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Conspiracy theories

Definition

Conspiracy theories

It is easy to dismiss conspiracy theories as unhinged beliefs held by a small number of paranoid idiots, but that seriously underestimates them. Belief in conspiracy theories is very widespread, the product of normal human psychology, and extremely influential and dangerous.

Technology

Elon Musk spent 2023 shaping Twitter – sorry, X – in his own image

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Hand with smartphone, e-news concept. Casual young man using mobile app to read online newspaper; Shutterstock ID 688514581; purchase_order: -; job: -; client: -; other: -

Technology

Trust and safety – the most important tech job you’ve never heard of

Comment

Pillars of Creation (NIRCam and MIRI Composite Image) By combining images of the iconic Pillars of Creation from two cameras aboard NASA???s James Webb Space Telescope, the universe has been framed in its infrared glory. Webb???s near-infrared image was fused with its mid-infrared image, setting this star-forming region ablaze with new details. Myriad stars are spread throughout the scene. The stars primarily show up in near-infrared light, marking a contribution of Webb???s Near-Infrared Camera (NIRCam). Near-infrared light also reveals thousands of newly formed stars ??? look for bright orange spheres that lie just outside the dusty pillars. In mid-infrared light, the dust is on full display. The contributions from Webb???s Mid-Infrared Instrument (MIRI) are most apparent in the layers of diffuse, orange dust that drape the top of the image, relaxing into a V. The densest regions of dust are cast in deep indigo hues, obscuring our view of the activities inside the dense pillars. Dust also makes up the spire-like pillars that extend from the bottom left to the top right. This is one of the reasons why the region is overflowing with stars ??? dust is a major ingredient of star formation. When knots of gas and dust with sufficient mass form in the pillars, they begin to collapse under their own gravitational attraction, slowly heat up, and eventually form new stars. Newly formed stars are especially apparent at the edges of the top two pillars ??? they are practically bursting onto the scene. At the top edge of the second pillar, undulating detail in red hints at even more embedded stars. These are even younger, and are quite active as they form. The lava-like regions capture their periodic ejections. As stars form, they periodically send out supersonic jets that can interact within clouds of material, like these thick pillars of gas and dust. These young stars are estimated to be only a few hundred thousand years old, and will continue to form for mi

Society

Why 'existential humility' may be the answer to today's culture wars

Regulars

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Health

Frequently seeing friends and family may cut the risk of early death

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NEW YORK, NEW YORK - OCTOBER 31: Elon Musk attends Heidi Klum's 2022 Hallowe'en Party at Sake No Hana at Moxy LES on October 31, 2022 in New York City. (Photo by Taylor Hill/Getty Images)

Comment

Breaking Twitter review: Musk's Twitter storm reads like a film script

Culture

Technology

AIs can guess where Reddit users live and how much they earn

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2T17MYG Los Angeles, United States. 12th Oct, 2023. File photo dated October 06, 2019 of Jada Pinkett Smith and Will Smith attend Paramount Pictures' premiere of Gemini Man in Los Angeles, CA, USA. Jada Pinkett Smith has revealed in a new interview that she and her husband Will Smith have been separated since 2016. Though the actors were living completely separate lives for seven years, they were not ready to publicly confirm the news before, she confessed to NBC. Photo by Lionel Hahn/ABACAPRESS.COM Credit: Abaca Press/Alamy Live News

Society

Don't click on the war

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Technology

Hundreds of chatbots could show us how to make social media less toxic

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Close-up Happy Asian girl influencer wear headphone with guitar record podcast onair online live streaming talk follower comment and audience on phone at home studio. Female podcaster, Audio podcast.

Comment

Extremely Online review: A vital look at the creator economy

Taylor Lorenz goes behind the scenes of the multibillion-dollar influencer industry to trace its meteoric rise in this fascinating book

Culture

Technology

Developing the 'sharenting' habit prenatally has consequences

Comment

Society

Disinformation wars: The fight against fake news in the age of AI

Features

Technology

Nowhere to hide: Data harvesters came for your privacy – and found it

Features

Technology

Could Elon Musk's xAI be exactly what the world needs?

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