vox--2020-12-04--How Melbourne eradicated Covid-19

How Melbourne eradicated Covid-19

In July and August , the Australian state of Victoria was going through a second Covid-19 wave .
Local leaders set an improbable goal in the face of that challenge .
They didn ’ t want to just get their Covid-19 numbers down .
They wanted to eliminate the virus entirely .
By the end of November , they ’ d done it .
They have seen no active cases for a full four weeks .
Melbourne , the state ’ s capital and a city with about as many people as the greater Washington , DC , area , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ plenty of advantages over the United States in containing Covid-19 .
It has no land borders to speak of .
Its population density is very low ( though the population is concentrated on the coasts ) .
Its outbreak never got nearly as bad as the US ’ s did .
On its worst days , Victoria saw about 700 new cases ; Missouri , with ( very roughly ) a similar population and landmass , is currently averaging more than 3,000 .
Some of the Australian states also closed their borders to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ somebody might bring covid from one part of the country to another .
But the Australian epidemic has also mirrored America ’ s in important ways .
Once the coronavirus arrived in the spring , the country went into lockdown .
When cases abated , some of those restrictions were eased — and , before too long , Covid-19 cases were spiking again .
Each state was responsible for its own response , with the federal government playing an advisory role outside of obviously national issues like foreign travel .
In the second @ @ @ @ @ @ @ hardest-hit state .
Its case numbers were dwarfing those in every other state including New South Wales , home to the country ’ s other great metropolis , Sydney .
Policymakers dreaded an endless cycle of lockdown-reopening-lockdown — exactly the situation the US finds itself in .
They realized that amorphous goals of “ slowing the spread ” or “ flattening the curve ” had been ineffective in mustering public support for the stringent mitigation measures that would be necessary to contain the virus .
So they went big .
The state ’ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ laid out in September by the Grattan Institute ( a nonprofit think tank supported by the state and federal governments ) : “ Go for zero.
” The goal was not just to slow Covid-19 down .
It was to eradicate the virus .
The state had gone into a Stage 4 lockdown — most businesses closed , there was a nightly curfew , and residents were ordered to stay within five kilometers of their home — in August , and it was then extended in September , with the explicit goal of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Ideally , lockdowns are only done once and done well , ” the proposal ’ s authors , Stephen Duckett and Will Mackey , explained .
“ The benefit of zero is to reduce the risk of ‘ yo-yoing ’ between virus flare-ups and further lockdowns to contain them.
” They treated the threats to public health and the economy as intertwined , which most experts agree they are .
The Australian states that contained Covid-19 best also saw the strongest economic recoveries .
Victoria , with the worst outbreak among the states @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and business revenue .
People will stay home and spend less if they are worried about the virus .
The Grattan authors cited a study comparing Denmark ( which established a lockdown ) and Sweden ( which took the more relaxed “ herd immunity ” strategy ) and found that their economies suffered about the same in the early months of the pandemic .
But later in the year , when Denmark had its outbreak under control but Sweden did not , unemployment claims were almost back to pre-Covid levels in the former @ @ @ @ @ @ @ “ Without elimination , the third , fourth , or fifth wave is an inevitability .
This will either involve more lockdowns or the government will lose the social license to do lockdowns and the virus will spread indiscriminately , ” Duckett told me over email , perhaps unwittingly describing the very challenge before the United States during this winter surge .
“ A hard lockdown in the early stages of the virus gives a chance for elimination , and that gives the chance for business certainty and a full recovery.
” Melburnians @ @ @ @ @ @ @ sacrifices .
Duckett said he had just gone to lunch with a few friends before responding to my email .
The US probably can not achieve zero Covid-19 cases anytime soon .
But it could embrace the spirit of the Victorian model : a clear goal , support for the proven mitigation strategies , and a commitment from the public .
“ Having a clear , uniform goal – that everyone could work toward – was critical to Victoria ’ s success , ” Jennifer Kates , director of global health policy at @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
“ But they didn ’ t just have a goal .
They established the underlying components that were needed and provided strong social support.
” “ All of this , ” she continued , “ has been mostly absent in America.
” There is no secret sauce to Covid-19 containment .
It just takes commitment .
There was nothing particularly novel about Victoria ’ s containment strategy .
They just dedicated themselves to what works .
They expanded testing , including random pooled testing and testing for workers in essential industries and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ events .
They achieved 24-hour turnarounds for test results , so if a person tested positive , they could quickly isolate .
Once cases reached zero , the state was planning to start testing sewage for Covid-19 to get a head start on any resurgence .
The Grattan Institute also recommended ramping up contact tracing , another established part of an effective Covid response , and mandatory isolation .
Australia had problems earlier in the year with international travelers breaking their quarantines and introducing the virus into the community .
The experts advised @ @ @ @ @ @ @ entered any public venues , so they could be contacted if a related case was detected .
They also noted that other Australian states had police do spot checks of people who were supposed to be in isolation .
“ A system that relies on self-isolation in which people are unable or refuse to self-isolate can not succeed , ” Duckett and Mackey wrote .
That probably sounds draconian to Americans .
Certainly , the harshest lockdown measures taken in Victoria — requiring people to stay within a few miles of their house @ @ @ @ @ @ @ would be politically challenging in the US .
But Australians took it in stride because they knew the goal they were working toward .
“ I think being obedient is definitely part of the Australian psyche , ” Eloise Shepherd , who lives in the Melbourne suburbs ( and whom I met for our feature on Australian health care published earlier this year ) , told me over text .
“ It was really hard , but I ’ m so grateful we did it.
” The government there made it easier for @ @ @ @ @ @ @ businesses to keep people employed and by increasing their unemployment benefits — the same policies that the US has let lapse and is now struggling to reinstitute even during this devastating winter wave .
As cases dwindled , the lockdown measures were relaxed in a clear , tiered fashion .
The extreme travel restrictions were the first to go .
Schools and businesses could reopen with spacing .
Masks continued to be required indoors and on public transportation .
Eventually , all restrictions except for international quarantine could be lifted .
Things could @ @ @ @ @ @ @ rest of Australia .
The state has started prioritizing having “ normal ” conditions for the Christmas shopping season over maintaining zero new cases .
But it is easier to focus on reopening when community spread is eliminated — rather than pushing forward with reopening in spite of sustained spread , as the US has done .
“ We know that we ’ re going to basically have a much easier life now that the pandemic is under control , ” Duckett said .
“ We still celebrate the fact that we ’ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ new infections and no deaths .
The community is very proud of itself.
” Australia is much more homogenous than the US is .
That must make it easier to build solidarity for these extraordinary measures .
America is deeply polarized , and that has been reflected in our scattered policy responses and in the differing attitudes of Democrats and Republicans toward mask-wearing and other restrictions .
But I don ’ t believe it was impossible for America to execute a similar strategy to the one that has succeeded in Victoria .
Polls @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and other mitigation measures , even if there was some divide among partisans .
They worried that social distancing would be relaxed too quickly , not too slowly , much like the Australians did .
The problem , or one of them , is that the US just never set a clear goal for Covid-19 suppression .
It was understandably hard to ask people in Wisconsin to abide by social distancing restrictions back when they thought the coronavirus was just a New York City problem — and when they didn ’ t know @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of course , the pandemic is a very real problem for every American .
So as we try to bring the winter wave under control , we might benefit from taking a lesson from the Aussies and coming up with a specific objective that all of us , together , can work toward .

