Building Tomorrow

Over the past several years, conservative complaints about social media bias have grown. Some conservatives allege that platforms like Facebook, Google, and Twitter have tweaked their algorithms in ways that effectively downgrade conservative content or that they have “shadow-banned” conservative voices. In this episode, Paul and Will are joined by Zach Graves and Ryan Radia, both from the Lincoln Network, to discuss to what extent these allegations are legitimate and to weigh subsequent calls for government regulation.Is news structurally biased? How do conservatives and liberals respond differently to their content being censored online? Is Facebook a legitimate moderator of its’ own platform? What are the bounds of debate in our country? What is a “quality” experience on a social media platform? What is Section 230? What is the Fairness Doctrine?Further Reading:Why I’m Suing Twitter, written by Meghan MurphyThe Impossible Job: Inside Facebook’s Struggle to Moderate Two Billion People, written by Jason Koebler and Joseph KoxGoogle News results favor left-leaning media, report finds, written by Cat HofackerRelated Content:Free Speech Online, Free Thoughts PodcastToward an Uncensored Internet, written by Sonya MannFor Bad Speech, Is Sunlight Really the Best Disinfectant?, written by Christian Barnard Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Building Tomorrow isn’t in the business of encouraging government bloat, but in this episode we consider whether, sometimes, eliminating a government agency might be a penny wise, pound foolish decision. In particular, Paul and Will are joined by Zach Graves and Daniel Schuman as they discuss proposals to resurrect the Office for Technology Assessment, which had advised Congress on tech policy until getting the axe in the mid-1990s. Just as the Congressional Budget Office provides ostensibly non-partisan estimates of the cost of proposed legislation, the OTA would provide non-partisan reports weighing the costs and benefits of tech related legislation.Do we lobby more than we use to? Why do employees leave their work at Capitol Hill? What is the purpose of executive orders? Which Congressional agencies focus on technology policy? What is the economic cost of not having privacy legislation now? How much power does the Congressional Budget Office have?Further Reading:How Congress Got Dumb on Tech—and How It Can Get Smart, written by Grace GedyeInside GAO’s Plan to Make Congress More Tech-Savvy, written by Jack CorriganMomentum builds for Congress restoring Office of Technology Assessment, written by Jory HeckmanHouse members call for Office of Technology Assessment revival, written by Katherine Tully-McManusRelated Content:Decentralization and Privacy Are Inevitable — in Tech and in Government, written by Aaron Ross PowellEmerging Tech (with Matthew Feeney), Free Thoughts PodcastOn Innovation: Don’t Ask for Permission, Building Tomorrow Podcast Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The theme that connects both of the interviews in today’s episode is the value of planning for the future. That can be as simple as thinking about the ways that driverless cars will affect the car insurance industry, as Ian Adams from TechFreedom discusses. Or it can be as big as Dr. Mark Lutter, Founder of the Center for Innovative Governance Research, advocating for charter cities, a place where the best urban ideas can be implemented from the outset rather than waiting for something to go wrong and having to struggle against regulatory inertia. What is the latest regulatory news for driverless cars? What challenges do autonomous vehicles present to the insurance industry? Why is California such an innovative space? Will there be a migration pattern away from California? What is a charter city? What leads to economic growth?Further Reading:Creating the Charter Cities Ecosystem, written by Mark LutterTechquake: The Biggest Threat to California’s Tech-Sector May Lie Directly Beneath its Feet, written by Ian AdamsCalifornia Needs to Hit the Brakes on Minimum Staffing Requirements for Automated Vehicles, written by Ian AdamsRelated Content:When Will We Get Fully Autonomous Cars?, Building Tomorrow PodcastFlying Taxis: Cleared for Takeoff?, Building Tomorrow PodcastIs China Beating the U.S. at Innovation?, Building Tomorrow Podcast Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week’s interview is with Robert Zubrin, astronautics engineer and President of the Mars Society, who also introduced Elon Musk to Jim Cantrell at the founding of SpaceX. Dr. Zubrin was in Washington, DC at the Lincoln Network’s “Reboot American Innovation” conference to contrast the successes of the private sector space industry over the past few years with the excess and stagnation of NASA’s human flight program over the past few decades. At the current rate of innovation, he believes that the first manned mission to Mars will happen in our lifetimes.Should we settle Mars before we settle the moon? Are there regulatory restraints on the private space industry? Has our generation lost the drive to pursue the knowledge that made it possible for us to go to space? How do we inspire people to try something that has never been done before?Further