Science / Tech
The Truth about Autogynephilia
It was an “aha” moment, says Ray Blanchard. In the mid-1980s, the clinical psychologist was working at the Clarke Institute of Psychiatry in Toronto, trying to work out what motivated gender-dysphoric men who wanted cross-sex hormones and surgery. And now he had met “Philip,” a patient whose case history made
As US Schools Prioritize Diversity Over Merit, China Is Becoming the World’s STEM Leader
All three of us are mathematicians who came to the United States as young immigrants, having been attracted by the unmatched quality and openness of American universities. We came, as many others before and after, with nothing more than a good education and a strong desire to succeed. As David
Children Are Lonelier Than Ever. Can Anything Be Done?
In East of Eden, John Steinbeck writes “all great and precious things are lonely.” Increasingly, our children fit that description. Loneliness among teens has reached troubling levels. For the decades encompassing the late 20th and early 21st centuries, teen mental health outcomes had been reliably stable or were even improving.
Who Will Save Us From Racist AI?
In recent years, a wealth of literature has emerged exploring how AI and machine learning (ML) can improve diagnostic precision in medicine. Combined with deep learning (a subset of ML), this research has the potential, inter alia, to advance cancer detection, streamline treatment algorithms, and enhance our ability to predict
Necessity Is the Mother of Invention, and Has Been for Over 3,500 Years
It is comforting to imagine that our modern sensibilities distinguish us from our ancient ancestors, but when it comes to human societies, it seems the more things change, the more they stay the same. Our knowledge of the workings of the world has improved immensely, but our personal experience of
The Insect Apocalypse That Never Was
For the past four years, journalists and environmental bloggers have been churning out alarming stories that insects are vanishing, in the United States and globally. Limited available evidence lends credence to reasonable concerns, not least because insects are crucial components of many ecosystems. But the issue has often been framed
Silicon Valley’s Cynical Treatment of Asian Engineers
Silicon Valley runs on Asians. This is a well-known aspect of the tech world in general, but it’s especially apparent in elite sub-sectors. Even by 2010, Asian Americans already had become a majority (50.1 percent) of all tech workers in the Bay Area: software engineers, data engineers,
Truth, Polarization, and the Nature of Our Beliefs
Like other Americans, I’m depressed by the growing level of political partisanship. There seem to be a lot more people with extreme beliefs yelling at us. The ends of the belief spectrum are engorged, the center hollowed out. It’s frequently alleged that extremists don’t care about truth,