In July and August, the Australian state of Victoria was going through a second Covid-19 wave. Local leaders set an improbable goal in the face of that challenge. They didn’t want to just get their Covid-19 numbers down. They wanted to eliminate the virus entirely.
By the end of November, they’d done it.
They have seen no active cases for a full four weeks. Melbourne, the state’s capital and a city with about as many people as the greater Washington, DC, area, is now completely coronavirus-free.
Australia enjoyed plenty of advantages over the United States in containing Covid-19. It has no land borders to speak of. Its population density is very low (though the population is concentrated on the coasts). Its outbreak never got nearly as bad as the US’s did. On its worst days, Victoria saw about 700 new cases; Missouri, with (very roughly) a similar population and landmass, is currently averaging more than 3,000. Some of the Australian states also closed their borders to the others, which lowered the risk somebody might bring Covid-19 from one part of the country to another.
But the Australian epidemic has also mirrored America’s in important ways. Once the coronavirus arrived in the spring, the country went into lockdown. When cases abated, some of those restrictions were eased — and, before too long, Covid-19 cases were spiking again. Each state was responsible for its own response, with the federal government playing an advisory role outside of obviously national issues like foreign travel.
In the second wave, Victoria was by far the hardest-hit state. Its case numbers were dwarfing those in every other state including New South Wales, home to the country’s other great metropolis, Sydney.
Policymakers dreaded an endless cycle of lockdown-reopening-lockdown — exactly the situation the US finds itself in. They realized that amorphous goals of “slowing the spread” or “flattening the curve” had been ineffective in mustering public support for the stringent mitigation measures that would be necessary to contain the virus.
So they went big. The state’s roadmap largely followed a policy proposal laid out in September by the Grattan Institute (a nonprofit think tank supported by the state and federal governments): “Go for zero.”
The goal was not just to slow Covid-19 down. It was to eradicate the virus. The state had gone into a stage 4 lockdown — most businesses closed, there was a nightly curfew, and residents were ordered to stay within five kilometers of their home — in August, and it was then extended in September, with the explicit goal of eventually reaching zero new cases.
“Ideally, lockdowns are only done once and done well,” the proposal’s authors, Stephen Duckett and Will Mackey, explained. “The benefit of zero is to reduce the risk of ‘yo-yoing’ between virus flare-ups and further lockdowns to contain them.”
They treated the threats to public health and the economy as intertwined, which most experts agree they are. The Australian states that contained Covid-19 best also saw the strongest economic recoveries. Victoria, with the worst outbreak among the states, was lagging behind in consumer spending and business revenue.
People will stay home and spend less if they are worried about the virus. The Grattan authors cited a study comparing Denmark (which established a lockdown) and Sweden (which took a more relaxed “herd immunity” strategy) and found that their economies suffered about the same in the early months of the pandemic. But later in the year, when Denmark had its outbreak under control but Sweden did not, unemployment claims were almost back to pre-Covid levels in the former but remained elevated in the latter.
“Without elimination, the third, fourth, or fifth wave is an inevitability. This will either involve more lockdowns or the government will lose the social license to do lockdowns and the virus will spread indiscriminately,” Duckett told me over email, perhaps unwittingly describing the very challenge before the United States during this winter surge. “A hard lockdown in the early stages of the virus gives a chance for elimination, and that gives the chance for business certainty and a full recovery.”
Melburnians are now enjoying the benefits of their sacrifices. Duckett said he had just gone to lunch with a few friends before responding to my email.
The US probably cannot achieve zero Covid-19 cases anytime soon. But it could embrace the spirit of the Victorian model: a clear goal, support for the proven mitigation strategies, and a commitment from the public.
“Having a clear, uniform goal — that everyone could work toward — was critical to Victoria’s success,” Jennifer Kates, director of global health policy at the Kaiser Family Foundation, told me. “But they didn’t just have a goal. They established the underlying components that were needed and provided strong social support.”
“All of this,” she continued, “has been mostly absent in America.”
There is no secret sauce to Covid-19 containment. It just takes commitment.
There was nothing particularly novel about Victoria’s containment strategy. They just dedicated themselves to what works.
They expanded testing, including random pooled testing and testing for workers in essential industries and of people attending schools or other indoor events. They achieved 24-hour turnarounds for test results, so if a person tested positive, they could quickly isolate. Once cases reached zero, the state was planning to start testing sewage for Covid-19 to get a head start on any resurgence.
The Grattan Institute also recommended ramping up contact tracing, another established part of an effective Covid-19 response, and mandatory isolation. Australia had problems earlier in the year with international travelers breaking their quarantines and introducing the virus into the community. The experts advised having people scan QR codes if they entered any public venues, so they could be contacted if a related case was detected. They also noted that other Australian states had police do spot checks of people who were supposed to be in isolation.
“A system that relies on self-isolation in which people are unable or refuse to self-isolate cannot succeed,” Duckett and Mackey wrote.
That probably sounds draconian to Americans. Certainly, the harshest lockdown measures taken in Victoria — requiring people to stay within a few miles of their house and stay inside completely at night — would be politically challenging in the US.
But Australians took it in stride because they knew the goal they were working toward.
“I think being obedient is definitely part of the Australian psyche,” Eloise Shepherd, who lives in the Melbourne suburbs (and whom I met for our feature on Australian health care published earlier this year), told me over text. “It was really hard, but I’m so grateful we did it.”
The government there made it easier for businesses and workers by providing subsidies to businesses to keep people employed and by increasing their unemployment benefits — the same policies that the US has let lapse and is now struggling to reinstitute even during this devastating winter wave.
As cases dwindled, the lockdown measures were relaxed in a clear, tiered fashion. The extreme travel restrictions were the first to go. Schools and businesses could reopen with spacing. Masks continued to be required indoors and on public transportation. Eventually, all restrictions except for international quarantine could be lifted.
Things could still go wrong for Victoria and the rest of Australia. The state has started prioritizing having “normal” conditions for the Christmas shopping season over maintaining zero new cases. But it is easier to focus on reopening when community spread is eliminated — rather than pushing forward with reopening in spite of sustained spread, as the US has done.
“We know that we’re going to basically have a much easier life now that the pandemic is under control,” Duckett said. “We still celebrate the fact that we’ve had so many days with no new infections and no deaths. The community is very proud of itself.”
Victoria’s Covid-19 restrictions were controversial with some residents, but Australia in general enjoys more political homogeny than the US does. That must make it easier to build solidarity for these extraordinary measures. America is deeply polarized, and that has been reflected in our scattered policy responses and in the differing attitudes of Democrats and Republicans toward mask-wearing and other restrictions.
But I don’t believe it was impossible for America to execute a similar strategy to the one that has succeeded in Victoria. Polls showed most Americans did support wearing masks and other mitigation measures, even if there was some divide among partisans. They worried that social distancing would be relaxed too quickly, not too slowly, much like the Australians did.
The problem, or one of them, is that the US just never set a clear goal for Covid-19 suppression. It was understandably hard to ask people in Wisconsin to abide by social distancing restrictions back when they thought the coronavirus was just a New York City problem — and when they didn’t know what the plan was.
Today, of course, the pandemic is a very real problem for every American. So as we try to bring the winter wave under control, we might benefit from taking a lesson from the Aussies and coming up with a specific objective that all of us, together, can work toward.


vox--2020-12-04--The Trump-backed opposition leader in Venezuela is likely to lose his power

The Venezuelan politician President Donald Trump backed to depose and replace that country ’ s dictator is poised to lose his position of power — making it harder for him to make his leadership claim and driving a stake into the heart of one of the Trump administration ’ s signature foreign policies .
In January 2019 , Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaidó declared himself the country ’ s rightful president .
He argued that President Nicolás Maduro , who has been in power for seven years , rigged the 2018 presidential election that kept him in charge and that @ @ @ @ @ @ @ as the head of the National Assembly , was the rightful interim president of the country according to the country ’ s constitution .
The United States and more than 50 other countries backed Guaidó ’ s claim and have been working ever since to help him push Maduro out once and for all .
They ’ ve sanctioned politicians and businesses , sent much-needed food and medical aid , and helped sustain a global campaign to back Guaidó and boost his popularity .
But despite the two-year push , Guaidó has remained @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the president ’ s mansion .
Come Sunday , though , only Maduro likely will get to stay where he is .
Venezuelans will head to the polls Sunday to vote in the country ’ s National Assembly elections , where they ’ ll determine the 277 people to represent them starting on January 5 .
But Guaidó and his opposition faction are boycotting the polls because they say the election is rigged .
They have a strong argument , especially since international observers from the European Union and the United Nations won @ @ @ @ @ @ @ government security forces have blocked the opposition from entering the Legislative Palace to participate in National Assembly sessions since January — right when the body was set to reelect Guaidó as its leader .
Since then , Guaidó and his allies have held their own parallel sessions of parliament outside of the institution .
Even if they ’ re in the right — and polls indicate many Venezuelans agree with their claims — it still means Guaidó and his faction will likely lose their seats in the next National Assembly .
That would @ @ @ @ @ @ @ deliver Maduro a significant victory .
“ The future of Guaidó ’ s project looks grim , ” said David Smilde , a Venezuela expert at the Washington Office on Latin America human rights group .
“ There is less international consensus on the status of Guaidó ’ s claim to the interim presidency after January 5.
” “ It is likely that he will retain support but it will be less robust , and the whole Venezuela issue will be put on the back burner in the US and the EU , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ two months will likely see a worsening of Guaidó ’ s position that will lead to a slow degradation of his power and a slow consolidation for Maduro during 2021.
” The National Assembly vote could solidify Maduro ’ s stranglehold on Venezuela Sunday ’ s likely rigged election will represent an immense loss for what remains of Venezuela ’ s democracy and effectively complete Maduro ’ s authoritarian takeover of the economically devastated nation .
The National Assembly ’ s December 2015 vote was seen as the country ’ s last legitimate @ @ @ @ @ @ @ put more and more of the nation ’ s government under his boot , and he ’ s now on the verge of claiming his final prize .
With Venezuela ’ s legislative body filled with the dictator ’ s cronies , Maduro will have subverted the entire government to his will .
Guaidó will still have some ability to fight back .
President-elect Joe Biden and leaders in other countries have vowed to support his cause , and he controls a large segment of the country ’ s financial assets , including @ @ @ @ @ @ @ in the US , the oil company Citgo , and gold in the Bank of England .
The problem , experts say , is that this influence is more external than internal .
Once he ’ s officially out of the National Assembly , Guaidó and his allies won ’ t be able to stop contracts and agreements Maduro wants to sign with world powers like China and Russia for resource extraction or laws Maduro wants to pass that could curtail civil society and pro-democracy groups , experts say .
Maduro , then @ @ @ @ @ @ @ reign over the last few years .
And after Sunday , his seat on the throne almost surely will be secured .

