One of Elon Musk’s children has petitioned a California court to recognize her new name and gender, saying she no longer wishes to be related to her famous and wealthy father “in any way, shape or form.”

The petition was filed by Xavier Alexander Musk, who turned 18 earlier this year and made the filing with a county court in Los Angeles soon thereafter. She requests that her name be changed to Vivian Jenna Wilson. Wilson is the last name of her mother, Justine Wilson, Musk’s ex-wife and mother of five of his seven children.

Musk, the CEO of Tesla and SpaceX, is the world’s richest person with an estimated net worth of $214 billion.

He has been criticized for some of his statements on Twitter regarding gender identity issues. For example in December 2020 he posted a tweet, since deleted, that said “when you put he/him in your bio” alongside a drawing of an 18th century soldier rubbing blood on his face in front of a pile of dead bodies and wearing a cap that read “I love to oppress.”

In response to criticism to that tweet, Musk wrote on Twitter: “I absolutely support trans, but all these pronouns are an esthetic nightmare.” He also pointed out that Tesla had scored a 100% rating from the Human Rights Campaign as being one of the “Best Places to Work for LGBTQ+ Equality.” Tesla still has that 100% score in HRC’s 2022 rankings.

News of Xavier Musk’s filing broke over the weekend on social media, and in stories on celebrity news site The Blast as well as in the Los Angeles Times Monday. There is a hearing for the case set for this Friday.

Early Sunday Musk tweeted Father’s Day greetings, followed by another tweet that said “I love all my kids so much.”

CNN Business was not able to contact Xavier Musk for comment and there were no comments from her in other reports about the filing.

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The looming shutdown of 3G networks won’t just impact older phones.

With AT&T’s 3G network shutting down next week, and other carriers following suit later this year, a range of products require updates to continue working, including some home alarm systems, medical devices such as fall detectors, and in-car crash notification and roadside assistance systems such as General Motors’ OnStar.

Just as many mobile carriers have urged customers to swap their older 3G iPhones, Android phones, e-readers and other handheld devices for newer models ahead of the shutdown, other businesses are urging customers to upgrade or replace some of the everyday products and services in their homes and cars before they drop connectivity.

If left unaddressed, the stakes could be high in certain cases. Millions of cars, for example, may no longer have the ability to contact first responders after a collision or receive updates such as location or traffic alerts for built-in GPS systems. Some vehicles, including Chevrolet, Buick and Cadillac, have software upgrades for drivers to connect their systems to a 4G network, but other models will reportedly lose this feature for good.

The introduction of 3G in 2002 allowed some early car infotainment systems and home security services — pioneers in the smart home space — to connect to the networks. But over time, wireless companies moved on to 4G and more recently 5G networks.

Now, the major carriers are phasing out 3G technology in the United States and some markets abroad. AT&T, which owns CNN’s parent company, is shutting it down on February 22; T-Mobile is doing so in the third quarter; and Verizon will take this step by the end of the year. As the technology officially becomes obsolete, a scramble is underway to help consumers avoid a disruption.

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What companies are doing about it

Some industries are better set up to handle the change. Many home security companies, for example, have been migrating their subscriber bases from 3G to 4G over the past two years. “From the most recent industry discussions I’ve participated in, it appears most US home security dealers have migrated 100% or very close to 100% of their subscribers so it’s not on most providers’ to-do lists any longer,” said Jack Narcotta, principal industry analyst at Strategy Analytics.

He said the home security industry’s effort to transition to 4G wasn’t overly complicated because it simply involved having a technician install a box or panel for a newer model. Some companies such as ADT have also put additional resources into the transition. In 2020, the home security company acquired Cellbounce, which makes a device that converts 3G signals to 4G for AT&T’s network.

Security businesses, such as My Alarm Center, have been clear in their messaging to customers that replacement units were needed ahead of the shutdown, too. “Even if your alarm appears to function, it will no longer communicate with our central service station to notify us that emergency services are needed,” My Alarm Center states on its website.

