The Nation

Our May issue is here! This one features an AI package as well as Spring Books. We have Jacob Silverman on the death of an AI whistleblower, @ElieNYC on the future of AI judges, @BenTarnoff in @BooksandtheArts on "The AI Paradox," and more.

"A hallmark of Lerner’s fiction is the very particular way that politics encroaches, or rather doesn’t, on the life of the protagonist: It is there as a backdrop, a marker of time and place but not much else." Tara Menon in @thenation's Spring Books issue thenation.com/article/cultur…

Not only did a billionaire buy the Iditarod, but he made his fortune exploiting the Sea in ways that negatively impact Alaska's economy and culture. Smells worse than dog shit. thenation.com/article/societ…

"A hallmark of Lerner’s fiction is the very particular way that politics encroaches, or rather doesn’t, on the life of the protagonist...It is there as a backdrop, a marker of time and place but not much else." Tara Menon in @booksandthearts on Ben Lerner thenation.com/article/cultur…

The vaunted regional security architecture that the United States has brokered in the Middle East looks to be little more than elaborate flim-flam artistry. bit.ly/3NS1Y7L

The Trump War Department is campaigning to eliminate virtually all of the controls that would normally govern the introduction of a new technology. This will will almost certainly lead to flawed weapons systems, exorbitant prices, reduced accountability, and an accelerated AI arms race. bit.ly/4sutwyk

The Lerner man frets constantly and about everything: his sex life, his romantic life, his friendships, his family, his failing body. Now he directs his attention to the vexing relationship between fathers and their children. @tarakmenon in Spring Books. bit.ly/3OrvWQ2

We want the best that AI has to offer for the people. But we know that won’t happen if the citizens are locked out of the decision-making process. bit.ly/4ty9vrw

The present quagmire is likely to stretch out across a very long timeline, but one thing seems clear: we shouldn’t expect our Saudi clients in particular to do anything about it anytime soon. bit.ly/3NS1Y7L

"Carlson’s descent isn’t" an "'unraveling' so much as a fulfillment of political destiny." @LehmannChris in @BooksandtheArts on what happened to Tucker Carlson thenation.com/article/societ…

In the end, Carlson is not someone who relishes the hatred of others but rather is an inveterate people pleaser. Chris Lehmann in Spring Books. bit.ly/3Q5t4sz

My review of Jamaica Kincaid’s book, Putting Myself Together, will be in the next issue of @thenation magazine. Read it and tell me what you think. Also, grateful to @davidimarcus for his editorial touch

In order to become the maximal Trumpist mouthpiece that he is today, Carlson relinquished the skeptical and heterodox cast of mind that he was trying out during his Crossfire incarnation and become instead a hard-line MAGA culture warrior. bit.ly/3Q5t4sz

Senator Bernie Sanders doesn't want us to rush headlong into an AI dystopia. He wants us to ask ourselves hard questions about these technologies. bit.ly/4vcTtos

Read The Nation's Spring Books: @tarakmenon on Ben Lerner, @BenTarnoff on what is AI, @lehmannchris on what happened to Tucker Carlson, @SomersErin on Jay McInerney's yuppies, @jacobinoire on Jamaica Kincaid, and @rodriquese on Harry Haywood's communism. bit.ly/3PUll0u

As Trump insanely raves that “a whole civilization will die tonight,” the chance that he could use nuclear weapons against Iran has never been higher. bit.ly/4caL50a

A little-noticed ray of hope may be peeking over the horizon, writes Mark Hertsgaard and Kyle Pope of Covering Climate Now. A climate conference in Colombia later this month could begin to draw up the roadmap blocked at COP30. bit.ly/4dsYZNn

Andreessen Horowitz is now devoting so much energy to its quest for flattering press coverage that some people began referring to a16z as a media company that just happened to do some venture capital investing on the side. bit.ly/4ctbqrr

If workers in Greeley successfully resist management’s pressure to accept the terms it negotiated with 14 other plants last year, it could open the door for tens of thousands of workers across the country to demand the same when their contracts expire. bit.ly/4tuW7Ez

Pam Bondi lost her job for displaying insufficient fealty to her Oval Office boss—even after going to enormous lengths to transform the Justice Department into an outlet of MAGA agitprop. bit.ly/4sg5ZRg

Here, writer @julissaarce reckons with the revelations about Cesar Chavez and suggests a way forward—one that includes expanding our understanding of UFW organizing, and Latino struggle more broadly, to the people overshadowed because we valorized one man bit.ly/4c4eQB3