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Topics /
Society, Policy & Culture
The most popular blog posts about society, policy & culture on Hacker News. 742 posts.
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Stab a Book, the Book Won't Die
On the resilience of books in the face of apps, attention monsters, and an ad-driven online economy
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An oral history of the AIM away message
Speed up product development from ideation to launch. Align teams, break tool silos and ship what customers need in one AI-powered visual platform.
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We Can Choose an Internet Without Surveillance
The internet is not just a network of computers—it’s a network of people. We hold great power in deciding its future.
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Behind the One-Way Mirror: A Dive into the Technology of Corporate Surveillance
It's time to shed light on the technical methods and business practices behind third-party tracking. For journalists, policy makers, and concerned consumers, this paper will demystify the fundamentals of third-party tracking, explain the scope of the problem, and suggest ways for users and legislation to fight back…
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The Ethical Failures Behind the Boeing Disasters
Two Boeing 737 MAX 8 airplanes crashed shortly after takeoff, on October 28, 2018 near Jakarta, Indonesia and March 10, 2019, near Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. The disasters cost the lives of 346 passengers and crew. Black box data recovered from the two planes indicate that bad engineering practices and surprisingly simple…
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Mimetic Traps
I’ve been a graduate student in physics for almost three years, but I only recently figured out why. I had to tackle a simple question do so:
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Ilya Starinov – The godfather of modern insurgent IED warfare
I’ve been researching for this post for quite a while and of necessity it’s going to be my longest post. Ilya Starinov is arguably the most important person in the history of IEDs and in…
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Tumblr the Day After
It is not surprising that the news about Automattic buying Tumblr has picked up a lot of coverage. I especially appreciated the notes of support from Tumblr founder David Karp, former CTO Marco Arm…
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The Trouble with “Finding Your People” Online
Create beautiful emails, automate campaigns, and track performance. Try it now and see how our tools can drive your business.
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Joint Statement on the GNU Project
Blog posts about GNU Guix.
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Why do poor school kids have to clean up rich commuters’ pollution?
Item: In the past two years, Portland Public Schools has spent nearly $12.5 million of its scarce funds to clean up the air at Harriet Tubman Middle School. This money will buy an expensive state-of-the-art air filtration system that will make the air inside the school safe for students to breathe. Scientists from…
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Why I don't love Light Rail Transit
Snippets 2, Episode 22
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Randomize HN: Removing the vote threshold for getting to the front page
You ever notice that there's this funny threshold for getting to the front page on sites like HN? The exact threshold varies depending on how much traffic there is, but, for articles that aren't wildly popular, there's this moment when the article is at N-1 votes. There is, perhaps, a 60% chance that the vote will…
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Fukushima 8 years on – photo essay
Fukushima 8 years on
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Uber Q3 Results
Revenue of $3.8 billion, with growth accelerating to 30% year-over-year, or 31% on a constant currency basis Record Rides Adjusted EBITDA of $631 million, fully covering our Corporate GA and Platform RD Uber Technologies, Inc. (NYSE: UBER) today announced financial results for the quarter ended September 30, 2019…
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Work harder or the communists will win
It’s desperate times for those still clinging to their workaholic, exploitive ways. From Japan to China to even the US, there’s a growing understanding that working 70-80-90 or 130 hours per week i…
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Why Didn’t Denmark Sell Greenland?
Exercise in pointing out the obvious: Greenland has been, is, and will be indefinitely, a white elephant. Denmark turned down 100m USD from the USA in 1946; I discuss how this was a bad idea—America got what it needed anyway while Denmark kept control of a loser.
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Should lawyers learn to code? Arguments for and against
Should lawyers learn to code? We examine the suitability of lawyers to coding, plus arguments for and againt lawyers and law students learning to code.
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Leading with Wikipedia: A brand proposal for 2030
A few months ago, people across the world were asked “What is Wikimedia?” Almost no one answered correctly. But while “Wikimedia” may not be widely recognized outside our movement, there is a clear way to use our existing brands to better bring in the billions of people who have yet to join us in our….
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The Acid Farmers
How Sandoz Pharmaceuticals produced the LSD that turned on the world
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Is it creepy when brands pester you on social media?
You're sat in a pub, chatting with your mates. You start to moan about how the cheap lager they serve gives you a headache. All of a sudden, a stranger runs up to you and says: "Oh no! Headaches? Have you tried the refreshing taste of Pepsi® Cola? It's the Flavour That Keeps Giving™!" I suspect you would complain to…
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CO₂ and Other Greenhouse Gas Emissions
Human emissions of greenhouse gases are the primary driver of climate change. The world needs to decarbonize to reduce them.
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