Non Forbes

Twitter and FB shouldn't ban political ads. They should give them away to registered candidates

Submitted by brad on Wed, 2019-10-30 15:12

Twitter's decision to no longer take political advertising is causing a stir, and people are calling on Facebook to do the same. Political advertising isn't just an issue now that we've learned that Russians are doing it to screw with elections. It's the sink for almost all the money spent by campaigns, and thus all the money they raise from donors. The reason that people in office spend more than half their time fundraising is they feel they have no choice.

Topic: 
Media
New Democracy
Politics

How Peter Thiel almost ruined TechDirt and the peril of the selective information attack

Submitted by brad on Tue, 2019-10-29 12:37

Nick Denton was a sleazebag. I knew that within one minute of meeting him, as he described the new web site he was planning, called "Valleywag." He was proud he had learned the name of Larry Page's girlfriend and he could break that story, as if who Larry was dating was worthy news of some kind.

Topic: 
Internet
Politics
Privacy

If you buy land that will be covered by rising seas, should the government help you?

Submitted by brad on Thu, 2019-05-23 11:36
In Venice, Acqua Alta rising seas flood the streets many times each year. They plan expensive inflatable dams.

Evidence mounts that sea level rise can't be avoided now, absent some miracle of geoengineering, and maybe not even with that. Even if you're one of those who insists human pollution isn't the cause, the planet is getting warmer, the ice sheets are melting at extreme rates.

Topic: 
Going Green
Governance

Tesla's use of the phrase "beta test."

Submitted by brad on Sun, 2019-05-05 15:05

Some of the reaction to the story of the lawsuit against Tesla came from Tesla's declaration that Autopilot is a product in "beta test."

I don't think that's actually true. I think it's a misuse of that phrase by Tesla to communicate something that is true -- "This product isn't finished, expect it to have bugs."

The problem is that almost no software product is ever "finished." And even once finished, they almost always have bugs.

Topic: 
Robocars

Investing in students instead of student loans

Submitted by brad on Tue, 2019-04-30 12:24
The site of my own education, back when tuition fees were $1200/year

Student loan debt has become a hot election issue. It's immense, has ruined some lives (but also vastly improved others) and is connected to (and possibly even the cause of) the cost of education growing much faster than inflation.

Topic: 
Politics
Random Ideas
Solve this

Podcast featuring the future of cities

Submitted by brad on Fri, 2019-04-19 10:02

I don't do a lot of podcasts, though am curious as to whether people prefer to hear them compared to reading things. They make more sense for debates or being interactive.

Nonetheless, here's one I did recently, hosted by a new organization called Pivot Factory. We covered some history and a lot of my favourite topics, and had a particular focus on the future of the city, which I write about here but haven't done a recent cohesive essay on.

Topic: 
Robocars

Would a rental battery pack be a better choice than a super-long-range electric car?

Submitted by brad on Tue, 2019-04-16 12:50

When you buy an electric car, you can often choose among various battery sizes. The larger your battery, the more range you have -- and you may get some extra performance -- and the longer your pack lasts, but the extra capacity is very expensive and adds weight to the car. The truth is, most people only need the extra capacity of a long range car when doing road trips. A modest 150 to 200 mile range car is sufficient for driving around a town, depending on the town.

Topic: 
Going Green
Transportation

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