Alexa, Should We Trust You?
The voice revolution has only just begun. Today, Alexa is a humble servant. Very soon, she could be much more—a teacher, a therapist, a confidant, an informant.
The Tech Issue: The Pentagon aims to weaponize the brain, a generation of kids raised on YouTube, and Alexa’s most dangerous feature. Plus how Newt Gingrich broke politics, Pope Francis and Óscar Romero, the case for liberal Republicanism, Knausgaard devours himself, the personal cost of black success, and more.
The voice revolution has only just begun. Today, Alexa is a humble servant. Very soon, she could be much more—a teacher, a therapist, a confidant, an informant.
Newt Gingrich turned partisan battles into bloodsport, wrecked Congress, and paved the way for Trump’s rise. Now he’s reveling in his achievements.
Reassessing the Catholic Church’s dubious history in Latin America
The platform’s entertainment for children is weirder—and more globalized—than adults could have expected.
The military wants future super-soldiers to control robots with their thoughts.
The iconoclastic author, whose six-volume autobiographical novel is now complete in English, has lost his faith in radical self-exposure. What happened?
Classical liberal values have disappeared from the right and are now disappearing from the left. Someone needs to adopt them. Why not the GOP?
How Shaye Elliott became the Gwyneth Paltrow of America’s growing homesteading movement
Dogs become most irresistible to people just when they need us most.
What are we to make of the deathbed confession of the political operative Lee Atwater, newly revealed, that he staged the events that brought down the Democratic candidate in 1987?
In India, thousands are embracing apps that allow them to pay for a ritual to be performed on their behalf.
The number of IPOs is declining, and that could mean that small investors are getting shut out of the most lucrative deals.
How brothers and sisters shape who we are
A very short book excerpt
Now 76, with a new album, the pop legend continues to delight and comfort the world with his music.
The first U.S. novel to treat the 2016 election at length aims for timeliness rather than genuine insight into a dramatic political moment.
Two new memoirs trace their authors’ rise into the meritocratic elite, confronting pernicious myths and brutal realities along the way.
In her new book, Rebecca Traister invokes rage to unify women in a battle against men. But being mad can prove divisive, too.
Marina Benjamin’s new memoir aims to soothe the sleepless.
Readers respond to September-issue stories and more.
A big question