The Internet is Just a Prototype The week in hyperlinks

A weekly reading list to stimulate thoughts about the (digitised) world you might (or might not) want to live in.

Here’s a collection of links to articles that caught my eye last week — I was busy doing other things over the weekend so it’s a bit late arriving this time. They offer data about the world we presently live in, and hints about the one we might wish to pass on to future generations.

From Seattle to Luxembourg: how tax schemes shaped Amazon — Guardian

“Amazon is presently inviting US cities to outbid each other in a contest to host its “second headquarters”, waving the promise of 50,000 jobs and $5bn of investment in front of the winning applicant.” — A “Hunger Games economy” to feed the fortunes of the proto-trillionaires. Is this really progress?

Amazon threatens to suspend Signal’s AWS account over censorship circumvention — Signal

“With Google Cloud and AWS out of the picture, it seems that domain fronting as a censorship circumvention technique is now largely non-viable in the countries where Signal had enabled this feature.” — Nice to know Amazon is looking out for the oppressed. Or maybe not.

Native Knowledge: What Ecologists Are Learning from Indigenous People — YaleEnvironment360

“[Australian natives] used “cool” fires to control everything from biodiversity to water supply to the abundance of wildlife and edible plants. Gammage noted five stages of the indigenous use of fire – first was to control wildfire fuel; second, to maintain diversity; third, to balance species; fourth, to ensure abundance; and five, to locate resources conveniently and predictably.” — If wisdom is the accumulated understanding of pro-longevity behaviour, is a technological singularity the unwisest thing you could ever encounter?

Meet Fin, Your New Assistant. — Fin.com

“Fin can call, email, text, schedule, research, book, and purchase for you. Talk to Fin using voice transcription that actually works. Add Fin to email chains. Fin understands context, learns your preferences, and handles nuanced requests. … We review every request, learn from mistakes, and only charge for quality. Fin connects to your services and learns to better serve you over time.”

UIDAI unveils Virtual ID in beta form; service providers to use new feature soon — The Economic Times

“The VID, which is a random 16-digit number mapped to a person’s Aadhaar number, together with biometrics of the user would give any authorised agency like a mobile company, limited details such as name, address and photograph, which are enough for any verification.” — India has opted for an Orwellian nightmare national ID system.

Facebook Is Joining Other Masters of the Universe Invading Homes with Smart Devices — True Pundit

How stupid do you have to be in order to allow Facebook to install any kind of device in your home? I guess we’ll find out the hard way…

Facebook Has a ‘Sauron Alert’ to Protect Employees’ Privacy—But Not Yours — Gizmodo

“Still, the reference to the evil all-seeing eye from the Lord of the Rings reportedly persists as a common name used internally. And let’s face it, that’s an appropriate name.” — QED?

Only ‘collective intelligence’ can help us stave off an uninhabitable planet — Insurge Intelligence

The discussion on axioms, insight and actions is a framework worth noting.

BLOCKCHAIN ALLIANCE FOR GOOD — Bisgit

“A free membership group promoting the use of Internet-of-Value and Blockchain technology for good social and environmental outcomes. This open space has the power to revolutionise the world for the better so please join us and see what all the excitement is about.”

New dating app Taimi aims to build ‘biggest and safest gay dating community’ — Pink News

“The app has several safety features, including two-factor authentication of a log in and PIN or fingerprint, artificial intelligence to verify accounts and detect fraud and only allows verified and moderated users.” — Seems like Grindr is the sleazy hangout in comparison, but then again, how could I possibly know 😉

Apple – The Occult Secrets behind the Brand — KarelDonk

“In light of all that I’ve written above, the reasons given by Jobs and Wozniak for why the name Apple was chosen, and why the price of the Apple I was $666.66 seem totally absurd; it’s blatantly obvious that they are linked to Isaac Newton and the biblical story of Adam and Eve and the number of the beast.” — One holds an open mind to new data, although that’s a lot of weight for one “obvious” to support.

Exclusive: Spectre-NG – Multiple new Intel CPU flaws revealed, several serious — c’t

To err is human, but for a really good security violation you need an Intel CPU.

Why the sudden surge for Asset backed ICOs? — Goldma

Because we’re tired of phony fiat money issued by crooks.

Atlantic Council Explains Why We Need to Be Propagandized for Our Own Good — Strategic Culture Foundation

“Nobody’s been able to tell me what specifically is so dangerous about westerners being exposed to the Russian side of international debates, or of Russians giving a platform to one or both sides of an American domestic debate.”

After a week of Russian propaganda, I was questioning everything — PBS

“To better understand the organization, I put myself on a weeklong Radio Sputnik-only diet. I also spent a day in its newsroom, speaking with employees, including one who was fired soon after he began speaking with me. What I found was a stranger picture than I anticipated, one in which I began to understand how persuasive disinformation could be.” — Noting that this article itself looks suspiciously like propaganda.

Google sets new rules for U.S. election ads — Axios

All window dressing and PR. This will get to be a lot of fun when the true scale of US election fraud (by the Ds) in 2016 comes to light, and how Google was involved. Brace yourself for the DoJ’s OIG reports about to explode onto the public consciousness. Lots of treason, sedition, and corruption.

Study: Women Store DNA From Every Man They’ve Ever Made Love With — Woked

Nature is not GDPR compliant, so we may have set ourselves a high bar.

From Twitter: