Today, we talk about the Apple Vision Pro and its grim vision for how you should be spending your time. Also, we talk a lot about Jaron Lanier’s most recent essay about the Virtual Reality in the New Yorker, specifically the question he poses about how technology should fit into our lives and whether tech can just create things because they’re cool without affixing their products to some greater mission for humanity.
The Apple Vision Pro doesn’t come with any story about how its going to change everything or even a particularly great series of launch apps that feel revolutionary. It just kinda is a VR headset that asks you to wear it around all the time. Lanier’s essay, as we discuss, asks whether “all the time” technology actually makes sense.
ENJOY!
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House Republicans fail in effort to impeach the Homeland Security Secretary. Nikki Haley loses to None of the Above. Putting abortion on Florida's ballot. CBS News Correspondent Steve Kathan has today's World News Roundup.
The Census Bureau's latest 5-year dataset was released in December, and WBEZ just crunched the numbers for Cook County tracts. But the gap between Cook County’s highest and lowest earning areas is among the highest in the nation. Reset learns more about what’s driving that change and which neighborhoods are being left behind from WBEZ’s Data Projects Editor Alden Loury.
Trying to regulate DeFi is a huge challenge because in a truly decentralized system, there should be no centralized actors to make and enforce rules for. This could make combating illicit finance challenging since traditionally, regulation has been targeted at centralized intermediaries. Yet Rebecca Rettig, Chief Legal and Policy Officer at Polygon Labs; Michael Mosier, the co-founder of boutique law firm Arktouros; and Katja Gilman, senior lead for public policy at Polygon Labs, published a paper last week that proposes to do just that.
Rettig and Mosier join Unchained to discuss what prompted them to write the paper, what the difference is between "onchain CeFi" and "genuine DeFi," how targeting high-risk wallets can be one part of the solution, how critical communications transmitters (CCTs) are another piece of the puzzle,and what next steps they are pursuing.
Show highlights |
The motivations behind their paper and Michael and Rebecca’s legal backgrounds
Why Michael views the Bank Secrecy Act as outdated in the context of DeFi
How critical KYC and AML compliance is for the integrity of DeFi
What Rebecca identifies as the principal risks in the DeFi sector
Why their proposal target the protocol layer for effective DeFi regulation
How "onchain CeFi" differs fundamentally from "genuine DeFi"
Whether a decentralized protocol can be effectively regulated when controlled by a DAO
How if DeFi were to be classified as critical infrastructure by the Cyber and Information Security Agency (CISA), it would impact the sector
Whether the critical components of blockchain networks, such as RPCs, can be regulated effectively
How categorizing wallets based on risk can be one part of the solution to fighting illicit finance
Why Rebecca considers Tornado Cash a prime example of “genuine DeFi”
What steps Rebecca and Michael plan to take next following the publication of their paper
Rebecca Rettig, Chief Legal and Policy Officer at Polygon Labs
Michael Mosier, Cofounder of Arktouros PLLC
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Unchained Podcast is Produced by Laura Shin Media, LLC. Distributed by CoinDesk. Senior Producer is Michele Musso and Executive Producer is Jared Schwartz.
Secretary of State Antony Blinken lands in Israel with Hamas' first public response to a ceasefire deal, which Qatari negotiators describe as "generally positive." Democrats blame former President Donald Trump for sinking a bipartisan Senate bill meant to address the crisis at the border. And, there's more attention on the legal responsibilities of parents with guns after a Michigan jury found the mother of the 2021 Oxford Highschool shooter guilty of manslaughter.
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Today's episode of Up First was edited by Gerry Holmes, Kelsey Snell, Catherine Laidlaw, and Mohamad ElBardicy. It was produced by Ziad Buchh, Ben Abrams and Julie Depenbrock. We get engineering support from Stacey Abbott. And our technical director is Zac Coleman.
Rob reminisces on his time witnessing Janelle Monae perform at South By Southwest in the year of Michael Jackson’s passing, before looking back at the King of Pop’s televised funeral. Along the way, Rob looks back at the height of Jackson’s powers in the '80s as well as a bit more tumultuous era in the '90s. Later, Wesley Morris joins the show to aid in deciphering how to process Michael Jackson’s career draped in success and controversy.
In one of this year’s largest votes, Indonesia will elect a new president in one week’s time; this time the sanctity and future of its democracy are at stake. In Germany prominent people—even Jews—who question Israel’s war in Gaza are being cancelled (10:45). And how many books are you likely to read in what is left of your life (17:25)?
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John Gruber is the author of Daring Fireball. He joins Big Technology Podcast for a mega episode on the state of Apple. We cover: 1) The company's vibe amid revenue declines 2) The impact of its services business 3) Its position in China 4) How AI might change the user interface of computing 5) Can Apple keep up with the changes if we move beyond the screen 6) Gruber's reaction to the Vision Pro 7) The stakes of Apple's Vision Pro bet 8) Apple conflict with Meta and who is getting the best of it 9) Is Apple too attached to its App Store fees 10) Who might succeed Tim Cook?
This is the longest episode in Big Technology Podcast history. But also a masterclass from Gruber on the state of a company he's covered for two decades. Enjoy!
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