Recommended from Around the Web (Week ending September 12, 2015)
Why the Rich Are So Much Richer
MIT Technology Review contributor James Surowiecki reviews the explanatory literature about inequality in the New York Review of Books. Editor David Rotman wrote about technology’s contributions to inequality here, here, and here.
—Jason Pontin, editor in chief and publisher
The Messengers
A photographer learns to balance horror and beauty—for his sake as well as his viewers’—as he makes images of environmental degradation.
—Brian Bergstein, executive editor
Why Facebook’s $2 Billion Bet on Oculus Rift Might One Day Connect Everyone on Earth
Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg explains why he thinks the long-term future of his company lies in a brick-size virtual-reality display you strap to your face.
—Tom Simonite, San Francisco bureau chief
My Life as a Robot
What happens when a remote worker joins the company’s headquarters as a robot.
—Megan Barnett, deputy editor
Close At Hand
A history of “wearables” from 3200 BCE to the Apple Watch finds lessons about how we’ve changed and how we’ve stayed the same.
—Nanette Byrnes, senior editor, Business Reports
‘I Reviewed Jail on Yelp Because I Couldn’t Afford a Therapist.’
This is fascinating.
—Nanette Byrnes
The 30-Year-Old CEO Conjuring Drug Companies from Thin Air
Naysayers have positioned Vivek Ramaswamy as the poster boy for a biotech bubble.
—Antonio Regalado, senior editor, biomedicine
Don’t Worry, Smart Machines Will Take Us with Them
Puh-leeze. The eugenic fantasy of evolving ourselves toward genius? Once more, with CRISPR.
—Antonio Regalado
What Makes Uber Run
An in-depth look at a fascinating, and fast-growing, technology company.
—Will Knight, senior editor, AI
Daily Fantasy-Sports Operators Await Reality Check (subscription required)
Billion-dollar startups FanDuel and DraftKkings have a lot riding on the upcoming
—Mike Orcutt, associate editor
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Perovskites are promising, but real-world conditions have held them back.
Why China is still obsessed with disinfecting everything
Most public health bodies dealing with covid have long since moved on from the idea of surface transmission. China’s didn’t—and that helps it control the narrative about the disease’s origins and danger.
A quick guide to the most important AI law you’ve never heard of
The European Union is planning new legislation aimed at curbing the worst harms associated with artificial intelligence.
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