A New Bill Puts Tik Tok On The Line For American Users – How Likely Is It The App Will Be Banned Entirely?
This week, two U.S. senators plan to introduce legislation to ban the Chinese-owned video sharing app TikTok. TikTok is used by two-thirds of American teens, but there’s concern in Washington that China could use its legal and regulatory powers to obtain private user data or to try to push misinformation or narratives favoring China. The bill is being introduced by Senator Mark Warner, a democrat from Virginia, who is concerned about the type of content that Americans are seeing on the app. What would a complete ban on TikTok mean for American users? How does the app pose a potential threat to our national security, and how would banning it pose a threat to our civil liberties? Joining us today on AirTalk to discuss the bill to ban TikTok is Anna Edgerton, who covers tech policy and national security for Bloomberg News, and Aynne Kokas, director of the University of Virginia East Asia Center and author of the book “Trafficking Data: How China is Winning the Battle for Digital Sovereignty.”
With files from the Associated Press
Recent Data Finds Companies Are Letting Go Of DEI Positions, We Dig Into These Numbers And Discuss What It Means For Diversity In Workplaces
In data that was published last month by Revelio labs, they found that diversity, equity and inclusion roles in companies were being let go at a rate faster than non-DEI positions. This trend offers a bleak future for the centering of diversity in workforces following large-scale protests seen in 2020 after the murder of George Floyd, when many companies noted that a push to become more diverse workplaces. So what can be made of this data? Were DEI specialists able to succeed in improving workplace diversity and culture or were they cut short by company management? Are company managers now finding the cost of these steps not justifiable now?
Today on the program, we discuss these numbers and what can be made of them with Reyhan Ayas, senior economist at Revelio Labs, and Stephanie Creary, assistant professor of management at the University of Pennsylvania.
Poplar Trees Are Getting A Makeover! Will A New Pair Of Genes Help These Trees Absorb More Carbon?
A biotech company based in San Francisco called Living Carbon may have a new solution to climate change. The company has developed poplar trees that grow faster and photosynthesize at an expedited rate than that of their counterparts. These modifications promise to increase the trees absorption of carbon dioxide in an effort to combat climate change. Although not the first genetically modified trees to aid against growing environmental issues, the poplars are the first genetically modified trees to be planted in the United States outside of a research trial. So how will these poplars aid against the effects of climate change? Or will their plantation cause more harm than good to the nearby environment? And how can advances in biotechnology help us reach our climate goals in the future?
Today on AirTalk we discuss the technology behind genetically modified trees and the larger environmental impacts involved with Andrew Newhouse, director of the American Chestnut Research & Restoration Project at SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry.
As Enrollment In The Humanities Plummets Some Ask: Is The English Major Dying?
In recent years, the number of students enrolling in the humanities has plummeted. The American Academy of Arts and Sciences’ Humanities Indicators project, which collects data around internal enrollment figures, has shown a decline in humanities majors at colleges and universities across the country. Between 2012 and 2020, Ohio State’s humanities majors dropped by 46% and Vassar and Bates saw their numbers fall by nearly half. The majors include disciplines like philosophy, history, and literature. The English major is particularly threatened, with some departments wondering if they should change the name of the major entirely to reflect a more inclusive, less eurocentric area of study.
Joining us today on AirTalk to discuss the future of the English major and state of enrollment in the humanities is Robert Townsend, Program Director for Humanities, Arts, and Culture and co-director of the Humanities Indicator Project at the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, Robert Faggen, Barton Evans and H. Andrea Neves professor of literature at Claremont McKenna College and Simone Drake, professor of English at Ohio State University.
