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Mike Hill / Getty / thispersondoesnotexist / Katie Martin / The Atlantic

It Doesn’t Matter If Anyone Exists or Not

What a website that generates infinite fake humans tells us about modern life

Most Popular in Technology

A map of the U.S. showing the percentage of households editing Wikipedia by county. — Analysis of Wikipedia IP editor activity

Mapping Wikipedia

An unprecedented data set shows where the encyclopedia’s editors are, where they aren’t, and why.

Michael Mandiberg

People wearing masks walk past a portrait of Chinese President Xi Jinping. — Aly Song / Reuters

How the Coronavirus Revealed Authoritarianism’s Fatal Flaw

China’s use of surveillance and censorship makes it harder for Xi Jinping to know what’s going on in his own country.

An aerial photograph of Silicon Valley — David McNew / Newsmaker / Getty

Tech Experts Are Pessimistic About Their Industry

Silicon Valley has hit a midlife crisis.

Alexis C. Madrigal

RobinOlimb / Getty / The Atlantic

How to Murder Harry Potter

In “deathfic,” writers of fan fiction find unexpected comfort in killing off their favorite popular characters.

Kaitlyn Tiffany

‘Pure Poison’ for a Scholarly Career

Researchers have spent centuries failing to decipher a medieval manuscript’s baffling drawings of plants, naked women, and astrological symbols. Is it worth the effort?

Jillian FoleyUndark
Coronavirus Is a Data Time Bomb

It will be a long time before we understand what the outbreak did to the global economy.

Alexis C. Madrigal
Tinder’s Most Notorious Men

The users who reappear after countless left swipes have become modern urban legends.

Kaitlyn Tiffany
How Your Laptop Ruined Your Life

Smartphones aren’t the only killers of work-life balance.

Amanda Mull

The Ethical Folly of ‘Modern Witch-Burning’

When Mike Nayna uploaded a viral video of a hate-speech tirade, he thought he was being a Good Samaritan. Then, the narrative got out of his hands.

Emily Buder
A World Without Privacy Will Revive the Masquerade

As the growing scale of facial recognition shows, more data can always be extracted.

Jonathan Zittrain
The Risky Dream of the Fast-Food Franchise

Americans have long pinned economic hopes on fast-food chains. And where there are hopes, there are scams.

Marcia Chatelain
Only Telephones Are Good

In Iowa and everywhere else

Robinson Meyer

The Company That Botched the Iowa Caucus Was Formed Only Months Ago

Its app didn’t solve much, but it did reveal a lot.

Alexis C. Madrigal
Who Needs the Russians?

Don’t blame shadowy foreign hackers for the chaos in Iowa. Blame Shadow’s caucus app.

Zeynep Tufekci
The Misogynistic Joke That Became a Goth-Meme Fairy Tale

“Doomer Girl” began as a cartoon for angry men. Then women started dressing up as her.

Kaitlyn Tiffany
Our Instructions for AI Will Never Be Specific Enough

AI excels at following human commands. That may be a problem.

Natalie WolchoverQuanta

The Staggering Vulnerability of Global Elites

Anyone can get hacked. But when it happens to the rich and powerful, the stakes can be extraordinarily high.

Uri Friedman
‘We’ve Got an Uber Driver Who’s Got a Gun’

Uber officially bans drivers from carrying firearms—but the company’s business model prevents it from enforcing such a ban. The results can be deadly.

Sidney Fussell
Facebook’s New Privacy Tool Is a Data Landfill

Assume that every website you visit tattles on you to the social-media behemoth.

Kaitlyn Tiffany
How to Misinform Yourself About the Coronavirus

Even if you avoid the conspiracy theories, tweeting through a global emergency is messy, context-free, and disorienting.

Alexis C. Madrigal

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