Thursday Thoughts - Feb. 11, 2021

Another week gone by. Lots to digest as a result. The SuperBowl came and went, with some interesting ads (but many more duds). Technology continued to evolve. We learned about new hacks. Records were broken. Facebook improved their feed models, and unethical use of facial recognition tech took a hit. We're learning about unintended effects of technology and virtual school. We're seeing how nature is changing us and how we're changing nature. People are talking Olympic politics (again) and climate change. Oh, and a lawyer temporarily turned himself into a cat.

As always, let me know if you have any ideas for new topics in the comments.

Tech:

• If you’ve used the Great Suspender to help with Chrome’s RAM leaks, read this now: there’s malware involved.
• After all of the drama of the past few months, Parler’s CEO is out.
• Africa is in the middle of a digital/crypto currency boom, powered by China. More here.
• Speaking of Africa, how many people know about the South African origin of AWS’s elastic model?
• One billion Chinese are online, making up 1/5 internet users globally. 
• Good question: are shallow and fragmented capital markets holding EU companies back?
• German investigators are getting potentially powerful (and very controversial) tools for combatting child abuse online. Honeypotting can work, but you can understand why people are upset about it.
• Pro-tip: If you’re looking to commit crimes like trying to overthrow the government, you probably shouldn’t be broadcasting your precise location to a bunch of apps.
• A new report on the state of ethics in AI is out. Lots of good insights in here.
• Unlike Zuck, Snap’s Spiegel supports Apple’s iOS privacy changes.
• That being said, Snap and Facebook are in agreement in pushing Australia to align with the GDPR in any revisions to its Privacy Act. Personally, I think alignment (and strong global standards) are a good thing. 
• Clearview AI’s program conducts “illegal” “mass surveillance.” More here.   Meanwhile, Clearview AI is using some spurious First Amendment arguments to suggest it has a right to offer its services.
• Apparently, the U.S. spent $2.2 million on a cybersecurity service that might have helped prevent certain attacks, but failed to implement it.
• Love or hate Twitter, one (in this case, Scott Galloway) can make a good argument for improving its business model. 
• Great insight from Benedict Evans on scale.
• If you have a pacemaker or other internal electronic devices, you may want to reconsider purchasing an iPhone 12.
• Content moderation is hard. It’s even harder in the space of live audio, as Clubhouse is discovering.
• Netflix makes a lot of money, and also saves a lot of money by not spending too much on ads.
• Good work by Facebook in banning vaccine misinformation.
• Also good work by Facebook in downranking political content in the news feed.
• Meanwhile, Reddit had a great SuperBowl ad, and also raised a bunch of money. 
• Doxxing isn’t always bad, is it?
• ePrivacy continues to move forward at a glacial pace.
• India is threatening to jail Twitter employees for Twitter business practices regarding content moderation and user restrictions. 
• Great insight from Ben Thompson on owning mistakes and on the impact of memes on the Internet (and U.S. politics).
• A cyber-attack almost turned into a mass poisoning. Connected essential services need to be better fortified. 
• A white hat hacker pulled 30 TB of videos/material from Parler, which has helped provide the film evidence seen in the impeachment trial.
• Welcome to the world of automated data processing and AI recruitment. Yikes!
• Attention movie theaters: if you’re lacking in crowds, consider renting out to gamers. It’s working in South Korea.
• Want to change the world? Consider lending your talents to public service.

Running/Sports:

• A very cool report by McKinsey on the state of the sporting goods industry in 2021.
• Not all heroes wear capes. Steph and Ayesha Curry have served up 15 MILLION meals during the pandemic. Whether you root for the Dubs or not, you have to respect that kind of effort to help out people in need.
• Hope versus denial: will the 2021 marathon season happen? Time will tell. 
• Relatedly, ultras are being postponed until the fall (in this case, the Madeira Island Ultra Trail, one of the big European races).
• Some indigenous societies, including a number of Native American communities, prioritize and value running for many interesting and important reasons. There's a lot that can be learned from them; after all, “Who wouldn’t want to commune with the landscape or with the higher powers that animate the landscape?”
• Jim Walmsley came very close to breaking the 100K world record a few weeks ago. German Florian Neuschwander followed up by breaking the (admittedly slower, but still crazy fast) 100K treadmill world record last week.
• A great rumination on stress, injury, running, and life. It reminds me also of another great point, which is that running can be a very strong therapeutic for many people.  
• Good on Clare Gallagher for speaking out about climate change. We’re seeing the effects of climate change in significant ways in California and it has a huge impact on trail running (hard to run when you’re breathing in smoke).
• The Olympics are always political. This time, the question is how to approach the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics given China’s politics (from Hong Kong to the Uighur minority). 
• This is the first I’d heard of Hobbs Kessler. The kid is amazing - one of the fastest high school runners ever, and an internationally elite climber (has climbed 5.14c pitches). He’s like the Bo Jackson of individual sports and it’ll be interesting to see how he balances these passions in the future.

General:

• I love memes, but a meme economy is not a good economy, or one that will work well for most people.
• How to navigate (and help fix) the epistemological problems of our times.  
• The continued closure of schools and emphasis on virtual learning may be helpful for reducing the spread of covid. But it may also have significant long term effects on students’ learning and their economic futures.
• Saving ancient trees through selfies: TJ Watt and the Ancient Forest Alliance are working to document and popularize (and protect) the old-growth forests of British Columbia. It’s a hard battle, and one that’s been fought up and down the West Coast of North America for the past century. Here’s to hoping that they can have an impact -- these trees take centuries to grow and support remarkably diverse ecosystems.
• A good read in the Atlantic on the future of remote work and how it’ll impact cities.
• Psychedelics are continuing to show promise for treating all kinds of conditions. Regulators will need to figure out how to address them.
• On encouraging courage in the VC industry.
• This is super cool: the models used in Disney’s Frozen for snow accumulation and movement may have solved a ~60 year old mystery surrounding the deaths of a Russian hiking group.
• Much like the Western Fence Lizard, lizards in the Southeast U.S. may help combat the spread of Lyme disease in the region.
• Mon dieu! France is now in favor of eating at your own desk (thanks to covid). I suspect this will be temporary.
• Feel like you’re hitting the wall around now? You are far from alone. More and more people are feeling burnt out after a year of covid lockdowns.
• Oatly had a very weird ad that polarized viewers like few ads have before. Whatever you think of the troubadour CEO, you have to admit it accomplished its goal: people are talking about Oatly.
• Reddit had a cheap (but highly effective) ad this year.
• In general, though, advertisers seemed to fail to connect with audiences on their biggest stage. Perhaps it’s because they made ads that were visually disconnected from the reality we face?  
• A frightening thought piece is out explaining how China could break Taiwan without ever overtly starting a war. 
• In case you somehow missed it, Zoom filters and legal proceedings can sometimes collide with hilarious results.
• Ever wonder what happens to your online returns? It’s not what you probably think.