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    Humans and technology

    These drone photos show urban inequality around the world

    From Mumbai, to Silicon Valley, to Long Beach, California, this drone photography project illuminates scars in the urban fabric.

    Parts of Mumbai are among the mostly densely populated areas on the planet. In some places, more than a million people live in less than one square mile. Tightly packed buildings, largely made of gray concrete covered with blue tarps, protect against the monsoon rains.
    Parts of Mumbai are among the mostly densely populated areas on the planet. In some places, more than a million people live in less than one square mile. Tightly packed buildings, largely made of gray concrete covered with blue tarps, protect against the monsoon rains.Johnny Miller / Unequal Scenes
    April 28, 2021

    The Moinho favela in central São Paulo is sandwiched between an overpass and railroad tracks. It has no public water, electricity, or sanitation.
    On the eastern side of False Bay, in suburban Cape Town, South Africa, a prosperous beachside neighborhood, the Strand (right) is set off from subsidized government housing in Nomzamo (left) by rows of informal settlements (center).
    JOHNNY MILLER
    With more than 2 billion users, Facebook has built a global empire of wealth and influence. A homeless encampment sits in the shadow of its headquarters in Menlo Park, California.
    In northwest Long Beach, California, houses abut storage tanks used by the many oil refineries in the area.
    A pawn shop on Minnehana Avenue in Minneapolis was destroyed by fire during the unrest following the killing of George Floyd.

    This area of the Sante Fe neighborhood of Mexico City contains barriers and walls to separate two communities neatly and discreetly. Another way to see this is to enable street view on Google maps, and look at the available roads leading into and out of an area of exclusion.

    These images are part of “Unequal Scenes,” a drone photography project intended to illuminate scars in the urban fabric. More images from this project can be found on the Unequal Scenes site or on Instagram.

    Deep Dive

    Humans and technology

    10 Breakthrough Technologies 2023

    Every year, we pick the 10 technologies that matter the most right now. We look for advances that will have a big impact on our lives and break down why they matter.

    People are already using ChatGPT to create workout plans

    Fitness advice from OpenAI’s large language model is impressively presented—but don’t take it too seriously.

    I just watched Biggie Smalls perform ‘live’ in the metaverse

    An avatar of the singer, who died in 1997, performed with live rappers on Meta’s Horizon Worlds.

    How Twitter’s “Teacher Li” became the central hub of China protest information

    In his own words, the Chinese painter shares how he became a one-person newsroom during a week of intense protests against China's zero-covid policy.

    • Li, as told to Zeyi Yang

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    Illustration by Rose Wong

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