Dealing with the threat of being catfished, phished, or scammed out of your personal information and money online has become a crucial aspect of internet health and safety. Plenty of companies invest heavily in cybersecurity and educational materials to ensure their clients, especially vulnerable parties like the elderly and other underrepresented online communities, do not fall victim to these malicious actors.
Join Alexander and Jason as they explore modern technology and cryptocurrency’s relationship with human trafficking and internet scams.
Pig butchering is a special kind of scam where the malicious actor builds up a close relationship with their victim over time, similar to the way that pigs are fattened up before slaughter. There are entire scam centers in Laos, Myanmar, and Cambodia, where people have been deceived and trafficked specifically to man these locations.
On a less direct level, tech companies are playing the long game with your attention span and data. You are being bombarded with offers, discounts, promotions, and information every minute you spend online with the end goal of getting you addicted to their reality.
The very act of donning an AR or VR headset is disconcerting because it cuts you off from the world in a very physical sense. All the sensory and peripheral information you’re used to receiving is cut off and you are hyper focused on what the technology feeds you.
Every opportunity for worldbuilding comes with the threat of creating a dystopia. It’s easy to live under false pretenses. But the disrespect for human autonomy, free will, and the value of work will eventually have a negative impact on our society.
If we start working against this today, we still have the time to change the course of technological development. As data champions, we need to ensure that the technology designed does not squander our free will and replace the human being. Rather, it should become an extension of our personhood, and the embodiment of a respect for our free will.
What’s your data worth?
Sign up for TARTLE through this link here.
Follow Alexander McCaig on Twitter and Linkedin.
Big tech is making some big moves on your personal information.
Now, they’re making it look good by dressing it up with some fun statistics. For example, Spotify Unwrapped gives you a list of all the music you’ve listened to the most in the past year. Google Maps has a similar function. It compiles a neat list of all the countries, cities, and places you’ve visited.
It’s time to call this out for what it is: they’re showing you all the personal information they’ve gathered from you, and are keeping it in their systems.
Your location data is critical information. We’ve seen journalists, politicians, and gamers doxxed for one thing or the other on the internet.
In this episode, Alexander and Jason discuss how a Catholic priest was outed by a Christian publication. This happened because they tracked his location using Grindr, and found that he was visiting gay bars and private residence from 2018 to 2020. They concluded that it was his phone based on the location data as well.
“A mobile device correlated to Burrill emitted app data signals from the location-based hookup app Grindr on a near-daily basis during parts of 2018, 2019, and 2020 — at both his USCCB office and his USCCB-owned residence, as well as during USCCB meetings and events in other cities.” - The Pillar
That’s highly specialized location data. Three years of the priest’s whereabouts, being logged and stored by the app. And a data vendor was all it took to ruin his entire life.
Should he have been a priest if he was a closeted homosexual? That’s not what we’re trying to answer here. The core of this issue is that someone tracked this individual’s private choices and exposed them without their consent, without them even being aware that they were tracked in the first place.
Those fun end-of-the-year summaries on your app activity aren’t for free. They are blatantly telling you that you are the product, and you can have your data weaponized against you without your knowledge. That’s the kind of chaotic world we can expect with the inevitable weaponization of data.
This is a wake-up call for you to start being more vigilant about who and where you share your data. You need to own the information you create on your gadgets. Those are your personal assets and you worked hard to create them.
With TARTLE, you can take that information into your hands and choose to share it on your time, at your pace. Stop letting third parties and vendors take that away from you. Your choice, your time, your data.
Sign up for TARTLE here.
Is modern technology, especially biometrics, sending us to our doom? Alexander and Jason discuss theories relating biblical catastrophe to tech innovation, and ways we can navigate oppressive surveillance and shady data collection methods in today’s troubled times.
If you’ve ever been remotely interested in conspiracy theories, you may have heard of the one where technology will eventually innovate to a point where it becomes a vessel for the mark of the beast.
The mark of the beast is a biblical term for a symbol for the Antichrist, or opposition to God. In this episode, Alexander and Jason discuss modern theories that parallel this mark to biometric scanning, barcode, and the implantable RFID chip.
