^CategorySocial Media

^{Type
post

Author
News
Date
July 15, 2022

Categorized
Addiction, Social Media, Spirituality

Tagged
Andrew McDiarmid, Authentic technology concept, Big Tech's pervasive influence, Featured, Jacques Ellul, Marshall McLuhan, Robert J. Marks, Social media addiction and teens, Technological Society (book), Technology (regaining control), Technology word origin}

Taking Our Lives Back from Big Tech, a Step at a Time

_{If we don’t have the time to stop and reflect because we are too busy checking our social media…} _{News

July 15, 2022

13

Addiction, Social Media, Spirituality}

In a recent podcast, “Weaving the Technology of Our Lives” (July 14, 2022), Walter Bradley Center director Robert J. Marks interviewed tech and culture writer Andrew McDiarmid on the deep ways Big Tech governs our lives — ways of which we are often unaware — and concrete steps for taking control back: https://mindmatters.ai/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/07/Mind-Matters-195-Andrew-McDiarmid.mp3 Here’s a partial transcript and notes. Additional Resources follow: Robert J. Marks: We have been talking about Jacques Ellul’s concept of technique… Andrew McDiarmid: Well, Jacques Ellul was a French sociologist, theologian, and philosopher of technology … Ellul’s lifetime spanned almost the entire 20th century, 1911 to 1994. He wrote books and articles throughout his career on how he saw technology impacting the “human adventure,” as he Read More ›

Happy pregnant woman visit gynecologist doctor at hospital or medical clinic for pregnancy consultant. Doctor examine pregnant belly for baby and mother healthcare check up. Gynecology concept.

^{Type
post

Author
News
Date
July 5, 2022

Categorized
Medicine and Health, Social Media

Tagged
Abortion and crisis pregnancy centers, Abortion rate decline in U.S., Andrea Swartzendruber, Crisis pregnancy centers, Crisis pregnancy centers (mobile), Danielle Lambert, Google Maps, Google Maps and CPCs, Kylie Cheung, Letitia James}

Activists to Google Maps: Crack Down on Crisis Pregnancy Centers

_{Overall, the U.S. abortion rate has been in decline for about thirty years, for a variety of reasons, including available alternatives} _{News

July 5, 2022

5

Medicine and Health, Social Media}

When the U.S. Supreme Court’s recent Dobbs decision (June 24, 2022) that “The Constitution does not confer a right to abortion” (SCOTUSblog) returned the abortion issue to the state legislatures, a number crisis pregnancy centers (CPCs) that do not offer abortion have been attacked by abortion militants. One source the militants appear to be using is an online map of such centers created by University of Georgia biostatisticians Andrea Swartzendruber and Danielle Lambert, who call them “fake women’s health centers.” For example: Puget Sound Anarchists posted a link to the map in a post made about a vandalism at a Vancouver, Washington pregnancy center. Crisis pregnancy center Options 360 was vandalized with red paint, and the phrase “Jane’s Revenge.” The Read More ›

^{Type
post

Author
News
Date
June 28, 2022

Categorized
Philosophy, Religion, Science, Social Media

Tagged
Bacteria, Casey Luskin, Darwinian evolution theory, Evolution, Featured, Human brain (as complex), Isaac Asimov (on human brain), Jerry Coyne, Michael Egnor, New Atheism, Orac (pseudonym), Panda's Thumb (blog), Positivism, Rubik's cube (and specified complexity), Scientism, Specified Complexity, Steven Novella, Why Evolution is True (blog)}

When a Neurosurgeon and a Biologist Keep On Arguing…

_{… we suspect some pretty basic science issues are involved} _{News

June 28, 2022

11

Philosophy, Religion, Science, Social Media}

In a recent ID: The Future podcast (June 24, 2022) Casey Luskin interviews pediatric neurosurgeon Michael Egnor on his blogosphere debates with evolutionary biologist Jerry Coyne. Egnor, who has authored many research papers, espouses a non-materialist view of the mind — and of life in general — with which Dr. Coyne, a committed atheist, emphatically disagrees. Here’s a partial transcript from “A Brain Surgeon Debates Evolutionist Jerry Coyne and Other Atheists”: Casey Luskin: We’re going to talk about these debates you’ve had with Dr. Coyne and others. Some of the arguments you’ve made, I think, have been very compelling. But before we get into that, I’d like to ask, why do you focus your writing so much on Dr. Jerry Read More ›

close up man hand type on keyboard laptop to use search engine optimization (SEO) tools for finding customer or promote and advertise about content online for marketing technology and business concept

