Welcome to Our Research Archive
Search and filter by content type, issue area, author, and keyword
April 30, 2024
Six Takeaways from Stanford University’s 2024 Report on the State AI
The 2024 Artificial Intelligence Index, released by Stanford’s Institute for Human-Centered Artificial Intelligence (HAI), delivers crucial insights into AI’s influence and developments. This detailed yearly report presents a data-based overview of AI’s progress across significant areas, including research, ethics, policy, public perception, and economics. A few highlights from the report are below. AI Beats Humans…
April 9, 2024
Complexity, Permissionless Innovation, and the English Dance
The dreary weather this week in Chicago has been dispiriting, making me feel listless and in need of a mood lift. Nothing does the trick like two of my favorite things: examples of emergence in complex systems, and Jane Austen, especially when I can think about ways to apply the analysis to reducing barriers to…
April 9, 2024
Judicial Rulemaking and Lucidity: Justice Barrett’s First Amendment Opinion in Lindke v. Freed
Fashioning constitutional rules isn’t easy; Justice Barrett and the Court deserve kudos for their efforts to establish a rule to determine if public officials’ activities constitute state action.
April 9, 2024
The TikTok Ban’s Free Speech Dilemma
TikTok is a perfect villain. The app seems to be connected with the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). It’s where Osama Bin Laden’s manifesto picked up traction and where antisemitic tropes run amok. TikTok’s impact on kids isn’t heartening, and its data security problems are serious. Still, I’ve got some trepidation about the TikTok bill that just passed the House by a vote…
April 9, 2024
The Myth of Net Neutrality and the Reality of Network Management
The concept of “net neutrality”— that internet service providers (ISPs) should treat all data on the internet equally — fails to acknowledge the realities of network management and the benefits of a free-market approach to internet services. Despite the claims made in the original net neutrality order, no significant instances of blocking, throttling, or paid…
April 8, 2024
Addictive Design: The Legislative and Litigation Synergy Driving Florida’s Social Media Crackdown
When Florida Governor Ron DeSantis signed a bill last month banning anyone “younger than 14 years of age” from holding accounts with certain social media platforms, it garnered coverage in the Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, and USA Today. The New York Times deemed the law “one of the more restrictive measures that a state has enacted so far in an escalating nationwide…
April 8, 2024
What Countries Have Decarbonized the Fastest?
Last month here at THB, I used the “Kaya Identity” to explain the concept of decarbonization, which refers to a reduction in the ratio of carbon dioxide emissions to GDP. I showed data at the global level, which indicates that the world as a whole not only remains far off the pace of decarbonization that would be…
April 4, 2024
Open App Markets Act: A Misguided Approach That Could Stifle America
Rumor has it the Open App Markets Act (OAMA) could make a comeback in Congress. Its supporters posit that large tech companies, such as Apple and Alphabet, are throttling competition and innovation. Yet these arguments run contrary to objective evidence. And the stakes are high—not only does OAMA-like legislation risk undoing Congressional efforts to address the TikTok challenges, it…
April 3, 2024
An IRS Data Denial Threatens Privacy
Candor is important, so I urge you to watch out for bias and misrepresentation in this post, because it is about a lawsuit I am involved in. Represented by the New Civil Liberties Alliance, I am suing the IRS to get my cryptocurrency transaction information out of its hands, information it summonsed through a dragnet process…
April 2, 2024
The Re-Emergence of Huawei?
Despite draconian export controls and blacklisting by the United States, the Chinese telecoms giant, Huawei, is alive and well—at least for now. Huawei’s current relatively strong competitive state comes from a variety of sources: Yes, Chinese government subsidies and huge home markets helped greatly, but there are also other factors such as Huawei’s own resilience and forward…