Something Alarming Is Happening to the Job Market
A new sign that AI is competing with college grads
How the World Became Awash in Synthetics
It started in 1934, with a PR crisis.
The Comic Who’s His Own Worst Enemy
The Rehearsal takes the prankster’s quest for self-betterment to new extremes.
‘The Worst Internet-Research Ethics Violation I Have Ever Seen’
The most persuasive “people” on a popular subreddit turned out to be a front for a secret AI experiment.
The Most Infamous Narcissist in Literary History Gets a Smartphone
A new stage production of The Picture of Dorian Gray conveys the cost of posturing online.
How to Define Old Age
Why would the World Health Organization want to call “old age” a disease?
A Trip Into Alaska’s Copper River Valley in 1902
At the end of the 19th century, an estimated 100,000 people joined the Klondike Gold Rush, seeking their fortunes in the interior of Alaska and Canada’s Yukon territory. Many gold seekers who chose the arduous path inland from Alaska’s port of Valdez also discovered rich copper deposits along the way. The U.S. Army soon started work on the Valdez Trail, which would become the main route between the mining fields and Valdez. Several competing businesses rushed to build a railroad along the route. In 1902, one of those groups sent a team of photographers, the Miles Brothers, to document the town, the growing trail, the landscape, its newly arrived residents, and Alaska Natives. Prints of these photographs were collected into an album I was able to digitize recently at the U.S. National Archives, giving us a remarkable glimpse into daily life along a rough trail into the Alaskan interior, nearly 125 years ago.
The Writer Who Understood Aloneness
Mavis Gallant’s short stories are about people, especially women, who prefer to live on the social margins. I cherish one of them most of all.
The SNL Sketch That Captured Millennial Anxiety
The guest host Quinta Brunson was the perfect fit to introduce “Forever 31.”
Parenthood Cannot Be Optimized
Amanda Hess’s new book examines a surplus of experts and gadgets that promise to perfect the experience of raising children.
How the U.S. Lost the Canadian Election
Trump’s threats to annex Canada reversed its political trend—but they should not reverse its commitment to free trade.
The Plight of the Eldest Daughter
Women are expected to be nurturers. Firstborns are expected to be exemplars. Being both is exhausting.
Why the Past 10 Years of American Life Have Been Uniquely Stupid
It’s not just a phase.
The Short-Circuiting of the American Mind
A century-old book foresaw Trump’s most basic strategy.
The New Divide in American Marriage
College graduates are marrying at high rates. Everyone else isn’t.
Who Gets Panzer Tattooed on Their Arm?
The ink that tells the story of Trump’s second term
What If Friendship, Not Marriage, Was at the Center of Life?
“Our boyfriends, our significant others, and our husbands are supposed to be No. 1. Our worlds are backward.”
RFK Jr. Was My Drug Dealer
Kennedy’s endorsement of Donald Trump raises an awkward question.
The Destruction of the Department of Justice
When people at the department embrace Trump’s scorn for the law, the law, as a practical limitation on government action, ceases to exist.
How Hitler Dismantled a Democracy in 53 Days
He used the constitution to shatter the constitution.
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