# Beta Readers and Fake News

![Apt building in
HK](../images/ee8d6dcd59f4.jpg)*Above:
Though the Hong Kong skyline is certainly jaw-dropping, while there I
found myself transfixed more by the symmetry* *of common residential
buildings like this one.*\
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***Personal news:***\
 \
This week, Amazon announced a [cashier-less grocery store in
Seattle](http://www.theverge.com/2016/12/5/13842592/amazon-go-new-cashier-less-convenience-store?utm_source=Blanda&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=beta-readers-and-fake-news).
Which, of course, would mean millions more jobs that stand to be
automated in the foreseeable future. This has me pondering: [what should
the career advice be in the age of
automation](https://twitter.com/SeanBlanda/status/805911682602016768?utm_source=Blanda&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=beta-readers-and-fake-news)?
And how can we best prepare for this new age?\
 \
So, I'd like your help to be a "beta reader" of something I'm working
on. **If you're younger than 40 & willing to sit down and Skype with me
about your career, reply to this email or tweet me
[@SeanBlanda](http://twitter.com/seanblanda?utm_source=Blanda&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=beta-readers-and-fake-news)**.
I promise to read and respond.\
 \
***The Links / Future of Careers corner:***\
*In that spirit, a sample of the links I’ve been obsessing over
lately:*\
  \
**Automation is gunning for more than truck drivers and cashiers**, it’s
affecting Wall Street too. The consensus to surviving all of these?
Learning how to learn. [From a *Bloomberg* piece on how older traders
are
adapting](https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-12-09/wall-street-s-old-unwanted-bond-salesmen-find-a-home-in-chicago?utm_source=Blanda&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=beta-readers-and-fake-news):

> “Being my age is a hindrance for a lot of people,” says Main, keeping
> his eyes fixed on charts and chat boxes arrayed across his computer
> screens. “They don’t continue to learn, they don’t embrace technology,
> they try to fit that square peg in the round hole, and their skill set
> doesn’t apply anymore.”  

*Also: plot twist!* [*No one wants to drive a
truck anyway*](https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2013-11-14/2014-outlook-truck-driver-shortage?utm_source=Blanda&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=beta-readers-and-fake-news)*.*\
 \
**So how does one survive in the age of AI?** *The Ready* [takes a look
at some big picture soft skills that we should focus
on](https://medium.com/the-ready/how-to-be-human-in-the-age-of-a-i-a91a5808f173?utm_content=buffer9975a&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_campaign=buffer#.4jfveny8g).
I would love to see more long-term career planning articles like this.\
 \
Also: And how does one define AI? And are there types of AI? I found
[this
overview](https://t.co/rV0XE2XG4p?ssr=true&utm_source=Blanda&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=beta-readers-and-fake-news)
from TechCrunch helpful (like the difference between “weak” and “strong”
AI).\
\
There is a widening skills gap between the tech elite and the average
computer user. In a recent usability study, [only 5 percent of adults
could book a meeting room with a calendar application using information
from multiple
emails](https://www.nngroup.com/articles/computer-skill-levels/?utm_source=Blanda&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=beta-readers-and-fake-news).
Is filling the “computer literacy” gap a means to creating more
versatile workers? And is the bar on being considered "computer
literate" lower than we've imagined?\
 \
**A modern career is one that needs to be defensible from disruption**.
Michael Simmons (former 99U writer!) highlights a study that concludes a
[loose network of many people is helps accelerate career
success](https://medium.com/the-mission/the-number-one-predictor-of-career-success-according-to-network-science?utm_source=Blanda&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=beta-readers-and-fake-news#.4njwuu3v6).
Related, I wrote something similar for 99U a few months back about [why
every person should be building an
audience](http://99u.com/articles/52687/the-most-defensible-thing-you-can-do-for-your-career-build-an-audience?utm_source=Blanda&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=beta-readers-and-fake-news). \
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*(like these career links? Be a beta reader!)*\
\_\
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***The Links / “Fake News” corner***\
 \
One month after the election, there’s a consensus that fake news needs
to be stopped. I’m not normally a “slippery slope” guy, but “fake news”
is an icy driveway on a mountain next to a cliff over lava filled with
mutant crocodiles. Quests to quell “fake news” will negatively affect
free speech everywhere. The case:\
 \
**First**, to believe there are black and white categories like “fake
news” and “real news” assumes all reporting can be distilled into
universally quantifiable and provable facts. “It is raining” is a fact.
“Our President-elect is unique in his conflicts of interest” is a bit
messier. “This is what the Electoral College was designed for” is a
minefield. Whether something can be “universally true” is the realm of
philosophy classes everywhere and often depends on your
interpretation. An example [from *Current
Affairs*](https://www.currentaffairs.org/2016/12/the-necessity-of-credibility?utm_source=Blanda&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=beta-readers-and-fake-news) on
how "fact checking" can go wrong:

