Society
Science and technology
From artificial intelligence to cutting-edge medical treatments, science and technology are almost incomprehensibly influential on human existence. Within this section, you will find our reporting on internationally deployed spyware and digital surveillance and how social media, and tech platforms, are impacting democracy. We also ask questions about the positive role tech could play in our lives, and for the planet.
How Palestine became Israel’s spyware test-bed
Antony Loewenstein examines spyware’s role in Israel’s occupation of Palestine, and why governments are failing to reign in its insidious spread.
Africa is beginning to hold social media companies to account
A court case shows the continent’s demand for social media companies to be accountable for their impact offline, columnist Resebell Kagumire writes.
What if…social media were not for profit?
Nick Dowson imagines a different world of online communities that puts our needs first.
On your watch
Asma Hafiz reports on the intrusive surveillance being forced on often lower caste sanitation workers in many Indian cities.
What can the digital age offer political life?
Indra Adnan argues that ‘cosmolocalism’ could be the key to a stronger, more hopeful democracy.
Scientific internationalism
It is thanks to scientists collaborating across borders that vaccines against Covid-19 have been developed so fast, argues Rajni George.
How to talk with conspiracy theorists
Vanessa Baird offers some nifty tips in tackling a growing problem.
How we are gulled
Propaganda and media expert Peter Pomerantsev on tackling disinformation and the power of the digital platforms.
Should I delete my Facebook account?
Agony Uncle weighs in on whether to finally do away with social media.
What if...we regulated digital technology for the public good?
Jacob Ohrvik-Stott from Doteveryone on how to get the job done.
Networked but commodified: digital labour in the remote gig economy
Research by Alex J. Wood, Mark Graham and others shows how gig economy platforms commodify labour in Southeast Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa.
What if social media firms paid us?
Exploitation by tech firms is not inevitable, suggests Vanessa Baird.
Time for Roundup to wind up?
After decades muddying the science, Monsanto may at last account for its weedkiller’s effects, writes Claire Robinson.
What should Twitter censor?
Forget shadow banning, we need to talk about holding private censors accountable, argues Jillian York.
Challenging exploitation in the gig economy
Global South workers in the digital platform-enabled gig economy are beginning to organize. Alex J. Wood and Mark Graham report.
Will EU copyright law ‘carpet bomb’ the digital world?
Article 13 of the EU’s Copyright Directive, up for vote on 20 June, will impose mandatory upload filters on internet users. Jillian York explains why the risks are too high.
Facebook: the new censor’s office
Social media is usurping the role of the state argues Jillian York.
Will new laws tame the tech giants?
Are these new privacy laws the best solution? Mike Morel investigates.
Humanitarian drones and other anachronisms
Aid-by-drone, what’s not to like? New tech in the sector brings many problems, Nick Dowson explains.
The convenience of smart fridges? Think again
A dystopian short story by Pat Cadigan on the future internet of things.
Japan: building the future, living in the past?
How Japanese society and robots match up, by Christopher Simons.
The age of disruption
The vision of the future we are fed will leave many of us reeling, writes Dinyar Godrej. For what?
Killer robots: the race for Autonomous Weapons
Noel Sharkey’s stark warning against the latest arms race.
How corporate giants are automating the farm
Precision agriculture is where it’s at – according to the corporate giants. Jim Thomas inspects their plans.
Robots, not humans: official policy in China
Industrial robots are being put to work on a huge scale. Jenny Chan looks at the case of Foxconn.
Audrey Watters: ‘AI is ideological’
Think of computer code as new rules governing society – who gets to enforce it? asks Audrey Watters.
Plutocrats and paupers: life after robots
If automation decimates jobs, we need better solutions than these, argues Nick Dowson.
Will Google take over the classroom?
Tamasin Cave reports on the edtech players pushing for radical changes in schools.
Beating the digital titans
You can take action at a practical and technological level – and a political one.
Mind the technology gap - the facts
Technology can be a big enabler – yet the difference in terms of what’s available to rich and poor is vast.
Technology as if people mattered*
The world's poor are still losing out. They need a better deal, argues Dinyar Godrej.
