Chapters of Our Lives

Opening: Our Networks, Our Lives

Time of our lives

One of the greatest scientific mysteries, which has puzzled scientists for thousands of years, is what controls the length of life. At a time when human lifespan is increasing to previously unforeseen lengths, it is urgent that this ancient question is answered. Fortunately, recent progress suggests that the answers will soon be at hand. Animal species exhibit great diversity in their maximum l...

Contemplating Our Lives

How would you adjust if everything familiar to you changed? Many of us can recall a time when a challenge forced us to contemplate change, and/or take risks. The essays in this section focus on people who have taken risks, people who have inspired change in others, and people who have had to change themselves. For instance, Jennifer Balidio describes the challenges she faces while writing, Kris...

Great Teachers in Our Lives

WITH THE PUBLICATION below of Professor Irving Louis Horowitz's essay on "Aaron Wildavsky: Facts, Policies, Morals, " the editors of Modern Age are pleased to introduce a new series of essays, "Great Teachers in Our Lives . " The addition of this feature, it is hoped, will be as fully successful as that of the "Reconsiderations" that have been appearing regularly in these pages during the past ...

Weaving Information into Our Lives

Information has long been understood as a separate world, whether the parallel realm of Platonic ideals or the sovereign nation of cyberspace. Computer technology itself has reinforced this understanding of information by compelling us to interact with it while sitting still in front of a glass screen. But this is changing. Computing is rapidly becoming portable, wearable, and generally woven i...