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Our painful march to modernity

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A newsletter about digital media, our analog world, and where they meet. Tech, social and life tips from Sree Sreenivasan. Sree is the co-founder of Digimentors and former Chief Digital Officer of NYC, the Met Museum and Columbia U
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Our painful march to modernity

We know more than ever, and we do less and less with that knowledge.

Sree Sreenivasan / @sree
Jul 18, 2022
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Our painful march to modernity

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Sree’s newsletter is produced with Zach Peterson (@zachprague), with a tech tip from Robert S. Anthony (@newyorkbob). Cartoon by Randall Enos.

🗞 @Sree’s Sunday #NYTReadalong: Sunday mornings, 8:30-10 am ET, we read a print newspaper out loud on our Readalong video show, as we have six-plus years now. Usually, it’s the NYT, but we’ve done the Chicago Sun-Times, the Philadelphia Inquirer, the Washington Post and more. Watch two years of our archives here. The Readalong is sponsored by Muck Rack. Interested in sponsorship opportunities? Email sree@digimentors.group and neil@digimentors.group.

📺 My Digimentors team is working with companies and nonprofits around the world to create virtual and hybrid events. We’ve worked on events for 50 people and 100,000. See our updated brochure. Please talk to us if you need events help or social media consulting (no project too small or too big): sree@digimentors.group and neil@digimentors.group.

***

WE ARE RUNNING OUT OF TIME to save the planet and everyone on it.

This short thread by Priti Krishtel really gets to the heart of the global health crisis (it is a crisis) that we find ourselves in right now.

Twitter avatar for @pritikrishtel
Priti Krishtel @pritikrishtel
Recently at @aspenideas, I was asked about what I thought of the #TRIPSWaiver decision. Here's what I think: it was a deeply disappointing loss, but there is a silver lining. A 🧵...
Twitter avatar for @IMAKglobal
Initiative for Medicines, Access & Knowledge @IMAKglobal
Here’s @PritiKrishtel at the @AspenIdeas Health Festival, reflecting on the #TRIPSWaiver fight and the WTO’s decision: “Trade and health are linked…it’s set in the generational record that you cannot separate these two things.” https://t.co/A1MSArbikg
3:18 PM ∙ Jul 13, 2022
83Likes45Retweets

You could replace any mention of “health” with “climate” or “social justice” and it all rings true. Criminal justice systems across the world are racialized and unjust. Our lack of action on climate change is racialized and unjust. Our lack of investment in providing for a minimum level of security and wellbeing is racialized and unjust.

Twitter avatar for @pritikrishtel
Priti Krishtel @pritikrishtel
And it’s not just activists shouting into the wind. The public record now reflects that our medicines system is racialized and unjust. Like this from the United Nations Commission to End Racial Discrimination:
theguardian.comCovid vaccine inequity due to ‘racism rooted in slavery and colonialism’Global failure to redress race-based injustice has led to higher death rates and worsened discrimination, UN says
3:19 PM ∙ Jul 13, 2022
23Likes6Retweets

The thing is, whether your MAGA uncle wants to admit it or not, we actually do know the breadth of the core issues facing humanity, we do have solutions to these problems, and there are things that governments, corporations, and society writ large can do right now to at least begin to tackle them.

And yet, here we are.

Twitter avatar for @CREWcrew
Citizens for Ethics @CREWcrew
A really good way for corporations to show that they value access over democracy is continuing to donate to members of Congress who sought pardons over January 6.
citizensforethics.orgLawmakers who sought pardons for Jan. 6 involvement still getting corporate donations - CREW | Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Wa…Corporations should reevaluate their giving to members of Congress who amplified Trump’s lies and then sought pardons after the insurrection.
9:00 PM ∙ Jul 16, 2022
210Likes93Retweets

The kicker here is that these corporations are right — their influence and access tomorrow is a higher priority than their influence and access in two years’ time. It’s cold, calculating, and it’s all working exactly as it’s meant to work.

Again, we know what the problems are:

Twitter avatar for @DyjuanTatro
Dyjuan Tatro @DyjuanTatro
If prison and police actually prevented crime or produced public safety, the US would be the safest country in the world. The reality is that prison is crimonogenic & police don’t produce public safety. Anyone arguing for more prison & police is ignoring 50yrs of policy failure.
7:01 PM ∙ Jul 11, 2022
14,418Likes3,708Retweets

I keep going back to this, because I think that that the right-wing-fed fact debate industrial complex is quite clearly the greatest danger humanity has ever seen.