The Venezuelan politician President Donald Trump backed to depose and replace that country’s dictator is poised to lose his position of power — making it harder for him to make his leadership claim and driving a stake into the heart of one of the Trump administration’s signature foreign policies.
In January 2019, Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaidó declared himself the country’s rightful president. He argued that President Nicolás Maduro, who has been in power for seven years, rigged the 2018 presidential election that kept him in charge and that, as a result, Guaidó, as the head of the National Assembly, was the rightful interim president of the country according to the country’s constitution.
The United States and more than 50 other countries backed Guaidó’s claim and have been working ever since to help him push Maduro out once and for all. They’ve sanctioned politicians and businesses, sent much-needed food and medical aid, and helped sustain a global campaign to back Guaidó and boost his popularity.
But despite the two-year push, Guaidó has remained in the National Assembly and Maduro in the president’s mansion. Come Sunday, though, only Maduro likely will get to stay where he is.
Venezuelans will head to the polls Sunday to vote in the country’s National Assembly elections, where they’ll determine the 277 people to represent them starting on January 5.
But Guaidó and his opposition faction are boycotting the polls because they say the election is rigged.
They have a strong argument, especially since international observers from the European Union and the United Nations won’t be watching. Plus, government security forces have blocked the opposition from entering the Legislative Palace to participate in National Assembly sessions since January — right when the body was set to reelect Guaidó as its leader. Since then, Guaidó and his allies have held their own parallel sessions of parliament outside of the institution.
Even if they’re in the right — and polls indicate many Venezuelans agree with their claims — it still means Guaidó and his faction will likely lose their seats in the next National Assembly. That would deal the opposition a huge blow and deliver Maduro a significant victory.
“The future of Guaidó’s project looks grim,” said David Smilde, a Venezuela expert at the Washington Office on Latin America human rights group. “There is less international consensus on the status of Guaidó’s claim to the interim presidency after January 5.”
“It is likely that he will retain support but it will be less robust, and the whole Venezuela issue will be put on the back burner in the US and the EU,” he continued. “The next two months will likely see a worsening of Guaidó’s position that will lead to a slow degradation of his power and a slow consolidation for Maduro during 2021.”
The National Assembly vote could solidify Maduro’s stranglehold on Venezuela
Sunday’s likely rigged election will represent an immense loss for what remains of Venezuela’s democracy and effectively complete Maduro’s authoritarian takeover of the economically devastated nation.
The National Assembly’s December 2015 vote was seen as the country’s last legitimate election. Since then, Maduro has put more and more of the nation’s government under his boot, and he’s now on the verge of claiming his final prize. With Venezuela’s legislative body filled with the dictator’s cronies, Maduro will have subverted the entire government to his will.
Guaidó will still have some ability to fight back. President-elect Joe Biden and leaders in other countries have vowed to support his cause, and he controls a large segment of the country’s financial assets, including the Venezuelan Central Bank’s accounts in the US, the oil company Citgo, and gold in the Bank of England.
The problem, experts say, is that this influence is more external than internal. Once he’s officially out of the National Assembly, Guaidó and his allies won’t be able to stop contracts and agreements Maduro wants to sign with world powers like China and Russia for resource extraction or laws Maduro wants to pass that could curtail civil society and pro-democracy groups, experts say.
Maduro, then, found a way to ensure his reign over the last few years. And after Sunday, his seat on the throne almost surely will be secured.


vox--2020-12-04--The House of Representatives voted to legalize marijuana

The Democrat-controlled US House of Representatives on Friday passed a bill that would legalize marijuana at the federal level — the first time either body of Congress has backed marijuana legalization .
The bill would remove marijuana from the federal drug scheduling system , the basis for much of federal drug policy , and eliminates criminal penalties for anyone who possesses , distributes , or produces marijuana .
The Marijuana Opportunity , Reinvestment , and Expungement ( MORE ) Act would expunge records for people with prior federal marijuana convictions .
It would also impose a tax on marijuana products @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to support “ individuals and businesses in communities impacted by the war on drugs.
” The bill would also take numerous steps to reverse the collateral damage of cannabis prohibition : It would open up federal loans to marijuana businesses , ban federal officials from denying public benefits to people with previous marijuana convictions , and prohibit the denial of US citizenship based on marijuana-related events , among other changes .
It ’ s unlikely , however , that the bill will make it much further in the current Congress , with the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ( Marijuana Moment , a marijuana-focused news outlet , has closely tracked day-to-day developments in Congress . )
There is a Senate version of the MORE Act , should the legislative body , in a very unlikely scenario , decide to take it up .
It ’ s sponsored by Sen. Kamala Harris ( D-CA ) , who ’ s now the vice president-elect .
Although Harris now supports legalization , President-elect Joe Biden has said he only backs more moderate efforts and decriminalization ( which would remove criminal penalties for possession but @ @ @ @ @ @ @ So it ’ s unclear if the MORE Act will fare better under Biden .
President Donald Trump has voiced support for letting states decide their own marijuana laws , but has so far rejected full legalization at the federal level .
The MORE Act wouldn ’ t legalize marijuana nationwide .
While it would remove a giant hurdle to full legalization by eliminating federal restrictions , it would still be up to states to decide if they want to legalize marijuana within their borders .
So far , 15 states and Washington @ @ @ @ @ @ @ although DC doesn ’ t allow recreational sales .
Several states recently voted to legalize marijuana — in the same election Biden won — including conservative Montana and South Dakota .
One potential hurdle to legalization : It would technically put the US in violation of a series of international drug control treaties , which prohibit signatories from allowing marijuana — and various other currently illicit drugs — for recreational purposes .
But other countries , like Canada and Uruguay , have legalized marijuana by effectively ignoring the treaties .
Supporters of legalization @ @ @ @ @ @ @ marijuana prohibition : the hundreds of thousands of arrests around the US , the racial disparities behind those arrests , and the billions of dollars that flow from the black market for illicit marijuana to drug cartels that then use the money for violent operations around the world .
All of this , legalization advocates say , will outweigh any of the potential downsides — such as increased cannabis use — that might come with legalization .
Opponents , however , claim that legalization will enable a huge marijuana industry that will market @ @ @ @ @ @ @ America ’ s experiences with the alcohol and tobacco industries in particular , which have built their financial empires in large part on some of the heaviest consumers of their products .
This could result in more people using pot , even if it leads to negative health consequences .
At least in the US House , supporters have won the day .
For more on marijuana legalization , read Vox ’ s explainer .

The Democrat-controlled US House of Representatives on Friday passed a bill that would legalize marijuana at the federal level — the first time either body of Congress has backed marijuana legalization.
The bill would remove marijuana from the federal drug scheduling system, the basis for much of federal drug policy, and eliminates criminal penalties for anyone who possesses, distributes, or produces marijuana.
The Marijuana Opportunity, Reinvestment, and Expungement (MORE) Act would expunge records for people with prior federal marijuana convictions. It would also impose a tax on marijuana products, which would fund new programs intended to support “individuals and businesses in communities impacted by the war on drugs.”
The bill would also take numerous steps to reverse the collateral damage of cannabis prohibition: It would open up federal loans to marijuana businesses, ban federal officials from denying public benefits to people with previous marijuana convictions, and prohibit the denial of US citizenship based on marijuana-related events, among other changes.
It’s unlikely, however, that the bill will make it much further in the current Congress, with the Republican-controlled Senate still opposed to legalization. (Marijuana Moment, a marijuana-focused news outlet, has closely tracked day-to-day developments in Congress.)
There is a Senate version of the MORE Act, should the legislative body, in a very unlikely scenario, decide to take it up. It’s sponsored by Sen. Kamala Harris (D-CA), who’s now the vice president-elect.
Although Harris now supports legalization, President-elect Joe Biden has said he only backs more moderate efforts and decriminalization (which would remove criminal penalties for possession but leave other penalties in place). So it’s unclear if the MORE Act will fare better under Biden.
President Donald Trump has voiced support for letting states decide their own marijuana laws, but has so far rejected full legalization at the federal level.
The MORE Act wouldn’t legalize marijuana nationwide. While it would remove a giant hurdle to full legalization by eliminating federal restrictions, it would still be up to states to decide if they want to legalize marijuana within their borders. So far, 15 states and Washington, DC, have legalized marijuana, although DC doesn’t allow recreational sales.
Several states recently voted to legalize marijuana — in the same election Biden won — including conservative Montana and South Dakota.
One potential hurdle to legalization: It would technically put the US in violation of a series of international drug control treaties, which prohibit signatories from allowing marijuana — and various other currently illicit drugs — for recreational purposes. But other countries, like Canada and Uruguay, have legalized marijuana by effectively ignoring the treaties.
Supporters of legalization argue that it eliminates the harms of marijuana prohibition: the hundreds of thousands of arrests around the US, the racial disparities behind those arrests, and the billions of dollars that flow from the black market for illicit marijuana to drug cartels that then use the money for violent operations around the world. All of this, legalization advocates say, will outweigh any of the potential downsides — such as increased cannabis use — that might come with legalization.
Opponents, however, claim that legalization will enable a huge marijuana industry that will market the drug irresponsibly. They point to America’s experiences with the alcohol and tobacco industries in particular, which have built their financial empires in large part on some of the heaviest consumers of their products. This could result in more people using pot, even if it leads to negative health consequences.
At least in the US House, supporters have won the day.
For more on marijuana legalization, read Vox’s explainer.


vox--2020-12-04--Mysterious monoliths are appearing across the world. Here’s what we know.

