Articles

When People Cost Less Than Electricity

When People Cost Less Than Electricity

After the recent terrorist attack on Berlin’s energy infrastructure, which left around one hundred thousand people without power, an 83-year-old woman died. She was found by a relative in her apartment, showing severe signs of hypothermia

If you don't agree, you're a racist

If you don't agree, you're a racist

“You’re either with us, or you’re with the terrorists,” President George W. Bush said in a famous statement after the September 11 attacks in 2001. Similar rhetoric was used decades later, when UN Secretary-General António Guterres in 2022 claimed that a lack of collective action would be “collective suicide.”

The Future Cannot Be Calculated

The Future Cannot Be Calculated

Last autumn, European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde claimed that uncertainty in the economy had decreased significantly. According to her, this would be a result of the EU’s new trade agreement with the USA.

The Fictional World Order

The Fictional World Order

In January, Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney warned that the rules-based international order is eroding, a concern that has persisted since Donald Trump returned to the White House in January 2025.

When the Peace Prize Looks in the Mirror

When the Peace Prize Looks in the Mirror

Awarded for promoting “ballots, not bullets,” the Nobel Peace Prize given to Venezuelan politician Marina Corina Machado in October 2025 was soon overshadowed by the very violence it decried.

How the Easter Parade Never Ended

How the Easter Parade Never Ended

Using words to influence behaviour is not a new phenomenon. However, the scale, speed, and precision with which language can be used as a weapon IS new. Today, researchers using AI wish to use “well-formed linguistic input” to cure depression. But an algorithm that can formulate a cure can, just as easily, formulate a poison.

How the Easter Parade Never Ended

How the Easter Parade Never Ended

Using words to influence behaviour is not a new phenomenon. However, the scale, speed, and precision with which language can be used as a weapon IS new. Today, researchers using AI wish to use “well-formed linguistic input” to cure depression. But an algorithm that can formulates a cure can, just as easily, formulate a poison.

Won't someone please think of the children?

Won't someone please think of the children?

New laws eroding privacy always follow a tired script: Invoke the “four horsemen of the infocalypse” to scare us into accepting surveillance “for the children” or “for security.” The reality is, neither our kids nor the public are any safer, just less free.

Wherever something is wrong, something is too big

Wherever something is wrong, something is too big

In mid-July 2024, computers in large parts of the world were hit by serious IT problems. Massive disruptions followed at airlines, stock exchanges, and stores globally. Nearly 10 million computers were affected.

A child's laughter: an algorithmic product?

A child's laughter: an algorithmic product?

Ilya Sutskever, co-founder and former chief scientist at OpenAI, said recently that the human brain is nothing but a biological computer. He was completely certain of this. But is that really the case?

Chat Control 2: Digitalizing the Panopticon

Chat Control 2: Digitalizing the Panopticon

Europe’s assault on free speech has become widespread and far-reaching. In Germany, a journalist was fined and given a suspended prison sentence this spring for circulating a satirical image of the interior minister captioned “I hate free speech.”

When Justice Fails the Vulnerable

When Justice Fails the Vulnerable

A video of a young Scottish girl brandishing both a knife and an axe went viral in late August. She allegedly tried to protect her sister from unwanted advances by an adult man according to the accompanying narrative - a true heroine.

Tags