All posts tagged: afraid

Insiders Afraid the Government Will Nationalize the AI Industry

Insiders Afraid the Government Will Nationalize the AI Industry

Published by José Betancourt

Sign up to see the future, today Can’t-miss innovations from the bleeding edge of science and tech Depending on who you ask, AI was the financial growth story of 2025. In the first nine months of 2025, spending related to AI accounted for around 38 percent of real GDP growth across the United States, according to analysis by the St. Louis Fed. Not every economist agrees with that math, but the Trump administration has evidently seen enough to know where they stand. With AI just about only thing propping up an otherwise crumbling economy, fueling a supposed wave of innovation and helping the Pentagon choose who to bomb next, it stands to reason the feds would want to keep the tech on a short leash. If recent events are any indication, that leash is only getting tighter. Take, for example, the ongoing spat between AI firm Anthropic and the Department of Defense — a struggle that suggests Uncle Sam has stopped asking the tech industry for what it wants, and started taking. That’s prompted a …

“We are not afraid”: Minnesota state prosecutor opens investigations into Bovino, ICE officers

“We are not afraid”: Minnesota state prosecutor opens investigations into Bovino, ICE officers

Published by Sam Flores

A state prosecutor in Minnesota launched a series of investigations on Monday into the conduct of immigration officers during immigration protests over the winter in Minneapolis. Hennepin County Attorney Mary Moriarty revealed her office’s creation of the Transparency and Accountability Project in a statement on Monday. Per the announcement, TAP allows users to submit photos and videos “of potentially unlawful behavior by federal agents.” “TAP’s purpose is to collect and assess evidence submitted by the public of potentially unlawful behavior by federal agents,” Moriarty said. She reported that her office and TAP are investigating 17 incidents that occurred during the DHS operations in Minneapolis, including one focused on former field commander Gregory Bovino. “We will investigate and pursue charging where appropriate,” Moriarty said.  “Make no mistake, we are not afraid of any legal fight. But we will do this ethically, responsibly, and vigorously. This is just the beginning.” The investigation into Bovino stems from an altercation on Jan. 21 in a Minneapolis suburb that ended with Bovino throwing a canister of an unknown gas into …

‘Muslim women are not afraid to be seen’ – the power of the printed hijab | Fashion

‘Muslim women are not afraid to be seen’ – the power of the printed hijab | Fashion

Published by Sam Flores

There’s a common sentiment among my hijab-wearing friends: a plain black headscarf is the equivalent of putting your hair in a slickback bun. A slickback bun is classic, timeless and polished – it can go with almost anything. But, it can also look a little tired. I love bold prints, and it isn’t just me. A friend of mine gravitates toward leopard prints and pashmina-style scarves, a nod to her Kashmiri heritage. And it’s not only an aesthetic choice – for many hijab-wearing women, patterned scarves feel like a push against the idea that Muslim women should blend in. Loud and proud printed hijabs are having a full-throttle revival. At London fashion week last weekend, hijab-wearing models appeared in jewellery-adorned scarves, inspired by traditional Yemeni fabrics, at the show of British-Yemeni designer Kazna Asker. Florals, tartans, polka dots, and graphic motifs fill my TikTok feeds. Keffiyeh-inspired designs sell out within hours. For gen Z Muslim women in particular, the printed scarf has shifted from something coded as “too much” to a deliberate part of an …

No Laughing Matter: John Cleese Declares “I’m Afraid They Are Going To Have To Arrest Me”

No Laughing Matter: John Cleese Declares “I’m Afraid They Are Going To Have To Arrest Me”

Published by Jenni Sidey

Authored by Jonathan Turley, In the classic movie comedy, A Fish Called Wanda, John Cleese lamented, “do you have any idea what it’s like being English? Being so correct all the time, being so stifled by this dread of, of doing the wrong thing.” Now 86, Cleese has a more pressing concern about being English: whether his exercise of free speech will make him a criminal in his own country. In a recent interview, Cleese observed that the government’s new speech standards would classify many citizens, including himself, as presumptive criminals for criticizing certain policies. He observed that: ”As I am an Islamosceptic, I’m now worried that the Labour government may categorise me as a terrorist…” The government of Prime Minister Keir Starmer has continued its headlong plunge into the criminalization of speech. The guidelines include a section on cultural nationalism, stating that such views are now the subject of government crackdowns. To even argue that Western culture is under threat from mass migration or a lack of integration by certain groups is being treated as a dangerous …

Be very afraid | Radio Times

Be very afraid | Radio Times

Published by Daniella Wilson

Add the Bafta Film Awards to your watchlist As a reporter on the horror fantasy genre for over four decades now, I’ve lost count of how many times I’ve heard film industry movers and shakers exclaim that the scary movie has roared back when yet another no-budget shocker appears from nowhere to become an unexpected box office success. Only to be told, usually a few weeks later when a highly anticipated chiller has crashed and burned, “Oh well, the genre bubble has burst. Again.” Once more proving screenwriter William Goldman’s adage about the film industry, “Nobody knows anything”. Except, now things are looking markedly different. At a time when experts in this global multi-billion-dollar, high-stakes business are concerned about the future of the big screen experience – after the pandemic made staying in watching increasingly bloody streamer content the preferred method of accessing adult entertainment – the horror fantasy movie has repeatedly become the most trustworthy cash cow. It consistently out-performs expectations, garners unusually high levels of critical approbation and recently cut a historic swathe …

