By forking itself away from search, Google is also forking over the Web—and creating a giant opening for somebody else to grab the Web Search position.
Source: doc.searls.com
Can the Church bear a credible witness on technology, on just war, on what it means to be human? No other earthly institution is better positioned to lead this charge, I would argue, yet it is hampered by its own “structures that give rise to inequality, lack of transparency and abuse of power,” which Leo himself admits can hinder openness to and acceptance of its teaching. If the Church itself does not recognize the full humanity of half its own members—by insisting, for example, that they cannot image Christ because of their gender—how can it expect Silicon Valley and heads of state to respect its sermon on human dignity?
Source: commonwealmagazine.org
If the Jewish approach to AI does not revolve around the imposition of a single utopian vision, then the focus should be on how AI technologies can act as enabling tools: ones that allow each of us to build the kind of world we might want, enabled by personalized and bespoke software, and interact with information in ways that fit each of us, rather than having to settle for a one-size-fits-all solution.
Source: arcmag.org
The internet’s first generation empowered billions of people who had no voice. The second traded that empowerment for convenience, but the convenience came with chokepoints that turned into weapons. The third generation—social and AI both—can have empowerment and convenience together. But that outcome isn’t automatic. It requires treating decentralization not as a technical preference but as the architecture democracy actually needs, and fighting for it with the same urgency we’d bring to any other democratic institution under threat.
Source: liberalism.org
The choice in front of us is the same one that’s always been in front of us, just with higher stakes and less time: Do we let the next generation of tools get built around chokepoints, or do we insist on architecture that distributes power instead of concentrating it?
Source: liberalism.org
There may only be a single person about whom me, hyperglocal thinkfluencer Professor Jeff Jarvis, and circa 2014 Leah Finnegan would all say “wow, that guy sucks” and it’s Nick Bilton. He was the kind of tech commentator anti-talent who makes a smooth and remunerative career for himself by being enthusiastic about gadgets while seeming think-y and writing at a low fourth grade level. Sometimes these guys ascend to their proper heaven and become venture capitalists, like Josh Constine. Sometimes they stick it out in print media and torment us for decades, like Kevin Roose. Not smart enough for the former or likable enough for the latter, instead Nick Bilton went into TV.
Source: todayintabs.com
So, given that I had some time to kill, and like every New Yorker I’ve neglected New Jersey for too long, I decided to try and walk from Manhattan to MetLife stadium, to prove that you can, but more as a troll to highlight that nobody would ever think of doing that because that’s not how the US is built. We have a different model of what felicity means, and prioritizing being able to walk to a football game isn’t an essential part of that. Being the lord of your own manor — having your own home, your own yard, and your own cars — is our national blueprint for success, and so you drive to the game, or catch an uber, or go to the sports bar down the block and watch it on giant screens.
Source: walkingtheworld.substack.com
The Fall and Rise of Reggie Dinkins (streaming on Peacock) is a simple, silly show. Its recently completed first season follows the titular Reggie Dinkins (played by Tracy Morgan), a disgraced former NFL star a few decades removed from his expulsion from the league and polite society due to a betting scandal. Arthur Tobin (Daniel Radcliffe), an Oscar-winning documentarian who has been expelled from film circles for reasons I’m not going to spoil, is embedded in Reggie’s New Jersey house. He’s shooting a film they both hope will return them to respective glory. Other players include Monica Reese-Dinkins as Reggie’s ex-wife and manager, Precious Way as his long-suffering fiancé, Jayln Hall as his son, and Bobby Moynihan as his live-in best friend and ex-teammate. Hijinks ensue, mostly in Reggie’s stately McMansion.
Source: onethingnewsletter.substack.com
