August 19, 2023

Good morning. Every Saturday, we publish the results of polls from feature stories that were published the past week. We also give a brief overview of the topics that were discussed.

🗳️ POLL RESULTS – Week 138

🗓️ THE WEEK THAT WAS

Is Saudi Arabia’s “The Line” the future of urbanism?

Daily | 14 August 2023

Urban planners and architects have their tasks cut out to imagine what future cities will look like and how they’ll function. It seems Saudi Arabia has an answer. It’s called The Line. It stretches across 170 km towering 500 metres but only 200 metres wide. It’s billed as a revolutionary, not concept, but a reality to provide unparalleled livability. With work already underway, we could very well see what the future looks like, stretched across the mountains and deserts of Saudi. Or could it end up being a cautionary tale? Read more on this here.

What’s the dispute between the Manipur police and Assam Rifles?

Daily | 15 August 2023

Amidst the ongoing ethnic conflict between the Meiteis and Kukis in Manipur (here’s a piece on the conflict’s origins), there’s another tension escalating. The Assam Rifles, a central paramilitary force, and the Manipur police are at odds. Things took a turn for the worse when on August 5, the Manipur police filed a report against Assam Rifles. They’re both under the Union Ministry of Home Affairs. Why are the troops, instead of collaborating, sparring? We discuss it here.

Does Sabyasachi Das’ paper on alleged electoral manipulation in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections hold water?

Daily | 17 August 2023

One of the most dangerous things that can happen in a democratic election is manipulation. Losing confidence in the vote is a slippery slope. A research paper from former Ashoka University scholar Sabyasachi Das has raised eyebrows and the question of ‘what if’. It alleged, among other things, arbitrary deletion of names of registered Muslim voters and irregularities in election data; all concerning the 2019 Lok Sabha elections. Does the paper hold up to scrutiny? We unpack this here.

Is the Worldcoin project a good idea?

Daily | 18 August 2023

Sam Altman, the CEO of OpenAI, the company behind ChatGPT, has co-founded a new venture called Worldcoin. What if every person had a verified digital identity and a cryptocurrency token called Worldcoin? What’s the goal? “A global financial and identity network based on proof of personhood” – is this the future we need or something quite dystopian? Find the debate here.