Essays

Science and Technology

Essays on scientific institutions, technology policy, measurement, space, and democratic accountability.

Article Review - Authority Gap of the National Science Foundation

Daniel Kleinman on the 1945 to 1950 authority gap before the NSF and how rival agencies shaped postwar US research policy.

How the US balances the risks of self-driving cars against innovation through its layered, federated approach to vehicle regulation.

David Pilling's questions about growth and GDP, and how the economic metrics we build can quietly lead our decisions astray.

Peter Redfield on French Guiana's outsized role in spaceflight and the nexus of wilderness and technology at Europe's spaceport.

Lisa Parks on Libya's and Venezuela's satellites as counter-hegemonic bids to break the powers that control global communication.