When the World Seems Awful, I Submerge Myself in the Vastness of the Universe

The Geological Timespan Is Long, and Our Time on Earth Is Short

From the TV remote to the group text to the ghoulish glow of the tablet I should have stowed before curling into bed: The world’s abiding awfulness is always just a click away. It’s as omnipresent as the WiFi it rides like a jet stream. It leaps between fellow citizens—a furrowed brow here, passing comment there—like a pathogen, a mood.

You’re aware, I presume, of what constitutes this awfulness? Of the climate crisis, the democracy crisis, and the election that’ll put both on the line. Of rising income inequality and eroding …

Why Can’t We Grieve for All the Dead?

How the Leaders of NewGround, a Muslim-Jewish Partnership, Are Resisting the Dehumanization of Palestinians and Israelis

Several weeks ago, we convened a group of Muslims and Jews in our network to talk about the unrelenting pain we have been experiencing on, before, and after October 7, …

What Bruce Springsteen Taught Me Then—And Teaches Me Now

On 40 Years of Listening to the Sonic Squall from the Boss’s Soul

Bruce Springsteen was the first artist I saw in concert—in 1976, when I was 15. He had recently graced the covers of Time and Newsweek, and journalist Jon Landau, who …

Is ‘Uberveillance’ Coming for Us All?

It’s No Longer Sci-Fi. Trackers Embedded in Our Bodies Are Threatening Our Privacy—and Our Humanity

The smartphone has become a modern Swiss Army knife: driver’s license, e-payment device, camera, radio, television, map, blood pressure monitor, workstation, babysitter, pocket AI, and general gateway to the internet. …

tktk | Zocalo Public Square • Arizona State University • Smithsonian

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

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 …

Humanity Might Have Been Born to Live in Cities | Zocalo Public Square • Arizona State University • Smithsonian

Humanity Might Have Been Born to Live in Cities

Paleo-Style Sensibilities Aside, Earth’s Future Hinges on the Success of Our Urban Spaces

Sometimes it feels like we made a wrong turn a long way back.

Perhaps it was the shift to fossil fuels and scientific medicine that led us to this place, …