Category Archives: Transhuman News

Like pretty much anything else, the COVID-19 pandemic derailed numerous bills in the Colorado legislature last year. And while lawmakers say their priority for the 2021 legislative session, which resumes Tuesday, will be addressing the ongoing pandemic-related needs of Coloradans, they can expect to see several familiar pieces of possible policy.

Democratic Senate Majority Leader Steve Fenberg said this session wont just be about how do we stop the bleeding or how do we get back to normal, but how do we actually get back to a place or build back to a place where our state is strong, where our state is more equitable, more resilient for the next crisis thats potentially around the corner.

His party controls both chambers of the General Assembly, and The Post explained earlier this year what the main priorities will be. But its also time to highlight a few of the bills thatll be making a repeat appearance.

Washington state became the first in the nation to allow for natural organic reduction as an after-death option; that is, turning your remains into soil.

Sponsors of the returning bill say the method is considered more environmentally sustainable and is less costly and they want to make it a legal option in Colorado.

Arvada Democratic Rep. Brianna Titone is bringing back the bill with her fellow sponsors from last year, and said she has been getting emails from people who are interested in seeing this bill become law.

Had the pandemic been as bad as things were projected to be back in March and April, having an additional option for your loved ones would be beneficial, said Delta Republican Rep. Matt Soper, who is also sponsoring the bill.

Despite pushback from Gov. Jared Polis last year, a Democrat is insistent that mental health wellness exams should be covered by insurance just like physical exams.

Polis said last year he wouldnt sign any more new insurance mandates, but Commerce City Rep. Dafna Michaelson Jenet said covering mental health exams is not a new mandate, but rather another step toward parity.

My goal is to turn around the suicide rate. I want to see that number going down And the only way to do that is through regular mental health wellness and making sure that we start doing things to make mental health care not only accessible but stigma-free, said Michaelson Jenet, who is still negotiating with Polis office.

Last years attempts to pass gun control legislation were killed in committee because of COVID, and Democrats are bringing back two bills that would require people to report lost or stolen firearms, and safely store guns in homes.

Sponsors of the safe storage bill expect it to be almost identical to last years bill. Gun owners would have to secure their firearms and gun stores or dealers would be mandated to provide locking devices when they sell or transfer any guns. Individuals who violate the law, if passed, could face a misdemeanor charge, but Democratic sponsor Rep. Kyle Mullica of Thornton said the point of the bill is to change behavior, not necessarily punish people.

Both bills will likely be met with opposition from Republicans, which Rep. Tom Sullivan expects. Sullivan, a Democrat from Centennial whose son was killed in the Aurora theater shooting, believes these two bills are necessary in addition to one that would set up mandatory waiting periods.

Gun violence is one issue our communities talk about every single day, he said.

One of the most contentious bills of the 2020 session was the creation of a hybrid public health insurance option for people who buy their own insurance on the individual or small-group markets.

But as legislators began to wrap up a COVID-shortened session and dropped bills with high fiscal notes, the public option bill suffered the same fate. This year, sponsors plan to bring it back in a different form.

Democratic Rep. Dylan Roberts of Avon called it a new concept that he expects will get less pushback mostly because the proposal is coming from the health care industry itself. He doesnt necessarily anticipate the industry will be completely supportive, but the groups are having better dialogue than before, he said.

The bill, expected to be introduced next month, is two-pronged: In the first phase, the state would provide targets for reducing the cost of insurance premiums in 2023 and 2024. Insurance companies will be able to work with hospitals, pharmaceutical companies and others to negotiate premiums. If they dont meet those goals, then the state will create a government health insurance plan, the Colorado Health Insurance Option, that hospitals will be required to accept.

Protecting leaders from threats and intimidation will be a common theme this year. Lawmakers intend to bring back a bill that died last year because they needed to do more research about protecting political speech.

At issue is creating a potential felony if one makes a credible threat against a state or local elected official or his or her property. The controversial bill isnt meant to be partisan, according to Mullica, but instead make sure leaders wont be intimidated from doing their jobs.

Last years Republican sponsor, Soper, wont be signing onto the bill this year, but Mullica still hopes for bipartisan support.

Lawmakers previously passed legislation to protect social workers from threats and are supporting new legislation this year that would protect public health employees. However, the bill aimed at protecting lawmakers would add them to the protected class of judges, making offenses punishable by up to six years in prison or a fine as high as $500,000.

