Blame the Robots

Two MIT professors claim that technological advances are the cause of slow employment growth these past couple of decades; dogs are being treated more like children every day; and no matter what Pelé says, Brazil is paying too high a price for hosting the World Cup. These discoveries and more below.

On a regular basis, Truthdig brings you the news items and odds and ends that have found their way to Larry Gross, director of the USC Annenberg School for Communication. A specialist in media and culture, art and communication, visual communication and media portrayals of minorities, Gross helped found the field of gay and lesbian studies.

How Technology Is Destroying Jobs Erik Brynjolfsson, a professor at the MIT Sloan School of Management, and his collaborator and coauthor Andrew McAfee have been arguing for the last year and a half that impressive advances in computer technology—from improved industrial robotics to automated translation services—are largely behind the sluggish employment growth of the last 10 to 15 years.

The Popular Resentment Behind the Gezi Park Protests What is unfolding in Turkey is not a “Turkish Spring,” as many abroad have been calling it.

Why Do We Yawn and Why Is It Contagious? Snakes and fish do it. Cats and dogs do it. Even human babies do it inside the womb.

Are Dogs Now Just Furry Kids? This could be the summer that ice cream trucks for dogs go mainstream.

Greenwald: Every Phone Call is Recorded and Stored Glenn Greenwald, in a skyped in talk to the Socialism 2013 Conference, told the audience, for the first time, about his experience going through the process of encountering and working with Ed Snowden.

Brazil: Yes, Blame the Damn World Cup Sepp Blatter, the all-powerful don of FIFA; Dilma Rousseff, the president of Brazil; and Pelé, the legendary soccer star; are three extremely different people.

After DOMA, the Fading Future of Religious Opposition to Same-Sex Marriage The U.S. Supreme Court issued two widely anticipated landmark rulings that were victories for gay rights advocates: striking down a key part of the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) that banned federal benefits to same-sex couples who are legally married in their state and declining to rule on California’s Proposition 8, which moves California into position to join the ranks of the 12 other states plus the District of Columbia where same-sex marriage is legal.

The Price of Life on Florida’s Death Row The world is slowly moving to abolish the death penalty.

Obama’s War on Journalism Perhaps most troubling? The president is being aided by a cadre of Benedict Arnolds within the media itself.

The Gay-Marriage Victory Is Bigger Than You Think The Supreme Court decisions on gay marriage look a lot like the experts predicted, right down to who wrote the opinions.