The Latest Breaking News from Socrates

A sharp and lucid case for gaining wisdom through adversity rather than books

A common complaint in America today is that politics and even society as a whole are broken. Critics point out endless lists of what should be fixed: the complexity of the tax code, or immigration reform, or the inefficiency of government.

For fitness fanatics it can be galling to see our physical powers wane. The solution is to choose exercises to suit our age – and to find new interests, writes Joel Snape

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis says he wants every college in his state to teach courses in “Western civilization.”

The impact of disinformation and misinformation has become impossible to ignore. Whether it is denial about climate change, conspiracy theories about elections, or misinformation about vaccines, the pervasiveness of social media has given “alternative facts” an influence previously not possible.

It is time to take human-AI dialogue seriously again. With the release of sophisticated chatbots like OpenAI’s ChatGPT, effective human-AI dialogue has become interesting and accessible to everyone. Even to students writing essays, which has led to some academic concerns.

Will chatbots that can generate sophisticated prose destroy education as we know it? We hope so.

Smart buildings, which are central to the concept of smart cities, are a new generation of buildings in which technological devices, such as sensors, are embedded in the structure of the buildings themselves. Smart buildings promise to personalize the experiences of their occupants by using real-time feedback mechanisms and forward-looking…

German poet, writer and editor determined that West Germany should not ignore its Nazi past

Of the 30 penalty shootouts in a World Cup, only twice has the World Cup final itself come down to it (1994 and 2006).

“You have many months to live,” my palliative care doctor told me recently. She must’ve thought that was more polite than saying “less than a year.” I have finally advanced to the stage predicted by my oncologist, who said seven years ago, “I’m thinking years, not months.”