The 76th Block: The coloniser mentality
If it's not land, it's something else; if it's not destruction on this planet, it's on another
This week…
If there’s one thing you read, make it Emily Atkin’s essay on the climate coloniser mentality:
America’s modern-day Columbuses (Columbi?) are widely celebrated for their endeavors. But indigenous climate activists know colonizer mentality when they see it. Musk, Bezos, and Gates believe the natural world can be bent to accommodate humanity’s existing behavior—and they are obsessed with doing the bending. Conversely, they are fairly disinterested in changing behavior to accommodate the natural world.
And if you have time for more, here’s a selection of top stories on my radar, a few personal recommendations, and the chart of the week.
Pentagon wants AI to predict events before they occur
Natasha Bajema for IEEE Spectrum:
These AI-enabled platforms are expected to go beyond merely providing enhanced situational awareness and better early warning to offer U.S. military leaders what is considered the holy grail of operational planning—producing strategic warning of adversarial actions in the gray zone (i.e., the competition phase), prior to any irreversible moves having been made. Such an advancement would allow decision-makers to formulate proactive options (rather than the reactive ones of the past) and enable much faster decisions.
It’s tempting ask: What could possibly go wrong?
Related: Americans need a Bill of Rights for an AI-powered world by Eric Lander and Alondra Nelson, both with the US White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, for Wired.
Media consolidation and algorithms make Facebook a bad place for sharing local news
“Issues of importance to local audiences are being drowned out in favour of harder-hitting news pieces with national relevance,” writes Shraddha Chakradhar for Nieman Lab, in an examination of a study published this month in Digital Journalism by researchers at the University of Minnesota.
Facebook to change rules on attacking public figures on its platforms
Elizabeth Culliford for Reuters:
Facebook will now count activists and journalists as “involuntary” public figures and so increase protections against harassment and bullying targeted at these groups, its global safety chief said in an interview this week.
The social media company, which allows more critical commentary of public figures than of private individuals, is changing its approach on the harassment of journalists and “human rights defenders,” who it says are in the public eye due to their work rather than their public personas.
What I read, watch and listen to…
I’m reading The Fran Lebowitz Reader by Fran Lebowitz.
I’m watching the Tokyo 2020 replays, all available on the Olympic site.
I’m listening to how linguists figure out the grammar of a language on Lingthusiasm by Gretchen McCulloch and Lauren Gawne.
Chart of the week
A survey by Nature of more than 300 scientists who have given media interviews about COVID-19 has found wide experience of harassment or abuse, writes Bianca Nogrady.