Caitlin Bassett

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Zuckerberg’s New Meta Pummeled by Stock Market

Meta (Facebook reimagined) faces a gauntlet of challenges only months after Zuckerberg announced his new "metaverse" initiative
Caitlin Bassett
February 9, 2022
Last October, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced that Facebook would be undergoing a major facelift to become Meta. The Facebook platform we all know and love would remain as is, but Meta would become Facebook’s parent company with a primary focus of developing the “metaverse,” an immersive online experience that Zuckerberg called “the next frontier” of the internet. But Meta is off to a rough start. Facebook’s parent company shed more than $230 billion in market value Thursday, a one-day loss that is the biggest ever for a U.S. company and increases pressure on a stock market long powered by technology shares…. The Facebook parent company surprised investors with a deeper-than-expected decline in profit and a downbeat outlook. The company Read More ›

New York Senate Tries To Shut Down Misinformation on Social Media

The introduction of the bill raises concerns about government's intrusion into the freedom of speech online
Caitlin Bassett
February 4, 2022
In December, a bill was presented in the New York State Senate that would attempt to hold social media companies responsible for their role in circulating incitements to violence, incitements to self-harm, and misinformation.  Introduced by Democratic/Working Families Party Senator Brad Hoylman of Manhattan, the legislation would empower the state’s Attorney General to bring an action against any social media company that allows for the circulation of content that incites violence or that “includes a false statement of fact or fraudulent medical theory…”. No person, by conduct either unlawful in itself or unreasonable under all the circumstances, shall knowingly or recklessly create, maintain or contribute to a condition in New York state that endangers the safety or health of the public through Read More ›

AI Should Be Less Perfect, More Human

Authors Angus Fletcher and Erik J. Larson point us toward a more sustainable future working alongside artificial intelligence
Caitlin Bassett
January 27, 2022
Artificial intelligence is fragile. When faced with the ambiguity of the world, it breaks. And when it breaks, our untenable solution is to erase ambiguity. This means erasing our humanness, which in turn breaks us. That’s the problem Angus Fletcher and Erik J. Larson address in their piece published this week in Wired. AI can malfunction at the mildest hint of data slip, so its architects are doing all they can to dampen ambiguity and volatility. And since the world’s primary source of ambiguity and volatility is humans, we have found ourselves aggressively stifled. We’ve been forced into metric assessments at school, standard flow patterns at work, and regularized sets at hospitals, gyms, and social-media hangouts. In the process, we’ve lost Read More ›

Facebook and Google Face Big Legal Challenges

The FTC, dozens of states, and private citizens are coming after the big tech companies for antitrust violations
Caitlin Bassett
January 21, 2022
How has 2022 begun for our favorite Big Tech companies? With a good chunk of lawsuits. As technology companies grow bigger, they face bigger legal challenges. Here’s a brief rundown of a few such challenges Facebook and Google face in the courts in this new year: FTC Antitrust Lawsuit Against Facebook Moves Forward Let’s begin at the federal level. Last June, Judge James E. Boasberg of the U.S. District Court of the District of Columbia tossed out a lawsuit from the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) challenging Facebook’s acquisition of Instagram and WhatsApp. According to Boasberg, the FTC failed to adequately show that Facebook holds a monopoly. Not to be dissuaded, the FTC re-filed with an amended complaint in August. Last Read More ›

Will AI Take Over Content Moderation?

While content moderators report psychological trauma, experts weigh in on whether artificial intelligence could remove humans from the equation
Caitlin Bassett
January 14, 2022
How do Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Google, YouTube, and other platforms keep up with the millions upon millions of posts, comments, videos, and photos posted to their sites on a daily basis? It takes a partnership between artificial intelligence and human content moderators.  In recent years, however, content moderators have begun to reveal that their work is often traumatizing. Moderators for Facebook and TikTok have gone so far as to sue for the psychological harm they have experienced at their workplaces, regularly reviewing images and videos that you and I never have to see depicting rape, murder, child trafficking, and other violent and graphic content. Subjecting workers to violent and graphic imagery is an unsustainable way of keeping the internet free of such Read More ›

Social Media Content Moderator Sues TikTok for PTSD

Social media moderators protect users from graphic content, but who protects the moderators?
Caitlin Bassett
January 8, 2022
A social media content moderator is suing TikTok, a popular video app, for psychological trauma developed from 12-hour shifts moderating endless graphic videos. Candie Frazier works for Telus International, a Canadian contracting firm providing moderation services to social media apps like TikTok. Frazier filed a complaint with the California Central District Court in December, alleging that TikTok and parent company ByteDance do not provide enough support for the psychological wellbeing of their contracted moderators, whose job it is to remove violent, graphic, and otherwise inappropriate content from the platform. TikTok’s popularity exploded in the aftermath of pandemic lockdowns, especially among millennials and Generation Z. As of September, TikTok reported 1 billion users every month. In her complaint, Frazier explains that Read More ›

A French-Based Company Wants to Make Your IDs Digital

What kinds of security concerns should be addressed before we consent to their vision of convenience?
Caitlin Bassett
December 22, 2021
Imagine all of your information and documents – all of it – stored on your phone. We’ve grown accustomed to carrying around our banking and payment systems, address and phone books, and our social media apps on our phones, but now imagine even your passport and your driver’s license taking the form of a personal QR code. Imagine being asked to verify your identity not with a physical ID, but with the phone in your pocket. Thales Group, a French-based technology company, is asking you to imagine just such a reality. In October 2020, Thales posted a video to YouTube, showcasing their digital ID wallet and boasting of its many convenient qualities: The idea of storing your information in one Read More ›

Watch: Robert Marbut Talks About Homelessness with Dr. Drew

Caitlin Bassett
December 14, 2021
Robert Marbut, the former Executive Director of the USICH, sat down with Dr. Drew to talk about homelessness (especially as it is experienced in California) and how the Trump administration was planning to tackle it. With the inauguration of President Joe Biden this year, the federal policy has returned to Housing First but the interview remains relevant.

