Beta Readers and Fake News
Above: Though the Hong Kong skyline is certainly jaw-dropping, while there I found myself transfixed more by the symmetry of common residential buildings like this one.Personal news:
This week, Amazon announced a cashier-less grocery store in Seattle. Which, of course, would mean millions more jobs that stand to be automated in the foreseeable future. This has me pondering: what should the career advice be in the age of automation? And how can we best prepare for this new age?
So, I'd like your help to be a "beta reader" of something I'm working on. If you're younger than 40 & willing to sit down and Skype with me about your career, reply to this email or tweet me @SeanBlanda. I promise to read and respond.
The Links / Future of Careers corner:
In that spirit, a sample of the links I’ve been obsessing over lately:
Automation is gunning for more than truck drivers and cashiers, it’s affecting Wall Street too. The consensus to surviving all of these? Learning how to learn. From a Bloomberg piece on how older traders are adapting:
“Being my age is a hindrance for a lot of people,” says Main, keeping his eyes fixed on charts and chat boxes arrayed across his computer screens. “They don’t continue to learn, they don’t embrace technology, they try to fit that square peg in the round hole, and their skill set doesn’t apply anymore.”
Also: plot twist! No one wants to drive a truck anyway.
So how does one survive in the age of AI? The Ready takes a look at some big picture soft skills that we should focus on. I would love to see more long-term career planning articles like this.
Also: And how does one define AI? And are there types of AI? I found this overview from TechCrunch helpful (like the difference between “weak” and “strong” AI).
There is a widening skills gap between the tech elite and the average computer user. In a recent usability study, only 5 percent of adults could book a meeting room with a calendar application using information from multiple emails. Is filling the “computer literacy” gap a means to creating more versatile workers? And is the bar on being considered "computer literate" lower than we've imagined?
A modern career is one that needs to be defensible from disruption. Michael Simmons (former 99U writer!) highlights a study that concludes a loose network of many people is helps accelerate career success. Related, I wrote something similar for 99U a few months back about why every person should be building an audience.
(like these career links? Be a beta reader!)
_
The Links / “Fake News” corner
One month after the election, there’s a consensus that fake news needs to be stopped. I’m not normally a “slippery slope” guy, but “fake news” is an icy driveway on a mountain next to a cliff over lava filled with mutant crocodiles. Quests to quell “fake news” will negatively affect free speech everywhere. The case:
First, to believe there are black and white categories like “fake news” and “real news” assumes all reporting can be distilled into universally quantifiable and provable facts. “It is raining” is a fact. “Our President-elect is unique in his conflicts of interest” is a bit messier. “This is what the Electoral College was designed for” is a minefield. Whether something can be “universally true” is the realm of philosophy classes everywhere and often depends on your interpretation. An example from Current Affairs on how "fact checking" can go wrong:
So how does one survive in the age of AI? The Ready takes a look at some big picture soft skills that we should focus on. I would love to see more long-term career planning articles like this.
Also: And how does one define AI? And are there types of AI? I found this overview from TechCrunch helpful (like the difference between “weak” and “strong” AI).
There is a widening skills gap between the tech elite and the average computer user. In a recent usability study, only 5 percent of adults could book a meeting room with a calendar application using information from multiple emails. Is filling the “computer literacy” gap a means to creating more versatile workers? And is the bar on being considered "computer literate" lower than we've imagined?
A modern career is one that needs to be defensible from disruption. Michael Simmons (former 99U writer!) highlights a study that concludes a loose network of many people is helps accelerate career success. Related, I wrote something similar for 99U a few months back about why every person should be building an audience.
(like these career links? Be a beta reader!)
_
The Links / “Fake News” corner
One month after the election, there’s a consensus that fake news needs to be stopped. I’m not normally a “slippery slope” guy, but “fake news” is an icy driveway on a mountain next to a cliff over lava filled with mutant crocodiles. Quests to quell “fake news” will negatively affect free speech everywhere. The case:
First, to believe there are black and white categories like “fake news” and “real news” assumes all reporting can be distilled into universally quantifiable and provable facts. “It is raining” is a fact. “Our President-elect is unique in his conflicts of interest” is a bit messier. “This is what the Electoral College was designed for” is a minefield. Whether something can be “universally true” is the realm of philosophy classes everywhere and often depends on your interpretation. An example from Current Affairs on how "fact checking" can go wrong:
...when Carly Fiorina claimed that she had gone from being a secretary to being a CEO, her claim was given “Three Pinnochios” by The Washington Post, even though Fiorina had indeed (by the Post’s own admission) been a secretary before she was a CEO. The Post reasoned that while Fiorina was literally telling the truth, her statement was nevertheless false since she had advantages in life that other secretaries did not have.
Second, no tech company or media outlet has the resources to check if every “fact” is undeniably true. In order to do so, we’d need multiple angle recordings from every event that has ever happened in human history. Otherwise, there will be errors and “real” news will be suppressed. In fact, this has already happened. And even if we had a magic truth telling technology, would we trust such a centralized means of determining what is “real” and what is “fake”? Would that process be easily corrupted?
Third, any process that is meant to keep “fake news” sites from spreading is subject to error and shutting out new legitimate dissenting voices. We need more voices, more outlets, and more ideas. Never less. As Supreme Court Justice Louis Brandeis quipped, the cure for bad speech is more speech. If we're not careful "fake news" suppress voices that are unfamiliar. In fact, this has already happened.
