We’re all going to die!
Before we get too far into an entire issue about how science and technology are extending, optimizing, and disrupting every stage of human life, let’s get the bad news out of the way: Despite the efforts of humanity’s greatest minds, we’ve yet to find a way of perpetuating physical vitality or individual consciousness indefinitely. As of this writing, it appears that each of us, sooner or later, will die.
It’s the sooner or later, though—the stuff between conception and death—that is a moving target. We’re continuously adapting to technology as technology is adapting to us. Geneticists and biotechnologists are reengineering our bodies. Ubiquitous screens, apps, VR devices, and social media are transforming how we experience the world. We are a species rewritten, so it’s time for us to chronicle how that’s playing out for each generation.
Here you’ll find miracle babies, Ethereum-mining teens, idealistic cyber-soldiers, middle-aged gamers, and swipe-happy seniors. You’ll find scientists, surgeons, and innovators who are creating body-enhancing (and mind-altering) technologies. And you’ll find people making unprecedented choices, showing what it means to live in an age of improvisation.
—The Editors
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In an era of artificial eggs and Crispr, anyone could become a biological parent to the healthiest baby.
by Jason Pontin
Tools for fetal surgery
by Phuc Pham
His life is a test for how far neonatal medicine has come.
by Eva Holland
The year’s best tech playthings
by Michael Calore
Reality TV for tots
by Caitlin Harrington
Sharing my daughter on social media.
by Jamilah Lemieux
Psychologist Alison Gopnik on how kids can use tech to their advantage.
by Sarah Fallon
A brief history of digital worries
by Blanca Myers
How science and tech are solving health issues at all stages.
by Chelsea Leu
In an era of artificial eggs and Crispr, anyone could become a biological parent to the healthiest baby.
by Jason Pontin
Tools for fetal surgery
by Phuc Pham
His life is a test for how far neonatal medicine has come.
by Eva Holland
The year’s best tech playthings
by Michael Calore
Reality TV for tots
by Caitlin Harrington
Sharing my daughter on social media.
by Jamilah Lemieux
Psychologist Alison Gopnik on how kids can use tech to their advantage.
by Sarah Fallon
A brief history of digital worries
by Blanca Myers
How sience and tech are solving health issues at all stages.
by Chelsea Leu
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Meet the students of d.tech, where kids are inventing the future.
by Lauren Murrow
A preteen finds her voice.
by Elizabeth Weil
Troops are training to fight the endless war—through a computer screen.
by Matt Gallagher
By the numbers
by Blanca Myers
New paths to early stardom
by Caitlin Harrington
By the numbers
by Andrea Powell
A chronicle of romance and surveillance on Strava.
by Elizabeth Barber
Death of Middle School Romance
What it’s like to “hang out” in the age of the iPhone.
by Alex Baker-Whitcomb
Meet the students of d.tech, where kids are inventing the future.
by Lauren Murrow
A preteen finds her voice.
by Elizabeth Weil
Troops are training to fight the endless war—through a computer screen.
by Matt Gallagher
By the numbers
by Blanca Myers
New paths to early stardom
by Caitlin Harrington
By the numbers
by Andrea Powell
A chronicle of romance and surveillance on Strava.
by Elizabeth Barber
Death of Middle School Romance
What it’s like to “hang out” in the age of the iPhone.
by Alex Baker-Whitcomb
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What a real wedding in a virtual space tells us about relationships.
by Peter Rubin
Hope and hype for life extension
by Gregory Barber
What might we see without the smartphone?
by Virginia Heffernan
Gen Xers are the true screen addicts.
by Clive Thompson
A Nintendo fanatic imagines his future beyond videogames.
by Justin Heckert
Rebooting the reproductive system
by Robin Marantz Henig
Silicon Valley’s “youthful” men
by Lauren Murrow
We’re looking for someone who can’t exist anymore.
by Jason Tanz
What a real wedding in a virtual space tells us about relationships.
by Peter Rubin
Hope and hype for life extension
by Gregory Barber
What might we see without the smartphone?
by Virginia Heffernan
Gen Xers are the true screen addicts.
by Clive Thompson
A Nintendo fanatic imagines his future beyond videogames.
by Justin Heckert
Rebooting the reproductive system
by Robin Marantz Henig
Silicon Valley’s “youthful” men
by Lauren Murrow
We’re looking for someone who can’t exist anymore.
by Jason Tanz
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The quest to find the biomarkers of aging.
by Gerald Marzorati
A Wii Bowling League of Their Own
The all-star gamers of the retirement community
by Mallory Pickett
How Big T conquered the imagination—but not the ravages of age.
by Katrina Karkazis
Researchers want to synthesize a human genome. Their guinea pig? The author.
by David Ewing Duncan
Build a Tablet for Mature Users
A screen that’s optimized for us as we age
by Ellen Airhart
Apps with older folks in mind
by Ellen Airhart
The new way to handle earthly remains: Dissolve the body into its chemical building blocks and pipe them away.
by Hayley Campbell
The quest to find the biomarkers of aging.
by Gerald Marzorati
A Wii Bowling League of Their Own
The all-star gamers of the retirement community
by Mallory Pickett
How Big T conquered the imagination—but not the ravages of age.
by Katrina Karkazis
Researchers want to synthesize a human genome. Their guinea pig? The author.
by David Ewing Duncan
Build a Table for Mature Users
A screen that’s optimized for us as we age
by Ellen Airhart
Apps with older folks in mind
by Ellen Airhart
The new way to handle earthly remains: Dissolve the body into its chemical building blocks and pipe them away.
by Hayley Campbell
