Science, Tech, Environment

Rumors of the death of the brick-and-mortar library have been greatly exaggerated. Yes, the digital age has transformed the nature of data storage. But the public library will be a chief agent in providing access to digital information.

There’s trouble in Cyber City, and pornography is the least of it.

When scientists on the left began attacking sociobiology, liberals nodded their heads. But take another look. The supposed contradiction between Darwinian reasoning and liberal political philosophy was based on a misunderstanding of both.

The cloning debate has highlighted moral questions that are likely only to become even more difficult as biotechnology advances: What should be the line between permissible and impermissible genetic interventions? Is our bedrock belief in human equality about to break down?

Computer literacy used to mean knowing how computers worked; now it means just knowing how to work with them. What we need are new critical reading skills for the emerging electronic culture.

Wired magazine says with new technology we’ll all be like gods and should get good at it. That apparently means feeling no restraint — if something looks good, do it, buy it, invent it, become it. Where have we heard this before?