The Download: what Twitter’s collapse would mean, and crypto’s meltdown

1 year ago 140

Almost from the clip the archetypal tweet was posted successful 2006, Twitter has played an important relation successful satellite events. The level has been utilized to grounds everything from the Arab Spring to the ongoing warfare successful Ukraine. It's besides captured our nationalist conversations for years

Musk himself acknowledges that Twitter is simply a nationalist forum, and it’s this information that makes the imaginable nonaccomplishment of the level truthful significant. Twitter has go integral to civilization today. It’s a spot wherever radical papers warfare crimes, sermon cardinal issues, and interruption and study connected news.

But experts are disquieted that if Musk tanks the company, these affluent seams of media and speech could beryllium mislaid forever, spelling an extremity to its presumption arsenic a living, breathing humanities document. And fixed his admittance to employees successful a November 10 telephone that Twitter could look bankruptcy, it’s a existent and contiguous risk. Read the afloat story.

—Chris Stokel-Walker


Check retired the remainder of our Twitter coverage:

+ Here’s however a Twitter technologist says it volition interruption successful the coming weeks. One insider says the company’s progressively depleted ranks of employees aren’t capable to prolong the platform, and that bugs and glitches volition go much widespread. Read the afloat story.

+ The lawsuit for quitting Twitter. Author Mikki Kendall made her sanction connected the platform. But the world is that she simply doesn't request to beryllium connected Twitter to beryllium heard anymore. Like galore salient radical connected the platform, it arguably needs her much than she needs it. Read the afloat story.

+ Twitter whitethorn person mislaid much than a cardinal users since Elon Musk took over. Estimates from Bot Sentinel suggest that much than 875,000 users deactivated their accounts betwixt October 27 and November 1, portion fractional a cardinal much were suspended. Read the afloat story.

The must-reads

I’ve combed the net to find you today’s astir fun/important/scary/fascinating stories astir technology.

1 Believe it oregon not, crypto’s meltdown could person been adjacent worse 
Traditional fiscal institutions are inactive shielded from the worst of it. (The Atlantic $)
+ At slightest $1 cardinal is inactive missing pursuing FTX’s collapse. (The Guardian)
+ AAX, different crypto exchange, has halted withdrawals. (Bloomberg $)
+ FTX’s illness hasn’t travel arsenic a astonishment to everyone. (Slate $)

2 Twitter’s caller $8 verification is fundamentally worthless
It’s incredibly casual to masquerade arsenic idiosyncratic you’re not. (WP $)
+ Twitter Blue has been paused portion it tries to robust retired its galore problems. (The Information $)
+ Two weeks is simply a agelong clip erstwhile Elon Musk’s your boss. (NYT $)
+ Why Black Twitter’s acheronian wit is among the platform’s funniest corners. (The Atlantic $)

3 It’s precise hard to predicting however Gen Z volition vote 
Partly due to the fact that they disregard pollsters’ attempts to scope them implicit the phone. (The Verge)

4 How North Korea became a unsafe cyber threat
The remainder of the satellite worries that immoderate retaliation volition provoke a cyber war. (FT $)
+ The FBI came adjacent to deploying the Pegasus spying instrumentality past year. (NYT $) 
+ How North Korea uses cutting-edge crypto wealth laundering to bargain millions. (MIT Technology Review)

5 Mysterious ships passed adjacent the Nord Stream 2 pipeline successful September
The sightings, conscionable days earlier its leaks were detected, fuels speculation the pipeline was deliberately sabotaged. (Wired $)
+ Here’s however the Nord Stream state pipelines could beryllium fixed. (MIT Technology Review)

6 Joe Biden and Xi Jinping are “looking guardant to moving together”
The brace person met for the archetypal clip since Biden became US President. (NYT $)
+ China’s spot suppliers are struggling amid US export controls. (FT $)

7 The FBI has seized 1 of the web’s largest pirated libraries
Its users won’t beryllium capable to entree journals, world texts and different textbooks for escaped anymore. (Motherboard)

8 The long, hard roadworthy towards increasing much resilient crops 🌽
The quality to withstand much utmost upwind volition go ever much captious arsenic the satellite warms. (Knowable Magazine)
+ Seaweed tin beryllium turned into passable vegan bacon. (Fast Company $)
+ Solar panels that aren’t cumbersome and disfigured are connected their way. (WSJ $)
+ Heat is atrocious for works health. Here’s however cistron editing could help. (MIT Technology Review)

9 AI’s latest job? Website contented writer
But its customers don’t privation you to cognize their posts aren’t by humans. (WSJ $)
+ Quick naps helps AI to retrieve what it's learned. (Motherboard)
+ Art level DeviantArt’s users hatred its caller generative AI. (Ars Technica)

10 Silicon Valley seems to beryllium turning its backmost connected booze 🍷
Not drinking is treated arsenic a badge of honor. (The Information $)

Quote of the day

“Honestly, his iPhone whitethorn arsenic good beryllium a Borg implant.”

—Tyler McClure, a begetter of 2 from Tennessee, likens his 75-year aged father’s obsession with his iPhone to a Star Trek mind-control implant successful an interrogation with the Washington Post.

The large story

Capitalism is successful crisis. To prevention it, we request to rethink economical growth.

October 2020

Even earlier the covid-19 pandemic and the resulting illness of overmuch of the world’s economy, it was wide that capitalism was successful crisis. Unfettered escaped markets had pushed inequality of income and wealthiness to highly precocious levels successful the United States, and dilatory productivity maturation successful galore affluent countries had stunted a generation’s fiscal opportunities.

Then came the pandemic, with millions losing their jobs, and raging wildfires successful parts of the US. All the simmering signs of a dysfunctional economical strategy abruptly became afloat evident, full-blown disasters.

It’s nary wonderment galore successful the US and Europe person begun questioning the devotion to escaped markets and religion successful the powerfulness of economical maturation to lick our problems. But portion antipathy to maturation is thing new, its reemergence arsenic a question has taken connected a harder governmental borderline that questions whether we request to turn astatine all. Read the afloat story.

—David Rotman

We tin inactive person bully things

A spot for comfort, amusive and distraction successful these weird times. (Got immoderate ideas? Drop maine a line or tweet 'em astatine me.)

+ Sleep is truthful precious, TikTok’s tips connected however to drawback much of it mightiness beryllium worthy checking out. 
+ Buying a goblin sounds a batch harder than it should be.
+ I wouldn’t privation to get connected the incorrect broadside of these violent octopuses
+ Trombone Champ is back, and it’s funnier than ever.
+ I’ve ne'er had the pleasance of eating yams, but they dependable delicious

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