No two ways about it: We are making ourselves wretched. We are more affluent than ever, but riches—and power, the only point in having riches—do not make people happy. Ask a psychiatrist. Or take a look at the face of Vladimir Putin, who has, alas, the power of life and death over . . . . Continue Reading »
That AI undermines the importance of our basic faculty of memory ought to concern us. It will only increase the ignorance of our fallen state. Continue Reading »
I’d forgotten nearly everything about my years in school, which, given my mild allergic reaction to sclerotic and coercive bureaucracies, is merciful. But one thing I do remember: a day, in fifth grade, dedicated to—the future. Carrying a copy of Jules Verne’s Twenty Thousand . . . . Continue Reading »
Musk is not any kind of conservative, and so the tentative cheers that have greeted his apparent routing of the Twitter board might more wisely have been postponed until we see what the new Twitter may look and sound like. Continue Reading »
Ronald Dworkin joins the podcast to talk about how SSRIs, cognitive therapy, and virtual reality have transformed our lives and our politics. Continue Reading »
The machine will allegedly elevate humans according to values different from those of nature—a Superman. Where have we heard that before? Continue Reading »
The technologies referred to as “artificial intelligence” or “AI” are more momentous than most people realize. Their impact will be at least equal to, and may well exceed, that of electricity, the computer, and the internet. What’s more, their impact will be massive and rapid, faster than . . . . Continue Reading »