> *...when Carly Fiorina claimed that she had gone from being a
> secretary to being a CEO, *[*her claim was
> given*](https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/fact-checker/wp/2015/09/25/carly-fiorinas-bogus-secretary-to-ceo-career-trajectory-fact-checker-biography/?utm_term=.2c589a252e65&utm_source=Blanda&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=beta-readers-and-fake-news)* “Three
> Pinnochios” by The Washington Post, even though Fiorina had indeed (by
> the Post’s own admission) been a secretary before she was a CEO.
> The Post reasoned that while Fiorina was literally telling the truth,
> her statement was nevertheless false since she had advantages in life
> that other secretaries did not have.*

**Second**, no tech company or media outlet has the resources to check
if every “fact” is undeniably true. In order to do so, we’d need
multiple angle recordings from every event that has ever happened in
human history. Otherwise, there will be errors and “real” news will be
suppressed. [In fact, this has already
happened](https://twitter.com/ckrewson/status/805892298051612672?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw&utm_source=Blanda&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=beta-readers-and-fake-news).
And even if we had a magic truth telling technology, would we trust such
a centralized means of determining what is “real” and what is “fake”?
Would that process be easily corrupted?\
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**Third**, any process that is meant to keep “fake news” sites from
spreading is subject to error and shutting out new legitimate dissenting
voices. We need more voices, more outlets, and more ideas. Never less.
As Supreme Court Justice Louis Brandeis quipped, the cure for bad speech
is more speech. If we're not careful "fake news" suppress voices that
are unfamiliar. In fact, [this has already
happened](http://www.cjr.org/criticism/washington_post_fake_news_russian_propaganda.php?utm_source=Blanda&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=beta-readers-and-fake-news).\
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**Fourth**, journalism is a complicated and imperfect process. One that
even well-funded and resource-rich “mainstream” outlets don’t always get
right. Think of [the 2014 *Rolling Stone*
rape](http://www.cjr.org/darts_and_laurels/the_worst_journalism_of_2014.php?utm_source=Blanda&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=beta-readers-and-fake-news)
story or, famously, the run-up to the Iraq War. Can we no longer listen
to the *New York Times* and *Rolling Stone* now? Who decides they are
“fake news”? From the same *Current Affairs* piece:

> *None of this is to suggest that the mainstream media is somehow “just
> as bad” as fake news from conspiracy theory websites. What’s reported
> in The New York Times frequently does bear a general resemblance to
> the truth. (Though not always, and one should never forget
> the Times’ *[*uncritical repetition of government
> claims*](http://nymag.com/nymetro/news/media/features/9226/?utm_source=Blanda&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=beta-readers-and-fake-news)* about
> weapons of mass destruction in the lead-up to the Iraq War.) The point
> is, rather, that even a single falsehood or misrepresentation can
> permanently destroy one’s credibility, and being trustworthy
> requires always being honest and self-critical. If phrases like
> “post-truth” are used cavalierly, they can become insignificant. *

