Technology
The Digital is Political
The political ideas we have held for centuries are ill-equipped to respond to today's challenges.
Programming My Child
Through the experience of parenting his daughter, a software developer came to see Google and Facebook as the first digital children.
Hoverboarding While Black
In the era of digital neighborhoods, social networks embolden a new kind of racial surveillance.
The Defeat of Reason
Two new books—one on quantum physics, one on Thomas Kuhn—seek to reestablish the authority of reason and evidence.
Cambridge Analytica Is Dead, Long Live Our Data
Were data crimes perpetrated against U.S. voters? We are about to know a lot more.
Haneke and the Technology of Intimacy
‘Happy End’ is the culmination of Haneke’s obsession with how technology mediates our desires.
Elon Musk’s Fall from Grace
The public has paid for Musk’s vision. So why is the green economy still not here?
The App that Makes You a Terrorist
In the Turkish government’s rush to root out conspirators, the threshold for guilt is low.
Democracy vs. the Algorithm
As it turns out, self-government and social connection are not the same thing.
Headset Hypocrisy
By the 2020 election, the market for virtual reality is projected to increase twentyfold. That's great news for VR's proponents who relish the technology's persuasive powers, but what does it mean for those inside the headset?
The Instagrammable Charm of the Bourgeoisie
The modes of perception and living that we attribute to Instagram are rooted in a much older aesthetic of the picturesque.
Gamifying the Ocean
Silicon Valley has turned the problem of marine plastic waste into yet another avenue for “disruption.” But why should clean oceans have to make good business sense?
Monopoly Men
After an eventful summer in Silicon Valley, there is blood in the water. At stake is democracy itself.
Know Thy Futurist
Many visions of the future proliferate in Silicon Valley. Which one is worth fighting for?
Tweeting @ Thoreau
Walden is often championed as an anti-technology manifesto. But this misses the value Thoreau found in conversations spread across vast spans of time and distance.
The Man Who Invented Information Theory
Of the pioneers who drove the information technology revolution, Claude Shannon may have been the most brilliant.
Silicon Valley to Liberal Arts Majors: We Want You
Tech billionaires love to declare the death of liberal arts, but could they instead be the future of Silicon Valley?
The Seed Vault Flooding Is Only the Start of Our Problems
Biodiversity should be maintained by using it, not by storing it under ice.
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