Companies and governments using COVID-19 to collect biometric data on us and enforcing more data collection under the guise of public safety or convenience.
This episode covers how often, companies assume that they can expand upon our initial consent for data collection. But consent needs to be renewed on a regular basis, especially as humanity explores new ways to collect and utilize data.
The oversight on our daily activities goes beyond cameras. All the apps we invest in and all the platforms we use are watching us. And once we agree to have them collect our data, where will our personal information go?
Do you only ever get either a free society or the assurance of public safety? Humanity has managed to progress, building safe and healthy societies for hundreds of years without the heavy surveillance that we experience today.
Today, the right to control our digital information is an extension of our civil liberties. Sharing your data is not inherently bad and it doesn’t mean that only malicious actors will want your information.
When you invest in platforms that recognize the hard work you put into generating all this data, you can get paid for it. You can choose who to sell your data to. And you can make sure that your hard work directly benefits institutions, actors, and entities that align with your personal values.
What’s your data worth?
Sign up for TARTLE through this link here.
Follow Alexander McCaig on Twitter and Linkedin.
Gilick competence refers to a child’s capacity to consent to their own medical treatment without their parents or guardians having to know or give their consent.
But in an era where we are always giving out our personal information through our digital footprint, does this measure for consent still hold water? And if it applies to healthcare, why doesn’t it apply to other industries, like gaming?
Join Alexander and Jason as they challenge today’s norms on parenting, data collection, and a child’s capacity to make informed decisions.
Human progress has reached a point where many of us are privileged to be living comfortable lives. However, this may have come at a cost: an increased aversion to taking risks, exploring freedom, and allowing independence. This extends to the way society believes parents should raise their children.
Helicopter parenting, for the most part, does result in some short-term benefits. The constant surveillance means that children learn how to succeed in a closed environment. However, the reality is that parents won’t always be there to enforce a strict routine and study schedule. At some point, children need to be given the opportunity to explore the world at their own pace.
Gilick competence can be established if the minor can demonstrate that they have “sufficient understanding and intelligence to fully understand what is proposed.”
With all the fearmongering and biased media we consume on a daily basis, it can be easy to think the worst of humanity. Allowing children to live, for as long as they can, away from making big decisions for themselves may seem like the smarter and more loving choice.
But the way children are treated in their youth will leave indelible marks on the people they grow into. If we want to help empower children and raise independent adults, we need to give them the space and grace to make big decisions for themselves.
As discussed in this episode, children are a lot more capable than we give them credit for. And the innate human desire to do the right thing, backed by statistics, indicates that the world is not as scary as we think it is. Helicopter parenting only serves to isolate children and hinder their personal development.
Is it really empowerment if they only know how to succeed in a vacuum?
Sign up for TARTLE through this link here.
Follow Alexander McCaig on Twitter and Linkedin.
If you think you’re safe in your own head, think again. How far do you believe the government would go to find out what you’re thinking, every second of every day?
Ethical data collection is a serious concern that we need to make a conscious decision on. We need to start using the right platforms so we can regain control of our digital identity and reclaim our sovereignty. Join Alexander McCaig and Jason Rigby as they discuss how the United States Corporation, under the guise of good governance, is using your data to control your future.
Privacy is out the window when the government drones are looking in. Any government knows that the more high quality data they have on their citizens, the greater their ability to make educated and controlled decisions over the future of their citizens.
Even when we do not actively use the internet, we produce data every day. It is an extension of our freedom of speech. Data is the result of our hard work and the manifestation of our inner thoughts.
So when the government is feeding itself with terabytes of data on a daily basis, it’s a strategic move to try and understand how you work as their constituent. After all, if they can understand how their people move, they can manipulate the flow of their movements in the name of safety and security.
Today, war isn’t so much physical as it is digital. All the battlefields are online. The government has so much data and they will probably continue to gather data from you at every chance they get.
If the government wants to have terabytes of data bulk delivered to their system every day as part of their goals to expand the corporation? Make them buy it from people. Maintain your securities, civil liberties, privacy, and confidentiality.
Your data is worth the effort.