Fourth, journalism is a complicated and imperfect process. One that even well-funded and resource-rich “mainstream” outlets don’t always get right. Think of the 2014 Rolling Stone rape story or, famously, the run-up to the Iraq War. Can we no longer listen to the New York Times and Rolling Stone now? Who decides they are “fake news”? From the same Current Affairs piece:
Third, any process that is meant to keep “fake news” sites from spreading is subject to error and shutting out new legitimate dissenting voices. We need more voices, more outlets, and more ideas. Never less. As Supreme Court Justice Louis Brandeis quipped, the cure for bad speech is more speech. If we're not careful "fake news" suppress voices that are unfamiliar. In fact, this has already happened.
Fourth, journalism is a complicated and imperfect process. One that even well-funded and resource-rich “mainstream” outlets don’t always get right. Think of the 2014 Rolling Stone rape story or, famously, the run-up to the Iraq War. Can we no longer listen to the New York Times and Rolling Stone now? Who decides they are “fake news”? From the same Current Affairs piece:
None of this is to suggest that the mainstream media is somehow “just as bad” as fake news from conspiracy theory websites. What’s reported in The New York Times frequently does bear a general resemblance to the truth. (Though not always, and one should never forget the Times’ uncritical repetition of government claims about weapons of mass destruction in the lead-up to the Iraq War.) The point is, rather, that even a single falsehood or misrepresentation can permanently destroy one’s credibility, and being trustworthy requires always being honest and self-critical. If phrases like “post-truth” are used cavalierly, they can become insignificant.
Fifth, “fake news” can be weaponized against actual lies, co-opted and twisted into an Orwellian pretzel until nothing has any meaning. In fact, this has already happened
Lastly, and perhaps most frustratingly, the conversation about “fake news” off-loads responsibility for the election results to a nebulous, intractable boogie man instead of forcing us to answer harder questions about why vast swaths of the country are watching their lives get worse with each generation. Or why many “real news” outlets often get it wrong.
But, this also skips the real culprit: the "truth" incentive of media outlets is decoupled from what makes them money. When Ford makes a fantastic car, they make more money. When The Washington Post writes a "really truthful" article, they don't sell more ads or subscriptions.
(also if you disagree, I want to hear from you!)
Grab bag links:
Most of us are aware of offshore tax havens and how they aid the wealthy. If you were ever interested in how that all works, the New York Times has a long read that peels apart the layers and the legal chess match of a $400 million divorce case. I, for one, feel fancy whenever I buy an index fund.
The Pentagon realized it was wasting $130 million and tried to suppress the report that said so. I’d leave impact of such a report to smarter minds, but it offers a fascinating look into the inner workings of one of the largest, more secretive, more resource-laden organizations in the world. Mainly, how much unified public perception of austerity is a government agency’s most valuable tool.
One of my favorite tweets ever (h/t Kristy Tillman) reads: “Profit: the reward for correctly grasping an element of reality ahead of your peers.” This is also describable as “rational arrogance.” Take the example of Herb Keller and Southwest airlines.
A revelation on this trip has been the wide variety of baked goods each country offers. Current leader is Hong Kong's Pineapple Bun.
Official newsletter flag (for now):
Above is the Navel Ensign of the Kingdom of Thailand, where I'll be for the next month. The national flag of Thailand is simple, though it's often confused for Costa Rica. This beauty, however, contains the "Trairanga" of the national flag but with a lovely, iconic Thai elephant.
A "Navel Ensign" is a flag that countries fly on their boats to signify its "national character." We Americans aren't familiar, because our ensign is the same as our primary flag. Though, I really wish some countries (ahem, Thailand) would swap their Naval Ensign with their primary flag.
Dear reader, I wouldn't swap you for anything. Thank you for reading, and I'll see you in 2017.
--Sean
Lastly, and perhaps most frustratingly, the conversation about “fake news” off-loads responsibility for the election results to a nebulous, intractable boogie man instead of forcing us to answer harder questions about why vast swaths of the country are watching their lives get worse with each generation. Or why many “real news” outlets often get it wrong.
But, this also skips the real culprit: the "truth" incentive of media outlets is decoupled from what makes them money. When Ford makes a fantastic car, they make more money. When The Washington Post writes a "really truthful" article, they don't sell more ads or subscriptions.
(also if you disagree, I want to hear from you!)
Grab bag links:
Most of us are aware of offshore tax havens and how they aid the wealthy. If you were ever interested in how that all works, the New York Times has a long read that peels apart the layers and the legal chess match of a $400 million divorce case. I, for one, feel fancy whenever I buy an index fund.
The Pentagon realized it was wasting $130 million and tried to suppress the report that said so. I’d leave impact of such a report to smarter minds, but it offers a fascinating look into the inner workings of one of the largest, more secretive, more resource-laden organizations in the world. Mainly, how much unified public perception of austerity is a government agency’s most valuable tool.
One of my favorite tweets ever (h/t Kristy Tillman) reads: “Profit: the reward for correctly grasping an element of reality ahead of your peers.” This is also describable as “rational arrogance.” Take the example of Herb Keller and Southwest airlines.
A revelation on this trip has been the wide variety of baked goods each country offers. Current leader is Hong Kong's Pineapple Bun.
Official newsletter flag (for now):
Above is the Navel Ensign of the Kingdom of Thailand, where I'll be for the next month. The national flag of Thailand is simple, though it's often confused for Costa Rica. This beauty, however, contains the "Trairanga" of the national flag but with a lovely, iconic Thai elephant.
A "Navel Ensign" is a flag that countries fly on their boats to signify its "national character." We Americans aren't familiar, because our ensign is the same as our primary flag. Though, I really wish some countries (ahem, Thailand) would swap their Naval Ensign with their primary flag.
Dear reader, I wouldn't swap you for anything. Thank you for reading, and I'll see you in 2017.
--Sean
Don't miss what's next. Subscribe to Sean Blanda's Newsletter: