The prophet’s warning Yuval Noah Harari is one of the most fashionable thinkers on the planet right now – and some of his thoughts are deeply disturbing, says Cole Moreton in The Mail on Sunday. The academic has written two bestselling books about the evolution of the human race: the first, Sapiens, described our history to date, and the second, Homo Deus, predicts our future – which, he believes, is already upon us. “We’re going to become cyborgs, combining organic and inorganic parts,” says Harari. “The human brain will still be the command-and controlled centre, but you’ll connect it more and more directly to all kinds of devices, whether it’s bionic arms or direct brain-computer interfaces.” Some of this is happening right now, he points out. “People already have bionic arms and legs that work by the power of thought. And we increasingly outsource mental and communicative activities to computers. We are merging with our smartphones. Very soon they will just be part of the body.”
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The Age Of Rage
Controversy of the week.
The Injured Bird That Inspired Bates
A tribute to the pro-democracy activist in Hong Kong.
Was Liu Xiaobo A Patriot Or A Patsy?
A tribute to the pro-democracy activist in Hong Kong.
The Russian Connection: Will It Bring Down Trump?
Trump Jr: the Fredo Corleone of the family.
Issue Of The Week: How Bad Is Britain's Debt Bubble?
A decade on from the outbreak of the last financial crisis, is consumer debt now propelling us towards another?
The World's Most Spectacular Offices
From California to London, the tech giants are employing top architects to build spectacular symbols of their immense global power. But these edifices have their critics, says Rowan Moore
This Week's Dream: Driving Around Lake Michigan
The 900-mile drive around Lake Michigan – the only Great Lake entirely within US borders – is “one of the greatest road trips America has to offer”, says Tom Chesshyre in The Times.
Swimming: "The Very Best Breaststroker Who Ever Lived"
It says something about Adam Peaty’s “superhuman standards” that his second gold medal of the World Aquatic Championships felt “like something of an anticlimax”, said Daniel Schofield in The Daily Telegraph.
Charlie Gard: The Force Of Parental Love
“If Charlie Gard had been born 40 years ago,” said Peter Wilby in the New Statesman, “there would have been no doubt about what would, and should, happen.”
What The Scientists Are Saying...
Drug advice is a “myth”
AMAZON AXES FREE GROCERY DELIVERY ON PRIME ORDERS UNDER $150
Amazon is axing free grocery delivery for Prime members on orders less than $150.
IMSA TAKES NORTH AMERICAN SPORTS CARS INTO HYBRID ERA
The Cadillac growls, while the Porsche and BMW scream. The Acura sounds like an Indy car, and for fun, turn your back to the track and listen carefully as the cars roar around Daytona International Speedway in a new era of IMSA sports car racing.
NEVADA SAYS TESLA'S POSSIBLE TAX BREAKS STAY SECRET, FOR NOW
The details of any potential tax breaks for Tesla’s $3.6 billion expansion of its Nevada factory will remain secret until late February, under a nondisclosure agreement that state officials signed with the electric carmaker.
BOEING BIDS FAREWELL TO AN ICON.DELIVERS LAST 747 JUMBO JET
Boeing bid farewell to an icon this week, delivering its final 747 jumbo jet as thousands of workers who helped build the planes over the past 55 years looked on.
CHEATERS BEWARE: CHATGPT MAKER RELEASES AI DETECTION TOOL
The maker of ChatGPT is trying to curb its reputation as a freewheeling cheating machine with a new tool that can help teachers detect if a student or artificial intelligence wrote that homework.
AFTER TESLA PRICE CUT, FORD FOLLOWS SUIT WITH MUSTANG MACH-E
Ford is cutting prices on its Mustang Mach-E electric SUV by as much as $6,000 just weeks after market leader Tesla took similar steps.
GOOGLE HAS THE NEXT MOVE AS MICROSOFT EMBRACES OPENAI BUZZ
Before the artificial intelligence tool ChatGPT was unleashed into the world, the novelist Robin Sloan was testing a similar AI writing assistant built by researchers at Google.
COURT UPHOLDS MINNESOTA 'CLEAN CAR RULE' TIED TO CALIFORNIA
The Minnesota Court of Appeals this week upheld the state’s “Clean Car Rule,” which ties the state’s vehicle emission standards to California regulations, as judges accepted assurances that California’s planned phaseout of gasoline-powered cars won’t automatically apply in Minnesota.
EU OFFICIAL PUSHES MUSK FOR TWITTER'S PROGRESS ON NEW RULES
A top European Union official told Elon Musk that Twitter needs to make progress in preparing for a new law aimed at curbing hate speech, misinformation and other harmful content, adding pressure on the company to ensure it complies.
Apple Search The efforts to replace and surpass the Google service
As Apple increasingly looks to find ways to boost its services revenue and encourage customers to move away from exploitative ad-backed platforms like Facebook, the firm is reportedly on the verge of announcing its own supercharged search engine to rival Google.