Latest news with #Darwinian
Japan Today
3 days ago
- Entertainment
- Japan Today
Sean 'Diddy' Combs trial offers fodder for influencers and YouTubers
The Sean Combs trial has been a fount of content for influencers and YouTubers to put on their channels By Andrea Bambino, Maggy Donaldson and Celine Gesret The criminal trial of Sean "Diddy" Combs is now in its sixth week of testimony -- and interest among influencers and YouTubers is still soaring, as online personalities flock to the Manhattan federal courthouse to livestream their musings. Every day, it's the same routine: content creators on platforms like TikTok, Instagram and YouTube rub shoulders with legacy media organizations as they set up cell phone tripods and stage their shows, enthusiastically relaying their hot takes. The trial of Combs, once a titan of the music industry who faces life in prison if convicted on sex trafficking and racketeering charges, can't be broadcast. The federal courthouse doesn't allow cameras, laptops, phones or even wireless headphones inside. So, alongside the many journalists covering the trial, influencers hustle in and out of the courthouse throughout the day to recount the proceedings beat by beat, dropping off and picking up their electronics at security each time. One woman who goes by the TikTok name "KealoHalika" said in the first two days of testimony she earned an estimated 10,500 followers; her account now has 40,500 followers. "It was like craziness," she told AFP outside the courthouse. "It's been a lot of moving pieces. It's definitely changed my life." Combs is incarcerated and doesn't enter or exit the courthouse publicly. But some of the high-profile attendees and witnesses do, including members of the music mogul's family and figures like Kid Cudi, the rapper who testified that Combs's entourage torched his car. These paparazzi-esque arrivals and exits are catnip for content creators to in turn feed their followers. The brief cameo of Ye, who stopped by to lend his "support" to Combs amid the proceedings, was a particular field day for the chronically online. Donat Ricketts, a 32-year-old artist from Los Angeles, was a regular at the high-profile Tory Lanez and A$AP Rocky trials in California. He told AFP he makes between $8,000 and $10,000 a month, including through YouTube's ad revenue program and fan donations. "This is my first time traveling to another state to cover a case," said the creator with about 50,000 YouTube subscribers. "It feels like vacation, plus I'm being able to work and make money from YouTube." Ricketts didn't study journalism -- but he thinks his "big personality" and ability to relate to online viewers sets him apart. "This case is the turning point where mainstream media knows that the 'independent journalists' are a force to be reckoned with," he said. According to a 2024 Pew Research Center study, one in five Americans get news from influencers online; for people under 30, the share jumps to 37 percent. Reece Peck, a professor of political communication and journalism at the City University of New York, called the competition among content creators "Darwinian." "They're so scared of losing their clientele or their audience. And so with that logic, that you have to constantly create content, the news cycle is such an attractive source of material," Peck told AFP. And the Combs trial is a fount, he said: "It's sex, it's violence, and it's celebrity." Emilie Hagen said she does have a journalism degree but these days publishes via her Substack, also putting out content on Instagram and TikTok. "I'm there every day providing humorous updates," she told AFP of the Combs trial. Dozens of traditional media outlets are providing coverage and analysis of the trial. But Hagen said she's "able to go down rabbit holes that they're not allowed to go down." "I don't have to stick to the daily recap," she said. "I can insert a personal narrative." Many of her most fruitful videos are of "me interacting with all of the wild people that come to the trial outside the courthouse," she added. Hagen said she's notched 12,000 more Instagram followers and 10,000 more on TikTok since proceedings began. She said some fans have donated, which recently allowed her to hire a linesitter. Getting into the main courtroom, as opposed to overflow rooms with video feeds of the trial, can require either arriving overnight or the day prior, and many influencers along with media outlets like ABC News and The New York Times hire people to hold spots. But even with the deluge of news updates from media outlets and content streams from influencers, some people still want to see the trial for themselves. Val Solit, a teacher from Los Angeles on vacation to New York, dropped by the proceedings after having lunch in nearby Chinatown with her partner. "I like crime and dramas," she told AFP, likening the hype to the 1990s-era trial of O.J. Simpson. "It was kind of fascinating to come and see it. It's history in the making." © 2025 AFP
Yahoo
09-06-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Opinion - Welcome to the Biocene: How ‘natural capitalism' can save America and the world
