My week of Monday 27 May to Sunday 2 June 2024 was dominated by poor sleep patterns, which I’m putting down to the start of the cooler weather. The podcast production schedule was pushed back, and productivity was low. But I am happy enough.
Yes, this is being posted a day late. My fatigue levels can be a little challenging sometimes.
Articles
- The Weekly Cybers #20. eSafety dominates the news this week. There’s also a new National Robotics Strategy, news of recent hacks, and a glorious new government excuse for not doing things.
You can read my previous writing at Authory, where you can also subscribe to an email compilation of any new stories each Sunday morning.
Podcasts, Media Appearances, Photos, Videos, Corporate Largesse
None of these, but you’ll get two podcasts in the coming week, one on Monday and one on Saturday, and then another one on Monday next week. See below.
You can subscribe to my YouTube channel to be notified when new videos appear and when livestreams are scheduled.
Recommendations
I’ll skip the bitchfight over whether Musk should be paid $56 billion for just one of his part-time jobs. This week’s stories are amusing enough.
- Elon Musk once mocked China’s BYD. Now it’s running circles around Tesla.
- Tesla Investor Accuses Elon Musk Of $7.5 Billion Of Insider Trades.
- “Driver says he still loves his Cybertruck after it sliced his wrist open and sent him to the emergency room,” although the image on that post is a silly mock-up.
- The Fin headlined their story Trump mulls ‘advisory role for Musk’ if he wins White House, but then Drive had Elon Musk dismisses senior White House job talks with Donald Trump. Who to believe?
- “WhatsApp boss Will Cathcart has hit back at claims from Elon Musk that the messaging app ‘exports your user data every night’.”
- Elon Musk’s xAI firm valued at $24 billion as investors pledge more money.
In other news:
- What AI thinks a beautiful woman looks like, and yes it’s all quite depressing.
- “‘Enormously exciting’ fossils found in NSW opal field suggest Australia had ‘age of monotremes’. Discovery of ‘echidnapus’ and two more species show the furry egg-layers predated marsupials.”
- “In a post to China’s popular WeChat platform last week, one writer bemoaned the shocking loss of nearly a full decade of information from the early days of the country’s domestic internet. Within hours the writer’s reflections had vanished too,” writes the China Media Project.
The Week Ahead
My main focus this week is wrapping up the autumn series of my terrible podcast, The 9pm Edict. Yes, I know it’s officially winter already, and I’ll kick off the crowdfunder for the winter series at some point, but the there remaining autumn series episodes are locked in.
On Monday I’ll finally edit and post the podcast with Esther Anatolitis, editor of literary quarterly Meanjin and other things, which was recorded back on 20 May — although there’s a chance it’ll slide into Tuesday.
On Tuesday and Wednesday I’ll pretend to do some other work.
On Thursday I’m recording a podcast with Zoe Jay Hawkins, head of policy design at ANU’s Tech Policy Design Centre. One topic will be her recent article at The Conversation, What does AI mean for Australian democracy? And what can we do about it?, but I’m sure we’ll find plenty of other things to talk about.
If you’re a supporter with TRIGGER WORDS or a CONVERSATION TOPIC for that episode, please get them to me by 4pm AEST this Wednesday 5 June. The finished episode will be posted on Saturday.
On Saturday evening I’m recording a podcast with Scottish author and social researcher David F Porteous, We’re bound to talk about the impending UK Elections, but if you’re a supporter with TRIGGER WORDS or a CONVERSATION TOPIC for that episode, please get them to me by 7pm AEST this Friday 7 June. This episode will be posted on Monday 10 June, the King’s Birthday.
The 9pm Edict is supported by the generosity of its listeners. You can throw a few coins into the tip jar or subscribe for special benefits. Please consider.
Further Ahead
- TechLeaders 2024, Hunter Valley, 11–12 August 2024.
- The Sydney Dialogue, Australian Strategic Policy Institute, Sydney and online, 2–3 September 2024 (TBC).
[Photo: The viewing platform at the Blue Mountains Cultural Centre in Katoomba, photographed on the afternoon of 1 June 2024 when the whole town was inside a cloud and there was nothing to see.]