Why can't Hollywood SF and F imagine alternatives to capitalism or feudalism?

The limitless imagination of genre novelists hits a roadblock when it comes to envisioning alternative politics | Continue reading


@salon.com | 4 years ago

The Dumbing-Down of Programming

Rebelling against Microsoft and its wizards, an engineer rediscovers the joys of difficult computing. First of two parts. | Continue reading


@salon.com | 4 years ago

The psychological reason that so many fall for the “Big Lie”

There's a counterintuitive explanation for why big lies may be easier to believe than small ones | Continue reading


@salon.com | 4 years ago

Citing inbreeding, Norway will no longer allow English Bulldogs to be bred

Has dog inbreeding become an animal cruelty issue? Here, ethicists and geneticists clash | Continue reading


@salon.com | 4 years ago

America Hates Its Poor

Linguist and philosopher Noam Chomsky on our country's brutal class war -- and why it's ultimately so one-sided | Continue reading


@salon.com | 4 years ago

Former Ohio Democratic Party head David Pepper has a dire warning: Rigged state legislatures are destroying America | Continue reading


@salon.com | 4 years ago

Where the depressed are not welcome

If the university I taught at won't take depression seriously, who will? | Continue reading


@salon.com | 4 years ago

A “talking” cat is giving scientists insight into how felines think

Cats are being taught to communicate using a button-word system. Scientists are listening closely | Continue reading


@salon.com | 4 years ago

Colleges are walking away from remote education – and that’s a good thing

Remote learning is consistently shown to yield lower grades and lower engagement. Students don't love it either | Continue reading


@salon.com | 4 years ago

Our unfair tax system: How do the ultra-rich get away with it?

Tax expert Frank Clemente on how "wealth begets wealth" — and how a fair tax system could save American democracy | Continue reading


@salon.com | 4 years ago

It's time to repeal the Patriot Act and dismantle the surveillance state

After 9/11, Congress gave the government unchecked authority to spy on its own people. It's been a disaster | Continue reading


@salon.com | 4 years ago

Peter Thiel bets on far right, spending millions to bankroll “Trump wing” of GOP

Thiel is bankrolling election conspiracists and primary challengers against Republicans who backed Trump’s impeachment. | Continue reading


@salon.com | 4 years ago

NIH to look into male fertility crisis

Male fertility rates have plummeted over the past four decades. A new study will investigate the role of spermatogensis — the process of sperm production | Continue reading


@salon.com | 4 years ago

How do you design a “Keep Out ” sign to last 10k years? (2002)?

The Department of Energy is creating a vast monument to scare future trespassers away from radioactive waste sites. Their plan: A granite Stonehenge thing with warnings in Navajo! | Continue reading


@salon.com | 4 years ago

Scientists say a telescope on the Moon could advance physics

The Moon's lack of atmosphere and darkness could offers unique observations of the universe | Continue reading


@salon.com | 4 years ago

Why is walking so good for the brain? Blame it on the Spontaneous Fluctuations

Going on a walk makes your mind wander in ways that neuroscience is only just coming to terms with | Continue reading


@salon.com | 4 years ago

Scientists just overcame a major hurdle in nuclear fusion research

Fusion could be an ideal source of carbon-free energy — if scientists can overcome the engineering hurdles | Continue reading


@salon.com | 4 years ago

Thanks to climate change, supply chain disruptions will be the new normal

Experts say you should expect more shortages in the future as extreme weather events wreak havoc worldwide | Continue reading


@salon.com | 4 years ago

Terrifying new theory: Fake news conspiracy theories as evolutionary strategy

Social scientist Michael Bang Petersen on why people believe outrageous lies — as a tool in violent group conflict | Continue reading


@salon.com | 4 years ago

As climate change disrupts supply chains, life is poised to change drastically

Thanks to capitalism's inability to account for climate disasters, future economic turmoil is all but guaranteed | Continue reading


@salon.com | 5 years ago

The House select committee on the Jan. 6 insurrection is a potent political weapon. Democrats better not waste it | Continue reading


@salon.com | 5 years ago

Edgar Allan Poe's engagement with American science

In "The Reason for the Darkness of the Night," John Tresch links Poe and the forging of American science | Continue reading


@salon.com | 5 years ago

Panpsychism gains steam in science communities

An expanding notion of what "consciousness" is could have profound repercussions | Continue reading


@salon.com | 5 years ago

GOP Rep. on cyber committee dumped MSFT shortly before $10B contract scrapped

Rep. Pat Fallon, a Texas freshman, has also failed to disclose 93 trades worth up to $17.53 million this year alone | Continue reading


@salon.com | 5 years ago

Trump and Biden's bombing wars: One thing that hasn't changed

The U.S. has waged an unrelenting air war in the Middle East for 20 years. How bad is it? That's a secret | Continue reading


@salon.com | 5 years ago

No, billionaires won’t “escape” to space while the world burns

It takes thousands of people to keep a few alive on the ISS. The plutocrat space race is not serious | Continue reading


@salon.com | 5 years ago

The humble water heater could be the savior of our energy infrastructure woes

A controversial dam project could be avoided (and save billions) by merely replacing water heaters en masse | Continue reading


@salon.com | 5 years ago

You love your dog. Does your dog love you back?