Hundreds of bills get introduced each year, and the abrupt end to the 2020 session means theres more than the ones detailed above. Look for the following bills (and more) to be revamped or similar to last year:

Of course, lawmakers also intend to introduce bills they didnt get to introduce last year because of the shortened session on things like: preventing U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement from using state databases for civil immigration enforcement and regulating metro districts.

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Guns, mental health and composting human bodies: Colorados legislature will see some familiar proposals as they return to the Capitol - The Denver...

In March 2020, at an assembly held at the Lake Braddock Secondary School in Burke, Virginia, Alex Mathers classmates received big news from NASA.

Mather had submitted a possible name for the Administrations newest Mars rover, and this submissionamong 28,000 received by NASA from young space enthusiastswas Perseverance. The night before his school assembly, he learned his submission had been chosen.

Its a NASA tradition to have kids choose the names of Mars rovers, Washington Posts KidsPost reported in March. Kids have come up with the past four: Curiosity, which landed on the red planet in 2012; Spirit, which landed in 2004; Opportunity, which landed three weeks after Spirit; and Sojourner, which landed on the Fourth of July in 1997.

Now, at approximately 3:55 p.m. EDT on Thursday, Feb. 18, Perseverance will attempt the most challengingand preciseMars landing in NASA history. If all goes smoothly, the rover will study Mars habitability in an attempt to determine if life ever took root on Mars. Perseverance, nicknamed Percy (many a scientist and science journalist has mentioned having trouble spelling Perseverance) will also look for signs of past life and conduct experiments that investigate the possibility of human exploration.

Perseverance is NASAs most ambitious Mars rover mission yet, Thomas Zurbuchen, associate administrator for the Science Mission Directorate at NASA Headquarters in Washington, said in a Feb. 16 press release. ...the landing team will have its hands full getting us to Jezero Crater the most challenging Martian terrain ever targeted for a landing.

Jezero Crater is a 28-mile-wide hollow located on the western margin of the Isidis Planitia region in Mars northern hemisphere. About three billion years ago, Jezero hosted a nearly 820-foot-deep lake, fed by a nearby ancient river delta rich in mineral sediments. Its the kind of place scientists think might have supported life. I think that has to be the hands-down most exciting thing that this site has to offer, Tim Goudge, a planetary scientist and postdoctoral fellow at University of Texas at Austin, told NOVA in 2018.

Mars orbiters have already spent years collecting information and images from 200 miles above Jezero. Pinpointing signs of ancient life will require a closer look, however. Thats where Perseverance, equipped with instruments that can detect organic matter and measure the composition of rocks and soil, comes in.

But theres a hitch: The rover and its companion, the first-ever space helicopter, named Ingenuity, were built by humans on Earth, and humans are notoriously contaminated. Humans are the dirtiest thing in that clean room where spacecraft assembly happens, Moogega Cooper, astronomer and lead of planetary protection for the Mars 2020 Mission, told NOVA producer Terri Randall. We have all kinds of microorganisms in our body and on our skin. And so we have to make sure that, from head to toe, and including our eyes the spacecraft is protected from human contamination, which could falsely signify life on Mars.

But Cooper had a greater concern, brought on by the challenges of building a rover and conducting a NASA mission during a pandemic. What was most worrying, she says, was that off the clock, you might catch COVID. There is now a vector to wipe out an entire team that could completely derail the mission and throw us off of our scheduled goal.

Fortunately, Perseverance successfully launched on Jul. 30, 2020 from Cape Canaveral, Florida. Since then, it has flown more than 290 million miles, zooming through space at 49,290 mph relative to the sun.

Percys 17-minute-long entry, descent, and landing will be broadcast on NASA television, beginning with the separation of Perseverance and the Ingenuity Mars Helicopter from the spacecrafts entry capsule. Next, while traveling at roughly 12,100 mph, the spacecraft will hit the top of the Martian atmosphere; friction from the atmosphere will heat the bottom of the spacecraft to temperatures as high as 2,370 F. Moments later, it will deploy its parachute at supersonic speed, NASA writes in its Feb. 16 press release.

