 气候变化正迫使我们面对人体如何与环境相互作用这一复杂的科学问题。随着极端温度变得越来越普遍，科学家们正试图了解当酷热和严寒将人体推向极限时会发生什么。然而，关于保暖或降温的科学研究中竟充满了盲点。研究人员发现，长期以来关于人体如何应对极端温度的假设可能比我们想象的要复杂得多。了解他们关于人体极限的新发现。——Max G. Levy

We can still have nice things

我们依然可以拥有美好事物

A place for comfort, fun, and distraction to brighten up your day. 一个为您提供舒适、乐趣和消遣，点亮您一天的地方。

Trace the enthralling history of sumo wrestling in this succinct animated documentary. 在这部简洁的动画纪录片中追溯相扑运动引人入胜的历史。
A meow-sical pet owner (sorry) has sampled his cat’s purrs into a booming bassline. 一位“喵”星人宠物主人（抱歉）将他猫咪的呼噜声采样成了震撼的低音线。
The true-scale Universe Atlas lets you zoom from inside a proton out to the cosmic web. 真实比例的宇宙地图集让您可以从质子内部一直缩放到宇宙网。
This selection of places that only exist at certain times of day is a goldmine for punctual travelers. 这份仅在一天中特定时间存在的地点清单，对于准时的旅行者来说简直是宝藏。