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The Rise and Fall of Joi Ito: Jeffrey Epstein’s tech networker who seduced Silicon Valley
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Andrew Orlowski
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Have you ever sat through a “thought leadership” seminar that was nothing but platitudes? … Read More
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Freeman Dyson on climate change, interstellar travel, fusion, and virtue-signalling
by
Andrew Orlowski
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The life of physicist Freeman Dyson spans advising bomber command in World War II; working at the Institute for Advanced Study, in Princeton, New Jersey, as a contemporary of Einstein; and providing advice to the US government on a wide range of scientific and technical issues. He is a rare public intellectual who writes prolifically…
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Special Report: Inside the Government Digital Service – the Happiest Place on Earth
by
Andrew Orlowski
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Last year, the UK’s Cabinet Office asked an external management consultancy to examine staff morale and high turnover at the Government Digital Service. After interviewing more than 100 civil servants, its scathing confidential analysis described an organisation beset by low morale and run by a “cabal” management of old friends, who bypassed talent in favour…
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On Nudge
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Andrew Orlowski
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No 10’s controversial “nudge unit” has been spun out into a company – but it hasn’t fallen far from the nest. The 16-strong Behavioural Insights Team (as it’s known) will become a private entity and will be able to tap into cash originally set aside for fledgling inventors. It will then sell its services back to the…
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Habeas Data, or Why any Silicon Valley ‘bill of rights’ will guarantee you never have any
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Andrew Orlowski
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Widespread ridicule has greeted the announcement that eight giant technology companies led by Google and including Facebook and LinkedIn were going to save us from the NSA. The ridicule is thoroughly justified, for trusting giant corporations – whose business models rely on selling your identity to advertisers – to safeguard your privacy is like hiring a kleptomaniac…