^{Type
post

Author
News
Date
June 27, 2022

Categorized
Data Privacy, Economics, Social Media

Tagged
Brave Search, Brave search engine, DuckDuckGo, DuckDuckGo Search, english language, Google Search, Privacy, search engines}

The Brave Search Engine Survives. So Does Privacy Still Matter?

_{Despite Google’s overwhelming dominance, Brave clocked 2.5 billion searches since this time last year} _{News

June 27, 2022

4

Data Privacy, Economics, Social Media}

Last year, we wrote about the Brave search engine, headed up by Mozilla pioneer Brendan Eich. Brave Search offered the first true alternative to Google since Bing by introducing a third English language index and protecting user privacy. A nice idea, many have thought, but who really cares? So what if Big Tech makes largely unaccountable billions from marketing our information, as long as the social media services it provides remain free? So perhaps surprisingly, Brave is hanging on. Tech maven Jacob Carpenter noted recently at Fortune that, while Google owns 92.5% of the search market business according to StatCounter, that number hasn’t changed much over a decade. And Brave is reporting 2.5 billion searches from its current search engine’s Read More ›

^{Type
post

Author
News
Date
June 24, 2022

Categorized
Addiction, Neuroscience, Social Media

Tagged
Adolescents and social media, Amygdala vs frontal cortex, Christine Rosen, Karl D. Stephan, Social media ban on underage users, Teenagers and social media}

Should Kids Under 16 Be Banned From Social Media?

_{An internal study by Instagram found that using the platform made fully one-third of teenage girls feel worse — but they couldn’t stop} _{News

June 24, 2022

7

Addiction, Neuroscience, Social Media}

(This article by Texas State University engineering prof Karl D. Stephan originally appeared at Engineering Ethics Blog (June 20, 2022) under the title “Social Media: For adults only?” and is reprinted with permission.) Writing in National Review, cultural critic Christine Rosen recently proposed a total ban on social media for everyone under the age of 16. One can imagine all sorts of problems with this idea, ranging from enforcement issues to what it would be like living in a country where nearly all the teenagers start screaming at the same time. But let’s step back from the immediate issues and effects, and ask what the ethics of such a ban would be. Rosen cites a number of other things that we don’t let Read More ›

^{Type
post

Author
Denyse O'Leary
Date
June 16, 2022

Categorized
Media, Social Media

Tagged
Amy Coney Barrett, Bill Maher, Brett Kavanaugh, Joe Kahn, Marvin Olasky, media bias, Print media as obsolete, Twitterati}

Have Newspapers Simply Lost Touch With the Mainstream Public?

_{The depressing stats tell a tale that’s a bit more complex: Readers tolerate out-of-touch media less now because they we need them so much less} _{Denyse O'Leary

June 16, 2022

5

Media, Social Media}

Earlier this week we looked at the way a flailing newspaper chain decided to cut back on editorial and opinion pages. The decision should not be a surprise in an age when so much opinion is available for free — and by no means is all of it foolish. One familiar response has been to say, well, media are too “liberal” (or “leftist” or “progressive”) for the readers — and that’s why newspaper are losing them. It’s a factor but there is more to the story. First, we are dealing with a fact: Pious disclaimers notwithstanding, as a group, media personnel are generally more likely to support progressive causes than average Americans. A variety of explanations is offered, including this Read More ›

Toilet paper shortage coronavirus panic buying man hoarding carrying many rolls at home in fear of corona virus outbreak closing shopping stores.

