It’s time to give a crap about crap. To save animals, we need to save their poop. If a bear shits in the woods and a scientist is there to…
Tag: Ideas
Quashing Racist Pseudoscience Is Science’s Responsibility
Though these two classes (the mainstream and the fringe) are very different, each contributes to the public confusion that directly or indirectly feeds the racist pseudoscience machine. For example, though…
The ‘Form’ Element Created the Modern Web. Was It a Big Mistake?
The web was born to publish documents—in particular, physics papers from CERN, the great laboratory where Tim Berners-Lee, the very first web developer, was employed to do smart information things….
A Bored Ape Lawsuit Won’t Set the NFT Precedent Seth Green Wants
The first thing you should probably do if you find yourself in Seth Green’s position is not tweet about how much you’re “looking forward to precedent setting debates on IP…
Tech Leaders Can Do More to Avoid Unintended Consequences
In 1936, social scientist Robert Merton proposed a framework for understanding different types of unanticipated consequences—perverse results, unexpected drawbacks, and unforeseen benefits. Merton’s choice of words (“unanticipated” rather than “unintended”)…
Volodymyr Zelensky and the Art of the War Story
In 2003, VOLODYMYR Zelensky, then 25 and freshly licensed to practice law, formed an organization “to make the world a better place using humor and creativity.” The organization was Kvartal…
Do People Caught on Ring Cameras Have Privacy Rights?
Big picture, there’s no legal issue with posting surveillance cam content. Experts agree that it is generally legal to post video footage captured in a public space where the subject…
An EU Law Could Let US Prosecutors Scan Phones for Abortion Texts
The drive to protect children online will soon collide with an equal and opposing political force: the criminalization of abortion. In a country where many states will soon treat fetuses…
Drones Are Turning Into Personal Flying Machines
Ever since he was a kid in Sweden, Peter Ternström wanted to make a sci-fi-style flying machine. In 1983 he saw Return of the Jedi five times and dreamed of…
The Internet Origin Story You Know Is Wrong
But we’ve been telling the same story about ARPANET and the web for 25 years, and it isn’t satisfying anymore. It doesn’t help us understand the social internet we have…