**Fifth**, “fake news” can be weaponized against actual lies, co-opted
and twisted into an Orwellian pretzel until nothing has any meaning. In
fact, [this has already
happened](https://twitter.com/jonlovett/status/807550728915087360?utm_source=Blanda&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=beta-readers-and-fake-news)\
 \
**Lastly**, and perhaps most frustratingly, the conversation about “fake
news” off-loads responsibility for the election results to a nebulous,
intractable boogie man instead of forcing us to answer harder questions
about why vast swaths of the country are [watching their lives get worse
with each
generation](http://www.nytimes.com/2016/12/08/opinion/the-american-dream-quantified-at-last.html?utm_source=Blanda&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=beta-readers-and-fake-news).
Or why many “real news” outlets [often get it
wrong](https://theintercept.com/2016/12/09/a-clinton-fan-manufactured-fake-news-that-msnbc-personalities-spread-to-discredit-wikileaks-docs/?utm_source=Blanda&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=beta-readers-and-fake-news).\
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But, this also skips the real culprit: the "truth" incentive of media
outlets is decoupled from what makes them money. When Ford makes a
fantastic car, they make more money. When *The* *Washington Post*
writes a "really truthful" article, they don't sell more ads or
subscriptions. \
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(also if you disagree, I want to hear from you!)\
 \
***Grab bag links**:*\
 \
Most of us are aware of offshore tax havens and how they aid the
wealthy. If you were ever interested in how that all works, the *New
York Times* has a long read that [peels apart the layers and the legal
chess match of a \$400 million divorce
case](http://mobile.nytimes.com/2016/11/30/magazine/how-to-hide-400-million.html?utm_source=Blanda&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=beta-readers-and-fake-news).
I, for one, feel fancy whenever I buy an index fund.\
 \
**The Pentagon realized it was wasting \$130 million** [and tried to
suppress the report that said
so](https://www.washingtonpost.com/investigations/pentagon-buries-evidence-of-125-billion-in-bureaucratic-waste/2016/12/05/e0668c76-9af6-11e6-a0ed-ab0774c1eaa5_story.html?tid=sm_tw&utm_term=.3d2a844d1e0f&utm_source=Blanda&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=beta-readers-and-fake-news).
I’d leave impact of such a report to smarter minds, but it offers a
fascinating look into the inner workings of one of the largest, more
secretive, more resource-laden organizations in the world. Mainly, how
much unified public perception of austerity is a government agency’s
most valuable tool.\
 \
**One of my favorite tweets ever (h/t [Kristy
Tillman](https://twitter.com/KristyT?utm_source=Blanda&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=beta-readers-and-fake-news)) [reads](https://twitter.com/alaindebotton/status/528998938603696128?utm_source=Blanda&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=beta-readers-and-fake-news)**:
“Profit: the reward for correctly grasping an element of reality ahead
of your peers.” This is also describable as “rational arrogance.” [Take
the example of Herb Keller and Southwest
airlines](https://storify.com/SamuelPHammond/rational-arrogance-herb-kelleher-and-ceo-pay?utm_source=Blanda&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=beta-readers-and-fake-news).\
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**A revelation on this trip** has been the wide variety of baked goods
each country offers. Current leader is [Hong Kong's Pineapple
Bun](http://dessertfirstgirl.com/2015/09/pineapple-buns-bolo-bao.html?utm_source=Blanda&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=beta-readers-and-fake-news). \
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***Official newsletter flag (for now):***\
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![Naval Ensign of Thailand](../images/d9406e1be540.png)\
Above is the Navel Ensign of the Kingdom of Thailand, where I'll be for
the next month. The national flag of Thailand is simple, [though it's
often confused for Costa
Rica](http://costaricaflag.facts.co/costaricaflagof/CostaRicaFlag-ThailandFlag.png?utm_source=Blanda&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=beta-readers-and-fake-news).
This beauty, however, contains the "Trairanga" of the national flag but
with a lovely, iconic Thai elephant.\
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A "Navel Ensign" is a flag that countries fly on their boats to signify
its "national character." We Americans aren't familiar, because our
ensign is the same as our primary flag. Though, I really wish some
countries (ahem, Thailand) would swap their [Naval
Ensign](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Naval_Ensign?utm_source=Blanda&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=beta-readers-and-fake-news) with
their primary flag.\
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Dear reader, I wouldn't swap you for anything. Thank you for reading,
and I'll see you in 2017.\
\
--Sean