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The war that put Silicon Valley in its place
You may dine and store nicely sufficient within the La Brea district of Los Angeles to overlook that its identify interprets as “tar”. You may savour the treasures of the LA County Museum of Artwork and ignore the lake of gurgling black goo within the park outdoors. You may determine towards the La Cienega path to LAX and keep away from the sight of oil derricks, arising and down like perpetual-motion govt desk toys.
In the long run, although, even in California, residence to the disembodied financial system of tech, the coarse physicality of the power sector is inescapable. And so, ever extra, in all our minds, is its significance.
The battle in Ukraine has put paid to a collection of fantasies. No, Germany can not choose out of Historical past. No, it isn’t butch to tweet adoringly a few strongman you don’t should stay below or close to. Sure, the EU is a dream, not an ogre, for tens of hundreds of thousands of individuals in its close to overseas. Of all of the illusions, although, probably the most quietly punctured is the concept tech is the trade on the centre of the world: the one which makes it go spherical. Vitality, it seems, remains to be a worthier bearer of that mantle. That is an training for anybody born within the half-century for the reason that Opec oil disaster.
Silicon Valley’s self-image because the Center Kingdom of the enterprise world (or simply the world) comes out in several methods. Executives in retail or manufacturing don’t philosophise obiter dicta with the boldness of Sheryl Sandberg and Mo Gawdat. Wall Road doesn’t yearn to increase everybody a line of credit score in the best way Mark Zuckerberg desires everybody to have the “human proper” of an web connection. It is just essential to cite that specific instance of digital messianism to see that it’s well-intentioned. However it is usually constructed on a conceit: tech because the trade of industries; the shaper of occasions.
It’s a much less tenable conceit than it was a month in the past. Tech is related in Ukraine; see the propaganda battle. However subsequent to the existential position of power, which retains Russia solvent, and has the west scrambling for various sources, what stands out is the modesty of its bearing on occasions. Silicon Valley is giving historical past a nudge right here and there, little doubt, however not setting its important course. That’s nonetheless the position of people that dig stuff out of the bottom for gas.
Some good issues may come of this reassertion of the outdated financial system. One is a extra circumspect tech sector. The windy “thought management”, the studying of profundity into the frothiest social app: all of it stems from a perception that real-world occasions are downstream of what occurs within the Valley. To grasp the sector’s dire relations with sovereign states, it isn’t sufficient to contemplate the threats of antitrust break-up. No, there’s a deeper sense within the trade that the burden of elevating the situation of the species way back handed from authorities to tech. It manifests as a type of childlike surprise as to what politicians are for.
In fact, if any enterprise has knowledge price sharing, it’s the one which has to penetrate cultures as dissimilar as Kuwait and Santa Barbara: head to head, on the bottom, over years. It’s the one that’s caught up in probably the most intimate means with issues of battle and peace. But there it’s: ever indifferent from the zeitgeist. Who studying this will identify the CEO of ExxonMobil?
In his masterly historical past of oil, The Prize, Daniel Yergin, concedes that sooner or later political energy will “come as a lot from a pc chip as from a barrel of oil”. Maybe a Taiwan disaster will bear out his level. For now, although, 32 years after he wrote, the hanging factor is the resilience of the barrel (or fuel pipe, or nuclear plant) as a decider of occasions.
The current disaster is not only a lesson for preening tech bros. We nearly all stay what is likely to be referred to as the immaterial life: a lifetime of service sector employment and contactless all the pieces. It’s a tradition through which the significance of the tangible is well misplaced. I grew up round some fairly heavier strains of labor than tech or media and I nonetheless wanted a brute reminder of what makes the world flip.
E mail Janan at janan.ganesh@ft.com
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Dozens of monkeys escape from South Carolina research facility
Dozens of monkeys have escaped from a research facility in Yemassee, S.C., prompting police to urge residents to lock their doors and windows until the primates have been captured.
The Alpha Genesis Primate Research Center is home to the 43 escaped female rhesus macaque primates, which police describe as very young and weighing between 6 and 7 pounds.