Into the fiery , plague-ridden nightmare-scape of 2020 , like a gift from some benevolent higher being , has come a source of true wonder and delight : the wandering monoliths of Utah , Romania , and California .
The monoliths are long vertical slabs of metal , each 10 to 12 feet tall .
They appear with no warning and disappear just as quickly : First , one in the Utah desert , which emerged on November 18 and vanished on November 27 .
Second , one outside the Romanian city of Piatra Neamt , which appeared on November @ @ @ @ @ @ @ And most recently , one at the top of Pine Mountain in Atascadero , California , which appeared on December 2 and was taken down on December 3 .
They look like alien artifacts .
In part , that ’ s because they are heavily reminiscent of the monoliths of Stanley Kubrick ’ s sci-fi classic 2001 : A Space Odyssey , where vast black monoliths are deposited by aliens to guide human beings from one stage of evolution to the next .
Kubrick or no Kubrick , all three of these real-life @ @ @ @ @ @ @ No one knows whether another will suddenly appear , or whether it , too , will vanish into the night .
We know very little about these monoliths at all , in fact , and that seems to be part of their point .
They are a beautifully inexplicable phenomenon , and proof that the world still contains marvels .
Here ’ s what we do know about the monoliths — and why we keep talking about them .
The first monolith was discovered in November in a remote desert canyon in Utah @ @ @ @ @ @ @ helicopter crew counting bighorn sheep noticed a flash of metal looming up from the ground and flew down to investigate , and there it was : deeply embedded in the red rock of the canyon floor , an enormous smooth metal triangular prism , just standing there .
“ What the heck is that ?
” one of the workers mutters in a video released by the Utah Department of Public safety .
“ Okay , the intrepid explorers go down to investigate the alien life form , ” another cracks .
The @ @ @ @ @ @ @ helicopter , Utah ’ s Division of Wildlife Services told the New York Times .
“ It ’ s a tough place to get to on vehicle and on foot , ” a spokesperson said .
Officials for the Department of Public Safety added that they had no idea how long the monolith had been there , although Reddit sleuths used Google Maps Earth View to work out that it was installed sometime between August 2015 and October 2016 .
The Utah Department of Public Safety announced the “ unusual find ” on @ @ @ @ @ @ @ appended , and the story took off inexorably from there .
A mysterious artifact that is an art project but also maybe from aliens , discovered out of nowhere in the middle of the desert , here in the grinding misery of a plague year — what ’ s not to love about that ?
Plenty , argued BASE jumper Andy L. Lewis and adventure guide Sylvan Christensen , who filmed themselves removing the monolith from the desert on November 27 .
They say they did so for environmental reasons .
“ This @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the population shift , ” they declared in a joint statement .
The statement goes on to say that the rapid descent of masses of monolith-gawkers into the pristine desert landscape , with no infrastructure set up to support them , caused permanent damage to the delicate ecosystem .
“ Let ’ s be clear : The dismantling of the Utah Monolith is tragic — and if you think we ’ re proud— we ’ re not , ” they wrote .
“ We ’ re disappointed .
Furthermore , we were too @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Utah monolith would disappear , a new monolith surfaced .
On November 27 , Romanian newspapers reported finding another monolith outside the city of Piatra Neamt , on the plateau of Bâtca Doamnei , near an archaeological site .
Like the Utah monolith , the Romanian monolith is a vast triangular prism , 10 to 12 feet tall .
But where the Utah monolith had a flat , reflective surface , the Romanian monolith is covered in looping lines , and there ’ s a welded seam near its base .
In a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Mayor Andrei Carabelea quipped , “ My guess is that some alien , cheeky and terrible teenagers left home with their parents ’ UFO and started planting metal monoliths around the world .
First in Utah and then at Piatra Neamt .
I am honored that they chose our city.
” ( The English translation is courtesy of the Independent . )
But unlike Lewis and Christensen , Carabelea did not seem to harbor any worries about what monolith-based tourism would do to the natural landscape of the area .
On the contrary @ @ @ @ @ @ @ will attract more tourists .
But four days after it arrived , the Romanian monolith vanished overnight .
Its disappearance so far remains a mystery .
And on the same day the Romanian monolith vanished , a new monolith appeared in California , at the top of a mountain off a hiking path .
According to local news reports , the California monolith is another triangular prism , 10 feet tall and about 18 inches wide : around the same height as the Utah and Romanian monoliths , but a little narrower .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ a smooth surface .
It appears to be made out of stainless steel .
Unlike the Utah monolith , it hasn ’ t been embedded into the ground .
A hard push could topple it over .
On December 3 , it got that push .
A group of young men who apparently drove five hours from San Luis Obispo County livestreamed themselves destroying the monolith on the blockchain site DLive .
Dressed in camo gear , night-vision goggles , and Trump paraphernalia , the group chanted “ America First ” and “ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the monolith back and forth .
“ Christ is king in this country .
We don ’ t want illegal aliens from Mexico or outer space , ” a man in the video says .
“ So let ’ s tear this bitch down.
” Once they ’ d brought the monolith to the ground , they put up a wooden cross in its place , and then dragged the monolith down the mountain .
“ It was fine , because it was funny , ” a man says toward the end of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ too , has now been taken down .
There are a lot of theories about the monoliths .
Here are the big ones .
So where are all these monoliths coming from ?
It ’ s not clear that they ’ re all from the same source .
The building style and materials used vary sharply between locations , and a possible explanation would be that the Romanian and Californian monoliths are the work of copycats following in the example of whoever made the Utah monolith .
Are they some sort of cynical @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Utah monolith dates back to 2015 , that seems unlikely : It would be a hell of a slow burn of a marketing push .
One popular theory notes that the Utah monolith site is close to some of the 2015 shooting locations for the HBO drama Westworld , and suggests that it might be a leftover prop , or a prank by a member of the Westworld crew .
Another theory suggests that the monoliths are an anonymous art installation or series of installations , created either by the same team or @ @ @ @ @ @ @ then copycats .
And in that case , the most pressing question becomes : Who is the artist ?
A strong early contender was the minimalist sculptor John McCracken , who died in 2011 .
McCracken ’ s signature works were his “ planks ” : freestanding slabs of metal he would lean against a wall .
McCracken himself used to say he believed his planks influenced the designer of the monoliths in 2001 : A Space Odyssey .
He believed in aliens , and he wanted his work to resemble alien artifacts @ @ @ @ @ @ @ studies of U.F.O.s , ” he once said , “ it helped me maintain my focus to think I was trying to do the kind of work that could have been brought here by a U.F.O.
” Art Newspaper noted shortly after the Utah monolith appeared that it bore a striking resemblance to one of McCracken ’ s planks .
And McCracken ’ s son Patrick McCracken told the New York Times that his father had once envisioned setting up art installations in remote places for viewers to stumble upon in the wild @ @ @ @ @ @ @ idea of alien visitors leaving objects that resembled his work , or that his work resembled , ” Patrick said .
“ This discovery of a monolith piece — that ’ s very much in line with his artistic vision.
” Finally , David Zwirner , owner of the David Zwirner Gallery , which represents McCracken ’ s estate , told the New York Times he believed the Utah monolith to be a genuine McCracken .
Everything seemed to be lining up to indicate that John McCracken sculpted the Utah monolith , at @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Romanian monolith , too , and left secret instructions to a team to reveal them after his death .
But the tide has turned against the McCracken theory .
Upon reviewing photos of the Utah monolith more closely , Zwirner has retracted his original statement to the Times and concluded that McCracken , who preferred to make his sculptures by hand , would not have built the machine-made Utah monolith .
“ I love the idea of this being John ’ s work , but when you look closely at the photos of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ rivets and screws that are not consistent with how John wanted his work to be constructed .
He was a perfectionist , ” Zwirner said in an emailed statement to Vox .
“ While I know that this is not John ’ s work , I also know that he would have enjoyed the Utah location and would have greatly appreciated the mystery surrounding this work .
We all think it is a wonderful homage.
” Evidence seems to be mounting now that the monoliths are the work of one or more artists @ @ @ @ @ @ @ McCracken .
But who could the mystery artist ( s ) be ?
The monoliths might be the work of an art wizard .
If not , it is still fun to think about art wizardry .
The performance artist Zardulu describes herself as a wizard , and her work as modern mythmaking .
Zardulu likes to stage stunts and happenings that seem to exist right at the edge of our sense of what is plausible , and that then take off as viral news stories : a three-eyed fish in the Gowanus @ @ @ @ @ @ @ in Florida .
She ’ s also claimed credit for New York ’ s iconic Pizza Rat .
She has a savvy sense of what a watching news audience is likely to find overwhelmingly delightful , and her goal is to weave unexpected pockets of wonder and delight into the fabric of everyday life .
“ I take my fantasy and present it as reality to an unknowing audience , ” she told me when I interviewed her in 2017 .
“ Thus creating a true surreality.
” I DMed Zardulu on Twitter @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , because she seemed likely to have thoughts on how they function as modern myths .
“ I think they ’ ll find that the Utah one was installed at the height of my productivity , in late 2015 , ” she wrote back immediately .
She added , “ If you look back , you ’ ll notice we talked a lot about my work in Romania , Bulgaria and Macedonia.
” I asked her if she was taking credit for the monoliths .
“ No , ” she said .
Shortly @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of my projects aren ’ t intended to have an immediate effect .
I often leave things as objects to be found .
Sometimes it ’ s faux documentation in the research section of a library , sometimes it ’ s an installation waiting for an unknowing audience .
Sometimes that takes days , sometimes it takes five years.
” It is in a sense Zardulu ’ s life ’ s work to plant false stories in the press , so I would take the suggestion that she is responsible for the monoliths @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Nonetheless , it remains true that Zardulu was extremely active in 2015 ( that was the Pizza Rat year ) , and that Reddit sleuths seem to have dated the monolith ’ s arrival in Utah to sometime between April 2015 and October 2016 .
It is also true that in 2017 , Zardulu sent me a link to a story about the discovery of a werewolf-like skull in Macedonia with the note , “ Was just reminiscing about my trip to Eastern Europe ; ) ” ( The skull was a coyote @ @ @ @ @ @ @ might not be intentional art .
They still matter .
Regardless of who created and installed the monoliths and why , they matter now .
They ’ ve reiterated themselves across our landscape like a living meme .
They are all over the internet .
They are a myth .
They are maybe , no matter who made them , art .
“ The phenomenon of public interest in the object is more important to me than whether we call it art or not , ” said Pedro Lasch , an artist , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ public art course ART of the MOOC : Public Art & Pedagogy .
“ People can end up going down a rabbit hole in these discussions of whether something is art or not , but ultimately I think they can distract us from a conversation about why we find something so fascinating.
” Lasch notes that the monoliths reiterate many existing tropes in both minimalism and land art , especially the work of Robert Smithson , who incorporated natural landscapes into works like “ Spiral Jetty ” and who was fascinated by aliens @ @ @ @ @ @ @ characteristics of the monoliths aren ’ t particularly new , he says — but the way they have traveled across social media suggests they speak to this moment .
“ Part of me wonders whether it ’ s related to how desperately we need social media and news that have nothing to do with the drastic state of our political affairs , ” he says .
“ And minimalism and a shiny metal surface is as far as it gets.
” The monoliths may or may not be genuine Zardulu works , but @ @ @ @ @ @ @ as much as they are clearly inspired by both McCracken and Smithson : a piece of something otherworldly and strange , dropped into this exhausting and mundane world .
Something to take us out of our day-to-day lives in a year defined by quarantine and strife , and into a realm where eerie and uncanny things can happen without explanation .
Something we can use to think through our largest preoccupations — what we ’ re doing to the environment , how we welcome immigrants , or whether we are alone in the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ art doing the purest thing that art can do , which is to push us beyond the boundaries of our selves .
Or maybe it was aliens !

