Behruz Davletov

"Now, that vision is fraying. The social fabric of the internet is built on very specific assumptions, many of which are giving way. Licklider envisioned the internet as a patchwork of decentralized networks, with no sense of how it would work when a handful of companies wrote most of its software and managed most of its traffic. Licklider... See more

"What initially seemed like a new way to transfer information turned into a revolution that rewrote the basic assumptions of society. Entirely new kinds of economic and social organization evolved on these networks, taking root faster than anyone would have thought possible. For an entire generation — my generation — that process is all we’ve ever... See more

"An unfortunately common misconception is that the tech industry is just for technical experts. It’s not. Technology is ubiquitous and intertwined with society, and most of the problems facing tech are actually sociological and political in nature. They’re not all bug fixes and engineering upgrades, but, rather, these problems are related to a... See more

"The alternative to permission-based regulation is centuries old and well tested — the common law of tort. Under tort law, instead of asking for permission to introduce a potentially dangerous product, a firm must pay for the damages its dangerous product creates if it is found liable in court. Brilliantly, the tort system operates retrospectively... See more

"within this century, we could develop advanced enough AI to start a productivity explosion."

"Those who adhered to four or all of the five specified healthy behaviors were found to have a 60% lower risk of Alzheimer’s. The behaviors were physical activity, not smoking, light-to-moderate alcohol consumption, a high-quality diet, and cognitive activities."

At its inception between the 1960s and 1990s, the internet was imagined as a decentralized, horizontal and open space that would foster freedom and equality. Today, it is a collection of walled gardens, a hierarchical ecosystem ruled by a few gatekeepers who leverage access to data, attention and infrastructural capability to enclose users and... See more