Anthropic Insiders Afraid They’ve Crossed a Line

Anthropic Insiders Afraid They’ve Crossed a Line

Published by José Betancourt

Illustration by Tag Hartman-Simkins / Futurism. Source: Getty Images At $183 billion AI firm Anthropic, the stakes have always been high. Now with the stock market in a nosedive, however, some of the company’s employees are realizing they may have had a hand in tipping the first in a long series of dominoes. Last week, Anthropic — one of the leading AI companies on the market — released a new tool called “plugins.” It was described as an assistant that can support people working in legal, marketing, finance, data analysis, or customer service roles. When it hit the market, law firms and other entities with legal exposure immediately went into shock, taking the “Legal” plugin as an existential threat, despite Anthropic’s insistence that “all outputs should be reviewed by licensed attorneys.” Investors immediately felt the pressure from increasing competition, and soon the broader stock market was in a massive sell off. While AI agents — semi-autonomous AI systems like Anthropic’s Legal plugin — have yet to prove themselves in the real world, plenty of the …

How to Be More Honest and Less Afraid of the Truth

How to Be More Honest and Less Afraid of the Truth

Published by Jenni Sidey

In the last article, I discussed the deep-seated fear associated with telling the truth and why disruption and potential loss of connection in a relationship can feel like death. And furthermore, why these fears are so deep in our wiring; why our nervous system goes on high alert at the idea of sharing an unwanted truth, often when the threat we feel doesn’t match the reality of the situation. At the root of our unwillingness to tell the truth is our strongest and most primal drive—the drive to survive. Put simply, we want to stay alive, and so we learn to alter our truth to make other people happy, which then makes other people want to be around us and love us. If other people stay, we’re safe—we will survive. But there is a way through this fear—to tell the truth with your fear present, and not deny or force the fear away or shut down your truth altogether. There is a way through that allows you to be more honest and less afraid of …

Eanna Hardwicke on playing Roy Keane in Saipan: ‘He wasn’t afraid to p*** people off’

Eanna Hardwicke on playing Roy Keane in Saipan: ‘He wasn’t afraid to p*** people off’

Published by Daniella Wilson

Get the latest entertainment news, reviews and star-studded interviews with our Independent Culture email Get the latest entertainment news with our free Culture newsletter Get the latest entertainment news with our free Culture newsletter As men of a similar age, Éanna Hardwicke and I suffer from the same minor affliction: our social media feeds are constantly clogged with clips of Roy Keane on The Overlap podcast. The former Manchester United enforcer is an inescapable pundit these days. His trademark brand of withering takedowns – all in that distinctive Cork accent – is almost tailor-made for social media impressions. Lines like, “I might smash into somebody, just to make me feel better,” delivered after a particularly poor United performance, for instance. For Hardwicke, this presented a problem. The 29-year-old actor, who hails from the same neck of the woods as Keane, was preparing to play the footballer in a new film about the infamous Saipan incident that erupted ahead of the 2002 World Cup. “I kind of had to wean myself off it,” he says of …

Afraid of dying alone? How a Chinese app exposed single people’s deepest, darkest fears | China

Afraid of dying alone? How a Chinese app exposed single people’s deepest, darkest fears | China

Published by Sam Flores

A few days before Christmas, after a short battle with illness, a woman in Shanghai called Jiang Ting died. For years, the 46-year-old had lived in a one-bedroom apartment in Hongkou, a residential neighbourhood that sits along the Huangpu River. Neighbours described her as quiet. “She rarely chats with people. We only see her when she goes to and from work, and occasionally when she comes out to pick up takeout,” said a local resident interviewed by a Chinese reporter. Her parents long deceased, Jiang had no partner or children to inherit her estate. Her lonely death sparked a debate in Chinese media about how society should handle the increasing number of people dying with no next of kin. For Xiong Sisi, also a professional in her 40s living alone in Shanghai, the news triggered uncomfortable feelings. “I truly worry that, after I die, no one will collect my body. I don’t care how I’m buried, but if I rot there, it’s bad for the house,” she says. So Xiong was intrigued when, a few …

Americans Are Afraid of Authority

Americans Are Afraid of Authority

Published by Daniella Wilson

In November 1933, President Franklin D. Roosevelt created the Civil Works Administration to give jobs to the unemployed, and put his adviser Harry Hopkins in charge. The following week, Hopkins met with governors and mayors to ask for proposals. A few days later, he approved 122 projects, then another 109, and so forth. Within four months, 12 million feet of sewage pipe had been laid, 255,000 miles of road had been paved, and numerous other public works had been built or improved. More than 4 million Americans were hired. Americans have gotten used to the idea that our government is helpless to get anything done. Our public schools are lackluster, our infrastructure is crumbling, and defense procurement is mired in red tape. But our government has solved bigger problems in the past—and even, on rare occasions, in recent years: In 2023, Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro fixed a fallen section of I-95 in 12 days. Operation Warp Speed developed COVID-19 vaccines in less than nine months. Derek Thompson: The political fight of the century Nothing gets …