Review: Understanding AI Helps Separate the Sci From the Fi
Like it or not, AI is here to stay. In his newsletter, Timothy B. Lee helps explain what comes next.
Entertainment
Review: Klara and the Sun Tackles AI Regulation
Kazuo Ishiguro's beautiful meditation on the parameters that constrain robots and humans alike
The Fall Guy Is a Crowd-Pleasing Homage to Silver Screen Stunt Work
It's not a great movie. But it is a great time at the movies.
Review: The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress Underscores How Technology Supports Freedom
According to Grok, Robert Heinlein's novel reminds us that even a supercomputer can have a heart—or at least a well-programmed sense of humor.
Review: Mrs. Davis Tests the Limits of Science and Faith
When does a sufficiently advanced algorithm start to mimic our conception of God?
Review: Here There Are Blueberries Investigates a Nazi Photo Album
"Where is the line between complacency, complicity, and culpability?” asks producer Matt Joslyn.
Review: Fun Police Podcast Exposes the Nanny State
Don't trust the do-gooders campaigning against drinking, smoking, and gambling.
Review: An Anime Reboot About Japan's Transition From Feudalism
The protagonist's adversaries eventually embrace modernity.
Review: What the Cities: Skylines II Flop Tells Us About Urban Planning
It turns out that making video games and making cities are both really hard.
Review: It's Cloned Mammoths vs. Billionaire Hunters in This New Sci-Fi Novel
Ray Nayler's The Tusks of Extinction explores the value of nonhuman intelligence.
Review: This Young Podcaster Is Channeling Adam Smith
A locked-down high schooler started asking libertarian thinkers what people in her generation should know.
Review: Apple Vision Pro's Magic Is Short-Lived
Apple's pricey new headset ends up feeling clunky.
Review: Violation Podcast Dissects the Broken U.S. Parole System
How do we decide who is worthy of a second chance?
Review: Musical Movie Doesn't Recapture Mean Girls' Genuine Meanness
The audience's tolerance for the truth about bullying has diminished in our oversensitive age.
New Georgia Law Limits Film Tax Credits. But Marvel Would Still Qualify.
While the state senate's bill would cap tax credits at 2.3 percent of the state's budget, any production filming at a big enough studio would be exempt.
Review: How Ray Trapani Scammed the Crypto World and Got Away With it
Netflix's Bitconned explores Centra Tech's scammy business dealings.
Pornhub Pulls Out of Seventh State
The company leaves Texas over an “ineffective, haphazard, and dangerous” age-verification law.
Review: Fargo's Self-Identified Libertarian Is No Libertarian
Will Sheriff Roy Tillman replace Ron Swanson as TV's most notable libertarian character? Hopefully not.
Review: Is Saltburn an Eat-the-Rich Comedy? Not Quite.
Critics are misreading the movie. The wealthy are not the villains in this story.
Review: For All Mankind Offers an Alternate History of Moon Exploration
What if Russia had landed on the moon before the United States?
States Try To Strip Sex From Literature in Libraries, Schools
These aren't outright bans. But they still can chill free speech and academic freedom.
Review: Cyberpunk 2077 Explores Another Lawless Dystopia
In the game's Phantom Liberty expansion, those who make the laws rarely follow them.
Review: HBO's Comedic Take on Pirate Life
The pirates in Our Flag Means Death end up more interested in skirting imperial powers than in plundering.
Review: Netflix's Real-Life Spinoff Can't Recreate Squid Game's Allure
In Squid Game: The Challenge, contestants don't really risk their lives.
Review: Photographic Glimpses at 20th Century Roots Music
Arhoolie Records founder Chris Strachwitz's photos document blues, country, and Cajun music.
Review: Ken Burns Explains the Anti–Native American Plot To Kill Bison
The American Buffalo documentary charts the fall and rise of American bison.
Review: Netflix Delivers a Surprisingly Balanced Take on Vaping
Big Vape presents differing views on the supposed youth vaping epidemic.
The Best of Reason: Comedy's Truthiness Problem
Hasan Minhaj’s stand-up tests the boundaries of fact and fiction.
Review: Exposing a Broken Juvenile Court System
Kids were jailed for minor offenses, as detailed in The Kids of Rutherford County podcast.
Comedy's Truthiness Problem
Hasan Minhaj’s stand-up tests the boundaries of fact and fiction.
Review: Loki Reckons With the Peril of Power
In the second season of his eponymous Marvel series, Loki becomes both more human and more godlike.
Review: A Teen Dramedy on a Native American Reservation
The government abuse that precipitated Native American social woes is not directly discussed in Reservation Dogs.
AI Fraud Act Could Outlaw Parodies, Political Cartoons, and More
The bill is broad enough to target a Saturday Night Live skit lampooning Trump, a comedic impression of Taylor Swift, or a weird ChatGPT-generated image of Ayn Rand.
Review: A Fitting End to Attack on Titan
Attack on Titan is ultimately an anime about what it means to be free.
Hayao Miyazaki's The Boy and the Heron Is a Dream-Like Swan Song for a Great Animated Filmmaker
A magical, mysterious deeply personal movie about creation and legacy. And also, murder parrots.
Review: Craig Robinson's Extremely Florida Sitcom
Killing It mocks capitalism, but at least it's funny.
Review: When Pirates Take Over Tampa
Real pirates terrorized the Gulf Coast. These modern pirates just want to have fun.
Review: The Album That Helped Make Florida the Epicenter of Death Metal
Death's 1990 Spiritual Healing paints a right-wing culture warrior’s nightmare vision of America.
Review: How To Live to 100
It's not as easy as Netflix's Secrets of the Blue Zones makes it seem.
Review: Painkiller Falls for Drug War Misconceptions
The series foregrounds cases of OxyContin addiction, despite their rarity.
