Okay, if Jeff Bezos won’t endorse, I guess it falls on us
Kamala Harris for President. Obviously.
I am currently working on an essay that explores how the team behind The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom uses every creative and artistic trick in the book to fool my brain into upscaling the world they’ve built to super-high resolution, far above the computational power of the humble Nintendo Switch. I intended to publish this essay this morning.
Clearly, this is not that essay.
In all honesty, I have found it hard to concentrate on writing about atmospheric perspective and the natural colors of a sunset a few days before arguably one of the most consequential US elections in decades.
Made by Humans for Humans is dedicated to exploring human creativity in the era of artificial intelligence. We generally don’t write about politics and policy. But, at the risk of sounding hyperbolic, this coming election will profoundly shape many facets of our lives for years to come, regardless of which candidate wins. And I feel it is important to acknowledge that.
That said, I write about the creatives and the creative industry, not politics. And now is not the time to start, mainly because I don’t have to: Far better writers than me have written plenty of great essays and opinion pieces (and some of them are listed below).
But it is a fallacy to pretend that people in the media aren't unbiased. We’re humans, so of course we are. Creatives are affected by politics and policy as much as anyone, and it is disingenuous to pretend otherwise.
This is simply an acknowledgment of my bias. I fully endorse Kamala Harris for President and Tim Walz for Vice President of the United States. I think they’re the best and obvious choice for this country and, frankly, the world—I’ve already apologized once for being hyperbolic, so I’m not doing it again.
The inspiring central premise of the animated movie The Wild Robot is that kindness is a survival skill. I like to think it is. I sincerely hope America agrees and elects Kamala Harris as the next President of the United States. —James
It comes as no surprise that I am co-signing and “plus-one”-ing this endorsement. If anything, I find it odd how necessary this felt to do, at a time when The Washington Post’s owner Jeff Bezos and LA Times’ Patrick Soon-Shiong are showing their asses and making it very clear why billionaires owning the media may not always be the best idea. Bezos’ utterly insincere explanation has particularly riled me up, claiming an endorsement would create a “perception of bias”—as if his personal business interests and his direct involvement in this decision didn’t create exactly that. (As a sidenote, kudos to The Washington Post team who has found a way to cover this moment as dutifully as possible, across all sections and platforms, making the most of this Streisand effected situation.)
The idea that journalists can’t make an informed recommendation is patently absurd. Ditto the idea that the media doesn’t already show bias through both action and inaction—the content we consume warps our perception, curation is editorial, etc. We read, watch, and listen to the news to better understand our world by people who are even more in tune with the comings and goings of their respective fields. Of course I expect them to have a bias, and it’s knowing where they’re coming from that helps us understand how to filter and interpret accordingly.
We believe that it’s right to endorse Kamala Harris for President. But hey, you don't have to take our word for it. —Ross
The Only Patriotic Choice for President (New York Times)
A vote for Donald Trump is a vote for school shootings and measles (The Verge)
Take it from conservative economists: Trump could derail U.S. economic upswing (The Miami Herald)
Kamala Harris for President (The New Yorker)
Trumponomics: the radical plan that would reshape America’s economy (Financial Times)
The Verge’s guide to the 2024 presidential election (The Verge)
Workers Say They Were Tricked and Threatened as Part of Elon Musk’s Get-Out-the-Vote Effort (WIRED)
More than 90 business leaders endorse Kamala Harris for president (CBS News)