Do they love us, or just love our food? Animal studies are shining light on canine emotional intelligence | Continue reading


@salon.com | 5 years ago

Eric Swalwell wonders if some GOP colleagues would've joined the mob if they'd been outside of the chamber that day | Continue reading


@salon.com | 5 years ago

Why our “wandering brains” are wired to love art and nature

Humans have a built-in "fractal fluency," probably because of our prehistoric ancestors' upbringing | Continue reading


@salon.com | 5 years ago

Mounting pressure on China about Covid “lab leak” could backfire

In the U.S., the lab leak theory is part of the conservative arsenal of attacks on those in science and the media | Continue reading


@salon.com | 5 years ago

A virologist unpacks the lab leak hypothesis

Salon spoke with a virologist about the notion, which Biden is investigating, that SARS-CoV-2 emerged from a lab | Continue reading


@salon.com | 5 years ago

Exxon Shareholder Green Revolution has started

ExxonMobil shareholders fight back in a stunning week that makes clear the market for fossil fuels is winding down | Continue reading


@salon.com | 5 years ago

The Cosmic Crisp Apple is not the future

Focus groups, controlled atmospheres and fungicides brought us the much-hyped Cosmic Crisp. Is this agriculture's future, or its past? | Continue reading


@salon.com | 5 years ago

How to poison a feral pig? It’s not easy

Wild hogs are a scourge, but designing a system targeted to kill only them is a vastly complicated undertaking | Continue reading


@salon.com | 5 years ago

Rich people do have trouble understanding what it's like to be poor

A recent study shows that people with power embrace a "choice mindset" — and apply it to those with fewer resources | Continue reading


@salon.com | 5 years ago

Chernobyl radiation surge “cause for concern,” say scientists

One nuclear scientist said the situation is "like the embers in a barbecue pit" | Continue reading


@salon.com | 5 years ago

Journalists should not give into GOP bullying to ignore the full-scale war Republicans are waging on democracy | Continue reading


@salon.com | 5 years ago

Mike Lindell's new social platform does not have optimal launch

Lindell claims 90 million visitors to broken site; is trolled by Trump prankster, interrupted by Salon reporter | Continue reading


@salon.com | 5 years ago

On the Cosmological Emptiness of Liberalism

Right-wingers have a theory of human nature and the universe. Without such a narrative, liberals will keep losing | Continue reading


@salon.com | 5 years ago

Artificial intelligence research may have hit a dead end

"Misfired" neurons might be a brain feature, not a bug — and that's something A.I. theories can't take into account | Continue reading


@salon.com | 5 years ago

Health advocates blast Microsoft billionaire for saying patent protections on life-saving vaccines must remain | Continue reading


@salon.com | 5 years ago

Coding experts tell Salon Mike Lindell's botched social site was doomed to fail

One "grandmaster" in the content software Drupal describes Lindell's social platform as "not even student work" | Continue reading


@salon.com | 5 years ago

How to be a better burglar (2016)

The author of "A Burglar's Guide to the City" says in newer buildings, a good shadow is hard to find | Continue reading


@salon.com | 5 years ago

JRR Tolkien: The Enemy of Progress (2002)

"The Lord of the Rings" is lovingly crafted, seductive -- and profoundly backward-looking. Why not look at things through the Dark Lord's eye for a change? | Continue reading


@salon.com | 5 years ago

The true story of Michel Foucault's LSD trip that changed history – Salon.com

The French philosopher burned and rewrote much of "The History of Sexuality" as a result of his acid revelations | Continue reading


@salon.com | 5 years ago

The geeks who saved Usenet (2002)

Google's restoration of digital history relied on a few heroes' packrat mentality and a mountain of decaying mag tapes. | Continue reading


@salon.com | 5 years ago

I lived in my office for 500 days (2015)

Unable to pay rent in L.A., I slept behind my desk. But what began as a quick financial fix soon became a lifestyle | Continue reading


@salon.com | 5 years ago