The data-industrial complex

My Toyota Ratted Me Out: Where was I on June 30, and how fast was I going? Ask my car.
By Rob Leathern

How I Came to Drown, Smash, and Kill My Smartphone: It’s not like it was implanted in my head. Right?
By Anna L. Davis

The In Formation Quarterly Privacy Report: The ‘pretty good privacy’ of 25 years ago is no defense against surveillance capitalism. Perhaps no tech is.
By Jon Callas

Ad: The Thread.
By Troy Dunham and Brian Maggi

Infrequently Asked Questions: Speech has never been freer — or faster, or farther reaching. Humanity has never been more connected. But it’s hard not to feel a bit queasy.
By Richard Gingras

Future Shock Meets Forbidden Planet: We turned on the machine without considering the monsters within it — and within ourselves.
By Norm Meyrowitz

The Free Flow of Your Secrets: Without serious enforcement, the internet’s rules for privacy are nothing but notions.
By Johnny Ryan

Making Big Tech Bigger: European regulation aims to open up competition for digital services. But does it work for anyone other than big tech?
By Anonymous

Surveil At Scale: Unit economics makes spying a bargain. The dismal science does its worst.
By Oren Tversky

Silicon Valley ascendant

From Tech to Bro: The evolution of Valley male, in style and substance.
By Brian Maggi and Paulina Borsook

The Varieties of Silicon Valley Religious Experience: The new cults of crypto, biohacking, and life extension are just updated gospels for the digital age, with plenty of money to be made.
By John Sundman. 

AI, the In Formation Interview: We sit down for an intimate conversation with an emerging global star.
By Jan Schiffman

Found On a Palo Alto Sidewalk: A mysterious conference program.
By Paulina Borsook

Who Wants Information to Want to Be Free? Wherein a writer asks why mass plagiarism is OK.
By Paulina Borsook

Game of Thrones: The In Formation guide to the seats of power.
By Michael Temkin

Sponsored Content: Executive Continuing Education: Northwestern, Harvard, Stanford, and Brown.
By Brian Maggi, Paulina Borsook, and Alex Lash

Nomen est Omen: A Poem.
By alt-Sam-Altman. 

Steve Jobs and the Wizard of Ozy: Close encounters with a ‘great man’ and an entrepreneur who faked it, but didn’t make it.
By Eugene S. Robinson

Graphic Short Story: Shop Talk: A startup founder who plunges into a space-time wormhole.
By Kingshuk Das

It was the best of times, it was the end of times.

Wheel of Misfortune: With so many apocalypses to choose from, it’s hard to know where to focus your anxiety. Spin the wheel for some end-times clarity.
By Miles Pomper and William Vaughn

Designed to Deceive: AI is built to fool us, and we’re built to fall for it.
By WIlliam Vaughn

Celebrating 75 Years Of Techno-Skepticism: Gems from the In Formation archives.
By Troy Dunham. 

Ad: The Scrummaster.
By Brian Maggi and Troy Dunham

Point-Counterpoint: A human argues that AI isn’t conscious; an AI argues that humans aren’t conscious.
By Derek Dunfield 

War Without Soldiers: What happens when there are no ‘boots on the ground’?
By Miles Pomper

Sponsored Content: Del Complex’s Brain Worms research program.
By Sterling Crispin

Ad: CVS Mind.
By Brian Maggi

Silicon Golem: What have we summoned from the depths, with what incantations?
By Jim Albrecht

Tech Makes Us Stupid: Humans are risking byte-sized brains as machines grow ever more powerful. History tells us a cognitive crash is coming.
By William Vaughn 

Doctor Siri Will See You Now: Hello, highly trained professionals — automation is finally coming for your jobs.
By Andrea Chipman

Is there really a real world?

Teenagers and the Electronic Brain: The hive mind is coming, and it could bring a leap forward in human consciousness.
By Julie Anderson

Robo Rom-Com: Oh, the experience of high call volume. Machines meet-cute, but how will this all-AI affair end?
By Mike Trigg

Retronyms: New words for old things.
By Oren Tversky

Department of Discontinued Media: Nobody wants your old books. Plus: Try this delicious paper-based recipe that can be prepared in minutes.
By Jason Scorza 

Photo Essay: The Missing Mirror: Removed exposes our dependence on smartphones, revealing the illusion of connection.
By Eric Pickersgill. 

Tap, Scroll, Repeat: Social media is a dangerous, addictive substance. It’s time to treat it like one.
By Miju Han

What Hath the iPhone Wrought? How one of our most consequential inventions stealthily reengineered our lives, in ways its inventors never anticipated.
By David Kamp

Meet The Layoffs
By Alex Lash