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How to Raise Your Artificial Intelligence: A Conversation with Alison Gopnik and Melanie Mitchell
Julien Crockett interviews Alison Gopnik and Melanie Mitchell about complexity and learning in AI systems, and our roles as caregivers.
Science & Technology
"The nineteenth century believed in science but the twentieth century does not." — Gertrude Stein
Out of the Mouth of Bots: Child Genius and Generative Machines
In an excerpt from LARB Quarterly no. 41, “Truth,” Emily Wells and Aaron Bornstein scrutinize a pair of child geniuses.
Ozempic: Reshaping Desire Since 2023
Ozempic is a drug against addiction. Is it also a drug for … virtue? wonders political scientist Krzysztof Pelc.
Why “Hallucination”? Examining the History, and Stakes, of How We Label AI’s Undesirable Output
Joshua Pearson examines the history of the term “hallucination” in the development and promotion of AI technology.
How Anecdotes Sell Drugs: On the 30th Anniversary Edition of Peter Kramer’s “Listening to Prozac”
Andrew Scull critiques the cultural influence of Peter Kramer’s 1993 book “Listening to Prozac.”
Dirty Digits and “Pleasant Landscapes”: On Jason A. Heppler’s “Silicon Valley and the Environmental Inequalities of High-Tech Urbanism”
After reading Jason A. Heppler’s “Silicon Valley and the Environmental Inequalities of High-Tech Urbanism,” Patrick McCray decides that Silicon Valley should really be called Arsenic Valley.
“D Is for Despair” Didn’t Sound So Good: A Conversation Between Bill McKibben and Elizabeth Kolbert
For Earth Day, Bill McKibben speaks with Elizabeth Kolbert about climate change and her new book “H Is for Hope: Climate Change from A to Z.”
What Scientists Can’t See: On Adam Frank, Marcelo Gleiser, and Evan Thompson’s “The Blind Spot”
Robert P. Crease reviews Adam Frank, Marcelo Gleiser, and Evan Thompson’s “The Blind Spot: Why Science Cannot Ignore Human Experience.”
Legacies of Eugenics: An Introduction
In the first of a series, Osagie K. Obasogie explores the history and persistence of eugenics in science, medicine, and elsewhere.
Misinformed Care: On Uché Blackstock’s “Legacy” and Constance Hilliard’s “Ancestral Genomics”
Naa Oyo A. Kwate lauds Uché Blackstock’s grounded memoir about racism in medicine and denounces Constance Hilliard’s genetic explanation for Black health disparities.
The Eyes Have It: On Eugene M. Helveston’s “Death to Beauty”
Arvind Dilawar reviews Eugene M. Helveston’s “Death to Beauty: The Transformative History of Botox.”
Our Not-Yet-Realized Almanac of the Future: On Veer Books’ “Corroding the Now” Anthology
David Shipko reviews Veer Books’ new anthology “Corroding the Now: Poetry + Science/SF.”
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