“There’s no Dropbox plan that will let us upload body and soul to the cloud. We are still here on the ground, with the same people and on the same planet we are being encouraged to leave behind.” Author and media theorist Douglas Rushkoff asks: how much are we allowed to use technology and our […]
Technology
Posted inNonfiction
It’s Time To Talk About Solar Geoengineering
We need to start talking about seemingly drastic approaches to the climate crisis, such as sun-dimming aerosols, right now — or we risk losing democratic control of the process.
Posted inNonfiction
How Google Discovered the Value of Surveillance
In 2002, still reeling from the dot-com crash, Google realized they’d been harvesting a very valuable raw material — your behavior.
Posted inNonfiction
‘We Live in an Atmosphere of General Inexorability’: An Interview with Jia Tolentino
Jia Tolentino talks about what kinds of personalities thrive online, why she is suspicious of her own self-narrative, and the pervading sense that everything’s spiraling out of control.
Posted inEditor's Pick
The I in We
How WeWork — a company based on founder Adam Neumann’s vision of a “capitalist kibbutz” — became a sleek, dystopian, mammoth-sized tech unicorn.
Posted inNonfiction
How the Cosby Story Finally Went Viral — And Why It Took So Long
A journalist who reported on the accusations long before they went viral wonders, “What kind of profession am I in, where stories have no logical reason for unfolding?”
Posted inNonfiction
Technology Is as Biased as Its Makers
From exploding Ford Pintos to racist algorithms, all harmful technologies are a product of unethical design. Yet, like car companies in the ’70s, today’s tech companies would rather blame the user.
Posted inBusiness, Business & Tech, Commentary, Culture, Story, Uncategorized
We All Work for Facebook
Digital labor is valuable even when we do it for free. Should we get paid?
Posted inNonfiction
Against Hustle: Jenny Odell Is Taking Her Time at the End of the World
The attention economy is killing us and the planet. Artist and writer Jenny Odell talks about why slowing down could be the only way to survive.
Posted inBusiness & Tech, education, Highlight, Nonfiction, Quote Posts, Quotes
‘Intelligent Education’ and China’s Grand AI Experiment
Seven schools in China have installed facial recognition technology in classrooms to monitor — and score — their students. At The Disconnect, Yujie Xue reports on this “intelligent education” initiative.