The Singularity of Allison Williams
On a chilly but humane November night in Toronto, Allison Williams and I slip into an expansive conversation about the polite ways one can manipulate an…
Browsing Tag
science fiction
These Sci-Fi Visions for Interstellar Travel Just Might Work
For very long interstellar trips—things that are farther than the closest star—continuous fusion, antimatter, and sails are the only thing that will let you…
Who Gets to Build the Next Software Stack of Civilization?
It’s two weeks to RE:WIRED Green, our event on climate change and the power of human ingenuity to tackle it. We’ve got speakers on food tech and food waste,…
Sayaka Murata Inhabits a Planet of Her Own
By the time I meet Sayaka Murata, on a recent afternoon in June, the back of my linen dress is damp. It’s an oppressively humid summer day in Tokyo, the sun…
The Biggest Threat to Humanity? Black Goo
Of course, you’re not supposed to know this. You’re not supposed to know that you’re being mind-controlled, right now, by a self-replicating mutagenic…
The First—and Last—Time We Rank the Star Wars Movies
Or is it? George Lucas’ prequel trilogy did far more than tell the story of the rise of Vader. It also revised the legacy of the Jedi, and therefore the…
The Real Reason ‘Matrix Resurrections’ Bombed
Let’s say—just for the sake of argument, of course—that you hate yourself. Given this, three specifics about your life may be assumed. One is that you…
Welcome to Janelle Monáe’s Dreamworld
There’s an old story about Octavia Butler that I often return to: A young man once asked the visionary science fiction novelist the answer to ending all the…
Ada Palmer and the Weird Hand of Progress
If there is any concept from her books that Palmer hopes will catch on, like “robot” and “cyberspace” did for other authors, it is a model of living called a…
Why the metaverse will change the way you work
“I see a future where my clients can put on a headset or glasses and be able to feel like they are in the studio with me," said Mr. Longwood, a…