Inside the long quest to advance Chinese writing technology

August 26, 2024
Every second of every day, someone is typing in Chinese. In a park in Hong Kong, at a desk in Taiwan, in the checkout line at a Family Mart in Shanghai, the automatic doors chiming a song each time they open. Though the mechanics look a little different from typing in English or French—people usually…

Maybe you will be able to live past 122

August 26, 2024
The UK’s Office of National Statistics has an online life expectancy calculator. Enter your age and sex, and the website will, using national averages, spit out the age at which you can expect to pop your clogs. For me, that figure is coming out at 88 years old. That’s not too bad, I figure, given…

AI and the future of sex

August 26, 2024
The power of pornography doesn’t lie in arousal but in questions. What is obscene? What is ethical or safe to watch?  We don’t have to consume or even support it, but porn will still demand answers. The question now is: What is “real” porn?  Anti-porn crusades have been at the heart of the US culture…