Week5_20240127PDF.pdf

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1、 周一 Climate Advocates Need To Calm Down .2 周二 Forty years ago Apple debuted a computer .6 周三 The New Year Resolution .10 周四 The rise of the TikTok news anchor.14 周五 Bartleby:Why you should never retire .17 周六 AI holds tantalising promise .20 周日 Why is it so hard to junk junk fees?.23 新英文外刊公众号1 新英文新英

2、文外刊外刊 20240127 每周精选 Week05 Contents 目录 新英文外刊公众号 2024-01-27 2/25 Climate Advocates Need To Calm Down About Taylor Swifts Jet Lets shake off the desire to name Taylor Swift the anti-hero,and instead focus our energy on bad-blood-free climate action.Upon learning that Taylor Swift flew to visit Travis

3、Kelce at least 12 times in the past three months,news outlets resurfaced one of the climate movements favorite punching bags:a celebritys private jet.Yes,Taylors jet has a large climate footprint.But this story has been blown way out of proportion.Jan 17,2024|868 words|新英文课堂 扫码听音频 新英文外刊公众号 2024-01-2

4、7 3/25 Last month,Newsweek,the Daily Mail,and others reported that Taylors trips produced 138 tons of carbon dioxide(CO2)emissions,equivalent to the energy used by 17 houses in one year.These articles built upon a snowballing narrative about the pop sensations environmental damage,from concerns over

5、 the Eras Tour to Taylor being named Yards biggest celebrity polluter after racking up 8,293.54 tons of CO2 emissions in her jet in 2022.But fixating this intensely on Taylors jet reinforces a misconception that climate action is always a sacrifice,and that Taylor must choose between the planet or h

6、er career and love life.Of course,Taylors actions matter.Everyone can do their part.But if slashing CO2 is the ultimate goal,Taylors emissions0.00002 percent of the worlds annual 40 billion tonsare an insignificant and infeasible place to start.By talking about them as much as they do,climate advoca

7、tes are wasting time and distracting the public from far more exciting climate solutions that would grow economies,cut emissions,and require no personal sacrifices.While 8,000 tons of CO2 is an enormous amount for one individual,there are better ways to address climate change than Taylor ghosting Tr

8、avis and canceling her tour.The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change found that out of 38 climate solution categories,16 actually start out saving moneythis includes solar,wind,and nuclear energy;fuel-efficient vehicles;public transportation;bikes and e-bikes;optimized shipping;and curbed fluor

9、inated gas emissions.These solutions are low-hanging fruit.Theyre not always perfect or easy to implement,but if done right,they can cut billions of tons of CO2 while offering economically preferable alternatives to the status quo.Although carbon-free jets remain elusive,there are several existing a

10、viation solutions that bring both environmental and economic benefits.Sustainable aviation fuels are already entering the industry,and hydrogen-powered aircrafts could soon follow.Airlines could try the hub-and-spoke system,which is proven to reduce emissions and lower costs.Reforming or repealing t

11、he Jones Acta U.S.maritime shipping regulation that has created a situation where only 2 percent of U.S.freight is carried by shipcould shift our cargo from planes to boats,substantially reducing pollution and transportation expenses.新英文外刊公众号 2024-01-27 4/25 On the flip side,there exists no economic

12、ally competitive alternative to jetting Taylor around the world for the Eras Tour.With millions of people spending money on tickets,merchandise,travel,lodging,clothing,food,and drink,the Eras Tour is estimated to have an economic impact of up to$80 billion.This spending has uplifted local businesses

13、,allowed individuals to start friendship bracelet stores,and even generated tax revenueCincinnati estimated that it resulted in$3.8 million in new taxes for the city,money which could wind up getting invested into public transit,resilient infrastructure,or other urban climate solutions.Taylor has al

14、so donated to food banks at every tour stop,paid unprecedented bonuses to employees,and helped fund climate projects by purchasing carbon credits.Climate experts often discuss the problem of hard-to-reach sectors such as steel or cement,where it is currently financially or technologically infeasible

15、 to go carbon-free,but worth pursuing lower-hanging fruit in the meantime.The Eras Tour belongs in that category.Todays airplanes require fossil fuels,Taylor cant sensibly or logistically do the tour via boat,and if she instead stayed home and just released the Eras Tour movie,the economic loss woul

16、d be staggering.In fact,the in-person tours economic impact may exceed the annual economic output($63.8 billion)of the entire U.S.movie theater industry.Taylor could likely improve her personal footprintperhaps by reducing waste and energy inefficiency on tour,using sustainable fuel blends,and ensur