But even with these efforts, some customers and systems will likely get left behind — and not just home security and car assistance services.

“A few million connected devices in the smart home space still need to be replaced, including my meter for my solar panels,” said Roger Entner, analyst and founder of Recon Analytics. “Some companies started reaching out to their customers over the past 2 years informing them that service would soon shut off, but as of 6 months ago, many products still haven’t gotten around to replacing them yet.”

The auto industry is in more of a gray area. In addition to software upgrades, some automakers are offering consumers newer parts to add to existing technologies to get them running on 4G. But some are offering no accommodation at all. This is compounded by consumers likely being less aware of which network their car systems use than which network their phones use.

“A fair number of people are going to be surprised,” said Sam Abuelsamid, principal analyst with Guidehouse Insights, a market research firm focused on emerging technologies. “But if they’re currently a paying subscriber to a connectivity service, they most certainly have been notified at this point.”

What you can do about it

As a general rule, most cars built in the last five years with connectivity are using 4G modems, according to Abuelsamid. Anyone who isn’t sure if their vehicle is going to lose connectivity can call their local dealer for more information.

If the car does use 3G, Abuelsamid recommended customers ask the manufacturer if there is an upgrade program and, failing that, contact the carriers, which can provide an adapter with a modem that can be plugged into a vehicle.

For those who are unsure if their home alarm system runs on 3G, the security company likely has an FAQ page on its website with a list of impacted model numbers. Customers can also call the company directly to ask and arrange for next steps.

Ultimately, it’s much easier to replace some items that run on 3G than others. “It’s easier to replace a 3G e-reader if you want to keep cellular connectivity than it is to replace a car system, so some folks have an expensive decision to make if they want to keep their older auto connected with cellular,” said Bill Menezes, director at market research firm Gartner.

Future disruptions

It’s not the first time a network has been phased out nor will it be the last. The 3G shutdown is primarily intended to re-use the spectrum for 4G and 5G, which are newer standards, better technologies and more efficient. The same thing happened with 2G, which AT&T and Verizon shut down around the end of 2017; T-Mobile plans to shut its 2G network in December.

Last month, AT&T and Verizon turned on C-band 5G networks, an important set of higher radio frequencies that will supercharge the internet. The change will allow users to, for example, stream a Netflix movie in 4K resolution or download a movie in seconds. (Verizon said its C-band speeds reach nearly one gigabyte per second, about 10 times as fast as 4G LTE.)

For those worried about seeing 4G household devices phased out, don’t be. Dimitris Mavrakis, a senior director at market research firm ABI Research, said the shut down of 4G networks won’t happen anytime soon, noting “other generations will likely remain in the market for a very long time.” Because 2G introduced mobile voice and 4G introduced mobile broadband, he calls 3G “somewhere in between” and “not ideal for either voice or mobile broadband.”

“Ultimately, 4G is a lot better than 3G,” he said. “This is why it’s being phased out.”

The-CNN-Wire & © 2022 Cable News Network, Inc., a WarnerMedia Company. All rights reserved.

The US economic recovery from the depths of the Covid pandemic continued strong last year.

US gross domestic product — the broadest measure of economic activity — expanded 5.7% last year, the fastest pace since 1984 when Ronald Reagan was in the White House, the Bureau of Economic Analysis reported Thursday.

The final three months of 2021 got a much better scorecard than economists had predicted: GDP grew at an annualized rate of 6.9% in the fourth quarter.

It was a substantial uptick from the Delta-ridden third quarter, GDP grew at an annualized pace of only 2.3%. In fact, it was the best quarterly performance since the third quarter of 2020 when the initial reopening boom buoyed economic growth.

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High growth, high inflation

But it wasn’t just the growth rate that jumped last year. Supply chain chaos, worker shortages and whopping demand also led prices to climb uncomfortably high.