Reading:The Case for Space: How the Revolution in Spaceflight Opens Up a Future of Limitless Possibility, written by Robert ZubrinReboot American Innovation May 2, 2019, Lincoln NetworkRelated Content:From SpaceX to Vector: Jim Cantrell and the Private Space Industry, Building Tomorrow PodcastJim Cantrell on Vector, Elon Musk, and Space Force, written by Spencer NealeA Libertarian Response to Global Depopulation, written by Pamela J. HobartDebunking Overpopulation, Building Tomorrow Podcast Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Facial recognition software will transform our lives for good or for ill. On the one hand, it will be used to make retail transactions more seamless, to replace keyed entry into houses and cars, and to provide other benefits that we can’t yet even imagine. However, it could also be used for corporate and governmental surveillance in ways that undermine civil liberties and reduce privacy. Caleb Watney joins Matthew and Paul to discuss the potential promise and peril of facial recognition technology.What does facial recognition technology do? What algorithms or parameters are being used with facial recognition? What are the positive applications of facial recognition software? How can facial recognition improve our lives? Will facial recognition be used for ‘targeted search’? Where does our data go? How much anonymity should we enjoy?Further Reading:A Framework for Increasing Competition and Diffusion in Artificial Intelligence, written by Caleb WatneyFacial Recognition Software: The Future Is Here, written by Daniel NewmanMatthew Feeney discusses facial recognition software at airports on FOX NewsGiving TSA Facial-Recognition Software Isn’t Worth a Faster Security Line, written by Matthew FeeneyRelated Content:The Chinese Surveillance State, Building Tomorrow PodcastThe Brave New World of DNA Databases, Building Tomorrow Podcast Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Devin Nunes is a US Congressman and former dairy farmer from California. Imagine his surprise when a member of his cow herd started a twitter account that focused on Nunes’s failings as a politician. That account was quickly joined by several other parody accounts, including one purporting to be his mother. Nunes responded by filing multiple lawsuits against the offending accounts, against Twitter, and against lobbyist Liz Mair, claiming hundreds of millions of dollars in damages.Yet the courts have typically protected parody and satire under the First Amendment to the US Constitution, giving the lawsuits little chance of winning in court. But Nunes filed the claims in Virginia, a state with few penalties for frivolous lawsuits, meaning that even in failure Nunes’s lawsuits may still intimidate his critics and tie them up in a long, expensive legal battle. Liz Mair joins Paul and Will to discuss Nunes, his cow, and how the lawsuit has created an internet backlash drawing even more attention to the parody accounts than before.Who is Devin Nunes and why is he upset? Why is he suing Twitter, Liz Mair, other parties? What did Liz Mair do? What is the Streisand effect? What is an anti-SLAP law? What are the biggest changes to communication in the political world due to technological advances and social media?Further Reading:Free Speech Means I Don’t Have to be Nice to Devin Nunes on Twitter. So why’s he suing me?, written by Liz MairRead the Pointed Tweets That Led to a Congressman to Sue Twitter, written by Rachel E. GreenspanRelated Content:The Federalist No. 76, written by Alexander HamiltonWill EU Copyright Break the Internet?, Building Tomorrow PodcastFree Speech Online, Free Thoughts Podcast Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

If you’ve ever lived in a city like NYC or San Francisco you’re all too familiar with the incredible cost of housing. A studio apartment might cost as much to rent as a single family home out in the suburbs or a smaller town. While some of that additional cost is just the price we pay for living in desirable locations with abundant job opportunities, a surprising amount of that cost is entirely unnecessary. Bad regulatory policies are the cornerstone of the crisis of affordable housing in America today. Zoning boards keep housing density low, meaning shortages of housing supply in the face of rising demand, a classic recipe for skyrocketing prices. Salim Furth from the Mercatus Center joins Paul Matzko to discuss the causes, consequences, and possible fixes for the housing affordability crisis.What can we fix so that housing prices become lower? What does it take to build a home in the U.S.? What power does the local government have in the housing market? How are zoning regulations affecting cities? What is the YIMBY movement? What is a thick labor market and how does it support housing? How should you engage with local politics?Further Reading:The Two-Board Knot: Zoning, Schools, and Inequality, written by Salim FurthThe Link Between Local Zoning Policy and Housing Affordability in America’s Cities, written by Kevin Erdmann, Salim Furth, and Emily HamiltonOrder without Design: How Markets Shape Cities, written by Alain BertaudRelated Content:How Government Housing Policy Distorts the American Dream, Free Thoughts PodcastIs Amazon HQ2 Worth It?, Building Tomorrow Podcast Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

