Prince Harry and Meghan, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, are working to educate others about the role that online communities can play in people’s lives offline.

While hosting a specially curated edition of TIME100 Talks, Harry and Meghan spoke with Edward Felsenthal, Editor-in-Chief and CEO of TIME, about the state of our shared digital experience and why it’s important to create online communities that are more compassionate, safe, and trustworthy—a building block of the Sussexes’ nonprofit Archewell.

“What our job is, especially throughout these conversations, is to get people to listen to the experts and for them to explain how what’s happening in the online world is affecting the world,” Harry said. “It is not restricted to certain platforms or certain social media conversations. This is a global crisis: a global crisis of hate, a global crisis of misinformation and a global health crisis.”

During a time when the boundaries between many people’s physical and online lives have never been more blurred, the Duchess of Sussex says that the couple has begun connecting the dots between many of the causes that they’re passionate about—like women’s empowerment, mental health and the environment—and online spaces.

“Both of us realized that we can continue to champion these things that we’re passionate about. We can continue to do this work to try to affect change and help the people who need it most or the communities or environments that need it most, but it’s almost like you’re taking two steps forward and five steps backward if you can’t get to the root cause of the problem,” she said. “Which at this point right now we see in a large way as a lot of what’s happening in the tech space.”

Noting that they convened leaders in the tech world that they think can help make people …read more

Source:: Time – Technology

Maria Ressa urged U.S. voters to think about the kind of information ecosystem they want to live in when they vote in the Nov. 3 presidential election, in a TIME100 Talks discussion with Prince Harry and Renée DiResta.

Ressa, founder of Filipino news site Rappler, which is critical of President Roderigo Duterte, is currently facing six years in jail in the Philippines after a court found her guilty of “cyberlibel” in June. In 2018, she was one of four journalists and one news organization named as TIME’s Person of the Year.

“Every American going into elections, you can’t just think voting is enough,” Ressa told Harry, who was co-hosting the event for TIME. “You’re going to have to sit and ask yourself the same question I ask myself, which is: what will you sacrifice for the truth?”

In the 25-minute conversation, Harry, Ressa and DiResta, the research manager at the Stanford Internet Observatory, discussed how social media platforms have allowed for the spread of misinformation and conspiracy theories while increasing the pressure on professional journalists to cater to an attention economy that often sacrifices nuance for sensationalism.

Ressa and DiResta agreed that the rise of algorithms geared toward increasing “engagement” on social media sites have led to the collapse of shared realities within democracies. “What we see are the things that are curated for us,” DiResta said. “The feed … is algorithmically ranking hierarchically what we are most likely to be receptive to, or want to pay attention to.” The result, Ressa said, is an erosion of democracy. “When you have a democracy, and an algorithm that is meant to exploit your weaknesses to keep you on the platform, when that is what determines the context of the messages that give meaning to your world, you’re really reduced …read more

Source:: Time – Technology

Anyone who has watched The Social Dilemma already knows that technology has fundamentally warped the way we see the world. But Prince Harry and Meghan, The Duke and Duchess of Sussex, have become invested in holding technology companies accountable for the misinformation spread on platforms like Facebook. For a special TIME100 Talks hosted by The Duke and Duchess of Sussex, the couple sat down with two experts Tristan Harris, a Silicon Valley veteran who co-founded the Center of Humane Technology and appeared in The Social Dilemma, and Safiya Noble, author of Algorithms of Oppression.

During the discussion, Noble touched on Meghan’s own experience being the target of online hate. Noble explained that if you are part of a community “targeted with hate, disinformation, calls for genocide, calls for racist violence against you, misogyny, as Meghan I know you know so profoundly, the technologies are able to…amplify those kinds of messages and those kinds of harms,” says Noble. “The harms don’t just live in the platform. They often extend to shaping behaviors that people also act upon.”

Harris added that technology companies’ profit imperative thrives on disinformation, controversial opinions or fake news. “They are competing to seduce us with that promise of virality,” he says, citing the hashtags that promise billions of views on a single TikTok video. “But of course that doesn’t reward what’s true, what’s credible, or what is really good for society.”

