More Linky Links

More stuff I found interesting or amusing and thought I'd share.

- Mass makes deal to pay federal government $2.1 billion over 10-year because of "mistake."

- The Tech Bros love Trump because the Democrats pushed them away. Reminder that Trump, RFK Jr., and Tulsi Gabbard were also literally Democrats (HT Stephen Landry)

- What else can AI do?

- VDH: More on Biden's So-called "Oligarchs."

Linky Links

Stuff I found interesting or amusing and thought I'd share.

- The Free Press: How long can Kamala Harris avoid the press? Keep saying the longer she waits - the worse it will be for her when she finally does.

- Olympians got much sicker from having to swim in the Seine River in Paris than they did in Rio di Janeiro or Tokyo .

- 10 Reasons Why Technological Progress is Now Reversing. Longish read but well worth it. He has a good point.

- Is asteroid mining about to become a real thing?

Semiconductors: China Is Fucked

Interesting move by the Biden Administration - who just placed new technology restrictions on China in regard to the semiconductor industry. No US firm involved with semiconductors are allowed to continue to do business with China and no US citizen is allowed to work in China on semiconductor related industries.

"For all practical purposes the Chinese semiconductor industry of everything over the Internet of Things level of quality is now dead, and that has a lot more implications than it sounds."

Don't think the threat of stripping a person's citizenship for defying the Executive Order is constitutional but the effects of the Order have been immediate. I can see this effecting the War in Ukraine as the Chinese have become Russia's sole chip supplier for all their higher tech weapons and the Russian arsenal was already depleted. 

We'll have to wait to see how the rest of the repercussions shake out.

First Fake News but Now Fake Music?

"Fake" artists and music are more widespread and insidious on streaming platforms than I ever imagined.

Seems just like in diet where real food where you select the ingredients is much more healthy for you - curated playlists on streaming platforms are like processed foods filled with empty calories. Just in this case the empty calories are fake artists and music.

It's all about who the algorithm awards the royalty dollars to. 

The Real Tech Backlash?

Premise that a potential tech rebellion may be coming and it will be about - sex. Stats like, "44.2 million Americans use dating apps, while a full third of men on those apps report that they have never gone on a single date" are shown to bolster the argument. 

Don't necessarily disagree with the premise but wonder if it was due to lack of space that the big sex/tech elephant in the room wasn't even mentioned - porn. Wonder what percentage of that third of men on dating apps who can't get a date watch porn on a daily basis? Guessing the number would be easily north of 50%. Tech in all its forms and apps has perverted (in both senses of the word) sex and relationships in real life. And soon with the Metaverse you won't even have to meet other people IRL 

The counter argument is that dating has always been rough. In every generation there was always large segments that had trouble finding or getting dates. It brought to mind this Louis CK bit.

I fall into the category of believing that the author is right - that a tech backlash is brewing over sex and that the backlash will be non-partisan. I just can foresee the repercussions from such a backlash.

The Entire Bay Area Has Become a Large Declining Tech Company

Peter Yared discusses how San Francisco and the Bay Area in general have become similar to a large declining tech company.  He documents five categories of similarities between San Fran and Yahoo!:

1. The monoculture and the shunning of heretics

2. The declining brand and the power of buzz

3. The empty campus and petty crime

4. The people who leave and the people who stay

5. The shenanigans with finances and metrics

Very insightful and accurate comparisons. And the conclusion is spot on; "The Bay Area needs the equivalent: people who know how to grow a metropolitan area, build housing and infrastructure, and attract new business. The problem is that the voters have to vote for a change agent, and the change agents are all moving to Miami."

Linky Links

Stuff I found interesting or amusing and thought I'd share.

- Disney and Sony come to an agreement that will finally bring the Tom Holland Spiderman movies (and other properties) to Disney+ (and other Disney owned channels).

-  The Network State - How to Start a New Country. This is a very possible scenario. I wonder if you could have dual citizenship and passports?

- Great moment in Boston Bruins history

- Justin Fields tells NFL teams he's managing epilepsy. Let the rumors of him slipping to the Patriots at 15 begin. Personally I'd be more comfortable with a QB with epilepsy than one who's a vegan.