Wired USA - June 2022

96 Pages·2022·47.5 MB·English

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CONTENTS PHOTOGRAPH BY MEIKO TAKECHI ARQUILLOS 3O.O6
P. 7 6
Features
Fast, Cheap,
and Out
of Control p.46 Paradise at the p.60 The End of p.68 Your Brain Is
Crypto Arcade Alcohol the Platform
Shein has become one of Glamorous influencers Monitoring neural patterns.
cover story
The Web3 movement wants are blending science and Detecting seizures. Tracking
the largest fast-fashion
to liberate us from Big Tech superstition to help people sleep states. A startup
companies on the planet
and exploitative capitalism— “change their relationship called NextSense is building
and a staple in Zoomer and to do it using only the to drinking.” Did I miss out earbuds that can eavesdrop
blockchain, game theory, and by getting sober the old- on the mind—even if
closets. But critics
code. What could possibly fashioned way? scientists are still figuring
R
O worry that the Chinese
AYL go wrong? by Virginia Heffernan out what the data means.
Y T company’s incredibly by Gilad Edelman by Steven Levy
M
A
BY low prices might come
G
N
YLI at an unacceptable cost.
T
P S
O by Vauhini Vara
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Branded content provided by Buzz
DIARY OF AN ENTREPRENEUR
Even by the standards of startups in the
technology obsessed Middle East, the growth
of Buy Now Pay Later (BNPL) provider
Tamara has exceeded all expectations.
Launched in September 2020 in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, by
serial entrepreneur Abdulmajeed Alsukhan and partners
Turki Bin Zarah and Abdulmohsen Albabtain, after
just four months Tamara closed $6 million of funding
in the largest seed round in the country’s history.  In
April the startup topped that in style by raising no less
than $110 million in a record-breaking Series A round
led by global payments provider Checkout.com.
Like many ecommerce companies around the world,
Tamara is benefitting from the massive rise in online
consumer spending that has taken place during the
pandemic. Its BNPL solution allows consumers to
pay for products in installments, without incurring
any interest charges. The company’s revenues
come from fees paid by merchants, who have fallen
over themselves to partner with Tamara and offer
their customers an innovative and intuitive way to
buy big-ticket items, both online and in-store.
Co-founder Abdulmajeed says that the pandemic is not
the only reason for Tamara’s rapid growth rate or its
appeal to global investors. Authorities are also giving
local startups all the support they
need to roll out innovative services
to Saudi Arabia’s young, aspirational
and tech-savvy population.
In Tamara’s case, the company
was the first BNPL firm to be
enrolled in the Saudi Central Bank’s
sandbox program, where fintechs
are given free rein to turn bright
Branded content provided by Buzz
“
For me as an entrepreneur and
for Tamara as a company, raising
money is not the objective. Our
objective is to deliver the best
“
products, delight our customers,
and change the world.
Abdulmajeed Alsukhan
For consumers, Tamara’s
CEO and co-founder of Tamara
mobile app is a compelling
alternative to credit cards
and cash
ideas into licensed businesses. What is the secret to loved by their customers. But new
“The government knows that you Tamara’s success? fintech brands are building a people-
can’t expect major innovations We help people budget for their first culture from the beginning.
from incumbent companies, so purchases. Sometimes people have Tamara is at the forefront of this
it is empowering tech startups events coming up or products they trend. We are determined to make
like Tamara,” Abdulmajeed says. want to buy that require a higher that change in the financial industry.
budget. They can use Tamara
Flush with cash and buoyed by to split that cost into smaller How does BNPL empower
supportive regulations, Tamara payments. We are a trustworthy merchants?
is expanding rapidly across the financial partner for our customers.  Tamara enables consumers to
entire Gulf region and beyond. purchase a higher ticket value. The
“The market is incredibly receptive, We are not a credit card company. ticket size of an item bought using
but BNPL is still a nascent We don’t make money if customers Tamara is 80% higher than any other
phenomenon,” Abdulmajeed says. are late – in fact, we lose money. The payment method. We also allow
“There is huge room for growth.” way we make money is to integrate people to buy more of their favorite
with merchants so that we are one brands. Our merchants are seeing an
of the options at checkout. When increase in completed online sales
you buy an item from one of our and a huge increase in their top lines.
TAMARA IN NUMBERS merchant partners, you see Tamara
alongside the global payment brands. How is the startup culture in
Saudi Arabia developing?
Why do you think Saudis have Five years ago, no-one in Saudi
adopted BNPL so enthusiastically? Arabia really knew what a startup was.
Banks and other service providers Now we are seeing multiple venture
used to take their customers capital funds across the region. The
for granted. Service quality was change that has happened here has
low, without innovation or new been tremendous. There is a new
products that matched daily needs. wave of startups in the country.
There is no better time than now
Now the country is at an inflection to start something. This is one of
point. Saudi Arabia and the Gulf the missions of Tamara. We want
region in general has one of the to show people in the region that
highest rates of penetration and they too can develop successful,
growth in BNPL. Traditional financial innovative businesses. Stories
service providers like banks are not like ours will inspire them.