And though he suggests that people try to take back control of what content they do and don’t choose to consume, ultimately, he argues, individuals simply cannot put down their phones in a world that relies so heavily on tech: “To make it a personal responsibility for a systemic, oppressive issue is what’s inhumane.”

It’s up to the tech companies to self-regulate …read more

Source:: Time – Technology

When Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian decided to take action in support of racial equality and Black Lives Matter this June, he made a surprising move: stepping back to let someone else lead. He resigned his position on the company’s board, and publicly urged the social media platform to replace him with a Black board member.

But while Ohanian hoped that his decision would make room for someone else on Reddit’s board, he says that he hopes his decision is only the first step both for him personally, and for the social media company. In conversation with Meghan, Duchess of Sussex for a special TIME100 Talks on social media and our online lives, Ohanian discussed the importance of considering the role that social media and technology companies play in society—and the importance of having diverse perspectives among the people who build them.

According to Ohanian, his experience as husband to tennis legend Serena Williams and as father to their daughter Olympia, has pushed him to think about his role in the world—and the legacy he’s leaving behind.

“I just can’t help but want to create a world that is just fair to my daughter,” Ohanian said. “And I know that that’s lofty, but it’s a thing worth striving toward. And you know, I’m gonna work every day to get a little better.”

Read the full transcript of the Duchess of Sussex’s interview with Ohanian below:

MEGHAN, DUCHESS OF SUSSEX: Hi everyone, I am here with my friend Alexis Ohanian, co-founder of Reddit, an investor and also a founder of VC Funds 776, Alexis, thanks for being here.

ALEXIS OHANIAN: Well thank you for having me Meghan.

MEGAN: It feels very official, different from our normal chats. I’m glad that you’re here and what we’re talking about today is obviously so important and something …read more

Source:: Time – Technology

I’m flying through the Nadiri Dockyards, where the New Republic constructs warships to take on the ever-expanding Galactic Empire. In my X-Wing starfighter, I’m being followed by an enemy TIE Bomber set on turning me into space dust. Hit after hit knocks out my shield until I decide to hide behind an asteroid, kill the engine, and watch as they zoom by, landing right in my sights. “You’re a galactic pain in my ass!” I scream to my silent squadmates when the shot connects, leaving only a shower of sparks and debris as evidence of my deft maneuver. It’s my fifth kill in a row, the final kill of the match, and the last one needed to win the dogfight by a single point. I realize I’m on the edge of my seat and slump back into my chair, basking in the feeling of a job well done, and itching to tell everyone that Star Wars: Squadrons is the most fun you’ll have in a virtual cockpit.

But, like a backyard barbecue or round of paintball in the woods, it’s better with friends.

Squadrons, EA’s multiplayer-focused space combat game (developed by Motive Studios), is one in a long line of Star Wars tie-ins that put you in the pilot’s seat of your own nostalgia-fueled fantasy vehicle. This time, you play as two green pilots on either side of the war between good and evil: the Jedi-loving New Republic Navy’s Anvil Squad, and the Galactic Empire’s Titan Squad. During the game’s single-player campaign you bounce between sides, flying up to eight different ships for both sides.

The game’s story, ostensibly about a turncoat Galactic Empire officer being hunted by the team who trusted him, is short enough to be filled with incredibly exciting set pieces, but long enough to frustrate you with …read more

Source:: Time – Technology

I’m flying through the Nadiri Dockyards, where the New Republic constructs warships to take on the ever-expanding Galactic Empire. In my X-Wing starfighter, I’m being followed by an enemy TIE Bomber set on turning me into space dust. Hit after hit knocks out my shield until I decide to hide behind an asteroid, kill the engine, and watch as they zoom by, landing right in my sights. “You’re a galactic pain in my ass!” I scream to my silent squadmates when the shot connects, leaving only a shower of sparks and debris as evidence of my deft maneuver. It’s my fifth kill in a row, the final kill of the match, and the last one needed to win the dogfight by a single point. I realize I’m on the edge of my seat and slump back into my chair, basking in the feeling of a job well done, and itching to tell everyone that Star Wars: Squadrons is the most fun you’ll have in a virtual cockpit.