^{Type
post

Author
News
Date
June 10, 2022

Categorized
Information Theory, Media, Social Media

Tagged
Being as Communion (book), Big Tech authoritarianism, Brownstone Institute, COVID-19 panic, Information (characteristics of information), Jeffrey A. Tucker, William Dembski on nature of information}

Economist Faces Painful Truths About COVID-19 Information Dump

_{Jeffrey A. Tucker admits he was wrong to think that just giving people more information would reduce panic — or that Big Tech was a force for human freedom} _{News

June 10, 2022

6

Information Theory, Media, Social Media}

Economist Jeffrey A. Tucker, president of the Brownstone Institute, shares some thoughts about what he learned about the spread and management of information from the response to COVID-19. Two things he learned are especially worth noting. At one time, Tucker, who describes himself as a “Victorian Whig” (an old-fashioned liberal), believed that merely giving people access to more accurate information would improve our response to crises. He had good reason to believe that: Historically, dictators like Stalin, Hitler, or Xi have restricted access to information in order to keep the public easy to control. So what happened when, in the Western world, the internet opened the dam? The speed and abundance of information actually amplified error. At the height of Read More ›

^{Type
post

Author
Denyse O'Leary
Date
June 10, 2022

Categorized
Censorship, Media, Social Media

Tagged
Alejandro Mayorkas, Chuck Grassley, COVID-19 vaccines, Disinformation Governance Board, Face masks against COVID-19, Josh Hawley, Lab leak theory (COVID-19), Whistleblowers, Yoel Roth}

Dox Show Disinformation Board Was For Use Against Americans Too

_{A whistleblower leaked a cache of documents to two U.S. senators who have put them online} _{Denyse O'Leary

June 10, 2022

6

Censorship, Media, Social Media}

On Tuesday, Senators Chuck Grassley (R – Iowa) and Senator Josh Hawley (R – Missouri) publicized whistleblower documents that make clear that the Disinformation Governance Board, currently on hold, had much greater ambitions than we have been led to believe. Here are some highlights from the documents publicized June 7, 2022: Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas explicitly told CNN that the new Governance Board was not intended to spy on U.S.citizens: Mayorkas: Ministry of Truth won’t “monitor American citizens … the board does not have any operational capability. What it’ill do is gather together best practices … & disseminate those best practices to the operators that have been executing & addressing this threat for years” pic.twitter.com/VbHF6Wek2Y — Tom Read More ›

^{Type
post

Author
Denyse O'Leary
Date
June 6, 2022

Categorized
Censorship, Social Media

Tagged
Bill Gates and Musk's Twitter bid, Chinese Communist Party and Musk's Twitter bid, Elon Musk (and Twitter), Elon Musk and Twitter bid opponents, Elon Musk on media and Jeffrey Epstein, Twitter (and Elon Musk), Twitterbots and Twitter's influence}

Will Musk’s Twitter Bid — Win or Lose — Damage Twitter’s Power?

_{Stirring the pot, Musk recently slammed current media’s marked disinterest in who teen sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein’s prominent clients were …} _{Denyse O'Leary

June 6, 2022

7

Censorship, Social Media}

Just in: “Musk threatens to walk away from Twitter deal:” DETROIT (AP) — Elon Musk is threatening to walk away from his $44 billion bid to buy Twitter, accusing the company of refusing to give him information about its spam bot and fake accounts. Lawyers for the Tesla and SpaceX CEO made the threat in a letter to Twitter dated Monday, and Twitter disclosed it in a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. The letter says Musk has repeatedly asked for the information since May 9, about a month after his offer to buy the company, so he could evaluate how many of the company’s 229 million accounts are fake. Tom Krisher and Matt O’Brien , “Musk threatens Read More ›

^{Type
post

Author
News
Date
May 26, 2022

Categorized
Social Media

Tagged
Botometer, Elon Musk vs. the Twitterbots, Filippo Menczer, Kai-Cheng Yang, Norton (on Twitterbots), Twitter (and Twitterbots), Twitterbots}

Could Elon Musk Really Banish the Twitterbots?

