Society

We struggle to explain large scale long term cultural changes. Such as the rise and fall of empires, or the demographic transition. Yes, we do seem to find patterns that are somewhat predictable, but our abilities here are also clearly limited.

Ukraine’s early adoption of ‘first-person view’ drones tips the scales against an enemy fighting a conventional war.

We’ve all heard about inflation a lot in the last year. Prices have increased 9% on average over the past 12 months, according to the latest data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Inflation is an economic term for the rising prices of goods and services, which usually happens gradually. But th

Better technology that helps America fight climate change? No thanks, say conservatives.

The tragedy that is the poverty of mass-produced content.

The following argument is based on the words of the late Götz Werner, who was a long-time supporter of the concept of unconditional basic income in Germany, who gained a unique understanding of UBI as a successful businessman and billionaire co-founder of the drugstore chain “dm,” and who passed away

Will the streaming price hikes ever end?

Political scientist's 1996 book foresaw conflicts like those currently underway in the Mideast and Ukraine

If It Wasn’t a Ghost, Then What Was It?

A hut outside of capitalism can't be haunted because it exists outside of truly retrievable time.

Former FCC chair Tom Wheeler likens today’s tech giants to 19th-century robber barons and argues only government intervention can prevent them harming the public interest.

Like many of you, I read the news of a single person killing at least 18 people in Lewiston, Maine yesterday, which comes on the h

The divide between the state and its citizens has never been greater. Soon we will reach a breaking point.

To celebrate the 10th International Open Access Week, Cambridge University has placed a digitised version of Stephen Hawking's 1966 PhD thesis, "Properties of expanding universes" online for anyone to read and download. Hawking is quoted as saying: "Anyone, anywhere in the world should have free, un

The great Megan Amram retweeted this today (it’s from back in 2015), and it really struck a nerve…

Last week in our Error 402 series on the history of web monetization, we talked about the earliest secure monetary transactions on the web, soon after the National Science Foundation opened up the …

As Microsoft Word turns 40, we look at the role the software has played in four decades of language and communication evolution.

Today, the Debt Collective, the nation’s first debtor’s union, canceled close to $10 million in student debt for Morehouse College students, a private men’s HBCU in Atlanta.

How America’s capitalists sugarcoat reactionary policies with cheap support for diversity, equity, and inclusion

A survey on … capitalism in 34 countries. In only 6 of these countries – led by Poland & the United States – do pro-capitalist attitudes dominate. (More) That survey gave these four statements as most often endorsed re capitalism:

Musk and X CEO Linda Yaccarino have recently stated that most of the company's top-spending advertisers from last year have returned.

Its inhabitants are as much creatures of state power and industrial capitalism as their city-dwelling counterparts.

We now face our responsibility with AI. Will we act responsibly or let it become something that we profoundly regret for how it affects our humanity?