When photography started to become popular, there was a debate about whether photography was a form of art. It came down to a court case in France in 1861 to decide whether photography could be copyrighted as an art form. Those same questions emerge when considering AI systems that are taught with the internet’s existing images.
The Conversation
A Year After Roe v. Wade’s Fall, Abortion Care Is Confusing and Unequal
While there is no law in the U.S. that regulates what a man can do with his body, the reproductive health of women is now more regulated than it has been in 50 years. And the scope of reproductive health care that women can receive is highly dependent on where they live.
Southern Baptists’ Renewed War on Women and LGBTQ
The Southern Baptist Conference’s stance on issues of gender and sexuality have not always been just about fidelity to their interpretation of scripture. Rather, the SBC uses these issues to differentiate itself from other, more progressive denominations.
Juneteenth as Antidote to Erasing Black History
Many Juneteeth celebrations not only commemorate the end of slavery, but they also honor the generations of Black men and women who have fought to end slavery and for racial justice.
The Fearless Cormac McCarthy
Cormac McCarthy’s unique and varying writing style has been compared with that of many of the greatest authors of American letters, with scholars highlighting connections to the writings of Herman Melville, Ernest Hemingway, James Joyce, Toni Morrison, Thomas Pynchon, Fyodor Dostoevsky, Flannery O’Connor and William Faulkner.
The George Soros Legacy
Baseless conspiracy theories have at times clouded George Soros’s legacy as one of the world’s biggest donors to causes like higher education, human rights and the democratization of Europe’s formerly communist countries.
The Courage of Daniel Ellsberg
How a young war planner became a peace activist is one of the most striking conversion stories in American history. But Ellsberg’s political and moral transformation did not happen in a vacuum. It reflected a titanic shift in public attitudes about the Vietnam War.
96.4% of Americans Had Covid-19 Antibodies in their Blood by Last Fall
Antibodies to the virus that causes Covid-19 were present in the blood of 96.4% of Americans over the age of 16 by September 2022. That’s according to a serosurvey – an analysis testing for the presence of these immune defense molecules – conducted on samples from blood donors.
Inside the Black Box of Amazon Returns
In 2022, Amazon returns cost retailers about US$816 billion in lost sales. That’s nearly as much as the U.S. spent on public schools and almost twice the cost of returns in 2020.
Guns and Drugs: Life Expectancy in the U.S. Keeps Falling
People in the U.S. are dying at higher rates than in other similar high-income countries, and that difference is only growing. It goes well beyond Covid, to an epidemic of gun deaths and drug deaths.