Tag Archives: silicon

Battling for Clarity Amid the Echo Chambers of Big Tech

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Hi there! Welcome to TechScape. I’m your host, Blake Montgomery. Today, I’m pondering whether it’s time to upgrade from my iPhone 11 Pro. Tech news is filled with ongoing narratives from Silicon Valley, advice on how to sidestep annual smartphone upgrade cycles, and discussions on artificial intelligence in government, for better or worse.

Decoding Silicon Valley’s Narrative

The encroachment of technology can often seem unavoidable. This has likely always been the case, but the feeling is increasingly backed by Big Tech’s own supportive media ecosystem.

My colleague Nick Robbins – Early Report:

If you’re seeking insights from key figures in the tech world, you’ll frequently encounter them on programs like Sourcery, which act as safe havens for an industry wary of critical media. Some new media platforms are created by the companies themselves, while others, like fast-moving sharks, occupy niches favored by tech billionaires. Industry leaders such as Mark Zuckerberg, Elon Musk, Sam Altman, and Satya Nadella have recently engaged in lengthy, cozy interviews, while entities like Palantir and Andreessen Horowitz have ventured into launching their own media ventures this year.

In a landscape where many Americans express distrust toward major tech firms and believe that artificial intelligence will negatively affect society, Silicon Valley has crafted its own alternative media network, turning CEOs, founders, and investors into lasting and cherished celebrities. What began as a few adoring podcasters has evolved into a comprehensive ecosystem of publications and shows, supported by some of the most influential entities in the tech sector.

However, as these echo chambers within Big Tech expand, so do the critical voices emerging from within the companies.

My colleague Varsha Bansal reports on two recent developments. U.S. AI raters (a new type of contracted content moderator for AI) are discouraging their friends and family from utilizing AI. In Seattle, over 1,000 Amazon employees have anonymously signed an open letter expressing concerns that the rapid implementation of AI across the company and its products jeopardizes the environment and the jobs of its workforce.

1 dozen AI evaluators who verify the accuracy of AI-generated responses shared with the Guardian that upon realizing the capabilities of chatbots and image generators—along with the inaccuracies of their outputs—they began to advise friends and family against using generative AI altogether or at least to approach it with caution. These trainers are involved with various AI models, including Google’s Gemini, Elon Musk’s Grok, along with other popular and lesser-known bots.

More than 1,000 Amazon employees signed the open letter, expressing “grave concerns” regarding AI development and asserting that the company’s “all-costs-justification-at-warp-speed” strategy towards powerful technologies poses a threat to “democracy, our jobs, and our planet.”

This letter, which was made public on Wednesday and signed anonymously by Amazon staff, emerged a month after the company announced mass layoffs aimed at promoting AI usage in its operations. It carries various demands about Amazon’s impact on workplace conditions and the environment. Employees are urging the company to power all data centers with clean energy and to ensure that its AI-driven products and services do not facilitate “violence, surveillance, or mass deportation.”

ChatGPT and Mental Health

Tips for Not Buying New Gadgets This Holiday Season

New iPhone 16. Photo: Samuel Gibbs/The Guardian

Black Friday online sales hit $8.6 billion in the U.S., according to Adobe Analytics. You might be one of the excited buyers, or perhaps, like me, you think your sputtering phone, laptop, or tablet will last another year, even if it’s cracked or barely holding a charge. The cost of a complete upgrade can be daunting.

Yet, alternatives are arising. Devices are becoming easier to repair, including Apple products. This means that even if your gadget is aging, there are often budget-friendly ways to obtain the technology you need without purchasing new devices. My colleague Alan Martin covers refurbished devices and shares five tips for navigating these options.

Understand Refurbished Terms

Refurbished can mean a variety of things. Pay close attention to the condition of the battery and what assurances are provided. Peer-to-peer purchases can be risky. The terms “used,” “secondhand,” and “refurbished” can sometimes be misleading. This is what separates reputable marketplaces like Back Market, MusicMagpie, and Refurbed from platforms where you buy directly from individuals such as Facebook Marketplace and Craigslist.

Review Warranties and Return Policies

If issues arise, you’ll want to make sure you’re covered.

Examine Seller Reputation

Check customer reviews and online feedback. On eBay, look for sellers participating in the company’s refurbished product program.

Research Selected Devices

The older the device, the more significant the discount, but if you need to replace it sooner, this could lead to extra costs. Especially for mobile phones and laptops, keeping them updated ensures longevity.

Don’t Sacrifice Quality for Cost

A low price is only worthwhile if the quality is indeed delivered. We prioritize customer service and a transparent refurbishment process over just saving a few bucks.

“When buying refurbished, the best advice is to go through trusted retailers like Back Market, Giffgaff, and Vodafone. If you’re using eBay, look for items labeled as ‘certified refurbished,’” technology journalist Thomas Deehan mentioned in an interview.

Read more: From shockproof cases to updates: How to extend your smartphone’s life

AI in Government: Inept Lawyers, Automated Bureaucracy

Brazilian flag reflected in the capital Brasilia. Photo: Sergio Lima/AFP/Getty Images

Artificial intelligence is infiltrating various workplaces, even those funded by taxpayer dollars. The stakes in election processes and judicial decisions are far greater than those faced by private firms selling errant products, making the use of AI in government appear to be a reckless venture. However, the sluggishness of administrative processes is a global challenge, rendering AI’s potential for efficiency highly appealing. The adoption of AI in government remains in its nascent stages, producing mixed outcomes.

On the upside, countries like Brazil, Germany, and Japan are leveraging generative AI to enhance their bureaucratic functions and increase participatory processes. Nathan E. Sanders and Bruce Schneier, co-authors of the book Rewiring Democracy: How AI Will Transform Our Politics, Government, and Citizenship, note:

Brazil is notorious for its high litigation rates, with more lawyers per capita than the United States. Its courts are consistently overwhelmed with cases, leading to a backlog that costs the government billions.

Since 2019, the Brazilian government has been actively using AI to automate judicial processes. Rather than making legal rulings, AI assists in redistributing workloads, conducting legal research, transcribing hearings, identifying duplicate submissions, preparing initial signature orders, and clustering similar cases for joint assessment, all aimed at making the justice system more efficient. The impact has been significant; Brazil’s Federal Supreme Court backlog reached its lowest point in 33 years in 2025.

In Germany, new tools like Wahlweise and Wahl.chat allow the creation of an AI-powered official wall-o-mat that facilitates interactive discussions with voters, providing tailored information based on their individual interests rather than static web content outlining various political parties’ stances.

In Japan, last year, 33-year-old engineer Takahiro Anno entered the Tokyo gubernatorial race as an independent candidate, finishing fifth among 56 candidates, largely due to his innovative use of a certified AI avatar. This avatar responded to 8,600 voter queries during a continuous 17-day YouTube livestream, capturing global interest in campaign innovation.

Two months ago, Anno was elected to the Japanese Senate, again harnessing AI to engage constituents, this time answering over 20,000 questions. His new party, Team Mirai, pledges to address public queries during committee meetings based on feedback from the Mirai Congress app.

Now for the downside. In California, government attorneys neglected to verify the accuracy of AI-generated outputs while attempting to prosecute an individual. My colleague Cecilia Nowell reports on how a prosecutor’s office in California utilized AI for at least one criminal case, resulting in filings that contained inaccuracies known as “hallucinations.”

The Nevada County District Attorney’s Office in Northern California recently utilized AI to prepare court documents, which led to incorrect citations. District Attorney Jesse Wilson stated, “Once the error was discovered, the application was immediately retracted.”

Defense and civil rights attorneys contend that AI has also been deployed in other criminal court filings.

The Broader TechScape

Source: www.theguardian.com

Review of “How to Save the Internet with Nick Clegg” – Unpacking Silicon Valley’s Impact on Technology

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Nick Clegg takes on challenging positions. He served as the British Deputy Prime Minister from 2010 to 2015, navigating the complex dynamics between David Cameron’s Conservatives and his own Liberal Democrats. A few years later, he embraced another tough role as Vice President of Meta and President of Global Affairs from 2018 until January 2025. In this capacity, he managed the contrasting landscapes of Silicon Valley and Washington, D.C., as well as other governments. “How to Save the Internet” outlines Clegg’s approach to these demanding responsibilities and presents his vision for fostering a more collaborative and effective relationship between tech companies and regulators in the future.

The primary threats Clegg discusses in his book do not originate from the Internet; rather, they come in the form of regulatory actions against it. “The true aim of this book is not to safeguard myself, Meta, or major technologies. It is to enhance awareness about the future of the Internet and the potential benefits of these innovative technologies.”

However, much of the book focuses on defending Meta and large technology firms, beginning with a conflation of the widely beloved Internet with social media, which represents a more ambiguous aspect of online activity. In his exploration of “Techlash,” the swift public backlash against big tech occurring in the late 2010s, he poses the question:

That brings me to a recent survey I conducted through Harris Poll. I posed this question to a nationally representative sample of young American adults—the very generation that has been shaped by a plethora of social media platforms. We invited respondents to share their thoughts on the existence of various platforms and products. The regret for the existence of the Internet is low at 17%, while for smartphones, it’s only 21%. However, regret regarding major social media platforms is considerably higher, ranging from 34% for Instagram (owned by Meta) to 47% for TikTok and 50% for X. A parental investigation also found high levels of regret regarding social media. Similarly, other researchers have uncovered similar findings in their studies.

