The AI Overlords Are Coming For Us

May 30, 2023

Plus: Is racism worse in women’s sports? ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌

May 30, 2023

Happy Monduesday, Meteor readers,

For some of us, today is a particularly tricky day. We are now two days removed from the series finale of “Succession” and, according to TV etiquette, it is allowable to discuss spoilers (apparently things are bad for the eldest boy??).

However, some of us (me) are still a few episodes behind and would like for everyone to stop running their mouth like cousin Greg!

If you’re wondering why I’m so behind on the biggest show in town, it’s because I did something else this weekend: I went to an actual movie theater to watch The Little Mermaid. Reviews have been mixed, but when I tell you that Alan Menken put his whole menkussy into revamping this movie!! Halle Bailey’s performance brought me to tears three separate times. You must go see it. And if, like me, you have very strong thoughts about that one Lin-Manuel Miranda addition to the soundtrack, my DMs are open.

In today’s newsletter we’re turning our attention to a surge in racism against athletes, the coming AI overlords, and the hawt summer we’re about to have.

Still humming “Under the Sea,”

Shannon Melero

WHAT’S GOING ON

“Something I will continue to deal with”: During a post-match press conference yesterday, tennis star Sloane Stephens commented on the growing racism facing athletes, saying, “It has never stopped. If anything, it’s only gotten worse.” The data backs her up, alas: While racism in sports isn’t exactly a new phenomenon, a 2021 study showed a 200% increase in acts of racism in sports from 2019-2020.

The most notable recent occurrence of this involved Spanish soccer team Real Madrid’s Vinicius Junior, who this month reported his tenth incident of racial abuse before the league he plays under (LaLiga) actively got involved—a move that only came to pass because of the immense success Vinicius has had since he started playing.

But that let’s-try-to-fix-this energy isn’t as present in women’s sports, where there are only hundreds of thousands of eyeballs being drawn, vs the millions Vinicius commands. Despite the efforts of Althea Gibson (in the 1950s), the Williams sisters (in the ‘00s), and Naomi Osaka (now), the next generation of Black tennis stars are still fighting a Sisyphean battle.

“Obviously it’s been something that I have dealt with my whole career,” Stephens said during the press conference. “It’s only continued to get worse…and something I will continue to deal with, I’m sure. That’s that.”

(If you’re looking to show some support, Stephens’ next match is tomorrow at 8:15 AM ET.)

AND:

Did you know that America’s first known Memorial Day celebration was put together by recently emancipated Black people in South Carolina who were honoring fallen Union soldiers? It’s okay if you didn’t. According to The Washington Post, white South Carolinians loyal to the Confederacy—including women’s groups like the Daughters of the American Revolution—rewrote the day’s narrative to exclude this key fact.
A new law in Uganda targeting the LGBTQ+ community could see citizens facing life sentences just for having sex.
For a case study on how abortion bans are affecting all kinds of care, take a look at this profile of one women’s health clinic in Alabama from Politico.
I’ve got good news and bad news. The good news is that climate change may not kill us after all! The bad news is that that’s only because we won’t live long enough to see the earth melt—according to a new warning from hundreds of leading technologists, AI may take us all out way before that. This isn’t the build-up to some new sci-fi thriller; it’s a real, must-read alert about yet another area we desperately need to push our governments to take seriously.

Taylor Swift was right; it is going to be a cruel summer. And by cruel, we mean hotter than the last three decades: The New York Times put together this handy map to let you know if you’re going to be in one of the states where warmer than usual weather can be expected.
This New Yorker story about the rise in Latino white supremacy hits uncomfortably close to home. And while I’d love to drop several bars about how Latines in America have been racialized and brainwashed into desiring proximity to whiteness, I already did that in 2020 in an interview with author Laura E. Gomez. If all that is a little TL;DR for you, this guy sums it up pretty well.
Elizabeth Holmes, who was convicted of fraud for her false claims about her company, Theranos last year, started her 11-year prison sentence today. Before you know it she’ll be looking for seed money for her new toilet wine company.
A young woman was stabbed to death in Delhi, India, while bystanders watched silently and failed to intervene. “Delhi has become extremely unsafe for women and girls,” an official told news outlet ANI.

THE METEOR IRL

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