Artificial intelligence is everywhere: it watches the skies for asteroids, it manages our transport, and it develops our medicines. Even the typing of this sentence had two bits of AI working to ensure I didn’t put a foot wrong. From the predictive text engine Google uses to guess what
When was the last time you felt lucky, or unlucky? Chances are it’s an idea that drifts in and out of your head with some regularity. But have you ever wondered where it comes from and why it forms part of our beliefs about how the world works? People
Are you the main character in your story? That’s not a term I thought I’d be talking about in this newsletter. But then again, we’re an endlessly innovative bunch aren’t we? Take a tour of your social feeds and you’ll find someone declaring they are
Toxic masculinity: that’s a phrase I’m sure you’ve all heard on your travels across the internet. It’s one of those ideas that seems to drift freely through our social feeds, finding its way into the nooks and crannies of everyday life. It’s found its way
The world is an angry place right now. As I wrote about last week, the UK witnessed dozens of violent acts by groups claiming to be protesting an event that was distorted and twisted by known and unknown actors. But zoom out a tad, and there has been anger on
Earlier this month in the UK, something terrible happened. In Southport, Merseyside, three children were killed and 10 others were injured as the result of the acts of a single individual. Thanks to a whole bunch of false reporting, and amplification of that false reporting by prominent individuals, a series
Over the weekend, someone tried to kill Donald Trump. Thomas Matthew Crooks, a 20-year-old man from Pennsylvania, sourced an automatic rifle, climbed onto a roof during one of Trump’s rallies, crawled to the edge and opened fire. He hit Trump in the ear but killed a man and critically
Here’s a puzzler for you. We know that when you take the train in the morning, or go to an office, or a gym, or a library, whatever yanks yer daily chain, there is a chance you might ‘pick up’ something from another person. That could be anything from
What’s up with young people? Over in the world of newspapers (remember those?) a survey has kicked up a bit of a storm. People in their early 20s are more likely to be not working due to ill health than those in their early 40s. Cue row over young
I was on the Tube the other day. As the train pulled into the station, normally those waiting to get on let passengers get off first. Except this time, that didn’t happen. Instead of the usual huffing and tutting that makes travelling on UK transport a uniquely British affair,
Dip into social media and you might find your favourite fitness/wellness/spirituality guru diverting from their usual soul-soothing content in favour of something a little left field. It might be something around vaccines, or 5G, or the things found in food, or alternatively, an ‘herbal’ remedy that can cure
Are you experiencing ADHD symptoms? Do you feel like you might have BPD? Or perhaps you had Aspergers but now you’re not so sure? The language around mental health is everywhere. In particular, the language around diagnosis. With the rise of the internet came lots of things: memes, flame