Welcome back to the Stove Top weekly newsletter. As usual, each edition has a few brief stories and finishes with a mix of interesting links, hot takes, and good reads.

Enjoy.

The DNA Dystopia

I’ve always wanted to take an ancestry test like 23andMe. Even though it’s a bit self-important, it’d be awesome to find out exactly where I’m from.

But I’ve never taken one because I don’t want my DNA in the hands of the feds. So far I’ve been able to do this (I think). Many of our comrades are not so lucky.

According to FBI data obtained by The Intercept, the FBI now has DNA profiles on 21.7 million of us, or 7.1% of the population. For context, China, one of the most authoritarian countries on Earth, has collected somewhere between 5% and 10% of its population’s DNA (using American technology). Anytime you can compare yourselves to China, you're doing something wrong.

Unfortunately, it doesn’t look like the FBI is going to slow down anytime soon:

• They want to double their budget in order to collect 1.5 MILLION DNA samples a year.

• They are now able to take samples from any felon, and in 28 states, from people simply accused of a felony.

• They can pull from commercial databases like GEDmatch.

• New technology enables the feds to pull your DNA from the God damn air.

As is always the case when it comes to these kinds of things, the authorities sell it as a good thing because it can be used to solve crimes like the Golden State Killer case. But it doesn’t take a genius to see this is a huge privacy concern. There’s a reason China is all-in on DNA collection, and it ain’t to solve crimes.

And when you combine this DNA collection with the massive database of faces, new AI facial recognition technology, CBDCs, and cameras on every corner, privacy suddenly starts feeling like a relic of the past.

The IRA Is The GOAT Of Climate Bills

I have no idea how effective the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) was at reducing inflation (I think we mostly have Jerome Powell to thank for that one), but I do know that the IRA has done a damn good job at spurring climate investment:

• There’s been a 10% increase in the number of climate-related startups in the year since the IRA was signed.

• Texas alone has seen more than $10B in investment, nearly 9,000 jobs, and increased deployment of solar and storage.

• As of May, companies announced plans to take advantage of the IRA’s climate tax breaks in the form of $150B in clean energy projects, including 46 new or expanded climate-tech producing factories.

It is basically the greatest climate bill of all time, as well as a damn good industrial policy bill. And it doesn’t look like it’s going to slow down anytime soon, as the tax credits and subsidies in the IRA are uncapped.

This is, in my opinion, a very good thing. The world is quickly pivoting to clean energy, but it’s never quick enough. Private innovation is what will deliver us out of this climate change mess, and the IRA currently spurs more of it than anything else.

That alone makes it a winner in my book.

The Kids Online Safety Act Is Dangerous

I am not a fan of porn. I think porn is a net negative for society, and is definitely not good for the developing brains of our youth. I even think that porn is at least a contributor to the birth rate crisis in that it makes people less likely to actually go out and seek a partner.

But I still don’t think porn should be banned. Because that’s censorship. And even if it’s warranted in this case, censorship is a door I’d prefer to just avoid.

Unfortunately, an increasing amount of people disagree with me. More than half a dozen states have passed anti-porn laws, and there’s now a nationwide movement to pass bills that protect “child online safety”.

I understand the reasoning behind age-gating the internet, but these bills are dangerous. Besides the censorship and privacy concerns, these bills could very well backfire by stunting the development of kids. Safetyism is already one of society’s greatest threats, and encouraging a culture of extreme child protection isn’t going to fix anything.

We’re at our strongest when kids have the opportunity to mess up and learn things on their own. Coddling them isn’t going to help us, and it sure as hell isn’t going to help them.

Censorship, privacy, and safetyism.

Yeah, the new “safe” internet isn’t for me.

Extras

• The state troopers have a scary amount of ability to spy on you.

• Fish oil isn’t actually that good for your heart.

• The NSA wants to spy on people with “dignity and respect”. Lmao.

• The College Board is leaking your academic data to social media companies.

• Unleash the geothermal energy.

• If you for some reason still use Skype, be careful.

• Europeans are asking farmers to quit farming in order to reach their climate goals. Bro, just go nuclear.

• The British are really something else when it comes to infringing on privacy. It’s actually absurd. At least they lost the encryption battle.

• As is Google.

• ISPs should never police online speech.

• We’re doing good reducing poverty, but we still got a ways to go.

• Bring on the drones baby.

• Saudi Arabia is killing a man for tweeting.

• People talk all the time about Japan’s falling birth rate, but South Korea’s is even worse. It’s at 0.78. That’s catastrophic.

• This is not cool.

• Sayonara, wetlands.

• It’s a tough time to be looking for a job.

• IBM is developing facial recognition technology…even though they promised not to.

• Shell has abandoned its carbon offset plan.

• Make social media social again.

• NYPD used drones to watch your Labor Day party.

• Nightmare fuel right here.

• We need to offer the developing world an alternative to Chinese tech.

• Inexplicably, civil forfeiture still happens.

• Your browser extension is spying on you.

• It’s a hard world man.

• The US government is investing in surveillance clothing.

• The Airbnb bubble might pop the housing bubble.

• The CBP wants to ramp up its facial recognition program.

• Cars might be the worst invader of privacy on the planet.

Until next time, ✌️

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