For 2021, the personal consumption expenditure price index — a key measure of inflation — rose 3.9%, the largest increase since 1990.

In the fourth quarter, PCE inflation was 6.5%, the biggest jump since the third quarter of 1981.

Next up: Omicron

As strong as the finish to the 2021 was, the first few months of this year might look rather different.

The Omicron variant of the coronavirus, which arrived on the scene in late November, sent infections skyrocketing and caused businesses to struggle as workers stayed home to recover. But much of that impact was confined to late December and into January.

“The Omicron variant almost surely took the edge off growth during the final month of the year, and it is clearly extracting a powerful toll on overall economic activity in the first quarter of 2022,” said Joe Brusuelas, chief economist at RSM US.

On top of that, the pandemic stimulus that still supported the economy last year is coming to an end. The Federal Reserve said Wednesday that it plans to be done rolling back its monthly asset purchases in early March and signaled it would raise interest rates soon after to rein in inflation.

Washington’s policies have changed and that means that slower growth is coming our way.

“While we have reached the end of pandemic era fiscal and monetary policy the pandemic is not yet over,” Brusuelas added.

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Pfizer’s Covid-19 vaccine is currently only authorized for emergency use in the United States, but its full approval by the US Food and Drug Administration could happen within weeks.

The ramifications could alter the course of the pandemic in several ways.

First, full approval of a Covid-19 vaccine could persuade more people to get vaccinated.

More than 30% of the eligible population in the United States still hasn’t gotten a vaccine.

To qualify for emergency use authorization, Covid-19 vaccine makers submitted about three months of clinical trial data. This included at least 2 months of safety data on fully vaccinated participants, since most vaccine side effects occur 2-3 months after the vaccination.

For some Americans, that hasn’t been enough data to convince them to get the shot.

Full approval of a Covid-19 vaccine requires much more data, including safety and efficacy data generated in the real-world, outside of a clinical trial. The CDC has been tracking real-world data on the vaccines and more than 165 million people in the US are now vaccinated against the virus.

The extra data may help convince more people that the vaccines are not dangerous.

“For some, getting a full FDA approval will help allay that fear. Even if it’s just a relatively small number of people. Every little bit helps against this virus,” Dr. David Dowdy, an associate professor in the division of infectious disease epidemiology at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, said.

Three in ten unvaccinated adults said they would be more likely to get vaccinated if one of the vaccines moves to full approval, according to a survey from the Kaiser Family Foundation.

However, Kaiser cautioned that some people it surveyed were confused about the shots. Two-thirds thought the vaccines already had full approval or they were unsure about it. This finding may just mean that full approval “is a proxy for general safety concerns.”

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Dr. Michael Wolf, the Associate Vice Chair for Research, Department of Medicine at Northwestern Feinberg School of Medicine expects approval would get about 5-10% more individuals worried about safety to get vaccinated.

The FDA is currently “working around the clock” on approval of the Covid-19 vaccine, according to Dr. Paul Offit, a prominent member of the FDA’s vaccine advisory committee and director of the Vaccine Education Center at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia.

“I think from the standpoint of the public, it really shouldn’t matter,” Offit said. “It’s been given to half of the American population. We have more than 300 million doses out there. This is far from experimental. We have a tremendous safety and efficacy portfolio on these vaccines — I mean, it’s more than most licensed products that are out there now.”

And yet he recognized that, at least for some, it does matter. He said the FDA knows that, too.

“I think they realize that at least there’s a psychological issue with how these vaccines are viewed, in terms of whether they’re a licensed product or just approved through EUA,” Offit said.

‘Carrots’ and ‘sticks’ will encourage vaccination

Full approval of a Covid-19 vaccine could also make workplace mandates easier. Many unvaccinated people would face a financial reason to get one; they’ll need it to keep their jobs.

“FDA approval alone is not going to make many individuals run out and get it now, but you’re going to start seeing health systems and employers feel more emboldened to require them,” Wolf said. “There’s precedent for mandatory vaccinations and immunizations.”