“The Yemassee Police Department, in collaboration with Alpha Genesis, have initiated search teams to help locate the escaped primates. Alpha Genesis currently have eyes on the primates and are working to entice them with food,” police said in a statement.
“The public is advised to avoid the area as these animals are described as skittish and any additional noise or movement could hinder their safe capture.”
The monkeys had never been used for testing due to their young age, and they’re too young to carry diseases, the statement said.
Attempts to reach Alpha Genesis for comment went unanswered.
Speaking to CBS News, Alpha Genesis CEO Greg Westergaard said that a caretaker accidentally left a door to the enclosure unsecured. The ensuing escape, he said, was like an all-too-literal version of monkey see, monkey do.
“It’s really like follow-the-leader. You see one go and the others go,” Westergaard said. “It was a group of 50 and seven stayed behind and 43 bolted out the door.”
Even though he called the escape “frustrating,” Westergaard said he hoped the monkeys would ultimately return home of their own free will.
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Video: Biden Promises Americans an Orderly Transition of Power to Trump
new video loaded: Biden Promises Americans an Orderly Transition of Power to Trump
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transcript
Biden Promises Americans an Orderly Transition of Power to Trump
President Biden vowed to honor the Constitution with an orderly transfer of power to President-elect Donald J. Trump.
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I know for some people, it’s a time for victory, to state the obvious. For others, it’s a time of loss. Campaigns are contests of competing visions. The country chooses one or the other. We accept the choice the country made. I’ve said many times, you can’t love your country only when you win. You can’t love your neighbor only when you agree. I will do my duty as president. I’ll fulfill my oath and I’ll honor the Constitution. On Jan. 20, we’ll have a peaceful transfer of power here in America. Yesterday, I spoke with President-elect Trump to congratulate him on his victory. And I assured him that I’d direct my entire administration to work with his team to ensure a peaceful and orderly transition. That’s what the American people deserve. Yesterday, I also spoke with Vice President Harris. She’s been a partner and a public servant. She ran an inspiring campaign and everyone got to see something that I learned early on to respect so much: her character. She has a backbone like a ramrod. She has great character — true character. She gave her whole heart and effort, and she and her entire team should be proud of the campaign they ran. Remember, a defeat does not mean we are defeated. We lost this battle. The America of your dreams is calling for you to get back up. The American experiment endures. We’re going to be OK, but we need to stay engaged. We need to keep going. And above all, we need to keep the faith.
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43 monkeys escape from a South Carolina medical lab. Police say there is no serious danger
Forty-three monkeys escaped from a compound used for medical research in South Carolina but the nearby police chief said there is “almost no danger” to the public.
“They are not infected with any disease whatsoever. They are harmless and a little skittish,” Yemassee Police Chief Gregory Alexander said Thursday morning.
The Rhesus macaque primates escaped from the Alpha Genesis facility Wednesday when a new employee didn’t fully shut an enclosure, Alexander said.
The company usually handles escapes on site, but the monkeys got outside the compound about 1 mile (1.6 kilometers) from downtown Yemassee, Alexander said.
“The handlers know them well and usually can get them back with fruit or a little treat,” Alexander told The Associated Press by phone.
But rounding up these escapees is taking some more work. Alpha Genesis is taking the lead, setting up traps and using thermal imaging cameras to recapture the monkeys on the run, the chief said.
“There is almost no danger to the public,” Alexander said.
People living nearby need to shut their windows and doors so the monkeys can’t find a place to hide inside and if they see the primates, call 911 so company officials and police can capture them.
Alpha Genesis provides primates for research worldwide at its compound about 50 miles (80 kilometers) northeast of Savannah, Georgia, according to its website. The company did not respond to an email asking about Wednesday’s escape.
In 2018, federal officials fined Alpha Genesis $12,600 after dozens of primates escaped as well as for an incident that left a few others without water and other problems with how the monkeys were housed.
Officials said 26 primates escaped from the Yemassee facility in 2104 and an additional 19 got out in 2016.
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