CategoryTechnology
Americans Are Lonely. Sometimes Even When They’re Together
Technology can obstruct our connection with others, but it can also train us to not even want friendship in the first place
The Smartphone is the Enemy of Learning
Digital devices are hijacking kids' ability to concentrate in the classroom
Valley’s “Most Important Person,” Peter Thiel, To Speak at COSM
Thiel’s contrarian mystique likely stems from the fact that he is in a position to say out loud what other Valley dwellers must be content to whisper
A Weekend Watch: Paul Kingsnorth and Louise Perry
Who is technology serving?
Growing Up on the Internet is Like Growing Up on Mars
We need to come back to Earth
Interstellar Space Travel: But Why Not Dream?
What would we need to trim the daunting energy requirement for space travel down to size? It's a challenge
Interstellar Travel: Fantasy or Destiny?
The energy required to power a spaceship to a nearby star, given current tech, is 4,800 times the total energy consumption of the United States in the year 2022
Governor Huckabee Sanders Against Big Tech
Governor takes action based on Jonathan Haidt's research
How I Turned My Smartphone Into a “Dumbphone”
I've had it being a pawn of Big Tech
Bizarre New iPad Pro Ad Says the Quiet Part Out Loud
Witnessing the rise of anti-human corporate techYesterday, Apple CEO Tim Cook shared the brand-new preview of the “thinnest iPad” to date, the iPad Pro, praising its portability and capacity. Capitalizing on the “thin” aspect, the promo commercial, titled “Crush!” has been turning heads and could also be accused of crushing the human spirit. The commercial plays to the song “All I Need is You” by Sonny & Cher, opening up with a metronome and a record player. Then, the scene broadens out to show a platform in the middle of a room piled with an array of gadgets and knickknacks, like a drum set, cans of paint, a trumpet, piano, bust of a Greco-Roman figure, a globe, chess set, and other goods that the mind naturally Read More ›
Is TikTok a National Security Risk?
Consuming without thinking is fertile soil for propaganda
Helpful Video Maps Out Gen Z Mental Health Crisis
The glow of the screen is swallowing a generation, and it needs to stopSocial psychologist Jonathan Haidt’s new book The Anxious Generation topped the New York Times bestsellers’ chart two weeks in a row, and has been stirring up a lot of commentary in the meantime. Haidt’s basic thesis is that we have drastically overprotected children in the real world and woefully under-protected them in the virtual world. A new video helpfully lines out this argument, and shows why today’s generation, more than the Millennials who preceded them, struggle so intensely with anxiety, depression, and loneliness. In a recent interview, author and public intellectual Andy Crouch said that while he doesn’t know if it can be backed up neurologically, there is something about the “glow” of screens that wakens something primordial in the Read More ›
Bob Metcalfe on Our Connected World
Discovery Institute Senior Fellow Jay Richards interviews Bob Metcalfe, inventor of EthernetThe Walter Bradley Center for Natural and Artificial Intelligence is pleased to be able to share the videos from the 2023 COSM conference, now available on YouTube. This annual conference explores the status and the future of our era-defining technologies, from artificial intelligence to electric vehicles to new developments in biotech. Today’s video features a conversation with Bob Metcalfe, a pioneer in the field of computer science and the inventor of Ethernet. Discovery Institute Senior Fellow Jay Richards interviews Bob Metcalfe, inventor of Ethernet and recipient of the prestigious Turing Award, about the predicted pathologies of the internet and the reversals associated with the rise of connectivity.
Anti-Aging: Is it Possible or a Pipe Dream?
A brand-new video on the topic of anti-aging technologies from the 2023 COSM conferenceThe Walter Bradley Center for Natural and Artificial Intelligence is pleased to be able to share the videos from the 2023 COSM conference, now available on YouTube. This annual conference explores the status and the future of our era-defining technologies, from artificial intelligence to electric vehicles to new developments in biotech. Today’s video features a discussion on anti-aging, and whether this is even a possibility. Matt Scholz, CEO of Oisin Biotechnologies, leads a discussion with Vered Caplan, CEO of Orgenesis, and Elena Sergeeva, Neuroscientist at Tufts and Harvard and co-founder of Tiamat Labs, about anti-aging biotechnologies — how genetic reprogramming of cells could negate the effects of aging and even allow a person to stay in perfect health indefinitely, essentially Read More ›
U.S. Sues the Big Apple (the Tech One)
Apple claims the suit sets dangerous federal precedent
Online Training: Real Education or Going Through the Motions?
Not all online trainings are bad. But many are procedural and pointless.
Will Apple’s Vision Pro Be the Next iPhone?
Or end up like Google Glass? With Vision Pro, in order to see anything, including the ordinary world around you, you have to use the multiple mounted cameras(This article by Texas State University engineering prof Karl D. Stephan originally appeared at Engineering Ethics Blog (February 5, 2024) and is reprinted with permission.) Back in June of 2023, Apple announced its Vision Pro, which the Wikipedia article about it calls a “mixed reality” headset. This week, in some parts of the world you can now buy your own Vision Pro—for $3,500. While this will not be an obstacle for wealthy early adopters, the rest of us will probably wait until the beta-version bugs are worked out and the price comes down. In the meantime, we can think about what this means for the future of humanity. That sounds either presumptuous or silly, but there is no question that Read More ›
The Apple Vision Pro is Here
What exactly is the point of this new, painfully expensive piece of gadgetry?