One of the things that folks in the 22nd century will find bizarre about their ancestors in the early 21st century will be that we were arguing about immigration when a global depopulation crisis loomed on the horizon. Darrell Bricker and John Ibbitson argue that by the middle of this century the world population will start to decline as the final major developing nations have their birth-rates fall below the replacement rate of 2.1 per woman. Although various governments have tried to arrest the trend, those efforts have proven largely ineffective and unsustainably expensive. The only method of slowing the decline is to embrace immigration as Canada and, to a lesser extent, the United States have done. The countries which admit the most immigrants today will have a major advantage half a century from now over those countries which chose to close their borders.What are global population trends? Is our population actually growing rapidly? Why do wealthier urbanized countries have fewer children? How does immigration affect population decline? How did the smart phone affect global birth rates? Why do fertility rates decline as women become more educated?Further Reading:Empty Planet: The Shock of Global Population Decline, written by Darrell Bricker and John IbbitsonThe Population Bomb, 50 Years Later: A Conversation with Paul EhrlichThe Unrealized Horrors of Population Explosion, written by Clyde HabermanGlobal Population Decline And Economic Growth, written by Bill ConerlyRelated Content:Making the World Better, written by Aaron Ross PowellThe World is Getting Better, Free Thoughts PodcastThe Saddest Thing About China’s One-Child Policy, written by Marian L. Tupy Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Tech companies are often accused of acting without first thinking through all the ramifications of what they’re doing on the principle that it is easier to ask forgiveness than permission. Adam Thierer joins the show to talk about a good habit, something he calls evasive entrepreneurialism. If innovators always waited for regulatory approval first, it would delay consumer access to transformative and even life-saving tech. Permissionless innovation in the relatively regulatory-free internet sandbox of the 1990s-2000s is what drove a great deal of tech innovation and wealth creation in Silicon Valley; the same could be true for other tech sectors in the future. Paul and Will also play a lightening round of “Overrated / Underrated” with Adam revealing a surprising love for malted beverages and the barter system.Who are evasive entrepreneurs? Are there too many barriers to entry in the technology field? How does tech enable civil disobedience? What tech is ‘born free’? What is a regulatory risk? What is the pacing problem with technology? What is the precautionary principle? Should you intentionally diversify your twitter feed?Further Reading:Permissionless Innovation, written by Adam ThiererRegulatory Hacking, written by Evan Burfield and J.D. HarrisonEvasive Entrepreneurs and Permissionless Innovation, Adam Thierer and Chad ReeseThe Twenty-Six Words that Created the Internet event at the Cato Institute on April 17, 2019Related Content:Wearable Tech: Health Care of the Future, Building Tomorrow PodcastThe Right to Print Arms, Building Tomorrow PodcastCrypto-Switzerland: Matching a Decentralized Government with a Decentralized Currency, written by Pascal Hügli Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The fact of the Christchurch shooting is, unfortunately, unsurprising given the global rise of political extremism and ethno-nationalism. But it anticipates the future in that it was the first ever livestreamed mass shooting; given that mass shooters are hungry for attention, it’s almost certain to become a trend. But that raises questions about the complicity of social media in livestreamed atrocities. Matthew, Paul, and guest Caleb Watney discuss first of all whether there are technological solutions to livestreamed terrorism and, second, whether the rush to regulate technology in the aftermath of these horrific moments could do more harm than good.How did Facebook respond to the shooting as it was being livestreamed? How many people saw the horrific footage before it was taken down? What are digital hashes? Should machine learning be responsible for content moderation? What is the distinction between public and private content censorship? Does the media give too much fame to mass shooters?Further Reading:Facebook Claims Just 200 Viewers Livestreamed the New Zealand Mosque Shooting, written by Ben FeuerherdA Framework for Increasing Competition and Diffusion in Artificial Intelligence, written by Caleb WatneyApproaches to Regulating Technology—From Privacy to A.I., featuring R Street’s Caleb Watney as a panelist at the American Action ForumRelated Content:How the FOSTA Rules Create a “Bootleggers and Baptists” Scenario for the 21st Century, written by Paul MatzkoGuns and Mass Shootings, Free Thoughts PodcastToward an Uncensored Internet, written by Sonya MannHedging Against Skynet, Building Tomorrow Podcast Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.