Noema Magazine

Noema is a magazine exploring the transformations sweeping our world. We publish essays, interviews, reportage, videos and art on the overlapping realms of philosophy, governance, geopolitics, economics, technology and culture. In doing so, our unique approach is to get out of the usual lanes and cross disciplines, social silos and cultural boundaries. From artificial intelligence and the climate crisis to the future of democracy and capitalism, Noema Magazine seeks a deeper understanding of the most pressing challenges of the 21st century.

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Noema Magazine

PLANETARY REALISM: FROM GLOBALIZATION TO GAIAPOLITIK

THE ORIGINS OF PLANETARY REALISM AND WHOLE EARTH THINKING • There is no escaping an interconnected world.

WANT NOT, WASTE NOT • To save the biosphere, curb upstream consumption — not just downstream emissions.

IN PURSUIT OF GLOBAL EQUILIBRIUM • National grand strategies no longer fit today’s world.

JAMES LOVELOCK LOOKS BEYOND GAIA • It took decades for Lovelock’s revolutionary Gaia hypothesis to become embedded in mainstream environmentalism. Now 101, the legendary thinker is turning his mind to cyborgs — and the end of the human race.

THE INTELLIGENT FOREST • Recognizing that forest ecosystems, like societies, have elements of intelligence would help us leave behind the old notion that they are inert and predictable.

A FIRE ON THE ANCESTORS’ ROAD TO BAMAYAK • In the intertwined climatic, biological and geological ravages of our planet, we are witnessing the consequences of our refusal to recognize that humans are not the agents of history.

Noema Insights: China And The West Head Separate Ways

THE FIGHT TO SAVE THE GREAT ALASKAN RAINFOREST • Industry-friendly politicians in Alaska are trying to open up vast areas of ancient Alaskan rainforest to the roar of chainsaws.

THE FRONTIERS OF DIGITAL DEMOCRACY • Taiwan is reinventing the consent of the governed.

WELCOME TO THE ‘TURBULENT TWENTIES’ • We predicted political upheaval in America in the 2020s. This is why it’s here and what we can do to temper it.

RACE IN AMERICA: A CUNNING INVENTION • Race for white Americans was originally conceived as an amusement park built for the satisfaction of a rowdy fantasy life.

I WOULD RATHER BE BORN A WOMAN IN CHINA THAN INDIA • India has been a democracy for many decades, but I feel freer in China.

MECHANICAL THOUGHT

PROSTHETIC MEMORIES, WRITING MACHINES • As an external and increasingly intelligent form of memory, AI can broaden the effects of writing systems on the physical borders of the human mind.

THE THOUGHTS THE CIVILIZED KEEP • The hype around a new AI language generator reveals the sterility of mainstream thinking on AI today — and indeed of how we think about thinking itself.

Designing For The Sixth Extinction • Artwork that investigates synthetic biology’s potential impact on biodiversity and conservation.

BITCOIN AS A MEME AND A FUTURE • Memes perform powerful magic that turns absurdity and cynicism into the kind of true belief that can bend reality.

TOXIC INTERNET CULTURE FROM EAST TO WEST • What the digital worlds of Japan’s imageboards and America’s alt-right reveal about real-life precarity.

THE INTERNET OF BEEFS • The culture war has turned into an endemic condition of online honor-based conflict.

THE MISSION-ORIENTED GOVERNMENT • Instead of just fixing market failures, governments need to co-create markets by defining bold economic objectives and building systems for achieving them.

THE AMERICAN MORTGAGE IS AN INVESTMENT IN INEQUALITY • The institution of homeownership in America is a finely tuned wealth-building machine for the wealthiest and whitest, first and foremost.

A VIEW OF THE FUTURE...