Workplaces already have the legal authority to mandate the Covid-19 vaccine, according to the US Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. But full approval could give any legal challenge less potency.

“FDA approval is the gold standard. The world’s regulators look to our FDA as the beacon when it comes to such issues as this,” George Karavetsos, a legal expert who had worked at the FDA and now provides strategic advice to FDA regulated companies as an attorney at Buchanan Ingersoll Rooney, said. “I can assure you, they’re going to make sure they got this right.”

Erik Nisbet, the Owen L. Coon Endowed Professor of Policy Analysis & Communication and director of the Center for Communication & Public Policy in the School of Communication at Northwestern University, agreed.

“If you ever want to get beyond 70% threshold of people who have gotten a vaccination so far, you need to have carrots and you have to have sticks,” Nisbet said. “The only way to do that is the mandate. Authorization takes out one of the impediments to more widespread mandates.”

A little political cover

Full approval may also provide political cover to get more people vaccinated. On Wednesday, Louisiana’s Governor John Bel Edwards said he would not consider requiring the vaccine for state employees “unless and until the FDA grants full licensure to one of more of the Covid vaccines.” The state has the highest per capita number of cases of any state and one of the lowest vaccination rates.

San Francisco announced that it would require all city employees to be vaccinated no later than 10 weeks after FDA full approval.

Full approval may even be able to override laws like the one in Ohio that bans vaccine mandates under emergency use authorization, according to Nisbet.

“Approval kicks that out of the way,” he said.

A potential booster bonus?

Full approval may also mean that the fully vaccinated could get an additional vaccine, even before boosters are approved.

“Approval will make it easier for physicians to give the vaccine off label,” Dowdy explained. “If people can convince their doctor they need one.”

Many scientists hope people won’t do that. While a number of clinical trials are underway, boosters are not yet recommended by the FDA and the CDC.

Trials have shown immunocompromised people may not respond as well to the vaccines and may need a booster. There is an effort to make boosters for that population available “very soon,” Dr. Anthony Fauci, head of the National Institutes for Allergies and Infectious Diseases, said on Tuesday.

“Right now, what we really want to do is get the patient population here in the US to at least get one shot and not get ahead of the data,” said Melissa Tice, program director of regulatory affairs and assistant professor of clinical research and leadership at George Washington University School of Medicine & Health Sciences. “Hopefully, approval will at least get more people to get their first dose.”

What does approval mean for kids?

It remains unclear how having a fully licensed coronavirus vaccine may impact the timeline of authorizing or approving the coronavirus vaccines for children younger than 12 — if at all, Offit said.

The Pfizer/BioNTech Covid-29 vaccine is currently authorized for ages 12 and older, whereas the Moderna and Johnson & Johnson vaccines are authorized only for adults 18 and older.

“Does getting full approval for an adult vaccine, does that matter in terms of speeding up the process for approval for the childhood vaccines? I think the answer to that question is probably no,” Offit told CNN on Friday.

Overall, “this is all sort of new territory — the notion of emergency use authorization obviously is new, certainly for vaccines that have been used to this extent. We had EUAs for anthrax vaccines, but that’s not this,” he said. “I’m not sure how the FDA views this.”

The-CNN-Wire & © 2021 Cable News Network, Inc., a WarnerMedia Company. All rights reserved.

Fitch Ratings warned on Tuesday that the United States could lose its perfect credit rating due in part to the ongoing assault on democracy and worsening political polarization.

The credit ratings firm said that governance is a “weakness” for the United States, specifically citing the January 6 insurrection and ongoing efforts to curb voting rights in dozens of states.

“In light of developments since the last review and future risks, a deterioration in governance represents a further risk to the rating,” Fitch Ratings said in the report.

Although Fitch reaffirmed America’s AAA credit rating, it said that could change due to rising debt levels and the state of politics in the world’s largest economy.

