New at Zócalo

  • Essay

    In Praise of the Postcard

    A Seemingly Obsolete Technology Invites Us to Ruminate on the Possibilities of the Past and the Future

    by Frances Tanzer |

    The postcard selection on Vis, Croatia’s most remote island, was not terribly appealing. I considered a card adorned with a photograph of boats in the old harbor. Surely, I thought, …

  • The Takeaway

    Can Humans Reprogram the Internet’s Original Sin?

    From the Pop-Up Ad to Criminal Sentencing Algorithms, Software—And the People Behind It—Shape Our Lives

    by Sarah Rothbard |

    Will ChatGPT change the world? The new artificial intelligence chatbot, which has inspired both fear and awe with its power to do everything from write jokes and term papers to …

  • Essay

    The Stories Doctors Tell

    Physicians and Patients Stitch Together Narratives to Diagnose and Heal

    by Jay Baruch |

    The belly pain is so bad that Mrs. Alves*, a woman in her 40s, is worming uncomfortably on the ER stretcher. “I need an answer,” she says. I promise her …

  • Connecting California

    California’s Beauty Doesn’t Love You Back

    The Stunning Hillside Homes, Epic Mountains, and Gnarly Waves That Draw Us Here Also Threaten Our Existence

    by Joe Mathews |

    Early in the film Chinatown, a Southern California coroner named Morty chuckles after examining the dead body of the city’s water department chief.

    “Isn’t that something?” Morty says. “Middle of a …