Our weekly round-up of the news, some trends, and our thoughts — plus a reading list for the weekend.
Weird news in the tech world: A.I. seems to be making its way into the nonfiction world. Netflix has been accused of using AI-manipulated images in a new true crime documentary. They allegedly manipulated photos to make the subject of the documentary appear “happy & confident" before being accused of murder. Netflix gave no mention of A.I. being used, but people noticed missing fingers and other inconsistencies in the photos. The Wall Street Journal released an investigative report into a secret operation by Amazon (who is currently battling antitrust laws) to get data on competitors. They developed a secret company called Big River Services International who would sell products as a third-party vendor on other e-commerce marketplaces in order to “obtain pricing data, logistics information, and other details.” As the WSJ writes, “Lawyers say there is a difference between such corporate intelligence gathering of publicly available information, and what is known as corporate or industrial espionage.” And people are freaking out because Mark Zuckerberg (though apparently this image is also A.I.) and Priscilla Chan look really good.
Colleges, Speech, and Palestine: The University of Southern California barred its valedictorian, Asna Tabassum, from speaking at next month’s commencement ceremony. The school cited potential campus safety risks, but Tabassum responded with doubts on this, because, in her words, “My request for the details underlying the university's threat assessment has been denied, and because I am not being provided any increased safety to be able to speak at commencement." At Columbia, 108 students were arrested at a protest and Ilhan Omar’s daughter was one of three students suspended. This all comes as Israel strikes back at Iran after the attacks last weekend. Initial reporting from The Times says, “Initial reaction in both Israel and Iran was muted, which analysts said was a sign that the rivals were seeking to lower the temperature of their conflict.”
Recommended Reading
This very thoughtful and thorough essay on ‘The Life and Death of Hollywood’ by Daniel Bessner. “The studios, now beholden to much larger companies and financial institutions, became subject to oversight focused on short-term horizons. This summer, I spoke with the head of a film and TV studio purchased by a private-equity firm in recent years. “It used to be there were these big, crusty, old legacy companies that had a longer-term view,” he said, “that could absorb losses, and could take risks. But now everything is driven by quarterly results. The only thing that matters is the next board meeting. You don’t make any decisions that have long-term benefits. You’re always just thinking about, ‘How do I meet my numbers?’ ” Efficiency and risk avoidance began to run the game.”
This media heavy and excellently reported piece The Cloud Under The Sea by Josh Dzieza. “The world’s emails, TikToks, classified memos, bank transfers, satellite surveillance, and FaceTime calls travel on cables that are about as thin as a garden hose. There are about 800,000 miles of these skinny tubes crisscrossing the Earth’s oceans, representing nearly 600 different systems, according to the industry tracking organization TeleGeography. The cables are buried near shore, but for the vast majority of their length, they just sit amid the gray ooze and alien creatures of the ocean floor, the hair-thin strands of glass at their center glowing with lasers encoding the world’s data.”
This long read on the future revealing itself, The Brazilianization of the World by Alex Hochuli. [Not to be confused with The Brazilianization of the Internet which we also recommend below.] “Welcome to Brazil. Here the only people satisfied with their situation are financial elites and venal politicians. Everyone complains, but everyone shrugs their shoulders. This slow degradation of society is not so much a runaway train, but more of a jittery rollercoaster, occasionally holding out promise of ascent, yet never breaking free from the tracks. We always come back to where we started, shaken and disoriented, haunted by what might have been.”
This weeks interview with Drew Austin, author of Kneeling Bus Substack gave some insight into his other writings and work, start with these!