In recent years, there’s been a quest, on social media and the like, to appeal to reason, and search for a reasonable response to any contentious issue. Which is fair enough; we know that extremism is a hugely destructive force. There’s even a legal test of reasonableness; in any given case, what would the reasonable...

In the 16 years since its IPO, Tesla has seen incredible volatility and incredible resilience. Now it is at an all-time high, and investors keep piling in, hoping for further multiples on their stakes. “When Tesla hit $1,000, Baron told us he expected further multiples in the future, and he was right!” said one trader...

It’s only natural to spend your way out of a crisis. When you’re feeling blue, there’s nothing like a little retail therapy to lift your mood. When the going gets tough, the tough go shopping. Faced with a big problem? Throw some money at it! But when governments do it, the rest of us better...

Covid-19 was a problem, for sure. But misinformation and fake news turned out to be an even bigger virus that needed to be managed. Between Trump and deep fakes, the last couple of years have shown us that a Ministry of Truth might actually do more good than harm. If we have agencies safeguarding and...

For a long time, international astronauts and would-be space tourists had only one destination available in orbit, the International Space Station or ISS. Now there’s another one, China’s Heavenly Palace. Interest in space travel surged in the early ‘20s, when SpaceX successfully delivered astronauts to the ISS using its reusable rockets, and promises of private...

Over the past few years, we’ve been blown away by the exponential improvements in computing in general, and in artificial intelligence in particular. From beating all opponents in the game of Go to driving autonomous cars and diagnosing cancer, it seemed that AI could outperform human players, drivers, and doctors at every turn. Until it...

For close on a century now, we’ve been making materials out of petroleum products and minerals; things that drive the modern consumer society like plastics, fuels, and food additives. What’s more, our never-ending population boom needs larger crops every year. It’s not like we’re running short of commodities like oil and maize, but mining and...

Elon Musk caused quite a stir when SpaceX decided to build their new Starship rocket out of stainless steel, rather than titanium alloys or carbon composites. But for sheer strength and durability, you can’t beat steel. It’s also more economical. “I’m in love with steel,” tweeted Elon, and to prove it, Tesla launched their CyberTruck,...

They’ve slowly been making inroads into the mainstream transport paradigm, but now electric cars are the mainstream – and trucks are right behind them. Ten years ago, cities from Shanghai to Venice to New York were treated to weeks of fresh air and cleaner rivers, courtesy of coronavirus shutdowns. It was remarkable how quickly air...

Life ‘beyond Covid’ is strangely different from what went before the pandemic. Most obvious is the reluctance of governments and national leaders to relinquish their newfound powers of decree. What a wonderful time it was, for despots and democratically elected leaders alike! Given a golden opportunity to declare states of emergency and national disasters, most...