How Not To Feed the Hungry: A Symposium

International climate conferences have become something of a tradition, marking the passage of time as readily as birthdays or the equinox. The latest such conference, the 26th Conference of the Parties (COP26), recently concluded in Glasgow, Scotland. They say the sequel is never as good as the original, and it’s easy to see how the 26th entry in a series can struggle to keep things interesting...

That power corrupts is an adage known by all—though how far it is the corrupt in the first place who seek power is an open question. Does the opportunity make the crook, or does the crook make the opportunity? Until a double-blind trial in real life conditions be performed, there is probably no definitive answer to this question; and such a trial will never be performed until the powerful are...

This year marks the 10th anniversary of what was initially hailed as a milestone in the history of artificial intelligence. In 2011, IBM’s question-answering computer Watson soundly defeated television gameshow Jeopardy! champions Ken Jennings and Brad Rutter—Watson’s three-day take was $77,000, compared to Jennings’ $24,000 and Rutter’s $22,000, garnering it a $1 million prize. This IBM victory...