On a Monday morning in April, Sam Altman sat inside OpenAI’s San Francisco headquarters, telling me about a dangerous artificial intelligence that his company had built but would never release. His employees, he later said, often lose sleep worrying about the AIs they might one day release without fully appreciating their dangers.
There’s plenty to consider about Barbie, but let’s start with her feet. Perfectly arched, but not quite demi-pointe—the ideal position to fit into any pump. They’re instantly recognizable to anyone who has ever played with the iconic doll. So when the trailer for the upcoming live-action Barbie movie opened with a shot of star Margot Robbie stepping out of Barbie’s marabou stilettos, still on tiptoes, the internet exploded.
IT IS MIDSUMMER and our very favourite time of year. We love the long, hot sunny days, and all the wonderful things that this time of year brings: picnics in the park and Thames-side bicycle rides, drinks on outdoor terraces and high ponytails and bronzed skin.
The brain-powered individual, which is variously called the self, the ego, the mind, or “me,” lies at the center of Western thought. In the worldview of the West, we herald the greatest thinkers as world-changers. There is no more concise example of this than philosopher René Descartes’ famous statement, “Cogito, ergo sum,” or, “I think, therefore I am.” But who is this? Let’s take a closer look at the thinker, or the “me,” we all take for granted.
A handful of global giants dominate the industrialisation of the Amazon rainforest, extracting tens of billions of dollars of raw materials every year, according to an analysis that highlights how much value is being sucked out of the region with relatively little going back in.
WHILE we often discuss the downside of social media, it can sometimes still be a great place to find inspiration. For instance, we recently came across this calm and sophisticated London home belonging to a wellness entrepreneur and writer.
FUTURE SHOCK. It’s a term that was first coined by Alvin Toffler in 1970 to describe the psychological disorientation and stress that people experience due to rapid changes in technology, society, and culture. And with the rapid advancements in AI, it’s becoming more relevant than ever before.
In the summer of 2021, I experienced a cluster of coincidences, some of which had a distinctly supernatural feel. Here’s how it started. I keep a journal, and record dreams if they are especially vivid or strange. It doesn’t happen often, but I logged one in which my mother’s oldest friend, a woman called Rose, made an appearance to tell me that she (Rose) had just died.
I’VE GONE back and forth between English countryside style and minimalist neutrals lately, and after a quick fling with the former again, I’m firmly back to the latter, having discovered this ultra-chic home, known as Herenhuis in ‘t Gooi (Mansion in the Gooi) on Instagram. If you’re not familiar with neighbourhoods in the Netherlands, the Gooi is an area around Hilversum, in the centre of the country. It is a slightly hilly area characterised by green landscapes, historical charm, villas, and is also known as home to the rich and famous.
YES, I KNOW, I introduced my new design aesthetic recently, only to change back less than a week later, but this time, I think it will take. It's not exactly White Chocolate Minimalism, but it's definitely as serene and calming, yet with enough charming details and flourishes (ceiling beams, crown moulding) to keep things from becoming too austere. There seems to be quite a bit of blacks, browns, and dark, rich woods in this iteration, but it feels earthy and not oppressive...
In September 2021, the criminologist Betsy Stanko went into the Metropolitan police force to work out why they weren’t catching rapists. The previous year, less than 3% of rapes reported to the Met had resulted in charges being brought; in 2021, that percentage almost halved.
THERE IS A LINE from a Bruce Springsteen song that goes: “I wanna change my clothes, my hair, my face“⏤and while I don’t want to change my face, I do like to change my clothes (often), and my hair (sometimes⏤in fact, just last week). A friend once asked me if I changed my décor tastes to match where I happen to be living at the time (she was visiting us in Spain), and I realise that yes, yes I guess I do.
In 2012, when Steven Soderbergh and Channing Tatum released “Magic Mike,” a moist, underlit caper about male entertainers at a Tampa strip club, they thought they were making an indie. Instead, the film grossed a hundred and sixty-seven million dollars, spawning an international franchise.
WE HAVE been out of town for the past three days, and there's something about taking time away from work that's refreshing. When we returned home yesterday evening, I was ready to get to work, fresh from a break from routine. The time away also made me think about my home office set-up⏤things that are working and things that could be improved, and so I searched around for some inspiration.
Long before Pauline Clance developed the idea of the impostor phenomenon—now, to her frustration, more commonly referred to as impostor syndrome—she was known by the nickname Tiny. Born in 1938 and raised in Baptist Valley, in Appalachian Virginia, she was the youngest of six children, the daughter of a sawmill operator who struggled to keep food on the table and gas in the tank of his timber truck.
