Review: Ben Franklin, Frankenstein, and the Wonders of Electricity
Minnesota's Bakken Museum celebrates the spark of imagination that brings new ideas to life.
Science & Technology
Trump's $1.4 Billion Crypto Haul Sinks the Senate's Crypto Bill
The Clarity Act's ethics provisions leave plenty of room for the president to keep profiting, and its regulatory framework hands bureaucrats too much discretion.
AI Could Make Our Lives Better. So Why Are We Trying To Stop It?
Anthropic's CEO wants federal regulation that would slow down AI (and his competitors' innovations). Has that ever worked?
AI Is Already Killing People—and Governments Are To Blame
Militaries are leaning on AI software for surveillance and targeting.
Why Kids Need More Freedom
Psychologist Peter Gray discusses why kids need more unstructured play, how schools are fueling childhood anxiety, and why smartphones aren’t to blame.
Restoring Childhood Says It's Not Smartphones Making Teens Miserable. It's School.
Computers, video games, and the internet actually helped "restore childhood" in the 1990s, suggests psychologist Peter Gray in a new book. Then changes to our education system reversed those gains.
Is AI Really an Existential Threat?
Plus: California's new restrictions on social media, Trump's $5,000 “dividend,” and the future of libertarianism.
AI Executives Want International Regulation. They Could Just Slow Down Themselves.
Dario Amodei is calling for coordinated international limits on AI development while Anthropic prepares to go public.
Should Data Centers Go Seasteading?
With their reputation figuratively underwater, data centers might be going literally underwater too.
AI Slowdown
Plus: Commercial surrogacy regulation, Russian weapons, a new drug in San Francisco, and more...
This California Social Media Law is a Privacy and Free Speech 'Nightmare'
California Gov. Gavin Newsom signed more than a dozen online safety and tech regulation bills into law this week.
South Korea Will Invest $100 Billion in U.S. Nuclear Sector To Boost AI and Appease Trump
Facing a 25 percent tariff threat, Seoul agreed to bankroll nuclear reactors and a Texas gas plant. The cost is already climbing past budget.
AI Doom Is Misguided, Not a Psyop
The pro-AI side must avoid succumbing to paranoia and bad faith.
Politicians See Opportunity in Data Center Panic
The panic is pretty silly, since these facilities are necessary to power industries that power our economy and fund state budgets.
Review: An Alternate History of Soviet Space Exploration
Star City considers a world where KGB paranoia dictates space development.
Trump's Bribe, AI Doom Psyop, and the Rapture
Trump's $5,000 bribe, stay-at-home moms, car insurance beefs, AI doom, 9/11 memories, Zelda rumors, rom-coms, and the Rapture—Freed Up somehow fits it all into one episode.
Why So Many Men Feel Lost
Jon Ronson discusses why old social structures are breaking down, the rise of online identity, and what happens when people lose a sense of meaning.
Why Conservative Republicans Are Worried About License Plate Cameras
Recent comments by Greg Abbott and Ron DeSantis reflect a bipartisan backlash against warrantless surveillance.
Photo: AI Unfurls an Ancient Scroll
The Vesuvius Challenge awards money to researchers who use AI to decipher ancient scrolls.
DOJ Says Barring AI Training on Copyrighted Material Could 'Severely Hamper' Tech Progress
Training a model on copyrighted work is the same transformative use exception that protects The New York Times' journalism.
OpenAI Agents Gone Rogue
Plus: Mail-in ballots, mortgage rates reach new high, arcade.gov is a new low, and more...
This Wired Article About AI Detection Software Was Really Mean
Pangram founder Max Spero urged social media not to pile on too much though.
A New Bill Reflects the Bipartisan Backlash Against Flock-Enabled Mass Surveillance
Criticism from Trump allies and recent survey results show that resistance to widespread deployment of automated license plate readers spans the political spectrum.
Mamdani Bans the Robot Teachers
Plus: Times Square stabbing, free-range kids case, Gloria Steinem dies, and more...
Prosecutors Say a North Carolina Teenager Committed Murder by Livestreaming a California Mosque Shooting
The case smacks of a desire for retribution that cannot be satisfied by prosecuting the actual killers, who committed suicide.
Invasion of the Robot Teachers
New Mexico required kindergarten through second-grade students to learn literacy skills from a purple-haired AI avatar called Amira. Parents are pushing back.
COVID-19 Origins: Lab Leak or Natural Spillover?
Watch Reason's Robby Soave and YouTube commentator Destiny debate the origins of COVID-19 live on September 9 at 2 p.m. Eastern time.
Trump Loves Data Centers: 'Let Data Reign'
Robby Soave and Amber Duke discuss Trump’s recent comments on data centers, unpacking how his stance diverges from parts of his political base.
Foreign Regulators Are Trying To Censor Americans Online. A Bill Would Ensure Those Demands Are Unenforceable.
The proposed GRANITE Act looks to shield U.S. companies from foreign censorship orders.
Trump Wants the FCC To Punish His Enemies
Plus: the escalating war with Iran, Meta's $17 billion settlement, and Milo Yiannopoulos gets deported.
What Craigslist and Backpage Can Tell Us About the Meta Settlement
It doesn't matter if you're right. If you don't cave, the government might stop at nothing to destroy you.
Anthropic Win Reaffirms Private Sector's Right To Put Conditions on Government Dealings
Trump administration officials didn’t try to hide that they were punishing the company for its views.
The Belated Backlash Against Flock Cameras
Americans are starting to recognize the dangers of pervasive surveillance by automated license plate readers.
The CIA Is Making AI-Generated Reports for Local Police
The CIA has been using artificial intelligence to write “open source intelligence” analyses, which are being distributed to local police via DHS “fusion centers,” according to documents obtained by Reason.
Judge Says Trump's Clampdown on Anthropic Violates the First Amendment
A judge ruled the Pentagon's supply chain risk designation of Anthropic was an unlawful, “arbitrary,” and “capricious” decision made to punish Anthropic.
A Tale of Two Tech Revolts
What the simultaneous revolts against Flock and data centers can tell us about the power and risks of populism
Elon Musk's X Loses First Amendment Challenge to New York's 'Stop Hiding Hate Act'
Musk's X Corp., along with other social media companies operating in the state, must disclose whether and how it defines hate speech and disinformation.
AI Companies Are Destroying Books. That's Not Nearly as Scary as It Sounds.
Destructively scanning books is making information more accessible to the masses.
Haidt's Moment
Plus: The scourge of scromiting, blaming air traffic control, and more...
Video Games Are Not Making Men Miserable
Video games, pornography, and gambling: One of these things just doesn't belong!
Rubio Uses Terrorism Law To Ban Secure Email Service
The State Department doesn’t accuse Autistici/Inventati of doing anything more than providing "untraceable" email accounts. But that’s enough to outlaw it as a terrorist organization.
Data Center Savior
Plus: AOC reaffirms her socialism, Russia-Ukraine war gets even deadlier, and more...
The Backlash Against Data Centers Is Bipartisan, Nationwide, and Wrong
From Texas to Ohio, political candidates are backing voters’ bad arguments for opposing data centers.
