# orderedItems[].object.content
It's Hard Fork Friday! This week, @reckless1280 joins to discuss Brendan Carr and the threats to speech online under Trump 2.0. Then, a doctor joins us to discuss how ChatGPT is beating him and his peers at diagnosing illness. And finally, we review the latest tech criminals https://www. nytimes.com/2024/11/22/podcast s/trumps-next-online-speech-cop-doctors-vs-chatgpt-hard-fork-crimes-division.html

# orderedItems[].object.contentMap.en
It's Hard Fork Friday! This week, @reckless1280 joins to discuss Brendan Carr and the threats to speech online under Trump 2.0. Then, a doctor joins us to discuss how ChatGPT is beating him and his peers at diagnosing illness. And finally, we review the latest tech criminals https://www. nytimes.com/2024/11/22/podcast s/trumps-next-online-speech-cop-doctors-vs-chatgpt-hard-fork-crimes-division.html

# orderedItems[].object.content
The DOJ's plan to force Google to share search queries and results with rivals might be one of the best things that could happen to the web. Suddenly, we might have viable search engines that are more interested in preserving the web than replacing it: https://www. platformer.news/google-antitru st-response-chrome-divesture-response/

# orderedItems[].object.contentMap.en
The DOJ's plan to force Google to share search queries and results with rivals might be one of the best things that could happen to the web. Suddenly, we might have viable search engines that are more interested in preserving the web than replacing it: https://www. platformer.news/google-antitru st-response-chrome-divesture-response/

# orderedItems[].object.attachment[].name
But it could also allow other rivals to build better alternatives: search engines less cluttered with advertising; less likely to serve AI slop, less dominated by unscrupulous search engine optimizers. It could allow rivals to build search engines that celebrate the concept of a free and open internet, and don’t see what remains of the web as merely a substrate to build the AI you eventually hope to replace it with.

These search engines are bound to be smaller and less profitable than Google. But I can also imagine some people preferring them. And I think they could serve as a necessary counterweight to Google’s push into AI by creating real economic incentives for people to keep making websites — incentives that I once took for granted, and no longer do.

# orderedItems[].object.content
@eigen not necessarily. Trump is the one who filed the case to begin with!

# orderedItems[].object.contentMap.en
@eigen not necessarily. Trump is the one who filed the case to begin with!

# orderedItems[].object.content
@pixel it's a good question

# orderedItems[].object.contentMap.en
@pixel it's a good question

# orderedItems[].object.content
@ajsadauskas good questions!

# orderedItems[].object.contentMap.en
@ajsadauskas good questions!

# orderedItems[].object.content
Tomorrow the DOJ will likely call for Google to spin out Chrome. I'm not sure that would make search much more competitive — but forcing the company to share search queries and results with its competitors in real time would https://www. platformer.news/google-breakup-chrome-doj-antitrust-remedies/

# orderedItems[].object.contentMap.en
Tomorrow the DOJ will likely call for Google to spin out Chrome. I'm not sure that would make search much more competitive — but forcing the company to share search queries and results with its competitors in real time would https://www. platformer.news/google-breakup-chrome-doj-antitrust-remedies/

# orderedItems[].object.attachment[].name
So what actually would make the search market more competitive? First, and most in keeping with the facts of the case, the judge should make Google’s default search placement deals illegal. And second, I find myself favoring the sort of data licensing agreements that the DOJ is reportedly also pursuing. The European Union’s Digital Markets Act already requires Google to offer search data for more than 1 billion queries across 30 countries to search engines that serve the EU. Rivals like DuckDuckGo want the DOJ to go even further, requiring Google to offer a real-time API of its searches, along with search results, to allow it to build a more competitive product. 

That idea seems worthy of consideration. In such a world, Google would likely continue to be the largest search engine by far. But by effectively nationalizing search queries on behalf of the internet at large, the DOJ could force Google to compete on user experience, rather than simply buying up most of the demand for searches every few years with its monopoly profits. And the DOJ could get there without having to answer all the difficult questions that would come from trying to disentangle Chrome from Google. 

