It's been said that hell is other people. Not in 2020. Right now, other people are the only thing between us and species collapse.
Introducing the WIRED25. Undeterred by disaster, these innovators are using tech to make things better for all of us 1/ wired.trib.al/dbP5tPQ
Ava DuVernay
DuVernay may be the most relevant director of 2020. Her body of work includes ‘Selma’, ‘When They See Us’, and '13th’, and this year she launched the online social justice course Array 101, as well as LEAP, a fund for artists whose work explores police violence 2/
Anthony Fauci
As director of NIAID since 1984, Fauci has advised six presidents on HIV, Ebola, Zika, and more. He’s been working 18 hours a day, seven days a week, since the beginning of February, and his integrity in the face of Covid-19 has made him an icon 3/
Vijaya Gadde
Gadde’s counseling Twitter through one of the most boundary-pushing US presidential races ever. This year, the platform began placing misinformation labels on high-profile tweets deemed capable of jeopardizing public safety or capsizing the democratic process 4/
Tsai Ing-wen, Chen Chien-Jen, and Audrey Tang
Together, this Taiwanese trio all but eradicated the coronavirus from their homeland. They did so through decisive actions, strict social distancing measures, and real-time mask availability apps 5/
Jon Gray, Lester Walker, and Pierre Serao
In the midst of a pandemic and protests, this Bronx-based collective partnered with La Morada, a local Oaxacan restaurant, and Rethink, a nonprofit that redirects excess food to NYC families. Together, they’ve served 1,000 meals a day 6/
Swizz Beatz and Timbaland
In March, the megaproducers got a concert-starved nation on its feet by streaming Verzuz’s inaugural hip hop and R&B battle on Instagram. The free face-offs are now on Apple TV, and the pair see it as a sort of museum for Black musicians everywhere 7/
Sundar Pichai and Tim Cook
In the wake of a devastating pandemic, Pichai and Cook overlooked their rivalry to unite Google and Apple for the greater good. Their Covid-19 contact tracing API has been integrated into health care sector apps around the world 8/
Timnit Gebru
Gebru's research has spotlighted racist algorithms and the ethical quandaries of data-mining projects and AI. In a January paper, she argued that current methods of data collection and annotation for machine learning are rife with biases capable of causing harm 9/
Al Gore
The truth is increasingly inconvenient: Earth is getting hotter, and we’re to blame. Gore is still working to fix it—by funding sustainable companies through the equity firm Generation Investment Management and educating the masses with the Climate Reality Project 10/
This is just a portion of the WIRED25. Here’s our full list of innovators across tech, science, food, culture, and politics 11/ wired.trib.al/dbP5tPQ
Want to meet some of the WIRED25? We’re hosting a series of free virtual conversations with them starting next week. Subscribe here to attend the talks taking place September 16, 23, and 30 12/ wired.trib.al/5raf3Eb
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Bellingcat is the world’s biggest citizen-run intelligence agency, investigating everything from the 2014 shoot-down of MH17 to the various plots to kill Russian dissident Alexei Navalny. The person behind it all? Eliot Higgins. wired.com/story/how-to-l…
Bellingcat’s trajectory tells a scathing story about the nature of truth in the 21st century. Hard facts have been devalued. Online, everyone can present, and believe in, their own narratives, even if they’re mere tissues of lies. wired.com/story/how-to-l…
The year ahead may be the biggest of @bellingcat's life. In addition to tracking conflicts in Ukraine and Gaza, its analysts will also be flooded with falsified artifacts from elections in the US, the UK, India, and dozens of other countries. wired.com/story/how-to-l…
Even before Sam Bankman-Fried, Faruk Fatih Özer had built a crypto empire. Now, the 27-year-old is facing a prison sentence of 11,196 years.
Did he almost get away with the biggest heist in Turkey’s history, or was it a misunderstanding? WIRED deep dive: wired.trib.al/wMvxpYp
Following decades of political turmoil in Turkey, at 23, Özer founded a crypto exchange called Thodex by investing just 40,000 lira ($11,100 US). He advertised his company as a way to prevent economic volatility, using a playbook from Silicon Valley. wired.com/story/faruk-oz…
In a few years, thousands of people bought in. Thodex expanded, reaching the upper echelons of society and government. By March 2021, Turkey became one of the top five nations for crypto use and Özer’s company was booming. wired.com/story/faruk-oz…
🧵 For 13 years, Del Harvey ran Twitter’s trust and safety team–if there was an issue with content people would say “DM Del.” Now, Harvey pulls back the curtain on Twitter’s decisions to mute, ban and block posts in the pre-Elon era 1/
But Del Harvey isn’t even her real name, although that’s what everyone knows her as. In 2003, Harvey worked for a nonprofit called Perverted Justice that investigated online predators. That led to Harvey working in TV with the NBC series “To Catch a Predator.” 2/10
Five years later, when a friend reached out and suggested Harvey take a job at a fledgling tech company, it seemed like a walk in the park compared to catching pedophiles. 3/10
🧵The Far North is thawing, unleashing clouds of planet-heating gas. Scientists rely on an arsenal of tech to understand permafrost environments better and sniff out just how nasty the problem really is. wired.trib.al/TwLiZ8G
As Arctic temperatures rise thawing permafrost releases methane, a gas that’s 80 times more potent than carbon dioxide at warming the planet. Those clouds of methane raise global temperatures, which thaws more permafrost, which releases more methane. It’s a problem. 2/7
To reckon with how big of a problem we’re facing a group of self-described “methane detectives” use various instruments to determine how much organic matter exists within permafrost sites which will give them some idea of how much methane that site will release as it warms. 3/7
Shake off the pollen and the cabin fever by shopping for some great Gear. These deals are no joke. Save money and support our journalism by shopping from these links. wired.com/story/weekend-…
The Ride1Up Cafe Cruiser Electric Bike for $1,395 ($200 off) is currently our top utility bike, and it ships directly to you, no dealer required. We like the Shimano shifters and hydraulic brakes. 📸: Ride1Up 2/6 wired.trib.al/P11SAE9
If you need to upgrade your helmet this spring, we recommend the Nutcase Vio Helmet for $75 ($75 off). It has LED lights built in around the entire helmet and a front light with 200 lumens for better visibility. 📸: Nutcase 3/6 wired.trib.al/X4pKmkN