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[Essay] The Gods of Logic

Before and after artificial intelligence

by Benjamín Labatut,

Current Issue July 2024

[Essay] Metal Machine Music

Can AI think creatively? Can we?

by Laurent Dubreuil,

[Letter from Cologne] The Dead Admonish

Facing the ghosts of resistance and exile

by John Ganz,

[Harper’s Index]

Percentage by which U.S. adults are more likely to say their mother was a greater moral influence on them than their father was : 86

[Harper’s Index]

By which they are more likely to say their father was a greater political influence on them than their mother was : 130

[Harper’s Index]

Percentage decrease since 2018 in the portion of Americans who say there are too few women in high political offices : 10

[Harper’s Index]

Percentage of Americans who say their federal income taxes were too high this year : 60

[Harper’s Index]

Year in which Americans were last this critical of federal income-tax rates : 2001

[Harper’s Index]

Portion of hiring managers who say they knowingly ask illegal questions during job interviews : 1/3

[Harper’s Index]

Percentage of U.S. CEOs who say they get enough sleep : 77

[Harper’s Index]

Percentage of U.S. board chairs who say so : 100

[Harper’s Index]

Percentage of stadiums in U.S. men’s major sports leagues that were named for a corporate sponsor in the first half of the 1990s : 7

[Harper’s Index]

That are today : 87

[Harper’s Index]

Estimated value of U.S. coins lost in the garbage each year : $67,000,000

[Harper’s Index]

Hours of minimum-wage labor that it would take to afford a Christmas greeting card from a Virginia prison commissary : 2.96

[Harper’s Index]

To afford a Ramadan greeting card : 8.63

[Harper’s Index]

Percentage of people executed by lethal injection in Georgia since 1977 who were black : 30

[Harper’s Index]

Percentage of botched lethal injections in Georgia since 1977 in which the person being executed was black : 86

[Harper’s Index]

Minimum number of cases in which U.S. police officers were charged with selling, dealing, or trafficking drugs since 2005 : 628

[Harper’s Index]

In which U.S. police officers were charged with sex-related crimes : 3,663

[Harper’s Index]

Percentage of these sex-related offenses that were perpetrated by officers who had previously faced criminal charges : 41

[Harper’s Index]

Most common age of victims of sexual abuse by U.S. police officers : 15

[Harper’s Index]

Percentage increase in the portion of chronically absent U.S. public school students since 2015 : 73

[Harper’s Index]

Portion of U.S. public school teachers who say their school had at least one gun-related lockdown last year : 1/4

[Harper’s Index]

Percentage who believe that arming teachers would be effective in preventing shootings : 13

[Harper’s Index]

Percentage who believe that improved mental-health screening and treatment would be effective : 69

[Harper’s Index]

Percentage of U.S. teenagers who say they feel anxious without their phones : 44

[Harper’s Index]

Who say they feel peaceful : 72

[Harper’s Index]

Percentage decrease over the past year in the portion of Americans aged 18 to 34 who have a favorable opinion of Israel : 41

[Harper’s Index]

Number of confirmed killings of Palestinian journalists and media workers since October 7 : 92

[Harper’s Index]

Number of other confirmed killings of journalists and media workers around the world during that period : 9

[Harper’s Index]

Number of reported killings of aid workers in Gaza during that period : 244

[Harper’s Index]

Average number of aid workers killed worldwide each year in the past decade : 123

[Harper’s Index]

Portion of land previously used for agriculture in Gaza that was destroyed between October 7 and March 2024 : 2/5

[Harper’s Index]

Portion of common fruits and vegetables sold in the United States that contain dangerous levels of pesticides : 1/5

[Harper’s Index]

Estimated number of hot dogs eaten per second in the United States between Memorial Day and Labor Day each year : 818

[Harper’s Index]

Percentage of U.S. voters who believe Trump would perform better than Biden in a hot-dog-eating contest : 58

[Harper’s Index]

Who believe Trump would be better than Biden at changing a diaper : 24

[Harper’s Index]

Percentage of likely Trump voters who say that a conviction in his New York criminal trial would not affect their vote for him : 62

[Harper’s Index]

Who say that it would make them even more likely to vote for him : 26

[Harper’s Index]

Portion of Americans who say they would support their state’s secession from the Union : 1/4

[Harper’s Index]

Percentage increase over the past fifty years in the number of Americans who say they would like to move to another country : 240

[Harper’s Index]

Percentage increase in fireworks sales in the United States since 2000 : 203

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Monday Gallery

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Without A Sound, a painting by Loren Erdrich, whose work is on view through July 13 at SHRINE, in Los Angeles.

Courtesy the artist and SHRINE

Ars Gratia Artis, a painting by Walton Ford, whose work is on view through October 20 at the Morgan Library & Museum, in New York City, and through September 22 at Ateneo Veneto, in Venice, Italy.

“Lawn Chair Catapult,” a photograph by Adam Ekberg, whose work is on view through July 7 as part of the exhibition New Terrain: 21st-Century Landscape Photography, at the Worcester Art Museum, in Worcester, Massachusetts.

Courtesy of the artist and CLAMP, New York City

Sink or Swim, a painting by Amy Bennett, whose work is on view through July 3 at Miles McEnery Gallery, in New York City.

