Coronavirus inspires Sari Botton to reach out to family and friends she’s fallen out with.
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Searching for a Future Beyond Facebook
If we want to liberate ourselves from the tech monopolies, we have to figure out what to do with our data.
Accountability for the Algorithms
Tim Berners-Lee: “For people who want to make sure the Web serves humanity, we have to concern ourselves with what people are building on top of it.”
The Top 5 Longreads of the Week
This week, we’re sharing stories from Russell Shorto, Casey Newton, T Kira Madden, Molly Jong Fast, and Jenny Price.
The Fraught Culture of Online Mourning
Nowadays, we live online, and so we grieve here too. But there are limits to the comfort digital mourning can provide.
This Week in Books: We’ve All Been Briefed
“They have washed their hands for you. / And they take the bus home.” —Jericho Brown
Without a Trace: Missing, In an Age of Mass Displacement
Masood Hotak left Afghanistan in December 2015, hoping to make it to Europe. On January 3, 2016, he posted on Facebook that he’d reached the Greek island of Samos. And then… nothing. His big brother Javed has traveled thousands of miles trying to find him.
‘We All Live in the Great Database in the Sky’: On Silicon Valley and UFO Culture
“The idea seems to be that we all live in the great database in the sky, occasionally summoning aliens with our minds.” Emily Harnett explores Silicon Valley’s appropriation of UFO culture.
The Disease of Deceit
Friends don’t let friends lie about having cancer.
Anyone’s Son
Cody Dalton Eyre, a 20-year-old Alaskan Native, was having a mental health crisis on Christmas Eve, 2017 when his mother called 911 for help. So why did police officers end up shooting and killing him?