17、ing her carbon credits are reliable(many arent)but any course of action that grounds her jet simply couldnt generate economic activity comparable to the real thing.Even Taylors Travis visits have brought irreplaceable economic boosts.Travis jersey sales spiked 400 percent after the first game the po

18、p star attended,ticket sales for Kansas City Chiefs home games tripled for the rest of the season,and Taylors attendance at the Chiefs-Jets game brought two million new viewers.Beyond the NFL,local Kansas City businesses are generating new sales following visits by the power couple,New Balance saw a

19、 25 percent revenue boost after Taylor wore their sneakers to a game,and Google search inquiries for Heinz jumped 61 percent after it launched a condiment inspired by one of Taylors in-stadium snacks.It is hard to fathom a 新英文外刊公众号 2024-01-27 5/25 green alternative to Taylor and Travis dates that co

20、uld generate such massive economic activity.With millions of Swifties admiring Taylors lifestyle,it is frustrating to see her air travels ballooning climate impact.But unlike most climate solutions,there is no way to ground Taylors jet without sacrificing tremendous happiness and economic growth.So

21、lets shake off the desire to name Taylor Swift the anti-hero,and instead focus our energy on bad-blood-free climate action.新英文外刊公众号 2024-01-27 6/25 Forty years ago Apple debuted a computer that changed our world,for good or ill In many ways,the long 21st century began when Apple launched the Macinto

22、sh with its 1984 Super Bowl ad On Sunday,22 January 1984,the Los Angeles Raiders defeated the Washington(then)Redskins 38-9 in Super Bowl XVIII.With the exception of a few aging Raiders fans,what we all remember better from that evening 40 years ago was one advertisement that set the tone for a tech

23、no-optimism that would dominate the 21st century.The ad showed an auditorium full of zombie-like figures watching a projection of an elderly leader who resembled the Emperor from 1980s The Empire Strikes Back.A young,athletic 24 Jan 2024|964 words|新英文课堂 扫码听音频 新英文外刊公众号 2024-01-27 7/25 woman in red an

24、d white(the colors of the flag of Poland,which had been engaging in a massive labor uprising against the Soviet-controlled communist state)twirls a hammer and throws it through the screen framing the leaders face,just as armored police rush in to try to stop her.The ad explicitly invoked George Orwe

25、lls dystopian novel Nineteen Eighty-Four.Meanwhile,Ronald Reagan,then president,was launching a re-election campaign based on his boldness in facing down the totalitarian Soviet threat while amplifying the risk of global nuclear annihilation.That month,Apple began selling a personal computer that wo

26、uld change how we think about computing technologies in our lives and would channel many of the ideological changes that set the 21st century in motion.In many ways,the long 21st century began this week 40 years ago.In addition to rising in fits and starts from a garage-based startup in Cupertino,Ca

27、lifornia,to what is now the most valuable company in the history of the world,Apple changed the way we experience culture and each other.While its not the only force to do so,if you look at the other dominant forces that made their mark in 1984 like Reagan Apple was part of a massive shift,in how we

28、 would come to see and govern ourselves over the next 40 years,and still influences daily life to an extent few could have imagined at that moment.Before the debut of the Macintosh,Apple was well regarded among computer hobbyists for producing high-quality and innovative desktop computers like the A

29、pple II(1979)that would run programs using a standard operating system of the time,Apple Disc Operating System(which resembled MS-DOS from a then-upstart little firm called Microsoft)and could be programmed in languages like Basic.Although companies like Texas Instruments and Atari had introduced us

30、er-friendly computers into the home before the Macintosh,and IBM and Commodore had produced desktop computers for businesses,the Macintosh promised something different.新英文外刊公众号 2024-01-27 8/25 The Macintosh created a mass market for usable computers that appeared to be more magic than machine.By hid

31、ing the boards and cables and presenting a sleekly designed box,the Macintosh set the design standards for what would become a sealed box like the MacBook or the most influential and profitable of all of Apples products the iPhone,launched in 2007.The iPhone represents so much of what is attractive

32、and repulsive about life in the 21st century.Its a device that does nothing other devices and technologies could not do.It just offers them all in a controlled,proprietary environment that masks all the actual technology and the human agency that created it.It might as well have tiny elves in it.Bil

33、lions of people use such a device now,but hardly anyone peeks inside or thinks about the people who mined the metal or assembled the parts in dangerous conditions.We now have cars and appliances designed to feel like an iPhone all glass,metal,curves and icons.None of them offer any clue that humans