In other words, many of us would opt to disconnect from certain technologies if given the chance. Clegg presents this choice as binary: either fully embrace the Internet or shut it down. Yet, the real concern lies with social media, which can be regulated without dismantling the entire Internet and is consequently far more challenging to defend.

Nevertheless, Clegg attempts this defense. In the opening chapter, he addresses dual accusations that social media has harmed global democracy and adversely affected teenage mental health. While he acknowledges both have deteriorated since the 2010s, he contends that the decline merely coincides with the rise of social media and is not a direct cause. He refers to academic research, yet his interpretations echo standard narratives from Meta and overlook many critical counterarguments. For instance, consider this study contrasted with alternative perspectives. Ultimately, Clegg borrows many of his defensive phrases directly from a rebuttal published by Meta in response to criticisms, while my own work articulates a case for the detrimental impact of social media on democracy.

In this book, Clegg aligns himself with Meta’s narrative, despite previously holding different views on teenage mental health. Multiple state attorneys general in the U.S. have initiated lawsuits against Meta, revealing insights through obtained documents that show Clegg’s awareness of the issues. For instance, on August 27, 2021, Clegg sent an email to Mark Zuckerberg, prompted by an employee’s request for increased resources to address teenage mental health concerns. Clegg expressed that it was “increasingly urgent” to tackle “issues concerning the impact of products on the mental health of young people,” indicating that the company’s efforts were hampered by staffing shortages. Zuckerberg, however, did not respond to this email.

Clegg’s current stance—that harm is merely correlational and that such correlations lack significance—contradicts the experiences of numerous Meta employee, contractor, whistleblower, and leaked document evidence. One example comes from a 2019 Meta-offered study commissioned by the Tennessee Attorney General, where researchers informed Meta: “[teens] Despite Instagram’s addictive nature and detrimental effects on mental health, it’s still irresistible.”

Regarding his suggestions for preserving the Internet, Clegg proposes two key principles: radical transparency and collaboration. He advocates for tech companies to be more open about how their algorithms function and how decisions are made. He warns: “If the Silicon Valley Master refrains from opening up, external forces will intervene.”

In terms of collaboration, he advocates for a “digital democratic alliance,” emphasizing the importance of providing a counter to China’s technology, which supports its authoritarian regime. Clegg envisions that world democracies should unite to ensure the Internet upholds the democratic ideals prevalent in the 1990s.

Does Clegg’s vision hold merit? While transparency is commendable in theory, it may be too late to enforce these principles on the currently dominant companies of the Internet. As tech journalist Kara Swisher articulated, we built cities without infrastructure—no sanitation, no law enforcement, no guidance. Envision such a city. This lack of foundational design allows fraudsters, extremists, and others to thrive on these platforms, posing risks that even teenagers and large enterprises doubt can be addressed. A leap towards transparency by 2026 may prove insufficient to rectify the detrimental frameworks established two decades ago.


As for collaboration, envisioning a corporation like Meta relinquishing data and control seems implausible. The tech giant has garnered considerable support from the Trump administration, raising doubts about their willingness to pressure other nations. Thus, it remains unclear how “the choice will be taken out of their hands” should they resist cooperation. By whom?

The great biologist and ant expert, E.O. Wilson, once remarked that Marxism is “a good ideology for the wrong species.” After engaging with Clegg’s proposals, one might draw a parallel; his suggestions overlook the many critiques found in books addressing Meta’s unethical practices, numerous revelations from the 2021 leak known as the Facebook Files, and ongoing legal challenges.

Jonathan Haidt is a social psychologist and author of “The Unreliable Generation” (Penguin). How to Save the Internet: The Threat to Global Connections in the Age of AI and Political Conflicts by Nick Clegg is published by Bodley Head (£25). To support the Guardian, purchase a copy at Guardianbookshop.com. Shipping charges may apply.

Source: www.theguardian.com

Navigating Silicon Valley Culture Shock: Nick Clegg on His Experience at the MMA Gym with a Lieutenant

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I am not a product of Silicon Valley. I never pursued computer science and have never coded. My career hasn’t revolved around the discussions or sciences of technological progress. In 2018, I transitioned to Facebook Meta from the British and European political sphere, uncertain of what lay ahead.

As a Brit, the immense scale of America does not shock me. The distance from the power hubs on the East Coast feels significant when you first arrive in Northern California. It’s not merely 3,000 miles from Washington, DC, or New York; a 3-hour time difference creates a temporal dissonance. By the time the West Coast rises, the East has already moved on with its news agenda. Europe’s major events happen the night before. It feels isolated here. It’s understandable why those wishing to distance themselves from the scrutiny of the corporate world find refuge in this area. It serves as a natural haven for idealists daring to challenge the status quo.

There’s an alluring aspect to Silicon Valley, a place where affirmation flourishes. It draws in innovative minds brimming with creativity. Aspirations know no boundaries. Obstacles transform into opportunities, and every vibrant day could yield extraordinary breakthroughs. Anyone can conceive ideas that might revolutionize the world and amass wealth. However, it also functions as an industrial-scale breeding ground, predominantly for a certain male-centric environment—where assertive men and capable women must constantly vie for recognition. This ecosystem, which ideally serves new ideas, often distracts from the lives of average individuals. The wealth in this environment can create a disconnect from their everyday struggles, allowing an idealism that often overlooks harsh realities.

Upon my arrival at Facebook, the company was undergoing turmoil. Many employees were active during a time when their reputation diverged significantly from its former self. It was once an exhilarating ideal, spearheaded by a youthful genius with a remarkable mission, rapidly generating revenue while connecting the globe. Transforming from a group of rising stars to the public’s enemy was a cultural shock I was scarcely prepared for. It drew parallels to the Liberal Democrats in coalition government—a collective of idealists striving for change, leaving me bewildered as to why they were viewed unfavorably.

oThe most profound culture shock I faced in Silicon Valley had little to do with transatlantic differences. Since commencing my university journey in the mid-1980s, my path to success relied heavily on the power of words. At its core, politics embodies the contest of diverse narratives defining how things ought to be—liberalism, socialism, conservatism, fascism—all stories providing varying perspectives, analyses of problems, and proposed solutions. Winning an election hinges on how many resonate with your narrative about opponents’ affairs and visions.

Yet, Silicon Valley is populated with individuals viewing the world from a different lens: engineers. They navigate a realm of facts and processes. An engineer’s objective is to identify and solve issues, then move to the next challenge. They reside in a universe punctuated with acronyms, crafting a lexicon that feels akin to an exercise in boiling conversations down to their essence. Upon my arrival, I found myself immersed in XFNS, STOS, and FOAS, where every roadmap demanded a playbook, every community belonged to an ecosystem, and every topic was either TL;DR or worthy of deep dives. Everything—absolutely everything—needed quantification. In an early meeting, a senior engineer queried the likelihood of ‘government X’ passing law Y. I chuckled, believing it to be a jest. The notion of summarizing political processes into a pseudo-science seemed absurd. He didn’t laugh. When I retorted with “oh, maybe 23.67%,” he nodded earnestly. From that moment, I learned that persuasive narratives lacked weight without data points supporting every argument and evaluating potential outcomes. This realization grounded me. While science holds value, a systematic approach to problem-solving sharpens clarity in decision-making.




“He may be the most competitive person I’ve ever met”: with Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg in April 2019. Photo: Niall Carson/PA

However, this perspective can also be reductive. It commodifies everything, stripping away nuances, instincts, and humanity. Conversations about data with engineers often resembled how carpenters discuss wood. This reflects a broader cultural shift in privacy and data protection expectations shaped by regulation, but the reliance on logic over emotion and intuition reveals why Silicon Valley sometimes seems insensitive to the concerns of those beyond its colorful campus.

I might not be the typical figure you envision in Silicon Valley. My career has revolved around suits and ties, not hoodies or flip-flops. Faced with the flood of brightly colored, quirky posters decorating Facebook’s vibrant MPK campus (a nickname for Menlo Park), my initial impulse was to respond in a very British fashion with gentle sarcasm. During one of my first meetings with a recent team, a poster boldly proclaimed a common Silicon Valley mantra. Trying to break the ice, I quipped, “Don’t bring your real self to work. If I present my real self, you won’t like it. Just bring your inauthentic self between 9 to 5, then return home and revert to your true self.” The room fell silent. One team member later approached me, visibly embarrassed, explaining that the statement resonated uncomfortably with them. At that moment, I realized I wasn’t in Kansas anymore.

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While Mark Zuckerberg is often recognized as a visionary leader, two attributes stand out: his boundless curiosity and fierce competitiveness. Many who achieve early success tend to stagnate, lost in their own triumphs. In contrast, Mark displays humility, drive, and a continuous thirst for knowledge. If he feels uninformed, he passionately immerses himself in learning, absorbing every bit of wisdom related to the topic. He contemplates deeply and evaluates every angle. And no one—truly no one—can hold silence like Mark. I tend to fill awkward silences with chatter, but Mark allows it to linger, often to an unbearable extent. Yet, when he does speak, his words are always profoundly considered. While he might embody an engineer’s rational mindset—absent of emotions—this should not be misconstrued as a lack of depth or curiosity; it’s precisely the opposite.

Simultaneously, he is perhaps the most competitive individual I’ve ever encountered; I say this as someone seasoned in frontline politics and who has encountered numerous competitive personalities throughout my time in the UK private school system.

