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Ben Werdmuller

Ben Werdmuller

Culture

Peter Capaldi says posh actors are smooth, confident and tedious

[Vanessa Thorpe in The Guardian] “Art is about reaching out. So I think it’s wrong to allow one strata of society to have the most access.” This is an older article, but it resonated with me so much that I wanted to share it immediately. This is so important,

25 Jun 2024

AI

Fighting bots is fighting humans

[Molly White] "I fear that media outlets and other websites, in attempting to "protect" their material from AI scrapers, will go too far in the anti-human direction." I've been struggling with this. I'm not in favor of the 404 Media approach, which

25 Jun 2024

Notable Links

AP to launch sister organization to fundraise for state, local news

"Governed by an independent board of directors, the 501(c)3 charitable organization will help AP sustain, augment and grow journalism and services for the industry, as well as help fund other entities that share a commitment to state and local news." Fascinating! And much needed. I'

25 Jun 2024

Some polite words regarding the British General Election on July 4

On July 4th I’ll be on the beautiful Oregon coast, and I plan to have a bottle of champagne handy. Not so much because of the American Independence Day — although there’s nothing wrong with celebrating that, and I’m sure I will — but because of the British election

25 Jun 2024

Notable Links

Law enforcement is spying on thousands of Americans’ mail, records show

[Drew Harwell at the Washington Post] "Postal inspectors say they fulfill [requests from law enforcement to share information from letters and packages] only when mail monitoring can help find a fugitive or investigate a crime. But a decade’s worth of records, provided exclusively to The Washington Post in

24 Jun 2024

AI

The Future of Fashion Commerce Is a Designer's AI Bot Saying You Look Great and Your Personal AI Bot Sifting Through the Bullshit

[Hunter Walk] "The best commerce platforms will be constantly grooming you, priming you, shaping you to buy. The combination of short-term and long-term value that leads to the optimal financial outcome for the business." I think this is inevitably correct: the web will devolve into a battle between

24 Jun 2024

Society

Why does moral progress feel preachy and annoying?

[Daniel Kelly and Evan Westra in Aeon] "Many genuinely good arguments for moral change will be initially experienced as annoying. Moreover, the emotional responses that people feel in these situations are not typically produced by psychological processes that are closely tracking argument structure or responding directly to moral reasons.

24 Jun 2024

Business

Systems: What does a board of directors do?

[Anil Dash] "I realize that most people who've never been in the boardroom have a lot of questions (and often, anxieties) about what happens on a board, so I wanted to share a very subjective view of what I've seen and learned over the years.

22 Jun 2024

Don't let them tell you what to think

Last year I wrote a little about how I hope AI will be used, using the GPS navigation in my car as an analogy: I like my GPS. I use it pretty much every time I drive. But it’s not going to make the final decision about which way

22 Jun 2024

AI

I Will Piledrive You If You Mention AI Again

[Nikhil Suresh at Ludicity] "This entire class of person is, to put it simply, abhorrent to right-thinking people. They're an embarrassment to people that are actually making advances in the field, a disgrace to people that know how to sensibly use technology to improve the world, and

20 Jun 2024

Privacy

New ALPR Vulnerabilities Prove Mass Surveillance Is a Public Safety Threat

[Dave Maass and Cooper Quintin at EFF] "When law enforcement uses ALPRs to document the comings and goings of every driver on the road, regardless of a nexus to a crime, it results in gargantuan databases of sensitive information, and few agencies are equipped, staffed, or trained to harden

19 Jun 2024

Culture

Social-Media Influencers Aren’t Getting Rich—They’re Barely Getting By

[Sarah E. Needleman and Ann-Marie Alcántara at the Wall Street Journal] "Earning a decent, reliable income as a social-media creator is a slog—and it’s getting harder. Platforms are doling out less money for popular posts and brands are being pickier about what they want out of sponsorship

18 Jun 2024
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Werd I/O explores the intersection of technology, democracy, and society. It's independently published by Ben Werdmuller, reader-supported, and always free to read.