STORIES ABOUT CLIMATE CHANGE, SPACE AND PRIVACY.
JAKE WARD HAS THE HIGHLIGHTS.
>> FOR ME, MAYBE 2019 WAS
SUMMARIZED BY NO EVENT BETTER
THAN THE BACK HOLE THAT THE
EVENT HORIZON TELESCOPE SYSTEM
MANAGED TO ACTUALLY TAKE A
PICTURE OF.
PICTURE OF. NOW, THIS IS SUCH A MIND-BLOWING
THING TO SOMEBODY LIKE ME
BECAUSE EINSTEIN, WHO BASICALLY
PREDICTED THE KPIS TOENSEXISTENC
HOLES, SAID AT THE SAME TIME HE
WAS UNCOMFORTABLE WITH THE
NOTION OF THEM.
IFOUT
IFOUT IF YOU’D SHOWN HIM A PHOTOGRAPH
OF THIS, HE WOULD HAVE FALLEN
OVER.
OVER. THIS NETWORK OF TELESCOPES
BASICALLY MANAGES TO TAKE A
PICTURE OF SOMETHING IN THE
CENTER OF THE GALAXY, M-87,
WHICH IS 55 MILLION LIGHT YEARS
AWAY.
AWAY. AND THE BLACK IN THE CENTER IS
THE BLACK HOLE, SOMETHING SO
POWERFUL NOT EVEN LIGHT CAN
ESCAPE FROM IT.
THE RING OF IT THERE IS
BASICALLY EJECTING THIS JET OF
PARTICLES, ABOUT 1,000 LIGHT
YEARS OUT INTO SPACE.
WE GOT A PICTURE OF ALL OF THAT.
THEN, OF COURSE, IN TRUE 2019
FASHION BY THE NEXT DAY, WE HAD
RUINED THE WHOLE THING BECAUSE A
PICTURE OF ONE OF THE
RESEARCHERS WHO HELPED TO MAKE
IT POSSIBLE, WOMAN NAMED KATIE
BOWMAN, WHO BASICALLY CREATED
PART OF THE ALGORITHM THAT DID
THE IMAGING, A PICTURE OF HER
GOT OUT AND WENT VIRAL OF HER,
YOU KNOW, BEING AS EXCITED AS
ANY RESEARCHER WOULD BE THAT HER
WORK HAD, YOU KNOW, WORKED.
AND SUDDENLY, INTERNET TROLLS
COME OUT OF THE WOODWORK SAY,
THEY CAN’T BE HER, SHE’S A GIRL,
SHE’S GETTING UNDUE CREDIT.
I MEAN, TERRIBLE, TERRIBLE
STUFF.
STUFF. AND SO THE IDEA THAT WE HAVE
THIS INCREDIBLE MOMENT OF HUMAN
CHOREOGRAPHY AND INNOVATION AND
THIS INCREDIBLE MOMENT OF HUMAN
BIAS SMASHED TOGETHER, FOR ME,
THAT IS 2019 IN A NUTSHELL.
NOW, OF COURSE, HERE ON EARTH
THERE WAS A LOT GOING ON.
THERE WAS A STEADY, DISMAL TIDE
OF BAD NEWS AROUND CLIMATE.
I MEAN, THE UNITED NATIONS
BASICALLY SAID THAT THEY FOUND
THAT ONE IN EIGHT PLANT AND
ANIMAL SPECIES WERE FACING
ACCELERATED EXTINCTION.
ACCELERATED EXTINCTION. WE ONLY HAVE ABOUT 8 MILLION
SPECIES ON EARTH.
1 MILLION OF THEM SEEM TO HAVE
SOME SORT OF ACCELERATED
EXTINCTION COMING.
EXTINCTION COMING. BAD, BAD NEWS THERE.
A BIG STUDY OUT OF CORNELL, 2.9
BILLION WORDS IN THE UNITED
STATES AND CANADA HAD GONE DEAD
SINCE 1970.
SINCE 1970. OUT OF THAT, OF COURSE, WE ALSO
GOT UNLIKELY HEROES.
GRETA THUNEBURG WHO BASICALLY E
ESHOOED, SHE WOULDN’T GET ON AN
AIRPLANE.
AIRPLANE. TOOK A BOAT.
INSPIRED US ALL AS A TEENAGER.
OUT IN SPACE, HUMANITY HAS
INCREDIBLE SUCCESSES THIS YEAR.
THE JAPANESE PUT A LANDER CALLED
HAYABUSA 2 OUT INTO SPACE TO GO
VISIT AN ASTEROID CALLED RYUGU
AND MANAGED TO DO THIS
INCREDIBLE THING, BASICALLY GOT
UP CLOSE TO IT, SHOT A BULLET AT
THE SURFACE OF THIS ASTEROID AND
THEN CAUGHT THE PIECES THAT WERE
EJECTED OFF THE ASTEROID IN
RESPONSE.