This competitive spirit manifests in his passion for Mixed Martial Arts (MMA). He’s an avid UFC enthusiast and approaches his training with utmost seriousness. His involvement in MMA had to be disclosed to investors due to its potential business implications. Once characterized in the public eye as a geeky figure two decades ago, he has indisputably become quite muscular. Just ask Elon Musk, who, after challenging Mark to an MMA bout, made various excuses to avoid actually stepping into the ring with him. Mark’s commitment to MMA is so profound that he insisted during an offsite management day that some of his senior executives join him for training sessions at his personal gym. Everyone partnered up to practice techniques under the guidance of Mark’s professional instructors. Consequently, I found myself wrestling with my then-direct report, Joel Kaplan. This engagement sometimes felt overly intimate as we awkwardly navigated moves that established an entirely new level of corporate bonding.

Joel later humorously admitted he considered reporting it to the then-HR Director Lori Gaul, but when he looked for her, he found her in a chokehold from Mark Zuckerberg. Surviving that challenge meant that Joel left Meta, armed with a peculiar yet robust shared experience that fortified our collaboration in global business operations.

Here is an excerpt edited from How to Save the Internet by Nick Clegg, published by Bodley Head For £25. To support the Guardian, order a copy from GuardianBookshop.com. Shipping charges may apply.

Source: www.theguardian.com

Silicon Valley Lures Researchers Just Like Soccer Teams

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The technology sector is engaged in an intense competition to lure artificial intelligence experts with increasingly lucrative salaries and hefty signing bonuses. Researchers holding doctoral degrees in computer science are at the forefront of this battle, often dubbed “talent.” The Washington Post recently referred to them as Olympians in a headline that asks, “Why are AI superathletes commanding $100 million bonuses in Silicon Valley?” These individuals are the most sought-after professionals globally.

High-tech firms are investing heavily in AI team star players who can create technologies surpassing human capabilities. These innovations aim to yield AI models known as “artificial general intelligence” or “super intelligence,” which outperform human intellect in every task.

In the pursuit of these coveted advancements, Silicon Valley is pouring money that could potentially establish a legacy. The race for talent is so intense that stories about the poaching of individual researchers are making headlines, as seen in Wired: “Another well-known OpenAI researcher joins Meta,” and Bloomberg: “Meta recruits two prominent Apple AI experts after hiring their boss.” The Information also reported, “Humanity has hired two leading coding AI experts from the cursor developer Anysphere.” All these stories emerged just last week.

The tech press’s fixation on these researchers resembles the sports media’s coverage of star player trades. Analysis of their salaries, speculation about upcoming moves Meta’s roster, discussions about team composition or overall strategy, and scrutiny of individual players echo the basketball trade phenomena from the Dallas Mavericks to the Los Angeles Lakers.

The term “another” in the Wired headline hints that one company is driving this frenzy—Meta. Mark Zuckerberg has made headlines recently by stating his company would invest “hundreds of billions” in AI initiatives. In April, Meta adjusted its capital expenditure plans for this year from $640 billion to $75 billion, an increase from the previous estimate of between $600 billion and $65 billion. In 2023, Meta only allocated $28 billion for maintenance, as noted by Fortune.

Zuckerberg is backing his commitment with cash. In early July, Meta hired Ruoming Pang, the head of Apple’s AI modeling team, for a staggering pay package amounting to around $200 million. Pang is set to join Meta’s super intelligence team, which may be the most expensive engineering group since the Manhattan Project.

The current trade frenzy is encapsulated in Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang’s remarks about half of the world’s leading AI researchers last week. He made these comments while in Beijing, during a meeting celebrating Donald Trump’s recent allowance for Huang’s extremely profitable company and a new permit to sell advanced semiconductors to China. Previously, the export of Nvidia chips faced tight restrictions. Huang’s remarks highlight the fact that American companies are investing in a pool of English-speaking talent, which still stands out in competition across the Pacific, regardless of the substantial salaries offered by high-tech giants.

Alternatives to iPhones and Samsungs vie for your attention

Photo: Samuel Gibbs/The Guardian

In recent years, several companies have launched mobile phones aimed at providing alternatives to the industry’s biggest players. Some of these companies are capitalizing on a rising unease regarding smartphones’ grip on our daily lives or simply seeking to challenge the prevailing dominance.

One intriguing option is a recently released device in the UK by Sage Mobile. This iPhone 16 variant comes with customized software that prohibits internet searches, gaming downloads, and social media apps like Instagram. British technology editor Robert Booth notes that these bespoke phones are sold at over twice the price of standard UK iPhone contracts, targeting children with the promise of “reconnecting with real life.”

This device includes a curated app store, enabling users to access apps for banking, public transport, school calendars, and weather updates.

Based on experiences with similar devices in the US, usage among children aged 8 to 14 averaged just 15 minutes to an hour per day—significantly less than the average screen time of 3 hours. Kaspar remarked, “It’s not magic and isn’t that fun,” leading to disinterest among kids and resulting in many devices ending up in landfills.

A 16-year-old anonymous reviewer shared their experience with the Guardian, highlighting how using Sage underscored their dependency on various apps and social media platforms. Although they felt more productive and engaged with family, creating a clean division between online and offline life proved to be more complex than merely blocking apps.

Sage’s representatives mentioned that it can take about a month to adapt to these limitations. However, teens may feel isolated from their friends and society, which is perceived as unjust. Having TikTok and Instagram is the norm today, and stepping back from these platforms can make it challenging to stay connected.

Should I continue using this phone, I would likely feel excluded when discussing how many of our jokes and cultural references originate from those platforms.

The London-based company Nothing also aims for a different approach with its Phone 3. This device features a quirky design, including a small LED screen on the back of a translucent case, rather than being a stripped-down version of an iPhone or Android.

Constructed on a Nothing version of the Android operating system, the Phone 3 incorporates many interesting features while striving to differentiate itself from the ubiquitous offerings of Apple and Samsung. Consumer Technology editor Samuel Gibbs provided a four-star review, stressing the importance of its unique attributes for justifying its value.

While the Phone 3 is impressive for Nothing, it may not outperform standard Android devices. It stands out from competitors but requires a desire for something distinctive to appreciate its offerings, given that more affordable devices provide comparable or superior performance.

Photo: AP

In his commitment to invest hundreds of billions of dollars in AI, Zuckerberg disclosed plans for a data center comparable in size to Manhattan. Meta’s sprawling complex, fueled by similarly vast financial outlays, has been named Hyperion, after the Greek Titan symbolizing the sun. Zuckerberg’s second smaller data center is named Prometheus, after the Titan punished for bringing fire and sacred knowledge to humanity. Is this data center a boon for us? Or, as the creators of AI, are we destined to face consequences? The emotions evoked by these names reflect Zuckerberg’s grand ambitions. The famous novel Frankenstein has another notable title that seems relevant: Modern Prometheus.

Google is also expanding its undertakings, planning to invest $3 billion in hydropower and $25 billion in data centers across Pennsylvania and neighboring states within the next two years. Apple is making its mark with a $500 million deal for rare earth minerals, investments that have drawn scrutiny from US mining companies.

The Broader Technology Landscape

Source: www.theguardian.com

Researchers Create the First 2D Computer Without Silicon

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While silicon has propelled advancements in semiconductor technology through miniaturization, the need for new materials is essential due to scaling challenges. Two-dimensional (2D) materials, characterized by their atomic thickness and high carrier mobility, offer an exciting alternative. A leading researcher in Pennsylvania has successfully created a basic computer utilizing 2D materials.

This conceptual diagram of a 2D molecule-based computer features an actual scanning electron microscope image of a computer developed by Ghosh et al. Image credit: Krishnendu Mukhopadhyay/Penn State.

“Silicon has been at the forefront of significant electronic advancements for decades by enabling the ongoing miniaturization of field effect transistors (FETs),” states Professor Saptalcidas of Pennsylvania.

“FETs utilize an electric field to manage current flow, activated by applied voltage.”

“Nevertheless, as silicon devices shrink, their performance tends to decline.”

“In contrast, two-dimensional materials retain outstanding electronic characteristics at atomic thickness, making them a promising avenue forward.”

In the complementary metal-oxide semiconductor (CMOS) architecture, Professor Das and his team have engineered transistors from two different 2D materials to manage current flow effectively.

“In CMOS technology, coordination between N-type and P-type semiconductors is critical for achieving high performance with low energy consumption. This challenge has posed significant obstacles in surpassing silicon,” remarked Professor Das.

“Previous investigations have showcased small circuits using 2D materials, yet scaling these findings into complex, functional computers has proven challenging.”

“This marks a significant achievement in our research. We are the first to create a CMOS computer entirely constructed from 2D materials.”

Researchers have synthesized extensive sheets of disulfide and tungsten diselenide through metal organic chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD). This manufacturing technique involves evaporating materials, initiating chemical reactions, and depositing them onto a substrate to fabricate each type of transistor.

Meticulous adjustments in device fabrication and post-processing steps enabled us to fine-tune the threshold voltages for both the N and P transistors, which facilitated the creation of fully operational CMOS logic circuits.

“Our 2D CMOS computers function at low supply voltages with minimal power usage and can execute basic logic operations at frequencies reaching 25 kilohertz.”

“Although the operating frequency is lower than that of traditional silicon CMOS circuits, a computer known as a single instruction set computer can perform fundamental logic operations.”

“We have also devised computational models calibrated with experimental data, accounting for inter-device variations and predicting the performance of 2D CMOS computers in comparison to top-notch silicon technology.”

“While there remains room for further optimization, this work represents a crucial milestone in harnessing 2D materials to propel advancements in electronics.”

