Recommended from Around the Web (Week Ending June 14, 2014)
Response by Ray Kurzweil to the Announcement of Chatbot Eugene Goostman Passing the Turing Test
Ray Kurzweil may think that he has a good shot at living forever, but he doesn’t think a chat bot passed the Turing test. Here’s his explanation of why the much-hyped result from London’s Royal Society this week doesn’t mean machines can be considered intelligent yet.
—Tom Simonite, senior editor, IT
The Eccentric Genius Whose Time May Have Finally Come (Again)
Norbert Wiener’s warnings on automation are worth revisiting.
—Brian Bergstein, deputy editor
Putting Time in Perspective
All our yesterdays: Terrific graphic showing time scales of human presence on planet.
—Antonio Regalado, senior editor, business
If Robots Drove, How Much Safer Would Roads Be?
How much safer would roads be if robots drove the cars? Similar impact as seat belts have had.
—Antonio Regalado
23andMe CEO on Her Mission to Shake Up Preventive Care
Long, informative game of softball between Eric Topol and 23andMe founder on consumers and DNA data.
—Antonio Regalado
Extroverts Don’t Belong on Mars
If you have to spend the rest of your life in a space colony with someone, you better hope he knows how to leave you alone.
—Linda Lowenthal, copy chief
With Uber, Less Reason to Own a Car
We knew Uber and other ride-sharing services were disrupting the taxi industry. But this New York Times piece suggests the technology might go on to undermine the whole premise of private vehicle ownership.
—David Talbot, chief correspondent
Stretch Genes
A very smart review of Nicholas Wade’s controversial new book A Troublesome Inheritance: Genes, Race and Human History explains why the former New York Times writer went wrong in his argument.
—David Rotman, editor
Keep Reading
Most Popular
A Roomba recorded a woman on the toilet. How did screenshots end up on Facebook?
Robot vacuum companies say your images are safe, but a sprawling global supply chain for data from our devices creates risk.
A startup says it’s begun releasing particles into the atmosphere, in an effort to tweak the climate
Make Sunsets is already attempting to earn revenue for geoengineering, a move likely to provoke widespread criticism.
10 Breakthrough Technologies 2023
These exclusive satellite images show that Saudi Arabia’s sci-fi megacity is well underway
Weirdly, any recent work on The Line doesn’t show up on Google Maps. But we got the images anyway.
Stay connected
Get the latest updates from
MIT Technology Review
Discover special offers, top stories, upcoming events, and more.