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July 29, 2024
James C. Scott, Legibility, and the Omnipresence of Tech
Last week, political scientist James C. Scott passed away. Scott’s 1998 book, Seeing Like a State: How Certain Schemes to Improve the Human Condition Have Failed, easily ranks near the top of my most influential books, right alongside Michael Billig’s Thinking and Arguing, Deirdre McCloskey’s If You’re So Smart, and Virginia Postrel’s The Future and Its Enemies. Scott’s primary research…
July 29, 2024
It’s All About the Base(line)
This is Part 5 in the THB series — Climate Fueled Extreme Weather. You can find Part 1 here, Part 2 here, Part 3 here, and Part 4 here. Each can be read on their own, but I encourage you to start from the beginning as each installment draws on the ones before. If you have made it this…
July 25, 2024
Renewing the Partnership Between Government and Entrepreneurs (with Arun Gupta)
Our government grapples with challenges that demand quick solutions and decisive action. However, the government’s structure often lacks the necessary incentives to drive innovation. This is where Arun Gupta comes in, emphasizing the importance of a renewed partnership between government and entrepreneurs to tackle major societal issues. Arun coauthored Venture Meets Mission: Aligning People, Purpose, and Profit to…
July 25, 2024
Why Climate Misinformation Persists
In 2001, I participated in a roundtable discussion hosted at the headquarters of the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) with a group of U.S. Senators, the Secretary of Treasury, and about a half-dozen other researchers. The event was organized by Idaho Senator Larry Craig (R-ID) following the release of a short NAS report on climate to help…
July 25, 2024
NetChoice and the Art of the Facial Challenge
Social media companies found much to like in last month’s blockbuster Moody v. NetChoice decision. Facing legislation that would have forced Facebook, X, and others to carry content against the companies’ will, a majority of the justices endorsed the idea that platforms retain a First Amendment right to editorial control that shields them from state efforts to…
July 24, 2024
Raising the Bar, Not Lowering Our Guard, Around Cybersecurity
Last week’s global IT outage demonstrated the vulnerability of our deeply interconnected digital infrastructure. A single unchecked software update by the cybersecurity company CrowdStrike to its customer, Microsoft, rapidly cascaded into a series of worldwide disruptions throughout the network of operating systems, with CrowdStrike’s cybersecurity solutions safeguarding nearly 60 percent of the Fortune 500, 86 percent of…
July 23, 2024
Harm, Safety, Effective AI Risk Management, and Regulation
On October 30, 2023, the White House announced its Executive Order on the Safe, Secure, and Trustworthy Development and Use of Artificial Intelligence. The order addressed, in an industry-led US context, calls for governments to become actively engaged in regulating artificial intelligence. The European Union Artificial Intelligence Act, passed in March, takes a much more prescriptive approach….
July 22, 2024
The Power of Tumblr
The social networking website Tumblr is a shadow of its former self now, but from about 2010 to 2016 something new was arising in it. It was generally referred to as remix culture at the time, but today, it’s clear that the site helped germinate something more specific and central to a lot of debates: woke culture. …
July 22, 2024
We Don’t Need No Stinking Science
This is Part 4 in the THB series — Climate Fueled Extreme Weather. You can find Part 1 here Part 2 here and Part 3 here. Each can be read on their own, but I encourage you to start from the beginning as each installment draws on the ones before. Everyone knows that in recent years climate change has…
July 22, 2024
Unpacking the Data Dilemma
Systems of categorization and classification have played important roles throughout history, from ancient religious texts organizing moral codes to modern scientific frameworks. Among these is the modern digital data system, which encompasses information from personal details and online interactions to scientific measurements and business transactions. However, concerns have been raised about what information is being…