The team’s research was published this month in the journal Nature.

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S. Ghosh et al. 2025. One instruction set computer based on complementary two-dimensional material. Nature 642, 327-335; doi:10.1038/s41586-025-08963-7

Source: www.sci.news

Webb Discovers Silicon Monoxide in the Atmosphere of Ultra-Hot Jupiter WASP-121b

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Astronomers leveraging the NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope have identified water, carbon monoxide, and methane in the atmosphere of WASP-121B, as well as in Earth’s nightside atmosphere. This marks the first detection of silicon monoxide in any planetary atmosphere, including those within our solar system and beyond.

This artistic impression illustrates the phase during which WASP-121B collects most of its gas, inferred from recent findings. Image credit: T. Muller, MPIA & HDA.

WASP-121B is approximately 1.87 times larger and 1.18 times more massive than Jupiter.

First discovered in 2016, it completes an orbit around its host star, the F6-type WASP-121 (TYC 7630-352-1), in just 1.3 days, as observed by the WASP-SOUTH SURVEY.

The WASP-121 system is situated about 881 light years away in the constellation of Puppis.

Characterized as an Ultra Hot Jupiter, WASP-121B orbits its parent star in a mere 1.3 days, being so close that the star’s gravitational pull begins to physically disrupt it.

Estimates suggest that the temperatures on the planet’s eternal daytime side exceed 3,000 degrees Celsius, while the nightside cools down to around 1,500 degrees Celsius.

“The discovery of silicon monoxide in the atmosphere of WASP-121B is revolutionary, marking the first definitive identification of this molecule in any planetary atmosphere,” stated Dr. Anjali Piette, an astronomer at the University of Birmingham.

“The composition of the nightside atmosphere of WASP-121B indicates vertical mixing: the transport of gases from deeper atmospheric layers to the peak observed in infrared light.”

“We were surprised to find methane on the nightside given the extreme temperatures of this planet.”

Measurements of carbon-to-hydrogen, oxygen-to-hydrogen, silicon-to-hydrogen, and oxygen-to-oxygen ratios in the atmosphere suggest that during its formation, WASP-121B’s atmosphere was enriched by inner rocky materials enhanced by erosion-resistant bombardment.

“They’re outstanding,” remarked Dr. Thomas Evans Soma, an astronomer at Newcastle University.

In their research, astronomers employed a method known as phase curve observation, which entails tracking a planet’s orbit around its star and analyzing variations in its brightness.

These observations reveal details about both the daytime and nighttime hemispheres, along with their chemical makeups.

“The successful detection of these elements and characterization of WASP-121B’s atmosphere with Webb showcases the telescope’s capabilities and sets a precedent for future exploratory research,” Dr. Piette remarked.

Study published today in the journal Nature Astronomy.

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TM Evans-Soma et al. Ultra-Stellar C/O ratio in the atmosphere of SIO and giant exoplanet WASP-121. Nature Astronomy Published online on June 2, 2025. doi:10.1038/s41550-025-02513-x

Source: www.sci.news

AI in Silicon Valley: Beyond Job Exchange to Total Replacement | Ed Newton Rex

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I recently discovered a restaurant located in my second-floor room in San Francisco, where a venture capital firm hosted a dinner. The after-dinner speaker was a tech veteran who sold his AI company for hundreds of millions and is now pivoting to investment. His straightforward message to the founders of a newly established startup was clear: the potential earnings from AI far exceed the limited market size of previous tech waves. You can draw on a global workforce, which could mean profits for everyone involved.

The idea of completely replacing human labor with AI sounds like science fiction. However, it is the explicit goal of a growing number of high-tech elites—individuals devoid of significant drives or resources, yet with ample financial backing and determination. When they declare their intention to automate all labor, we should take their words seriously.

This perspective is typically confined to closed circles for obvious reasons; one rarely invokes hostility faster than when suggesting that jobs may vanish. Nonetheless, a company named Machicalize challenged this trend last month by openly articulating their vision: “Fully automated economy.” They have successfully garnered funding from some of Silicon Valley’s most prominent figures, including Google’s chief scientist Jeff Dean and podcast host Workspatel.

Is it truly feasible to automate every job? Elon Musk seems to think so. He suggested that the rise of AI and robotics could lead to a scenario where “None of us have a job.” Bill Gates has also reflected on the future of human work, stating that some roles may not be necessary: “It’s not necessary for ‘most things’.” Predictions for sweeping labor changes come from notable figures such as AI pioneer Geoffrey Hinton and billionaire investor Vinod Khosla. Their insights are not to be dismissed lightly.

Certain professions appear to be notably resistant to automation. Taylor Swift, Harry Kane, or the next Archbishop of Canterbury are unlikely to be replaced. Famous artists, athletes, politicians, and clergy are among the occupations least susceptible to AI intrusion; unfortunately, they are not careers accessible to everyone.

Currently, technology cannot substitute for all human labor. AI is prone to errors and lacks the coordination, dexterity, and adaptability of humans. However, cutting-edge technology can already perform many tasks, and the expectation is that it will continue to accelerate in capability.

GPT-4, one of OpenAI’s large language models, achieved a Top 10% score on the bar exam in 2023. More recent models have proven adept at coding even beyond the skills of their own chief scientists. The demand for freelance writing sharply declined when ChatGPT was released; the same trend occurred in graphic design following the launch of AI image generators. Driverless cars are already a common sight in San Francisco. As Sam Altman stated emphatically, “The job is It will definitely disappear—full stop.”

While AI captures most headlines, advancements in robotics are also progressing rapidly. While AI may threaten white-collar jobs, robots are increasingly targeting blue-collar work. A humanoid robot is currently undergoing tests at BMW factories. Another model has managed to master over 100 tasks typically performed by human store clerks. Companies are preparing to commence home tests with robots as soon as this year. The Silicon Valley vision for the job market is clear: AI handles thinking, while robots take care of the physical tasks. In this scenario, what role remains for humans?

Until recently, AI researchers anticipated that achieving artificial general intelligence (AGI)—the ability for AI to perform virtually all cognitive tasks at human levels—was an aspiration far off in the future. However, that perception has shifted. Demis Hassabis, head of Google DeepMind, now claims that “It’ll come soon“—in less than 5-10 years, he says, would not surprise him.

Of course, these forecasts could be inaccurate. There’s a chance we may enter another AI winter, where chatbot advancements stagnate, robots falter, and venture capital shifts focus to another tech phenomenon. I personally don’t believe this will happen, but it’s a possibility. However, the core question remains: it’s not whether high-tech CEOs and billions in funding are directing efforts toward labor automation, but rather why they are so eager to pursue this goal and how the general populace feels about it.


The more optimistic viewpoint is that they genuinely believe a post-labor economy will spur significant economic growth and vastly enhance global living standards. The crucial question is whether historical patterns indicate that the fruits of this growth are equitably shared.

Alternatively, a less charitable interpretation is that it all boils down to money. Venture capitalist Mark Andreessen famously remarked, “Software eats the world.” Many sectors have been absorbed into this tech phenomenon. Regardless of the software developed, human effort remains essential for executing the majority of global work. However, Silicon Valley now sees an opening: a chance to control the entire means of production. If they choose not to seize this opportunity, they would not be true to their innovative spirit.

  • Ed Newton-Rex is a founder of a nonprofit certifying AI companies that respect creator rights and is the founder of Fally Trained. He serves as a visiting scholar at Stanford University.

Source: www.theguardian.com

Could U.S. Antitrust Laws Curb Silicon Valley? | Meta

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Last week, Apple faced a fine from the European Union, and Meta was also penalized for hundreds of millions in dollars.

As reported by my colleague Jennifer Rankin:

The European Commission imposed a fine of 500 million euros (£429 million) on Apple, alongside a 2 million euro penalty for Meta, for violating fair competition and user choice regulations. This marks the first enforcement action under the EU’s groundbreaking internet laws.

The EU Digital Markets Act (DMA) is designed to promote equitable business practices among tech giants, potentially setting the stage for further conflict with Donald Trump’s administration, which has heavily criticized European internet regulations.

The Trump administration quickly condemned the fines: a spokesperson from the National Security Council labeled the EU’s decision as “a novel form of economic terror that the United States will not accept.”

Although these fines are significant, their repercussions may be overshadowed by the intense scrutiny tech companies are under in the U.S. While the EU enforces stronger consumer protection laws in technology, legal actions against these firms could jeopardize the existing corporate structures that integrate products and generate substantial profits.

Before Trump’s potential re-election, I would have expected his administration to introduce tech regulations that could enhance Silicon Valley’s dominance alongside Europe. However, the current regulatory environment reveals a different reality: the U.S. Department of Justice is actively investigating nearly all major tech firms for alleged monopolistic practices. Lawsuits against Apple, Amazon, Meta, and Google have been filed over the past two years, with Meta’s trial commencing recently, jeopardizing its acquisitions of Instagram and WhatsApp.

Most critically, Google is facing the repercussions of losing two antitrust cases consecutively. The U.S. has petitioned the court to compel the tech giant to divest Chrome, a leading web browser.

With major tech operations based in the U.S., the government wields substantial influence. Unlike EU penalties, U.S. antitrust cases threaten the very foundations of these companies. High-performing firms have weathered heftier fines in the past, akin to when the FTC penalized Facebook $5 billion for privacy infringements, yet the platform continued operations as usual. Similarly, the EU fined Google in 2018 concerning Android’s preference for its search engine, while Apple was fined 1.8 billion euros last year related to music streaming payments.

