The best stories of the week, as chosen by the editors of Longreads.
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Posted inNonfiction
Longreads Best of 2016: Under-Recognized Stories
We asked a few writers and editors to choose some of their favorite stories of the year in various categories. Here, the best in under-recognized stories.
Posted inNonfiction, Quotes
The Nightmare Dream of a Thinking Machine
The question “Can a machine think?” has shadowed computer science from its beginnings. Alan Turing proposed in 1950 that a machine could be taught like a child; John McCarthy, inventor of the programming language LISP, coined the term “artificial intelligence” in 1955. As AI researchers in the 1960s and 1970s began to use computers to recognize images, translate between languages, and understand instructions in normal language and not just code, the idea that computers would eventually develop the ability to speak and think—and thus to do evil—bubbled into mainstream culture.
Posted inNonfiction, Reading List
The Rotten and the Sublime: A Reading List on Fermentation
Somewhere in the grey zone between science and magic, the controlled addition of bacteria to food transforms it — mostly to our delight. Here are five pieces exploring these transitions (and their products).
Posted inBooks, Profiles & Interviews
The Invisible Forces Behind All of Our Decision-Making
Author Jonah Berger explains when and why we follow the herd.
Posted inNonfiction, Profiles & Interviews
Relearning How to Talk in the Age of Smartphone Addiction
Sherry Turkle studies how we relate to our devices, and thinks it’s high time we start talking to each other again.
Posted inBooks, Profiles & Interviews, Story
The Invisible Forces Behind All of Our Decision-Making
Author Jonah Berger explains when and why we follow the herd.
Posted inNonfiction, Profiles & Interviews, Story
Relearning How to Talk in the Age of Smartphone Addiction
Sherry Turkle studies how we relate to our devices, and thinks it’s high time we start talking to each other again.
Posted inNonfiction
Longreads Best of 2015: Under-Recognized Stories
Stories that deserved more attention in 2015.
Posted inNonfiction, Quotes
After the Television Cameras Go Away
In MIT’s Technology Review, Antonio Regalado reports that paralyzed patients are participating in long-term studies of how putting implants in the brain to create brain-controlled prosthetics and computers may help paralyzed people in the future. Jan Scheuermann, 54, is one of these patients. After she awoke from her brain surgery, she was able to control […]
