The Rise of the Permanent Pop-up
Staying power.
Despite our increasingly short attention spans and throwaway culture, it seems at least pop-ups are being designed to last. Call it retail therapy.
Essay
Hackers, Activists, and Entrepreneurs Fight to Keep the Internet On
Log on.
From the so-called Great Firewall of China to service providers throttling download speeds to Russia’s recent attempt to permanently log itself out of Facebook, Twitter, and other social media, the free, open, and globally accessible World Wide Web isn’t exactly living up to its name.
Chart Obsessions: How Our World Gets Reduced as We Do
Last writes.
Because it has become so easy to write anything and have it seen by countless individuals on one of the microblogging sites, diagnoses of graphomania—the pathological impulse to write—have bubbled up from critics and social commentary. But during the pandemic, we have noticed another, more benign impulse: the eye-watering compulsion to use charts and graphs to understand reality.
The Whitest Paint Ever Could Be a Useful Tool to Fight Climate Change
White out.
Now, in addition to its creative nomenclature, white paint has another thing going for it: it might just slow climate change.
Conspiratorial Thinking
What role does the conspiracy theory play in the way we understand the world?
What role does the conspiracy theory play in the way we understand the world?
Welcome to the Age of Space Tourism
Sky's the limit.
Ticket prices won’t be the only way that space tourism will be expensive.
The Call of the Void
Why do we feel the urge to jump from high places?
Why do we feel the urge to jump from high places?
The Art and Economics of NFTs, Non-Fungible Tokens
Crypto collectibles.
On some level, this fetish of authenticity is difficult to fathom.
Why the Billionaire Race to Space Bothers Me
Astro-not.
Because the billionaire race to space has cheapened space—ironically, considering how much money has been spent. It has taken something few have experienced and made it gimmicky.