Into the fiery, plague-ridden nightmare-scape of 2020, like a gift from some benevolent higher being, has come a source of true wonder and delight: the wandering monoliths of Utah, Romania, California, and New Mexico.
The monoliths are long vertical slabs of metal, each 10 to 12 feet tall. They appear with no warning and disappear just as quickly: First, one in the Utah desert, which emerged on November 18 and vanished on November 27. Second, one outside the Romanian city of Piatra Neamt, which appeared on November 27 and disappeared on December 2. Third, one at the top of Pine Mountain in Atascadero, California, which appeared on December 2, was taken down on December 3, and reappeared on December 4. And fourth, one in Albuquerque, New Mexico, which appeared on December 7 and was taken down the same day.
They look like alien artifacts. In part, that’s because they are heavily reminiscent of the monoliths of Stanley Kubrick’s sci-fi classic 2001: A Space Odyssey, where vast black monoliths are deposited by aliens to guide human beings from one stage of evolution to the next.
Kubrick or no Kubrick, all four of these real-life monoliths are eerie, solitary objects. No one knows whether another will suddenly appear, or whether it, too, will vanish into the night.
We know very little about these monoliths at all, in fact, and that seems to be part of their point. They are a beautifully inexplicable phenomenon, and proof that the world still contains marvels.
Here’s what we do know about the monoliths — and why we keep talking about them.
A monolith timeline
The first monolith was discovered in November in a remote desert canyon in Utah’s Red Rock Country. A helicopter crew counting bighorn sheep noticed a flash of metal looming up from the ground and flew down to investigate, and there it was: deeply embedded in the red rock of the canyon floor, an enormous smooth metal triangular prism, just standing there.
“What the heck is that?” one of the workers mutters in a video released by the Utah Department of Public Safety. “Okay, the intrepid explorers go down to investigate the alien life form,” another cracks.
The canyon is remote and inaccessible without a helicopter, Utah’s Division of Wildlife Services told the New York Times. “It’s a tough place to get to on vehicle and on foot,” a spokesperson said. Officials for the Department of Public Safety added that they had no idea how long the monolith had been there, although Reddit sleuths used Google Maps Earth View to work out that it was installed sometime between August 2015 and October 2016.
The Utah Department of Public Safety announced the “unusual find” on Facebook, with a cheeky alien emoji appended, and the story took off inexorably from there. A mysterious artifact that is an art project but also maybe from aliens, discovered out of nowhere in the middle of the desert, here in the grinding misery of a plague year — what’s not to love about that?
Plenty, argued BASE jumper Andy Lewis and adventure guide Sylvan Christensen, who filmed themselves removing the monolith from the desert on November 27. They say they did so for environmental reasons. “This land wasn’t physically prepared for the population shift,” they declared in a joint statement. The statement goes on to say that the rapid descent of masses of monolith-gawkers into the pristine desert landscape, with no infrastructure set up to support them, caused permanent damage to the delicate ecosystem.
“Let’s be clear: The dismantling of the Utah Monolith is tragic — and if you think we’re proud— we’re not,” they wrote. “We’re disappointed. Furthermore, we were too late.”
But the very day the Utah monolith would disappear, a new monolith surfaced. On November 27, Romanian newspapers reported finding another monolith outside the city of Piatra Neamt, on the plateau of Bâtca Doamnei, near an archaeological site.
Like the Utah monolith, the Romanian monolith is a vast triangular prism, 10 to 12 feet tall. But where the Utah monolith had a flat, reflective surface, the Romanian monolith is covered in looping lines, and there’s a welded seam near its base.
Universul a ales: Zilele acestea orașul nostru este din nou în atenția lumii, și de data aceasta nu e nimic de... Posted by Andrei Carabelea on Saturday, November 28, 2020
In a statement published to Facebook, Piatra Neamt Mayor Andrei Carabelea quipped, “My guess is that some alien, cheeky and terrible teenagers left home with their parents’ UFO and started planting metal monoliths around the world. First in Utah and then at Piatra Neamt. I am honored that they chose our city.” (The English translation is courtesy of the Independent.)
But unlike Lewis and Christensen, Carabelea did not seem to harbor any worries about what monolith-based tourism would do to the natural landscape of the area. On the contrary; he said he hopes the monolith will attract more tourists.
But four days after it arrived, the Romanian monolith vanished overnight. Its disappearance so far remains a mystery.
And on the same day the Romanian monolith vanished, a new monolith appeared in California, at the top of a mountain off a hiking path. According to local news reports, the California monolith is another triangular prism, 10 feet tall and about 18 inches wide: around the same height as the Utah and Romanian monoliths, but a little narrower. Like the Utah monolith, it has a smooth surface. It appears to be made out of stainless steel. Unlike the Utah monolith, it hasn’t been embedded into the ground. A hard push could topple it over.
BREAKING NEWS
There is currently a monolith at the top of Pine Mountain in Atascadero!!
(Photos by @Atownreporter) pic.twitter.com/0vPhEWYkeY — Connor Allen (@ConnorCAllen) December 2, 2020
On December 3, it got that push. A group of young men who apparently drove five hours to San Luis Obispo County livestreamed themselves destroying the monolith on the blockchain site DLive. Dressed in camo gear, night-vision goggles, and Trump paraphernalia, the group chanted “America First” and “Christ is king” as they rocked the monolith back and forth.
“Christ is king in this country. We don’t want illegal aliens from Mexico or outer space,” a man in the video says. “So let’s tear this bitch down.”
Once they’d brought the monolith to the ground, they put up a wooden cross in its place, and then dragged the monolith down the mountain. “It was fine, because it was funny,” a man says toward the end of the stream.
On December 4, the California monolith returned.
Unlike the Utah and Romania monoliths, we do actually know who is responsible for the California monolith. It was built by Atascadero residents Travis Kenney, his father Randall Kenney, Wade McKenzie, and Jared Riddle. They’re local metal artists, and they were inspired by the appearance of the two other monoliths. Figuring that there are three monoliths in 2001: A Space Odyssey, they decided to complete the trilogy themselves. And after it was torn down, they decided to bring it back.
“It was meant to be something fun, a change of pace from the kind of conversations 2020 has been plagued with — so much negativity and separation among the people in our country,” Travis Kenney said in a statement.
On December 7, a fourth monolith appeared in Albuquerque, New Mexico, this time in the parking lot of an REI. And on the same day, it, too, was torn down. In videos circulating social media, a group of people can be seen bearing it to the ground, and witnesses say that before that, they were beating it with sledgehammers.
There are a lot of theories about the monoliths. Here are the big ones.
So where are all these monoliths coming from?
They don’t seem to be coming from the same source. It now seems apparent that the Utah monolith was the work of one person, and the monoliths that have followed are copycats from people like Travis Kenney, following in its example.
Are they some sort of cynical guerrilla ad campaign? Considering that the Utah monolith dates back to 2015, that seems unlikely: It would be a hell of a slow burn of a marketing push.
One popular theory notes that the Utah monolith site is close to some of the 2015 shooting locations for the HBO drama Westworld, and suggests that it might be a leftover prop, or a prank by a member of the Westworld crew.