An aeroshell containing NASAs Perseverance rover guides itself toward the Martian surface as it descends through the atmosphere in this illustration. Image Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

The Perseverance rover will use radar to detect how far it is from the surface of the red planet and a safe landing site. Once the entry capsule fully separates from the rover and its jetpack, which is equipped with retrorockets (small auxiliary rockets fired in the direction of travel to slow a craft down), Perseverance will touch down on Mars at 3:55 p.m. EDT.

First, itll pop up its head, take pictures, and transmit them back to Earth. Engineers will also check on the rovers health during its first few days on its new home planet, NASA writes in its press release. Then, the more difficult task of identifying signs of life and testing technology designed to produce oxygen from the Martian atmosphere (in hopes that the gas could be used for fuelor for humans to breatheon future missions) will begin.

If life has existed on Mars before, former astronaut Jeffrey Hoffman tells NOVA, it may be a sign that extraterrestrial life is more plentiful throughout our universe than previously thought. But theres also a chance that scientists dont find any signatures of life on the red planet. And that'll just tell us that our one planet is so unique and miraculous, geologist Tanja Bosak says.

Perseverance is playing a very critical role in our understanding of our place in the universe, Mars rover engineer Elio Morillo tells NOVA. And I think that's very noble.

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NASA's Mars Perseverance rover lands today. Here's what to expect | NOVA - NOVA Next

Inspired equally by centuries-old Chinese culture and forward-reaching technologies, artist Lu Yangs practice seeks common ground between vastly different ways of seeing the world.

The Shanghai-based artists fierce and confrontational multimedia work, which borrows from a variety of fields, including neuroscience, medicine, and religion. Collaboration is a key component of Lu Yangs practice, whooften looks to the likes of designers, composers, and performers to add their expertise toinstallation and video works. Trained in robotics, the artist is especially fascinated with contemporary gaming culture and is attuned to cutting-edge conversations having to do with the potential for post-gender and post-humansocieties.

A dancer working on Lu Yangs new work, Human Machine Reverse Motion Capture Project.

The artists latest endeavor came about after receiving the BMW Art Journey award,a joint initiative with Art Basel, in 2019. Lu Yang started the journey in early 2020, but the pandemic posed an obstacle. He decided to continue digitally. For the resulting project, which was done in collaboration with Acute Art, the leading producer of virtual and augmented-reality experiences, the artist created an augmented-reality artwork in which the artists own digital avatar takes on the role of a gigantic dancing superhero. The artwork explores the idea that, before too long, human bodies will be able to overcome physical limitations and enter strange and fascinating metaphysical realms.

Titled Human Machine Reverse Motion Capture Project, the project relied on motion-captured images of various dances, which the artist studied during the artists BMW Art Journey in January 2020, when he visited places such as Tokyo and Bali, where he put advanced motion-capture technology to work to record minute movements from dancers, which were then integrated into the final work.An anthropological approach to dance permeates the entirety of the project, which also reveals the extended artistic limits of contemporary technology.

We spoke with Lu Yang about the new work, what technology can teach us, and what he hopes to see happen in 2021.

BMW Art Journey winner Lu Yang, Gigant DOKU (2020), augmented reality. Courtesy of the artist and Acute Art in collaboration with BMW Group Culture.

The project is calledHuman Machine Reverse Motion Capture Project. How did you arrive at this title?

Artificial intelligence and humanoid robots are particularly popular topics at the moment. One can find many cases from different religions and cultures in which human beings attempted to train themselves to become robots.

Why do humans want to make humanoid robots? Robots dont necessarily need to have a human appearance. The emergence of robots adopting a humanoid appearance is more indicative of the human desire to surpass the flesh and pursue a perfect and immortal body, than any kind of technical imperative. As there are many things that the biological body cant realize, on the contrary, some missions can be easily done with a body that combines brand new material.

There are already many far-flung ideas in which humans seek to upload their consciousness to humanoid robots in pursuit of eternal life. History provides many examples. The strengthening and transcendence of the human beings physical body is not limited to our contemporary moment, but is rather an ongoing pursuit with a long history.

My research concerns how human beings physically train themselves to pursue super powerful bodies in traditional cultures, and the traces of human imitation of robots in history.

Lu Yang, Delusional Mandala (2015).

What was one important lesson you took away from the project?

The project is still ongoing, and it will be shown in phases. So there is still a large part that is not finished yet. I think the most important part of this work is the collaborations at all levelsI work with tech companies, and of course with BMW. It is only possible to complete this artwork with all these collaborations, and there will be more collaborators joining in the near future.

