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Topics /
Society, Policy & Culture
The most popular blog posts about society, policy & culture on Hacker News. 694 posts.
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Entropic Engineering DEFCON 32 Statement
Entropic Engineering was approached in January ‘24 by the DEFCON Badge Team, who were looking for a small company to partner with. They expressed that they specifically wanted to work with us as a woman-owned, queer- and POC-driven engineering firm to develop an electronic badge with a gaming element for this year’s…
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Gene banks aren’t enough to save the world’s food
Why gene banks aren’t enough to save the world’s food
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Quit Social Media (2016)
Anti-Social Grumblings I recently gave a deliberatively provocative TEDx talk titled “quit social media” (see the video above). The theme of the event was “visions ... Read more
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The business of check cashing
Check cashing, as a business, is a poorly understood "alternative" financial service.
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Sustainable Web Interest Group Is Formed
Announcement of the formation of the W3C Sustainable Web Interest Group.
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Kenya and "the decline of the greatest coffee" (2021)
During one of his “yes or no” Instagram Q&As, Scott Rao lamented the declining quality of Kenyan coffees over the last three years—a sentiment I’ve heard echoed by buyers across Europe, the US, and Australia. He kicked a different question over to me about whether cultivar or microclimate or process has the greatest…
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Senate Vote Tomorrow Could Give Helping Hand to Patent Trolls
Update 11/19/24: The Senate Judiciary Committee is still scheduled to vote on the PREVAIL Act on Thursday, Nov. 21, 2024. Please express your continued opposition through our action center, linked below. A patent on crowdfunding. A patent on tracking packages. A patent on photo contests. A patent...
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I spoke with a Google worker fired for protesting $1.2B Israel contract
"It was a complete overreaction on their part to not only fire everyone who was and wasn't involved, but then also threaten everyone else in the company who would dare think to stand up against this...it feels like a very fascist environment."
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The Fed is behind the Capital One/Discover merger
In 2010, Congress capped fees for debit card networks so merchants don't get gouged by Visa and Mastercard. But the Fed stuck in a loophole for Discover. And that is leading Capital One to buy it.
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’Brain rot‘ named Oxford Word of the Year 2024
After more than 37,000 votes on our shortlist, we're pleased to announce that the Oxford Word of the Year for 2024 is 'brain rot'.
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Notes on Guyana
Over the summer, I visited Guyana (pronounced Guy-on-uh), mostly in and around the capital of Georgetown. I had plans to see far more of the country but they didn’t come to fruition. Sometimes whil…
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Big Tech has already made enough money in 2024 to pay all its 2023 fines
Big Tech (Alphabet, Amazon, Apple, Meta, and Microsoft)'s annual revenue dwarfs total fines. The cost for privacy is insignificant to them.
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How do you do, fellow web developers? A growing disconnect
How do you do, fellow web developers? A growing disconnect. | exotext
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Selfish reasons to want more humans
A bigger world is better for everyone
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I'm an Old Fart and AI Makes Me Sad
Previous major advancements in Computer Science and its applications always felt empowering to me, AI feels different.
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The New York Times Launches a Strong Case Against Microsoft and OpenAI
It seems that The New York Times Company (“The Times”) got fed up with the pace of its negotiations with Microsoft and OpenAI over their use of The Times’ content for training and…
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How to get 7th graders to smoke
OR: "fuzzy, wet, and unfalsifiable"
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Rotten Apple
Apple are planning to kill mobile web apps. This is not an exaggeration. We must stop them.
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How I Got a Digital Nomad Visa for Japan
Curious about living in Japan? Learn from Christian, one of the first digital nomad visa holders, as he shares his experience and tips for obtaining the visa.
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The unnecessary decline of U.S. numerical weather prediction
This blog provides updated forecasts and comments on current weather or other topics
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DoorDash and Pizza Arbitrage (2020)
There is such a thing as a free lunch
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Berkeley's upzoning would be among nation's largest
A proposal to end exclusionary zoning would allow for 100,000 more homes in Berkeley's neighborhoods.