Without Chrome, Google may offer a less tailored online experience. Platforms like YouTube and Google search may diminish users’ history, and no other entity currently ads on every corner of the web.

For more details, click here.

Two insightful essays on technology

UK Regulators Work to Safeguard Children Online

Tesla Posts Disappointing Earnings at a Critical Time for Musk


Donald Trump and Elon Musk at the SpaceX Test Flight launch in November. Photo: Brandon Bell/Reuters

Elon Musk’s electric vehicle company reported poor revenue figures last week for Q1 2025. Here are the details from my colleague Johanna Bouyan:

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Tesla experienced a 9% decline in year-on-year revenue in Q1 2025, generating $19.3 billion—well below Wall Street’s expectations of $21.45 billion. The company reported earnings per share of 27 cents, significantly trailing the anticipated 43 cents.

The company’s profits plummeted by 71%, down to $499 million, compared to $1.399 billion in net income the previous year.

Tesla also saw a 13% decrease in vehicle deliveries, marking the worst quarter since 2022, with a total of 336,681 vehicles delivered.

Much of Musk’s considerable wealth—he remains the richest individual globally despite losing almost $100 billion since the start of the year—stems from his stake in Tesla, which is now valued significantly lower than it was when Trump took office.

In a call with disappointed investors following the revenue report, Musk remarked that his government role consists largely of “orderly finance houses.” He also indicated that his involvement with Doge will likely diminish next month, with plans to step away from the project on May 30, within the confines of his 130-day pledge as a special government employee.

This statement evokes the premature “mission accomplished” banner displayed by former President George W. Bush early in the Iraq War, indicating that the long-term success of Musk’s cost-cutting initiatives remains uncertain. Just days before the earnings call, a U.S. federal judge halted the administration’s efforts to close the leading consumer finance protection agency. The total impact of Musk’s role remains unclear.

Discover more about Elon Musk

Broader Technology Insights

Source: www.theguardian.com

US Officials Accuse “Silicon Six” of Dodging $278 Billion in Corporate Taxes in a Decade

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The “Silicon Six” tech giants in America have been accused of only paying $278 billion (£21.1 billion) in corporate income taxes over the last ten years.

Amazon, Meta, Alphabet, Netflix, Apple, and Microsoft have collectively made $1.1 trillion in revenue and 2.5 trillion in profit during the same period.

Despite this, they have only paid an average of 18.8% in national and federal taxes, compared to the US average of 29.7%, with Silicon Six allegedly involving tax avoidance in their business strategies.

Nonprofit organizations’ analysis showed that the average corporate income tax contribution for these companies fell to 16.1% over the past decade when excluding one-time US repatriation tax payments related to past tax avoidance.

The report also claimed that businesses inflated $820 billion in tax payments by including tax contingencies they didn’t anticipate paying during the same period.

Paul Monaghan, the CEO of FTF, stated, “Our analysis reveals that Silicon Six’s tax avoidance persists within their corporate structure. Their contributions exceed what other sectors like banks and energy pay in many regions globally.”

Monaghan highlighted “active tax practices” and companies’ significant influence on the economy, stressing that they spend millions lobbying the government.

The report points to the impact of tech moguls like Amazon’s Jeff Bezos, Apple’s Tim Cook, and Meta’s Mark Zuckerberg, emphasizing the influence of US tech companies.

Significant tax reductions for these companies reportedly played a pivotal role in discussions with the UK to secure lower tariffs on US exports.

Monaghan explained that much of Silicon Six’s international income benefits from lower tax rates due to tax credits for foreign intangible income. Overseas sales also face reduced income taxes due to lower profit margins and profits booked in low-tax jurisdictions.

Netflix had the lowest tax rate of 14.7% compared to its profit, with Microsoft at 20.4%. Amazon, despite a tax system criticized for profit shifting, had a corporate tax rate of 19.6%, surpassing Netflix, Meta (15.4%), and Apple (18.4%).

An Amazon spokesperson noted that UK revenues, costs, profits, and taxes are all reported and paid in the UK as required.

A Meta representative assured compliance with tax laws across all the countries they operate in, while a Netflix spokesperson stated adherence to relevant tax rules in every jurisdiction.

Microsoft, Alphabet, and Apple have been approached for comment.

Source: www.theguardian.com

Tech Titans Bowing Down to President Trump in Silicon Valley

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On January 28, 2017, I hurried to San Francisco International Airport (SFO). That evening, protests were gaining momentum across the United States against President Donald Trump’s travel ban on visitors from seven Muslim-majority countries. The night was unusually cold, and I had not brought a proper jacket. Luckily, the train to the airport was warm and filled with nervous and chatty protesters. The airport itself was chaotic. Angry demonstrators blocked roads, causing taxis and Ubers to be stranded with meters still running. A hijab-wearing protester prayed next to a protest sign in the baggage claim area, while others shouted at travelers collecting their luggage. At that time, Trump was the most controversial figure in America, and his election had shocked the world.

Later that night, rumors of a $150 billion face in the crowd started to circulate. Sergey Brin, the founder and co-founder of Google, was present. At that time, he was the president of Alphabet, Google’s parent company, which also owns YouTube. The impact was electrifying. One of the wealthiest and most influential men in the world was publicly expressing his displeasure with Trump by participating in a protest against him. Brin, originally from Moscow and immigrating to the United States at the age of 6, stated he was at SFO that night “because I’m a refugee,” delivering a personal rebuke to Mr. Trump, whom he described as a complete xenophobe.


Following Brin’s lead, Google and other tech giants condemned Trump’s travel ban. Nearly 100 technology companies, including Facebook, Apple, Microsoft, and Uber, supported a lawsuit challenging the measure.

However, today’s protests against President Trump’s reelection have had minimal impact. Silicon Valley is shifting its stance to show more deference to Mr. Trump. This week, the tech industry finished its nominations for the upcoming president.

Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced the cessation of the company’s fact-checking operations in the United States. In 2022, Meta had claimed to have built the largest global fact-checking network and spent $100 million on it.

A few days later, Mr. Zuckerberg revealed a reduction in efforts to enhance workforce diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) – a move met with controversy. These policies had been disdained by Trump and faced criticism from his prominent supporter, Elon Musk. Zuckerberg, seemingly driven by ambition rather than personal beliefs, took actions such as promoting Dana White to Meta’s board of directors after dining with Trump and supporting his inaugural committee.

Mr. Zuckerberg’s actions seemed to be influenced by Trump’s threats, as the president-elect had warned of dire consequences if Zuckerberg interfered in the election. Mehta, like others, stood to benefit from a friendly Trump administration, particularly concerning Meta’s antitrust lawsuit.

Several tech CEOs, including Tim Cook, Sundar Pichai, and Satya Nadella, also demonstrated support for President Trump, each contributing in different ways. Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi donated $2 million to Trump, and even Google made a substantial donation despite being targeted by Trump’s campaign.

The president-elect, noticing his newfound popularity, remarked on the change in attitude towards him. Meanwhile, Musk’s threats loomed over tech leaders like Jeff Bezos, Sam Altman, and Jensen Huang, demonstrating the power dynamics at play in the tech industry.

Source: www.theguardian.com

The panic in Silicon Valley over Australia’s social media ban for under-16s

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HHello. Welcome to TechScape. Happy belated Thanksgiving to all my American readers. I hope you all enjoy a fun holiday party this weekend. I’m looking forward to baking gritty bunts for the Feast of St. Nicholas. This week in tech: Australia causes panic, Bluesky raises the issue of custom feeds, and we cover the online things that brought me joy over the holidays.

Australia on Thursday passed a law banning children under 16 from using social networks.

My colleague Helen Sullivan reports from Sydney: The Online Safety Amendment (Social Media Minimum Age) would prohibit social media platforms from allowing users under the age of 16 to access their services, with penalties of up to A$50 million (A$3,200) for failure to comply. He is threatening to impose a fine of US$ 1,000,000. However, it does not contain any details about how it will work, only that companies are expected to take reasonable steps to ensure that users are over 16 years of age. Further details will be available by the time the Age Assurance Technology trials are completed in mid-2025. The bill will not take effect for another 12 months.

The bill also does not specify which companies would be subject to the ban, but Communications Minister Michel Rolland has said that Snapchat, TikTok, X, Instagram, Reddit, and Facebook are likely to be subject to the ban. YouTube is not included because it is for “important” educational purposes, she said.

The new law was drafted in response to Labor Prime Minister Anthony Albanese saying there was “a clear causal link between the rise of social media and the harm it causes to Australian youth mental health.”

Please see the full text here.

***
Opposition to this law is active and diverse.

TikTok, Facebook, Snapchat, Instagram, and X are angry. Following the bill’s passage, Mehta said the process was “fast-tracked” and that it would take a long time to hear from young people, the steps the tech industry has already taken to protect them, and existing research on the impact of their social media use. He said he did not consider the evidence.

Australian children are not a significant user base for these companies. According to UNICEF, in 2023, there were 5.7 million people under the age of 18 living in Australia. Facebook reported 3 billion monthly users in 2023. May 2023. There are approximately 370 million Facebook users in India. Even if all Australian children were to leave social media, which is unlikely, the number of users would not decline significantly.

If countries around the world turn their young people away from social media, social media companies will face an uncertain future.

