Society

I don’t want to make anyone feel uncomfortable, so if you’re reluctant to step inside the world of 19th century junkies, I suggest you close the door and choose something a little lighter and brighter from our menu. I’m not quite sure how I ended up here myself, stockpiling antique photographs that have survived from the Opium Age…

The macro-economic climate is producing short-term headwinds, but innovation and change can win out, with AWS a case in point.

An amazing research paper unearths how the tech industry invented the concept of digital trade and sold it to government officials.

Young, successful, and filthy rich. It’s every millennial's dream. It’s also typically too good to be true. As the Guardian and Patrick Boyle recently

Tolerance is a virtue that's mostly perceived as a crucially important brick in order to build a healthy and peaceful society. In a way, tolerance has turned into a mark that embodies the historical progress humanity has made over the years. But here's a question—is tolerance supposed to have limits?

Over the last few years I have grappled with the size and scope of my digital footprint. I had more than a few “Nate, you’re better than this” moments while reading two books in particular. No Filter by Bloomberg writer Sarah Frier, got me off of Instagram and now I avoid the entire Facebook S

Capitalism is the engine of our world; more than anything else, it is what has made us rich over the last few centuries. It is not just that we are free to trade stuff at market prices. It is also that we have teams who bet huge chunks of capital on risky ventures that attempt big changes to key methods and distributions of production.

Take the Worst Abuses of Power in Each State. Imagine Them Nationwide. That’s the Fascist Dystopia the GOP Wants America to Be

Are interest rates a neutral policy variable? Or are they a tool for class warfare? It turns out that the evidence speaks for itself. Here are three ways that higher interest rates redistribute income.

The device, showcased on state television, fires coin-shaped bullets that are designed to minimise the risk of causing fatal injuries.

Researchers study emergent AI behaviors in a sandbox world inspired by The Sims.

The social responsibility of business has been debated for years. One point of view follows   Milton Friedman ’s maxim, “In a free society …...

Yesterday I did a set of nine Twitter polls, each time asking respondents on which side of particular divide (e.g. tall vs short) they fell, and if they try to favor their side of this divide. This table shows the % on each side, and what fraction of each side said they try to favor their side. (These are sorted from a small to big favoring ratio.)

AI Doomerism is becoming mainstream thanks to mass media, which drives our discussion about Generative AI from bad to worse, or from slightly insane to batshit crazy. Instead of out-of-control AI, …

I have a proto-theory: That our brains tend to produce dreams at all times, and that during waking hours, our brains tame the dream machine into perception and truthiness. At night, we let it run free to keep the brain … Continue reading →

Josiah Garcia allegedly applied for a job as an assassin at RentAHitman.com, a parody site that for years has helped ensnare people looking to hire killers.

Now that work is more flexible, see how nine people are using their time in new ways.

The world is in a state of constant flux, with new technologies emerging every day. These technologies have the power to transform the way we live, work, and govern ourselves. One of the most promising technologies for transforming governance is artificial intelligence (AI). By harnessing the power of AI, we can create

I went back on Agitator Pod! they had me on to talk about Terminal Boredom by Japanese proto-cyberpunk writer Izumi Suzuki

According to "assault weapon" ban proponents, the AR rifle's lethality is all about how fast its bullets travel. The Washington...

With reams of data at their disposal, companies like Uber and Amazon are demolishing the notion that people who do the same work should receive the same pay for it.

Read our new report on The Unintended Consequences Of Internet Regulation » Over the last decade or so, there’s been a growing chorus of people insisting (misleadingly) that the internet is a “wild…

Every week, one in eight Americans places a bet on the dream of a life-changing lottery jackpot. Americans spend more on lottery tickets annually than on video streaming services, concert tickets, books, and movie tickets combined. The story of lotteries in the United States may seem straightforward: tickets are bought predominately by poor people driven