The marketplace of ideas is a weapons market now
The most interesting thing I saw online this week was Venkatesh Rao’s “Internet of Beefs” essay. I don’t agree with all of it. I’m not even sure I agree with most of it. But it’s a sharp, perceptive,...
View ArticleTechnology is anthropology
The interesting thing about the technology business is that, most of the time, it’s not the technology that matters. What matters is how people react to it, and what new social norms they form. This is...
View ArticleEveryone loves the coronapocalypse
The 2019-nCoV coronavirus is a global public health emergency of significant concern. It is also, simultaneously, a fount of misinformation, wild conspiracy theories and both over and under-reactions....
View ArticleThe war against space hackers: how the JPL works to secure its missions from...
NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory designs, builds and operates billion-dollar spacecraft. That makes it a target. What the infosec world calls Advanced Persistent Threats — meaning, generally,...
View ArticleDeFiance: billion-dollar finance, million-dollar hacks, and very little value
Over the last year or so, most of the cryptocurrency world has pivoted from the failure of “fat protocol” tokens and ICOs, and the faltering growth of “Layer 2” payments like Lightning and the late...
View ArticleWhat happens if a pandemic hits?
What happens if a COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic hits? What will the repercussions be if the virus spreads worldwide? How will it change how we live, work, socialize and travel? Don’t get all...
View ArticleMay we live in interesting times
It’s never a good sign when, in order to discuss the near future of technology, you first have to talk about epidemiology, but I’m afraid that’s where we’re at. A week ago I wrote, “A pandemic is...
View ArticleBurn the EARN IT Act
I want to talk about malignant incompetence on the part of our elected officials, and this isn’t even about the pandemic. Rather, it’s about the spectacularly misguided, counterproductive, expensive,...
View ArticleOur infected machine
We are handling the first real global crisis since the Cold War with staggering incompetence. People are already dying en masse. We all need to stay home and stay away from one another. If we wait...
View ArticleInto and after the viral storm
The path forward now seems pretty clear. First we get through the grim month-and-more ahead, supporting health care workers in any way we can. (Tip: findthemasks.com lists where to donate PPE, personal...
View ArticleTest and trace with Apple and Google
After the shutdown, the testing and tracing. “Trace, test and treat is the mantra … no lockdowns, no roadblocks and no restriction on movement” in South Korea. “To suppress and control the epidemic,...
View ArticleGrubHub/Seamless’s pandemic initiatives are predatory and exploitative, and...
Times are exceptionally hard, especially for local restaurants, which were always in a precarious business even before the COVID-19 pandemic hit. But when times are hard, people pull together, right?...
View ArticleWhat do we do with the positives?
Jon Evans Contributor Jon Evans is the CTO of the engineering consultancy HappyFunCorp; the award-winning author of six novels, one graphic novel, and a book of travel writing; and TechCrunch's weekend...
View ArticleHow to make sense of the coronavirus chaos
Jon Evans Contributor Jon Evans is the CTO of the engineering consultancy HappyFunCorp; the award-winning author of six novels, one graphic novel, and a book of travel writing; and TechCrunch's weekend...
View ArticleMagic Leap’s $2.6 billion bait and switch
Intended or not — I assume it wasn't — Magic Leap became a $2.6 billion bait-and-switch, the consequences of which are now all too apparent. © 2023 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only.
View ArticleLet housing rise from the empty offices and malls
Jon Evans Contributor Jon Evans is the CTO of the engineering consultancy HappyFunCorp; the award-winning author of six novels, one graphic novel, and a book of travel writing; and TechCrunch's weekend...
View ArticleSeven viral futures
Jon Evans Contributor Jon Evans is the CTO of the engineering consultancy HappyFunCorp; the award-winning author of six novels, one graphic novel, and a book of travel writing; and TechCrunch's weekend...
View ArticleWhy are people who cite videos always wrong?
I'm sure you've experienced it too. Some kind of discussion -- perhaps a dispute, perhaps just a friendly exchange of ideas -- arises online. People regurgitate what they know, or what they think they...
View ArticleLiving and working in a worsening world
Jon Evans Contributor Jon Evans is the CTO of the engineering consultancy HappyFunCorp; the award-winning author of six novels, one graphic novel, and a book of travel writing; and TechCrunch's weekend...
View ArticleOur grimdark meathook cyberpunk now
Jon Evans Contributor Jon Evans is the CTO of the engineering consultancy HappyFunCorp; the award-winning author of six novels, one graphic novel, and a book of travel writing; and TechCrunch's weekend...
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