Technology
Google vs governments - let the new battle for free speech begin
Freedom of the press still matters when the presses are virtual
The technology giants are breathtakingly irresponsible about terrorism
We know they can be good citizens when they want to be. So why are the technology giants acting in ways that could endanger us all?
The agony of dying gadgets
To survive as a technophobe in the 21st century, you must depend on the kindness of strangers
Why the most important years in history were from 1347 to 1352
A group of retired Somerset farmers were sitting about in the early 1960s, so Ian Mortimer’s story goes, debating which…
Cronenberg attempts a teleportation from cinema to fiction. Cover your eyes…
Following his beginnings as a science-fiction horror director, David Cronenberg has spent the past decades transforming himself into one of…
Every 73 seconds, police use snooping powers to access our personal records. Who'll rein them in?
Police are using an anti-terror law to run wild in the public’s mobile phone records
The age of selfie-obsession
People can’t seem to stop taking pictures of themselves – and their private parts. It’s the ultimate expression of our increasingly puerile and narcissistic society
Switching on to a new generation gap
In the world of YouTube and Netflix, generations no longer share a culture
Why don’t more non-smokers try e-cigarettes?
I was waiting on an office forecourt recently puffing on an e-cigarette when a security guard came out. ‘You can’t…
The surer we are that machines can think, the less sure we'll be about people
Having written (for a Times diary) a few sentences about consciousness in robots, I settled back to study readers’ responses…
Four gadgets to take on holiday — and two to leave behind
One inarguably good thing about electronic publishing is that it solves that old quandary about what books to pack for…
Plutarch on smartphone addiction
Adults, we are told, as much as children, become gibbering wrecks if deprived of their mobiles or iPhones for more…
Spectator letters: Press regulation, heroic Bulgarians and the case for Scotch on the rocks
Beyond the law Sir: In your leading article of 28 June you make the point that the hacking trial demonstrates…
The voice of Big Mother does more for women than any Twitter feminist
Feminism in modern Britain is not for the faint-hearted. Only the smartest, mouthiest girls on the social media scene dare…
The sheer stupidity of artificial intelligence
Believers in omnipotent machine intelligence are reshaping the world to fit their fantasies
Adam Smith is the father of more than one sort of economics
Gandhi would test his resolve by sleeping between two naked virgins, an avenue not really open to me, as my…
How user-friendly is your house?
Old Glaswegian joke: ‘Put your hat and coat on, lassie, I’m off to the pub.’ ‘That’s nice — are you…
The gilded generation - why the young have never had it so good
The statistics speak for themselves. Today’s gilded generation is the most blessed that ever lived
Sugata Mitra interview: ‘A reduction in resources can cause something nice to happen’
Children can teach each other, believes Sugata Mitra — if you give them the internet, a big screen and a helpful granny on Skype
Why I no longer want to live in America
A few years ago I would have quite liked to live in America. I’m not sure now. For one thing,…
You can buy happiness. Here’s how…
If you are reading this article online, perhaps you could go to the comments section and let us know what…
I was forced on to the internet in the 1980s. I still don't belong there
With regard to modern technology, I find that people of around my age — by which I mean people in…
Any other business: The friends of Putin taking home gold from the Sochi Olympics
Imagine if the BBC’s excitable commentators had been asked to cover the building of Sochi’s facilities, rather than the Winter…
Will self-driving cars know what to do in the middle lane?
I am convinced that when I took my driving test in 1983 I was asked by the examiner, ‘What lane…
Ten reasons why conservatives should take Edward Snowden seriously
So why are British conservatives determined to ignore his revelations?
