The Gas Stove Culture Wars Have Begun
[ad_1] A new way to show your political affiliation may be emerging, and it’s close to home. So close, you’ll find it in your kitchen. A debate over gas stoves…
The US Far Right Helped Stoke the Attack on Brazil’s Congress
[ad_1] The problem, says Santos, is that often platforms do not appreciate the potential impact of “anti-democratic” content. “They’ll take down content that incites violence,” she says. “But when people…
The Many Metaphors of Metamorphosis
[ad_1] As far as metaphors for change go, this is a potent one. Yet when we think about the future and the change we might want to make, the natural…
The Case Against Hopewashing | WIRED
[ad_1] Did you imagine the thing being better? You probably did. This was the main experiment in the studies conducted by Adam Mastroianni, a postdoc at Columbia Business School and author…
To Rebuild Cities After War, Look to the Past
[ad_1] The Russian invasion of Ukraine is a human catastrophe on a scale not witnessed in Europe since the Second World War. Civilians have been targeted by the Russian military,…
Transparency For Thee, But Not For Me
[ad_1] In short, no one’s tweets were unfindable to the public without the poster knowing about it: If they were suspended or banned, naturally they’d be aware. De-amplification—affecting a person’s ranking…
Why Are People in the US Becoming Radicalized?
[ad_1] Extremist movements can make people feel significant, give them a sense of purpose, and provide them a narrative that explains why everything seems so screwed up. They also give…
Virality! What Is It Good For?
[ad_1] Who could’ve guessed that after three pandemic years’ worth of bad PR, the concept of “virality” would enjoy an unexpected glow-up? Twitter’s precipitous fall from grace has occasioned many…
Effective Altruism Is Pushing a Dangerous Brand of ‘AI Safety’
[ad_1] Since then, the quest to proliferate larger and larger language models has accelerated, and many of the dangers we warned about, such as outputting hateful text and disinformation en…
Truth Social Is Rising as the Anti-Mastodon
[ad_1] Then there’s Mastodon’s code. As Truth Social was under development in 2021, the Software Freedom Conservancy accused it of violating a free and open source software licensing agreement for taking…
The Twitter Bubble Let Democrats Defy Political Gravity
[ad_1] There is a wholly self-contained ecosystem of far-right influencers and followers on Twitter and Facebook. We know the ecosystem spreads disinformation and prejudice, but less thought is given to…
The $6 Billion Shot at Making New Antibiotics
[ad_1] Dustin Brown, a slight, dark-haired guy who lives in southwest Indiana, is 36, married, and a stay-at-home dad. He never expected to achieve any of those milestones: wife, toddler…
Collective Mental Time Travel Can Influence the Future
[ad_1] We’re often told to “be here now.” Yet the mind is rarely tethered in place. We take mental trips to our past, revisiting what happened yesterday or when we…
A Race to Bridge the Analog Divide in US Politics
[ad_1] “While I see and understand the power of social media and how you can communicate messages and engage in some way, shape, or form, those platforms aren’t designed for…
Elon Musk’s Reckless Plan to Make Sex Pay on Twitter
[ad_1] Twitter doesn’t restrict adult content because it doesn’t have guidelines for adult content. At all. At the time of writing this article, there are no policies limiting adult content…
The Secret Ballot Is US Democracy’s Last Line of Defense
[ad_1] Though foreign Disinformation campaigns have targeted the 2022 United States midterm elections to a degree, most of the pressure on US voting infrastructure has come from inside the house.…
When Your Neighbor Turns You In
[ad_1] There’s a knock at the door. Local authorities have received a tip that you’ve broken the moral code—a new set of laws banning your once-accepted lifestyle. You’re being called…
China Operates Secret ‘Police Stations’ in Other Countries
[ad_1] For years, AlphaBay ruled the dark web. If you were in the market to buy drugs or stolen credit cards, the digital bazaar was the place to turn. At…
Musk’s Twitter Will Not Be the Town Square the World Needs
[ad_1] Consumers have sensed this and are already moving toward a digital social environment of smaller and more governable spaces. You can see this in the rise of Discord, Slack,…
The Art of Hitting Disinformation Where It Lives
[ad_1] But beyond documenting and archiving and debunking disinformation, what can be done? How do we respond to this emergent property, an artistic movement born of the digital age? The…
The Quiet Insurrection the January 6 Committee Missed
[ad_1] “Thousands of documents are great, but millions of lines of data are better. And so when you look at call detail records or open source intelligence research or you…
Ukraine Could Never Afford to Bet on Starlink
[ad_1] The recent row over SpaceX’s Starlink and its role in helping Ukraine defend itself from a rapacious Russian invasion seems to grow only more urgent, especially as the Russian…
Brazil’s Far Right Plots Its Own January 6 Insurrection
[ad_1] Telegram did not respond to a request fof comment. Telegram was used heavily by organizers of the January 6 riot in the US. The platform is unmoderated, with small…
Bogus Fears of Censorship Could Spell the End of Content Moderation
[ad_1] Hi, everyone. Glad to hear from Joe Biden that the pandemic is over. But who’s going to tell the coronavirus? The Plain View The linguist George Lakoff is famous…
This Dangerous Meme in US Politics Is Over a Century Old
[ad_1] “This incredible journey we’re on together has only just begun,” former president Donald Trump told a rally in Ohio on September 17. In response, the crowd saluted him with…