The Download: corporate presentations, and carbon removal funding
I’ve combed the internet to find you today’s most fun/important/scary/fascinating stories about technology.
1 Survivors say there was no warning siren before the Lahaina wildfires
But it’s unclear what went wrong. (BBC)
+ Researchers are starting to take stock of the losses in Maui. (Science)
+ This is why the wildfires happened—and what can be done to prevent future ones. (Wired $)
2 The clean energy transition is happening faster than you might think
Renewables are now expected to overtake coal as the world’s largest source of electricity by 2025. (NYT $)
+ Yes, we have enough materials to power the world with renewable energy. (MIT Technology Review)
3 Regulators have approved a driverless taxi expansion in San Francisco
Autonomous cabs can now operate across the entire city 24/7. (CNN)
4 TikTok ‘dual’ videos are set to destroy our brains even further
Pity our poor, over-stimulated, already-obliterated attention spans. (Wired $)
+ People are going to extreme lengths to make the perfect TikTok clip. (WSJ $)
5 Why is it so hard to create new types of pain relievers? 💊
The field is littered with failures, but a new study offers a small glimmer of hope. (MIT Technology Review)
6 Why everyone went so crazy over the LK-99 superconductor
The claims don’t seem to stand up. But the episode shows how desperate Silicon Valley is for the next big thing. (WP $)
+ A body of evidence has piled up that disproves the initial claims. (The Verge)
7 AI means hackers can just talk computers into misbehaving
Tools like ChatGPT radically lower the barriers for all sorts of attacks. (WSJ $)
+ Three ways AI chatbots are a security disaster. (MIT Technology Review)
8 How China is using apps to woo Taiwanese teenagers
A perfect example of soft power in action. (The Guardian)
9 How tech is changing how we grieve
We now leave behind reams and reams of stuff online for our families to pore over when we’re gone. (The Atlantic $)
+ Inside the metaverse meetups that let people share on death, grief, and pain. (MIT Technology Review)
10 Zuckerberg says that cage fight isn’t happening
It seems pretty obvious that Musk has chickened out. (BBC)
Quote of the day
“They had an understanding that I wasn’t the best choice — I was the only choice.”
