Technology | The Atlantic
The Trolls Who Attack Dog Fosters
Caroline Mimbs Nyce
Lucchese is not the world's cutest dog. Picked up as a stray somewhere in Texas, he is scruffy and, as one person aptly observed online, looks a little like Steve Buscemi. (It's the eyes.)Isabel Klee, a professional influencer in New York City, had agreed to keep Lucchese, or Luc, until he found a forever home. Fosters such as Klee help move dogs out of loud and stressful shelters so they can relax and socialize before moving into a forever home. (The foster can then take on a new dog, and the pr...
Baltimore Lost More Than a Bridge
Rachel Gutman-Wei
You could see the Francis Scott Key Bridge from Fort McHenry, the pentagon-shaped keep that inspired the bridge's namesake to write the verses that became our national anthem. You could see it from the pagoda in Patterson Park, another strangely geometric landmark from which I've cheered on teams at Baltimore's annual kinetic-sculpture race. You could see it from the top of Johns Hopkins Hospital, the city's biggest employer. This morning, my husband sent me a photo of the familiar view out his w...
The End of Foreign-Language Education
Louise Matsakis
A few days ago, I watched a video of myself talking in perfect Chinese. I've been studying the language on and off for only a few years, and I'm far from fluent. But there I was, pronouncing each character flawlessly in the correct tone, just as a native speaker would. Gone were my grammar mistakes and awkward pauses, replaced by a smooth and slightly alien-sounding voice. "My favorite food is sushi," I said--wo zui xihuan de shiwu shi shousi--with no hint of excitement or joy.I'd created the video...
Social Media Is Not What Killed the Web
Ian Bogost
This article was featured in the One Story to Read Today newsletter. Sign up for it here."Was the internet really this bad?" I wondered to myself as I read the September 1995 issue of The Atlantic. I was reading the issue in digital form, displayed on Netscape Navigator 3 on a mid-'90s Macintosh. Or, at least, on a software version of the browser and Mac provided on the website OldWeb.Today. The site houses an emulator that connects to the Internet Archive's record of websites, providing a full c...
We're All Just Fodder
Charlie Warzel
It was always going to end this way. The truth about Kate Middleton's absence is far less funny, whimsical, or salacious than the endless memes and conspiracy theories suggested. In a video recorded and broadcast by the BBC, the princess says she has cancer, and that she had retreated from the public eye to deal with her condition while attempting to shield her children from the spotlight. Instead, she had to contend with the internet giggling about whether she'd had a Brazilian butt lift. My col...
It's Time to Give Up on Ending Social Media's Misinformation Problem
Jesse Shapiro
If you don't trust social media, you should know you're not alone. Most people surveyed around the world feel the same--in fact, they've been saying so for a decade. There is clearly a problem with misinformation and hazardous speech on platforms such as Facebook and X. And before the end of its term this year, the Supreme Court may redefine how that problem is treated.Over the past few weeks, the Court has heard arguments in three cases that deal with controlling political speech and misinformati...
Flying Is Weird Right Now
Charlie Warzel
Somewhere over Colorado this weekend, while I sat in seat 21F, my plane began to buck, jostle, and rattle. Within seconds, the seat-belt indicator dinged as the pilot asked flight attendants to return to their seats. We were experiencing what I, a frequent flier, might describe as "intermediate turbulence"--a sustained parade of midair bumps that can be uncomfortable but by no means terrifying.Generally, I do not fear hurtling through the sky at 500 miles per hour, but at this moment I felt an unu...
Universities Have a Computer-Science Problem
Ian Bogost
Updated at 5:37 p.m. ET on March 22, 2024Last year, 18 percent of Stanford University seniors graduated with a degree in computer science, more than double the proportion of just a decade earlier. Over the same period at MIT, that rate went up from 23 percent to 42 percent. These increases are common everywhere: The average number of undergraduate CS majors at universities in the U.S. and Canada tripled in the decade after 2005, and it keeps growing. Students' interest in CS is intellectual--cultu...