Essays

Science & Tech	Does Not Compute: Why Machines Need a Practical Sense of Humor A path to higher forms of humor is a well-rounded education in all the things that make us humans human. Tony Veale \| Dec 17, 2021
Environment	Restoration's Ambition With restoration at the center stage of global commitments to achieve sustainable development goals, reverse declines in biodiversity, and mitigate climate change, the need to bring the practice up to date could not be more urgent. Eric Higgs \| Nov 18, 2021
Environment	How Populism Imperils the Planet By throwing petrol on the political flames, populism makes cooperation on climate change nearly impossible. Andrew Leigh \| Nov 5, 2021
Media	Before Pong, There Was Computer Space Fifty years ago, Computer Space launched the video game industry. Here's why it never took off. Noah Wardrip-Fruin \| Oct 15, 2021
Science & Tech	A History of the Data-Tracked User “Cyberspace” was once celebrated as a public, non-tracked space that afforded users freedom of anonymity. How did individual tracking of users come to dominate the web as a market practice? Tanya Kant \| Oct 8, 2021
Science & Tech	On the Politics of Death Global events such as pandemics can momentarily focus attention on a fundamentally overlooked pre-existing human condition: the sheer inequality of how individuals in power decide who lives and who dies. John Troyer \| Sep 13, 2021
Media	The Proxies That Shape Real Life, From Yodaville to the Golden Tagliatella What can we learn from the stand-ins helping to shape real life? Dylan Mulvin \| Sep 9, 2021
Environment	The Art of Pondering Distant Future Earths Stretching the mind across time can help us become more responsible planetary stewards and foster empathy across generations. Vincent Ialenti \| Aug 10, 2021
Science & Tech	What’s Behind the U.S. War on Science? An anthropologist looks to Finland to argue that solutions must go far beyond reversing Trump’s policies. Vincent Ialenti \| Jun 22, 2021
Science & Tech	The Doctor Is In, but Scared to See You Some health care providers, even those already vaccinated, have developed patient hesitancy and are reluctant to leave the comfort of telehealth. Mikkael A. Sekeres \| May 3, 2021