Curated Commons // Edition 114
Thank you for subscribing (if you haven’t, subscribe now!). Welcome to the 114th edition of Curated Commons. Happy reading, and do pass on the newsletter and share it on your social networks if you find it interesting! It’s free! Dollar-free, ad-free, and algorithm-free.
Let’s dive right in ($ indicates potential paywall).
Never underestimate the influence one committed individual can have
Wild thread on an individual who spread misinformation on clean energy far and wide.
Meet the reverse supermarket
One more attempt at trying to solve the challenges of inequality, in this case the challenges of the cost of living crisis and helping those unable to afford food. Small pilot, but something all supermarkets and ecommerce checkouts should imbibe - Read here
Ransomware is now front & square
Ransomware incidents now make up majority of British government’s crisis management COBRA meetings. That’s something! And coming soon to every country/organization - Read here
Remember COVID vaccine waivers? Why didn’t they come through?
India and South Africa pushed hard so other countries could also produce the vaccines. Not much ever came out of it - despite a raging, global pandemic. Why? Lobbyists for global pharma - Read here
Between January 2020 and September 2022, 13 pharmaceutical lobby groups and companies held nearly 100 meetings with the most senior Commission officials. In the U.K., there were more than 360 meetings between January 2020 and March 2022 — equivalent to nearly one every two days. Boris Johnson personally attended 11 of them.
What incentive for giving your biometrics away?
Tencent thinks a a bottle of soda is fair value for giving your palm print - Read here
The Softbank saga continues
Apparently, Softbank lent money to its CEO to invest in the fund that he was managing. To the tune of $5 Bn. - Read here ($)
Reminded me of this amazing GIF from years ago.
Is the tech industry having a mid-life crisis?
No clue about that, it sure is wild to see how many tech companies are using the inflationary environment as an excuse to lay-off thousands - Read here ($)
Rich people, DNA and the planet’s future
There are stories that make you go, whoa! And there are stories that make you go, WTF! This one’s latter. Apparently, there are enough rich people who believe it is their duty to procreate - Read here
Machine-generated X is here
Be it code, or art, algorithms are becoming more powerful and Generative AI is no more a thing of speculation. Not good enough to replace jobs, but decent enough to augment in places - Read here
A related read on whether Generative AI is a risk for creativity - Read here
And where there’s machine-generated X, the risk of amplifying stereotypes increases dramatically - Read here
What frauds will we see this downcycle?
Mischief is cyclical, says The Economist. And someone in the article puts it eloquently - “There is an inverse relationship between interest rates and dishonesty” - Read here($)
More interesting reads:
A report from the first Longevity Investors Conference. Yep, about living forever - Read here
Successful Blockchain use cases will have to wait. Australia scraps AUD $250 Mn project - Read here($)
Hasbro is over-producing magic cards, says BoA - Read here ($)
TikTok is now an ads juggernaut - Read here($)
Pink Floyd wanted $500 Mn for their music. Things went wrong - Read here ($)
“New research suggests that pigs — like many humans — are smart enough to recognize a conflict between others and defuse the situation. - Read here ($)
Twitter shouldn’t go under. Where else will we read such brilliant threads!
And finally, brilliant summary of last couple of years
Stay safe, and happy reading! And if you liked the newsletter, thank you, and maybe consider sharing it? My DMs on Twitter are always open for any feedback.