Posts:
By Andrew Nikiforuk We are going to have to dramatically downsize the dream of a future in which we replace 150-year-old fossil fuel infrastructure with “clean energy” by 2050. That’s the message in a number of recent important reports and books. They underscore a...
By Maggie Harrison Last weekend, comedian and YouTuber Adam Conover took to YouTube to publish a scathing 25-minute-long video essay addressing the ongoing AI gold rush. And honestly? It goes pretty hard. "Tech companies are suddenly promising to use AI to...
By Amanda Ruggeri Like many of us, I spend too much time on my phone. And, like many of us, I am acutely aware of – and often feel guilty about it. Sometimes, I'll leave it at the other end of the house, or turn it off, to use it less. But, sooner than I'd like to...
By H.L. Mencken Of all the varieties of men, the one who is least comprehensible to me is the fellow who immolates himself on the altar of what he conceives to be the public interest – in other words, the reformer, the uplifter, the man, so called, of public spirit....
By Luis Ortiz In the nearly two years since Guillermo Lasso, a millionaire and conservative banker, won the presidency in Ecuador, the region has changed considerably. Left-wing leaders have won election after election, including in neighbouring Colombia, which had...
By Marc Andreessen Fears about new technology replacing human labor and causing overall unemployment have raged across industrialized societies for hundreds of years, despite a nearly continual rise in both jobs and wages in capitalist economies. The jobs apocalypse...
By Romero Salazar Last weekend, I was talking to two extranjero friends from the U.S. about the political crisis in Ecuador. During the conversation I became aware how little they knew of the background of the crisis and I was happy share my knowledge and views with...
With the tides of political fortune running inexorably against him, the conventional wisdom is that President Guillermo Lasso’s days in office are numbered. But exactly how his days will end – and even if they will end before his term expires -- is very much up in the...
By Kevin Bass As a medical student and researcher, I staunchly supported the efforts of the public health authorities when it came to COVID-19. I believed that the authorities responded to the largest public health crisis of our lives with compassion, diligence, and...
By Carol E. Leutner Over the past few years, CuencaHighLife has published several articles on consciousness. They range from a definition of consciousness as a process of self-realization or awareness, to consciousness being fundamental to the perception of physical...
By Noor Al-Sibai In what's perhaps an attempt to head off bad press — or, at very least, convince people he's not the bad guy — OpenAI CEO Sam Altman has given Forbes an interview in which he claims that his for-profit company is ultimately going to bring about...
By Chris Hedges There is very little to recommend my old gym, other than the low monthly fee, where I worked out nearly every day from 2007 until the pandemic shut it down. The locker rooms were grimy with moldering carpets. There were brown rings around the basins...
By Lauren Jackson President Pedro Castillo borrowed from history when he attempted a coup in Peru. Thirty years ago, another president asserted authoritarian control. But this time, there was a critical difference: As president, Castillo had no support for his coup....
By Marty Makary Long Covid is real. I have reliable patients who describe lingering symptoms after Covid infection. But public-health officials have massively exaggerated long Covid to scare low-risk Americans as our government gives more than $1 billion to a long...
A friend of mine recently failed the government-issued test to become a citizen of Ecuador. Tim Broward (not his real name), 61, is an eleven-year resident of Ecuador who holds a Ph.D. in Educational Development from a prestigious university in the U.S. He scored 58%...
By Mike Wendling and Rachel Schraer Online activists used the on-field collapse of American football star Damar Hamlin to spread anti-vaccination messages starting just minutes after Monday night's incident. In what has become a familiar pattern since Covid vaccines...
By Ananta Agarwal As Ecuador and China move closer towards sealing a free-trade agreement, concern is mounting in Washington that the United States is losing influence in Latin America. Ecuadorian President Guillermo Lasso said early in December that negotiations with...
By Brad Haynes Dramatic elections in Brazil, Chile and Colombia brought leftist governments into power across much of Latin America in 2022, capping the region's second "pink tide" in two decades. However, their struggles amid stubborn economic headwinds suggest the...
By Austin Williams For a country that prides itself on 5,000 years of unbroken history, it is remarkable how often China has reinvented itself. Since Mao established the People’s Republic in 1949, there has been war, famine, isolation, brutality, communism and state...
By Michael Stott When is a coup not a coup? The answer in Latin America today depends on your politics. A coup used to be straightforward. In a script which became depressingly familiar in the last century, a general or military junta would seize power, backed by...
