This week, we feature stories from Tom Scocca, Giles Harvey, Chris Walker, Krithika Varagur, and N.C. Happe.
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Posted inEditor's Pick
Spiraling in San Francisco’s Doom Loop
“What it’s like to live in a city that no longer believes its problems can be fixed.”
Posted inCuration
The Top 5 Longreads of the Week
Recommending notable stories by Kelley Engelbrecht, Sam Anderson, Lindsey Liles, Jeannette Cooperman, and Claire McNear.
Posted inEditor's Pick
Taking Stock
Rob Horning explores the term “creator” in this essay on labor, exploitation, and content production and consumption on the internet. “Creator,” like “creativity,” is essentially a null term that signifies nothing about one’s activity but instead marks one’s limitless availability — a willingness to make anything at all in one’s life into content for sale.
Posted inTop 5
The Top 5 Longreads of the Week
In this edition: metal medicine, hyped humanoids, carnival crossroads, divine defiance, and optimization obsession.
Posted inEditor's Pick
How the AI Industry Profits from Catastrophe
The demand for data labeling in the artificial intelligence industry — tagging videos, sorting photos, and transcribing audio in order to train AI — has created a massive need for cheap labor, leading data-labeling platforms such as Appen to hire low-pay workers in countries like Venezuela, the Philippines, and Kenya to do these tasks. In […]
Posted inNewsletter
Diving into 2024 with an Excerpt and Our Top 5
“She did live. She had to wear a catheter for several weeks, but she got better. The long recovery gave Debra time to think on what she wanted to do about the man who had hurt her.” Welcome to 2024! We are back for another year of editors’ picks, stirring originals, and inspiring reading lists. Kicking […]
Posted inEditor's Pick
The Death Cheaters
“The members of Longevity House are united by two things: a willingness to hand over $100,000 and a burning desire to live forever. Inside the weird world of cryotherapy, biocharging and fecal transplants.”
Posted inEditor's Pick
The Unbearable Lightness of BuzzFeed
“BuzzFeed built a digital media empire in part by aggregating viral content from social media. A decade later, what’s next?”
Posted inEditor's Pick
Care Tactics
In an ableist world, health care systems and tech innovators are more invested in high-tech solutions and shiny objects that don’t consider disabled folks’ actual needs during the design process. Many in the disability and caregiving communities rely on their own creative hacks instead, leaning on a culture of collaboration and shared knowledge to make […]
