Greetings, Future Tensers,
After facing tough questions from everyone on the Senate Judiciary Committee’s Crime and Terrorism subcommittee except Ted Cruz on Tuesday, representatives from Facebook, Google, and Twitter are returning to Capitol Hill today to testify at hearings before the House and Senate intelligence committees on how exactly a foreign government was allowed to buy political ads targeting Americans before our election. April Glaser explains why this is the last place they want to be, writing, “Facebook, Google, and Twitter might say that they’re ready to clean up their own mess, yet they’ve largely shown in recent weeks that they’re sore about being scolded and mostly just want to avoid new regulations.”
That said, these companies seem to finally be getting serious about their platforms susceptibility to foreign interference. For starters, Facebook reported that 126 million users were shown Russian-generated election propaganda, and the platform is just now fixing the ad system that allowed Russia to secretly do this. All the while Twitter announced it will no longer sell ads to the Russian news groups RT and Sputnik and permanently banned Roger Stone from the platform. Not quite the progress we were hoping for, Twitter.
If you want to hear more from April Glaser and Will Oremus, Slate has a new podcast for you. The first episode of If Then—a weekly show about technology, society, and power—drops on iTunes this Thursday with special guest Antonio García Martínez, author of Chaos Monkeys.
Other things we read this week while brainstorming better nicknames for big tech companies than the “Frightful Five”:
- Destroyed election data: Jeremy Stahl investigates why, just days after a lawsuit was filed alleging Georgia ignored warnings that the state’s electoral system was hackable, officials deleted the state’s election data which would have likely been critical evidence in the lawsuit.
- Arcade comeback: Tonya Riley tracks the comeback of arcades and the role they play in bringing cost-prohibitive technology like virtual reality to a curious consumer base.
- Exploding corpses: As pacemakers and other implantable medical devices become more common, so are crematoria explosions. Melissa Jayne Kinsey explains why patients and their families should educate themselves about the options for handling an implanted medical device after death.
- Graveyard of lost chapters: In an excerpt from their new book, Soonish: Ten Emerging Technologies That’ll Improve and/or Ruin Everything, Kelly and Zach Weinersmith share the mind-blowing technologies that didn’t make the final cut.
- iPhone X review roundup: Is the new iPhone X worth its steep $1,000 price tag? Slate’s Aaron Mak gathered some reviews from tech journalists all in one place to help you decide.
Join us in Washington, D.C., or online for our upcoming events:
Why Should We Imagine Solar Flares Taking Down International Space Stations?
What happens when a catastrophic solar flare paralyzes global space agencies and throws world order into chaos? Deji Olukotun’s new novel, After the Flare, can help inform the ways we think about how technology and science play out in scenarios such as this in real life. Join us on Nov. 8 to discuss the novel and what we can learn about global tech policy through science fiction. RSVP to attend in person or online here.
History of the Future
What can kitschy visions of robotic kitchens tell us about how we envisioned a post-World War II domestic life? How did film and television influence our understanding of emerging technologies? Join us on Nov. 14 to explore yesterday’s visions of today, and their lessons for tomorrow. RSVP to attend in person or online here.
Wishing the other George Papadopoulos a great Q4,
Emily Fritcke
For Future Tense
Future Tense is a partnership of Slate, New America, and Arizona State University.
