Jimmy Soni’s book tells the story of how an ensemble of entrepreneurs, including Elon Musk and Peter Thiel, helped the online payment system prevail.
Johann Hari on How to Reclaim Your Focus
In his new book, Johann Hari investigates how our brains have been broken by technology — and what we can do to fight back.
It’s Not Your Fault You Can’t Pay Attention. Here’s Why.
Johann Hari offers a surprising theory for why it’s so difficult to pay attention.
Decoding Dickens’s Secret Notes to Himself, One Symbol at a Time
A letter Charles Dickens wrote in his mystifying style of shorthand had gone unread for over a century. Computer programmers helped scholars decode it.
¿Estamos viviendo en una simulación?
DeberÃamos empezar a reflexionar seriamente sobre los posibles efectos de los mundos virtuales. Ahora.
Predicting the Future Is Possible. These ‘Superforecasters’ Know How.
The psychologist Philip Tetlock on the art and science of prediction.
What Happened to Amazon’s Bookstore?
A 2011 thriller was supposed to cost $15. One merchant listed it at $987, with a 17th-century publication date. That’s what happens in a marketplace where third-party sellers run wild.
A Robot Wrote This Book Review
In “The Age of AI,†Henry Kissinger, Eric Schmidt and Daniel Huttenlocher explore how far artificial intelligence has come.
Elon Musk Is Building a Sci-Fi World, and the Rest of Us Are Trapped in It
From Mars to the metaverse, tech moguls are forging a new kind of capitalism: an extreme, extraterrestrial version.
Pamela McCorduck, Historian of Artificial Intelligence, Dies at 80
She interviewed many of the scientists who were at the heart of the field through the end of the 1970s, and she compiled a groundbreaking history of its early years.
How I Knew I Needed to Quit Instagram
Just like with alcohol, social media left me feeling anxious and removed from myself.
Why Does Every Company Now Want to Be a Platform?
In “The Platform Delusion,†Jonathan Knee takes apart the magical aura that surrounds one of Silicon Valley’s biggest conceptual exports.
Why Dave Eggers Isn’t Selling His Novel Inspired by Amazon on Amazon
The author dissects the anxieties and discontents of living in a world wrought by tech giants.
What’s Wrong With Big Tech? Three Stanford Professors Think They Know.
“System Error,†by Rob Reich, Mehran Sahami and Jeremy M. Weinstein, explores the problems inherent in Silicon Valley’s hold on us.
Salman Rushdie Is Now on Substack
The Booker Prize-winning author has reached a deal with the newsletter platform, where he plans to publish fiction and interact with readers.
The Fate of the Self in the Age of Clicks
In “God, Human, Animal, Machine,†the essayist and cultural critic Meghan O’Gieblyn traces how our conception of the human mind has been shaped by our tech-driven era — and what such a view leaves out.
A ‘Quiet Zone’ Without Wi-Fi or Cellphones Should Be an Idyll. But Is It?
In his new book, Stephen Kurczy ventures to a town in West Virginia that is ostensibly off the electronic grid and he finds a more complicated reality.
Book Review: ‘An Ugly Truth,’ by Sheera Frenkel and Cecilia Kang
A new, deeply reported book by the Times reporters Sheera Frenkel and Cecilia Kang recounts the full story of the social media company’s foibles.