Dance is also a major component of this project. When did you first develop an interest in exploring dance in your work?

I have been extremely sensitive towards dance and music. My first use of dance was in my workLuYang delusional mandalain 2015. I used software like MikuMiku Dance to create some dance-related artwork, and did several real-time motion-capture performances. SinceLuYang delusional mandala, dance has existed through my artistic career.

BMW Art Journey winner Lu Yang, Gigant DOKU (2020), augmented reality. Courtesy of the artist and Acute Art in collaboration with BMW Group Culture.

This project involved in-person interactions, as well as virtual interactions. What interests you about working in both realms?

I have a huge interest in the extreme training of the human body. However, there arent many human beings that can train their bodies to extremity. With motion capture, we can collect movement data from masters who train their bodies into the extreme, and use this data in the digital world. So the skills that we cannot realize in reality [can] be done in the virtual world.

How did your collaboration with BMW evolve?

Being awarded the BMW Art Journey [award] at Art Basel 2019 was the beginning of my work with BMW. No matter before or during the pandemic, BMW has given the project generous support [by enabling the journey] and [supporting the] virtual development [of the work] after data gathering [was done]. BMW is a very serious listener to the artists idea, and they give artists completely free space, as well as help and support to the greatest extent.

What do you want to explore next in your practice?

I have been working with game engines throughout recent years, so the use of game engines and related technologies is the general direction of my future creations.

BMW Art Journey winner Lu Yang,Gigant DOKU (2020), augmented reality. Courtesy of the artist and Acute Art in collaboration with BMW Group Culture.

What about the intersection of art and technology is interesting to you?

The role of technology in my work is as a medium and a method. The meaning of technology is similar to that of a painter who created work with brushes hundreds of years ago. What technology wants to express is always the core content that I want to wrap in my practice, but these core contents are not separated from all the thoughts that human beings have been thinking about for a long time. Technology helps me express my works more conveniently and quickly.

What has 2020 taught you, both personally and professionally?

To live in the present.

What are you most looking forward to in the new year?

Im hoping that the COVID-19 vaccine will be universally effective, the virus and pandemic will dissipate, and that world peace will prevail.

The Augmented Reality Experience is available on Acute Art App. To experience the work:

The Acute Art app uses cutting-edge technology that works best onhigh-end phones with the latest software. The devices supported areiPhone X or above, and Samsung Galaxy S8 or equivalent. The apprequires a phone with a minimum of 4GB of memory and Apple iOS 11 orAndroid 8.0 Oreo (API 24) operating system.

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How Artist Lu Yang Teamed Up with BMW and Acute Art to Create a Futuristic Project About Robots and Technology - artnet News

Splatoon 3 is sending you back into the ink on Nintendo Switch, and it looks like it's finally going to let us see more of the series' strange world.

Nintendo gave Splatoon 3 a surprise reveal as the capstone to its long-awaited Nintendo Direct presentation. The trailer starts with a lone Inkling resting with her pet salmonid smallfry - you can customize both of them, by the way - before they set out on a journey past what very much looks like the Eiffel Tower, flipped over and lodged deep into the ground. It looks kinda rough out there in the country, but they're still able to catch a train into the big city just fine.

There were always some deep lore hints that Splatoon takes place in a post-human version of Earth, and it's cool to see Nintendo embracing more of the setting for this latest installment. On top of teasing more of the world, the trailer confirms that we'll once again face off with rival Inklings in level-painting turf wars - and we'll be able to use new weapons to do it, including an ink-flinging bow and arrow set.

The Splatoon 3 release date is currently set for some time in 2022, so we'll have a while to wait before we can start living our best lives as squid-people teens again. Will there be a new pair of idols to narrate our Splatfests? Will Salmon Run return too, ideally without the weird scheduling? Will there be an even lil'er Judd? Hopefully Nintendo shares more Splatoon 3 details soon.

See what else is on the way with our guide to upcoming Switch games.

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Splatoon 3 is coming to Nintendo Switch in 2022 with a wasteland, salmon pets, and more - Gamesradar

PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) A dive team found human remains inside a vehicle submerged in the Columbia River at the base of the Glenn Jackson Bridge, which runs between Oregon and Washington, police said Wednesday evening.

