The series Fair Observer’s Devil’s Dictionary has been running since October 2017. In this final contribution, we return to the very roots of the project: how language, which conveys meaning, can be ...

In 2024, the Sahel region accounted for 51% of the world’s terror-related deaths. Jihadist groups like Al-Qaeda and ISIS are resurging across the Sahel, exploiting political instability, security ...

In “Outside the Box,” I interrogate ChatGPT to better understand how AI “reasons.” It’s like a conversation with an intelligent friend, sharing ideas and challenging some of the explanations. Last ...

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi faces mounting challenges as his third term nears its end, with rising public discontent over national security failures, cronyism ...

The Indian government has tasked the Chief of Defense Staff with greater authority amid growing military threats from China, Pakistan and regional instability involving Bangladesh. A new directive ...

The Taliban took control of Afghanistan in August 2021 after the collapse of the elected government and the withdrawal of foreign troops. They have dismantled democratic institutions and reimposed ...

There’s a paradox at the heart of the global economy. Having one global means of exchange isn’t a bad thing. It reduces friction. Fewer currencies mean fewer price lists, fewer arbitrage opportunities ...

“Outside the Box” explores the kind of collaborative behavior we humans can develop with chatbots, with the idea of discovering how this might help us, both individually and collectively. Last week, I ...

A spate of break-ins has been taking place in your neighborhood. Armed thugs associated with a crime syndicate have been knocking down doors and grabbing what they can. The police show up only after ...

The steep forbidding wilderness of Montara Mountain, a narrow ridge abuttin the famous San Andreas fault in Northern California, is a kind of perfect wilderness. We Coastsiders – that is, those who ...

In Part 1, I began a conversation with Gemini about a Financial Times article on the hype around artificial intelligence. I then tried the identical experiment with ChatGPT. Here is the prompt I ...

In the early decades of the 21st century, a new breed of oligarch has emerged: the global tech titan. Once hailed as visionary disruptors, these men — Peter Thiel, Marc Andreessen, Mark Zuckerberg, ...