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Industrial Revolution
The ideology, economics, and psychology behind the modern world's draining of color from homes, cars, and everyday objects.
Handled right, AI has potential to bring back middle-skill jobs lost to the rise of computers, economists argue. Or, like the mechanized mills of the past, it could toss whole sectors out of work.
Preindustrial life wasn’t simple or serene — it was filthy, violent, and short. The Industrial Revolution was imperfect, but it was progress.
Behind the plateau in corporate AI lies a surge in personal and agentic use.
The Roman Empire at one point emitted roughly 3,600 tons of lead dust per year, causing “widespread cognitive decline.”
From surviving on wild plants and game to controlling our world with technology, humanity's journey of progress is a story of expanding human agency.
9 minutes of cruel history may cure the anti-progress delusion.
The evolution of quantum technology is far from over.
Across a variety of industries, trust and “upside-down management” have paid dividends.
The technology is not a replacement for human labor — it's a way to complement existing human tasks.
During the industrial era the cost of artificial light fell off a cliff — and the road to illumination was paved with ingenuity and slaughter.
Meet the people paid to rouse the workers of industrial Britain.
Finding alien technology on the seafloor would be truly incredible. This extraordinary claim, however, is debunked by the actual evidence.
In a world without clocks, people used common activities in place of time units. How long it took you to go to the toilet mattered.
Ice harvesters once made a living from frozen lakes and ponds, but the work was strenuous and dangerous. Then refrigeration changed everything.
Due to export controls from China, the Europeans had to invent their own forms of porcelain. One type involves dead cows.
Our brains are hardwired to find fault. The best managers don't let this steer how they interact with their team.
As a physician, John Pringle helped reinvent hygiene; as a husband, he destroyed a woman’s life with his abuse.
The story of China is the story of global economics.
Million Stories
Don't put all your eggs in one basket.
The world has improved in mind-blowing ways.
Anything, good or bad, about Henry Ford can be contradicted — except his ambition and his work.
In a nod to its addictive qualities, it was first dubbed “Some More.”
In 200 years, the mortality rate for children under the age of five (per 1,000 live births) has dropped from 40% to 3.7%.
An elaborate device called the Mechanical Turk defeated Benjamin Franklin and Napoleon Bonaparte at chess. Edgar Allan Poe revealed the hoax.
Understanding the factors behind recent growth could help us better approach inequality.