Who is Starlink really for?

Our brains exist in a state of "controlled hallucination"

Sponsored by Dassault Systèmes The Download Your daily dose of what's up in emerging technology Costly connections 09.07.21 Good morning! Today: why Starlink is struggling to help those lacking internet access. Also: a review of three books that explain why reality is effectively a shared hallucination. Get your friends to sign up here to get The Download every day. Who is Starlink really for?   Bold claims: SpaceX says it hopes to use Starlink satellites to bring high-speed satellite internet to many of the 3.7 billion people on this planet who currently have no internet connection at all. And that’s not even considering people who have internet access but lack access to genuine broadband speeds—a category that includes 157 million Americans, most of whom live in rural communities. Hold up: Unfortunately, it’s not clear whether Starlink can solve this larger problem. Many rural citizens of the world will be locked out because they won’t be able to afford it. It costs $99 per month, and costs for things like the satellite dish and router come to a whopping $499—and that equipment is sold to customers at a loss. What’s needed: Starlink must get costs down fast in order to expand its customer base, but it must also make enough money to continue launching hundreds or even thousands of satellites every year. It’s a delicate needle that might be impossible to thread. Read the full story. —Neel V. Patel Our brains exist in a state of “controlled hallucination” When you and I look at the same object we assume that we’ll both see the same color. But in 2015, a viral internet phenomenon tore this assumption asunder. The incident was known simply as “The Dress.” (For the uninitiated: a photograph of a dress appeared on the internet, and people disagreed about its color. Some saw it as white and gold; others saw it as blue and black. For a time, it was all anyone online could talk about.) Vision scientists knew what was happening. It wasn’t our computer screens or our eyes. It was the mental calculations that brains make when we see.  The moral of the story? Not only does thinking filter reality; it constructs it, inferring an outside world from ambiguous input. The brain is always constructing models of the world to explain and predict incoming information. Effectively, we’re constantly hallucinating. And when we agree about our hallucinations, that’s what we call reality.  Read our review of three new books that lay bare the weirdness of how our brains process the world around us. —Matthew Hutson This article is from our new print issue on the subject of the mind. Subscribers can read the whole magazine here! It's just $50 per year to get digital access to all of our award-winning journalism.  We can still have nice things A place for comfort, fun and distraction in these weird times. (Got any ideas? Drop me a line or tweet 'em at me.)   + Transatlantic confusion is always a rich source of comedy, and this Reddit thread where someone on Reddit asked if Brits really do go to the pub all the time (we do) does not disappoint. I giggled for a good ten minutes. And… now I'm off to the pub.   + Oh to be adored as ardently as Mark Hamill, who can literally just tweet his own name and get half a million likes (though Ed Balls did it better.)   + A lovely essay on how Cantonese soup can be medicine—and the deepest expression of parental love.    + I need a set of these Lord of the Rings stamps.    + I'm sure this ring bearer did a purr-fect job.    + If you're as big a fan of pickles as I am, you might be interested in this guide to their history. Sponsor Message Join Our Scientific Communities and Discover the Age of Experience Join Dassault Systèmes at Science in the Age of Experience – a virtual science and technology event, September 28th, 2021. Join thought leaders and influencers from around the world to explore the newest dynamics in science. Learn how the age of experience allows us to create, test and iterate in a virtual world innovative solutions to our greatest challenges. Some of the most highly sought-after leaders in science and technology will join us – including our conference keynote, George Church, PhD., from the Wyss Institute at Harvard University. Join now. The must-reads I’ve combed the internet to find you today’s most fun/important/scary/fascinating stories about technology. 1 El Salvador just bought $21 million in bitcoin  As of today, it's the first country to make it a legal currency. (CNBC)   + How it's going on the ground. (WSJ $)   + It's already off to a rocky start. (Wired UK)   + Emerging markets are fertile ground for cryptocurrencies. (FT $)  2 The battle to control Afghanistan's internet Some of the trickiest decisions won't be made by governments, but by Facebook, Google, and Twitter. (Wired UK)   3 What happened to the lab leak theory?  Many scientists believe a natural cause is still more likely. (Science)   + Vaccines are still the way out of the pandemic. (Axios)   + Oregon and Idaho are running out of ICU beds. (NYT $)  4 America’s spies are fighting the last war, again Since 9/11, spies can now counter al Qaeda but al Qaeda is no longer the main threat. (The Atlantic $)   5 The hidden cost of quick deliveries  A growing number of companies are promising groceries in 10 minutes, piling yet more pressure on low-paid drivers. (Quartz)   + VCs are financing an economy of servants. (Sifted)  6 We put a lot of trust in our email addresses. Should we? Email wasn't designed to be a secure medium, yet we use it for all sorts of incredibly sensitive, personal things. (Recode)   7 Employees are stuck in back-to-the-office limbo And as time goes by, and people's routines solidify, they're likely to become less and less keen to go back. (Wired $)   + You might return next year. Or never! (NYT $)  8 The farcical tale of the "freedom phone"  Turns out, making a smartphone for conservatives is hard work. (NYT $)   9 VHS tapes are back! 📼 Good luck finding a machine to play them on though... (WSJ $)   10 When's the next solar superstorm? The last big one was 162 years ago—and it will happen again. (Gizmodo) LAST CHANCE: save 25% on your ticket! With ransomware attacks and cybercrime in the headlines week after week, your organization needs a plan to secure its data, its people, and its supply networks. Join us at CyberSecure to get the trusted insights and actionable strategies needed to protect your organization. Today is the last day to save 25%. Purchase your ticket now. Quote of the day “You think that there’s going to be some semblance of law, and the fact that there wasn’t—that’s what’s so hard to understand, or accept.” —Anna Rupani, the co-executive director of an organization that funds travel for women to have abortions, tells the New Yorker about her dismay that the Supreme Court failed to act over Texas’s new abortion law. Top image credit: SpaceX Please send pickles to hi@technologyreview.com. Follow me on Twitter at @charlottejee. Thanks for reading! —Charlotte Was this newsletter forwarded to you, and you'd like to see more? Sign up today Leading with Innovation. Join us virtually September 28-30. For a limited time, get early bird savings when you register by July 8. Register now Follow us: MIT Technology Review One Main Street Cambridge, MA 02142   Want to change how you receive these emails? You can *update your preferences or *unsubscribe from this list.  Subscription Information This message was sent to  Webmaster220 Bible Study Blog *the blog owner has deleted the hyperlink intentionally