Human
-
Books
Savages! Innocents! Sages! What Do We Really Know About Early Humans?
In “The Invention of Prehistory,” the historian Stefanos Geroulanos argues that many of our theories about our remote ancestors tell us more about us than them.
-
Books
Harvard Removes Binding of Human Skin From Book in Its Library
The decision to find a “respectful final disposition” for human remains used for a 19th-century book comes amid growing scrutiny of their presence in museum collections.
-
Newyork
Scientists Just Gave Humanity an Overdue Reality Check. The World Will Be Better for It.
The world’s leading institution on geology declined a proposal on Wednesday to confirm that the planet has entered a new geologic epoch, doubling down on its bombshell announcement earlier this month. The notion that we’re in the “Anthropocene” — the ...
-
Science
Where the Wild Things Went During the Pandemic
A new study of camera-trap images complicates the idea that all wildlife thrived during the Covid lockdowns.
-
News
The Paradox at the Heart of Elon Musk’s OpenAI Lawsuit
Mr. Musk says in his complaint that the company’s technology is now so good that it must be made freely available to the public — and held back from Microsoft.
-
Newyork
The World May Be Entering a Much Bloodier Era
War is on the rise everywhere. When the International Institute for Strategic Studies in London published its authoritative Armed Conflict Survey in early December, it counted 183 conflicts globally in 2023 — higher than had been recorded in 30 years ...
-
Books
A Hopeful Reminder: You’re Going to Die
Fifty years on, Ernest Becker’s “The Denial of Death” remains an essential, surprisingly upbeat guide to our final act on Earth.
-
US
A.I. Can Make Art That Feels Human. Whose Fault Is That?
A fake Drake/Weeknd mash-up is not a threat to our species’s culture. It’s a warning: We can’t let our imaginations shrink to machine size.
-
Books
‘Sing in Me, Chatbot …’
The robots of literature and movies usually present either an existential danger or an erotic frisson. Those who don’t follow in the melancholy footsteps of Frankenstein’s misunderstood monster march in line with the murderous HAL 9000 from “2001: A ...
-
News
This Gorilla’s Caregivers Face Familiar Questions About Aging
Winston, an older silverback, is getting enviable medical treatment. Now his keepers must confront an issue that vexes doctors and older humans, too: How much intervention is too much?