People—and groups—who are suffering are often dismissed. Scarry’s axiom might help us understand why.
Author: Virginia Heffernan
The Future Is Bleak. Pondering Pangaea Gives Me Hope
In 200 million years, our far-flung continents may join up again. It reminds us of humans'…
When You’re Living in an Immaterial World, What’s for Sale?
On influencers, symbolic analysts, and buying and selling in the age of turbo-capitalism.
TikTok Smells Like Gen X Spirit
On the app you'll see a raucous reboot of "slacker" attitude. Or not. Whatever.
On Microphones, Music, and Our Long Year of Screen Time
Pianist Glenn Gould proved long ago that an existence heavily mediated by technology is not nonexistence.
To Observe the Muon Is to Experience Hints of Immortality
Attempting to model the universe as precisely as possible is to try to see the one…
Trump Abused the System. Facebook Created It
The company's oversight board failed to mention one thing in its ruling this week: Facebook's responsibility…
Who Let the Doge Out? The Cryptocurrency Is As Nutty As Ever
The much wow Dogecoin has had its notable influencers—including, for a brief moment, me.
Bed Tricks, Cod, and the Hidden History of Catfishing
Intriguing, maddening deception can shake up our existence and sometimes—sometimes—set us free.
While Jack Dorsey Mans the Monastery
The small but boisterous slice of Twitter that's preoccupied with politics imagines @jack, the author of…