RESPONSE. I MEAN, THIS INCREDIBLE FEAT OF
COORDINATION.
COORDINATION. RIGHT?
RIGHT? AND THIS TIME NEXT YEAR, THOSE
SAMPLES ARE GOING TO RETURN TO
EARTH SO WE CAN STUDY THEM HERE.
THE FIRST TIME ANYONE’S BEEN
ABLE TO DO THAT.
INDIA, ISRAEL, ALL THESE
DIFFERENT COUNTRIES BEGAN TO TRY
TO PUT THINGS ON THE MOON.
INDIA, IN FACT, TRIED TO ATTEMPT
TO BE THE FOURTH COUNTRY TO GET
SOMETHING ON THE MOON WITH A
LANDER.
LANDER. OF COURSE, IT DIDN’T WORK OUT,
BUT FOR ME, JUST SEEING THAT,
YOU KNOW, COUNTRIES WHICH 50
YEARS AGO COULDN’T HAVE IMAGINED
HAVING A SPACE PROGRAM ARE
SUDDENLY NOW LAUNCHING THEIR OWN
VEHICLES INTO SPACE, AMAZING.
AND SPEAKING OF AMAZING, SPACEX
HAD THIS EXTRAORDINARY THING
THAT EVERYBODY I THINK CAN
APPRECIATE, BUT, YOU KNOW, A FEW
YEARS AGO THEY’VE BEEN TALKING
ABOUT THE POTENTIAL FOR REUSING
THE ROCKETS.
THE ROCKETS. BASICALLY, BRINGING THEM DOWN
AND STANDING THEM UPRIGHT LIKE A
BUILDING ONCE THEY HAD USED THEM
UP IN SPACE.
USED TO BE WE’D THROW THEM AWAY,
THEY’D LAND IN THE OCEAN, WE’D
START OVER AGAIN.
IN THIS CASE, THEY’D LITERALLY
BRING THEM DOWN LIKE THEY’RE
BALANCING A PENCIL ON YOUR
FINGER, CAN NOW REGULARLY LAND
IT ON EITHER A TRAY IN THE OCEAN
OR SOMEWHERE ON EARTH AND MANAGE
TO PUT THEM BACK INTO SPACE IN A
FEW WEEKS’ TIME.
INCREDIBLE.
INCREDIBLE. IN PRIVACY NEWS, WE SAW ALL
KINDS OF TROUBLE THERE.
I MEAN, COUPLE OF YEARS AGO YOU
MIGHT HAVE JUST SORT OF, YOU
KNOW, GIVEN YOUR GENETIC
INFORMATION OVER TO A GENEALOGY
SITE CALLED GEDMATCH OR ANY OF A
NUMBER OF THESE GENEALOGY SITES
TO FIND LOST RELATIVES AND SO
FORTH.
FORTH. WELL, THIS YEAR GEDMATCH GOT
PURCHASED BY A COMPANY CALLED
VEROGEN, A GENETIC FORENSICS
FIRM SPECIFICALLY MAKING THAT
DATABASE A FAVORED TOOL OF LAW
ENFORCEMENT.
ENFORCEMENT. IN FACT, THAT’S HOW JOSEPH JAMES
DeANGELO, THE GOLDEN STATE
KILLER, WAS IDENTIFIED THROUGH
THESE KINDS OF SYSTEMS AND
REMINDS ME THAT THE PRIVACY
POLICIES WE ARE FINEDING TODAY
CANNOT POSSIBLY ANTICIPATE WHAT
MIGHT BE COMING UP NEXT
ESPECIALLY IN A WORLD OF DATA
BREACHES.
BREACHES. RIGHT?
RIGHT? YOU SAW CAPITALONE USE 100
MILLION CUSTOMERS WORTH OF DATA,
SAW TOYOTA LOSE BIG DATABASES IN
JAPAN, VIETNAM, AND THAILAND.
YOU KNOW, YOU SAW BREACHES AT
FACEBOOK.
FACEBOOK. IT JUST GOES ON AND ON.
WE SAW IT ALL AGAINST THE
BACKDROP OF THIS KIND OF
NATIONAL ALLERGIC REACTION TO
SURVEILLANCE WHICH WE REALIZE
NOW IS GOING ON ALL THE TIME VIA
FACIAL RECOGNITION, PHONE
LOCATION.
LOCATION. YOU KNOW, FOR ME, THE CALIFORNIA
CONSUMER PRIVACY ACT IS THE ONE
SORT OF, YOU KNOW, HAPPY THING
COMING OUT OF THIS.
IT’S GOING TO TAKE EFFECT ON
JANUARY 1st AND WILL, IN FACT,
BE THE FIRST SORT OF NATIONAL
STYLE REGULATION OF ALL THE