The body was recovered but the persons identity has not been released. The discovery comes days after a car reportedly went off the Glenn Jackson Bridge during a winter storm. There has been no confirmation that this is the same vehicle.

The break in the search came Wednesday afternoon by a private search crew that travels the country solving underwater mysteries, KOIN reported.

We found the car for the sheriff and were waiting for the sheriff to be able to pinpoint the location on their own, as well, said Jared Leisek of Adventures with Purpose. He traveled from Bend to search the waters around the bridge using sonar.

Reading sonar is an art, he said. If you dont read sonar everyday you can miss things.

Leisek said the crew did two passes and found the car practically underneath the bridge. The car was upside down in the river.

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Divers find human remains in a vehicle in the Columbia River - CT Post

Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) will meet this week for an Informal Virtual Session of the CBDs 24th meeting of the Subsidiary Body on Scientific, Technical and Technological Advice (SBSTTA 24), with a key agenda item being the post-2020 global biodiversity framework including the targets that will replace the current Aichi Biodiversity targets set for the Strategic Plan for Biodiversity 2011-2020.

The updated zero draft of the post-2020 framework published in August 2020 currently features a target that directly addresses the issue of wildlife trade, and commits Parties to "ensure that the harvesting, trade and use of wild species of fauna and flora is legal, at sustainable levels and safe" by 2030.

This is the first time since the Conventions entry into force in 1993 that a target specifically addressing wildlife trade is being considered. The current draft also includes a target that recognises the importance of considering the benefits to conservation and humans of sustainable use, with a target urging that "By 2030, ensure benefits, including nutrition, food security, livelihoods, health and well-being, for people, especially for the most vulnerable through sustainable management of wild species of fauna and flora".

TRAFFIC Director of Policy Sabri Zain warmly welcomes the new targets being discussed that are giving increased attention to the issue of sustainable use of biodiversity.

Inclusion of these targets reflects the importance of sustainable use of the components of biodiversity as one of the three goals of the Convention. It also represents the important role that the post-2020 framework will play in addressing the second biggest driver of negative impacts on nature.

Sabri Zain,TRAFFIC Director of Policy

In May 2020, a landmark report from the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) provided overwhelming evidence that nature is declining globally at rates unprecedented in human history, eroding the very foundations of our economies, livelihoods, food security, health and quality of life worldwide. The report identified the direct exploitation of animal and plant species, including harvesting, hunting, fishing and logging as the second biggest driver of negative impacts on nature, after changes in land and sea use.

It is also important that, beyond these two Targets, Parties consider the other targets in the draft post-framework where it is important to recognise the contribution of sustainable wildlife use to halting the biodiversity loss, Zain added. These include targets related to access to and the fair and equitable sharing of benefits, ensuring that biodiversity values are mainstreamed across all sectors; and ensuring production practices and supply chains are sustainable.

We encourage continued attention being given to sustainable use in deliberations on these targets, given its role as a durable and powerful incentive for conservation of wildlife and recognising the crucial contribution that sustainable wildlife management and use makes to the food security, health, income, jobs and well-being of humans, particularly Indigenous Peoples and Local Communities.

While the attention being given to these targets is welcomed, TRAFFIC believes that the adoption of strong indicators for these targets is essential for measuring progress on the effectiveness of their implementation.

Without robust indicators measuring the progress of effective target implementation, we will be doomed to repeat the results of the Global Biodiversity Outlook (GBO-5) released last September, which suggests that none of the 20 Aichi biodiversity Targets will be fully met. An effective monitoring mechanism and robust indicators are absolutely essential if the post-2020 framework is to be implemented effectively and will indeed prompt the transformative changes needed to reverse the rapid decline in nature. TRAFFIC stands ready to assist Parties with the relevant research and information needed in order to develop and measure progress on these indicators, Zain added.

For example, conservation of flora species generally receives less attention compared to other areas of wild species use and trade. The FairWild Standard provides a valuable tool to measure progress towards the sustainable use of plant diversity, and is being used by a growing number of companies for products sourced in countries around the world.

TRAFFICs work implementing this standard can be a practical way which we can contribute data to measuring the progress on the conservation of worlds flora, Zain added. The FairWild Standard is recognized by the CBDs Global Strategy for Plant Conservation, which on the agenda for discussion at SBSTTA 24.

