Daniel Rourke /stream

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In the eleventh century, St. Anselm of Canterbury proposed an argument for the existence of God that went roughly like this: God is, by definition, the greatest being that we can…

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I was raised in a household in which my mother, a divorced old-school feminist, openly hoped for the day when the “racist, angry old white men,” who keep our country in…

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The huge cultural authority science has acquired over the past century imposes large duties on every scientist. Scientists have acquired the power to impress and intimidate every time they open their…

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Image by Jamy van Zyl In 1986, Science and Technology Studies scholar Langdon Winner launched a debate about the power of technologies to shape human politics when he asked “do artefacts…

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My libertarian friend Conor Friedersdorf has stared into the abyss, and has been jolted by what stared back. He writes about it in a must-read essay with the deceptively anodyne title…

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A new report suggests that the marriage of AI and robotics could replace so many jobs that the era of mass employment could come to an end If you wanted relief…

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We are witnessing the beginning of Silicon Valley institutionalizing its religious beliefs.

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Earlier this year I went to an event in Austin, Texas, billed as a sneak preview of the evolution of our species.

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We are witnessing the beginning of Silicon Valley institutionalizing its religious beliefs.

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What do the most powerful people in the world read? For Donald Trump, the depressing but familiar answer is nothing beyond tweets and headlines.

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“ Ido plan to bring back my father,” Ray Kurzweil says. He is standing in the anemic light of a storage unit, his frame dwarfed by towers of cardboard boxes and…

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My libertarian friend Conor Friedersdorf has stared into the abyss, and has been jolted by what stared back. He writes about it in a must-read essay with the deceptively anodyne title…

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Throughout history, the world’s greatest minds have been obsessed with immortality. The scientists and entrepreneurs of Silicon Valley are no exception “I’ve already lowered my biological age and upgraded my IQ,”…

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Photo by Ars Electronica / FlickrLittle Lewis, my son, I see some evidence that you have the ability to learn science, number and proportions, and I recognize your special desire to…

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Each week, In Theory takes on a big idea in the news and explores it from a range of perspectives. This week, we’re talking about transhumanism. Need a primer? Catch up here. Charles…

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Each week, In Theory takes on a big idea in the news and explores it from a range of perspectives. This week, we’re talking about transhumanism. Need a primer? Catch up here.

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Last year, a man in an exoskeleton kicked off the Men’s World Cup. Juliano Pinto, a 29-year-old from Brazil, was outfitted by a team of scientists from the Walk Again Project…

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The story of Z was supposed to be about how biohacking had allowed her to become immortal. She lived in the year 2040, and by most measures her life was happy.…

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From the days of the Acheulean hand-axe on, humans have always had a symbiotic relationship with technology. How far will that relationship go? One haunting vision of the future is provided…

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In the eleventh century, St. Anselm of Canterbury proposed an argument for the existence of God that went roughly like this: God is, by definition, the greatest being that we can…

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“When Kurzweil first started talking about the “singularity”, a conceit he borrowed from the science-fiction writer Vernor Vinge, he was dismissed as a fantasist.

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The huge cultural authority science has acquired over the past century imposes large duties on every scientist. Scientists have acquired the power to impress and intimidate every time they open their…

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My libertarian friend Conor Friedersdorf has stared into the abyss, and has been jolted by what stared back. He writes about it in a must-read essay with the deceptively anodyne title…

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How an extreme libertarian tract predicting the collapse of liberal democracies – written by Jacob Rees-Mogg’s father – inspired the likes of Peter Thiel to buy up property across the Pacific…

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We are witnessing the beginning of Silicon Valley institutionalizing its religious beliefs.

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Earlier this year I went to an event in Austin, Texas, billed as a sneak preview of the evolution of our species.

Bookmark

We are witnessing the beginning of Silicon Valley institutionalizing its religious beliefs.

Bookmark

What do the most powerful people in the world read? For Donald Trump, the depressing but familiar answer is nothing beyond tweets and headlines.

Bookmark

Silicon Valley is coming for death. But it’s looking in the wrong place. After disrupting the way we love, communicate, travel, work, and even eat, technologists believe they can solve the…

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My libertarian friend Conor Friedersdorf has stared into the abyss, and has been jolted by what stared back. He writes about it in a must-read essay with the deceptively anodyne title…

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Through the past few decades of summer blockbuster movies and Silicon Valley products, artificial intelligence (AI) has become increasingly familiar and sexy, and imbued with a perversely dystopian allure.

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Photo by Ars Electronica / FlickrLittle Lewis, my son, I see some evidence that you have the ability to learn science, number and proportions, and I recognize your special desire to…

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Each week, In Theory takes on a big idea in the news and explores it from a range of perspectives. This week, we’re talking about transhumanism. Need a primer? Catch up here. Charles…

Bookmark

Each week, In Theory takes on a big idea in the news and explores it from a range of perspectives. This week, we’re talking about transhumanism. Need a primer? Catch up here.

Bookmark

The story of Z was supposed to be about how biohacking had allowed her to become immortal. She lived in the year 2040, and by most measures her life was happy.…

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I believe that the present century is the most precarious in which humanity has ever lived. On the one hand, certain emerging technologies are placing an ever-greater amount of power in…