Image by Francois de Halleux, courtesy of Creative Commons licensing.
Happy Saturday y'all! Below, I have rounded up some things for you to think about this weekend:
1. A thought-provoking piece from Wired that describes the tendency of technology workers to be picky about choosing a city to relocate to, sticking mainly to San Jose (Silicon Valley) California, Seattle, San Francisco, and Austin. Technology jobs are growing at twice the national average for all jobs, which makes this an interesting issue—with so many jobs available in that field, why aren't they being filled across the country? The issue is multifaceted and the article does an excellent job addressing several points.
2. In the span of several hours, a news-story broke about a 14 year-old 9th grader in Texas who was arrested the previous day and suspended from school for bringing a homemade clock that his superiors mistook for a bomb, and was quickly personally invited by President Obama to visit the White House. I'm astounded not only by the fact that the original judgment call was poorly-made, but that it made it to Obama's desk in such a short time. What an amazing time we live in. Of course, most people pointed out the racial issue (Ahmed Mohamed is a Muslim name) in this story and missed the fact that school zero tolerance policies are utterly insane, regardless of race.
3. Speaking of ridiculous school zero tolerance policies, how about this case where a student was suspended from school for a year for possessing a maple leaf and a lighter?
4. A fascinating collection of vintage cocaine advertisements from the 70s and 80s, back when it was possible to market and sell the substance.
5. This video on Disinfo explores an interesting thought concept—if a robot that you own and control accidentally murders another human being, should you be held liable for its actions? I'm continuously fascinated by all of the new implications that artificial intelligence is bringing up. Stay tuned for more links on that topic, because I definitely like thinking about it and sharing it!
That's all for this week's edition of Weekend Thoughts. Until next week, keep thinking wilder.