How innovation shaped our present, and how it will shape our future.
Writers, Technology, and the Future
The future of writers — and the articles, novels, and nonfiction books they create — ultimately rests with those who read them.
The Call of the Future
Today, we worry about the social effects of the Internet. A century ago, it was the telephone that threatened to reinvent society.
Books, Gadgets, and Freedom
What is the tie between freedom and literary imagination?
Can Facebook Peer Pressure Get People to Vote?
‘Digital gerrymandering’ at its finest.
Short Docs: Strides During Strife
How have the wars in Afghanistan & Iraq changed life for amputees? A short documentary film explores.
One technology we take for granted: paper
Paper: an appreciation.
Star Wars: the Rise of Online Review Culture
Online review culture — on sites like Yelp, Amazon, and IMDb — is dotted with black holes of bad taste.
Left, Right, and Science
Liberals and conservatives alike wrap groupthink in the cloak of science whenever convenient. The results are seldom good.
Science, Meet Journalism. You Two Should Talk.
Science and the media need each other. They just don't know it yet.
Arts and Sciences
The Romantic generation was the first to discover and marvel at the beauty, wonder, and terror of science.
What can we learn from past anxiety over automation?
The automation crisis of the 1960s created a surge of alarm over technology’s job-killing effects. There is a lot we can learn from it.
A Small World After All?
The Internet has changed many things, but not the insular habits of mind that keep the world from becoming truly connected.
Divided By: How the Machines Won
In a world so saturated in connectivity that every last oddball can find a poll, a pie chart, or an online pal to confirm that he's not alone, there are still some gaps that can't be bridged.
Message in a Genome
As scientists tease out the human genome’s secrets, it’s easy to seize on our genetic differences, which are small and often inconclusive. But the surprising ancestral connections that our DNA reveals are the big story in the post-genome world.
Electronic Intimacy
Friendships that were once maintained with the rudimentary technology of pen and paper are now reinforced 24/7 with the stroke of a few keys. A longtime letter writer reflects on what has been gained — and lost.