# orderedItems[].object.content
Here's my best effort to work out why Bluesky blew up over the weekend. Bluesky knows what it's *for*. Threads is still working that out https://www. platformer.news/bluesky-post-e lection-growth-active-users/

# orderedItems[].object.contentMap.en
Here's my best effort to work out why Bluesky blew up over the weekend. Bluesky knows what it's *for*. Threads is still working that out https://www. platformer.news/bluesky-post-e lection-growth-active-users/

# orderedItems[].object.attachment[].name
It also stands rather sharply in contrast to Threads. As a Mark Zuckerberg production, Threads was always going to get a cool reception from elites of both parties. Their initial predictions that the app was dead on arrival were quickly proved wrong, as it rocketed past 100 million users in a few months. I seem to enjoy Threads more than most people I know: I’ve found it more than adequate for following the day’s tech news and the conversation around it, even if it’s not nearly as vibrant as Twitter once was. 

Threads has had moments of cultural impact; Stephen King now identifies as “a Threads guy.” In general, though, the feed feels less vibrant than Bluesky’s has over the past couple weeks. There is a sense that few of the people using it have a strong sense of what it is for, exactly. Ryan Broderick today called it “some kind of algorithmic holding pen for anyone who has ever eaten a Sweetgreen salad in Salesforce Park.” Read says it has “the culture and coherency of a dementia ward cafeteria.”

# orderedItems[].object.content
It's Hard Fork Friday! This week: how the crypto lobby took Congress, OpenAI product lead Nick Turley on the first two years of ChatGPT, and we answer a listener's question on Threads vs. Bluesky vs. Mastodon vs. X https://www. nytimes.com/2024/11/15/podcast s/crypto-congress-hbd-chatgpt-what-social-media-platform-should-i-be-on.html

# orderedItems[].object.contentMap.en
It's Hard Fork Friday! This week: how the crypto lobby took Congress, OpenAI product lead Nick Turley on the first two years of ChatGPT, and we answer a listener's question on Threads vs. Bluesky vs. Mastodon vs. X https://www. nytimes.com/2024/11/15/podcast s/crypto-congress-hbd-chatgpt-what-social-media-platform-should-i-be-on.html

# orderedItems[].object.content
@caderoux never is a long time!

# orderedItems[].object.contentMap.en
@caderoux never is a long time!

# orderedItems[].object.content
The big AI companies appear to have bumped up against the limits of the so-called scaling laws — but it may not matter as much as you'd guess. I wrote about the debate that has captivated Silicon Valley this week: https://www. platformer.news/openai-google-scaling-laws-anthropic-ai/

# orderedItems[].object.contentMap.en
The big AI companies appear to have bumped up against the limits of the so-called scaling laws — but it may not matter as much as you'd guess. I wrote about the debate that has captivated Silicon Valley this week: https://www. platformer.news/openai-google-scaling-laws-anthropic-ai/

# orderedItems[].object.attachment[].name
Ultimately, we won’t be able to evaluate the next-generation models until the AI labs put them into our hands. On Thursday, an experimental new version of Google’s Gemini model surprised some by immediately vaulting to the top of a closely watched AI leaderboard, placing it ahead of ChatGPT 4o. In a post on X, CEO Sundar Pichai offered the up-and-to-the-right stock-chart emoji. “More to come,” he said.

Achieving superintelligence may indeed require breakthroughs that scaling laws alone cannot provide. But there may well be more than one path to the finish line. Which means, among other things, that we should not lose focus on what it would actually mean if we got there.

# orderedItems[].object.content
There are a few different ways Trump could try to make good on his promise to "save" TikTok. But don't be surprised if whatever he chooses is contingent on the app remaining in his good graces https://www. platformer.news/trump-saves-ti ktok-ban-reversal/

# orderedItems[].object.contentMap.en
There are a few different ways Trump could try to make good on his promise to "save" TikTok. But don't be surprised if whatever he chooses is contingent on the app remaining in his good graces https://www. platformer.news/trump-saves-ti ktok-ban-reversal/

# orderedItems[].object.attachment[].name
Of course, there are risks inherent in betting your entire company on a man who has already tried to destroy you once. When Trump takes office, anti-Trump posts are guaranteed to proliferate on the app. And just as Trump spent his first administration complaining endlessly about the "bias" against him on Facebook and Twitter, it's easy to imagine him doing the same against TikTok. And unlike his previous social network adversaries, he may retain the authority to shut this one down.

