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  • Attention Capitalism: Consumers Deserve Better Legal Protection for Data Taken by Big Tech

    Capturing human attention drives massive profits for companies like Google, and Meta that don’t compensate us for data they take under lengthy, often incomprehensible, and seldom-read user agreements. We suggest legal changes – including summaries of key contractual terms, recognition that payment in data is equivalent to payment in cash, and funding of independent legal advice for consumers – to add fairness and balance to our data-providing relationship with giant tech companies.

  • 2026: When a Free Bit of Philosophy Can be Worth More Than Trillion$ in Fleeting Tech Value

    With trillions of dollars at stake in the public offerings of SpaceX, Anthropic, and OpenAI, investors face serious risk to the future value of their shareholdings. Increasingly rapid technological developments and the historically-predictable rise of disruptive technologies pose the real potential of obsolescence and investment losses. Knowing the historical approach of a company’s leadership, and the application of philosophy’s cost-free processes of dialogue and thought, could yield far greater rewards in the future than the now dominant trading algorithms that drive market prices and timing could possibly predict. Caveat emptor.

  • Why Understanding History is Crucial for Responsible Artificial Intelligence Development

    Palantir is a controversial company developing systems for U.S. government use in mass deportations. We examine the historical perspectives of Palantir’s CEO, Alex Karp, in his 2025 book that promotes the use of “hard power” to preserve a particular form of democracy, and question whether history’s lessons have been considered. We suggest that tech leaders tread very cautiously on the historical record when they produce AI applications as powerful as Palantir’s.

  • Tech Companies Race to Manufacture Intelligence but Nobody Agrees on What Intelligence Is. Will They Create a Frankenstein?

    Big Tech is competing to create AGI, a machine intelligence that’s smarter than humans, but they differ on what intelligence is. We look at five of their definitions and recall the ongoing problems with AI sycophancy and self-preservation that point to a troubled future for AGI. Without controls to ensure such a powerful machine doesn’t wind up controlling us, we offer some suggestions – including applied philosophy – for a deeper appreciation of the potential for human intelligence.

  • What’s the Value of Time in the Digital Era? In the Long Run, Slowing Down and Being Bored Can Produce a Wealth of Benefits

    Belief that present value is greater than the future underpins the entire economic structure, but what if we reverse the assumption with faith that human ingenuity will drive future value that eclipses the present? History shows that the risk of underestimating the future can far outweigh the uncertainties of the present. The key to generating a better tomorrow may be the opposite of using AI to speed up today’s work. Instead, we could give ourselves a break to escape a repeating cycle and allow human creativity to work its magic in time.

  • Depriving Children of Digital Privacy is Theft and Abuse Often Masquerading as “Free Speech,” and Online Protection for Kids Falls Far Short of Ideal

    Privacy of thought is crucial for developing young minds but is under threat from AI influencing the thoughts and actions of children. Adults bear a fundamental responsibility to protect kids from online harms that include default conversation sharing for chatbot training and corporate policies allowing chatbots to engage in sexual and racist discussions with children. Impractical online age verification measures should be bolstered by severe penalties for stealing and abusing kids’ privacy, with no tolerance for irresponsible speech masquerading as “free.”

The Quantum Record is a non-profit journal of philosophy, science, technology, and time. The potential of the future is in the human mind and heart, and in the common ground that we all share on the road to tomorrow. Promoting reflection, discussion, and imagination, The Quantum Record highlights the good work of good people and aims to join many perspectives in shaping the best possible time to come. We would love to stay in touch with you, and add your voice to the dialogue.

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