Here’s some bad news for those who believe that the tendency in an increasing number of people to believe in lies can be mitigated if information is shaped and shared in a more responsible and mindful manner. According to the anthropologist Marcel Danesi, once people begin to believe in lies, they are unlikely to change their minds even when confronted with evidence that contradicts their beliefs. Danesi wrote, “They turn the contrasting information on its head, so as to make it fit their beliefs.” Research in this regard shows that, once a lie is accepted, the brain becomes more susceptible to subsequent lying. So, does this mean one should be resigned to the fact that we will always be surrounded by folk who are only willing to believe what they want to believe? I’m afraid so. Supporters of the jailed former Pakistani prime minister Imran Khan continue to exchange ‘information’ about his release. They’ve been at it for over two years now. They keep exchanging dates of his ‘triumphant’ release, which never ...
Shayan* and his wife Aliya* spent the last couple of months preparing their travel plans, which included a potential Haj trip after a visit back home to their families in Pakistan. At least, this was the plan up until the end of March. Shayan, a PhD student in the US who lives with his wife and daughter, found himself concerned about his travel plans when the Trump administration started revoking student visas. While Shayan has been in the US since the first Trump administration took office, Aliya only joined him two years ago, with their daughter. Aliya reveals that when Trump was re-elected, Shayan grew extremely anxious and she was the one who kept re-assuring him that things would be alright. That was until the Trump administration’s sudden actions against foreign students, which led to hundreds of students and recent graduates having their visas revoked. As part of the crackdown, Trump’s team has frozen hundreds of millions of dollars in funding for universities and moved to deport students, while revoki...
Tether’s CEO points to the company’s growing Bitcoin and gold treasury as a reason why a speculative $515 billion valuation might actually be “a bit bearish.” Tether CEO Paolo Ardoino says the stablecoin issuer has no intention of going public, just days after rival Circle made its debut on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE). “No need to go public,” Ardoino said on June 7, just two days after Circle, which is behind the stablecoin USDC (USDC), entered the public market on June 5. Circle’s shares climbed 167% on its first trading session on the NYSE. Ardoino addressed valuation speculation raised by Artmesis CEO Jon Ma, who claimed that if Tether, which is behind the stablecoin USDT (USDT), were to go public, it would rank as the 19th largest company globally with a valuation of $515 billion, larger than multinational giants like Costco and Coca-Cola. Read more
KARACHI: It is disappointing that only two Urdu films will be released on Eidul Azha. They are: Love Guru directed by Nadeem Baig and Deemak helmed by Rafay Rashdi. Although half-a-dozen Pakistani films hit the cinema screens on Eidul Fitr (five Urdu and one Punjabi), they did not manage to create a splash in the placid waters of our local movie scene. It is abundantly clear now that the only way for the film exhibitors and cinema owners to do business is by virtue of big Hollywood releases. For example, prior to Eidul Azha, Mission Impossible: The Final Reckoning, the popular franchise starring Tom Cruise, did well at the box office. (It is difficult to ascertain the exact number that it has managed to attract because MI is still in theatres.) On Eidul Azha, too, a couple of major English language films — apart from a few Turkish projects dubbed in Urdu — will be there to compete with the Pakistani movies: Ballerina and Karate Kid: Legends. The former is a spin-off of the John Wick series and the latter a th...
The Bitcoin community is divided after core developers released a joint statement on transaction relay policy and use cases amid the ongoing OP_RETURN debate. A collective statement from 31 Bitcoin core developers has sparked a global debate among Bitcoiners after suggesting a hands-off approach to how the Bitcoin network is used, amid ongoing controversy over non-monetary use cases. “This is not endorsing or condoning non-financial data usage, but accepting that as a censorship-resistant system, Bitcoin can and will be used for use cases not everyone agrees on,” the June 6 statement published on the Bitcoin Core website said. The letter argued that Bitcoin (BTC) is a network “defined by its users” and that its core contributors are “not in a position” to mandate what software or policies they desire. It comes amid the ongoing debate over spam inscriptions on the Bitcoin network. Read more