Move Beyond Monopoly With Board Games for the Bored
Too Many Poops Easy to learn and tough to master, this card game (shown above) encourages you to collect adorable cats, which deposit tiny plastic…
Web Giants Scrambled to Head Off a Dangerous DDoS Technique
In October 2016, a botnet of hacked security cameras and internet routers called Mirai aimed a gargantuan flood of junk traffic at the servers of…
‘Crisis Schooling’ and the New Rhythms of Pandemic Parenting
“Mom, can you fill up my water-keeper?” I looked down from making meatballs. My 5-year-old was holding a contraption that appeared to consist of several…
Are AI-Powered Killer Robots Inevitable?
In war, speed kills. The soldier who is a split second quicker on the draw may walk away from a firefight unscathed; the ship that…
Is the Brain a Useful Model for Artificial Intelligence?
In the summer of 2009, the Israeli neuroscientist Henry Markram strode onto the TED stage in Oxford, England, and made an immodest proposal: Within a…
All the Gear You Need to Throw a DIY Karaoke Party
Check the Mic Karaoke just isn’t karaoke without a microphone. But you’re not Rosalía, and your living room isn’t a recording studio—all you need is…
As Machines Get Smarter, How Will We Relate to Them?
Bicycling in a hilly, busy city like San Francisco provides a cognitive as well as a physical workout. I survive in traffic by flexing not…
We Are All Livestreamers Now, and Zoom Is Our Stage
But now I’m trapped. I feel two-dimensional. I desperately need to break out of this simulation. After days of muting and unmuting, I go out…
It’s Called Artificial Intelligence—but What Is Intelligence?
Elizabeth Spelke, a cognitive psychologist at Harvard, has spent her career testing the world’s most sophisticated learning system—the mind of a baby. Gurgling infants might…
Six-Word Sci-Fi: Write About Love in the Time of Coronavirus
SO I MARRIED THE DELIVERY MAN. —Hamish Hamish via Facebook Honorable Mentions: Love is sacrificing the last ply. —Kristos Samaras via Facebook There is an…