Dead Body Found in Porta Potty in Seattle Park

Caitlin Bassett
December 2, 2021
Despite grisly scenes such as this, or the recent report that the U.S. has surpassed 100,000 drug overdose deaths in the span of a year, cities like New York City and Seattle continue to pursue failed policies to combat homelessness and drug addiction.

Jack Dorsey Resigns from Twitter: “now is the right time”

Some are concerned that his replacement is bad news for free speech
Caitlin Bassett
November 30, 2021
On Monday, Jack Dorsey announced his resignation as Twitter CEO, explaining that he has “worked hard to ensure this company can break away from its founding and founders” and that “now is the right time.” “I want you all to know that this was my decision and I own it,” wrote Dorsey in an email to his colleagues that he then posted to Twitter. “It was a tough one for me, of course. I love this service and company… and all of you so much. I’m really sad… yet really happy. There aren’t many companies that get to this level. And there aren’t many founders that choose their company over their own ego. I know we’ll prove this was the right move.” Read More ›

Homelessness Will Not Be Solved With a One-Size-Fits-All Solution

Caitlin Bassett
November 24, 2021
Mark Horvath has interviewed a countless number of homeless people for his YouTube channel, Invisible People. Based on his own experience and these interviews, Horvath is a Housing First advocate, arguing that our efforts must be focused on housing in order to fix homelessness. Is Horvath right?

I’ve Been on Facebook for 13 Years. Here’s Why I’m Leaving Now.

Has Facebook actually improved the ways we connect with each other? And does Meta have a chance to improve upon that?
Caitlin Bassett
November 19, 2021
When I first joined Facebook in 2008, it was primarily a way to remain in contact with my dad while he was deployed overseas for a year. As I went through school, and then graduated and moved across the country for college, it became a way for me to connect with new and old friends. Now, thirteen years later, I am looking at deleting my Facebook. Here’s why: Last month, Facebook creator and CEO Mark Zuckerberg made waves when he announced the creation of a parent company over Facebook called “Meta.” The basic idea is what Zuckerberg calls “the next frontier” of the internet – a virtual reality in which people can engage in connection and creativity with one another. Read More ›

Solutions to Homelessness: Orting Veterans Village

Caitlin Bassett
November 18, 2021
Tiny home communities such as these are doing more than simply providing a safe place to sleep. They are providing the homeless and disaffiliated with a community. Since disconnection from social supports is one of the most common traits among the homeless, this inherent communal design is vital.

Bob Metcalfe, Mastermind Behind Ethernet, to Speak at COSM 2021

An engineer and entrepreneur, he considers his work on Ethernet his "good fortune"
Caitlin Bassett
October 26, 2021
This November, COSM 2021 will feature some of the best minds in business, science, and technology to tackle questions about and problems with the future intersection of these fields. Bob Metcalfe is an engineer and an entrepreneur, most famously known for his involvement in the invention of the Ethernet in the 1970s, what he has called “the plumbing of the internet to customers.” For this work, he received the National Medal of Technology and Innovation in addition to the IEEE Medal of Honor. He went on to co-found 3Com, formulate a law named after himself (more on that later), and become the Professor of Innovation and Entrepreneurship at the University of Texas at Austin where he teaches today. “The story Read More ›

Homeless Encampments or Open Drug Scenes?

Caitlin Bassett
October 22, 2021
Michael Shellenberger has been making the rounds through interviews to discuss his new book, San Fransicko: How Progressives Ruin Cities. In this 9-minute clip from his interview on Dave Rubin's show, The Rubin Report, Shellenberger explains that homeless encampments are a misnomer. In reality, they are open drug scenes.

The Real Zombie Apocalypse

Caitlin Bassett
October 20, 2021
The likelihood of a zombie apocalypse like the ones portrayed in movies and TV shows is slim to say the least, but in the slums of some of America's largest cities, it seems the apocalypse is already upon us. Only it's not a virus or a curse turning people into walking shells of their former selves – it's drug addiction.

The Homelessness Crisis is a Drug Addiction Crisis

Caitlin Bassett
October 18, 2021
"The word 'homeless' is really a propaganda word designed to trick your brain into thinking that this is a problem of poverty," says Michael Shellenberger. "And progressives have done a real disservice to people suffering from addiction by mis-describing them as people that are somehow suffering from high rents."

Mental Illness and Mass Shootings: Is There A Connection?

Caitlin Bassett
October 15, 2021
In asking this question, one must tread carefully. The truth is, there is a connection between untreated, serious mental illness (as distinguished from mental illness) and mass public violence. But instead of allowing that connection to instill fear, it should inspire compassion toward those suffering a serious mental illness and a sense of urgency to provide them with proper treatment.