Of concern to tech companies is the precedent set by the new law. Tech companies also fiercely opposed measures in both Australia and Canada that would require them to pay for news content. The issue was not the amount requested, but what happened next. If countries around the world required people to pay for news, the financial burden it would place on Facebook and others would be enormous, as would the responsibility of determining what is news. As countries around the world turn their young people away from social media, social media companies will face an uncertain future. The pipeline of incoming users will dry up.

What tech companies want in Australia is a measure that would require parental consent, but this would be a more vague standard and one that would divide responsibility between companies and users. Mehta and others opposed a 2023 law passed in France requiring parents to approve accounts for children under 15 with far less vigor than Australia’s new law. However, in an ominous sign for Australia’s measures, local French media reports that technical challenges mean the under-15 rule has not yet been implemented. Also, does the parental consent feature work? Data from several European countries shows that it doesn’t. Nick Clegg from Meta said the company’s data shows that parents are not using parental control measures on social networks.

Australian law shows that this is indeed possible in any country. We have seen the laws of one country tilt the global governance of social networks before. In the United States, a law governing children’s privacy passed in 2000 imposed a minimum age of 13 for social media users. Social network privacy policy.

Click here for a comparison of Australia’s social media ban laws with those of other countries.

What do you want from your social feed?

Photo: Photostorm/Getty Images


Source: www.theguardian.com

Other Techies in Silicon Valley are Concerned About the US Election Beyond Elon Musk

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The slogan “the personal is political” was influential in the 1960s, highlighting power dynamics in marriage. Today, a slogan like “technology is political” is equally relevant, showing how a few global corporations hold political sway in liberal democracies. Elon Musk’s recent appearance alongside Donald Trump at a Pennsylvania rally underscored technology’s prominent role in American politics. Despite Musk’s reluctance to tweet, his company provides internet to Ukrainian troops and his rocket was selected to land the next American on the moon.

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In the past, tech giants like Google, Facebook, Microsoft, Amazon, and Apple flourished in a lenient political climate. Democratic governments overlooked technology’s influence, and antitrust regulators were hampered by legal restrictions. The University of Chicago Law School promoted the idea that corporate dominance was permissible unless it harmed consumers. However, recent regulatory actions led by the DOJ and FTC show a shift towards addressing tech monopolies like Google facing antitrust allegations.

The tech industry’s political awakening is evident in the substantial financial support crypto companies provide to political campaigns. Rather than aiming to sway election results, this money is directed towards influencing the composition of Congress. This contrasts with the tech pioneers of the past who shunned politics, highlighting the current intertwining of technology and politics.

John Norton is a Professor of Public Understanding of Technology at the Open University.

Source: www.theguardian.com

TechScape: Silicon Valley’s top schools quickly experimenting with technology | Technology

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Hello. Welcome to TechScape. I’m Blake Montgomery, technology news editor at Guardian US.

I’m taking over TechScape from Alex Hern. In this newsletter I would like to introduce myself and my ideas.


Blake Montgomery, new TechScape writer. Photo: The Guardian

A little about me: I started working for the Guardian the day Sam Bankman-Freed went to trial. My first break from my new job coincided with the shock firing of Sam Altman at OpenAI. A story I often tell at parties is how I was arrested and jailed while reporting. deadly testicular injection.

New newsletter: TechScape immerses you in the influence of politics, culture, and technology. We analyze the importance of the week’s most important technology news, explore odd niches, stay up to date with Guardian coverage, and give you helpful tips from time to time. My version of TechScape is a newsletter about technology and the people who make it. Technology, both as a product and as an industry, is the biggest driver of change in our time. It intersects every aspect of our lives and changes our daily behavior. Think of TechScape as your guide to the future and future present.

Thank you for your participation.

This week on iPhone


Yu-Gi-Oh! There’s a lot to explore in Master Duel. Photo: Matt Cardy/Getty Images

Average usage time per day: 6 hours 2 minutes.

Most used apps: Yu-Gi-Oh! master duel. I just downloaded this app last week and it stirs up some nostalgia in me. teenage trading card era for better or for worse. Quite a lot of things in the game have changed since then, so there’s a lot of digital territory to explore.

Silicon Valley’s elite schools are testing temporary bans on technology


There is a popular opinion that mobile phones are bad for everyone, especially children. Photo: The Guardian

Leaders in the United States, United Kingdom and Europe are debating whether students should have cellphones in their hands during class. A growing number of people in power, from presidents to school superintendents, think they shouldn’t do that.

California’s governor last week signed a bill requiring schools to reduce screen time for students, and the Los Angeles School District, the second largest in the United States, passed a ban on public high school phones on campus starting in 2025. The UK is not making this decision piecemeal. Similar to the US, ministers announced plans in February to ban phones in schools across the country. Hungary now requires schools to collect students’ devices at the start of the school day. France is in the midst of trialing a ban on the use of phones for students under 15. The Netherlands has banned the use of phones in schools from January 1, 2024.

Consensus is growing. Taking up arms against screen time is a popular stance among both conservatives and progressives. There is a popular opinion that phones are bad for everyone, especially children. One of the problems is that it is a universally acknowledged fact that everyone living in our time must have a smartphone. How can we prepare students to balance the two competing needs of screen time and screen-free time?


Will going tech-free help students learn better in school? Photo: The Guardian

An elite school in the heart of Silicon Valley is asking students to put down their devices and rethink their relationship with technology. The $62,400-a-year, private school for girls at Castile School in Palo Alto, Calif., has banned cell phones in classrooms since middle school principal Laura Zappas can remember. Also smart watches. The school has 185 students in grades 6, 7, and 8, aged 11 to 14.

Zappas instituted a completely technology-free week last school year, requiring all Castillaja students to lock their devices, including smartphones, smartwatches, tablets, and school-issued laptops, at the start of the school day for one week in March. The girls took notes, filled out all assignments on paper, and recorded data from their science experiments in graph journals. They wrote down the homework they needed to complete on paper planners that Zappas personally distributed. They complained of cramps because they handwritten more lines in a day than any other grade.

“We found that students with laptops had several screens open at the same time,” Zappas said. “They may be texting or playing games instead of taking notes. Or, a student’s urge to start class may be replaced by waiting for instructions from the teacher or what they are doing. Instead, I wanted to open my laptop as soon as I entered the classroom. I was always drawn to my laptop.”

The initiative, simply named “Tech Free Week,” served to reset digital-first educational practices during the pandemic, Zappas said. “I think before coronavirus, we were using a combination of paper and technology. And I think my own education has changed pretty dramatically with coronavirus, with all assignments now having to be submitted electronically. And since COVID-19, it has become our daily life.”

What does Unplugged look like as a way for students and teachers to think more deeply about our relationship with technology?

Administrators described Tech Free Week as a pause for rethinking. How can we participate as a community without screens?”


A recent study from Tech-Free Week found that 42% of students improved their ability to concentrate after returning to paper and pen. Photo: The Guardian

The results were positive, with 42% of students saying they were able to concentrate better in class and were less distracted during schoolwork, according to a survey conducted by the school. Almost three-quarters of teachers asked Zappas to repeat the effort. She is in discussions with administrators at the 9th- through 12th-grade high school to implement a technology-free week for older students.

Zappas emphasized that advance notice and careful preparation made Technology Free Week possible. She notified school teachers of the initiative four months in advance and pitched it to parents six weeks in advance. She asked both teachers and parents to consider how they can build healthy relationships. That a week without technology required so much planning shows that devices can be an inseparable part of modern life, even for 11-year-old students.

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We have a French teacher and we gave them all the dictionaries and she said they had never seen a French dictionary before.

“We have a French teacher and we gave them all the dictionaries and she said they had never seen a French dictionary before,” Zappas said. “And it took a long time for them to figure out, ‘Okay, what’s the right word that I want to use here?’ How do I find that?”

www.theguardian.com

Former Nvidia founder believes upstate New York could be the next Silicon Valley | Technology

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THoused inside a glass box in the chapel on the campus of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, New York, the “Quantum Chandelier” is the symbolic centerpiece of an ambitious effort to transform upstate New York into a tech hub — something like Silicon Valley for social media or Cambridge, Massachusetts, for biotechnology.

The silvery sci-fi object, named for the internal gold lattice that mounts, cools and isolates the processors, will be the heart of a “quantum computing system” that will herald a new era of computing. It’s the heart of Curtis Prime’s dream, co-founder of Nvidia, a $2.8 trillion artificial intelligence hardware and software company, to transform Rensselaer (RPI) into an advanced computing hub, remaking this part of upstate New York into a new Silicon Valley.

Priem has invested a significant amount of his wealth into building the Curtis Priem Quantum Constellation, a workshop where RPI students can envision the future of quantum computing. Just as his partners at Nvidia, where he served as the company’s first chief technology officer, allowed him to freely imagine the graphics chip architecture that will power the AI revolution, he hopes his investment will spark a new era of computational innovation in the region.

Prime believes the area along the Hudson Valley, from Yorktown Heights, home to IBM’s Quantum Research Institute, to Troy, home to the RPI/SUNY nanotech complex, to Syracuse, where Micron is building a massive $100 billion fab complex, will be the future home of U.S. computer technology.

To that end, he’s thinking beyond concerns about artificial intelligence and the success of Nvidia’s H100 graphics processing unit (GPU), which powers 90% of generative AI systems.




There are two RPI students on campus. Photo: Gregory Sherin

Wall Street has become skeptical of technology. AI has caused billions of dollars of losses, and Wall Street is disheartened by the idea that new technology is going to change the world. But the same thing happened with the internet overbuild of the 1990s, which went through booms and busts before eventually paying off.

