David Ryan Polgar
Contributing Writer
David is an ambidextrous thinker who likes big ideas. As a “Tech Ethicist,” he explores our evolving relationship with social media and tech from an ethical, legal, and emotional perspective. Utilizing his background as an attorney, educator, and pop culture aficionado, David offers a fresh perspective on potential trends and ways to humanize our digital lives. He is currently a speaker (3-time TEDx), branding and communications consultant, and Trust & Safety for social messaging platform Friendbase. David is researching the impact that “scaling intimacy” has on human relationships, and working on an upcoming book. He is also the co-host for Funny as Tech.
He can be contacted at TechEthicist.com and @TechEthicist.
Microchipping humans may be common in the future. The prospect of constantly being tracked and online raises some major ethical concerns. Futurist and humanist Gerd Leonhard provides insight into where we're headed.
Do you want your voice heard? Facebook recently unveiled a tool called Town Hall which makes it incredibly easy to contact your elected officials. By removing the friction of contacting politicians, Facebook may be creating a "social infrastructure" that increases civic engagement.
Your Internet Service Providers are collecting and selling your browsing history. Does that bother you? If so, it may be time to setup a Virtual Private Network (VPN) to better encrypt your data and spoof your location.
Congress has voted to repeal online privacy rules that would have given consumers greater notice and control over their data. Internet Service Providers such as AT&T and Verizon will now be able to sell your browsing history, app usage, and geo-location.
How are we preparing for the massive disruption that AI and automation will have on the workplace? We're not. Despite a PwC report stating that 38% of American jobs may be automated in the near future, US Treasury Secretary Mnuchin states that losing jobs through AI is "not even on our radar screen."
Despite our focus on China, Amazon may be displacing more American workers. How do we create a human-first economy when what is beneficial to us as consumers may not align with what's best for American workers?
Bottoms ups! A Southern Calfornia brewery is taking its beer from toilet to tap. San Diego's Stone Brewing has started making Full Circle Pale Ale using treated sewage water and recently held a tasting. While Bill Gates has shown that drinking "poop water" is perfectly fine, will consumers chug down this beer?
Married Americans are now having sex 11 fewer times per year than in 2002, according to a new study published in the Archives for Sexual Behavior. What is causing this dramatic change?
Is Alzheimer's triggered by too much sugar? We have long known that consuming too much sugar is related to obesity and diabetes. A new UK study has found a molecular "tipping point," where a crucial enzyme related to insulin regulation is damaged by excess glucose. This may have a major impact on our understanding of the cognitive disease along with our diet.
The new data dump by WikiLeaks showcases just how vulnerable our smartphones and smart TVs are to hacking. This first release, part of the larger Vault 7, provides insight into the massive capabilities of the CIA to use popular tech tools as a form of surveillance. Now, what happens when it gets into the wrong hands?
Is AI a job booster or job killer? 41% of Americans fear getting replaced by AI, automation, and digitization, according to a new survey by SelectHub. What does this mean for the future of work? The survey also found that Gen Xers were most likely to be concerned and that certain industries were more worried than others.
New Zealand is enticing people to join their growing tech scene by offering an expenses-paid trip to check out the country, get interviewed, and make a giant career move.
Handle, the latest robot from Google-backed Boston Dynamics, elicits both excitement and anxiety. The company's founder has described it as "nightmare-inducing."
Self-driving hobbyists and researchers can now build a self-driving vehicle for around $700. Utilizing free software and hardware plans from George Hotz's startup Comma, brave enthusiasts are crowdsourcing solutions as we move towards more autonomous vehicles.
Facebook knows about your past, present, and likely future. But how do they know this information? Data Selfie is a creepy new tool that will give you an answer. The free plugin provides a gateway into the data mining and predictive analytics that is used by Facebook to create your online identity.
The world's largest social network now has a feature, Jobs on Facebook, that is free for both job posters and job seekers. For millions of underemployed workers already on Facebook, it may be a welcome feature.
The 1971 cult classic Harold and Maude is an unlikely love story between a depressed 18-year-old Harold and a lively 79-year-old Maude who meet at a funeral. Given the rise is online dating and its impact on how couples unite, it is fair to ask: If Harold and Maude was set in 2017, would Harold pick Maude on Tinder?
Should political preference be a deal-breaker when looking for love? There are now dating sites for progressives, Trump fans, and Americans looking to escape the Trump presidency by marrying a Canadian. In an age of deep political polarization, dating sites based on ideology may exacerbate the problem and prevent a star-crossed love from blossoming.
Do we really care about privacy? An interview with Manoush Zomorodi, host of WNYC's Note to Self, about The Privacy Paradox campaign. She discusses an ethical code needed for technologists, why the typical ad-based business model online is not sustainable, and why it's time for internet users to be "digitally woke."
American ingenuity is often foreign-born. With 51% of tech unicorns (valuation over a billion dollars) having an immigrant founder, we take a look at the Top 20 tech influencers with strong immigrant ties.
Kellyanne Conway's recent appearance on NBC's Meet the Press, where she used the dystopian-sounding phrase "alternative facts," sounded eerily similar to George Orwell's 1984 concept of newspeak and doublethink.
The spreading of misinformation and doubt has undermined support for climate change. Despite broad consensus from climate scientists that humans are largely responsible for climate change, only 27% of Americans think there is agreement. New research points to a possible way to "vaccinate" against this misinformation.
Bill Gates may be the world's first trillionaire in 25 years. That's according to a projection by Oxfam, using an 11% rate of return that has been typical in recent years for the world's wealthiest individuals.
Many teens are showing up to school sleep-deprived from late night social media use, and it may be hurting their academic performance. Researchers find that "over a third of young people appear to be waking up during the night to send or check messages via social media."
Over 2 billion people worldwide eat insects, such as crickets. Crickets are easy to harvest, high in protein, and nutrient rich. In an age of growing environmental awareness about the significant resources needed for raising livestock, crickets would seemingly be the food of the future. Why aren't they on your dinner plate?
Important new research on the right amount of screen time for teens. A Large-Scale Test of the Goldilocks Hypothesis: Quantifying the Relations Between Digital-Screen Use and the Mental Well-Being of Adolescents, tested the theory that instead of a linear relationship between teen screen-time and harm, there was an amount that was just right.
Research being done with brain organoids ("mini brains" deriving from cells, such as teeth) from those with autism and Williams syndrome is providing insight into what makes humans social.
Can big data help determine how happy we are? Using findings from Facebook and UC Berkeley, author Andrew Zolli shows how the levels of happiness we display online may not correlate with how happy we truly are. Featuring Zolli's talk from the Aspen Ideas Festival.
A Japanese company is laying off 34 workers and replacing them with artificial intelligence based on IBM's Watson Explorer. While advancing automation may be helpful in alleviating Japan's aging and declining population, what does this mean for other workers across the globe?
Researchers at the American Chemical Society examine whether or not cough medicine has scientific merit.