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AI Is Like … Nuclear Weapons?

The concern, as Edward Teller saw it, was quite literally the end of the world. He had run the calculations, and there was a real possibility, he told his Manhattan Project colleagues in 1942, that when they detonated the world’s first nuclear bomb,…

26/03/2023

Why I Work Out

In the summer of 2015, one of my best friends died at work. Shannon was 38, childless, single and thriving, and working as an executive at a global public-relations firm, where she handled a major client.

25/03/2023

My Friend Jules Feiffer

Jules Feiffer and I were born 94 years ago in the Bronx, two months apart. We both grew up to be terrible at sports, and we both started to draw characters from the comics when we were 8 or 9 years old.

24/03/2023

Should Philosophers Be Profound?

Here is a story I have heard from more than one professional philosopher, though it has never, at least not yet, happened to me: You are sitting on a plane, the person next to you asks what you do, you tell them you are a philosopher, and they ask,…

23/03/2023

Tattoos Are an Immunological Mystery

When you stick ink-filled needles into your skin, your body’s defenders respond accordingly. Scientists aren’t sure if that’s good or bad for you.

22/03/2023

Crypto Is Mostly Over. Its Carbon Emissions Are Not.

Sign up for The Weekly Planet, The Atlantic’s newsletter about living through climate change, here. At this point, for most of us, cryptocurrency seems like nothing more than a fad.

22/03/2023

The Rise of Gender-Neutral Names Isn’t What It Seems

Baby names just aren’t what they used to be. You can see it these days in all the little Blakes and Emersons and Phoenixes and Robins—and if you can’t immediately tell whether I’m talking about boy or girl names, then ah, yes, that’s exactly it.

21/03/2023

Even Chatbots Have to Take the SAT

Last fall, when generative AI abruptly started turning out competent high-school- and college-level writing, some educators saw it as an opportunity. Perhaps it was time, at last, to dispose of the five-paragraph essay, among other bad teaching…

21/03/2023