In theory, quantum technology could solve in seconds problems that take today’s supercomputers decades to solve, unlocking secrets about the behavior of molecules, the genetic code, weather forecasting and, of more recent concern, cracking the encryption systems that underpin the internet.

Source: www.theguardian.com

Kamala Harris’ Silicon Valley connection: Exploring her tech ties in the 2024 US election

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aAbout 700 well-heeled Democrats packed San Francisco’s Fairmont Hotel on Sunday to see Kamala Harris return to the city for the first time since launching her presidential campaign. The crowd at the fundraiser, where the cheapest tickets cost $3,300 and the highest was $500,000, included tech billionaires, corporate executives, and Silicon Valley venture capitalists who are quick to endorse Vice President Harris in her bid for the White House.

The event, which raised more than $12 million, was the latest in the Harris campaign’s outreach to tech Democrats and an extension of ties to Silicon Valley elites that go back more than a decade.

Harris, a former California attorney general and then senator, has extensive ties to some of the tech industry’s most influential figures and big donors. Her campaign has yet to release detailed policy positions on issues such as tech regulation, but tech executives speculate that her track record suggests she could take a more industry-friendly approach than Joe Biden.

Democrats from the tech industry who have promoted or donated to the Harris campaign include former Facebook chief operating officer Sheryl Sandberg; LinkedIn co-founder Reid Hoffman, who attended the fundraiser in San Francisco; philanthropist Melinda French Gates; IAC Chairman Barry Diller; and Silicon Valley venture capitalist Ron Conway. Laurene Powell Jobs, the billionaire philanthropist and former wife of Apple’s Steve Jobs, is a longtime friend of Harris’ and held a fundraiser for her at her home in 2013. Netflix Chairman Reed Hastings, who publicly called on the president to drop out after his disastrous debate performance, publicly endorsed Harris for the race. Donated $7 million It funded a pro-Harris super PACac within days of her becoming the presumptive nominee.

Some of these donors have come to Harris’ campaign with their own agendas. Most notably, Hoffman and Diller have called for the removal of Federal Trade Commission Chair Lina Khan, whose agency has aggressively regulated big tech companies, angering the industry with lawsuits against companies like Microsoft and Amazon. (Hoffman sits on the Microsoft board of directors.) Targeted of the FTC’s antitrust lawsuit.

That Hoffman and Diller are donating heavily to Harris while also calling for the removal of Khan gives the appearance of billionaire donors trying to sway policy for their own benefit. Hoffman’s denial Harris claims Hoffman’s donations were made in exchange for influence. While she has not yet commented on the donations from Khan or her critics, her campaign hosted him at an organizing event in early August after his attacks on the FTC chairman.

Harris has received public pledges of support from big-name donors as well as hundreds of venture capitalists and technology industry insiders. “VCs For Kamala” website More than 800 signatures were collected from various companies. Bloomberg reported Tech4Kamala’s open letter has garnered more than 1,200 signatures, and the two groups are planning to hold an event later this month.

Trump battles Harris to build new relationships in Silicon Valley

Harris may have more vocal tech advocates than Biden, but the industry has also seen a shift toward conservatism and embrace of far-right ideology, and she faces a host of strong opponents. Last month in San Francisco, venture capitalists David Sachs and Chamath Palihapitiya hosted a fundraiser for Donald Trump that raised about $12 million, while Silicon Valley powerhouses Marc Andreessen and Ben Horowitz announced plans to make large donations to the former president.

Trump’s running mate, J.D. Vance, also ran his Ohio Senate campaign with roughly $15 million in contributions from tech billionaire Peter Thiel, who was briefly employed by Thiel’s venture capital firm in 2015. Before becoming a senator, Vance worked in Silicon Valley and was connected to a wide network of wealthy conservatives in the tech industry.

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Elon Musk, the world’s richest man, has openly supported Trump while promoting attacks on Harris and the Democratic Party on his social media platform, X. Last month, Musk shared a deepfake parody video on the platform that showed manipulated footage of Harris saying, “I’m the ultimate diversity hire.” Musk’s Grok chatbot has also Spreading disinformation Harris drew condemnation from Democrats after suggesting she was ineligible to appear on the ballot in some states.

On Monday, Musk spoke with Trump in a more than two-hour interview in which he praised the president and did not refute a variety of falsehoods and baseless election conspiracy theories.

“The Trump campaign is run by self-centered rich people like Elon Musk and Trump himself who have betrayed the middle class and won’t be able to live stream in 2024,” Joseph Costello, a spokesman for the Harris campaign, said in a statement after the interview.

California’s ties to big tech companies

Harris, who served as California’s attorney general and then senator from 2010 to 2020, served during a pivotal period in the rise of Silicon Valley’s largest social networks, including Facebook. Her record on tech legislation and litigation has been praised by regulatory and privacy advocates, but she has also been criticized for not trying to rein in companies that have accumulated monopolies.

Harris, as attorney general, had close ties to the industry, and had been close to Sandberg, who was Facebook’s COO, and had worked on the PR campaign for her memoir, “Lean In.” Sandberg made the maximum legal individual contribution to Sandberg’s 2016 Senate campaign, Emails obtained by HuffPostsent Harris a message two days after the election saying, “Congratulations!!!!!!!!!!!! We need your help now,” but Harris did not respond.

Source: www.theguardian.com

Silicon Valley Trump supporters rally behind the decline of democracy | John Norton

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I
yeah How does democracy end?In his elegant book, The Restoration of Liberal Democracy, published after Trump’s 2016 election, David Runciman made a startling point: the liberal democracies we take for granted will not last forever, but they will not fail in the ways we’ve seen them in the past: without revolution, military coup, or breakdown of social order. Moving forward through failure In an unexpected way. The implication was that people who compare it to what happened in Germany in the 1930s are mistaken.

Until a few weeks ago, that seemed like wise advice. But then something changed: key sectors of Silicon Valley, a Democratic stronghold for decades, began to support Trump. In 2016, contrarian billionaire and PayPal co-founder Peter Thiel was the only prominent Silicon Valley figure to endorse Trump, which merely confirmed the fact that he was a Silicon Valley legal outcast. But in recent weeks, many of Silicon Valley’s bigwigs (Elon Musk, Marc Andreessen, and David Sachs, to name just three) have revealed themselves as Trump supporters and donors. Musk has set up a pro-Republican political action committee (super PAC) and is donating to it. On June 6, venture capitalist Sachs hosted a $300,000-a-person fundraising dinner at Trump’s San Francisco mansion.

Why the sudden interest in politics? It’s probably a combination of several factors. First, Biden’s billionaire tax plan (and his administration’s antitrust litigation enthusiasm). Second, Trump’s newfound enthusiasm for cryptocurrency. Third, Biden has raised far more money for his campaign. And finally, and most importantly, Trump’s momentum was beginning to look unstoppable even before Biden dropped out.

The last two factors are reminiscent of the 1930s. In 1932, the Nazi Party was in serious financial trouble, and when Hitler became chancellor the following year, he personally appealed to business leaders for help. Funds were raised from 17 different business groups, with the largest donation coming from
IG Farben and Deutsche Bank
At the time, these donations must have seemed like a shrewd gamble to the businessmen who donated them. But as historian Adam Tooze wrote in his landmark book on the period, it also meant that German businessmen “were willing to cooperate in the destruction of German political pluralism.” In return, according to Tooze, German business owners and managers were given unprecedented powers to control their employees, collective bargaining was abolished, and wages were frozen at relatively low levels. Corporate profits and business investment grew rapidly. Fascism had been good for business, but it wasn’t anymore.

I wonder if these thoughts were going through the minds of the tech titans enjoying a $300,000 dinner in San Francisco that June night. My guess is no, they’re not. Silicon Valley residents don’t care much about history because they’re in the business of creating the future, so there’s nothing to learn from the past.

That’s a pity, because history has some lessons for them. The German businessmen who decided to support Hitler in 1933 may not have known exactly what he was up to for Germany, and probably knew nothing about the plans for the “Final Solution.” But David Sachs’ dinner guests have no such excuse.
Project 2025
President Trump’s second term plans are available online in a 900-page document.

It’s an interesting read. It has four core objectives: protecting children and families, dismantling the administrative state, defending borders, and restoring “God-given” individual liberties. But essentially,
A huge expansion of presidential powers There are many hysterical proposals, including putting the Department of Justice under Presidential control, replacing nonpartisan civil servants with loyalist ones, rolling back environmental laws, mass deportations, and removing “sexual orientation and gender identity, diversity, equity and inclusion, gender, gender equality, gender equity, gender sensitivity, abortion, reproductive health and reproductive rights” from all federal rules, agency regulations, contracts, grants and laws.

The rationale for Project 2025 was a concern that Trump had no idea how to use his new powers when he came to power in 2016, and that he certainly will not do so next time. As public concern about the document has grown, he has tried to distance himself from it. This may be because he thinks he won’t need a plan if elected. Speaking recently at a Christian convention in Florida, he said: “Go out and vote, this time. You don’t have to vote anymore. Four more years and we’ll take care of it. We’ll all be sorted out. My beautiful Christian people, you don’t have to vote anymore.”

The lesson? Be careful what you wish for. Copycats, Silicon Valley.

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What I’m Reading


Where to start?
Tim Harford said:
How do we fix Britain? Here’s how” in Financial Times.