Another theory suggests that the monoliths are an anonymous art installation, with the Utah monolith created by one original artist and then a series of copycats following.
And in that case, the most pressing question becomes: Who is the artist?
The prankster art collective The Most Famous Artist has taken credit for both the Utah and California monoliths on social media. The group is even offering an “authentic alien monolith” for sale on its website for $45,000. But shortly after the Most Famous Artist made its claim, Travis Kenney and his group took credit for the California monolith, posting images of them constructing the monolith to social media to prove it was them. It’s still possible The Most Famous Artist was behind the Utah monolith, but this development casts severe doubt on its claim over the California one. (There’s still a monolith for sale on its website, though.)
A strong early contender for the original artist behind the Utah monolith was the minimalist sculptor John McCracken, who died in 2011. McCracken’s signature works were his “planks”: freestanding slabs of metal he would lean against a wall. McCracken himself used to say he believed his planks influenced the designer of the monoliths in 2001: A Space Odyssey. He believed in aliens, and he wanted his work to resemble alien artifacts. “Even before I did concerted studies of U.F.O.s,” he once said, “it helped me maintain my focus to think I was trying to do the kind of work that could have been brought here by a U.F.O.”
Art Newspaper noted shortly after the Utah monolith appeared that it bore a striking resemblance to one of McCracken’s planks. And McCracken’s son Patrick McCracken told the New York Times that his father had once envisioned setting up art installations in remote places for viewers to stumble upon in the wild.
“He was inspired by the idea of alien visitors leaving objects that resembled his work, or that his work resembled,” Patrick said. “This discovery of a monolith piece — that’s very much in line with his artistic vision.”
Finally, David Zwirner, owner of the David Zwirner Gallery, which represents McCracken’s estate, told the New York Times he believed the Utah monolith to be a genuine McCracken. Everything seemed to be lining up to indicate that John McCracken sculpted the Utah monolith, at the very least, and maybe the Romanian monolith, too, and left secret instructions to a team to reveal them after his death.
But the tide has turned against the McCracken theory. Upon reviewing photos of the Utah monolith more closely, Zwirner has retracted his original statement to the Times and concluded that McCracken, who preferred to make his sculptures by hand, would not have built the machine-made Utah monolith.
“I love the idea of this being John’s work, but when you look closely at the photos of the Utah monolith, you will see rivets and screws that are not consistent with how John wanted his work to be constructed. He was a perfectionist,” Zwirner said in an emailed statement to Vox. “While I know that this is not John’s work, I also know that he would have enjoyed the Utah location and would have greatly appreciated the mystery surrounding this work. We all think it is a wonderful homage.”
Evidence seems to be mounting now that the monoliths are the work of one or more artists heavily inspired by the work of John McCracken. But who could the mystery artist(s) be?
The monoliths might be the work of an art wizard. If not, it is still fun to think about art wizardry.
The performance artist Zardulu describes herself as a wizard, and her work as modern mythmaking. Zardulu likes to stage stunts and happenings that seem to exist right at the edge of our sense of what is plausible, and that then take off as viral news stories: a three-eyed fish in the Gowanus Canal; a raccoon riding an alligator in Florida. She’s also claimed credit for New York’s iconic Pizza Rat. She has a savvy sense of what a watching news audience is likely to find overwhelmingly delightful, and her goal is to weave unexpected pockets of wonder and delight into the fabric of everyday life.
“I take my fantasy and present it as reality to an unknowing audience,” she told me when I interviewed her in 2017. “Thus creating a true surreality.”
I DMed Zardulu on Twitter to get her take on the monoliths, because she seemed likely to have thoughts on how they function as modern myths.
“I think they’ll find that the Utah one was installed at the height of my productivity, in late 2015,” she wrote back immediately. She added, “If you look back, you’ll notice we talked a lot about my work in Romania, Bulgaria and Macedonia.”
I asked her if she was taking credit for the monoliths.
“No,” she said. Shortly afterward, she elaborated, “Most of my projects aren’t intended to have an immediate effect. I often leave things as objects to be found. Sometimes it’s faux documentation in the research section of a library, sometimes it’s an installation waiting for an unknowing audience. Sometimes that takes days, sometimes it takes five years.”
It is in a sense Zardulu’s life’s work to plant false stories in the press, so I would take the suggestion that she is responsible for the monoliths with a hefty heaping of salt. Nonetheless, it remains true that Zardulu was extremely active in 2015 (that was the Pizza Rat year), and that Reddit sleuths seem to have dated the monolith’s arrival in Utah to sometime between April 2015 and October 2016.
It is also true that in 2017, Zardulu sent me a link to a story about the discovery of a werewolf-like skull in Macedonia with the note, “Was just reminiscing about my trip to Eastern Europe ;)” (The skull was a coyote, she says.)
The monoliths might not be intentional art. They still matter.
Regardless of who created and installed the monoliths and why, they matter now. They’ve reiterated themselves across our landscape like a living meme. They are all over the internet. They are a myth. They are maybe, no matter who made them, art.
“The phenomenon of public interest in the object is more important to me than whether we call it art or not,” said Pedro Lasch, an artist, Duke professor, and creator of the public art course ART of the MOOC: Public Art & Pedagogy. “People can end up going down a rabbit hole in these discussions of whether something is art or not, but ultimately I think they can distract us from a conversation about why we find something so fascinating.”
Lasch notes that the monoliths reiterate many existing tropes in both minimalism and land art, especially the work of Robert Smithson, who incorporated natural landscapes into works like “Spiral Jetty” and who was fascinated by aliens and science fiction. The design and characteristics of the monoliths aren’t particularly new, he says — but the way they have traveled across social media suggests they speak to this moment.
“Part of me wonders whether it’s related to how desperately we need social media and news that have nothing to do with the drastic state of our political affairs,” he says. “And minimalism and a shiny metal surface is as far as it gets.”
The monoliths may or may not be genuine Zardulu works, but they strike me as Zardulist in spirit as much as they are clearly inspired by both McCracken and Smithson: a piece of something otherworldly and strange, dropped into this exhausting and mundane world. Something to take us out of our day-to-day lives in a year defined by quarantine and strife, and into a realm where eerie and uncanny things can happen without explanation. Something we can use to think through our largest preoccupations — what we’re doing to the environment, how we welcome immigrants, or whether we are alone in the universe.
The monoliths are works of art doing the purest thing that art can do, which is to push us beyond the boundaries of our selves.
Or maybe it was aliens!
Update: This article was originally published on December 4. It has been updated to include the appearance of the Albuquerque monolith, the reappearance of the California monolith, and the competing credit claims from The Most Famous Artist and Travis Kenney.


