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When The Promise Of Social Media Becomes Perilous
Despite social media’s early promises to build a more just and democratic society, over the past several years, we’ve seen its propensity to easily spread hate speech, misinformation and disinformation. Online platforms have even played a role in organizing violent acts in the real world, like genocide against the Rohinga people in Myanmar, and the violent attempt to overturn the election at the United States capitol.
But how did we get here? Has social media fundamentally changed how we interact with the world? And how did big tech companies accumulate so much unchecked power along the way?
Remembering Roger Payne, Who Helped Save The Whales
Americans haven’t always loved whales and dolphins. In the 1950s, the average American thought of whales as the floating raw materials for margarine, animal feed, and fertilizer—if they thought about whales at all. But twenty-five years later, things changed for cetaceans in a big way. Whales became the poster-animal for a new environmental movement, and cries of “save the whales!” echoed from the halls of government to the whaling grounds of the Pacific. What happened?
Shifting attitudes were due, in large part, to the work of scientist Roger Payne, who died earlier this month at the age of 88. His recordings helped to popularize whalesong, and stoked the public imagination about intelligent underwater creatures who used vocalizations to communicate.
In 2018, our podcast “Undiscovered” explored the history of Payne’s work, and that of his colleagues. We’re featuring this episode as a way of remembering his life and groundbreaking work.
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Transcripts for each segment will be available the week after the show airs on sciencefriday.com.
648: Ask A Chef: How Can I Use Science To Make Thanksgiving Tastier?
645: Monumental And Invisible: How Infrastructure Works
647: Everything You Never Knew About Squash And Pumpkins
644: How A University Is Adjusting One Year After ChatGPT
646: Euclid Telescope’s First Images | A Black Hole That Came From Gas
642: How Five Elements Define Life On Earth
639: Climate Future Exhibit | Oregon's Proposed Fish Vacuum
641: How A Deaf Advisory Group Is Changing Healthcare
643: 40 Years Of Sounding The Alarm On Nuclear Winter
640: CRISPR-Based Sickle Cell Treatment | Pain Tolerance From Neanderthals
637: How Poisons Have Shaped Life On Earth
635: Placenta Research May Help Explain Pregnancy Loss
634: A Common Cold Medicine Ingredient Doesn’t Work. What Now?
633: Diving Into Elon Musk’s Mind
636: RSV Drug Shortage & Beech Leaf Disease
632: When Studying Ecology Means Celebrating Its Gifts
632: Unlocking The Mysteries Of A Metal-Rich Asteroid
631: Rapidly Evolving Trout & Ancient Hyper-Apex Predators
630: Finding Meaning In The Cosmos
630: ‘Clean Hydrogen Hub’ Awardees & Formula One Car Paint
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