_{Assuming he buys Twitter, industry opinion is divided as to whether his ambitious plan can succeed} _{News

May 26, 2022

5

Social Media}

Norton, the antivirus giant, offers some timely thoughts on Twitterbots. First, not all bots are malicious: Twitter bots, also known as zombies, are automated Twitter accounts controlled by bot software. While they are programmed to perform tasks that resemble those of everyday Twitter users — such as liking tweets and following other users — their purpose is to tweet and retweet content for specific goals on a large scale. Twitter bots can be used for helpful purposes, such as broadcasting important content like weather emergencies in real time, sharing informative content en masse, and generating automatic replies via direct messaging. Emerging Threats, “What’s a Twitter bot and how to spot one” at Norton (June 16, 2020) But some are malicious: Read More ›

Social media censorship, political war between US president banning social networks. Tiny person on the laptop keyboard looking at the forbidden sign on the screen. Internet communication risk concept

^{Type
post

Author
Denyse O'Leary
Date
May 18, 2022

Categorized
Censorship, Media, Social Media

Tagged
Bill Maher, Disinformation Governance Board, Elon Musk, Mark Steyn, Nina Jankowicz, Taylor Lorenz}

New U.S. Disinformation Board on Hold Amid Flak From Both Sides

_{Most current controversies are not clear divisions between True and Untrue or Right and Wrong. Government would merely reinforce the Establishment} _{Denyse O'Leary

May 18, 2022

5

Censorship, Media, Social Media}

If you’d blinked, you’d have missed it: The Department of Homeland Security on Wednesday paused a new and controversial board’s work on disinformation and accepted the resignation of its leader, capping weeks of concerns about impinging on free speech rights and at times frenzied conspiracy theories about the board itself… The Disinformation Governance Board’s director, Nina Jankowicz, wrote Wednesday that the board’s future was “uncertain,” according to a resignation letter obtained by The Associated Press. Nomaan Merchant and Amanda Seitz, “New ‘disinformation’ board paused amid free speech questions” at Associated Press (May 18, 2022) A recommendation as to whether the Board should continue will be offered, we are told, within 75 days. The Washington Post knows who to blame: “How Read More ›

Business crisis manager stopping falling dominos from collapsing

^{Type
post

Author
Denyse O'Leary
Date
May 17, 2022

Categorized
Censorship, Media, Social Media

Tagged
Brendan O'Neill, Elon Musk, Elon Musk (Twitter buy opposition), European Union (on Musk Twitter buy), Media (support for censorship), Project Veritas (Twitter buy leak), Siru Murugesan, Twitter}

Who Opposes Musk’s Proposed Twitter Takeover Deal?

_{Four groups to watch are Twitter employees, left-wing action coalitions, legacy media, and the European Union} _{Denyse O'Leary

May 17, 2022

7

Censorship, Media, Social Media}

First, the state of play: Elon Musk’s foray into buying Twitter remains on hold amid disputes about how much of Twitter is dominated by bot accounts. Musk believes that 20% of the accounts are spam. Spam bots on Twitter are automated accounts that can take actions like real humans, such as sending out tweets, following other users, as well as liking and retweeting other users’ posts. Such accounts can be programmed to try and drive traffic to a product or service as part of a commercial endeavor or spread content as part of a social or political influence operation. Tom Ozimek, “Musk Says Twitter Deal on Hold Over Spam Bots” at Epoch Times (May 13, 2022) That’s something Musk says Read More ›

Roboter auf Tastatur, Methapher für Chatbot / Socialbot, Algorithmen und künstliche Intelligenz

^{Type
post

Author
Denyse O'Leary
Date
May 13, 2022

Categorized
Business and Finance, Social Media

Tagged
Elon Musk (and Twitter), Elon Musk (Canadian connections), Elon Musk (media hostility), Jacob Carpenter, Media (advocating censorship), Twitter (and Elon Musk), Twitterbots}

Musk’s Twitter Deal Is at Risk Amid Fierce Attacks on Him

_{Tarred as a privileged white South African, Musk moved to Canada at 17 to avoid serving in South Africa’s apartheid army} _{Denyse O'Leary

May 13, 2022

4

Business and Finance, Social Media}

Traditional media and many tech mavens are elated that Elon Musk’s Twitter deal is now shaky. It’s no secret that they were unhappy with it and with him. The New York Times launched an extraordinary attack on Musk on May 5, tweeting “Elon Musk grew up in elite white communities in South Africa, detached from apartheid’s atrocities and surrounded by anti-Black propaganda. He sees his takeover of Twitter as a free speech win but in his youth did not suffer the effects of misinformation.” In reality, Musk left for Canada at the age of 17, to avoid serving in the South African military, whose principal purpose was to oppress black South Africans. He had Canadian citizenship by way of his Read More ›