vox--2020-12-04--The pandemic was great for Zoom. What happens when there’s a vaccine?

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What happens when there ’ s a vaccine ?
If 2020 was the year Zoom rode the pandemic to skyrocketing success , 2021 could be the year the videoconferencing company comes back down to Earth .
Zoom started trading on the stock market in April 2019 .
At the time , it was known for being a rarity : a newly public tech company that actually turned a profit .
One year later , the world was in lockdown for the coronavirus pandemic , and Zoom went @ @ @ @ @ @ @ among tech companies to the way people did just about everything .
Not only did that mean a sharp rise in Zoom meetings for the millions newly working from home , but also Zoom birthdays and baby showers for everyone else .
For many , it became an indispensable lifeline to the outside world , with a free option that limited calls to 40 minutes and an unlimited paid option that enabled people to do many of the things they used to do in person .
As people joked at the time : @ @ @ @ @ @ @ new having a car .
It was one of several videoconferencing options already out there , but it captured the public imagination and market share more than most .
Zoom became a verb .
The reason ?
It just worked .
Zoom has grown years in just months .
At this time last year , Zoom had on average 10 million daily meeting participants .
It now has 350 million .
Zoom was the most-downloaded iPhone and iPad app of the year , beating perennial favorites like Instagram and YouTube .
The company @ @ @ @ @ @ @ it was in 2019 .
Now , as we close in on two years since Zoom ’ s public debut , numerous headwinds make the company ’ s future less certain .
Giant software companies like Microsoft , Cisco , and Google have mostly caught up on video chat technology , offering vastly better products than they did before Zoom entered the scene .
What ’ s more , businesses that are cutting costs during a recession are less amenable to additional spending on software when they can lean on the contracts they @ @ @ @ @ @ @ has a Zoom-like videoconferencing feature , is essentially free for companies paying for Microsoft ’ s Office suite .
Slack , another best-of-breed workplace app that was acquired by Salesforce this week , also comes with a video component .
Perhaps most pressing , with multiple viable coronavirus vaccines likely to start distribution , we might not need to video chat so much next year .
Zoom ’ s stock dropped nearly 20 percent in November after the news that Pfizer ’ s vaccine was highly effective in late-stage trials .
It ’ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ this time last year , and Zoom has more than quadrupled sales year over year .
Zoom , for its part , says it welcomes a vaccine , despite the stock dips .
“ Hopefully we provide a good enough service — and it ’ s my true intention that we provide a good enough service — that people want to use us , calamity or not , ” Aparna Bawa , Zoom ’ s chief operating officer , told Recode .
Just nine years ago , disaffected Webex engineer Eric Yuan left @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Zoom is not only more popular than Webex , a videoconferencing service that ’ s been around since the 1990s , Zoom appears more popular than all of its competitors .
But that enthusiasm among users hasn ’ t translated to sales at the same scale .
US traffic to Zoom ’ s website is nearly 30 times what it was in the beginning of the year , according to data from online analytics firm SimilarWeb .
In October , monthly visits to Zoom were three times higher than visits to Google ’ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to the firm , which can ’ t track web visits to Microsoft Teams because it doesn ’ t have its own domain distinct from microsoft.com .
Zoom had double the number of app downloads in October as Google Hangouts , and four times as many as Microsoft Teams or Google Meet .
But Zoom downloads have slowed from highs earlier in the pandemic .
“ Customers are still using the platform , you ’ re just not seeing the volume of new customers coming on as it was in the past six @ @ @ @ @ @ @ software research analyst at 7Park Data , told Recode .
“ A lot of customers who would buy Zoom have already got it.
” In other words , Zoom might be nearing market saturation because so many people already have an account .
And being popular with the masses doesn ’ t necessarily lead to more income , especially since Zoom has a popular free tier with a 40-minute call limit as well as free unlimited usage for K-12 students .
Corporate users are more likely to have the paid version — and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ off their service , when , say , a vaccine makes it possible to meet people in person .
Zoom ’ s largest revenue segment — 62 percent — comes from companies with more than 10 employees , but customers with 10 or fewer employees are growing much faster , making up 38 percent of the company ’ s revenue , up from 20 percent at the end of last year .
That segment of customers has grown as more individuals have adopted the paid service , but it ’ s also a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ switch to a service offered by one of Zoom ’ s competitors more easily .
Last quarter , 18 percent of total revenue came from customers spending $ 100,000 or more , down from 33 percent at the end of last year .
“ The real jewel isn ’ t about consumer or SMBs [ small and medium-sized businesses ] , the real gold is to win enterprise , ” Ryan Koontz , senior research analyst at Rosenblatt Securities , told Recode .
That ’ s because each contract means numerous paid licenses @ @ @ @ @ @ @ subscriptions .
As Koontz put it , for enterprises , “ The cost of change is very high.
” Put differently , Zoom competitors with an existing enterprise customer base have an advantage because those customers are more likely to stick with the same provider .
About half of companies surveyed by Enterprise Technology Research ( ETR ) have Zoom while 75 percent currently have Teams ( many companies pay for multiple software subscriptions ) .
Thirty percent have Cisco ’ s Webex , after a recent decline .
These numbers are still @ @ @ @ @ @ @ began .
And when narrowing the data to bigger Fortune 500 companies , the market share for Teams and Webex rose this quarter , while Zoom ’ s declined .
Additionally , many companies that have Zoom are spending less on it .
Microsoft Teams is the main reason company chief information officers cited for leaving or spending less with Zoom , according to ETR .
( A number of CIOs cited security as another reason for leaving the service . )
Many of those companies already pay for Microsoft ’ s Office @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Excel and Word .
Included in the cost of the software suite is access to Microsoft Teams and its videoconferencing features , making Teams a no-brainer for companies trying to cut costs .
This is an argument Zoom is used to .
“ When Eric [ Yuan ] founded this company , videoconferencing was then thought of as a saturated market .
There were lots of very large legacy providers including Microsoft that continued to bundle different services , ” Bawa said .
“ And Zoom still has done pretty darn well.
” @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , and it ’ s also popular among small businesses .
While this smaller , fast-growing segment isn ’ t as profitable as big companies , these customers are still important for Zoom ’ s future .
“ Don ’ t underestimate the number of small and medium-sized businesses , ” Wayne Kurtzman , research director of social and collaboration at market research firm IDC , said .
“ The market has room for multiple leaders.
” While Zoom earned popularity because of its dependability and ease of use , its competitors have @ @ @ @ @ @ @ by simplifying their services and bulking up the quality of their video calls .
Now , the baseline service that Zoom and its competitors offer is pretty similar .
They all have videoconferences that are pretty easy to join , work pretty well , and are pretty secure .
So all these companies are currently fighting to differentiate themselves with new and better products .
This year , Zoom had to fix security concerns to bring its service more in line with its competitors .
A series of high-profile security mishaps — including @ @ @ @ @ @ @ hijack Mac cameras , and Zoom routing calls through China — eventually led Zoom to bulk up its security .
In addition to fixing the issues that led to the mishaps , Zoom hired former Facebook security executive Alex Stamos as an outside consultant and began offering end-to-end encryption in October .
“ Zoom is catching up at a really quick rate to those like Teams and Webex , ” Frank Dickson , program vice president within IDC ’ s cybersecurity products research practice , told Recode .
Bawa said Zoom ’ s @ @ @ @ @ @ @ bolstered security .
“ The validation is that we have a significant number of our large enterprise customers that go through multiple rounds of security review in financial services , in the government sector , defense — you name it — retail , etc.
, ” Bawa said .
“ And we have passed them and continue flourishing in those accounts , expanding our footprint.
” So now , the competitive battleground for videoconferencing software is all about new features .
Both Microsoft Teams and Cisco ’ s Webex have added at least @ @ @ @ @ @ @ They ’ ve added noise cancellation software to deal with the sounds of working from home : babies crying , dogs barking , neighbors mowing their lawns .
They also started offering live transcription .
Microsoft introduced Together Mode , which places conference attendees against a shared digital background to give them the feeling of being in the same room .
To accommodate its governmental customers , Webex even added a new feature that allows legislators to emulate voting on laws .
“ A direct outcome of the pandemic was , hey , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ this has become a far more strategic technology today than it was five years ago , ” Jeetu Patel , senior vice president of security and apps at Webex , told Recode .
Meanwhile , Facebook realized early in the pandemic that people were using its Portal video chat service more for group events than one-on-one conversations , so it made that easier with link sharing and call scheduling .
All of the platforms have enabled fun backgrounds and Snapchat-like augmented reality filters .
In addition to many of the same features as @ @ @ @ @ @ @ out new potential revenue streams .
After launching Zoom Rooms and Zoom Phone last year , Zoom announced more new products in October : OnZoom , a video events platform that will allow people to sell tickets , and Zoom Apps , which lets people navigate to other workplace apps like Dropbox and Slack within Zoom .
Zoom sees these new products as commonsense additions to its core tool , which it says could still get better .
But taken together , all of these moves could be a sign of weakness .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ ’ s a one-trick pony announces new products , it ’ s because the current product is maxed out , ” said market researcher Thomas DelVecchio .
What comes after a vaccine The end of the pandemic does not signify the end of video calls .
It will certainly mean less video usage , but video will likely forevermore be a component of meetings , if not a dire necessity .
After the pandemic , the vast majority of office employers plan to use a hybrid work model , wherein some of their @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the time .
As large as it was this year — $ 7.9 billion — the videoconferencing market is expected to grow next year to an estimated $ 9.7 billion with 90 percent of North American businesses likely to spend more on it , according to IDC .
“ Videoconferencing in seven years will seem unrecognizable ” The videoconferencing companies , in turn , are all looking forward to a time when meetings will happen naturally in person and remotely .
They ’ ll also have to make it natural for those physically @ @ @ @ @ @ @ counterparts , without one or the other feeling disadvantaged .
Inevitably , video calls need to be more useful .
“ It needs to be more than a meeting , ” said IDC ’ s Kurtzman .
“ It needs to add more value.
” That will include using augmented reality to make meetings more engaging and viewing data together as a group more useful .
It will also require setting up video calls to become even simpler and more seamless than they are now .
“ Videoconferencing in seven years will seem @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , ” Kurtzman said .
“ The features and ways of engaging many people would classify as science fiction today.
” Companies are approaching the future from varying angles .
Going forward , Microsoft is investing heavily in features that contribute to employees ’ sense of wellbeing , as their research shows working during the pandemic has had deleterious effects on employees , including an increased number of meetings and longer hours .
Cisco is soon launching a feature meant to guarantee that everyone in a meeting feels they can participate , by @ @ @ @ @ @ @ which the others are muted .
Facebook expects video to become an additive element to regular life .
“ I can see every wedding happening going forward having a Portal device in the front row , ” Micah Collins , director of product management for Facebook ’ s Portal , said .
And now that these legacy software companies are paying such close attention to the videoconference space , it will be difficult for Zoom to keep up and continue to differentiate itself .
Its founder has suggested that Zoom could be the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
“ Eric at one point said , ‘ I want you to be able to reach through Zoom and shake someone ’ s hand or give each other a hug over Zoom , ’ ” Bawa said .
“ We view ourselves as the conduit to providing human-to-human connection in any context in a very intimate and personal way.
” If Zoom can pull it off , that could be the difference between a company on the rise and one crashing back to Earth .

