Category: Bibliography

NYTimes: Elon Musk Is a Problem Masquerading as a Solution Rj

Elon Musk Is a Problem Masquerading as a Solution nyti.ms/3MwibJj

“The plutocrats have already rigged the economy. That’s just the first step. Then you take some of the spoils and reinvest it in buying even more political influence, so that political inequality can help keep economic inequality yawning. You buy up media or social media platforms and thus can help rig the discourse in your favor, taking control of the tools used by regular people to fight back. You venture, as Mr. Musk did, to a TED conference and, without much pushback, brand yourself as a kind of public intellectual, a thought leader, a visionary, and thereby in many people’s minds you became a sage, not a robber baron.

It doesn’t have to be this way. We can have nice things. But we’re going to have to learn to see through the fraudulent stories that elevate figures like Mr. Musk into heroes. We’re going to have to legislate real guardrails — perhaps like those created by the European Union’s Digital Services Act — on social media platforms that are too big to entrust democracy to. We’re going to have to build nonprofit alternatives to the platforms and see if they can become meaningful venues.

Because a society that outsources the tending of its social interactions to people who behave like sociopaths is a society asking not for freedom but for tyranny”
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NYTimes: Tina Brown on Harry and Meghan’s ‘Scorched Earth’ Exit. Rj

Tina Brown on Harry and Meghan’s ‘Scorched Earth’ Exit nyti.ms/3KaxplF

“Kara Swisher

Speaking of waning, the publishing industry, magazines like “Entertainment Weekly” and “InStyle” are folding their print publications. You have had a lot of to do with magazines over the years. It’s shifted.

Tina Brown

It’s all completely blown up. It’s amazing, really. It feels like it’s just sort of the end of days when it comes to magazines. But I’m very excited as well by all the things that can be done. I mean, you have to think — look, everything has changed, but you can still do great things in a very different way.”

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