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“The failure of the former president to concede the election and the events surrounding the certification of the results of the presidential election in Congress in January have no parallels in other very highly rated sovereigns,” the report said.

S&P Global Ratings, another credit ratings firm, downgraded the United States in 2011, setting off turmoil in financial markets. A downgrade by Fitch could raise the country’s borrowing costs, making it more expensive to refinance debt.

Fitch said it could downgrade the credit rating for the United States if there is a “deterioration in governance quality that undermines the integrity of the US political system.” Such an outcome would be viewed negatively because it could limit the government’s ability to manage the economy and absorb economic shocks.

The voting rights debate could also play a role in the nation’s credit rating.

“The redrafting of election laws in some states could weaken the political system, increasing divergence between votes cast and party representation,” Fitch Ratings said. “These developments underline an ongoing risk of lack of bipartisanship and difficulty in formulating policy and passing laws in Congress.”

Beyond the voting rights debate, Fitch Ratings echoed concerns by Republicans about the mountain of US debt. The firm said debt dynamics point to a stabilization in the debt ratio at a level at which a “further meaningful increase” in borrowing could lead to a downgrade.

“However, key variables including real interest rates and fiscal deficits may not follow the expected path, potentially creating downside risk,” Fitch said.

The-CNN-Wire & © 2021 Cable News Network, Inc., a WarnerMedia Company. All rights reserved.

Prince Harry has found a new gig: The Duke of Sussex joined a startup called BetterUp as chief impact officer, which provides mental health services and coaching to clients online. The job announcement came weeks after he and wife Meghan Markle’s bombshell interview with Oprah Winfrey, in which they spoke on the mental health struggles that came with royal life.

First Move’s Julia Chatterley spoke to CEO Alexi Robichaux about Harry’s role at BetterUp and the company’s mission.

CNN’s parent company WarnerMedia is a client of BetterUp.

Explain the mission please. I read it as providing a gym for mental health. What does that mean?

Robichaux: The easiest way to think about BetterUp is that we’re taking what was traditionally been thought of as competitive coaching and putting that into the pockets of workers and professionals worldwide. We are a professional, mobile platform that connects individuals with one-on-one dedicated coaching they can do related to leadership, sleep, nutrition and parenting. They do this over video chat and text message from the convenience of their phone.

You say it’s A.I. enabled. What does that mean in practice?

Robichaux: You can think of eHarmony. We use machine learning and artificial intelligence to help find the coaches that are the right match for you. We look across 120 variables from the data you give us through a quick questionnaire. It feels natural, comfortable, energizing, and it feels safe.

So explain Prince Harry’s role. What is a chief impact officer?

Robichaux: We came to the title together. We were organically having these conversations how the mission of BetterUp is bigger than BetterUp. He’s been doing this work in his own life for years. We can change the global dialogue to not think of mental health as the absence of mental illness, but to think about mental health as performance and realizing your potential. That is a huge global impact that BetterUp can be part of. He can keep us accountable and also accelerate that by expanding our global community, reach, and influencing everything from our product experience to helping partner with companies and organizations globally to expand our impact around the world.

What was it about his experience and CV that makes you believe he is the right person for this role?

Robichaux: First and foremost, it’s who he is as a person. I was so impressed with his genuine and sincere desire to be of service and to make a positive impact in the world. Secondly, he’s done the work, from Heads Together to the Invictus games. He has an incredible track record related to advancing this mission of mental fitness. Long before we had the opportunity meeting him, I had always had a daydream that maybe we would be fortunate enough to work with someone like him, who’s been one of the leading forces in the world for mental health. We could not have thought of someone better for this role and we’re thrilled to work with him.

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Critics will look at this and say it’s a great whopping PR stunt. When you look at the Oprah Winfrey interview, do you worry he could be a distraction for the broader business?

How much is Prince Harry going to get paid?

Robichaux: As you can imagine, we don’t disclose anyone’s compensation, so we’re not able to comment on that.