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If 2020 was the year Zoom rode the pandemic to skyrocketing success, 2021 could be the year the videoconferencing company comes back down to Earth.
Zoom started trading on the stock market in April 2019. At the time, it was known for being a rarity: a newly public tech company that actually turned a profit. One year later, the world was in lockdown for the coronavirus pandemic, and Zoom went from being a niche business software popular among tech companies to the way people did just about everything.
Not only did that mean a sharp rise in Zoom meetings for the millions newly working from home, but also Zoom birthdays and baby showers for everyone else. For many, it became an indispensable lifeline to the outside world, with a free option that limited calls to 40 minutes and an unlimited paid option that enabled people to do many of the things they used to do in person. As people joked at the time: Having a corporate Zoom account was the new having a car.
It was one of several videoconferencing options already out there, but it captured the public imagination and market share more than most. Zoom became a verb. The reason? It just worked.
Zoom has grown years in just months. At this time last year, Zoom had on average 10 million daily meeting participants. It now has 350 million. Zoom was the most-downloaded iPhone and iPad app of the year, beating perennial favorites like Instagram and YouTube. The company’s revenue is four times what it was in 2019.
Now, as we close in on two years since Zoom’s public debut, numerous headwinds make the company’s future less certain. Giant software companies like Microsoft, Cisco, and Google have mostly caught up on video chat technology, offering vastly better products than they did before Zoom entered the scene. What’s more, businesses that are cutting costs during a recession are less amenable to additional spending on software when they can lean on the contracts they already have. Microsoft Teams, which has a Zoom-like videoconferencing feature, is essentially free for companies paying for Microsoft’s Office suite. Slack, another best-of-breed workplace app that was acquired by Salesforce this week, also comes with a video component.
Perhaps most pressing, with multiple viable coronavirus vaccines likely to start distribution, we might not need to video chat so much next year. Zoom’s stock dropped nearly 20 percent in November after the news that Pfizer’s vaccine was highly effective in late-stage trials. It’s still up nearly 500 percent from this time last year, and Zoom has more than quadrupled sales year over year.
Zoom, for its part, says it welcomes a vaccine, despite the stock dips.
“Hopefully we provide a good enough service — and it’s my true intention that we provide a good enough service — that people want to use us, calamity or not,” Aparna Bawa, Zoom’s chief operating officer, told Recode.
Zoom’s customer base is in transition
Just nine years ago, disaffected Webex engineer Eric Yuan left Cisco to found Zoom. Now, Zoom is not only more popular than Webex, a videoconferencing service that’s been around since the 1990s, Zoom appears more popular than all of its competitors. But that enthusiasm among users hasn’t translated to sales at the same scale.
US traffic to Zoom’s website is nearly 30 times what it was in the beginning of the year, according to data from online analytics firm SimilarWeb. In October, monthly visits to Zoom were three times higher than visits to Google’s Meet and Hangouts combined, according to the firm, which can’t track web visits to Microsoft Teams because it doesn’t have its own domain distinct from microsoft.com.
Zoom had double the number of app downloads in October as Google Hangouts, and four times as many as Microsoft Teams or Google Meet. But Zoom downloads have slowed from highs earlier in the pandemic.
“Customers are still using the platform, you’re just not seeing the volume of new customers coming on as it was in the past six months,” Charlie Rogers, a software research analyst at 7Park Data, told Recode. “A lot of customers who would buy Zoom have already got it.”
In other words, Zoom might be nearing market saturation because so many people already have an account.
And being popular with the masses doesn’t necessarily lead to more income, especially since Zoom has a popular free tier with a 40-minute call limit as well as free unlimited usage for K-12 students. Corporate users are more likely to have the paid version — and they’re less likely to turn off their service, when, say, a vaccine makes it possible to meet people in person.
Zoom’s largest revenue segment — 62 percent — comes from companies with more than 10 employees, but customers with 10 or fewer employees are growing much faster, making up 38 percent of the company’s revenue, up from 20 percent at the end of last year. That segment of customers has grown as more individuals have adopted the paid service, but it’s also a more volatile segment because smaller customers can switch to a service offered by one of Zoom’s competitors more easily.
Last quarter, 18 percent of total revenue came from customers spending $100,000 or more, down from 33 percent at the end of last year.
“The real jewel isn’t about consumer or SMBs [small and medium-sized businesses], the real gold is to win enterprise,” Ryan Koontz, senior research analyst at Rosenblatt Securities, told Recode. That’s because each contract means numerous paid licenses within an organization as well as longer-term subscriptions. As Koontz put it, for enterprises, “The cost of change is very high.”
Put differently, Zoom competitors with an existing enterprise customer base have an advantage because those customers are more likely to stick with the same provider.
About half of companies surveyed by Enterprise Technology Research (ETR) have Zoom while 75 percent currently have Teams (many companies pay for multiple software subscriptions). Thirty percent have Cisco’s Webex, after a recent decline.
These numbers are still up for both products since the pandemic began. And when narrowing the data to bigger Fortune 500 companies, the market share for Teams and Webex rose this quarter, while Zoom’s declined.
Additionally, many companies that have Zoom are spending less on it. Microsoft Teams is the main reason company chief information officers cited for leaving or spending less with Zoom, according to ETR. (A number of CIOs cited security as another reason for leaving the service.) Many of those companies already pay for Microsoft’s Office 365, which has business staples like Excel and Word. Included in the cost of the software suite is access to Microsoft Teams and its videoconferencing features, making Teams a no-brainer for companies trying to cut costs.
This is an argument Zoom is used to.
“When Eric [Yuan] founded this company, videoconferencing was then thought of as a saturated market. There were lots of very large legacy providers including Microsoft that continued to bundle different services,” Bawa said. “And Zoom still has done pretty darn well.”
Zoom still has plenty of enterprise users, and it’s also popular among small businesses. While this smaller, fast-growing segment isn’t as profitable as big companies, these customers are still important for Zoom’s future.
“Don’t underestimate the number of small and medium-sized businesses,” Wayne Kurtzman, research director of social and collaboration at market research firm IDC, said. “The market has room for multiple leaders.”
The videoconference feature war
While Zoom earned popularity because of its dependability and ease of use, its competitors have gotten a lot better in these respects by simplifying their services and bulking up the quality of their video calls. Now, the baseline service that Zoom and its competitors offer is pretty similar. They all have videoconferences that are pretty easy to join, work pretty well, and are pretty secure. So all these companies are currently fighting to differentiate themselves with new and better products.
This year, Zoom had to fix security concerns to bring its service more in line with its competitors. A series of high-profile security mishaps — including Zoombombing, a vulnerability that let websites hijack Mac cameras, and Zoom routing calls through China — eventually led Zoom to bulk up its security. In addition to fixing the issues that led to the mishaps, Zoom hired former Facebook security executive Alex Stamos as an outside consultant and began offering end-to-end encryption in October.
“Zoom is catching up at a really quick rate to those like Teams and Webex,” Frank Dickson, program vice president within IDC’s cybersecurity products research practice, told Recode.
Bawa said Zoom’s enterprise customers are a testament to the bolstered security.
“The validation is that we have a significant number of our large enterprise customers that go through multiple rounds of security review in financial services, in the government sector, defense — you name it — retail, etc.,” Bawa said. “And we have passed them and continue flourishing in those accounts, expanding our footprint.”
So now, the competitive battleground for videoconferencing software is all about new features. Both Microsoft Teams and Cisco’s Webex have added at least 100 new features since the pandemic. They’ve added noise cancellation software to deal with the sounds of working from home: babies crying, dogs barking, neighbors mowing their lawns. They also started offering live transcription. Microsoft introduced Together Mode, which places conference attendees against a shared digital background to give them the feeling of being in the same room. To accommodate its governmental customers, Webex even added a new feature that allows legislators to emulate voting on laws.
“A direct outcome of the pandemic was, hey, our innovation velocity has to increase because this has become a far more strategic technology today than it was five years ago,” Jeetu Patel, senior vice president of security and apps at Webex, told Recode.
Meanwhile, Facebook realized early in the pandemic that people were using its Portal video chat service more for group events than one-on-one conversations, so it made that easier with link sharing and call scheduling.
All of the platforms have enabled fun backgrounds and Snapchat-like augmented reality filters.
In addition to many of the same features as its competitors, Zoom has been rolling out new potential revenue streams. After launching Zoom Rooms and Zoom Phone last year, Zoom announced more new products in October: OnZoom, a video events platform that will allow people to sell tickets, and Zoom Apps, which lets people navigate to other workplace apps like Dropbox and Slack within Zoom. Zoom sees these new products as commonsense additions to its core tool, which it says could still get better.
But taken together, all of these moves could be a sign of weakness.
“Anytime an enterprise tech company that’s a one-trick pony announces new products, it’s because the current product is maxed out,” said market researcher Thomas DelVecchio.
What comes after a vaccine
The end of the pandemic does not signify the end of video calls. It will certainly mean less video usage, but video will likely forevermore be a component of meetings, if not a dire necessity.
After the pandemic, the vast majority of office employers plan to use a hybrid work model, wherein some of their workforce works remotely at least some of the time. As large as it was this year — $7.9 billion — the videoconferencing market is expected to grow next year to an estimated $9.7 billion with 90 percent of North American businesses likely to spend more on it, according to IDC.
“Videoconferencing in seven years will seem unrecognizable”
The videoconferencing companies, in turn, are all looking forward to a time when meetings will happen naturally in person and remotely. They’ll also have to make it natural for those physically present to communicate effectively with their remote counterparts, without one or the other feeling disadvantaged. Inevitably, video calls need to be more useful.
“It needs to be more than a meeting,” said IDC’s Kurtzman. “It needs to add more value.”
That will include using augmented reality to make meetings more engaging and viewing data together as a group more useful. It will also require setting up video calls to become even simpler and more seamless than they are now.
“Videoconferencing in seven years will seem unrecognizable from the videoconferencing we have today,” Kurtzman said. “The features and ways of engaging many people would classify as science fiction today.”
Companies are approaching the future from varying angles. Going forward, Microsoft is investing heavily in features that contribute to employees’ sense of wellbeing, as their research shows working during the pandemic has had deleterious effects on employees, including an increased number of meetings and longer hours. Cisco is soon launching a feature meant to guarantee that everyone in a meeting feels they can participate, by allotting each participant time to speak in which the others are muted. Facebook expects video to become an additive element to regular life.
“I can see every wedding happening going forward having a Portal device in the front row,” Micah Collins, director of product management for Facebook’s Portal, said.
And now that these legacy software companies are paying such close attention to the videoconference space, it will be difficult for Zoom to keep up and continue to differentiate itself. Its founder has suggested that Zoom could be the center of a more human communications system.
“Eric at one point said, ‘I want you to be able to reach through Zoom and shake someone’s hand or give each other a hug over Zoom,’” Bawa said. “We view ourselves as the conduit to providing human-to-human connection in any context in a very intimate and personal way.”
If Zoom can pull it off, that could be the difference between a company on the rise and one crashing back to Earth.