“Thjorsá River #2, Southern Region, Iceland,” a photograph by Edward Burtynsky, whose work is on view through June 8 at Nicholas Metivier Gallery, in Toronto.

Percentage by which U.S. adults are more likely to say their mother was a greater moral influence on them than their father was : 86

By which they are more likely to say their father was a greater political influence on them than their mother was : 130

Percentage decrease since 2018 in the portion of Americans who say there are too few women in high political offices : 10

Percentage of Americans who say their federal income taxes were too high this year : 60

Year in which Americans were last this critical of federal income-tax rates : 2001

Portion of hiring managers who say they knowingly ask illegal questions during job interviews : 1/3

Percentage of U.S. CEOs who say they get enough sleep : 77

Percentage of U.S. board chairs who say so : 100

Percentage of stadiums in U.S. men’s major sports leagues that were named for a corporate sponsor in the first half of the 1990s : 7

That are today : 87

Estimated value of U.S. coins lost in the garbage each year : $67,000,000

Hours of minimum-wage labor that it would take to afford a Christmas greeting card from a Virginia prison commissary : 2.96

To afford a Ramadan greeting card : 8.63

Percentage of people executed by lethal injection in Georgia since 1977 who were black : 30

Percentage of botched lethal injections in Georgia since 1977 in which the person being executed was black : 86

Minimum number of cases in which U.S. police officers were charged with selling, dealing, or trafficking drugs since 2005 : 628

In which U.S. police officers were charged with sex-related crimes : 3,663

Percentage of these sex-related offenses that were perpetrated by officers who had previously faced criminal charges : 41

Most common age of victims of sexual abuse by U.S. police officers : 15

Percentage increase in the portion of chronically absent U.S. public school students since 2015 : 73

Portion of U.S. public school teachers who say their school had at least one gun-related lockdown last year : 1/4

Percentage who believe that arming teachers would be effective in preventing shootings : 13

Percentage who believe that improved mental-health screening and treatment would be effective : 69

Percentage of U.S. teenagers who say they feel anxious without their phones : 44

Who say they feel peaceful : 72

Percentage decrease over the past year in the portion of Americans aged 18 to 34 who have a favorable opinion of Israel : 41

Number of confirmed killings of Palestinian journalists and media workers since October 7 : 92

Number of other confirmed killings of journalists and media workers around the world during that period : 9

Number of reported killings of aid workers in Gaza during that period : 244

Average number of aid workers killed worldwide each year in the past decade : 123

Portion of land previously used for agriculture in Gaza that was destroyed between October 7 and March 2024 : 2/5

Portion of common fruits and vegetables sold in the United States that contain dangerous levels of pesticides : 1/5

Estimated number of hot dogs eaten per second in the United States between Memorial Day and Labor Day each year : 818

Percentage of U.S. voters who believe Trump would perform better than Biden in a hot-dog-eating contest : 58

Who believe Trump would be better than Biden at changing a diaper : 24

Percentage of likely Trump voters who say that a conviction in his New York criminal trial would not affect their vote for him : 62

Who say that it would make them even more likely to vote for him : 26

Portion of Americans who say they would support their state’s secession from the Union : 1/4

Percentage increase over the past fifty years in the number of Americans who say they would like to move to another country : 240

Percentage increase in fireworks sales in the United States since 2000 : 203

July 2, 2024

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There Was and There Was Not

Signs of the Times

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Past Issues

Harper’s Finest

From the Archive

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Microplastics were found in sixty-two of sixty-two human placentas from a biobank in Texas.

Toxicity has remained a consistent feature of online interactions since 1989.

Humans are losing their ability to digest cellulose.

A metal scar on the surface of the white dwarf WD 0816-310 indicated that it has cannibalized other bodies in its orbit.

An orca acting alone killed a great white shark and ate its liver.

Genomic analysis indicated that psychedelic mushrooms emerged around the time of the Mesozoic–Cenozoic mass extinction.

The playing speed of a metal guitarist directly correlates with his intrasexual competitiveness but not his mating success.

Depression in humans is correlated with higher body temperature, and cold-water swimming mitigates menopause symptoms.

Researchers warned that, as temperatures rise, humans should prepare for more diarrhea.

Off the Five Finger Islands, a team of cetologists aboard the Glacier Seal conducted an extended conversation with a female humpback named Twain.

Astrophysicists argued that the development of advanced alien technology requires an atmosphere composed of at least 18 percent oxygen.

Onshore wind turbines severely deter German bats from foraging.

An AI that was fed the employment and health data of six million Danes turned out to be more accurate than existing sociological methods at predicting if a given person was about to die.

A mother is 4.6 percent more likely to give birth in the same month she was born, and adjacent siblings are 12.1 percent more likely to be born in the same month as one another.

Electric eel discharge transforms the DNA of zebrafish larvae.

True crabs independently evolved to live out of the ocean up to seventeen times.

The average American girl born in 2019 will take prescription drugs for more than half her life.

Scientists were not certain whether the globally synchronized waves observed in the brains of wakeful rats on ketamine or LSD were a cause or a symptom of hallucinations.

Geoscientists were confident that, given access to the oldest barnacles on the flaperon of Malaysia Airlines Flight 370, they could help pinpoint its crash site.

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