Don't go to Mars, chatbots for good, elite terrorism: Weekend reads for September 14, 2024

The links worth your time this weekend

The debate — the only debate, as a follow-up, second or third installment depending on who’s counting, is unlikely — was a triumph. Kamala Harris triumphed, decisively, and then asked the nation if we were OK.

With the former guy deep in the swamp of racist conspiracy, consorting with notorious trolls and abandoning even the barest pretense of having adults on the plane, in the green room, or anywhere else, the MAGA candidates spent most of their time trying to foment attacks on Haitian immigrants in Springfield, Ohio, using a fascist playbook for stoking stochastic violence via media provocation that goes back to the Rwandan genocide. 

The contrast couldn’t be more clear.

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And as we do each weekend for our paid subscribers, we select the most interesting, challenging, and surprising pieces we’ve found in the course of our reading and research. This week, we’ve got a brilliantly damning indictment of billionaire space travel and the heavy toll it exacts on the earthbound, some evidence for a good A.I. use case (fighting the influence of disinformation, amazingly enough), the story of what people in Springfield, Ohio, are really going through, and more. We hope these inspire you this weekend.

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Readings

Red, dead, no redemption

OK, so you still want to talk about Mars. Fine. Let's imagine that Mars's lack of a magnetic field somehow is not an issue. Would you like to try to simulate what life on Mars would be like? Step one is to clear out your freezer. Step two is to lock yourself inside of it. (You can bring your phone, if you like!) When you get desperately hungry, your loved ones on the outside may deliver some food to you no sooner than nine months after you ask for it. This nine-month wait will also apply when you start banging on the inside of the freezer, begging to be let out. [Defector]