As the global economy moves beyond oil, the strategic importance of the world’s most critical hydrocarbon chokepoint is likely to decline rapidly.

A firsthand look at China’s material progress and clean-tech revolution -- and what could happen if we let an authoritarian state steer AI's future.

AI is unlocking unprecedented capabilities — and exposing new vulnerabilities just as quickly.

Every generation has faced a version of this moment — the question has never been what our tools can do, but what we choose to do with them.

Thanks to modern tech, Earth is now considered a ‘detectable’ planet. Astrophysicist Sara Seager explains how this idea can lead us to discovering life elsewhere in our universe.

"The production of the silicon wafers that are used in the chip manufacturing process requires extraordinary levels of purity."

Science fiction romanticized Mars as a place of adventure and future settlement; science tells a very different story.

Technology, shifting rules, and human ambition push athletes beyond biology’s perceived limits.

Welcome to The Nightcrawler — a weekly newsletter from Eric Markowitz covering tech, innovation, and long-term thinking.

“Old systems of the past are collapsing, and new systems of the future are still to be born. I call this moment the great progression.”

AI has brought a reckoning to the consulting industry — and the death knell will quickly sound for those who fail to adapt.

An introduction to "The Engine of Progress" from Jason Crawford, founder of the Roots of Progress Institute.

Common law has long balanced innovation and accountability. Can it do the same for AI?

To turn technical breakthroughs into real-world change, AI must overcome the friction of politics, policy, and human institutions.

With new labs, funding models, and institutions, metascience is reinventing the machinery of discovery.

Government-spec’d glory projects produce tech demos. Enduring progress demands a better way forward.

Leaders in China hope that AI and robotics can finally resolve the flaws of a centralized planned economy. But US technoculture has an edge.

“Progress happens when we choose to make it happen. It happens through choice and effort. And ultimately, to make progress happen, we have to believe in it.”

“People got skeptical, fearful, doubtful of the very idea of progress in the 20th century and we allowed that to slow down progress itself.”

"We're living in an extraordinary moment in history. We are at a moment here in 2025 where we have world historic game-changing technologies now starting to scale."

"Think of it like a transcontinental railroad — not the fastest way to move a lot of mass, but certainly the most efficient,” Jared Isaacman said about nuclear electric propulsion.

The predictions of evolutionary theorists and current advances in “multimodal AI” offer strong clues to the future of employment.

From the printing press to the internet, every technological revolution in history has reshaped human thought. Now, with AI accelerating by the day, philosopher Meghan Sullivan asks: Are we ready for the philosophical shift that must follow?

A reduced working week, argues Juliet Schor, is part of a sane response to the impacts of AI and robotization on human labor.

“We are beginning to take our first steps out into the cosmic ocean… and the water seems inviting.”

"You need to embrace these systems and try out what's going on because if you don't understand it, you really can't hope to help your organization adapt and stay in front of this momentous, world-changing technology."

Americans have gone through three historic junctures like what we're witnessing today — and they happen on an uncanny 80-year cycle.

How the cult hit sci-fi show imagines a “techno-realist” future.

"We're awash in lies and misinformation to a degree that was not possible before we got the internet and in particular before we got social media."

Many expect AI to follow a familiar pattern — technological disruption followed by adaptation — but what are we losing in return?