The Future Sucked

Columns

All Too Human

Jacob Silverman

December 16, 2020

Uber kisses its automation dreams goodbye.

A Most Violent Platform

Jacob Silverman

September 01, 2020

Facebook’s extremism problem, at home and abroad.

Nobody’s Ally

Jacob Silverman

June 16, 2020

When the makers of policing tech say “Black Lives Matter.”

All Right Already

Jacob Silverman

October 28, 2019

By now, we know where Facebook’s allegiances lie

Unbreaking the News

Jacob Silverman

August 12, 2019

After strip-mining the news industtry, Facebook wants publishers to trust them again.

Coins of No Nation

Jacob Silverman

June 25, 2019

What’s missing from the white paper narratives about Libra, Facebook's new cryptocurrency, is the role of the state.

Silicon Valley’s Chinese Dream

Jacob Silverman

November 21, 2018

China’s rise as a tech powerhouse has dovetailed with Silicon Valley’s growing distrust toward democracy itself.

No News Is Good News

Jacob Silverman

September 06, 2018

The relationship between Facebook and news publishers is a bizarre charade, peopled by unreliable characters, dotted with contradictions, suffused with dependency and resentment. Over ten long years, Facebook kneecapped the newspaper industry by devouring its main revenue ...

We Don’t Have Elections

Jacob Silverman

April 18, 2018

The truth is that while tech giants act with an authoritarian indifference toward their citizen-consumers, it’s increasingly important they are seen as liberal.

Your Faceprint Tomorrow

Jacob Silverman

January 25, 2018

Facial recognition technology has marched unimpeded into the commercial sphere—the consequences are staggering.

23andUs

Jacob Silverman

November 14, 2017

Recently I’ve been stalked . . .

Reinventing the Wheel

Jacob Silverman

October 05, 2017

You could grow old waiting for an enlightened billionaire to appear.