Something much deeper than the price of eggs was at work when voters re-elected President Trump last year. Most Americans were unhappy with the country's direction; they still are. Last month, 59 percent said they were dissatisfied with 'the way things are going in the United States.' It's not just that people have very different opinions about the day's pressing issues. We lack a national vision or mission that transcends our differences. No one has articulated a compelling alternative to the country's unease, ennui and anger. We had purpose in the past. What is our purpose now? Trump's version of America definitely is not it. If most of us are unsatisfied, perhaps it is because America is not living up to its image as an opportunity society. The 90 percent may feel that their physical and economic security is less certain than it used to be. Science tells us, and weather disasters confirm, that civilization is careening toward a dystopian future. Trump is pressing the accelerator. However, the climate is only one of nine 'safe operating spaces' for life on the planet. We have already left the safety zones for six. What might our mission be? I'll suggest one for the sake of discussion. Its dual objective would be to (a) give everyone the tools to be the best they can be and (b) return society to safe operating spaces in this century. Regarding the first objective, let's assume we have a choice between three economic and social systems. The first is Darwinian capitalism — a dog-eat-dog economy that results in a permanent wealth gap between the haves and have-nots. Success in the Darwinian economy often is not based on merit. The rich get richer by controlling and rigging economic policies. They buy influence and pay accountants to find loopholes that allow them to avoid taxes. They oppose government regulations because they want unhindered profiteering. They believe it is their manifest destiny to rule. Meanwhile, less fortunate Americans remain that way because of inferior education, unaffordable health care, institutional barriers, less intergenerational wealth transfer, the inability to escape 'sacrifice zones,' uninsured losses to weather disasters, and a tax system that shifts wealth upward. It is exceedingly rare that any of them find, let alone climb, ladders to the top. If there are geniuses, artists, scientists, educators, saints and potential philanthropists in their midst, we will never know. The alternative is social capitalism, similar to systems found in the Nordic countries, whose people consistently rank as the happiest in the world. It combines a market economy with government services that offer everyone the basic tools for success: universal health care, free quality education through the post-secondary level, equal pay for equal work, child-care assistance for working families, social safety nets for people with genuine disabilities, and so on. Social capitalism ensures equal opportunity but not equal results. Each person's success depends on their willingness to use the tools and work hard. And yet social capitalism would be intergenerational, with each generation handing the next a world of ample natural resources and ecosystem services, a stable climate, and a robust economy. The U.S. Constitution would codify this obligation by recognizing the rights of future generations. A third economic alternative would return civilization to the planet's safe operating spaces. It is 'natural capitalism,' an economy 'in service to life,' as Hunter Lovins, one of its leading advocates, describes it. Its objective is society's productive harmony with nature Its goals would include the following: Decouple economic progress from environmental degradation and resource exhaustion. Use renewable rather than finite resources. Any unavoidable use of finite resources would be made circular — in other words, the resources would be recycled, reused or repurposed. Use true-cost, life-cycle accounting to determine the market prices of goods and services. This would allow market forces to guide consumers to the goods with the lowest actual cost and greatest good for people and planet. Expand America's restoration economy to revive damaged ecosystems and their services. In 2016, the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston estimated that ecosystem restoration employed more than 200,000 people and generated nearly $25 billion for the economy. However, analysts say the current rate of ecosystem damage will still cost the U.S. economy more than $80 billion annually by 2050. America's losses would be the highest in the world. Acknowledge that nature is much more than a service provider for humanity, amending the Constitution to establish nature's inherent right to exist. Integrate nature into cities (a practice called biophilia) to give urban residents the physical, psychological and educational benefits of close contact with nature. Use natural assets (shade trees, green spaces to absorb stormwater, coastal wetlands, etc.) to mitigate the risks of extreme weather. Move shoreline property and infrastructure out of the path of sea-level rise and land subsidence. Otherwise, $35 billion worth of real estate could be underwater by mid-century. Turn the ocean, Gulf, and Great Lakes shorelines into a continuous coastal commons, fully accessible to the public. Reenroll the U.S. in international environmental agreements and organizations, because modern ecological challenges are global in scope and impact. Revive the ethic that each generation will leave the Earth in better shape for its children. Author Robert Macfarlane explains that human progress