But, like a backyard barbecue or round of paintball in the woods, it’s better with friends.

Squadrons, EA’s multiplayer-focused space combat game (developed by Motive Studios), is one in a long line of Star Wars tie-ins that put you in the pilot’s seat of your own nostalgia-fueled fantasy vehicle. This time, you play as two green pilots on either side of the war between good and evil: the Jedi-loving New Republic Navy’s Anvil Squad, and the Galactic Empire’s Titan Squad. During the game’s single-player campaign you bounce between sides, flying up to eight different ships for both sides.

The game’s story, ostensibly about a turncoat Galactic Empire officer being hunted by the team who trusted him, is short enough to be filled with incredibly exciting set pieces, but long enough to frustrate you with …read more

Source:: Time – Technology

(NEW YORK) — Twitter blocked a post Sunday from an adviser to President Donald Trump who suggested that masks do not work to stop the spread of the coronavirus.

Scott Atlas, who joined the White House in August as a science adviser, had tweeted “Masks work? NO,” and said widespread use of masks is not supported.

The tweet violated a Twitter policy that prohibits sharing false or misleading misinformation about COVID-19 that could lead to harm, a company spokesperson said. The policy bans statements that have been confirmed to be false or misleading by experts such as public health authorities.

In such cases, Twitter disables the account until its owner deletes the post in question.

Trump has downplayed the importance of masks in reducing the spread of the virus, even after he contracted the disease, which has killed more than 215,000 Americans.

“I don’t understand why the tweets were deleted,” Atlas said in an email, calling Twitter’s actions censorship. He said his tweet was intended to show that “general population masks and mask mandates do not work,” and he clarified that the correct policy is to use masks when one cannot socially distance. Atlas added that infections exploded even with mandates in Los Angeles County, Miami-Dade County, Hawaii, Alabama, the Philippines, Japan and other places.

Researchers have concluded that masks can control the spread of the virus, and public health experts have urged the public to wear them. But Trump and his team often go without masks while campaigning.

Atlas, the former chief of neuroradiology at Stanford University Medical Center and a fellow at Stanford’s conservative Hoover Institution, has no expertise in public health or infectious diseases. He has criticized the coronavirus lockdowns and campaigned for children to return to classrooms. Some scientists view Atlas as promoting dangerous theories around “herd …read more

Source:: Time – Technology

Apple’s new iPhone 12 lineup, revealed Tuesday, has plenty of the upgrades you’d expect: a faster processor, a better camera, a new design. But the feature that’s getting the most hype is the new 5G wireless chip, which will let the devices connect to the latest high-speed mobile broadband networks.

Apple CEO Tim Cook talked up the benefits of including the new cellular standard in the iPhone 12 line, citing improvements on everything from video streaming to consumer privacy. “Each generation of cellular technology on iPhone has enabled breakthrough innovations and entirely new opportunities for our developers and our users,” said Cook during the virtual event. “For so many people this all becomes real with 5G coming to iPhone.”

It’s about time the iPhone gets 5G, a feature that’s been available on Android phones for years. But whether 5G is really a selling point is out of Apple’s hands—in fact, it might be the least enticing iPhone 12 feature, at least for those of us in the United States. While 5G advocates have long promised the technology would empower groundbreaking new technologies, those results have so far failed to materialize, especially in the U.S. Even some top wireless executives have recently been trying to reset consumers’ expectations around 5G. That’s a remarkable and telling turnaround, given how long the carriers and tech companies have spent hyping the technology as the next big thing for us to spend our money on.

U.S. 5G adoption, coverage and speeds remain abysmal compared to other countries like South Korea and China. In fact, 5G speeds on offer from major U.S. wireless carriers like AT&T and Verizon are actually slower than speeds on existing 4G LTE networks, according to PCMag, which has long published an annual report on …read more

Source:: Time – Technology