If it sounds absurd, you’re heading in the right direction… — The series “Guidance Systems” discusses technologies and techniques that seem to improve our lives by offering us new choices, while in fact shaping or removing our ability to decide things for ourselves. …

We’ve built the perfect machine for another country to capture and retain “users” — The series “Guidance Systems” discusses technologies that seem to improve our lives by offering us new choices, while in fact shaping or removing our ability to decide things for ourselves. Back in August a Twitter user, “Conspirador Norteño,” began documenting an interesting pattern among certain folks posting alt-right messages. …

The series “Guidance Systems” discusses technologies that seem to improve our lives by offering us new choices, while in fact shaping or removing our ability to decide things for ourselves.

How will we teach robots to understand our values? Maybe by reading them stories. — The series “Guidance Systems” discusses technologies that seem to improve our lives by offering us new choices, while in fact shaping or removing our ability to decide things for ourselves.

I once sat inside a flight simulator, slowly blacking out. “Flight simulator” doesn’t do the machine justice, but those are exactly the right words. There are the software simulators, which show you the ride. And there are the physical simulators which bump you around on a small crane. This wasn’t…

In cigarettes, we’ve invented a deadly vice that is immune to natural selection and our own reasoning. They’re not the only product we’ve built with those characteristics. — The series “Guidance Systems” discusses technologies that seem to improve our lives by offering us new choices, while in fact shaping or removing our ability to decide things for ourselves. At the age of 14, Sean David imagined becoming a doctor. “I wanted to be Marcus Welby,” he remembers. So…