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If we want to continue to make progress in society, we have to find new ways to empower people to own it. Read the essay at A Cross of Silicon

An op-ed in today’s New York Times entitled “Let’s Stop Fetishizing Privacy” was a lovingly blind paean to the glories of unrestricted and unrepentant technology. The last paragraph read like a challenge to those who might disagree with the author: “Progress is a messy business. Instead of trying to preserve what was, let’s realistically Read more…

Ever wonder why Alexa, Siri, Cortana, and Google Home speak in female voices? Users find them “more cordial” and “sympathetic” than male voices, which enables us to see computers as “helpful” and “caring,” according to this story last year. This means they’re discernibly subservient and therefore contribute to sexism, according to Read more…

When Bayer closes its huge takeover deal later this week, Monsanto will cease to exist. But the issues that dogged it may not. Monsanto became the poster child for opposition to genetically modified organisms, or “GMOs.” It’s a complicated issue, since famers have been grafting plants together for thousands of years; broccoli is Read more…