Sign up for TARTLE through this link here.
Follow Alexander McCaig on Twitter and Linkedin.
Gold is not just a piece of metal. It’s a cultural statement. It’s a message of power. Throughout history, we associated a strong cultural significance to gold.
So when the gold standard was replaced by the Bretton-Woods system, we allowed the central bank to effectively seize control over the value of human work. They took all our gold, manipulated supply, controlled pricing, and consequently controlled society. It’s impossible to hold them accountable for their actions.
Today, we adopt an economic system that plays right into their hands. We live and work for US Dollars. The gold standard is now in the hands of the elite few. You receive payment in systems of currency they determine the value of.
We cannot say for certain that the mainstream media outlets we are used to getting our information from, have not been backed by influential authorities who can influence monetary policy.
We’re supposed to have conscious control over most aspects of our lives. But in today’s society, our perspective is controlled by the outlets we choose to endorse. The nature of social media outlets is that they reinforce whatever biases we already have. This way, we are trapped in our own echo chambers and divided.
The most valuable asset we can give, as human beings, is time. And if we are put to work for the rest of our lives, the institutions have already taken everything from us. We clock in and die out.
If we want things to change, then we need to start supporting platforms and systems that do not have a vested interest over our lives. It is imperative that we take control of our data and share our information on networks that treat us with respect.
We should get to decide how our efforts are valued.
What’s your data worth?
Sign up for TARTLE through this link here.
00:00 - The influence of gold on people and entities
04:32 - How our reverence for gold has been passed down through our culture
06:21 - Transferring our capacity to choose and value our work to central banks
10:49 - How central banks and other institutions influence our biases
15:38 - Breaking free from being scammed by institutions through TARTLE
If we aren’t careful about our choices, social media can easily turn around and start shaping your identity. But what really gets the ball rolling is how you decide to use the platform. The algorithms are designed to self reinforce: it is our decision to consume a specific type of content on social media, and the algorithms shape themselves around that.
This goes beyond cat videos and memes (which, in themselves, have morphed into a political tool). We have to be mindful about how far we take our perspective on cops, guns, reproductive health, other people and countries because it’s so easy to fall into the rabbit hole of radicalism.
Alexander and Jason discuss how social media is probably more powerful than nuclear. While it may seem difficult to believe that something so ubiquitous has the capacity to change humanity forever, even the government has created a center for analytics dedicated to artificial intelligence, the internet, and online platforms.
The truth is that social media, through their algorithms, create and reinforce hardcore biases. We live in a new era where information warfare is capable of shaping entire communities. We saw this happen in the Cambridge Analytica scandal. It won’t be the last time that our echo chambers will be exploited for the benefit of those at the top.
If we must live in a world where information is a weapon, we need to protect ourselves by learning how to use our data for our own benefit.
In theory, artificial intelligence and algorithms are objective. But these are passive aggressive technologies that are hidden behind so much legal jargon, which are difficult to comprehend for the average user. In addition, the developers behind them have their own biases, which bleed into their creation.
It’s time to move to a platform where you are directly connected to companies and organizations who are invested in ethical data sourcing. It is through this shift that we can take back the power to shape societies and return it to the people.
What’s your data worth?
Sign up for TARTLE through this link here.
Tech development is starting to take a closer look at the human aspect of the internet. Web 3.0 is all about stepping away from centralization and caring for the end user and their experience.
This means that in the future, power is placed back in the hands of individuals. We have to relearn how we use and interact with the internet. So, what’s your role in the evolution of technology?
Alexander and Jason have a deep discussion on the trade-offs people have to face in tech development, following research posted by Jamie Burke entitled “Building in the Metaverse.” Moving forward, each element within the metaverse’s system will require developers to make a decision between open/shared or closed/gated and proprietary.
Aspects like the user persona, in-world assets, economics, content, software backend and more can all be tweaked to either be open or closed to some degree.
However, there will always be imperfections, regardless of your system’s design. For example, a DAO would have to have leaders who are meant to represent everyone—but these leaders may eventually try swaying the votes to their favor.
