‘Kast’s victory is a political and ethical earthquake’

‘Pinochet is smiling in his grave’

Ariel Dorfman at The New York Times

Augusto Pinochet, the “strongman who imposed a reign of terror on Chile from 1973 to 1990, must be smiling in his grave,” says Ariel Dorfman, because his “brazen defender and admirer José Antonio Kast has just been elected president of Chile.” Kast’s “victory is not necessarily a public endorsement of his veneration for Pinochet.” But the “rehabilitation of one of the continent’s most infamous autocrats is a particularly agonizing setback” in Chile’s “long struggle for democracy.”

Read more

The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up

‘What happens if AI data centers slip the “surly bonds of earth?”’

Anjana Ahuja at the Financial Times

If “ever there was proof that the race to feed the AI boom has become detached from reality, it came in a recent Google announcement that it would build a prototype solar-powered data center in space,” says Anjana Ahuja. This “would be a cosmic challenge — but while orbiting data centers minimize the need for planetary land and water, they promise unearthly problems of their own.” Launches “into crowded orbits risk creating space debris that could threaten vital services.”

Read more

‘You can say that again’

Christian Schneider at the National Review

Every “generation has its own lingo, and this shift in language irritates every generation that came before,” says Christian Schneider. We “shouldn’t bemoan the way language bends, stretches, and pulls; we should celebrate its flexibility.” It’s “not that young people are silly or flippant.” As “society progresses both culturally and technologically, new terms emerge to describe people’s feelings, and the best ideas rise.” New “words or phrases shouldn’t scare anyone, and criticizing language innovation is simply ragebait.”

Read more

‘Why young people are struggling to communicate’

Rachel Konrad and Matt Abrahams at Time

Communication skills are “essential for creating healthy relationships, maintaining mental health, fostering civic engagement, and building a successful career,” say Rachel Konrad and Matt Abrahams. But “while teenagers today are the most connected generation in history, they are also the least prepared to communicate with depth, confidence, and empathy.” The “environments where students develop communication skills are collapsing,” and the “bottom line is that young people are at risk of losing the communication skills that connect us.”

Read more