The current COVID-19 pandemic has also put the spotlight on wildlife and its potential role in the transmission of zoonotic disease, highlighting the intimate link between human, animal and environmental health. A special virtual session was held in December on Biodiversity, One Health and COVID-19 in preparation for SBSTTA 24.

We are happy that Parties are taking this issue seriously and hope discussions this week will consider a balanced approach that will provide a strong role for the post-2020 framework in contributing to global efforts to prevent future outbreaks of zoonotic disease, while strengthening the conservation of wildlife and respecting livelihoods, food security and the culture of diverse groups of people Zain noted.

In October 2020, the members of the Collaborative Partnership on Sustainable Wildlife Management (CPW) published a joint statement setting out guiding principles aimed at reducing the risk of future pandemics originating from wild animals. The CPW is a voluntary partnership of 14 international organisations with substantive mandates and programmes for the sustainable use and conservation of wildlife resources, including the Secretariats of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES), World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE), Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), as well as NGOs such as TRAFFIC.

The Informal Virtual Session in preparation for SBSTTA 24 will take place during 17 - 19 February 2021 and 24 - 26 February 2021.

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Post-2020 global biodiversity framework must focus on sustainable use, strong indicators and the links with human health - Wildlife Trade News from...

To his critics, Craig Newmark the Craig of Craigslist is one of the tech pioneers who contributed to the financial demise of journalism with the invention of his classified advertising website.

To his supporters, he is the entrepreneur who has shunned serious Silicon Valley wealth to focus his time and money on saving the news industry and fighting disinformation.

Newmark a self-confessed over-thinker (when I tell him I live in Vancouver, Canada, he says: Please watch out for tsunamis!) admits that, for a while at least, he was concerned about what effect Craigslist might have had on journalism finances.

However, in an email exchange and then via a Zoom interview (highlights below), Newmark reveals his conscience is clear and not just because Craig Newmark Philanthropies has donated millions to the journalism industry in recent years.

Im very concerned about jobs for journalists, and the future of local journalism, and had always guessed that Craigslist might have an effect, he says.

[But] in the last two or three years, industry analysts have pointed out that when you take a good look, newspaper revenue began to fall after the introduction of television news in the early fifties [he points to Thomas Baekdals The Updated (and scary) Circulation and Revenue Figures for Newspapers].

They tell me that if Craigslist had an effect, they cant find it. But, regardless of that, Ive chosen to spend lots of resources supporting journalism.

Although Craigslist still bears his name, Newmarks involvement in the website he founded in 1995 is pretty minimal nowadays.

He remained a customer service representative for many years after standing down as chief executive in 2000. But today the 68-year-old has little time for Craigslist in between his 40 hours a week or more of philanthropic work.

Newmark a 1950s nerd who gets his news online and via the radio, rather than in print or on TV has long had an interest in journalism.

He started investing large amounts in trustworthy journalism in 2016 through his foundation, Craig Newmark Philanthropies, which hands out grants to worthy news organisations.

Why start in 2016?

The trustworthy press is the immune system of democracy, he says. And even in my naivety, I could see that the immune system was failing pretty badly.

And instead of limiting or stopping this spread of disinformation, I could see that frequently the press was being gamed into spreading disinformation. And so intuitively I recognised that something was going very badly wrong.

One of the specific issues Newmark identified was the spread of Russian state disinformation. The Russians are not quite as good as they claim they might be, he says. But theyve been very, very busy in the US and Europe and elsewhere, and theyve successfully destabilised governments.

Since 2016, Craig Newmark Philanthropies has awarded grants to ProPublica (whose president, Richard Tofel, was recently interviewed by Press Gazette), City University of New Yorks graduate journalism school (which is now named after Newmark), PEN America, the Poynter Institute and Wikipedia.

Why does Newmark use his money to donate rather than invest in journalism like fellow tech entrepreneursJeff Bezos and Marc Benioff, who own the Washington Post and Time magazine respectively?

My philanthropic model is to find people who are good at their job, and give power to them, in the form of influence and money, he says. Thats better with respect to news ethics, and, they really dont need me to be a pain in the butt.

And which journalism models does he expect to succeed in the future? I think well see a mix of models, with a diminishing role for advertising. My favourite, personally, is membership and subscription models.

Through his Twitter account, Newmark has recently shared several news and opinion articles that are critical of Facebooks handling of disinformation and misinformation. But he is hesitant to share his own opinions or insights too strongly.

