Everything in this newsletter is common sense

Or is it? [Bloomberg]( This is Bloomberg Opinion Today, a cloned voice of Bloomberg Opinion’s opinions. [Sign up here](. Today’s Agenda - Stop appealing to [common sense](. - Deepfake [robocalls]( are getting intense. - [Awards shows]( lack a lot of suspense. - [Dunkin’ Donuts]( has a solid defense. Thomas Paine Didn’t Mean [It]( Like That Some things are so common sense, it’s a little weird to even point out that they’re common sense. But here we are, looking at this list: - Soap is used in the shower. - Gravity makes things fall. - Triangles have three sides. - Cars require doors. - Toilet seats should be put down. - [Opinion Today]( is a must-read. I’m kidding on the last one. This newsletter is based on opinions, after all. It is not “common sense” to subscribe to it! Perhaps you’re here because it adds a little flair to the end of your day. Or you’re my blood relative. Or maybe, you disagree with it — cognitive dissonance and all that. No matter the reason, the fact that you are reading this very sentence is a product of your free will. You made a decision to sign up for this newsletter and click on it, regardless of how cluttered it makes your inbox. A lot of the times, when politicians or salespeople or columnists say something is “common sense,” they are implying that those who disagree with them are idiots. But they’re not talking about obvious stuff like shower hygiene or road safety. They’re telling you a particular view on [immigration](, [gun control](, [a global pandemic](, [abortion]( or [climate change]( is “common sense.” But when researchers from the University of Pennsylvania tested more than 4,000 “common sense” statements — such as “avoid close contact with people who are ill” — they found that there was very little sense that was truly common. “This should help us all think more critically when the phrase gets bandied about in political rhetoric — or anywhere,” F.D. Flam writes. Think about the last time you did jury duty. Perhaps the judge told you to rely on your common sense. But what are the odds that your common sense was exactly the same as that of the juror next to you? “What people think is common sense is idiosyncratic,” she explains. Duncan Watts, a co-author of the study, says this plays into a bigger problem he calls “uninterrogated knowledge — things people think they know but haven’t examined with a critical eye. People think they know what they mean by truth, misinformation and fairness, but these concepts are fuzzy and subjective.” It might not be common sense, but I think you ought to read the [whole thing](. The Robocall Scam Spiral Know when to hit “block.” Photographer: SAUL LOEB/AFP Speaking of misinformation: “No political deepfake has alarmed the world’s disinformation experts more than [the doctored audio message]( of US President Joe Biden that began circulating over the weekend,” Margi Murphy [writes]( for Bloomberg News. Now, if this sounds like déjà vu to you, perhaps that’s because you read Parmy Olson’s [column]( on Jan. 9, where she said, “in the same amount of time it would take to toast a slice of bread, you could clone the voice of US President Joe Biden” and spread it all across the world. We knew this was coming! And yet, the robocall — which used a voice edited to sound like Biden — urging Democratic voters not to cast their ballots in the New Hampshire primary has come as a shock to many. It’s impossible to know whether the call ended up swaying voters, but the ease with which it was sent highlights the vulnerability not just of the [American electorate](, but of the [entire world]( — around half of which will hold elections this year. “In the world of misinformation, fake audio can have a more sinister effect than video,” Parmy explains, in part because “there are still no reliable technical tools for detecting fake AI audio.” And our judgement doesn’t help, either. Fake images have a particularly glossy look to them, but AI-generated voices are much harder to detect. Unlike a photo of a person with [six spindly fingers]( or [three crossed arms](, there’s no ability to spot telltale signs of manipulation when listening to audio. “Companies like Eleven Labs, Voice AI and Respeecher sell services that can synthesize voices of actors so they can, for instance, read audio books in different languages, and some only require a couple of minutes of a voice recording to clone it.” Although the audio was sent via robocall — one of the oldest, slimiest tricks in the political playbook — there’s no telling where the next such deepfake will pop up, and whether it will be posted on a site that will take it down. While TikTok and YouTube have policies that allow them to remove audio deepfakes, Facebook is far more lenient, allowing forged audio to stay on its platform with a warning label. Bonus