SubscriptionsColumn / Investigation: The Dark Enlightenment
Big tech ideology, neo-reaction, eugenics rehabilitated as contrarianism, the Musk-Thiel-Yarvin axis, and the billionaire rejection of democratic governance.
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EU Leads the Way on Regulating AI
Rishi Sunak may have been pitching the UK as a possible global hub for AI regulation in a recent White House visit, but the reality is that the EU is the one innovating in this field
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Fears of the Singularity
The ‘intelligence’ of an AI system is a different and more potent thing, in some key respects, than human intelligence. Where will this lead us?
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Rogue Drones and Tall Tales
Kate Devlin dispels the sudden Science Fiction panic around superintelligence, and looks at the real threats to employment and the environment from AI and machine learning
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How Important is it that this Article is Written by a Human?
Artificial intelligence has already made its way into newsrooms – what are the risks?
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ECHR: The Peace Machine
Seventy-five years ago, Nuremberg prosecutor David Maxwell Fyfe – an artisan of the European Convention on Human Rights – spoke in Brussels of his fear that the high ideals of the victors would be forgotten. His grandson explores why his legacy matters now more than ever
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Lack of Transparency over Police Forces’ Covert Use of Predictive Policing Software Raises Concerns about Human Rights Abuses
UK police forces are under scrutiny for their lack of transparency regarding the use of harmful technologies known to exacerbate racist policing
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Debate Over AI in Journalism: ‘Can Machines Replace Human Reporters?’
In a dialogue with ChatGPT, Iain Overton explores whether truth and meaning can really be left to machines
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The Global Network Behind Arrested Anti-Abortion Protestor
A woman arrested for ‘praying’ outside an abortion clinic may have been acquitted but she is one node of a global network, reports Sian Norris
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Fighting Back Against Big Tech
Emma De Souza reports on how countries are tackling the rise in misinformation through the legal and education systems
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‘Musk’s Twitter Buy Makes No Sense – Unless It’s Part of Something Bigger’
Brexit and Trump were initially seen as jokes, but the new owner of the social media giant could pose a serious threat to democracy – and a boon for Vladimir Putin, writes David Troy
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Elon Musk Takes Over Twitter – Is a Rise in Hate Speech and Abuse Inevitable?
Adrian Goldberg speaks to Imran Ahmed of the Centre for Countering Digital Hate and Heidi Cuda from the Radicalized Pod about developments at the social medial platform for the Byline Times Podcast
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‘The Dark Heart of Trussonomics: The Mainstreaming of Libertarian Theories of Social Darwinism and Apartheid’
The legacy of the Nazi ideology of eugenics – popularised by Charles Murray’s controversial book ‘The Bell Curve’ – goes some way to explaining Trussonomics, writes Nafeez Ahmed
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More than Half of Incels Support Paedophilia, Finds New Report
Research by the Centre for Countering Digital Hate has found widespread acceptance of sexual violence against children in ‘incel’ communities
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Government Refusing to Release Documents Related to Meeting Between Boris Johnson and Cambridge Analytica
The Foreign Office is withholding information about the Prime Minister’s meeting with the defunct data firm in the wake of Donald Trump’s 2016 victory, Sam Bright reports
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A Force for Good? The Firm Following in the Footsteps of Cambridge Analytica
Matt Bernadini investigates Auspex – a successor to the infamous political consulting firm – which was launched with a promise to deliver more positive social change
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Boris Johnson’s Tenure is Disastrous Enough: Spare Us the Pretence that it Surprises You
Musa Okwonga lays the blame for the Prime Minister’s lawless rule squarely on the shoulders of the Conservative politicians and pundits who promoted him
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The Online Arms Race Benefits the Conservatives at the Expense of Democracy
Former Labour MP Ian Lucas explores how politics is being warped by online surveillance, data harvesting and ruthless social media campaigning – and why opposition parties need to take action to tackle this
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For Whom the Bell Curves: Advisor to Johnson’s Levelling Up Ally Hosts Race Science Extremist
Nafeez Ahmed reveals how a pioneer of scientific racism was hosted at British universities by a charity with close Conservative Party and Government ties
