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Ozymandias
Near them, on the sand, Half sunk, a shattered visage lies, whose frown, And wrinkled lip, and sneer of cold command, Tell that its sculptor well those…
Topics /
Society, Policy & Culture
The most popular blog posts about society, policy & culture on Hacker News. 423 posts.
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Visa and MasterCard Are Trying to Dictate What You Can Watch on Pornhub
Pornhub is removing millions of user-uploaded videos. This action comes after a New York Times column accused the website of hosting sexual videos of underage and nonconsenting women. In response to the Times’ article, Visa and Mastercard cut ties with Pornhub, making it impossible for Pornhub to...
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Longbets: A bioerror will lead to one million casualties by Dec 2020
Biotechnology is plainly advancing rapidly, and by 2020 there will be thousands-even millions-of people with the capability to cause a catastrophic biological disaster. My concern is not only organized terrorist groups, but individual weirdos with the mindset of the people who now design computer viruses. Even if all…
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The internet needs our love
It’s noisy out there. We are inundated with sensational headlines every minute, of every day. You almost could make a full-time job of sorting the fun, i
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Half the world is now middle class or wealthier (2018)
Just over 50 percent of the world’s population, or some 3.8 billion people, now live in households with enough discretionary spending to be considered middle class or rich.
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Off-Facebook Activity Is a Welcome but Incomplete Move
Today Facebook announced the roll-out of its Off-Facebook Activity tool (initially introduced as “Clear History” nearly two years ago). The tools shows you a list of apps, websites, and businesses that Facebook knows you have visited through its business tools (including Facebook Login, Facebook’s...
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Statement by Jeff Bezos to the U.S. House Committee on the Judiciary
Testimony before the Subcommittee on Antitrust, Commercial, and Administrative Law
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Today is Earth Overshoot Day – (08/22)
Learn how past Earth Overshoot Days are calculated based on the Ecological Footprint and see how the date has changed over the years.
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China's social credit system is both unique and part of a global trend
China's Social Credit System is bad: It's both unique and part of a global trend. This should freak you out.
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Uber Announces Results for Fourth Quarter and Full Year 2019
Revenue of $4.1 billion, growing 37% year-over-year or 39% on a constant currency basis Rides Adjusted EBITDA of $742 million, with continued margin expansion Uber Technologies, Inc. (NYSE: UBER) today announced financial results for the fourth quarter and full year ended December 31, 2019. Financial Highlights for…
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Removing old, obsolete dams restores life to creeks and streams
By removing old, obsolete dams, we are healing the ecosystem and restoring life to the Hudson and its tributaries
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Why is life expectancy in the US lower than in other rich countries?
Americans have a lower life expectancy than people in other rich countries despite paying much more for healthcare. What factors may explain this?
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Policy, not tech, spurred Danish dominance in wind energy
An analysis of Denmark’s wind industry offers lessons for policymakers seeking to increase renewable electricity production with limited budgets, according to Cynthia Lin Lawell.
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New Federal Court Rulings Find Geofence Warrants Unconstitutional
Update December 14, 2021: After this post was published, on June 4, 2021, a federal magistrate judge in Kansas issued another opinion denying the government's application for a geofence warrant.Update May 17, 2021: Since this post was published, the court unsealed its July 24, 2020 opinion denying...
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Stanford Medicine COVID-19 test now in use
The Stanford Clinical Virology Laboratory has deployed an in-house diagnostic test for the virus that causes COVID-19. Rapid identification of infected people could help limit the spread of the virus.
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ICANN Rejects .ORG Sale to Private Equity Firm
In a stunning victory for nonprofits and NGOs around the world working in the public interest, ICANN today roundly rejected Ethos Capital’s plan to transform the .ORG domain registry into a heavily indebted for-profit entity. This is an important victory that recognizes the registry’s long legacy...
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Dear Facebook: Withdraw Your Cease and Desist to NYU
Dear Mark Zuckerberg, Voting has already begun in one of the most consequential elections in U.S. history. More than ever before in American politics, t…
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January 1, 2021 is Public Domain Day: Works from 1925 are open to all
By Jennifer Jenkins, Director of Duke’s Center for the Study of the Public Domain January 1, 2021 is Public Domain Day: Works from 1925 are open to all! On January 1, 2021, copyrighted works from 1925 will enter the US public domain,1 where they will be free for all to use and build upon. These […]
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TikTok and WeChat: Curating and controlling global information flows
Curating and controlling global information flows What’s the Problem? While most major international social media networks remain banned from the Chinese market in the People’s Republic of China (PRC), Chinese social media companies are expanding overseas and building up large global audiences. Some of those…
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Achieving Accessibility Through Simplicity
sourcehut is a network of useful open source tools for software project maintainers and collaborators, including git repos, bug tracking, continuous integration, and mailing lists.