511
Local rules instead of global censorship
After the Capitol riot, the question isn't about how the social media monopolists should wield their power - the question is whether they should have such power in the first place.
Topics /
Society, Policy & Culture
The most popular blog posts about society, policy & culture on Hacker News. 1,050 posts.
512
Machine learning’s crumbling foundations
Technological debt is insidious, a kind of socio-infrastructural subprime crisis that's unfolding around us in slow motion. Our digital infrastructure is built atop layers and layers and layers of code that's insecure due to a combination of bad practices and bad frameworks.
513
Science fiction hasn’t prepared us to imagine machine learning
It resembles the Library of Babel more than HAL.
514
Google introducing tool for under-18s to remove images of them from search
Today we’re announcing a variety of new policies and updates to help keep kids and teens safe as they spend more time online.
515
The Single-Page-App Morality Play
Writing at the end of the world, from Hveragerði, Iceland
516
European Parliament Voted to Ban Remote Biometric Surveillance
It’s not actually banned in the EU yet—the legislative process is much more complicated than that—but it’s a step: a total ban on biometric mass surveillance. To respect “privacy and human dignity,” MEPs said that EU lawmakers should pass a permanent ban on the automated recognition of individuals in public spaces…
517
Silicon Valley is shutting down speech loopholes. Latest target: live content
Silicon Valley is shutting down speech loopholes. The latest target: live content
518
Apple is building the metaverse substrate
I thought it might be fun to take a semi-serious look at technology from the Apples WWDC21 keynote, and how it might help building the metaverse. I may have spent way too much time watching sessions at 1.5x, and it may have broken my brain a little.
519
What happens when the CCP decides that you need to die
The manner in which a state kills people has major implications for that state's structure
520
Texas woman wins round in lawsuit challenging swat teams destruction of her home
ARLINGTON, Va.—On Thursday, a federal judge ruled that a lawsuit filed by a Texas woman whose home was destroyed by a SWAT team may move […]
521
Noted study in psychology fails to replicate, crumbles with evidence of fraud
About 80 people pointed me to this post by Uri Simonsohn, Joe Simmons, and Leif Nelson about a 2012 article, “Signing at the beginning makes ethics salient and decreases dishonest self-reports in comparison to signing at the end.” Apparently some of the data in that paper were faked; see for example here:
522
Culturally transmitted skills and values
Three major tools that companies have to influence behavior are incentives, process, and culture. People often mean different things when talking about these, so I'll provide an example of each so we're on the same page (if you think that I should be using a different word for the concept, feel free to mentally…
523
On Depression and Founders
Depression is real in founders. Please be careful.
524
Greenwald: Yesterday Journalists Spread a Significant Lie All over Twitter
Eager to obtain vindication for the pre-election falsehood they spread about the Hunter Biden story, journalists falsely claim that the CIA blamed Russia for it.
525
The Achilles Heel of the Coronavirus
SARS-CoV-2 is critically dependent on a special mechanism for the production of its proteins. A collaborative team led by a research group at ETH Zurich obtained molecular insights into this process and demonstrated that it can be inhibited by chemical compounds, thereby significantly reducing viral replication in…
526
The Shape of Rome (2013)
The new Mayor of the city of Rome, Ignazio Marino, just announced his intention to destroy one of the city’s central roads, the Via dei Fori Imperiali, and turn the area around the old Roman Forum into the world’s largest archaeological park. Reactions have ranged from commuters’ groans to declarations from…
527
Engineer demos how SpaceX is building fracked well gas plant
And your precious first principles math proves it
528
3D Printing Sex Toys
Ok so, sex toys! Admit it. You've thought about it. 😉But it seems so complex! You can't use a sex toy straight from the printer because the materials and nozzles aren't body safe, and even if they were, the layer lines are a breeding ground for bacteria. So traditionally you'd have to print a blank and smooth it (with…
529
Internet disrupted in Myanmar amid military coup
Network data from the NetBlocks Internet Observatory indicate the onset of widespread internet disruptions in Myanmar on Sunday 31 January 2021 (UTC) amid reports of a military uprising and the ...
530
531
For First Time, Half of Americans Favor Defending Taiwan If China Invades
2021 Chicago Council Survey data show a majority of Americans support a range of US policies towards Taiwan: recognition as an independent country, inclusion in international organizations, and a US-Taiwan free trade agreement.
532
Web3 Is Not Decentralization
It's just not. Here's a deep dive into why, exactly, I think that.
533
When Orcs Were Real
The Ancient Struggle for Homo Sapiens to Rule the Earth
534
An Epidemic of Wage Theft Is Costing Workers Hundreds of Millions a Year (2014)
Millions of Americans struggle to get by on low wages, often without any benefits such as paid sick leave, a pension, or even health insurance. Their difficult lives are made immeasurably harder when they do the work they have been hired to do, but their employers refuse to pay, pay for some hours but not…
535
The New York Times uses the dark patterns it derides
New York Times op-ed recently decried tricks websites use to manipulate users… but have you ever tried to cancel your NY Times subscription?
536
A critique of Safari's influence on the web
There's been a lot of discussion recently about how "Safari is the new IE" (1, 2, 3, 4, 5). I don't want to rehash the basics of that, but I have seen some...
537
Tor in 2022
It has become a tradition for me to write a blog post at the end of each year, sharing my vision for the Tor Project for the upcoming year. Before talking about what I see for us in 2022, I want to reflect on 2021 and how this has been a year of resilience for Tor.
538
On Solitude
Over 15 years ago, I took my first device-free, silent, solitude experience.
539
The end of the pandemic is near
All epidemics end, even the Black Death and Spanish Flu. But it won’t be abrupt, and mine may end before yours does.
540