What I’m Reading - 11/19/23
Tales from Elk hunting and thoughts on this week’s tech news
I’m back! The elk hunting trip was a blast. I got my scope on a bull one afternoon when the camp did a drive, but I couldn’t shoot because there were too many other deer around him.
There were 15 guys in camp, and I was the only woman. Jason, who owns the camp, organized our drive across a one-mile by one-mile square piece of land. The elk had just been hanging in the brush and trees, so we did this to help get them moving.
My dad and I looking for elk.
The good news is that my brother got one at sunset the next day. Yesterday, my dad dropped off 140 pounds of elk meat at the processor to make all sorts of sausage and ground meat. Some of you might not like a picture of the elk, so if you want to see it, scroll to the bottom of the newsletter! No blood, I promise. I will say this, too. Spending a week with only an outhouse for a bathroom and a shower every other day makes you appreciate the small things.
The biggest tech news this week had to be the announcement Friday afternoon that Sam Altman had been removed as CEO of OpenAI. I don’t have much to add at this moment, except that I bet a third or fourth-day story about all of this will be the virtues of a non-profit board versus a for-profit board, as well as digging more into the tensions between running a business in a very competitive space versus moving more slowly to better understand and mitigate risks. For those not following the story closely, OpenAI started as a non-profit but needed to create a for–profit entity to attract venture capital funding. And as of 11pm eastern of me editing this maybe Sam will be reinstated as CEO before markets open Monday.
Right now, I’d caution people to remember that these things are rarely black and white. It’s not like one set of people has ethics and the other doesn’t. Or that you can’t be responsible and make money. It’s all about tradeoffs, and reasonable people can make different decisions. It’s good to debate these situations more, but I worry that this will push people into their respective corners and turn out badly for those who focus on trust and safety. This ouster doesn’t seem to have been thought out very well.
Here are a few other housekeeping items before we get to the links:
Last week, I discussed how the Dole and Clinton campaigns were the first to have websites in 1996. While true, an Integrity Institute colleague reminded me that Phil Gramm was the first in that cycle, putting up his site in May 1995.
There will be no newsletters or podcasts this week for the Thanksgiving holiday. However, I was debating doing a Q&A via the Substack chat function. I’ve been wanting to try this out for a while. Let me know if this is something you’d be interested in.
Have a great Sunday. I’m on the shore putting up holiday decorations while the weather is still somewhat nice. The leaves are in full color, and it feels like Fall.
Please support the curation and analysis I’m doing with this newsletter. As a paid subscriber, you make it possible for me to bring you in-depth analyses of the most pressing issues in tech and politics.
What I’m Reading
Economist: Tom Standage’s ten trends to watch in 2024
The entire Economist “The World Ahead 2024” is worth reading. There are many great graphics (like this one below) and details on elections and other topics.
CNBC: Ex-Meta staffers see booming business targeting online disinformation after two wars break out
Columbia Journalism Review: Op-ed: We Need To Pay More Attention to Twitch
Wall Street Journal: Meta Allows Ads Claiming Rigged 2020 Election on Facebook, Instagram
Media Matters: X is placing ads for Amazon, NBA Mexico, NBCUniversal, and others next to content with white nationalist hashtags
Grady Ward: Focus on Features - Minimize digital harms through design, a guide for product managers and lawmakers
Digital Democracy Institute of the Americas: Q4 2023 Snapshot: Elections and Voting Narratives in Latino Spaces Online
Pew Research Center: Social Media and News Fact Sheet
Washington Post: From TV to TikTok, how we get the news is changing fast
Axios: Scoop: Biden's team weighs joining TikTok to court young voters
Politico: Biden campaign considers changing digital fundraising platforms
- : TikTok teens aren't stanning Osama bin Laden
WSJ: How Social Media Is Turning Into Old-Fashioned Broadcast Media
Data & Society: I Implemented a Federal Government Executive Order on Technology in Mexico. Here’s What I Learned
Axios: One-third of U.S. newspapers as of 2005 will be gone by 2024
New York Times: Is Argentina the First A.I. Election?
Tech Policy Press: Reversal of US Trade Policy Threatens the Free and Open Internet
Allied for Start Ups: 2024 EU Elections Startup Manifesto
Integrity Institute: New Guide Provides Integrity Guidance for Start Ups and Early Stage Companies
Poynter: Instead of Taylor Swift beat reporters, we need Nextdoor beat reporters
Google: The AI Opportunity Agenda
Meta: Parenting in a Digital World Is Hard. Congress Can Make It Easier.
International Republican Institute Podcast: By the People
Voices in the River Podcast: A Disruptive Force with Emi Kolawole
Yahoo: The Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce kiss that swept the internet and its bigger lessons
From left to right: My uncle, my dad, my brother and myself.
Please support the curation and analysis I’m doing with this newsletter. As a paid subscriber, you make it possible for me to bring you in-depth analyses of the most pressing issues in tech and politics.