Derek Thompson

Bureaucratic bloat has siphoned power away from instructors and researchers.

Why it’s so hard to answer the question What makes us happiest?

Married couples are working as much as ever.

Many Americans seem to have found no alternative method to build a sense of community.

The city of Austin built a lot of homes. Now rent is falling, and some people seem to think that’s a bad thing.

The restaurant recovery is not a simple story of universally positive outcomes.

They don’t try to control each other. They try to control themselves.

They’re embracing nihilism and upending politics.

Too much aloneness is creating a crisis of social fitness.

CRISPR, GLP1s, and other advancements that astonished me

Test scores have been falling for years—even before the pandemic.

The way we commonly discuss mental-health issues, especially on the internet, isn’t helping us.

Persistent employment misery is a myth.

Corporate governance is playing a starring role in the chaos unfolding inside the world’s most famous AI start-up.

One year ago, experts were certain that America was headed for a recession. But the 2023 economy is historically strong. What happened?

The newest AI tools are accelerating basic research and scaring the general public. But many people are simply using them as toys.

The average American my age is roughly six times more likely to die in the coming year than his counterpart in Switzerland.

Many public crusaders are private reactionaries.

Workism is rooted in the belief that employment can provide everything we have historically expected from organized religion.

The internet loves bad news. And that’s bad.

And why the makers of AI should learn from the tale of Prometheus

We are still learning exactly how much of this industry’s genius was a mere LIRP, or low-interest-rate phenomenon.

A culture of obsessive student achievement and long schoolwork hours can make kids depressed.

Working from home could be making it easier for couples to become parents—and for parents to have more children.

All this time later, their utility is in doubt.

Is it right to freak out? Is it wrong? Will AI end the human race? But also: Aren’t these tools awe-inspiring?

Rising teen anxiety is a national crisis.

How the big game’s ads explain the crypto bubble, the price yo-yo, and the revenge of the touch-grass economy

Joe Biden wants to transform the U.S. economy. His plan has one big risk.

It’s the most important economic lesson of the decade: What goes up must come down (and what’s gone down will probably go up again).

For the first time in 50 years, the rich are buying more free time.

How the new obesity pills could upend American society

About 130,000 people have been dismissed from their jobs at large tech and media companies in the past 12 months. Why?

“Can you just explain this to me like I barely know anything about this subject?”

Behavioral changes and screenings may be just as important as treatments, if not more so.

Science has a crummy-paper problem.

The U.S. just made a breakthrough in nuclear-fusion technology. Will we know how to use it?

Invention alone can’t change the world; what matters is what happens next.

Pictures of the beginning of the universe, medicine that can (kind of) reverse death, and other leaps of human ingenuity

Robots were once considered capable only of unimaginative, routine work. Today they write articles and create award-winning art.