This week, Condoleezza Rice announced she was likely done with American politics, sending the nation into a collective depression.
- 3 Videos: Jack Kerouac (1959), Harry Reems & Alan Dershowitz (1976), Golda Meir and Barbra Streisand (1978).
- Annie Jacobsen explores how DARPA aims to engineer humans for war.
- Despite what Ben Carson says, the U.S. gov’t is not based on Christianity.
- Philosopher Torbjörn Tännsjö argues that we should allow athletes to dope.
- E-books have, at least for now, experienced a small decline.
- Michael Wolff thinks traditional TV is doing just fine. Statistics don’t agree.
- Andrew McAfee thinks about Eatsa’s automated fast-casual model.
- Google is a great company, but that doesn’t mean it’s a good one.
- Truly flexible and multifaceted robot assistants still need a lot of work.
- Chinese factories, desperate for cheap workers, turn to robots.
- China’s turn toward environmentalism won’t likely progress smoothly.
- A 1976 study of psychological risks of life in space seems aimed at Earth today.
- Peter Diamandis predicts the future of transportation, agriculture & healthcare.
- In the NYRB, Amia Srinivasan thinks deeply about Effective Altruism.
- The study of long-lived creatures may lead to radical life extension in humans.
- John McAfee says 9/11 2.0 will be accomplished remotely by cyberterrorists.
- Recalling the think tank that helped Steven Spielberg create Minority Report.
- Moneyball legends Billy Beane and Bill James discuss next-level sabermetrics.
- America having a discrete military class has many consequences.
- Jackie Collins was both an insider and outsider in Hollywood.
- Photographer Edgar Martins profiled cutting-edge Munich BMW factories.
- A brief note from 1928 about Bird Nest Soup.
- A brief note from 1898 about a hermit family.
- This week’s Afflictor keyphrase searches.