CONTENTS
30.06
p.20
On the Cover
p.22 p.30
Illustration by
Start Posts
Patrick Savile p.24 Documenting the
Petunia Carnage
We wanted to present this
p.11 There Is No Photograph by Klaus Pichler p.34 Q&A: Bill Gates Is So
month’s big story about
Culture War Over This Pandemic
Web3 by connecting today’s
by Virginia Heffernan p.26 The Last Cell The acerbic optimist thinks
crypto evangelists to earlier
Tower in Mariupol anxious people (like me) should
generations of digital utopians.
get a grip and move on.
So we asked London-based p.16 The Root of All by Matt Burgess by Steven Levy
artist Patrick Savile to imagine Internet Evil
a somewhat retro, gleaming by Paul Ford p.28 Cloud Support: p.38 Dreams of a Y
E
N
pop-up ad in the metaverse—a Can Social Media Be Black Futurist HIT
W
statement of Web3’s boldest, Redeemed? AM
p.20 Growing Meals for In a new sci-fi story collection, N, S
most truly appealing HI
Future Martians by Meghan O’Gieblyn singer, actor, and now writer H S
promises—and leave plenty of Janelle Monáe updates Afro- EP
S
O
room for the fine print. by Amit Katwala futurism for our dystopian age. É, J
N
Gear by Mary Retta HÉ
C
S
A
M
p.22 The New O
H
T
Spreadsheet Revolution p.88 Six-Word OP:
T
p.30 Health Sci-Fi OM
R
by Clive Thompson and Fitness SE F
Very Short Stories WI
K
Essentials by wired readers LOC
C
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Free Financial Tools
Wealth Management
RANTS AND RAVES 3O.O6
Readers share
their cultural
convictions
and righteous
indignation.
RE: “I’M THE OPERATOR” person charged. But in a dark irony, problem space, of unknown
her attorneys’ strategy attacks shape and depth. —JP LeBreton
I was a manager in Uber’s self- Herzberg as well as Uber and reads (@vectorpoem), via Twitter
driving group at the time of the like a full bingo card of victim blam-
incident. The company stressed ing. This is the perfect ironic mirror RE: “CASTE AWAY”
“not having a culture of blame” for how the story, in appropriately
after the fatality. This rang hollow, focusing on Vasquez as a victim, I come from the same Indian
given that the people espousing also (unwittingly, I think) uses lan- state as Siddhant and speak the
it were likely most at fault. I never guage and framing that makes the same Indian language, so I under-
imagined that “no blame” would primary victim—Herzberg—a key stand quite well how dalits are
morph into “no consequence” for contributor to her own death. —Joe treated. My father came from
executives. We as a society are Lindsey (@joelindsey), via Twitter an underprivileged rural fam-
willing to take away four to eight ily. Dr. Ambedkar took a chance
years of life from the most vul- In 2020, as part of a systems engi- on him when he was just a broke
nerable person in the situation. Is neering masters program, I eval- kid in search of higher education
that justice? Maybe. But to say that uated how “trust in autonomy” and a better life. That act of kind-
not a single executive should’ve played a role in the Uber incident. ness by Dr. Ambedkar 70 years ago
been removed over this incident I found no indication that engi- changed the entire trajectory of
certainly doesn’t seem right. neers were designing with trust our family for generations to come.
—Former Uber manager in mind, and I came to the con- —Santosh Kulkarni, via email
clusion that the operator over-
There’s a troubling theme in this trusted the system. Humans are by My heart goes out to Siddhant.
story that subtly perpetuates a nature prone to fatigue and distrac- As an Indian immigrant to the US,
false narrative about the crash: tion; indeed, this is the very prob- I know the caste system and its
that Elaine Herzberg was partly to lem that self-driving is supposed to pernicious role in Indian society
blame for her own death. Smiley ameliorate. The idea that an oper- all too well. Growing up in a
doesn’t connect the dots for the ator can now somehow compen- Brahmin family, I’ve benefited
reader—that a person experienc- sate for the very behavior we are immensely from this system. In
ing homelessness, needing a place trying to address through technol- some ways, it is the Hindu equiva-
to charge a phone, in an environ- ogy remains an unacknowledged lent of the born-a-sinner idea
ment that gave, at best, mixed sig- and glaring contradiction. I fear in some strands of Christian-
nals on whether it was OK to cross Miss Vasquez may be just another ity. I do wonder how many of
there, did exactly that. It’s deeply scapegoat for a society unwilling the “higher-caste” Indian immi-
wrong that Vasquez is the only to address its deeper issues. grants who complain about
—Stephen Bell, via email racial discrimination in the US
RE: “I'M THE OPERATOR”
turn around and discriminate
The industry’s framing is that against dalit Indian immigrants.
“Read this brilliant piece autonomous vehicles “make fewer The caste system needs to be
mistakes” than humans, but the smashed to smithereens, but far
truth is that they make classes of too many people in power bene-
and tell me we don't need
mistakes that humans never would. fit from its perpetuation. —Kumar
It is a new and entirely separate Vemaganti, via email
more EQ in tech.”
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