For example, asked for his opinion on how tech companies handled the spread of misinformation on social media in 2020, he says: Perhaps they could enforce their terms of service better, and better combat disinformation.

Has Mark Zuckerberg done a good job of managing Facebook through disinformation issues?

I dont really know. And I guess again, do no harm I want to focus on things getting better rather than blame. That seems to be working The only way I get results is by gently nudging and just doing so relentlessly over a long period.

My horizon when it comes to acting is only 20 or 30 years, because Im 68. Im planning for action beyond that timeframe, and Ive started planning the Craigbot.

Whats that?

Mostly a joke. But it does indicate my intention that the actions Im taking now Im considering for the next two centuries.

Im guessing that at the end of two centuries, well either be extinct or post-human, so I dont want to think that far ahead. Because I really cant empathise [with] the needs of a post-human with gills living in the ocean.

Newmark really does appear to be thinking that far ahead.

I dont want to take any special credit for that, he says. The literature of my people you know, the nerds is science fiction. And contemporary science fiction heavily explores issues relating to media.

Back to the present day, does Newmark think social media companies like Facebook can be trusted to tackle the infodemic plaguing their platforms, or is regulatory action required?

Im focusing on this being an all-hands-on-deck situation, he says. Were in this together. My strength is in working with those people, across the US primarily although somewhat in Europe as well, to work together to move things ahead.

That includes people at think tanks, universities, individual researchers, and quietly people at the social media companies, to pull together. My instincts tell me that thats the way to make things happen.

Ill chat with people in government. But my intent is that no matter what people are required to do, its still fighting back against those who wish us harm means that we are all in this together. We do need to work together much like people worked together in World War Two.

Photo credit: Stephanie Canciello, Unali Artists

This article is part of a series running across our sister titles in the Monitor Network and the New Statesman, looking at the backlash against the big tech companies. If you enjoyed this article, you might like:

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Craig Newmark interview: Funding the disinformation fight - Press Gazette

Roaring Kitty, also known as u/DeepFuckingValue on Reddit and Keith Patrick Gill in real life, is now the target of a lawsuit (which you can view below) that claims he manipulated the market to increase GameStops stock price.

The lawsuit claims that he created a fake persona of an investment newbie, while actually having several financial certifications and working for an insurance company. That company, Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance Company, is also named as a defendant, with the case saying that it shouldve prevented Gill from talking about the stock.

Gill is well known on the WallStreetBets subreddit, where hes been posting for a year about GameStops stock, its value, and how much he has invested. He would also post hourslong videos on YouTube discussing the stock and why he thought it was undervalued. The videos are absolutely packed with financial jargon and discussion about GameStops business model and position in the market. He was even profiled by The Wall Street Journal as the stock began to soar, which reported that he was set to make tens of millions of dollars from his investment.

But the legal complaint claims that Gills 10 years in the finance and investment industries, along with the financial licenses and qualifications he has, dont square with the amateur, everyday fellow persona he put out on his YouTube channel, Reddit account, and Twitter and that he used that persona to illegally manipulate the market by posting about it to his legion of fans.

However, that legion consisted of around 529 subscribers on YouTube, and 550 followers on Twitter, as of December 25th, 2020, according to Gills written testimony for the House Financial Services Committee, which was also released today. In it, he claims that he was very clear that his advice wasnt meant for most investors, and that he posted his analysis to social media to both share it and receive critiques on it.

Lawyers argue that his financial certifications also made it illegal for him to share claims about stocks that he knows are false or misleading, which the plaintiff claims he did.

The complaint also tries to paint Gill as something of a mastermind, claiming he personally incited a market frenzy on Reddit and actively recruited traders on YouTube and Twitter as part of a plan to profit while damaging others finances in the process. The plaintiff claims they lost money in the case after the stocks value shot up, allegedly due to Gills manipulation.

Even the plain clothing he wore in videos was part of Gills scheme to defraud, lawyers suggest.

Gill is slated to speak at a congressional hearing about GameStop trading on February 18th, along with the CEOs of Reddit and Robinhood. The hearing aims to determine if there was market manipulation involved in the rapid rise and fall of the GME stock. In his statements, which were released before the hearing, Gill claims that he did not belong to any groups trying to create movements in the stock price.

