They are doomed conceptual band-aids. Let’s unpack why. Plus: the flaw they share with Higher Education — First, a 30 second primer. Twitter’s Birdwatch and Facebook’s Oversight Board Twitter and Facebook (and every other online platform) are grappling with how to handle moderation as the activity on their platforms grows increasingly out of control, with real world ramifications. Birdwatch is Twitter’s answer, Facebook’s is their Oversight Board.

3 reasons for America’s crazed reality, and Trump isn’t one of them — “The Storm is coming.” If you’ve heard of QAnon, the mainstream conspiracy theory movement tied to Donald Trump, you’ve probably heard about “the storm”. It’s a supposed sudden wave of arrests and revelations that would prove Trump’s heroic efforts to save the world from a cabal of satanic baby-eating globalists.

Another economic shockwave is going to hit its stride in 2 years or less. 12 examples of jobs that will be affected, and 12 questions we should be asking. We need an AI plan as badly and urgently as we needed a pandemic plan. — Five years ago, Tim Urban published The AI Revolution: The Road to Superintelligence. Two images have always stuck with me from that post.

BLM. Clubhouse. Stepchickens. Meta-memes. VC thirst traps. The explosive rise of the 👁👄👁 app is the culture of 2020 rolled into one. And here’s why and how. Driven by the philosophy of one of its apparent founders. If you weren’t on Twitter — especially tech/startup Twitter — on June 25th…

This is America. An experiment in liberty, co-opted for control And the raw purchasing power of hypnotism. It’s “the invisible hand” making marionettes dance lurching and insidious. It’s a psychotic trip, loving itself perversely. America is a violent addiction to consumption and entitlement. …

The bad news: the largest advertisers in the world are pulling their budgets. The world’s biggest publishers have declared an ad-free future. Facebook is punishing traffic that doesn’t generate discussion. EU regulation will soon massively limit data collection. And much more. The online attention economy is collapsing in on itself. …

What I think about, when I think about creation. Press play and read on. Playing with toys evolved into playing with ideas. Reflection became imagination. Ejected from the the mold, we were dropped into systems and structures, like finely forged insects suddenly trapped in resin. Bureaucracy, rules, definitions. Our…

— I remember when I saw a total eclipse as a kid in 1999, in Bucharest. The vivid memory is of all the stray dogs, and birds in the trees, suddenly erupting into a cacophony of howls and anxious song, as day seemed to become an out of place evening. …

Just like any other person these days, I’ve been dragged into countless conversations about The Donald. When it comes to his conflicts of interest, I find it strange that everyone obsesses about the micro, rather than the macro. Trump’s personality, history, and actual statements paint a pretty clear, consistent, end-to-end…