The Age of Egocasting
By Christine Rosen
Posted: Wednesday, January 5, 2005
The age of personalized entertainment is here, and perhaps no technologies epitomize it more than TiVo and iPod, devices that give individuals total control over what they watch and hear. But will the age of “egocasting” really improve the quality of American culture? Christine Rosen looks at these technologies of fetish, and wonders whether we are losing the capacity ever to be surprised and improved by our cultural creations.  [Read More]

The Age of Neuroelectronics
By Adam Keiper
Posted: Monday, January 30, 2006
The potential merging of mind and machine thrills, frightens, and intrigues us. For decades, experiments at the border between brains and electronics have led to sensationalistic media coverage, vivid science fiction portrayals, and dreams of cyborgs and bionic men. But recently, this area of science has seen remarkable advances—from robotic limbs controlled directly by brain activity, to brain implants that alter the mood of the depressed, to rats steered by remote control. Adam Keiper explores the peculiar history and present directions of this research, and considers the challenges of staying human in the age of neuroelectronics.  [Read More]

Aging with the Boomers
The coming geriatric mindset.
By Yuval Levin
Posted: Thursday, October 18, 2007
For six decades, the baby boomer generation has dominated America's understanding of itself. Now, as the baby boomers reach retirement, America's political life is likely to become increasingly obsessed with the problems of the elderly.  [Read More]

Are We Worthy of Our Kitchens?
By Christine Rosen
Posted: Monday, April 3, 2006
Our household appliances tell a tale of contradictions. We hope our "electric servants" will save time, but life seems as rushed as ever. We increasingly buy giant refrigerators, professional-quality ovens, and other "gourmet" kitchen machines, but we eat fewer meals together. We seek household bliss in our sophisticated appliances, but we devalue home life in the name of career.   [Read More]

Artistry and Artifice
Why Machines Can't Be Creative
By Adam Keiper
Posted: Sunday, May 22, 2005
When it comes to creativity, the field of artificial intelligence (AI) has had precious few results. The goal of making creative machines hangs forever on the horizon, never getting any closer. It remains perhaps the greatest challenge facing artificial intelligence researchers. As one of the field’s pioneers put it two decades ago, “The ultimate criterion for expertise in any area, whether chess or football or dance, is the ability to create something new.... Ultimately, creativity is the issue in AI.” The story of the many failures and partial successes of AI researchers seeking to develop creative machines is an instructive one – in no small measure because of what it teaches us about human thinking, desires, and creativity.  [Read More]