ARCHIVE:
Future Tense
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Tearing Down the “Electronic Cottage”
Why telecommuting may destroy your work/life balance.
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Never Pay Sticker Price for a Textbook Again
The open educational resources movement that’s terrifying publishers.
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Building a Better Truth Machine
Could machine-learning algorithms help debunk Twitter rumors before they spread?
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Prepare for the New Cameras-Everywhere World
New technology means we’ll only see more images like the New York Post subway-death photo.
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“Don’t Forget Your Court Date”
How text messages and other technology can give legal support to the poor.
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The Ghost in the Machine
Avant-garde novelist Mark Z. Danielewski is changing the way we read e-books.
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You Got a Better Idea?
ICANN is the worst solution to Internet governance, except for all the alternatives.
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The Real Threat to Internet Freedom Isn't the United Nations
Governments are cooperating on surveillance in other, less obvious ways.
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ICANN, Make a Difference
The $100 million raised by the sale of new Web domains should be used to wire Africa.
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In Soviet Russia, Book Reads You
The creepiness of software that monitors students’ e-reading.
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It's Not Just Indians and Taiwanese Anymore
A new group may be on the way up in the immigrant-dominated tech world.
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The Real Lesson of the Petraeus Scandal
We delude ourselves about the way we use technology.
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Let’s Face It, We’re Never Getting Our Hoverboards
Some claim to have invented a real floating skateboard like Marty McFly’s. They’re all lying.
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Who Will Be Accountable for Military Technology?
As drones, robots, and even enhanced soldiers take the battlefield, questions of responsibility get more complicated.
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The Man With the Personalized Gun
Finally, a Bond movie with a weapon we should actually make.
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The Paradox of Nonlethal Weapons
Under international law, killing an enemy is more permissible than blinding him.
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Why We Need New “Rules of War”
Individually addressing new technologies like drones isn’t enough. We need to rewrite the rule book.
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Boss Will Oremus Around
Tell Slate’s Future Tense blogger what pie-in-the-sky idea he should embrace—or ridicule—next.
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How Much Is Your Vote Worth?
A calculator that determines how much money Obama and Romney are spending on your vote.
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Will Politicians Actually Heed the Lessons of Sandy?
The superstorm demonstrated that our infrastructure is not ready for climate change.
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Why We Need New Rights to Privacy
Because of technological advances, we must spell out what used to be taken for granted.
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Muzzled by the Bots
Intermediaries online are more powerful, and more subtle, than ever before.
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Can We Trust Voting Machines?
Trade-secret law makes it impossible to independently verify that the devices are working properly.
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Can Cities Be "Resilient" and "Sustainable" at the Same Time?
The urban areas of the next 100 years will have to be both. But that’s tricky.