suffers from a 'shifting baseline syndrome' where 'ongoing damage to the natural world becomes normalized over time, as each new generation measures loss against an already degraded benchmark.' He proposes a 'lifting baseline' where we normalize ecological improvement rather than loss. With these and other steps, the U.S. would model an evolutionary shift in humanity's relationship with the rest of the natural world. The Anthropocene era, a mea culpa on humanity's mistreatment of the biosphere, we would progress to the Biocene, where we recognize and respect our symbiotic relationship with the rest of the biological world. Then, if we choose to transcend the surly bonds of biology, we might know enough to do no harm. William S. Becker, a former U.S. Department of Energy central regional director, is executive director of the Presidential Climate Action Project. The project is not affiliated with the White House. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
The Hill
09-06-2025
- Business
- The Hill
Welcome to the Biocene: How ‘natural capitalism' can save America and the world
Something much deeper than the price of eggs was at work when voters re-elected President Trump last year. Most Americans were unhappy with the country's direction; they still are. Last month, 59 percent said they were dissatisfied with 'the way things are going in the United States.' It's not just that people have very different opinions about the day's pressing issues. We lack a national vision or mission that transcends our differences. No one has articulated a compelling alternative to the country's unease, ennui and anger. We had purpose in the past. What is our purpose now? Trump's version of America definitely is not it. If most of us are unsatisfied, perhaps it is because America is not living up to its image as an opportunity society. The 90 percent may feel that their physical and economic security is less certain than it used to be. Science tells us, and weather disasters confirm, that civilization is careening toward a dystopian future. Trump is pressing the accelerator. However, the climate is only one of nine 'safe operating spaces' for life on the planet. We have already left the safety zones for six. What might our mission be? I'll suggest one for the sake of discussion. Its dual objective would be to (a) give everyone the tools to be the best they can be and (b) return society to safe operating spaces in this century. Regarding the first objective, let's assume we have a choice between three economic and social systems. The first is Darwinian capitalism — a dog-eat-dog economy that results in a permanent wealth gap between the haves and have-nots. Success in the Darwinian economy often is not based on merit. The rich get richer by controlling and rigging economic policies. They buy influence and pay accountants to find loopholes that allow them to avoid taxes. They oppose government regulations because they want unhindered profiteering. They believe it is their manifest destiny to rule. Meanwhile, less fortunate Americans remain that way because of inferior education, unaffordable health care, institutional barriers, less intergenerational wealth transfer, the inability to escape 'sacrifice zones,' uninsured losses to weather disasters, and a tax system that shifts wealth upward. It is exceedingly rare that any of them find, let alone climb, ladders to the top. If there are geniuses, artists, scientists, educators, saints and potential philanthropists in their midst, we will never know. The alternative is social capitalism, similar to systems found in the Nordic countries, whose people consistently rank as the happiest in the world. It combines a market economy with government services that offer everyone the basic tools for success: universal health care, free quality education through the post-secondary level, equal pay for equal work, child-care assistance for working families, social safety nets for people with genuine disabilities, and so on. Social capitalism ensures equal opportunity but not equal results. Each person's success depends on their willingness to use the tools and work hard. And yet social capitalism would be intergenerational, with each generation handing the next a world of ample natural resources and ecosystem services, a stable climate, and a robust economy. The U.S. Constitution would codify this obligation by recognizing the rights of future generations. A third economic alternative would return civilization to the planet's safe operating spaces. It is 'natural capitalism,' an economy 'in service to life,' as Hunter Lovins, one of its leading advocates, describes it. Its objective is society's productive harmony with nature Its goals would include the following: With these and other steps, the U.S. would model an evolutionary shift in humanity's relationship with the rest of the natural world. The Anthropocene era, a mea culpa on humanity's mistreatment of the biosphere, we would progress to the Biocene, where we recognize and respect our symbiotic relationship with the rest of the biological world. Then, if we choose to transcend the surly bonds of biology, we might know enough to do no harm. William S. Becker, a former U.S. Department of Energy central regional director, is executive director of the Presidential Climate Action Project. The project is not affiliated with the White House.
