Thousands of electronic components, which should improve life and serve development, are turned by aggressors into instruments of murder. Their weapons depend on foreign components. Without them, they cannot continue to fight, occupy and kill.
I was recently invited to participate in the Trends with Friends podcast, co-hosted by long time friend Howard Lindzon. The podcast primarily focuses on “markets” and less on “technology,” as…
Collections: How to Raise a Tribal Army in Pre-Roman Europe, Part I: Aristocrats, Retainers and Clients
For the next few posts, I want to take a look at how some ‘tribal’ peoples raised armies, in contrast to the way that ancient (or later) states raised armies. As moderns, we are so fami…
George Orwell Explains in a Revealing 1944 Letter Why He’d Write 1984
Image via Wikimedia Commons
Most of the twentieth century's notable men of letters — i.e., writers of books, of essays, of reportage — seem also to have, literally, written a great deal of letters.
My father, Allen H. Searls, was an archivist. Not a formal one, but good in the vernacular, at least when it came to one of the most consequential things he did in his life: helping build the Georg…
If you enjoy this post, why not subscribe to my podcast Better Offline? This week's a two parter that further expands on the Rot-Com Bubble, coming out Wednesday and Friday.
The noxious growth-at-all-costs mindset of the Rot Economy sits at the core of every issue that I've ever written about.
Ray Kurzweil: AI Is Not Going to Kill You, But Ignoring It Might
We talk to the famed futurist about his new book, 'The Singularity is Nearer,' and why he's doubling down on his prediction that humans will merge with machines by 2045.
Thoughts on how capitalism intersects with work, art, technology, urban planning, life and love from around the internet - Notado: Content-first bookmarking
Last week, someone behind the @AmazonNews Twitter account took a fistful of pills, washed them down with a handle of Old Grand-Dad, and started tweeting.
Root & Branch - Erin Kissane's small internet website
Who should do the heavy, tricky, fraught work of making and keeping our networks good? How should they work? To whom should they be accountable, and how can “accountability” be redeemed from its dissipated state and turned into something with both teeth and discretion?
How to Lead an Army of Digital Sleuths in the Age of AI
Bellingcat is the world’s biggest citizen-run intelligence agency, investigating everything from the 2014 shoot-down of MH17 to the various plots to kill Russian dissident Alexei Navalny. The person behind it all? Eliot Higgins.
Marc Andreessen Once Called Online Safety Teams an Enemy. He Still Wants Walled Gardens for Kids
Investor Marc Andreessen called tech ethics and safety teams “the enemy” in his “Techno-Optimist Manifesto” last year. Today he clarified he’s in favor of online guardrails for his 9-year-old son.