Technology
AI is both liberating and enslaving us
It is becoming more than a useful tool, fears Neil Lawrence. As it takes over most of our work, we grow less and less efficient at doing what remains
What will we do when all our jobs are done for us?
The philosopher Nick Bostrom speculates imaginatively about the travails of extreme leisure, but we don’t get any guru-like nuggets
How I incurred the wrath of my iPhone
As I sat down to dinner in a lovely old country pub my reservation was cancelled by my iPhone, which…
Light bulb moment: the flaw in the petrol car ban
This week, writing in the Daily Mail, Matt Ridley produced a devastating takedown of the government’s 2030 ban on the…
Should we fear AI? James W. Phillips and Eliezer Yudkowsky in conversation
James W. Phillips and Eliezer Yudkowsky on the threat from AI
Is the glucose monitoring craze really so healthy?
The curious obsession with glucose monitoring gadgets
I know how AI will bring us down
On the smooth marble concourse by the exit doors at Heathrow Airport I met my first cleaning robot. It was…
How to fake it till you make it
Not to sound too much like Kamala Harris during one of her peregrinations on the nature of time, but the…
I dropped a morphine capsule in my Moscow Mule
A dear friend came to stay for two nights. Could I be persuaded, wondered he and Catriona, on the first…
Is Russell Brand really so dangerous?
Once the dust has settled over the government’s mini-Budget, another big political battle looms: the Online Safety Bill. This is…
China vs the US: who will win the chip war?
Semiconductors are the latest battleground for China and the US
The China threat our politicians don’t seem to have noticed
The threat our politicians don’t seem to have noticed
Nick Bostrom: How can we be certain a machine isn’t conscious?
Philosopher Nick Bostrom on the AI threat
Why sat navs are a conversation killer
When my daughters learned to drive, I suggested they take their tests in automatics as driving manual cars would soon…
Are iPhones sending women gaga?
The girl wound down her window, stuck her mobile phone out into midair, and started to take pictures of the…
The wonder of the Metaphor Map
‘What’s that?’ asked my husband, looking at my laptop. ‘Fibonacci fossilised?’ His question made no sense, but I saw what…
Nadine Dorries: My vision for the BBC
Nadine Dorries on online safety, the BBC and taking risks
We must all become Doctor Dolittles and listen to the wisdom of animals
One day the writer and artist James Bridle rented a hatchback, taped a smartphone to the steering wheel and installed…
Can you tell which of these artworks was created by a computer?
Will AI change painting — or destroy it?
Will there ever be a reliable lie detector?
For as long as we have been human we have looked for some way of telling when we are being…
How to watch YouTube on your TV – and why you should
According to Pliny the Elder, Scipio Aemilianus was the first man to shave daily. The origin of the name Boeing…
The Aesopian language of algospeak
To evade algorithms that hunt down forbidden words, users of platforms like TikTok employ cryptic synonyms. So deadbecomes unalive, and…
The villains of Silicon Valley
David Honigmann 20 May 2023 9:00 am
Malcolm Harris is unsparing in his attack on Palo Alto’s tech giants past and present, including Leland Stanford, Herbert Hoover, William Shockley and Peter Thiel