Thursday Thoughts - September 16, 2021

Department of Technology:

• Epic (largely) beat Apple in court. But Epic didn't get all that it wanted and has since appealed the decision.
• A large NYU study shows the corrosive effects of social media (looking at, in particular, Facebook, Youtube, and Twitter). These effects are widespread, and certain groups are particularly affected. For example, Instagram is causing significant mental health and health challenges for teen girls.
• Emojis can be more complex than they look: they can be rich with (sometimes nuanced) symbolism, and some of that symbolism can be quite toxic (and it's been difficult for content moderation models to keep up). (h/t Michael)
• Good work: TruePic is raising money to help it grow and combat deepfakes (which may become a significant threat to all aspects of our lives).
• We are nearing the age of self-reproducing machines, and I'm not certain that society is ready for this.
• If you use AI to invent something, remember to put your own name on the patent application.
• An interesting take: gaming is eroding mass culture and also making governance more difficult.
• Interesting argument: pursuing antitrust cases against big tech would hurt the U.S. tech sector relative to China. Not entirely sure I buy that, particularly given China's recent moves in the consumer tech space, or their own potential antitrust moves. The FTC also released a report relating to the effectiveness of existing merger review processes in the tech sector.
• Mark Suster has some really good thoughts on the high stakes of the current VC landscape.
• Benedict Evans has a good point re: Apple: even though they are trying to find the next big thing, they don't really need to be doing that (because they do so well at their incremental approach to hardware/software innovation).
• Facebook is constantly advertising that they "support Internet regulation." What does that even mean and why is Facebook investing so heavily in these ads?

Privacy and Security Matter:

• Another day ending in 'y': Facebook's platform rules are not applied equally, with certain voices given more latitude than others.
• If you have a device running on MacOS or iOS, update it.
• The FTC will be publishing the reports from Facebook's independent privacy auditor.
• The SEC knocked App Annie for securities fraud related to its approach to providing insights regarding app data usage to financial firms.
• Tick tock, TikTok: the IDPC is starting to ask some questions regarding their data protection practices.
• Looking for a good summary of the UK's proposed data protection changes? Here it is.
• France is holding firm against U.S. law enforcement access to cloud services offered in Europe.
• The Irish Council for Civil Liberties dives into the data on DPAs' enforcement of the GDPR and finds, among other things, that the authorities are not well equipped.
• It's not just competition enforcement: Biden looks set to beef up the FTC's privacy bona fides with an appointment of Alvaro Bedoya.
• More on the potential impact of China's new data protection rules.
• Some are asking if California can achieve adequacy for EU data transfers? Probably not, unless the federal government somehow relinquishes authority over the Golden State.
• Microsoft is helping move us towards a passwordless future.
• We can make all kinds of changes to online advertising, but one thing we will struggle to change: the clickbait ad ecosystem.

Sports are awesome:

• Six athletes made the Time 100 list this year.
• iRunFar has a great breakdown of the "Ten Commandments of Healthy Running."
• Wild: Swiss sports company On went public and is now worth >$10b.
• Whoa, it's 2019 all over again: this time, it's Adidas bringing out an 'illegal' racing shoe.
• Speaking of wearers of super-shoes (now available in a sustainable format), Eliud Kipchoge is having a banner year. Winning the gold in Tokyo, starring in an excellent documentary, and starting a wonderful new foundation focusing on building libraries, schools, and forests in Kenya.
• Running brands are getting pretty strongly into mindfulness.
• Saturday is International Equal Pay Day. And, finally, U.S. Soccer is taking measures to enable equitable pay between the men and women's teams.
• If the iPhone 13 enables satellite comms, should backcountry travelers abandon their inReaches?
• Out: 10,000 steps. In: 8,000 steps. If you don't do it for your physical health, do it to protect your memory: exercise produces irisin, which helps improve cognition/memory.
• There are FKT attempts, and then there is what Jason Hardrath undertook in the Cascades this summer: he hit an FKT for summiting 100 peaks in 50 days.
• Outdoor recreation has a huge, deeply-rooted diversity problem that needs to be addressed.
• If you're a runner, consider wearing orange.

