Column

Facebook fuels terrorism, lynchings, conspiracies under guise of connecting people “So we connect more people. That can be bad if they make it negative […] Maybe someone dies in a terrorist attack coordinated on our tools. And still we connect people. The ugly truth is that we believe in connecting people so deeply that anything […]

You should be required to take sex ed at the UCs before you graduate There are plenty of scary statistics — I think they are terrifying — depicting how more states than not in our fine country do not require sexual education, which they may or may not even require in their public schools, to […]

How the Department of Energy’s decision to approve the sale of nuclear technology to Saudi Arabia puts the whole world at risk Last week, the Department of Energy approved seven different companies’ requests to engage in an exchange of nuclear technology with Saudi Arabia. Critics have warned that the maneuver may ultimately assist in putting […]

Climate committee is just what many progressives expected — a waste of time In the backwards problem that is climate change, where the perpetrators won’t live to see the consequences, it is us, the youth, who have the most to lose. The gap in the sense of urgency between the young and the old has […]

Despite being committed to their buyers’ values, major outdoor brands like Patagonia are capitalizing on environmental issues — and it’s not sustainable Patagonia puffy jackets are a given on college campuses at this point, ubiquitous to the point that I’ve seen more than one starter-pack meme declaring them a staple of the “basic” college girl. […]

Microtransactions give the player the ability to support the games and developers they love When Prince Harry visited a YMCA to talk about mental health among young people a few weeks ago, he brought up an absurd idea to ban the videogame “Fortnite.” While his wish to ban “Fortnite” was unsubstantiated, he identified a core […]

Amazon’s Rekognition could be the path toward authoritarianism George Orwell’s “Big Brother” has arrived, courtesy of Amazon. The e-commerce tech giant is selling facial recognition technology to police departments — something not well known, and for good reason. This image analysis service, called Rekognition, is deeply flawed and deeply dangerous. While Rekognition has been used […]

The military’s involvement in crafting positive films about war suggests state-run art Our military has a PR problem. In an era of open connection, their oft-touted image as a noble force combatting powerful, faceless monsters has experienced a truthful inversion. For decades, Army recruiting relied on the idea of expansive global evils, referred to in […]

I watched the flat-earth documentary on Netflix so you wouldn’t have to, and this is what I discovered I guess the first thing I should clear up, in order to have any credibility, is that I am not a flat-earther. But that doesn’t mean I am not willing to listen to them, and you should […]

The FDA approves new nasal spray for depression, despite failing efficacy standards The FDA recently approved a new drug called Esketamine, a nasal spray for severe, treatment-resistant depression. My gut reaction to Esketamine was disturbed. Two of three of the drug’s trials did not meet the FDA’s normal efficacy standards, which means the results of […]

Rediscovering a sense of control, stability while abroad Less than an hour after I got to London, I hid in a stall in the airport bathroom and had a panic attack. Being out of the U.S. for the first time and feeling tired and grimy and homesick was, of course, emotionally draining. But what I […]

Why young people from across the political spectrum are turning to an innovative Democrat I first heard about Andrew Yang, the entrepreneur turned political dark horse, in late 2017 when researching possible 2020 Democratic presidential candidates. Yang had already filed his campaign with the Federal Election Commission and was thus one of the few declared […]