That's why I expect that whatever deal Trump makes to save TikTok, he'll do so in such a way that ByteDance remains dependent on his good graces. Make it clear to the company that TikTok only continues to exist in the United States at his pleasure — and that his approval can be withdrawn at any point.

# orderedItems[].object.content
@kyleirl I check Mastodon most days but it moves slower than Threads/Bsky and has fewer conversations and jokes. the median reply feels fairly partisan / ideological. so it's OK and I'm rooting for it but I browse it less than the other two

# orderedItems[].object.contentMap.en
@kyleirl I check Mastodon most days but it moves slower than Threads/Bsky and has fewer conversations and jokes. the median reply feels fairly partisan / ideological. so it's OK and I'm rooting for it but I browse it less than the other two

# orderedItems[].object.content
I wrote about Threads' rapid growth over the past week and the post-election realignment in social media https://www. platformer.news/bluesky-thread s-growth-2024-election/

# orderedItems[].object.contentMap.en
I wrote about Threads' rapid growth over the past week and the post-election realignment in social media https://www. platformer.news/bluesky-thread s-growth-2024-election/

# orderedItems[].object.content
I wrote about what tech wants from Trump — and the surprising faith of tech oligarchs in the world's most famously chaotic man https://www. platformer.news/trump-tech-ind ustry-wishlist-2024-trump-andreessen/

# orderedItems[].object.contentMap.en
I wrote about what tech wants from Trump — and the surprising faith of tech oligarchs in the world's most famously chaotic man https://www. platformer.news/trump-tech-ind ustry-wishlist-2024-trump-andreessen/

# orderedItems[].object.attachment[].name
It’s easy to imagine Silicon Valley achieving many of the goals above in the next year. But it’s just as easy to imagine them getting derailed. Any calm, sober analysis of what Trump might do is vulnerable to be overtaken by the president’s chaotic, erratic nature — which seems to be worsening over time. I’m sure that right now Trump’s oligarch backers are assuring themselves that they will be able to control him. But soon they may learn what Peter Thiel and many others have: that Trump is both totally unpredictable and hugely incompetent. 

He is also, of course, quick to turn on even his closest allies. (Ask Mike Pence.) As they put together their transition plans, oligarchs should remind themselves why there is room for them in the White House in the first place. Very few people who aren’t related to Trump manage to spend more than a year or two in his orbit without getting forced out or quitting in despair. And it is particularly difficult to imagine how Trump and Musk, two of the world’s most volatile personalities, will be able to manage a long-term partnership once the inevitable conflicts arise.

# orderedItems[].object.content
The right-wing effort to promote claims of voter fraud is well underway https://www. platformer.news/election-day-f raud-claims-musk-trump/

# orderedItems[].object.contentMap.en
The right-wing effort to promote claims of voter fraud is well underway https://www. platformer.news/election-day-f raud-claims-musk-trump/

# orderedItems[].object.attachment[].name
Meanwhile on X, Musk promoted tweets suggesting that Google had biased its search results toward Kamala Harris, since "where can I vote for Harris" returned a map, and "where can I vote for Trump did not." An official Google account clarified that the map shows up for Harris because Harris is a county in Texas.

Musk also promoted a tweet suggesting that ChatGPT would respond to requests to convince voters to vote for Harris but not Trump; this appears to be false. (ChatGPT told me it couldn't assist with the request when I asked it to.)

# orderedItems[].object.content
@wendyhk a take is an argument ... and 'more people should die sooner' is not a good argument to me

# orderedItems[].object.contentMap.en
@wendyhk a take is an argument ... and 'more people should die sooner' is not a good argument to me