The-CNN-Wire & © 2021 Cable News Network, Inc., a WarnerMedia Company. All rights reserved.

Costco will raise its starting rate for hourly store workers in the United States to $16 an hour, putting its starting wage above rivals such as Amazon, Target and Best Buy.

Costco has around 180,000 US employees, and 90% of them work hourly. It will hike its minimum wage to $16 beginning next week, chief executive Craig Jelinek said Thursday at a US Senate Budget Committee hearing on worker pay at large companies.

The move comes as Democrats in Congress seek to rally support for a $15 federal minimum wage. Sen. Bernie Sanders is the driving force behind Congress’ current push to raise the federal minimum wage, introducing a bill last month to increase it to $15 by 2025. President Joe Biden has also backed a $15 minimum wage. The federal minimum wage has stood at $7.25 an hour since 2009, but a growing number of cities and states are raising their minimum wage.

Costco, based in Issaquah, Washington, raised its minimum wage to $14 in 2018 and $15 in 2019. The company says 20% of its hourly employees make the minimum wage.

More retailers and restaurant chains have also moved to a $15 an hour minimum rate. Amazon raised its starting wage to $15 in 2018, while Target and Best Buy bumped up their minimums to $15 last year. Walmart, the largest US retailer, has an $11 minimum wage, and it said last week that it planned to raise pay for around 425,000 employees, a quarter of its workforce, to at least $13 an hour.

Arindrajit Dube, a professor of economics at the University of Massachusetts Amherst who studies the minimum wage, said Costco’s move would put pressure on rival employers such as Amazon to match its $16 minimum.

Although some companies have moved to $15 an hour or above, many business leaders oppose a $15 federal minimum wage. Some employers, particularly small businesses, have fought against raising the minimum wage to $15, saying it could prompt layoffs and even closures.

Also on Wednesday, Matthew Shay, president of the National Retail Federation, a lobbying group for retailers, said on a call with reporters that “it doesn’t make sense for the federal government to be in the business of dictating wages in an economy as broad and diverse in scope as this one is…It’s best to let market conditions dictate” wages.

—CNN’s Tami Luhby and Matt Egan contributed to this article.

The-CNN-Wire & © 2021 Cable News Network, Inc., a WarnerMedia Company. All rights reserved.

Airlines are still operating only a fraction of the number of flights they offered pre-pandemic, and alcohol is banned in many cabins to help thwart the spread of Covid-19. This is adding up to a lot of leftover booze. Now, American Airlines is hoping to sell and ship some of its excess wine directly to peoples’ homes.

The company said Thursday that a new program — called American Airlines Flagship Cellars — will give customers a chance to buy wine by the bottle, in custom “curated” cases, or via a monthly subscription plan that costs $99 per month.

American Airlines’ single-bottle wine offerings range in price from about $13 to $40, and the most expensive offering is a $300 three-pack of Champagne.

Purchasing the $99 monthly subscription gives customers access to discounted prices, a monthly shipment of three bottles of wines, and customers will rack up two AAdvantage Miles for every dollar spent.

The wine bottles are among those that would have been served to customers with American Airlines’ “Flagship” tickets, a luxury seating option on international and transcontinental flights.

The coronavirus pandemic has battered the travel industry, leaving dozens of planes grounded and international travel greatly reduced. American is among several airlines that have also suspended in-flight alcohol sales to minimize the amount of time flight attendants have to interact with customers in the Covid-19 era. American posted a net loss of $3.6 billion in its latest earnings report, and wine sales aren’t expected to make much of a dent in its losses.

The company hopes its new at-home wine program will bring in about $40,000 to $50,000 in sales during the first three months of the year, an American Airlines spokesperson said in an email, citing the company’s chief customer officer, Alison Taylor.

But the short-term prospect of bringing in money from grounded wine bottles isn’t the only consideration.

“Though revenue is important, Flagship Cellars is moreso a way of engaging with customers, even when they are not traveling with us,” a spokesperson said via email.

