Downloading: Online Safety Laws and Mastery of Pure Mathematics

However, the content of these bills varies widely from state to state. While some aim to protect privacy, others risk eroding it. Some could have a chilling effect on freedom of expression online.

Many measures are likely to face legal challenges or prove unenforceable. It is a messy and complex situation. But beneath the surface, there are important arguments that will shape the regulation of technology in the United States. So what’s going on? And why is it important? Let’s explain.

—Tate Ryan-Mosley

This story is from The Technocrat, Tate’s weekly newsletter on power, politics and Silicon Valley. Register to receive it in your inbox every Friday.

How to bring down to earth the noble ideas of pure mathematics

There is undeniably a mystical quality in mathematics. Mathematicians talk about their profession in almost religious terms. There is even a general derision towards those who seek a useful application. No wonder it is so hard to find accessible math textbooks. What you really need is a sympathetic voice – the testimony of someone who has scaled the heights of abstract mathematics but also has the patience to guide a newcomer. Fortunately, such a voice exists in mathematician and concert pianist Eugenia Cheng, who has written a number of books aimed at demystifying mathematics. Read our review.

The unavoidable

I’ve scoured the internet to find you today’s funniest/important/scariest/fascinating stories about technology.

1 How Apple plans to get you to buy its headphones
Packing it with tons of features and hoping buyers find something they like. ($Bloomberg)
+ Inside the cozy but spooky world of VR bedrooms. (MIT Technology Review)

2 Elon Musk turned blue checks into an embarrassment
They signified public status. Now they just show you paid a billionaire $8. (Slate $)
+ Musk sucked the life out of Twitter. (Atlantic $)
+ He revived his risky reputation last week. (WSJ$)
+ Twitter is removing inaccurate labels calling major news outlets “state-funded.” (NYT$)
+ How Twitter helped fuel the Silicon Valley Bank race. (Axios)

3 China still hinders efforts to study covid
Three years later, we still don’t know how the pandemic started. (NYT$)
+ Meet the scientist at the center of the lab leak controversy. (MIT Technology Review)
+ Listen to our podcast that delves into the mystery surrounding the origins of covid. (MIT Technology Review)