Is Facebook a global public utility? A for-profit business? A necessity of modern life? A vile and dangerous entity? Some combination of the above? Whatever it is (or isn’t), Facebook does grow, evolve, and respond to all manner of changing conditions and events. Founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg explains two new policy statements in this …
Continue reading The most voice to the most people: Mark Zuckerberg on Facebook’s goals
As robots and mechanized transactions become increasingly more commonplace, questions about their abilities and their “humanness” become ever more urgent and complicated. Science writer Robin Marantz Henig explores some of the issues surrounding robots in life-and-death situations in this January 2014 article in the New York Times Magazine. Read it here: Henig, "Death by Robot" …
Continue reading Death by robot: Robin Henig addresses automation and morality
No one would dispute that the automobile has been a world-changing invention. Economist, lawyer, actor, and writer Ben Stein argues that the car “transforms you from a mortal to a god” in this October 2014 article in American Spectator. Read it here: Stein, “I love cars—the greatest invention of mankind” It is hard to doubt that …
Continue reading Cars: Ben Stein on the “greatest invention of mankind”
As we spend more and more time with our noses pressed to a screen, we may be more engaged with one another, but we’re not having real conversations. In this December 2013 article, Atlantic staff writer and media expert Megan Garber relates a recent conversation on the subject of conversation with tech author Sherry Turkle. …
Continue reading Not boring, not at all: Megan Garber converses with Sherry Turkle
Should the things we tweet always be true? Or can Twitter be an appropriate medium for writing fictional dramas? For Elan Gale, of Thanksgiving 2013 tweeting fame, the medium is perfect for “reality” programming. Los Angeles Times journalist Meghan Daum takes a critical approach in this December 2013 column. Read it here: Daum, “Elan Gale’s inglorious Twitter …
Continue reading “Reality tweets”: Meghan Daum on Elan Gale’s Twitter drama
Are print media becoming obsolete? Many people think so, with tablets and phones and e-readers all vying for our attention nowadays. Best-selling technology writer Nicholas Carr weighs in on the topic in this August 2013 article from Nautilus. Read it here: Carr, "Paper versus Pixel" With his title, Carr frames a two-sided conflict: paper vs. …
Continue reading Paper versus Pixel: Nicholas Carr on the Technologies of Reading
James Atlas admits to binge watching “Breaking Bad” and wrestles with his own ambivalence about doing so. This New York Times essay appeared during Season 5—that is, in May 2013. Read it here: Atlas, “Get a life? No, thanks. Just pass the remote.” As Atlas notes, the show’s use of suspense is a key factor of …
Continue reading Bingeing on “Bad”: James Atlas on TV and Life
Have you ever been catfished? Has the Internet opened up your social life, or has it enclosed you in a tight circle of people you already know? Adrian Chen examines social life and social media in this February 2013 essay from New Inquiry. Read it here: Chen, "Don't Be a Stranger" Chen mentions the ideas of …
Continue reading Friended and Poked: Adrian Chen on Social Media
Apply for an MBA program with a tweet-sized essay? Sounds easy! But don’t get too excited. University of Iowa’s Tippie School of Management initiated that innovative idea two years ago—and they’ve already abandoned it. Alison Damast filed this report in Bloomberg BusinessWeek in November 2012. Read it here: Damast, "Tippie’s Twitter Essay: An MBA Admissions Experiment …
Many of us have intense and intimate relationships with our media sources, and we enjoy the sensation of the world at our fingertips. How many corporations mediate our access to that world? Do you know? Should we care? The blogger known as Frugal Dad argues that we should, and he expresses alarm that our media …
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