Each week, BIV staff will share with you some of the interesting stories we have found from around the web.
Kirk LaPointe, editor-in-chief:
Can you be a nice guy in the cutthroat entertainment business in Hollywood? Maureen Dowd thinks Bob Iger, the CEO of Disney, proves the point. Her profile of arguably the most powerful media executive, a man who turned down the opportunity to buy Twitter, argues the case. – The New York Times
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/09/22/style/disney-bob-iger-book.html
The tech visionary Jaron Lanier believes we should be paid for our data. In this series of three videos, he believes we can take back some, but perhaps not all, of what has been grabbed from us online. – The New York Times https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2019/09/23/opinion/data-privacy-jaron-lanier.html?searchResultPosition=1
If you’ve ever had an Impossible Burger, you’ll know that the experience of meat can now be meatless. The mind behind Impossible Foods believes that meat is the largest environmental catastrophe of our time and believes we can leave all animal agriculture behind by 2035 and mitigate climate change. – The New Yorker
https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2019/09/30/can-a-burger-help-solve-climate-change
Hayley Woodin, reporter:
“For the past decade, [Adam Neumann] has built a fast-growing, revenue-swilling real-estate giant.” The company’s success depends in large part on its founder. What is WeWork without him? – The Atlantic
https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2019/09/curse-cult-of-the-founder/598753/
A saltier, hold-no-punches take on WeWork from New York University professor Scott Galloway. It includes an analysis of what WeWTF, as he puts it, should do now. – No Mercy / No Malice
https://www.profgalloway.com/wewtf-part-deux
Mark Falkenberg, deputy managing editor:
Facebook is snarfing up New York-based CTRL-Labs, a startup that’s building software aimed at allowing people to control computers with their thoughts. The deal will likely get plenty of attention from regulators, already investigating Facebook Inc. for alleged antitrust violations. – Los Angeles Times
https://www.latimes.com/business/story/2019-09-23/facebook-to-buy-start-up-for-controlling-computers-with-your-mind
Talking to your plants was once a fad; now they can talk back. Or, more precisely, sing back. – Wired
https://www.wired.com/story/plantwave-music/
Timothy Renshaw, managing editor:
Deep thinkers and power brokers better amp up the development of renewable energy sources real quick, because the 2019 International Energy Outlook is projecting a 50% increase in world energy use by 2050. – EIA
https://www.eia.gov/outlooks/ieo/?
Interesting numbers in newly released e-commerce data from the US Census Bureau.
https://www.census.gov/library/publications/2019/econ/2017-e-stats.html?
Nelson Bennett, reporter:
If tackling climate change is your number one concern in the federal election, and if you are willing to pay for it, then a Liberal government may be the best option, Alberta energy and environmental economist Andrew Leach suggests. Leach says the Green and NDP planks on climate change are more aggressive, but poorly defined, whereas the Liberal policies already in place include all the key policies for a realistic plan: carbon pricing, accelerated phase-out of coal power and clean fuel standards. – Andrew Leach, CBC
https://www.cbc.ca/amp/1.5295477?__vfz=medium%3Dsharebar&__twitter_impression=true
Canadians aren’t willing to put their money where their mouths are on climate change policies. Unfortunately, for federal parties promising aggressive climate change policies, a new poll suggests that, although a majority of Canadians want to see climate change addressed, they don’t want to pay for those policies. A new Ipsos poll finds 46% of Canadians are not willing to pay one cent more for climate change policies. – Global News
Tyler Orton, reporter:
“Our Skulls Are Out-Evolving Us.” Could modern sleep problems be attributed to post-industrial society’s rapidly changing skulls? – Medium
"Open-Minded People Have a Different Visual Perception of Reality.” How open-mindedness appears to stretch beyond just the psychological and into the physical. – Quartz
