Science & Technology

"The nineteenth century believed in science but the twentieth century does not." — Gertrude Stein

Embrangled Banks
David Toomey delights in Banu Subramaniam’s “Botany of Empire: Plant Worlds and the Scientific Legacies of Colonialism.”
David ToomeyMar 27
- Science & Technology
But Why Would You Want to Self-Transcend Through Mysticism?
Dan Turello considers Vladimir Miskovic and Steven Jay Lynn’s “Dreaming Reality: How Neuroscience and Mysticism Can Unlock the Secrets of Consciousness.”
Dan TurelloMar 26
- Science & Technology
- Philosophy & Religion
We Are Never Well, nor Can Be So
Helena Aeberli ponders Caroline Crampton’s “A Body Made of Glass: A Cultural History of Hypochondria.”
Helena AeberliMar 11
- Cultural Studies
- Science & Technology
Who Shall and Shall Not Have a Place in the World?
In the seventh essay in the Legacies of Eugenics series, Lily Hu asks whether the racialist and eugenicist roots of statistics can be cordoned off from “proper” science.
Lily HuFeb 13
Crashes on the Information Highway
Kendra Sullivan reviews Chris Campanioni’s “Windows 85.”
Kendra SullivanFeb 10
- Poetry
- Science & Technology
Dealer’s Choice: What Freedom Is—and Isn’t
Henry Cowles describes how every choice he makes is now haunted by Sophia Rosenfeld’s “The Age of Choice: A History of Freedom in Modern Life.”
Henry M. CowlesFeb 4
- Science & Technology
- History
To Touch the Dust of Anarres
Jonathan Bolton thoughtfully reads Ursula K. Le Guin’s “The Dispossessed” within and against the grain of a half century of criticism.
Jonathan BoltonFeb 2
- Science & Technology
- SF
Are We All Addicts?
Maria Cichosz explores new models of addiction and finds them unsatisfactory.
Maria CichoszFeb 2
- Science & Technology
- Nonfiction
The Case for Kicking the Stone
Philip Ball finds Nicholas Carr’s “Superbloom: How Technologies of Connection Tear Us Apart” disturbingly compelling.
Philip BallJan 28
- Science & Technology
- Politics
Life Is More Than an Engineering Problem
Julien Crockett speaks with Ted Chiang about the search for a perfect language, the state of AI, and the future direction of technology.
Julien CrockettJan 19
- SF
- Science & Technology
The Rules We Live By: Year in Review
Julien Crockett looks back on the first year of the LARB series The Rules We Live By.
Julien CrockettJan 19
- Science & Technology
- Politics
Disaster Triumphant
Visiting Trinity Site, location of the Manhattan Project, Christopher Kempf is stunned by the failures of the American curatorial imagination.
Christopher KempfDec 12, 2024
- Science & Technology
- History