The plaintiff in the case hopes to turn it into a class action suit, and the law firm behind it, Hagens Berman, has set up a page for investors to send in their complaints. The firm has had success with class actions in the past; its won notable settlements from Apple, Visa-Mastercard, and Volkswagen.

Update February 17th, 4:13PM ET: Added statements from Gills written testimony, which was released before the hearing.

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Reddits lead GameStop hypebeast is being sued for his role in the stock surge - The Verge

Fall Guys: Ultimate Knockout, Mediatonics charming platformer battle royale title, is coming to Xbox Series X / S and Xbox One this summer, Microsoft announced in a blog post today. The news comes just one day after Mediatonic announced that the game was going to be ported to the Nintendo Switch sometime this summer as well. While no firm release date has been announced, both ports will likely launch within the same time frame.

Fall Guys originally released in 2020 on PC via Steam and PS4, where it was a free title for users with an active PlayStation Plus subscription. The game mixes battle royale with the platformer genre, where players compete in elimination-type challenges. The title draws inspiration from competitive game shows like Wipeout.

Fall Guys: Ultimate Knockout is currently available on PC and PS4 and is backward compatible on PS5. Fall Guys also received a mobile version, but it is only available in China.

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Fall Guys: Ultimate Knockout is coming to Xbox Series X / S and Xbox One - The Verge

To state the blindingly obvious, the chief economist of the Bank of England, Andrew Haldane, is an intelligent man. No boilerplate praise, this: his speeches on subjects as varied as how to reform economics and the importance of the voluntary sector have been model interventions both serious and ever-so-slightly subversive. Yet when Mr Haldane writes a newspaper op-ed that claims the post-Covid economy is poised like a coiled spring, as he did last week, he risks looking not only silly but, worse, choking the debate over the future of the UK.

To be sure, his argument rests on firm logic. Many workers have spent the past year still employed but with few outlets to spend their incomes, so have built up around 125bn in household savings. Get those jabs, fling open the pubs, allow the football terraces to fill and let the good economic times roll! And indeed the recent economic news from the UK and elsewhere has been better than hoped.

Yet this is not your normal recession. Too much rests on factors completely out of the hands of chief executives, finance ministers and, yes, central bankers. Mr Haldane has already sat this class. Last summer, he forecast the UK would swiftly rebound from its lows, in a recovery shaped like a V. Not long after, the country went into its second lockdown. That V turned into, at best, a W. The unknowns about this virus, its mutations and their propensity to spread suggest a need for caution and openness to a wide range of outcomes, rather than tabloid tiggerishness.

Take the most recent unemployment reports, which suggest wages are rising strongly even as joblessness goes up. Sounds like good news while also making zero sense. Another explanation might be that low-paid workers are dropping out of the labour market, skewing the data towards high earners. That would be terrible news, but we cant be sure either way. Or look at the latest study from University College London, showing that this pandemic and its lockdowns have left Britons feeling glum. No surprise there, except the usual life-satisfaction score is 7.7 out of 10, while it is now around 5.5 a worryingly large drop. Some may come bouncing out of lockdown ready to socialise, but others may feel lasting isolation.

The economic establishment has got it badly wrong in the quite recent past. In 2010, as George Osborne began cutting spending, the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) predicted the UK would soon return to the levels of productivity it enjoyed before the crash. This was an important projection from the body relied upon by the Treasury. The rebound didnt happen but, undaunted, the OBR saw it coming just a little later. When it still didnt turn up, the OBR pushed the recovery further back. Again: nothing. This happened 17 times before the OBR published a mea culpa. Far too late, it was tacitly accepted that austerity had killed productivity. As the former Bank of England rate setter David Blanchflower writes in Not Working: The elites got it wrong but took no responsibility Nobody fired the forecasters.

Today, just as the new US government turns against austerity, key economic policymakers in the UK are preparing for a big retrenchment in spending. Overconfident projections such as Mr Haldanes only encourage that outcome. And consider the recovery that even this self-confessed optimist promises: the well-off spending like billy-o, while the less fortunate face unemployment or struggle with the fallout from a lack of schooling and badly squeezed public services. No lessons learned from the Oxford vaccine of the value of developing an industrial base that can build on cutting-edge research. Is this the best we can do?

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The Guardian view on economic predictions: no time to bank on a recovery - The Guardian