Our digital age is full of distractions. Media reports the facts with bias. We collect the news you need about Big Tech, cybersecurity, transhumanism, social media and media ecology.
Security online is a somewhat tenuous and ever-shifting problem that may be difficult tomanage or navigate. However, there are tools that can help. Since there are no perfect toolsthat keep you safe, nothing can substitute good, common-sense approaches. For instance,don’t open attachments or links from emails or texts you don’t 100% know are legitimate(unless you… Read More Online Privacy tips from our Mad readers
Social psychologist Jonathan Haidt has written quite extensively about social media and its effect on childhood, mental health, and society more broadly. His lengthy piece for The Atlantic was shared widely and for good reason. It is a potted history of how we got here, but also a summary of the impact this technology has on us all. He… Read More Tyranny of the frivolous
Many meltdowns were over the charge that Twitter would become the Wild West of Hate and Misinformation, but Musk has clarified that he defines free speech as letting people speak within the bounds of the law. However, laws can be changed. In a strangely-timed announcement, Homeland Security said it was setting up a disinformation governance board. Dubbed the “Ministry… Read More Minority report
Just when we thought that Twitter could not get any crazier, last week showed that just isn’t possible. Elon Musk’s offer to buy the social media platform was accepted by the governing board. If you read the copious amounts of commentary, you would think that the end of the world was imminent. Even if Musk’s… Read More We will not have this man rule over us
Last week, we reported that Elon Musk had set Social Media-land ablaze when he became the largest shareholder of Twitter. But he really set heads exploding a few days ago, making an offer to buy the whole company. During an interview, Musk said he sees Twitter as a “de facto town square” and said that “having a public… Read More You can always build your own Twitter
Where the heart leads, the mind will follow, and this is the great jeopardy of the age of screen gods. When you tune in, when you scroll, you cannot know where your heart will be led until it’s already been led there. The longer you let them lead you where you do not want to… Read More 5th Gen Warfare, Go!
Maybe this is how Hollywood dies— not really with a bang but with a sort of confused whimper, pressed into a puddle by the weight of its own professed values. While the Academy Awards were watched by hardly anyone, most everyone has now heard about “The Slap.” Reactions and tweets were swift and plentiful, but… Read More Slap
Mad readers will probably be aware of the desire of Big Tech titans to see their virtual reality dreams comes true. We have written about the nascent “metaverse” and its attendant issues, but a Vermont start-up thinks what the digital world really needs is scent. The writer says “for virtual reality to feel like reality, it needs smell.”… Read More Smelly-vision
Here’s a surprising bit of news out of the world of geek… Tech blogger DKB reckons that Google search has lost its stranglehold on internet searches. Programmer and blogger Mike Solana seems to agree. Prompted by overreactions to “misinformation” and unrest of the masses, he wrote a recent Substack about the unholy trinity of politics, media and Big Tech. Solana… Read More Losing their grip
Musician Neil Young went to bat for what he believes telling Spotify to pick between hosting his music or Joe Rogan’s podcast. Young is upset that the streaming platform lets Rogan interview whomever he likes and is complicit in spreading the dreaded “Misinformation.” The head of the WHO thanked Young for standing up for science. But Spotify backed Rogan whose podcast has… Read More Unacceptable views