On a C-Suite level, these leaders could also hold private meetings with one another and try gaming the entire system. Essentially, the voting process ends up becoming centralized.
These are issues we have to deal with while we are at the start of innovating new technologies. Giving outside forces an avenue to monopolize these developments lessens the capacity for these technologies to represent the will of the people.
One aspect we are proud of telling our employees at TARTLE is that they are working, not to become the main character of the story, but to be the Sherpas of the people on the ground.
Everybody, regardless of socioeconomic status or location, is fighting their own battles and climbing their own mountains. Our role here isn’t to become the hero of the journey. It’s to help you realize that you are capable of empowering yourself and owning that role.
Some people only ever become NPCs in the game of life. They sign up for TARTLE, open up the opportunity to start their heroic journey, and then never take the next step.
Others choose to walk that journey, take charge of their data, own their power, and get paid for it.
This is your sign to make that choice. What trade-off are you willing to accept?
Sign up for TARTLE through this link here.
What’s Your Money Worth?
Today, we’re facing a money paradox. The cost of goods and services increase while your salary stays the same. On top of that, the quality of the goods and services that you can afford is decreasing. How many times have you taken a trip to the local supermarket and found yourself contemplating the cost of moldy fruits?
When you look at global logistics and supply chains, it’s tough to think of how delays in one area can affect an entire ecosystem. But it’s the reality we live in today. The Suez Canal blockage of 2021 halted supply chains for a week, but the effects of that delay are expected to last for months. Crop production and shipments affected by the Omicron outbreak and climate chaos have limited the availability of French fries around the world, particularly in Southeast Asian fast food chains.
So what do we have to do? It’s time for the government to step in. Time to take out more debt to pay for these delays. But this is only a band-aid solution to a bullet wound. It’s one thing to have a shortage of good products in your local supermarkets and restaurants. But if your pay and purchasing power is not increasing alongside the price of goods and services as well, something is wrong.
This episode is scheduled for release on May 26, 2022. Here are Alexander and Jason’s fearless forecasts for the year ahead.
The last forecast is particularly noteworthy because it’s the start of a new system. People will stop relying on a fragile way of doing things and start creating smaller, more robust networks.
One challenge to having an incredibly interconnected network was that people started relying heavily on others to conduct business. While this meant that products could be manufactured faster and cheaper, it compromised their quality.
And beyond the products themselves, it also affected our capability for self-sustenance.
The resurgence of craftsmanship isn’t coincidence. The idea is that today’s generation wants to feel a sense of community and identity. They want to know that when they purchase products, they were created locally and their decision to purchase is supporting local communities as well.
It’s the same with TARTLE. You own 100 percent of your work and you are completely responsible for the creation and sharing of that information.
If you want to be a part of the next wave of craftsmanship, community, and technology - you can sign up for TARTLE here.
This episode is a deep dive into the power of growing networks. Alexander and Jason begin by discussing Metcalfe’s Law, which refers to how the value of a network grows as each user joins. Over time, the users and their data become a powerful asset.
We had serious problems with definitions and data collection in Web 3.0. This made it difficult for us to understand the full extent of our technologies. We did not have the best opportunities to interact with data.
In TARTLE, the network is composed of millions of people that come on the system and function as an individual node. Each person willingly provides their data, which is essentially a definition of their worldview. After this, it is processed by AI.
There’s a reciprocity and sense of balance that did not exist in the traditional system. We’re no longer talking about just sharing information from one computer to another. This is a chance for human beings to be the nodes themselves.
It’s an important development for two reasons. First, the network becomes more robust as each person joins TARTLE. This means that the value, definition, and sovereignty you have over your information becomes stronger. Second, the protection of your digital rights increases as well.
Before TARTLE, we basically went on the internet and allowed big tech to put us in digital indentured servitude. The reality is that every time you go online, other people are using everything about you—your thoughts, emotions, behaviors, location—and for their own profit.
Now, TARTLE gives people an opportunity to build a strong network of direct communication, data privacy, and personal autonomy. This isn’t just another way to make money. When you sign up on the platform, you are supporting yourself and upholding others as well.
Take our first step and sign up here.
