Latest articles Friday March 26, 2021

1. Featured Story: Pandemic pain is fueling robo-realism

   Financial Times columnist Sarah O’Connor recently wrote the type of humility-driven reflection I wish pervaded tech coverage. She begins “Why I was wrong to be optimistic about robots” with an about-face confession that won’t surprise anyone steeped in political economy, but nevertheless is a refreshingly honest dose of fourth estate realism.

   By Evan Selinger

1. Silicon Valley’s corporate ‘mindfulness’ hypocrisy

   Silicon Valley is notorious for its idiosyncratic blend of free-market libertarianism and ersatz corporatist spirituality. Perhaps it all started at Apple with Steve Jobs and his dilettantish interest in Zen Buddhism, even though he often called his employees shitheads and was seen as a tyrant and bully. Little did Jobs know of the dark side of Zen’s long history of militarism and its cooptation by Japanese imperialism.

   By Ron Purser

   From the Delivering Happiness desk