Latest Story
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ACOSS at 70
Philip Mendes | September 21, 20262026 marks the 70th anniversary of the Australian Council of Social Service (ACOSS), the peak advocacy group of the community welfare sector, and which continues to highlight the impact of disadvantage on individuals, families and communities in public policy debates.
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Information overload
Axel Bruns | September 20, 2026Why are we so angry? The easy explanation is that our technologies are to blame, but that is just part of the answer.
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Clever Hans, not so clever people
Matyáš Moravec | September 20, 2026Many people want to ascribe human-like properties to artificial intelligence, but a hundred years ago, we were equally willing to believe other animals had human-like capabilities.
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One standard
Roger Chao | September 20, 2026One Nation politicians deserve the same allowances for personal privacy, sexual freedom and rehabilitation after youthful indiscretions as everyone else.
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Opening the Overton window
Joshua Black | September 19, 2026The Overton window is the idea that there is an “acceptable range of political discourse in a society” which parties and politicians tend to stick within, but the window shifts over time and some politicians, notably Donald Trump, just ignore it all together.
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Pausing AI would help democracy catch up
Cory Alpert | September 19, 2026Countries like Australia have an interest in rejecting the premise that AI governance is a negotiation solely between American companies and the American state, when the impacts are felt by all 28 million Australians.
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When condemnation becomes distribution
Roger Chao | September 19, 2026News organisations must report offensive political speech without becoming its most efficient broadcaster.
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Technofascism
Luke Munn | September 18, 2026Two new books explore the conjoined roles of technology and authoritarianism in shaping contemporary society.
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Understanding the algorithm
Fergus Ryan | September 18, 2026If Australia is going to regulate social media algorithms, we should be precise about what an algorithm actually is.
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Trump resists the twilight
Lester Munson | September 18, 2026Donald Trump continues to drive a steamroller through American politics and potential set-backs in the upcoming mid-term elections are unlikely to break his stride, dent his authoritarian ambitions or weaken his iron grip on power.
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The trials of leadership
John Hawkins | September 17, 2026Two new books look at the changing nature of Australia and its political leadership in the 21st century.
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More data required
Michael Vardon | September 17, 2026Australia’s pipeline of huge data centre projects has raised questions about how much energy and water these giant server farms will use. 225 data centres are proposed or under development, increasing their take of national power consumption from 3 to 13%.
