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Nov 19, 2024 | 
theatlantic.com | Christopher Beam
When I lived in China, a decade ago, I often saw propaganda billboards covered in words that supposedly expressed the country’s values: Patriotism. Harmony. Equality. And … Democracy. Indeed, China claims to consider itself a democratic country. So do Russia, Cuba, Iran, and so on down the list of nations ranked by their level of commitment to rights and liberties. Even North Korea fancies itself part of the club. It’s right there in the official name: the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.
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Oct 30, 2024 | 
msn.com | Christopher Beam
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Oct 30, 2024 | 
theatlantic.com | Christopher Beam
Cryptocurrency has been declared dead so many times that its supposed demise is a running joke within the industry. According to the website 99Bitcoins, the obituary of crypto’s flagship token has been written at least 477 times since 2010. A round of eulogies occurred last year, after several crypto-trading giants, including FTX, collapsed, and the Securities and Exchange Commission filed a barrage of lawsuits against major blockchain companies.
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Oct 25, 2024 | 
theatlantic.com | Christopher Beam
Mike Solana has opinions. Here are a few of them: Building stuff is good. The media are unduly harsh on tech companies. Labeling things as “misinformation” is just an excuse to stifle speech. Donald Trump is “the greatest clown in human history” (though not entirely in a bad way), the court cases against him are “fake show trials,” and J. D. Vance would be “a great guy in the White House.” The siege of the Capitol on January 6 was a “riot” like many others the previous year.
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Aug 30, 2024 | 
msn.com | Christopher Beam
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Aug 30, 2024 | 
theatlantic.com | Christopher Beam
Reid Hoffman, the LinkedIn founder and Democratic megadonor, seems to love almost everything about the Biden administration. And, he says, he’s “thrilled” by the prospect of a Kamala Harris presidency. That’s why he’s donating $10 million to support her campaign. He has just one request: Fire Lina Khan. In a July interview with CNN, Hoffman accused the FTC chair of “waging war” on American business and said he hoped Harris would “replace her” if elected as president.
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Aug 30, 2024 | 
shorturl.at | Christopher Beam
Updated at 3 p.m. ET on August 30, 2024. Reid Hoffman, the LinkedIn founder and Democratic megadonor, seems to love almost everything about the Biden administration. And, he says, he’s “thrilled” by the prospect of a Kamala Harris presidency. That’s why he’s donating $10 million to support her campaign. He has just one request: Fire Lina Khan.
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Aug 8, 2024 | 
theatlantic.com | Christopher Beam
You would have forgiven Akio Kaminaga for losing his cool. Heading into the gold-medal match at the Tokyo Olympics in 1964, the Japanese judo champion was under enormous pressure. That year’s games heralded Japan’s comeback after its wartime defeat, and judo in particular was a symbol of national pride. The Japanese judo team was on the verge of sweeping all of the medals. Kaminaga just needed one more victory—against a giant Dutchman named Antonius Geesink, who stood eight inches taller than him.
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Jul 29, 2024 | 
theatlantic.com | Christopher Beam
Journalists have a saying about the importance of confirming even the most basic facts: “If your mother says she loves you, check it out.” Recently, I decided to follow that advice literally, with the help of an AI-based lie detector. The tool is called Coyote. Trained on a data set of transcripts in which people were established as having lied or told the truth, the machine-learning model then tells you whether a statement is deceptive.
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Jul 29, 2024 | 
msn.com | Christopher Beam
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