Research

Explore over 500 articles on prevailing megatrends in tech, politics and society.

5

min

Perspectives on the post-truth era

The 'enshittification' of society

9

min

FreedomLab commemorates its 500th article with a retrospective of its publication history

11

min

The narratives struggling to define the impact of AI on the labor market

High expectations, disillusionment, and realism—the usual players in AI predictions are all present

11

min

Forget about the (human) parents

Meet the cyborgs

12

min

The enhanced human: stronger, better, happier

Why we might all become centaurs according to transhumanists

10

min

The deficient animal: artificial by nature

And why the idea of helpful AI agents might be a misleading, anthropocentric notion

9

min

Genuine writing in the digital age

An inconvenient effort worth pursuing

14

min

The AI chips race (part II)

Chips are at the heart of the generative AI Stack

5

min

Magic in metamodern times

To be(lieve) or not to be(lieve), that is the question

5

min

The European elections and the next five years

What themes will drive European political discourse?

11

min

We need to think about the constitution of the EU (part I)

And Luuk van Middelaar’s study of European discourses helps us structure the debate

12

min

We need to think about the constitution of the EU (part II)

And Luuk van Middelaar’s study of European spheres helps us structure the debate

19

min

Why we should embrace the void

The psychoanalysis of 'Love, Death & Robots'

8

min

The AI chips race (part I)

How AI chips will determine future geopolitical events

9

min

The internet is in need of a transition

What the internet can learn from ongoing transitions in energy, mobility and food

12

min

Is Open Source AI a sham?

Why leading AI companies are currently engaging in both 'openwashing' and 'closedwashing' practices

11

min

Post-growth: the dawn of a new era

What will the upcoming paradigm shift entail?

4

min

The weather is changing

What home insurance tells us about climate change

12

min

The artisan versus the engineer: masters of the universe

What kind of skills should we (not) cultivate for generative AI?

8

min

We are the products of technological mediation

What the metaphor of the 'medium' can teach us about AI

12

min

When images matter more than reality

A reflection on Vilém Flusser's philosophy of photography in the age of social media

13

min

The day the artificial became intelligent (is yet to come)

When we started to call intelligence a machine and the machine intelligent

5

min

Knit’s Island and the future of the metaverse

An immersive and fascinating documentary about life in a virtual world

10

min

The robots among us

About today’s master-slave dynamics with humanoids and chatbots

10

min

The age of the machine: emancipation or alienation of the human?

Understanding the role of machines in society

5

min

Short-sighted AI regulations miss the big picture

How can we ensure that AI is not only safe but also resonates with our broader norms and values?

14

min

Philosophical prompt engineering in an AI-driven world

Why philosophical questioning and the art of posing the right questions becomes more important because of generative AI

6

min

The enduring tool metaphor in AI discourse

About technology as a mere instrument to achieve human goals

16

min

Degrowth will make us happier

Understanding wellbeing beyond economic growth

10

min

How collective behavior change can foster a sustainable future

A dive into the heart of the degrowth movement

Who has to pay the costs of climate change?

Issuing appeals for hundreds of millions in emergency funding to help victims of climate change might soon be a standard procedure.

"Creative" AI is recreating the creative industry

In the past few months, creative AI systems such as DALL-E and Midjourney have taken the internet by storm with their “artistic” creations.

To cyberspace and beyond

How the cyborg movies of the ‘90s made us fantasize about mind uploading, sentient AI and immortality.

How will the metaverse and web3 influence social media?

Brace yourself, the 2D newsfeeds gracing our screens might soon be part of internet history.

Geopolitical nonalignment in the 21st century

Escalating tensions in Taiwan and Ukraine are pressuring the world to choose an alignment, yet many nations refuse to choose sides.

The fragmentation of social media

When Kylie Jenner and Kim Kardashian are starting to revolt, you know Instagram is getting into trouble...

The early days of cyberpunk

As man becomes machine and machine becomes man.

The return of industrial policy

The Dutch government is rethinking industrial policy—more coordination is on the horizon.

AI regulations may see a Beijing effect

Is Europe too late to cause a Brussels effect on AI technology?

When the selfie becomes an avatar

How Instagram is preparing itself for the metaverse