Annalee Newitz

Eastern Region

Freelance Columnist at New Scientist

Freelance Writer at The New York Times

Science fiction & nonfiction * Pre-order now: Stories Are Weapons * Pod: https://t.co/kJFkLiM4hV * https://t.co/arNrfMyUED * https://t.co/ezdsNpQIfB

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Articles

When Robot and Crow Saved East St. Louis

1 month ago | issues.org | Annalee Newitz

Rey Velasquez Sagcal Future Tense Fiction “It predicted 3cry had found a disease outbreak, and that took precedence over all other inputs.” This story was originally published in Slate in December 2018. It is republished here as a part of the Future Tense Fiction project, presented by Issues in collaboration with ASU’s Center for Science and the Imagination.
How Moore's law led us to a flawed vision of the future

1 month ago | newscientist.com | Annalee Newitz

If you cast your mind back over the past two and a half decades, a bizarre fact emerges: everyone from business investors to teachers has been planning for a future ruled by communications technology. If the 20th century was the age of atomics, then the 21st is the age of the internet. Combining the power of radio, video and telephones, the internet is like a super-communication machine that completely upended our notion of what tomorrow would bring. Now, it seems…
How futurism took an abrupt right turn in the 20th century

2 months ago | newscientist.com | Annalee Newitz

A painting by Benedetta Cappa Marinetti, wife of Filippo Tommaso Marinetti and a fellow futuristBenedetta Cappa Marinett Â© Galleria d’Arte Moderna di Rome/ AlamyThe word “futurism” was born in a car crash. At least, that is the story that poet Filippo Tommaso Marinetti told back in 1909, when he coined the term in an editorial for French newspaper Le Figaro.
Ancient humans understood the future and the past pretty much as we do

Jan 9, 2025 | newscientist.com | Annalee Newitz

A recent discovery in Cloggs cave, Australia, revealed something extraordinary about humanity’s relationship with time. Several metres into the limestone grotto, archaeologists working with the Gunaikurnai Land and Waters Aboriginal Corporation found telltale signs of an ancient ritual: two ceremonial sticks covered in animal fat and highly specific burn marks. Here is the amazing part.
Myself & Other Animals review: Memoir offers new insights about Gerald Durrell's life

Jan 8, 2025 | newscientist.com | Annalee Newitz

A recent discovery in Cloggs cave, Australia, revealed something extraordinary about humanity’s relationship with time. Several metres into the limestone grotto, archaeologists working with the Gunaikurnai Land and Waters Aboriginal Corporation found telltale signs of an ancient ritual: two ceremonial sticks covered in animal fat and highly specific burn marks. Here is the amazing part.
The forgotten civil engineer with a vision we could all learn from

Nov 27, 2024 | newscientist.com | Annalee Newitz

You have probably never heard of John “Bud” Benson Wilbur, but he is a low-key civil engineering legend. In the mid-20th century, he was chair of the civil and sanitary engineering department at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). He built some major bridges in Massachusetts and helped prototype the first wind power systems in Vermont.
Excerpts from The Believer: An Interview with Filmmaker and Musician Boots Riley

Nov 22, 2024 | mcsweeneys.net | Annalee Newitz

“I am trying to repel audiences and pull them in at the same time, so they gain a different kind of awareness of what they’re watching.”- - -Boots Riley’s art was inspired by his early experiences connecting with people as a labor organizer and party promoter. He doesn’t like the idea of being an authority or a superstar. He just wants to show people a good time and leave them with a better sense of how to rebel against capitalist greed and systemic racism.
How a ride in a friendly Waymo saw me fall for robotaxis

Oct 30, 2024 | newscientist.com | Annalee Newitz

I took my first ride in a Waymo robotaxi last month, and now I’m obsessed. I have taken five autonomous car rides since, and even convinced two reluctant friends to do it too. Here’s how I went from a hater to a cautious friend of robot cars in five weeks. Waymo’s parent company Alphabet â€“ which also owns Google â€“ recently launched a pilot programme in San Francisco. When I was ready to hail one, I simply downloaded an app that closely resembles a rideshare app and pushed the call button.
An Interview with Boots Riley

Oct 16, 2024 | thebeliever.net | Annalee Newitz

Annalee Newitz I dressed carefully for my interview with Boots Riley. Layered under my flannel shirt was a purple tee featuring a cartoon explosion around the words i got the s#*@ kicked out of me! It was a deep cut, a reference to the fake game show in Riley’s movie, Sorry to Bother You, where people submit to abuse for fame and prize money.
Want to know Randee Dawn's Top 3 Books of 2024?

Oct 11, 2024 | shepherd.com | Annalee Newitz |Nick Duerden |Keith Rosson |Randee Dawn

Myfavorite read in 2024…I love a book that not only has interesting ideas about the future, but plans for a future that feels real and lived-in. The far future of Sask-E is far from utopian, but it presents a believable way in which humanity has expanded its concepts of what it means to be human ... though corporations now own more of our lives than ever before.