False balance
There’s a thoughtful Substack by historian Timothy Snyder.
Two-sidednessThe harmful delusions of mainstream media.

In the Ether
In a skeptical blog post in Molly White’s newsletter, Citation Needed, she writes:
When cryptocurrency policy becomes an election issue.

Source: www.theguardian.com

Astronomers suggest new technological signal: silicon solar panels

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in New paper Published in Astrophysical JournalDr. Ravi Kopparapu of NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center and colleagues assessed the detectability of silicon solar panels on Earth-like exoplanets as potential technological signatures.

Conceptual illustration of an exoplanet with an advanced extraterrestrial civilization. The structure on the right is an orbiting solar panel array that collects light from the parent star, converts it into electricity and transmits it via microwaves to the surface. The exoplanet on the left shows other potential technological features: on the night side there are city lights (the glowing circular structures), and on the day side there are multi-colored clouds representing various forms of pollution, such as nitrogen dioxide gas from the burning of fossil fuels and chlorofluorocarbons used in refrigeration. Image credit: NASA/Jay Freidlander.

“The search for extraterrestrial life has primarily focused on detecting biosignatures – remote observations of atmospheric or ground-based spectral properties that indicate signs of life on exoplanets,” said Dr Kopparapu and his co-authors.

“Recently, there has been a rise in interest in technosignatures, which refer to observational signs of extraterrestrial technology that can be detected or inferred through astronomical surveys.”

“While the search for extraterrestrial intelligence through radio observations has been popular for decades, recent studies have proposed an alternative: searching for technological signatures in the ultraviolet to mid-infrared spectral range.”

Astronomers speculate that extraterrestrials might build solar panels out of silicon because it is relatively abundant compared to other elements used in solar power generation, such as germanium, gallium, and arsenic.

Silicon is also excellent at converting light emitted by stars like the Sun into electricity, and it is cost-effective to mine and manufacture into solar cells.

The researchers also assume that a hypothetical extraterrestrial civilization would rely solely on solar energy.

However, if other energy sources, such as nuclear fusion, were used, the technological signature of silicon would be diminished, making the civilization even more difficult to detect.

Furthermore, they assume that the population of the civilization will stabilize at some point, and if for some reason this does not happen, they may end up expanding the Eternal Father into deep space.

For the study, scientists used computer models and NASA satellite data to simulate Earth-like planets with different degrees of silicon solar panel coverage.

They then modeled an advanced telescope, like NASA’s proposed Habitable Worlds Observatory, to see if it could detect the solar panels of a planet about 30 light-years away, a relatively close galaxy that is more than 100,000 light-years across.

The researchers found that hundreds of hours of observation time would be required with this type of telescope to detect signals from solar panels covering about 23% of the land area of ​​an Earth-like exoplanet.

However, the solar panel coverage needed to support 30 billion people with a high standard of living was only around 8.9%.

“We find that even if the current population of around 8 billion were to stabilise to a high standard of living of 30 billion and run solely on solar energy for power, it would still use far less energy than the total amount of sunlight illuminating the Earth,” Dr Kopparap said.

The research has implications on the Fermi Paradox, proposed by physicist Enrico Fermi, which asks why extraterrestrial civilizations have not spread across the galaxy by now, given that our own Milky Way galaxy is ancient and vast, making interstellar travel difficult but possible.

“This suggests that if a civilisation chooses a very high standard of living, it may not feel the need to expand across the galaxy because it can achieve sustainable population and energy use levels,” Dr Kopparap said.

“They may expand within their own star system, or neighboring star systems, but there may not be a galaxy-wide civilization.”

“Furthermore, our own technological expertise may not yet be able to predict what more advanced civilizations will be able to achieve.”

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Ravi Kopparap others2024. Detectability of Solar Panels as a Technology Signature. ApJ 967, 119; doi: 10.3847/1538-4357/ad43d7

This article is based on a press release provided by NASA.

Source: www.sci.news

JD Vance’s journey through Silicon Valley led to him becoming Trump’s vice presidential running mate

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circleJD Vance was a student at Yale Law School in 2011 when he attended a talk by conservative tech billionaire Peter Thiel. Vance didn’t know Thiel at the time, but over the next decade he became Thiel’s employee, friend, and recipient of his generosity. Thiel’s millions of dollars paved the way for Vance to become a senator.

Vance wrote that Thiel’s speech “was the defining moment of my time at Yale Law School.” Essays for 2020 Vance said Thiel’s talk about the failure of elite institutions and his Christian faith made him rethink his own faith and quickly planned a career outside of law, perhaps tinkering with technology and venture capital before entering politics.

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Vance is best known for the hardscrabble upbringing he described in his autobiography, “Hillbilly Elegy,” but in the years after graduating from Yale he developed extensive ties to Silicon Valley investors and elites. His experience as a venture capitalist combined with his status as a rags-to-riches media fixture forged the core connections that powered his political climb and helped him assemble an influential following that pushed him to become Trump’s running mate.

After graduating from Yale and briefly working in corporate law, Vance moved to San Francisco and joined Thiel’s venture firm, Mithril Capital, in 2015. After his best-selling book “Hillbilly Elegy” gained him national fame in 2016, he joined Revolution, a venture capital firm founded by former AOL CEO Steve Case.

Vance returned to Ohio and stayed in the tech venture capital world. Leaving the Revolution Vance received funding from Thiel in early 2020 to co-found a venture firm, Naria Capital, which, like Thiel’s, was named after the elven ring of power in “The Lord of the Rings.” Naria’s other notable investors include former Google CEO Eric Schmidt and Marc Andreessen, the venture capitalist who endorsed Trump last week. The avowed goal of Vance’s firm was to invest in early-stage startups in cities that Silicon Valley often overlooks.


In 2021, Naria Capital led a group of conservative investors, including Thiel, to invest in Rumble, a video streaming platform positioning itself as a less moderated, right-leaning version of YouTube. Naria co-founder Colin Greenspon touted the investment as a challenge to Big Tech companies’ control over online services, a topic conservatives have frequently discussed amid the backlash against content moderation surrounding the pandemic and the 2020 presidential election. It was also around this time that Thiel, a major financial backer of Trump during the 2016 campaign, invited Vance to meet with Trump for the first time, in a secret meeting at Mar-a-Lago in February 2021. According to the New York Times:.

Vance and Thiel’s longtime relationship also paid dividends in the 2022 Senate race, with Thiel pouring a massive $15 million into Vance’s campaign. According to the Washington Posthelped garner support for President Trump and led Vance to win the fiercely contested Republican primary and Senate elections.

While Thiel has vowed in recent years to stay away from donating to the 2024 election, Vance has since tried to ingratiate himself with Trump through other Silicon Valley connections. The Ohio senator introduced prominent venture capitalist David Sachs to Donald Trump Jr. in March. The New York Times reported.Vance attended a pro-Trump fundraiser for Sachs in June, which he co-hosted with Chamath Palihapitiya, Sachs’ co-host on the popular podcast “All In.” The event, which cost $300,000 to attend, was held at Sachs’ San Francisco mansion, where investors thanked Vance for helping make the fundraiser happen. During an informal conversation at the dinner, Sachs and Palihapitiya said Trump said: Vance as his running mate.

Sachs spoke at the Republican National Convention on Monday, days after calling Trump to endorse Vance as his running mate, along with Elon Musk and former Fox News host Tucker Carlson. According to AxiosThiel also voiced his support for Vance during a private phone call with Trump, according to The New York Times. After Trump confirmed Vance would be his running mate, Sachs and Musk tweeted their congratulations, with Musk saying the victory was “ringing off.”

Many of Vance’s wealthy tech elite and venture capitalist backers now appear ready to offer even more concrete support. Investors including Musk, Andreessen, and Thiel’s Palantir co-founder Joe Lonsdale have Reportedly Planning a donation Huge sums of money supporting the Trump and Vance campaigns.

Source: www.theguardian.com

“Embracing Our Digital Minions: Silicon Valley Insider’s Warning on Algorithms” | Australian Books

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In Brisbane’s western suburbs, houses hide behind subtropical rainforest, horses graze on paddocks, and road signs warn of deer and kangaroos.

The suburb of Anstead, nestled between a bend in the river and the foothills of the D’Aguilar Mountains, may seem like an unexpected place for a Polish-born management professor who advocates for embracing the age of artificial intelligence.

However, Marek Kowalkiewicz’s home, surrounded by rubber trees, tells a different story.

“When I moved here from Silicon Valley, my kids were about 5 years old and had no idea what an iPad was,” he said from his balcony overlooking his property. “From 9pm to 5pm, where I am, there is a world that is permeated with technology, and then there is a world that is superficially less permeated with technology.”

Today is the first Monday in March, and Kowalkiewicz is just hours away from the release of his book, ‘The Algorithmic Economy: AI and the Rise of Digital Minions’. In this debut book, the Queensland University of Technology professor explores the emergence of a new era driven by non-human agents, reshaping economies and societies in ways that are not fully understood.

Mr. Kowalkiewicz admits that, as the founding director of the QUT Center for Digital Economy Research, he initially misunderstood algorithms. He thought of them as mere pieces of code following human instructions, but now he acknowledges his error.

In a world increasingly dominated by algorithms, Kowalkiewicz believes that human agency is more important than ever to ensure a positive impact on society.

As we enter this new “weird” economy characterized by algorithmic controllers, robotaxis, and AI-driven decisions, Kowalkiewicz sees opportunities for human empowerment rather than replacement.

Source: www.theguardian.com