Many prominent writers and thinkers seem invested in the notion that simply facing strong public criticism is a threat to free speech. | Continue reading
For years, women on the internet have been writing conspiracy theories about celebrity pregnancies. What sparks them? | Continue reading
The portion of the population that needs to get sick is not fixed. We can change it. | Continue reading
If a conflict breaks out between countries with weapons in orbit, it could threaten space access for everyone. | Continue reading
The minute we make any decision—I think COVID-19 is serious; no, I’m sure it is a hoax—we begin to justify the wisdom of our choice and find reasons to dismiss the alternative. | Continue reading
The disappearance of local news is a slow-moving disaster. | Continue reading
Even trivial changes to a trivial board game can shift the course of history. | Continue reading
“How to Build a Life” is a new column that aims to give you the tools you need to construct a life that feels whole and meaningful. | Continue reading
A sociologist of technology takes on Jaron Lanier's recent Atlantic essay | Continue reading
The gap between soaring cases and falling deaths is being weaponized by the right to claim a hollow victory in the face of shameless failure. What’s really going on? | Continue reading
A healthy deliberative process needs to make room for dissent. | Continue reading
As the pandemic threatens the lives of those behind bars, the country must confront a system that has never had rehabilitation as its priority. | Continue reading
The country’s prestigious grandes écoles illustrate the gulf between its universal ideals and its day-to-day life. | Continue reading
Why we need to face the best arguments from the other side | Continue reading
Americans found out the hard way that education is essential infrastructure. | Continue reading
The backlash against the Harry Potter creator is a growing pain of her fandom. | Continue reading
Four more years might present tantalizing opportunities for Beijing to expand its influence around East Asia and the world. | Continue reading
If SARS is any lesson, the psychological effects of the novel coronavirus will long outlast the pandemic itself. | Continue reading
Many American public-health specialists are at risk of burning out as the coronavirus surges back. | Continue reading
On being kissed by a chipmunk and other perplexities of travel in Disney World | Continue reading
I’m a second-generation Black activist, and I’m tired of being spied on by the police. | Continue reading
In France, where I live, the virus is under control. I can hardly believe the news coming out of the United States. | Continue reading
My wife, kids, and I left our apartment in Brooklyn for my wife’s home country of Iceland, where the coronavirus is mostly under control. What we found is what Americans will not have for a long time: ordinary life. | Continue reading
What happens when a meme becomes a terrorist movement? | Continue reading
People complain that going to the shore is a careless act during a pandemic, but the science so far suggests otherwise. | Continue reading
What happens when a meme becomes a terrorist movement? | Continue reading
In the beach towns south of Melbourne, everyone, it seems, knows someone who’s been attacked. | Continue reading
Intentional voter suppression and unintentional suppression of the vote will collide in November. | Continue reading
Imagine if the National Transportation Safety Board investigated America’s response to the coronavirus pandemic. | Continue reading
Season 4 of The Trump Show just doesn’t have the zest and sparkle of the previous seasons. | Continue reading
Other countries are used to loathing America, admiring America, and fearing America (sometimes all at once). But pitying America? That one is new. | Continue reading
U.S. coronavirus testing could fail again, as surging demand creates new backlogs and delays. | Continue reading
More and more, the goals of being a dedicated employee and being a dedicated parent seem to be in conflict. | Continue reading
A prohibitionist says libertarians dismiss moral considerations when they call for legalization. The truth is quite the opposite. | Continue reading
It’s time to try baby bonds. | Continue reading
Rogue philosopher Ivan Illich's ideas and what they mean for the Internet age | Continue reading
Figuring out who looted treasures belong to can take a whole lot of detective work. | Continue reading
America needs a reckoning over racism. Punishing people who did not do anything wrong harms that important cause. | Continue reading
America needs a reckoning over racism. Punishing people who did not do anything wrong harms that important cause. | Continue reading
Paranoia about secret government plots thrives in times of uncertainty, when strange things happen, and when people are bored. This summer is a trifecta. | Continue reading
The conventional history of computing leaves out some key thinkers. | Continue reading
The U.S. has seen more cases in the past week than in any week since the pandemic began. | Continue reading
The U.S. has seen more cases in the past week than in any week since the pandemic began. | Continue reading
Stains, smells, secrets, thieves, dead bodies, and even a radioactive towel have all found their way down one. | Continue reading
One of the world’s best players taught me his unique psychological style of play—and it worked. | Continue reading
A serial killer finds a newly vulnerable class of victims: white, working-class men. | Continue reading
At least four major factors are terrifying economists and weighing on the recovery. | Continue reading
Wash your hands, but lay off the other parts. | Continue reading