34、built them or maintained them.Everything seems like magic.This move to magic through design has blinded us to the real conditions of most people working and living in the world.A gated device is similar to a gated community.Beyond that,the sealed boxes,once they included ubiquitous cameras and locat

35、ion devices and were connected through invisible radio signals,operate as a global surveillance system that Soviet dictators could never have dreamed of.We bought into a world of soft control beyond Orwells imagination as well.Gated communities began their rise to popularity in the US during the Rea

36、gan era,as they offered the illusion of security against an imagined,but never defined,invading enemy.They also resembled a private state,one with an exclusive membership and strict rules of decorum.Reagan won a landslide re-election in November 1984.His triumph established an almost unshakeable com

37、mitment to market fundamentalism and technological optimism that even 新英文外刊公众号 2024-01-27 9/25 his critics and successors like Bill Clinton and Barack Obama largely adopted.Beyond the US,ostensibly leftist 20th-century leaders like Andreas Papandreou of Greece,Fran ois Mitterrand of France and Tony

38、Blair of the United Kingdom limited their visions for change to what the growing neoliberal consensus would allow.By the dawn of this century questioning faith in the techno-optimism imposed by Apple or the neoliberalism ensured by Reagans dominance over the worlds political imagination would seem l

39、ike a fit of grumpiness or crankiness.Who could question the democratizing and liberator-y potential of computer technology or free markets?Well,a quarter of the way through this century its clear that the only promises kept were those made to Apples shareholders and Reagans political progeny.Democr

40、acy is in tatters around the world.Networked computers drain pleasure and humanity out of relationships,communities and societies.Economies are more stratified than ever.Politics are evacuated of any positive vision of a better future.We cant blame Apple or Reagan,of course.They just distilled and l

41、everaged and sold back to us what we craved:a simple story of inevitable progress and liberation.Had we heeded the warnings of Orwells book rather than Apples advertisement we might have learned that simple stories never have happy endings.新英文外刊公众号 2024-01-27 10/25 The New Year Resolution We Need Is

42、 to Avoid Miracle Cures Bad diets,stress,impaired sleep and aging cant be reversed by juicing,healing crystals or influencer-endorsed pills.Dont buy them January offers a bounty for purveyors of snake oil.In the wake of holiday season excesses,a slew of detox diets,immune-boosting concoctions and an

43、 avalanche of dubious supplements emerge to profit on our insecurities.Across social media,influencers and celebrities push a litany of miraculous medicinesto our collective detriment.A glance at the lack of evidence for these nostrums should be a warning to steer clear when the modern-day mounteban

44、ks start shilling miracle cures directly through your social media feed.Jan 22,2024|961 words|新英文课堂 扫码听音频 新英文外刊公众号 2024-01-27 11/25 Breathless promotion of detox regimes and cleanses offer a case in point.Amorphously adorning the marketing of everything from juicing diets to elaborate footbaths is t

45、he false assertion that our bodies are helpless sponges that ceaselessly accumulate toxins,which must be periodically expelled by expensive pills,branded olive oil or colon cleansing.This is utter nonsenseour liver,kidneys and lungs filter actual toxins constantly and admirably.Tellingly,those pushi

46、ng detox products rarely bother to specify the supposed toxin their wares reputedly banish.“Detox as used in product marketing is a myth,”concluded a damning 2017 report from the U.K.charity Sense about Sciences Voice of Young Science network.“Many of the claims about how the body works were wrong a

47、nd some were even dangerous.”Even so,the demand for detox products and cleanses grows apace,with detox drinks alone constituting a$5-billion market.More ubiquitous still is a deluge of products that promise to boost our immune systems.These products,found in myriad forms from wondrous elixirs to ost

48、ensible“superfoods”to expensive supplements,command a growing market of$55 billion.They all purport to unlock the immune system and repel illnesses.But the immune system is an intricate,complex system.It is not a simple dial we can mindlessly twist upward but an interplay of many different cell type

49、s and mechanisms.Products claiming to boost immunity conveniently obfuscate which parts they supposedly modulate.They avoid clarity,too,about why that might be beneficial,rendering their promises vague and nonsensical.While factors such as malnutrition,stress,sleep impairment and aging can decrease

50、immunity,they are not easily reversed by juicing diets,healing crystals or influencer-endorsed pills.Despite the relentless appetite for immune-boosting panaceas,there is scant evidence that these products work,nor plausible biological rationales for how they would.And even if we could directly boos