“It also gives them a taste of what you can enjoy in Flagship First or Flagship Business,” the spokesperson said.

The-CNN-Wire & © 2021 Cable News Network, Inc., a WarnerMedia Company. All rights reserved.

Or so goes the punchline to tech pioneer Jaron Lanier’s visit to Santa Cruz on Monday, where Lanier — whose varied career includes coining the term “virtual reality” and earning a spot on Time Magazine’s 2010 list of the world’s 100 most influential people — met with UC Santa Cruz students and delivered an evening lecture.

A renowned computer scientist, thinker and author, Lanier has been sounding the alarm about the supposed perils of social media for more than a decade, warning that the ad-revenue-driven, attention-hoarding algorithms of companies such as Facebook and Twitter are inherently structured to trigger a fight-or-flight response, and claiming the platforms could threaten the stability of modern society itself.

But it’s only recently, as current events provide frequent fodder for Lanier’s case, that an audience beyond the hills of Silicon Valley has perked up its ears.

“I’m really concerned Facebook is going to kill all the democratic governments before we have a chance to regulate it,” Lanier told an audience of freshmen from UCSC’s College Scholars honor program.

The students had just finished reading Lanier’s newest book, “Ten Arguments for Deleting Your Social Media Accounts Right Now,” as part of their coursework and were invited to ask its author questions directly.

Lanier’s visit, which kicked off a year of “Data and Democracy” programming at the UCSC Humanities institute, could hardly have been better timed to underscore his central claim.

In the U.S, the past week has seen wave of partisan and hate-fueled violence with bombs mailed to prominent Democrats, shots fired into a Florida GOP headquarters and 11 people killed in a massacre at a Pittsburgh synagogue.

And on Sunday, Brazil elected far-right populist Jair Bolsonaro to the presidency, becoming the latest Democratic nation to lurch toward nationalism amid an increasingly vitriolic and polarized political climate.

The growing list of nations grappling with populist are culturally and politically diverse, Lanier said. “But the one thing they all have in common, is this recent — relatively recent — arrival of social media, followed by this wave of nasty, irritable politics coming to the fore all at once.”

Before answering questions and laying out what he sees as a potential path forward, Lanier reflected on a time in his teenage years when he “bummed through” Santa Cruz as a young hippie.

Clad in Birkenstocks and sporting long dreadlocks, Lanier’s anecdote drew few raised eyebrows.

Lanier’s conclusion, however — that society would be best served if many of us deleted our social media accounts — did.

Kora Fortun, a freshman linguistics and math major, told Lanier that she agrees with many of his premises but sees a different path forward.

“I see more hope in a new generation of social media users being aware and thus maintaining some control of the platforms we use,” Fortun said.

Lanier responded that he “loved the idea” of a population with the wisdom to avoid being herded by the algorithms, but he doesn’t believe it’s possible. “It’s all this algorithmic adaptive process that keeps trying a million experiments on populations of millions of people until it finds what works,” he said. “Given that that’s the way the system operates in many cases, I respectfully have to inform you that you have no hope of being self-aware about this.”

Later Monday, Lanier fleshed out his thesis in more detail as he delivered the 2018 Peggy Downes Baskin Ethics Lecture, drawing a narrative of tech companies selling users’ data and attention as their true product in order to meet an expectation that web services should be free.

“We’ve created a world in which anytime two people connect online it’s financed by a third person who believes they can manipulate the first two,” Lanier said.

Feeding the cycle, Lanier claimed, is an addictive tendency on behalf of social media users that he compared to gambling or cigarette smoking.

And his proposed solution is designed to account for that addictive tendency: If enough social media users can break away from dependency, Lanier claimed, they could serve as an unbiased base of advocates to reform the system — as, in his telling, happened with tobacco legislation.

“I’m not telling you what’s right for you, but I demand that you discover what’s right for you,” he said. “That, I think, is a fair demand, given the stakes.”