As Scott recently point out, the recent U.S. election has been characterized by a deluge of fake news. A concern about this phenomenon is that it distracts from the real news and entrenches readers in their prejudices through confirmation bias.
As we contemplate the fallout of the election of Donald Trump as U.S. President, it is interesting to consider the rising influence of social media in modern politics.
With election day approaching in the US, issues around the mechanics of the voting itself have returned to the limelight. Voters in many states will use a variety of electronic machines—many connected to the Internet—to cast their ballots. In this day when government and private information have been leaking (or leaked) like sieves, this fact gives rise to some trepidation.
One of the casualties of the advent of rapid and ubiquitous, electronic communications was supposed to be place. That is, when you can virtually be anywhere at any time, then it would hardly matter where you actually are.
This reduction has occurred to some extent. Consider the recent Pokémon Go phenomenon. Players of the augmented reality game can collect a Rattata, for example, almost anywhere. Whether the virtual creature is encountered in Canada or Brazil, say, makes no difference.
One important means for enforcing rules of conduct is to allow police to search for evidence of violations. Search can take many forms, as recent examples illustrate.
In the upcoming Rio Summer Olympics, the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) will be searching for evidence of gene doping. Gene doping is the insertion of genes into a body's cells in order to modify their behavior for the purpose of enhancement (as opposed to gene therapy, which is done to restore health).
Pokémon Go is hard to avoid. Players wander the highways and byways, and the halls of academe, collecting Squirtles and the like.
Like any broadly adopted technological phenomenon, the game comes with trade-offs, that is, features that work to the advantage of some and disadvantage of others. As ever, opinions may differ about what exactly those are.