Hindustan Times
09-06-2025
- Business
- Hindustan Times
US techie describes 'ghost-like' interactions with Indian colleagues: ‘No face, no voice'
An American man shared his confusion over so-called 'odd behaviours' displayed by his Indian colleagues while they work remotely for a US-based tech company. In a Reddit post on the r/IndianWorkplace, the anonymous user sought to understand if cultural differences could explain what he found unusual in his Indian coworkers. The man highlighted specific behaviours that stood out to him every time his team interacted with the Indian workers, including them keeping their cameras off during Zoom video calls and rarely participating in small talk during meetings. 'In fact, I have never seen two of their faces, on video or a photo,' he wrote. 'I hate to say this, but it feels at times like we are working with ghosts, no face, no voice. Their profile picture are the default initials.' He noted that although the company encourages participation, the Indian employees often stay silent even when directly asked about projects. 'Very few questions are asked… Is asking for clarification or questions viewed as someone not being knowledgeable in their role? American work culture encourages asking questions,' he said. The post drew a flood of responses from Indian users, many of whom acknowledged that the described behaviour reflects differences in workplace culture. "Indian workplaces are Darwinian; the person who asks too many questions can be seen as someone who is questioning authority and lacks knowledge," said one of them. Others explained that camera-off culture is common due to shared home spaces or discomfort with being on video. "Most of us are either shy or uncomfortable turning on the camera (some people might get conscious of their appearance). I used to be like this. If not turning on cameras is creating problems or disrupting company culture, it should be communicated and discouraged politely. However, if given a choice, I am pretty sure most would choose not to turn on the camera," an Indian user explained.
Scottish Sun
08-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Scottish Sun
Aquarium mocked for launching woke special exhibition on ‘non-binary' fish as part of Pride Month
The one-day exhibition called Sunset Seas, is to highlight 'diversity in all its forms' 'LOAD OF POLLOCKS' Aquarium mocked for launching woke special exhibition on 'non-binary' fish as part of Pride Month Click to share on X/Twitter (Opens in new window) Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window) A TOURIST attraction has been mocked for launching a special exhibition of 'non-binary' fish. Bristol Aquarium says visitors can see species that 'challenge binary classifications' and 'parallels between marine life and the rich spectrum of LGBTQ+ identities'. Sign up for Scottish Sun newsletter Sign up 2 The exhibition will tell how clownfish can change from male to female Credit: AP The exhibition is to highlight 'diversity in all its forms'. Bosses at the popular tourist hotspot explained that guests would be shown fish which have 'sequential hermaphroditism' – the ability to change biological sex naturally. The phenomenon occurs in fish to help endangered species reproduce naturally underwater. They include the wrasse, which can change from female to male, and the clownfish, which typically change from male to female. But Spectator columnist Lionel Shriver wrote: 'We're presumably to conclude . . . that because some fish change sex and hermaphroditic undersea organisms are commonplace, for humans sex is a phantasmagorical multiple choice and we can change sex, too. 'If some fish can change sex . . . [it's] to their Darwinian advantage.' The Sunset Seas event will be held on June 28 and is part of Bristol's Pride Month celebrations. Chloe O'Dell, events and experiences manager at Bristol Aquarium, said: 'Our oceans are full of incredible stories of transformation and diversity. 'Sunset Seas is our way of celebrating those stories while creating a safe, inclusive, and joyful space for people to connect and be themselves.' Dr Who gone Woke 2 Bristol Aquarium has been mocked for launching a special exhibition of 'non-binary' fish Credit: PR SUPPLIED Unlock even more award-winning articles as The Sun launches brand new membership programme - Sun Club.