Again, we know what the problems are. We know exactly what they are:

Twitter avatar for @jenny2x4
Fairy Gothmother, MD @jenny2x4
These two images are gonna be seared in my mind forever
Image
Image
5:16 AM ∙ Jul 13, 2022
180,227Likes25,247Retweets

The problems are simply not up for debate anymore:

Twitter avatar for @SIfill_
Sherrilyn Ifill @SIfill_
A major religion was forced to suspend gathering in an American city because of domestic terrorist threats and there’s no press conference or moment from the Attorney General or DHS Secretary? Did I miss it yesterday?
Twitter avatar for @yashar
Yashar Ali 🐘 @yashar
The Jewish Federation of San Antonio says it received information from the FBI of a potential threat to a Jewish community facility in San Antonio. The Federation says that all formal Jewish gatherings at synagogues and other venues have been suspended until further notice. https://t.co/07fqV6fNi1
1:43 PM ∙ Jul 10, 2022
9,176Likes3,623Retweets

Amidst all of this societal strife is a climate crisis that has gone from “looming” to “here for some time already, and worse than we could have ever imagined.”

Twitter avatar for @ScottDuncanWX
Scott Duncan @ScottDuncanWX
The intensity of the heat lifting north out of Spain & Portugal is simply staggering.
Image
11:37 AM ∙ Jul 16, 2022
6,011Likes2,930Retweets

It’s a very real possibility that we are too late on the climate crisis we’ve caused and continue to perpetuate. There has been no meaningful movement from really any industry beyond perfunctory things like paper straws. Recycling is actually down across the board, and only about 5% of plastic used in the US is recycled in the first place.

If there’s a hopeful note anywhere, I’d love to hear it.

- Sree

Twitter | Instagram | LinkedIn | YouTube / Cameo

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A word from Armory Square Ventures

Business journalist Elizabeth MacBride recently interviewed ASV Partner and Co-founder Pia Sawhney about venture capital in under-ventured regions and the genesis of Armory Square Ventures.

See that piece in Forbes and the original video interview she conducted with Pia for Times of E, a journalism initiative sponsored by the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation, the Walton Family Foundation and MIT’s Legatum Center for Entrepreneurship & Development.

Elizabeth has been tracking American small business owners for some time and co-authored a book on the topic titled The New Builders with venture capitalist Seth Levine, Co-founder of Foundry Group.

This week we draw your attention to a column Seth recently published titled "Take Your IRR With A Grain of Salt." He addresses how VC firms measure their returns, suggesting the process is more nebulous as it currently stands than many realize. We encourage you to take a look.

Playtime’s Over: Tech Toy Companies Gear Up for Winter

By Robert S. Anthony
Each week, veteran tech journalist Bob Anthony shares a tech tip you don’t want to miss. Follow him @newyorkbob.

The sultry, sunny days of summer are great for relaxing and kicking back, but if you’re a tech toy manufacturer it means one thing: Time to get ready for the winter holiday shopping season.

Last year’s computer-chip shortages and shipping delays caused many cool tech toys to arrive too late for the holiday sales season, leaving many children—and toy company salespeople—disappointed. While some issues have improved, they will still impact consumers this year, according to The Toy Insider, organizer of last week’s Sweet Suite toy showcase for the media.

“If you don’t mind getting last year’s toys…you’ll likely get a good deal,” said Marissa Silva, Toy Insider editor-in-chief in a video press briefing. “But if you’re looking for the hot new items that are going to be heavily marketed…then you’re going to have to spend a little bit more money.”

One interesting tech toy which debuted at Sweet Suite was Snorble, an electronic companion which promises to teach children good nighttime habits. While it uses artificial intelligence and sophisticated audio and display technologies, it focuses on low-tech, screen-free play (a friendly, animated face fills the display).

Snorble, which can be hugged, can play color and audio games and have conversations with children, all of which are aimed at quality sleep, according to Snorble CEO Mike Rizkalla. It also offers stories, music, gamified nighttime wind-down routines like tooth brushing and gentle wake-up tones.

The unit is controlled by parents via a free app and only needs to be connected to the Internet for updates. The $299 unit is expected to be available in the fall.

The Toniebox, a colorful, screen-free electronic box with “cat ears” poking out of the top, provides children with a variety of audio stories depending on which Tonie character is placed on top. The unit is easy to use: The “ears” are pinchable volume controls, a gentle tilt fast-forwards or rewinds a story and a tap on a side jumps forward or back through story chapters.

There are Tonies available for many popular characters, including Dora the Explorer, Peppa Pig, Blue’s Clues and Disney’s Moana. Not surprisingly, the one-eyed yellow Despicable Me minion is currently sold out. Parents can also purchase Creative-Tonies and record their own stories. Tonies starter kits ($99) include the Toniebox and one character.

Winter will be here soon enough, so shop for tech toys carefully—the bargains may be elusive.


❓Did we miss anything? Make a mistake? Do you have an idea for anything we’re up to? Let’s collaborate! sree@sree.net and please connect w/ me: Twitter | Instagram | LinkedIn | YouTube / Cameo.

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