Election Reading/Listening: - If Nikki Haley somehow, someway, pulls [an upset in New Hampshire](, MAGA will know whom to blame. — Francis Wilkinson - Trump may breeze through Republican primaries, but [the general election]( will be less predictable. — Nancy Cook and Tim O’Brien And the Academy Award Goes to ... I’m Bored Oscar noms [dropped]( today, and “Barbenheimer” — that’s “[Barbie](” and “[Oppenheimer](,” for those of you who were in a coma all of last year — took home a haul of 21 combined nominations. But does anyone really care, save for [Godzilla](? We did the awards show rodeo last month with Jo Koy’s disastrous Golden Globes monologue, which drew only 9.4 million TV viewers, the [fourth-worst of all time](. And last week we had the Emmy Awards, but you’d be forgiven for not knowing that. Only 4.3 million people tuned in — the [lowest number ever](. “This bodes ill for the Academy Awards,” Bobby Ghosh [writes](. “Last year’s Oscar night brought in 18.7 million viewers, a 12% increase but still [among the lowest ever](.” And the show hosts are working with stale material: Last year, much of Jimmy Kimmel’s humor revolved around [the slap]( that [Will Smith]( dealt Chris Rock a year earlier. And even at the Globes this year, one of the more exciting thing to happen — the [lip-reading]( exercise between Timothée Chalamet and Kylie Jenner — didn’t even occur on stage. Our capacity to endure a three-and-half-hour extravaganza on television is waning, Bobby writes. Audiences are now used to having their entertainment delivered on TikTok. They do not have the stamina or appetite for unending cringey dad jokes. Plus, every single [“viral” moment]( that comes out of these shows is guaranteed to pop up on social media. There’s no need to watch commercials about Dawn Dish Soap or Progressive Insurance when you can watch the best bite-sized clips on TikTok. Telltale Charts If I were to write a book called “Milk Wars,” I would definitely dedicate an entire chapter to [this lawsuit]( against Dunkin’ Donuts, which claims the fast-food chain is wrongfully [charging extra]( for nondairy coffee additives. Stephen Carter [is skeptical](about the argument — which says higher soy and almond milk prices violate the Americans with Disabilities Act — and the lawsuit’s economic theory. The plaintiffs airily argue that, because of its size, Dunkin possesses a magical power that enables it to dictate to suppliers the price of nondairy milk. But Dunkin’ is always looking to maximize profit, duh. It would already have done that if it could! “Even as the market for [plant-based milk]( grows, it remains in some sense niche … No matter how much pixie dust we sprinkle, there’s no avoiding the fact that soy and almond and oat milk cost more,” Stephen explains. Ever since 2017, the UK has had a clear goal: Build 300,000 homes a year. But how did that figure become the magic number? Matthew Brooker [says]( “the genesis of the target can be traced to a 2013 report by economist Alan Holmans, who estimated a need for 240,000 to 245,000 homes a year in England through 2031.” But the demographic projections underpinning that estimate didn’t pan out so well. Although the government thought the average household size would keep falling, the trend flattened. “Perhaps it’s better not to fixate on a single number,” he writes. “Whatever the true figure, Britain needs to build more.” Further Reading Confiscating [Russia’s assets]( will create longer-term headaches for Ukraine. — Bloomberg’s editorial board Chevron is the only large oil company left [in California](. Which begs the question: why stay? — Javier Blas Boeing’s culture needs [a major overhaul](. Take it from the customers. — Brooke Sutherland Somehow, Manoj Bhargava bought [Sports Illustrated]( twice, then killed it. — Matt Levine Boomers need to be [cared for in old age](. What if their children could do it without losing their jobs? — Kathryn Anne Edwards If global [birth rates]( keep declining at 3% per annum, the economy will change radically over time. — John Authers [Diversity initiatives]( in Japan, Hong Kong and Australia are helping address gender disparities. — Andreea Papuc Long-term [car-shipping deals]( could give BYD and SAIC a strategic edge. — Tim Culpan ICYMI Apple delayed the [launch]( of its EV. Layoffs loom at the [Los Angeles Times](. Turkey voted to ratify [Sweden’s entry]( into NATO. Netflix is buying the rights to [livestream WWE Raw](. Temu’s most [loyal shoppers]( are boomers and Gen Xers. Kickers Is it safe to [eat snow](? My favorite word of the day is [floorplantsy](. Why rich people [don’t cover]( their windows. Man comes back from the dead and [wins the lottery]( — twice! (h/t Andrea Felsted) Notes: Please send [snow cream]( and feedback to Jessica Karl at jkarl9@bloomberg.net. 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