“A broken phone or corrupted drive can mean the loss of work, evidence, art, or the last traces of the dead. But sometimes data-recovery experts can summon lost files from the void.”
Technology
Posted inQuestionnaire
The Longreads Questionnaire, Featuring Vauhini Vara
The author of Searches: Selfhood in the Digital Age and The Immortal King Rao on memorable meals and books about whales.
Posted inEditor's Pick
AI Got the Blame for the Iran School Bombing. The Truth is Far More Worrying
“LLMs-gone-rogue dominated coverage, but had nothing to do with the targeting. Instead, it was choices made by human beings, over many years, that gave us this atrocity.”
Posted inEditor's Pick
Limiting Not Just Screen Time, But Screen Space
“The internet has stopped being a place we visit—it’s now an environment we inhabit.”
Posted inEditor's Pick
Is There Life After Smartphones?
“This year, I set out to better understand what was driving this shift — what was causing so many young people to feel fed up with their phones.”
Posted inEditor's Pick
Opposing ICE Might Save the Country. It Could Also Ruin Your Life.
“For months, lone vibe coder Rafael Concepcion has obsessively built tools to counter the federal immigration crackdown—pivoting as he’s been outmatched. He’s also lost his job and become a target.”
Posted inEditor's Pick
The Bottom of the Ninth
“In baseball and in life, there is a cost to our pursuit of an error-free existence.”
Posted inEditor's Pick
You Could Be Next
“Laid-off lawyers, history PhDs, and scientists are now part of a miserable gig economy in which they’re teaching AI how to do their old jobs.”
Posted inEditor's Pick
Recursive Resemblance
“On the feedback loops of mimesis, from the ancients to AI.”
Posted inEditor's Pick
Why Conservationists Are Making Rhinos Radioactive
“Rapid DNA tests, x-ray fluorescence guns, and other technologies are being deployed in the fight against wildlife trafficking.”