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MIT Technology Review: September/October 2018

Technology is threatening our democracy.
How do we save it?

How social media took us from Tahrir Square to Donald Trump

To understand how digital technologies went from instruments for spreading democracy to weapons for attacking it, you have to look beyond the technologies themselves.

Photo of protester waving Egypt's flag.

Tim Hwang’s FiscalNote is revolutionizing Washington lobbying with big data

FiscalNote takes the intuition out of politics. Does it take the democracy out, too?

Sept. 11-14, 2018

MIT Media Lab

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Rewriting Life

A CRISPR cure for Duchenne muscular dystrophy is closer after a trial in dogs

Treating a fatal muscle disease could be the next major advance for gene editing.
Connectivity

Crowdsourcing the hunt for software bugs is a booming business—and a risky one

Freelance cybersleuths can help companies find flaws in their code. But the bug hunters could fall afoul of anti-hacking laws.
Business Impact

Life as a bug bounty hunter: a struggle every day, just to get paid

Independent cybersleuthing is a realistic career path, if you can live cheaply.
Connectivity

This company thinks it can help solve Bitcoin’s energy problem

Soluna says its new business model can be good for blockchains and clean energy development.
Intelligent Machines

How to tell if you’re arguing with a bot

MIT Technology Review helps you figure out who is on the other side of your debate.
Business Impact

Technologists are trying to fix the “filter bubble” problem that tech helped create

But research shows online polarization isn’t as clear-cut as people think.
Business Impact

China’s use of big data might actually make it less Big Brother-ish

Why the country’s adoption of ever-more-intrusive technology could, paradoxically, lead to stronger civil liberties.
Business Impact

Why the pessimists are winning, for now

The editor’s letter in the 2018 politics issue of MIT Technology Review.
Business Impact

The simple but ingenious system Taiwan uses to crowdsource its laws

vTaiwan is a promising experiment in participatory governance. But politics is blocking it from getting greater traction.

35 Innovators Under 35

Better gene editing. Smarter AI. Cheaper solar cells. Stretchable electronics. This year’s list of 35 Innovators Under 35 will give you a sense of what’s coming next—and what kinds of people are making it happen.

See the Collection

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Moonshot Thinking in Machine Learning: Applied AI Takes Flight 33:52

Next-Generation Robots Need Your Help 27:36

Access to broadband is as important as access to water and electricity 01:15

We shouldn't preserve "willy nilly" the cost of production 01:00

Coffee-fetching robots 02:08

Automating things on wheels 00:50

Humans versus machines: Chopin edition 02:06

Teaching systems to dance 01:44

3-D printed potato chips 01:15

Robots as nurses' assistants 00:36

Intelligent Machines

Moonshot Thinking in Machine Learning: Applied AI Takes Flight 33:52

Astro Teller in conversation with Martin Giles about the practial applications of AI.

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10 Breakthrough Technologies 2018

Dueling neural networks. Artificial embryos. AI in the cloud. Welcome to our annual list of the 10 technology advances we think will shape the way we work and live now and for years to come.

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Intelligent Machines

Artificial intelligence and robots are transforming how we work and live.

All Topics

  1. Future elections may be swayed by intelligent, weaponized chatbots

    The AI advances that brought you Alexa are teaching propaganda how to talk.
    by Lisa-Maria Neudert

  2. How to tell if you’re arguing with a bot

    MIT Technology Review helps you figure out who is on the other side of your debate.
    by Sarah Cooper

  3. The four ways that ex-internet idealists explain where it all went wrong

    21st-century digital evangelists had a lot in common with early Christians and Russian revolutionaries.
    by Tim Hwang
More from Intelligent Machines

Features

Intelligent Machines

The four ways that ex-internet idealists explain where it all went wrong

21st-century digital evangelists had a lot in common with early Christians and Russian revolutionaries.

by Tim Hwang

Intelligent Machines

Future elections may be swayed by intelligent, weaponized chatbots

The AI advances that brought you Alexa are teaching propaganda how to talk.
Business Impact

Kenya’s technology evolved. Its political problems stayed the same.

Long before the internet, hate speech flourished in echo chambers of a different kind.
Briefing Paper

How to Unlock the Power of IoT with Real-Time Monitoring

In association with AppDynamics

Executive Briefing

Cloud Development: The Key to Rapid Innovation

In partnership with Oracle

Global Survey Report

Unlock Data Intelligence with AI

In partnership with Pure Storage

Executive Briefing

The Artificial Intelligence Imperative

In partnership with Pure Storage

SPONSORED COLLECTION

Innovations, Ideas, and Insights

Provided by BBVA

  1. SPONSORED

    From the age of perplexity to the era of opportunities

    Finance for Growth
    by Francisco Gonzalez

  2. SPONSORED

    Undoing Aging with Molecular and Cellular Damage Repair

    Since the dawn of medicine, aging has been doctors’ foremost challenge.
    by Aubrey D. N. J. de Grey

  3. SPONSORED

    Human Legacies When Robots Rule the Earth

    Machines have been displacing humans on job tasks for several centuries, and for seventy years many of these machines have been controlled by computers.
    by Robin Hanson
More in Innovations, Ideas, and Insights

Business Impact

How technology advances are changing the economy and providing new opportunities in many industries.

All Topics

  1. Life as a bug bounty hunter: a struggle every day, just to get paid

    Independent cybersleuthing is a realistic career path, if you can live cheaply.
    by Erin Winick

  2. Why the pessimists are winning, for now

    The editor’s letter in the 2018 politics issue of MIT Technology Review.
    by Gideon Lichfield

  3. Kenya’s technology evolved. Its political problems stayed the same.

    Long before the internet, hate speech flourished in echo chambers of a different kind.
    by Nanjala Nyabola
More from Business Impact