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Good morning, Roca Nation. Here are today’s four need-to-know stories:
North Carolina Governor Josh Stein (D) signed a criminal justice reform bill intended to prevent another killing like Iryna Zarutska’s
Hamas accepted President Trump’s peace offer, with conditions…
FBI Director Kash Patel cut ties with the Anti-Defamation League (free)
A federal judge blocked Trump from deploying 200 National Guard troops to Portland, Oregon (free)
By Max Frost
The device is about the size of a bowling ball, chrome-smooth and lens-like; designed to “be simple enough to speak to all of us. Everyone, all around the world.”
You lean in, stare into a black glass circle on its surface – not unlike peering into an optometrist’s machine – and in that instant, the Orb whirs to life, its infrared cameras and sensors scanning the intricate patterns of your iris. A beep, a blink, and it’s done: The Orb has confirmed you are, indeed, a real, unique human being. It now has your data.
In return, you receive a digital “World ID” and a small amount of cryptocurrency.
This surreal ritual, part of a company owned by OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, has already been experienced by millions of people around the world. As of early 2024, more than 4.5M people globally have lined up to gaze into the Orb in exchange for a verified ID and some Worldcoin. Now, that coin’s price is going up – and more people are eager to give up their data.
Some are celebrating: Last month, a US-based packaging company announced it would raise $270M to fund purchases of Worldcoin. Its shares jumped 5,000%.
Others are worried: Countries including Spain and Brazil have banned the Orb and its parent company.
So are the Orb and Worldcoin a step toward Black Mirror or toward unparalleled digital security and identity protection? That’s the subject of today’s deep-dive.
This full report is for paid subscribers, who fund our journalism. If you start a two-week free trial today, you’ll be automatically entered to win a free year. Once you sign up, you can access all of our articles here!
Editor’s Note
So, will Worldcoin protect the world or control it? You’ll have to let us know your thoughts.
Thanks to those of you who shared your thoughts on yesterday’s interview about the moon landing. A sample of those are below.
Cody wrote:
I appreciate the interview and putting this together. It’s a bit of history that as I’ve gotten older as a millennial I’ve had more questions about but I think being able to see the images added on to the rest of the interview convinced me 100% we did go. You’ll never get 100% of people to agree on it but that’s just life. Great job yall
While Amy from Howell, MI said:
Good story, I’m a Gen X’er and still not convinced. What about the vehicle; how did that fit in the spacecraft? Then there’s the looming question of who took the picture of the first moon walk…wouldn’t that have really been the second walk on the moon if someone else was there to take the photo??
Sell me….
Valerie said:
At the time that the moon landing happened, we did not have the technology or the ability to produce such a fantastic event for entertainment purposes.
Gen Z and millennials aren’t a reliable source of accurate opinion on this topic.
They are part of a convenience culture where they have learned that it’s OK to get what you want by any means possible. As a result, they don’t believe in anything that doesn’t serve them directly. It’s very sad.
And Deb wrote:
Thank you for your efforts! I believe that we landed on the moon because I watched it on television with the rest of the nation. Just logically there is no logic in faking everything. To what end? But I will end with this IF and I don’t believe it was faked but if it was then they should have been able to give us better Saturday morning cartoons!
Find our latest stories below if you missed any:
Thanks for reading,
Max and Max
