Tag Archives: Opinion

Culture: New Humanist Magazine – Winter 2024-25

New Humanist's winter 2024 cover shows a futuristic blue face with the words: 'Our cyborg future?'

NEW HUMANIST MAGAZINE – WINTER 2024/2025 ISSUE: The new issue features ‘Our Cyborg Future?’

The new age of the cyborg?

Neurobiologist and journalist Moheb Costandi explores the rapidly-developing world of brain-computer interfaces. For some people, these devices are already transforming lives – but the technology is quickly overtaking the ethics.

A dangerous calculation

Peter Ward unpicks the dark philosophy of the tech billionaires and how it is infiltrating some of our most powerful organisations.

There’s a product for that

A recent film, The Substance, explored the growing pressure on all of us – particularly women – to modify our bodies, not only through make-up and cosmetic procedures but also through digital filters. Clare Chambers, professor of political philosophy at the University of Cambridge, talks to us about the power of resistance and allowing our bodies to be “good enough”.

New life in the veins

Peter Salmon recounts the bizarre history of blood transfusion – and why the super-rich remain fascinated by its possibilities.

Analysis: The World Ahead In 2025 – The Economist

Image

The Economist The World Ahead 2025 (November 20, 2024) : In 2025, as seen on the cover, the main event is Trump’s return to the White House and the global consequences of his policies, such as a new wave of trade wars with China. There is also an expected rise in technologies such as artificial intelligence and autonomous vehicles.

Tom Standage’s ten trends to watch in 2025

A letter from the editor of The World Ahead

The three forces that will shape 2025

Watch the interplay between Donald Trump, technology and radical uncertainty

The cover mentions climate issues and hints at a new phase in the fight for social equality, especially among women. Last year, the cover predicted geopolitical instability, an economic crisis, climate disasters, and the g

Culture/Politics: Harper’s Magazine – December 2024

HARPER’S MAGAZINE – November 18, 2024: The latest issue features ‘The Painted Protest’ – How politics destroyed contemporary art…

The Painted Protest

How politics destroyed contemporary art by Dean Kissick

In the Rockets’ Red Glare

 The past and future of hot-rodding in America by Rachel Kushner

After the Deluge

A small town faces down climate disaster by Gary Greenberg

Commentary Magazine – December 2024 Preview

December 2024 – Commentary Magazine

Commentary Magazine (November 14, 2024) The latest issue features ‘After the Trumpquake’ – The New Republican Majority and The New Democratic Minority..

The New Republican Majority

by Matthew Continetti

The New Democratic Minority

by John Podhoretz

They’re Hunting Us Down

by John Podhoretz

The Suicide of the Mainstream Media

by Christine Rosen

Analysis: ‘The American Economy’ (Oct. 19, 2024)

Special reports: The envy of the world

The Economist SPECIAL REPORTS (October 15, 2024): The latest special report features “The American Economy” – The envy of the world…

The envy of the world

The American economy has left other rich countries in the dust. Expect that to continue, argue Simon Rabinovitch and Henry Curr

The American economy has left other rich countries in the dust

American productivity still leads the world

Is higher inequality the price America pays for faster growth?

The shale revolution helped make America’s economy great

Why the American stockmarket reigns supreme

China’s yuan is nowhere close to displacing the greenback

What can stop the American economy now?

Culture/Politics: Harper’s Magazine – November 2024

HARPER’S MAGAZINE – October 15, 2024: The latest issue features ‘Reunion or Revenge’ – The GOP on the Brink…

Revenge Plot

The GOP’s identity crisis by Lauren Oyler

The Seventy Percent

On minor characters and human possibility by Yiyun Li

The Thing Itself

From Mysticism, which was published last month by New York Review Books. by Simon Critchley

Politics: The Progressive Magazine- October 2024

theprogressive Magazine (October 1, 2024): The latest issue features…

How to Make a ‘War Reserve’ Nuclear Bomb

The dark art of crafting nuclear ‘pits’ was almost lost. Now it’s ramped up into a multibillion dollar industry.

Child Care Does Not Need To Be a Crisis

Our system leaves parents with unreliable waitlists and mortgage-size payments, while teachers go overburdened and underpaid. 

Can Democrats Ride Ballot Initiatives to Victory?

The party realizes that progressive issues win voters, even when their candidates don’t. 

Technology Quarterly: ‘Chipmaking & AI’ (Fall 2024)

Technology Quarterly: Silicon returns to Silicon Valley

The Economist (September 19, 2024): The latest issue of TECHNOLOGY QUARTERLY is focused on:

Silicon returns to Silicon Valley

AI has returned chipmaking to the heart of computer technology, says Shailesh Chitnis

The semiconductor industry faces its biggest technical challenge yet

Node names do not reflect actual transistor sizes

How to build more powerful chips without frying the data centre

AI has propelled chip architecture towards a tighter bond with software

Researchers are looking beyond digital computing

The end of Moore’s law will not slow the pace of change

Culture/Politics: Harper’s Magazine – October 2024

HARPER’S MAGAZINE – September 16, 2024: The latest issue features ‘Antitrust Revolution’ – Liberal Democracy’s last stand against Big Tech and Election 2024 – The Secret of Republican Political Power…

The Antitrust Revolution  

Liberal democracy’s last stand against Big Tech by Barry C. Lynn

In 1609, James I lectured the English people on his rights and responsibilities as king. It was his duty to “make and unmake” them, he said. Kings have the “power of raising and casting down, of life and of death; judges over all their subjects, and in all causes.”

The Fever Called Living

On the plight of environmental-­illness refugees

The Hindutva Lobby

How Hindu nationalism spreads in America

Commentary Magazine – October 2024 Preview

Commentary Magazine – A Jewish magazine of politics, high culture, cultural  and literary criticism, American and Israeli campaigns and elections, and  world affairs.

Commentary Magazine (March 15, 2024) The latest issue features “Israel And Ukraine” – Why won’t we let them win?

Why Won’t We Let Ukraine Win?

by Abe Greenwald

…the U.S. has been too slow in arming its ally, too restrictive in setting conditions on the use of weapons, and generally too fearful of Vladimir Putin’s threats. The result is that Ukraine, for all its unfathomable courage and boundless ingenuity, has been permitted to fight, but not win, the war. If this keeps up, Ukraine could actually lose. 

Mark Zuckerberg Is Just So Very Sorry, You Guys

by James B. Meigs

When I step back a bit, I can see that Zuckerberg isn’t just haplessly begging our forgiveness. He’s trying to save his business. Meta Platforms, the company he controls, contains some of the world’s most widely used and profitable digital brands, including Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp. Meta appears to be thriving, with its stock price more than quadrupling since a rocky 2022. But Zuckerberg knows that his company’s brands are built on foundations of sand. Just as a sandbar will move with tides, the user base of any social platform can drift away in a surprisingly short time.

The Harris Shuffle

by Matthew Continetti

This is Harris’s challenge: She’s the incumbent vice president running for higher office in a change election. She’s an undefined candidate whose positions and job performance are vulnerable to attack. She wants to be seen as a disruptor while remaining loyal to President Biden. And she wants to move away from the far-left views she held as a senator while she continues to proclaim that her values have stayed the same.