podcasts
How the World Became a Casino
The logic behind Polymarket, Kalshi and sports betting apps can be traced back to the inner workings of the slot machine.
Behind The Blog
Behind the Blog: Storage Woes and RSS
This week, we discuss storage, RSS, and a big reporting project.
News
'Nature' Retracts Paper on the Benefits of ChatGPT in Education
“What educators, parents and policy officials really needed was high quality data and evidence to help guide them. What they have had to deal with instead is some substandard research.”
Behind The Blog
Behind the Blog: Big Questions of Consciousness
This week, we discuss a wild message, a new anthology, and a visit to a museum.
News
People Using AI to Represent Themselves in Court Are Clogging the System
More people having access to the courts is potentially good, but it’s not clear how the system can handle this increase in cases.
News
Google DeepMind Paper Argues LLMs Will Never Be Conscious
Philosophers said the paper’s argument is sound, but that “all these arguments have been presented years and years ago.”
Behind The Blog
Behind the Blog: Waiting in the Apple Store
This week, we discuss Tim Cook, Meta layoffs, and a very bad ad.
News
This AI Tool Rips Off Open Source Software Without Violating Copyright
Malus, which is a piece of satire but also fully functional, performs a "clean room" clone of open source software, meaning users could then sell software without crediting the original developers.
Behind The Blog
Behind the Blog: Jazz and Journalism
This week, we discuss the Madonna-whore algorithm, reader tips, and jazz.
Hacking
Hacker Compromises a16z-Backed Phone Farm, Tries to Post Memes Calling a16z the ‘Antichrist’
Doublespeed uses a phone farm to flood social media with AI-generated influencers. A hacker managed to get into a backend system of the company.
Podcast
How the Internet Became Hell (with Whitney Phillips)
‘The Ambivalent Internet’ and ‘The Shadow Gospel’ author Whitney Phillips on how online got so bad.
News
WebinarTV Secretly Scraped Zoom Meetings of Anonymous Recovery Programs
WebinarTV scraped and shared 12 steps-based anonymous meetings for people recovering from addiction and other private support groups.