Covid is a battle we can win:

• Hospitalizations of unvaccinated covid patients cost the U.S. nearly $6 billion this summer.
• 1 in 500 Americans have died from covid since the pandemic started.
• California has faced challenges with covid, but now has the lowest case rate in the country.
• A small sliver of people are up in arms over the Biden Administration's efforts to mandate vaccines. Unfortunately, it seems there will always be opposition to public health mandates--there were protests against seat belt requirements of all things.
• Looks like the enthusiasm for boosters in the federal government may be tempered a bit. Meanwhile, to paraphrase Noah Smith: why are we boosting against a prior variant of the disease when we can update the mRNA shots to boost against Delta and current variants?
• Science can only carry us so far in combatting covid: we also need a healthier society (not just in terms of physical health).
• As if lockdowns weren't hard enough: Australia is limiting some in lockdowns to single six-packs of beer.
• Outsourcing of jobs has resulted in the outsourcing of health challenges: call center workers in the Philippines have faced significant covid risks.

Climate Change is a challenge we must meet:

• Climate change is continuing to turbocharge hurricane systems, with Super Typhoon Chanthu seeing its maximum sustained windspeed increase by a staggering 130mph over two days.
• Eat fake meat. It tastes good, and it's far better for the planet than the real deal.
• As the world burns (or floods), whither the U.S. Department of the Interior? With Secretary Haaland came high hopes, but it doesn't seem like too much has radically shifted there.
• Bloomberg is doing a good job calling out greenwashing. The latest? A palm-oil giant has a good ESG score but is destroying forest ecosystems.
• This does not bode well for our warming world: in the last 30 years, deaths caused by extreme heat have soared by 74%.
• Quartz Africa dives into China's role in environmental loss/pollution in Africa.
• Toyota has made progress on fixing a vexing issue for EVs and hybrids: battery life degradation over time.
• Meanwhile, Chevron and others keep on keeping on with their pollution-first approach.
• Harvard divested from fossil fuels. Who's next?
• Fighting climate change can be a deadly choice, particularly in Latin America.
• There's one road in Denali National Park. It's now closed due to climate change impacts.

California is a fascinating state:

• So we had an election and California showed that it's (largely) not crazy. With $276 million down the drain--and premature Big Lie complaints for added fun--it's beyond clear that California needs to revise its recall process. For context: here's how we could have otherwise spent that money.
• Squaw Valley is now the Palisades Tahoe. Good.
• Not again: giant sequoia groves are under threat from wildfires. More here. SEKI may need to adopt the Yosemite approach to fire management.
• The Dixie and Caldor fires are still burning but, thankfully, some rain may be on the way soon. The Chron has a good visualization of wildfire sizes.
• California is a place where environmental changes to improve human development (e.g., dams) have led to immense damage to ecosystems, including the ecosystems that support our salmon runs (which are a small sliver of what they once were). Now, climate change is having a disastrous effect on salmon runs in the Sacramento River.
• Speaking of California's environmental challenges, the National Park Service is not helping with its approval of the controversial plan to support ranchers (and harm elk) in Point Reyes National Seashore.
• Some groups are trying to resurrect old North Coast rail lines to repurpose them to ship coal to Asia.

Everything Else:

• Saturday was the 20th anniversary of the 9/11 attack. It was a time for somber reflection on the lives lost, on the lives changed, and on the world we've created in response. One thing is for sure: the U.S. needs to do a better job taking care of the first responders, many of whom are still struggling with serious health challenges or dying. We also need to continue the process of learning how 9/11 happened.
• The Afghanistan blame game continues. This take might be right: war profiteers (also known as contractors) helped set the stage for the precipitous collapse, all the while costing U.S. taxpayers trillions of dollars.
• Putting aside covid, the U.S. has done poorly relative to Western European democracies in reducing mortality risks and extending life-spans.?
• Some politicians often try to make it seem like the world is a scary/dangerous place, so here's another reminder that crime is decreasing in the U.S.
• Texas is moving further to the right in the culture wars, and it will cost the state in terms of attracting smart people. Already, Salesforce is helping its employees relocate out of the state.
• The "Purpose Economy" is coming, and it can't arrive a moment too soon.
• Wild, but makes sense: inequality has cost the U.S. nearly $23 trillion in the past 30 years.
• Scientists have discovered that black holes exert pressure on their environment.
• Widespread electric car adoption cannot come too soon: a Danish study found that road transportation noise is linked to increased dementia.
• Did anyone ask for this? Seriously, Cup Noodle...Soda?